Using simulation to establish appropriate vaccination rates and copayment policies from a cost perspective

Making the best decisions on vaccination policy during influenza seasons can be critical in minimizing overall costs for an insurance company. Using administrative data, company records, and published reports for the flu season during 2007–2008, a simulation model is developed to mimic the spread of influenza in children, to calculate the cost of vaccination, and the cost of treatment for infected children. The model is designed to allow for sensitivity analysis with different scenarios of vaccination rates and is implemented in a healthcare insurance company located in Southeast region of the USA. The experimental results show several advantages of simulation methodology, including its ability to mimic the complex behavior of a spreading influenza in a selected population group, while testing a range of alternative solutions for different disease scenarios. Based on the historical data, the proposed simulation suggests a vaccination policy that could significantly reduce the overall cost of the vaccination program.     

Analysis of Consumer Preferences for Table Olives—The Case of Albanian Urban Consumers

The table olive production sector is undergoing rapid changes, as the government is undertaking an ambitious program supporting the expansion of olive grove plantations. Despite the increase in domestic production, imports of table olives are still high, due to constraints in quantity and quality of domestically supplied olives. In the context of import substitution strategy, embraced by producers and policy-makers, it is important to analyze the consumer preferences for table olives. The objective of this paper is to segment the table olive market according to preferences for table olives attributes, and assess willingness to pay for the main product attributes, applying Conjoint Choice Experiment (CCE) and Latent Class Analysis to collect and analyze the data. The research results show a strong consumer preference for domestic table olives whereas preferences for other attributes and willingness to pay vary between consumer groups.     

Crypto quanto and inverse options

Over 90% of exchange trading on crypto options has always been on the Deribit platform. This centralized crypto exchange only lists inverse products because they do not accept fiat currency. Likewise, other major crypto options platforms only list crypto–stablecoin trading pairs in so-called direct options, which are similar to the standard crypto options listed by the CME except the US dollar is replaced by a stablecoin version. Until now a clear mathematical exposition of these products has been lacking. We discuss the sources of market incompleteness in direct and inverse options and compare their pricing and hedging characteristics. Then we discuss the useful applications of currency protected “quanto” direct and inverse options for fiat-based traders and describe their pricing and hedging characteristics, all in the Black–Scholes setting.