Optimal insurance under rank‐dependent utility and incentive compatibility

Bernard, He, Yan, and Zhou (Mathematical Finance, 25(1), 154–186) studied an optimal insurance design problem where an individual's preference is of the rank‐dependent utility (RDU) type, and show that in general an optimal contract covers both large and small losses. However, their results suffer from the unrealistic assumption that the random loss has no atom, as well as a problem of moral hazard that provides incentives for the insured to falsely report the actual loss. This paper addresses these setbacks by removing the nonatomic assumption, and by exogenously imposing the “incentive compatibility” constraint that both indemnity function and insured's retention function are increasing with respect to the loss. We characterize the optimal solutions via calculus of variations, and then apply the result to obtain explicitly expressed contracts for problems with Yaari's dual criterion and general RDU. Finally, we use numerical examples to compare the results between ours and Bernard et al.     

Latent vs. Observed Variables: Analysis of Irrigation Water Efficiency Using SEM and SUR

In this paper we compare conceptualising single factor technical and allocative efficiency as indicators of a single latent variable, or as separate observed variables. In the former case, the impacts on both efficiency types are analysed by means of structural equation modeling (SEM), in the latter by seemingly unrelated regression (SUR). We compare estimation results of the two approaches based on a dataset on single factor irrigation water use efficiency obtained from a survey of 360 farmers in the Guanzhong Plain, China. The main methodological findings are that SEM allows identification of the most important dimension of irrigation water efficiency (technical efficiency) via comparison of their factor scores and reliability. Moreover, it reduces multicollinearity and attenuation bias. It thus is preferable to SUR. The SEM estimates show that perception of water scarcity is the most important positive determinant of both types of efficiency, followed by irrigation infrastructure, income and water price. Furthermore, there is a strong negative reverse effect from efficiency on perception.     

GOVERNMENT SIZE AND GROWTH: A REJOINDER

In our 2011 survey of the literature in the Journal of Economic Surveys on the effect of government size on economic growth in wealthy countries we find a relatively consistent pattern: An increase in government size by 10 percentage points is associated with a 0.5–1 percentage point lower annual growth rate. This conclusion is questioned by Colombier. In this rejoinder we present a rebuttal of Colombier's argument based on a detailed scrutiny of his own statistical evidence and regression results. Furthermore, we note that several new papers that have appeared since our original paper was published give support to our main conclusion.     

Modelling tourism flows through gravity models: a quantile regression approach

Gravity models are widely used to study tourism flows. The peculiarities of the segmented international demand for agritourism in Italy are examined by means of a novel approach: a panel data quantile regression. We characterize the international demand for Italian agritourism with a large data set, by considering data of 33 countries of origin, from 1998 to 2010. Distance and income are the major determinants, but we also found that mutual agreements and high urbanization rates in countries of origin are associated with larger flows of incoming tourists.     

Kernel-type estimators for the distortion risk premiums of heavy-tailed distributions

A new kernel-type estimator for the distortion risk premiums of heavy-tailed losses is introduced. Using a least-squares approach, a bias-reduced version of this estimator is proposed. Under suitable assumptions, the asymptotic normality of the given estimators is established. A small simulation study, to illustrate the performance of our method, is carried out.     

投资者关注对金银期货市场收益影响的时频分位研究

根据Google投资者关注度指数和金银期货市场交易数据,构建基于小波分解序列的时频门限自回归分布滞后模型,通过分位数模型参数估计,基于时域与频域联合分析视角,考量投资者关注度对金银期货市场收益的影响。结果表明：投资者关注度对金银期货市场的影响具有异质性;在低频域内,投资者关注度对金银期货市场影响相对较小;极端分位数水平下,投资者关注度对金银期货市场收益影响的时效性较短,投资者关注度对白银期货市场收益的影响较弱。     

中国股市波动与成交量动态关系研究——基于分位数回归的角度

研究股市波动与成交量之间的动态关系对于了解股市的信息传导机制与微观结构有重要意义.本文基于广义混合分布假说理论,利用分位数回归方法对中国股市上证综指1994年1月至2007年12月的资料进行实证研究,结果发现:中国股市波动具有长期的持续性,负向消息对股市波动的影响大于正向消息;成交量与股市波动之间呈现显著的正向关系,即较大(小)的波动伴随着较大(小)的交易量,且这种关系随着波动增加而逐渐增强,同时具有不对称的特点.相对于传统实证方法,分位数回归对二者的动态关系提供了更完整的描述,能够弥补以往研究的不足.     

开放式基金"赎回之谜"的实证检验

我国开放式基金是否存在"赎回之谜"以及存在的条件和范围尚无明确的结论.运用多元线性回归模型、面板数据模型和分位数回归模型三种方法对我国开放式基金"赎回之谜"进行检验,结果显示:分位数模型能够捕捉基金业绩对基金净申购率的非对称性影响,这是多元线性回归模型和面板数据模型无法实现的.通过将分位数模型和对应分析方法结合使用,发...     

上证A股与B股市场的羊群效应比较研究

为研究国内股票市场中投资者的羊群行为,选取2006年1月4日到2010年11月19日上证A、B股的日收益率数据,采用羊群效应测度的CCK模型,分别用最小二乘法和分位数回归法对股票市场的羊群效应进行实证分析。研究显示,上证B股市场的羊群效应始终强于A股,上证A、B股市场中上涨市和下跌市中的羊群效应是不同的,上涨下跌市中的羊群效应强弱随着分位数的不同而改变。