The case for property in the long run: a cointegration test

The benefits of property in the mixed asset portfolio has been the subject of a number of studies both in the UK and around the world. The traditional way of investigating this issue is to use MPT with the results suggesting that Property should play a significant role in the mixed asset portfolio. These results are not without criticism and generally revolve around quality and quantity of the property data series. To overcome these deficiencies this paper uses cointegration methodology which examines the longer term time series behaviour of various asset markets using a very long run desmoothed data series. Using a number of different cointegration tests, both pair-wise and multivariate, the results show, in unambiguous terms, that there is no contemporous cointegration between the major asset classes Property, Equities and Bonds. The implications of which are that Property does indeed have a risk reducing place to play in the long-run strategic mixed-asset portfolio. A result of particular relevance to institutions such as pension funds and life insurance companies who would wish to hold investments for the long-term.

A battle of elephants: (I)legitimate ethical voices?

In this paper, we aim to distil myriad stakeholder voices through a Foucaudian theoretical apparatus in the establishment of ethical stakeholder voices amidst a takeover of a Ghanaian National Bank with ownership control by the state National Pension Fund and Insurance Company. Resonating with Foucault’s position that, the prove and an actual practice of ethical principles despite risk is non-existent within a democracy, this paper reveals how stakeholders in a takeover further their own interest to the neglect of the very germane societal expectation of a salient stakeholder role. We further fill an existing gap within the stakeholder literature that posit of stakeholders as always possessing the right and ethical voices. We conclude that, despite Foucault’s last lecture of The Courage of Truth: The Government of the Self and others having proven of a robust apparatus in distilling ethical voices from non-ethical within the realm of a democratic field, its idealist nature demands a counterfactual position.

Trading death: the implications of annuity replication for the annuity puzzle, arbitrage, speculation and portfolios

Annuities are perceived as being illiquid financial instruments, and this has limited their attractiveness to consumers and their inclusion in financial models. However, short positions in annuities can be replicated using life insurance and debt, permitting long positions in annuities to be offset, or short annuity positions to be created. The implications of this result for the annuity puzzle, arbitrage between the annuity and life insurance markets, and speculation on expected longevity are investigated. It is argued that annuity replication could help reduce the annuity puzzle, improve the price efficiency of annuity markets and promote the inclusion of annuities in household portfolios.

Evidências empírico-exploratórias de fatores críticos de sucesso em treinamentos corporativos a distância via web

The goal of this dissertation is to identify some of the relevant elements that are related to corporate in-house training programs via the worldwide web. An analysis of the way these factors act upon the success of these processes was conducted. To complete this assignment, one real case was studied using the methodology proposed and which in itself was actually used by an insurance company. The results obtained suggest that some components influence the accomplishment of this procedure. According to the results verified, they do bring a set of observations that must be considered by companies in their implementation strategies of this kind of training program.

Responsabilidade social empresarial no mercado de seguros brasileiro: influências culturais e implicações relacionais

The Brazilian insurance market is the ambience in which this research study takes place in search for a better understanding of how cultural characteristics are related with organizational signs, practices and expectations on social responsibility. The concepts of social responsibility as well as the concept of culture are presented and discussed from different points of view, in accordance with different authors and trough several methodological approaches, in order to establish a coherent theoretical basis for qualitative data analysis. The phenomenological attitude assumed by the researcher in especial dialogues situations during the field research phase added new possibilities of apprehension or emergence of each studied organization self orientation in terms of pre-occupation with social issues intimately related with their insurance activities in the market place. Final reflections show the complexity of the insurance cultural context in the studied Brazilian segment, in which cultural and subcultural national and organizational singularities appear. However leaving space for common values and coherent orientation toward the peculiar understanding of social responsibility as inherent to any insurance company activities, themselves. Last comments point out that future research studies may give additional contribution for the continuity of the discussions initiated in this dissertation, expecting that some changes in the organizational posture and practices may happen, especially those related with risk taking and broad processes of communication with clients and society as a whole.

