Do Existence Values for Cost Benefit Analysis Exist?

The use of the contingent valuation method to generate estimates of existence value for input to cost benefit analysis requires that individuals have utility functions defined over the relevant arguments. The validity of the assumption that the required utility functions generally exist has been questioned. It has been argued that some individuals will respond on the basis of lexicographic preference orderings. It has also been argued that some individuals do not consider that market, or individual willingness to pay, criteria are appropriate where existence value type issues are at stake. The paper considers survey evidence bearing upon these arguments. It is concluded that the evidence is consistent with the view that it is incorrect to proceed on the assumption that individuals generally satisfy the assumptions required for the existence of existence values for use in cost benefit analysis.     

A Benchmark Approach to Portfolio Optimization under Partial Information

This paper proposes a filtering methodology for portfolio optimization when some factors of the underlying model are only partially observed. The level of information is given by the observed quantities that are here supposed to be the primary securities and empirical log-price covariations. For a given level of information we determine the growth optimal portfolio, identify locally optimal portfolios that are located on a corresponding Markowitz efficient frontier and present an approach for expected utility maximization. We also present an expected utility indifference pricing approach under partial information for the pricing of nonreplicable contracts. This results in a real world pricing formula under partial information that turns out to be independent of the subjective utility of the investor and for which an equivalent risk neutral probability measure need not exist.      

浅议我国农村信用社改革中的委托-代理问题

农村信用社改革是农村金融体制改革的“重头戏。文章运用委托-代理理论构建模型对地方政府和农村信用社的关系进行分析,认为我国的农村信用社应进行股份制改造,实现市场化运作,完善监督机制。     

福建省湿地生态补偿法律机制及效用研究

[目的]结合福建省湿地概况及其保护现状进行湿地生态补偿法律机制的构建,试图为构建完整的福建省生态补偿法律机制提供参照。[方法]采用归纳总结法,通过对国内外相关研究成果进行借鉴、归纳总结,从法律机制建立原则、法律机制构建内容和湿地生态补偿法律保障措施等3个方面构建福建省湿地生态补偿法律机制及分析其效用。[结果]发现当前福建省湿地生态补偿法律机制存在的问题主要有:(1)立法理念不准确;(2)缺乏有力的法律支撑;(3)湿地生态补偿法律保护不完整。[结论]福建省在湿地生态补偿法律机制构建方面尚处于薄弱阶段,无法达到为福建省的湿地保护以及进行湿地生态补偿提供法律保障的程度。并对此提出3点建议:(1)完善法律法规体系,加大执法力度;(2)明晰权责;(3)明确补偿方式。     

薪酬的边际激励效用递减规律和薪酬制度创新

由于薪酬的边际激励效用递减规律的作用，传统的固定的等级薪酬制度的激励效应存在很大缺陷，因此有必要建立一种人性的、随机的和鼓励创新的新的薪酬制度，以使薪酬的激励达到最大化。     

一个关于国内MBO中管理者效用与行为的分析框架

本文利用一个描述管理者收益效用的模型,试图说明:由于以追求控制权为偏好的管理者所得到的效用,与以追求企业绩效和价值为偏好、按照市场价格进行MBO的效用无差异。因此,管理者只有在收购价格低于企业价值的情况下,才会选择实施MBO。要引导国内的MBO走向规范的轨道,使其发挥价值创造的作用,除了制定、完善相应的法规,加强外部监督之外,更重要的是通过完善企业的激励机制,引导管理者的收益偏好,培育符合MBO资格的管理者,即具有企业家特征的管理者。     

假冒低劣食品与绿色食品消费的效用理论分析

应用西方微观经济学效用理论,针对当前绿色食品消费现象,及消费者在既定收入情况下选择绿色食品或非绿色食品消费取得效用最大化问题进行讨论,提出扩大绿色食品消费的对策。     

Infinite inequality systems and cardinal revelations

Summary. Many economics problems are maximization or minimization problems, and can be formalized as problems of solving linear difference systems of the form and r _k -r _l > c _kl , for r-unknowns, with given c-constants. They typically involve strict as well as weak inequalities, with infinitely many inequalities and unknowns. Since strict inequalities are not preserved under passage to the limit, infinite systems with strict inequalities are notoriously hard to solve. We introduce a unifying tool for solving them. Our main result (Theorem 1 for the countable case, Theorem [2] for the not-necessarily-countable case) introduces a uniform solvability criterion (the -Axiom), and our proof yields a method for solving those that are solvable. The axioms economic intuition extends the traditional ordinal notion of revealed preference to a cardinal notion. We give applications in producer theory, consumer theory, implementation theory, and constrained maximization theory.Received: 21 May 2003, Revised: 29 October 2004, JEL Classification Numbers: C69, D21, D11, D82. Correspondence to: Marcel K. RichterWe thank Professor Leonid Hurwicz for helpful discussions, and a referee for helpful comments.     

Household Use of Agricultural Chemicals for Soil-Pest Management and Own Labor for Yard Work

In spite of its potential health and environmental risks and contribution to agribusiness, the use of agricultural chemicals for yard care has not been well studied. In our discrete-continuous choice model, estimated with data from a national survey, a household chooses how much money, if any, to initially spend on types of agricultural chemicals and applicators and how much time to subsequently spend on other yard work. Households in big cities or with large gardens are more likely to use organic chemicals. The probability that a household chooses a mix of do-it-yourself and hired applications of synthetic chemicals increases with income, age, and the presence of preschoolers. Among households that apply only synthetic chemicals without hired help, those with young children, with higher incomes, in big cities, and with male heads spend more on the chemicals. The time that such households spend on other yard work increases with expenditures on the chemicals. Cancellation of a pesticide registration might create an extra private cost for households with young children even though the ban might reduce external costs.