Garantias financeiras em seguros vida e previdência: um modelo de avaliação

Recentemente, o mercado brasileiro regulamentou produtos de seguro de vida e previdência com garantia de uma remuneração mínima, a ser corrigida por um índice de preços e acrescida da participação em retorno de fundo específico de investimento. Esta tese vem dar sua contribuição no âmbito da crescente demanda pela avaliação econômico financeira destes produtos. Esta demanda é motivada não apenas pelas exigências regulatórias internacionais mas também pelas necessidades de real percepção dos riscos fincnaceiros envolvidos. Assim, é aqui proposto um modelo de precificação cuja finalidade é permitir a calibragem, dentro de uma condição definida de equilíbrio, dos parâmetros de garantias de um contrato - taxa mínima e participação. Estes são assim determinados em função não só da maturidade estabelecida, como também das expectativas relativas às variáveis de mercado, como taxas de juros, volatilidade dos ativos e índice de preços. O modelo proposto mostrou comportamento similar ao constatado num conjunto referencial de modelos. Por esta razão, sugere-se que ele é adequado, dentro das limitações colocadas, ao processo de precificação dos produtos em questão.

Concentração nos mercados brasileiros de seguros, previdência e capitalização

Os mercados de seguros regulados pela SUSEP apresentaram queda no número de empresas e elevação no índice de concentração de Herfindahl Hirschman. O que parece um quadro preocupante no âmbito da regulação é atenuado pela diminuição do índice de Gini e outros testes de poder de mercado que não indicam que esta queda no número de empresas tenha tido impacto sobre o nível de preços. Assim como esperado a partir da evidência internacional, a concentração é maior nos mercados de seguros de vida do que nos não-vida. Este fato tem reflexo nos preços, que apresentam patamares mais altos nos seguros de vida, indicando diferença mais substancial entre mercados.

Conflito de agência no consórcio DPVAT: uma análise à luz da nova economia institucional sob a perspectiva da teoria da agência

Diferentes arranjos institucionais resultam em diferentes incentivos para a realização de trocas econômicas. Com efeito, estruturas regulatórias implementadas em determinado contexto histórico-econômico podem resultar em consequências diversas daquelas originariamente pretendidas, impondo ao regulador a necessidade de constante monitoramento e de intervenções com vistas a diagnosticar e corrigir ou minimizar possíveis distorções nas relações entre os atores envolvidos. Assim, esta dissertação tem por objetivo analisar o funcionamento do Consórcio do Seguro DPVAT como mecanismo de conexão entre seus diversos stakeholders. Pretende-se analisar a existência de conflitos de interesses derivados das diversas relações entre as partes interligadas – geradas pelo arranjo institucional firmado para a gestão dos recursos arrecadados com os prêmios pagos pelos proprietários de veículo automotor para o Seguro de Danos Pessoais Causados por Veículos Automotores de Via Terrestre, ou por sua carga, a Pessoas Transportadas ou Não (DPVAT) – que possam suscitar intervenção regulatória no sentido de evitá-los, ou, ao menos, mitigá-los. A pesquisa é conduzida a partir da identificação dos comportamentos esperados de agentes econômicos autointeressados, tendo por referência os pressupostos da Nova Economia Institucional sob a perspectiva da Teoria da Agência, e do exame das principais mudanças legislativas havidas na estrutura do seguro obrigatório de trânsito no Brasil nos últimos 50 anos. Na sequência, com base em elementos teóricos e empíricos, foram identificados e analisados três conflitos de agência entre os stakeholders do Consórcio DPVAT: o primeiro seria aquele havido entre a entidade gestora do Consórcio DPVAT (agente) e as sociedades seguradoras consorciadas (principal); o segundo conflito observado refere-se à relação mantida entre a entidade gestora do Consórcio DPVAT (agente) e o órgão regulador (principal); e, por fim, o conflito de agência existente entre a seguradora que administra o referido consórcio (agente) e os proprietários de veículo automotor (principal).

CC98-410 Money 2000+ News (Introductory Issue)

Money 2000+ is a program designed to increase the financial well being of Nebraskans through increased savings and reduced household debt. This Campaign Circular, Money 2000+ News is an introductory publication to this program which talks about setting goals for saving money, downsizing your debt with ways to save with credit cards, passing up things that waste money, record keeping, looking for ways to save money, avoiding late fees, and saving and credit tips.

Perceptions of Procedural and Distributive Justice in the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund

The September l1th Victim Compensation Fund (the Fund) was created in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Much has been written about the Fund, both pro and con, in both popular media and scholarly literature. Perhaps the most widely used term in referring to the Fund is "unprecedented." The Fund is intriguing for many reasons, particularly for its public policy implications and its impact on the claimants themselves. The federal government has never before provided compensation to victims of terrorism through a special master who had virtually unlimited discretion in determining awards. Consequently, this formal allocation of money by a representative of the federal government to its citizens has provided an opportunity to test theories of procedural and distributive justice in a novel context. This article tests these theories by analyzing the results of a study of the Fund's claimants. Part I provides general background, summarizes existing commentary on the Fund, and discusses prior research on social justice that is relevant to the 9/11 claimants' experiences with the Fund. Part II of this article describes the methodology behind the study, in which seventy-one individuals who filed claims with the Fund completed surveys about their experiences with and perceptions of the Fund. Part III discusses the survey results. We found that participants were reasonably satisfied with the procedural aspects of the Fund, such as representatives' impartiality and respectful treatment. Participants were less satisfied, however, with the distributive aspects of the Fund, such as the unequal distribution of compensation and the reduction in compensation if claimants received compensation from other sources (e.g., life insurance). Part IV of this article addresses the implications of the study results for public policy and for theories of social justice.

EC77-865 Have It Your Way By Making A Will

Making a will is not the sad and gloomy picture painted by some people. Quite the contrary! A person who makes a will is creating his or her own blueprint for the future. A will, like life insurance, social security, or retirement plans, provides security and peace of mind. The person who has a will made can rest assured that property and loved ones will be taken care of precisely in the manner he or she desires. This publication presents basic information about wills, one of the most important documents a person can make or possess. This information can be useful both to those who have already made a will and those who have not.

The Permanent Income Hypothesis: A Test on Czech Privatisation

Since the late eighties, economists have been regarding the transition from command to market economies in Central and Eastern Europe with intense interest. In addition to studying the transition per se, they have begun using the region as a testing ground on which to investigate the validity of certain classic economic propositions. In his research, comprising three articles written in English and totalling 40 pages, Mr. Hanousek uses the so-called "Czech national experiment" (voucher privatisation scheme) to test the permanent income hypothesis (PIH). He took as his inspiration Kreinin's recommendation: "Since data concerning the behaviour of windfall income recipients is relatively scanty, and since such data can constitute an important test of the permanent income hypothesis, it is of interest to bring to bear on the hypothesis whatever information is available". Mr. Hanousek argues that, since the transfer of property to Czech citizens from 1992 to 1994 through the voucher scheme was not anticipated, it can be regarded as windfall income. The average size of the windfall was more than three month's salary and over 60 percent of the Czech population received this unexpected income. Furthermore, there are other reasons for conducting such an analysis in the Czech Republic. Firstly, the privatisation process took place quickly. Secondly, both the economy and consumer behaviour have been very stable. Thirdly, out of a total population of 10 million Czech citizens, an astonishing 6 million, that is, virtually every household, participated in the scheme. Thus Czech voucher privatisation provides a sample for testing the PIH almost equivalent to a full population, thus avoiding problems with the distribution of windfalls. Compare this, for instance with the fact that only 4% of the Israeli urban population received personal restitution from Germany, while the number of veterans who received the National Service Life Insurance Dividends amounted to less than 9% of the US population and were concentrated in certain age groups. But to begin with, Mr. Hanousek considers the question of whether the public percieves the transfer from the state to individual as an increase in net wealth. It can be argued that the state is only divesting itself of assets that would otherwise provide a future source of transfers. According to this argument, assigning these assets to individuals creates an offsetting change in the present value of potential future transfers so that individuals are no better off after the transfer. Mr. Hanousek disagrees with this approach. He points out that a change in the ownership of inefficient state-owned enterprises should lead to higher efficiency, which alone increases the value of enterprises and creates a windfall increase in citizens' portfolios. More importantly, the state and individuals had very different preferences during the transition. Despite government propaganda, it is doubtful that citizens of former communist countries viewed government-owned enterprises as being operated in the citizens' best interest. Moreover, it is unlikely that the public fully comprehended the sophisticated links between the state budget, state-owned enterprises, and transfers to individuals. Finally, the transfers were not equal across the population. Mr. Hanousek conducted a survey on 1263 individuals, dividing them into four monthly earnings categories. After determining whether the respondent had participated in the voucher process, he asked those who had how much of what they received from voucher privatisation had been (a) spent on goods and services, (b) invested elsewhere, (c) transferred to newly emerging pension funds, (d) given to a family member, and (e) retained in their original form as an investment. Both the mean and the variance of the windfall rise with income. He obtained similar results with respect to education, where the mean (median) windfall for those with a basic school education was 13,600 Czech Crowns (CZK), a figure that increased to 15,000 CZK for those with a high school education without exams, 19,900 CZK for high school graduates with exams, and 24,600 CZK for university graduates. Mr. Hanousek concludes that it can be argued that higher income (and better educated) groups allocated their vouchers or timed the disposition of their shares better. He turns next to an analysis of how respondents reported using their windfalls. The key result is that only a relatively small number of individuals reported spending on goods. Overall, the results provide strong support for the permanent income hypothesis, the only apparent deviation being the fact that both men and women aged 26 to 35 apparently consume more than they should if the windfall were annuitised. This finding is still fully consistent with the PIH, however, if this group is at a stage in their life-cycle where, without the windfall, they would be borrowing to finance consumption associated with family formation etc. Indeed, the PIH predicts that individuals who would otherwise borrow to finance consumption would consume the windfall up to the level equal to the annuitised fraction of the increase in lifetime income plus the full amount of the previously planned borrowing for consumption. Greater consumption would then be financed, not from investing the windfall, but from avoidance of future repayment obligations for debts that would have been incurred without the windfall.

Complementary and alternative medicine costs - a systematic literature review

Objective: The aim of this literature review, performed within the framework of the Swiss governmental Program of Evaluation of Complementary Medicine (PEK), was to investigate costs of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Materials and Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in 11 electronic databases. All retrieved titles and reference lists were also hand-searched. Results: 38 publications were found: 23 on CAM of various definitions (medical and non-medical practitioners, over-the-counter products), 13 on homeopathy, 2 on phytotherapy. Studies investigated different kinds of costs (direct or indirect) and used different methods (prospective or retrospective questionnaires, data analyses, cost-effectiveness models). Most studies report 'out of pocket' costs, because CAM is usually not covered by health insurance. Costs per CAM-treatment / patient / month were AUD 7-66, CAD 250 and GBP 13.62 +/- 1.61. Costs per treatment were EUR 205 (range: 15-1,278), USD 414 +/- 269 and USD 1,127. In two analyses phytotherapy proved to be cost-effective. One study revealed a reduction of 1.5 days of absenteeism from work in the CAM group compared to conventionally treated patients. Another study, performed by a health insurance company reported a slight increase in direct costs for CAM. Costs for CAM covered by insurance companies amounted to approximately 0.2-0.5% of the total healthcare budget (Switzerland, 2003). Publications had several limitations, e.g. efficacy of therapies was rarely reported. As compared to conventional patients, CAM patients tend to cause lower costs. Conclusion: Results suggest lower costs for CAM than for conventional patients, but the limited methodological quality lowers the significance of the available data. Further well-designed studies and models are required.

The Amplifier - v. 7, no. 3

In this issue...Nuclear Reactor Testing Station, Arco, Idaho, Wesley club, Northern Pacific Railroad, Newman Club, geology, Russell Barthell, Main Hall, Thanksgiving, Montana Power

Three-year cost analysis of function-centred versus pain-centred inpatient rehabilitation in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain

OBJECTIVE: To compare costs of function- and pain-centred inpatient treatment in patients with chronic low back pain over 3 years of follow-up. DESIGN: Cost analysis of a randomized controlled trial. PATIENTS: A total of 174 patients with chronic low back pain were randomized to function- or pain-centred inpatient treatment. METHODS: Data on direct and indirect costs were gathered by questionnaires sent to patients, health insurance providers, employers, and the Swiss Disability Insurance Company. RESULTS: There was a non-significant difference in total medical costs after 3 years' follow-up. Total costs were 77,305 Euros in the function-centred inpatient treatment group and 83,085 Euros in the pain-centred inpatient treatment group. Likewise, indirect costs after 3 years from lost work days were non-significantly lower in the function-centred in-patient treatment group (6354 Euros; 95% confidence interval -20,892, 8392) and direct medical costs were non-significantly higher in the function-centred inpatient treatment group (574 Euros; 95% confidence interval -862, 2011). CONCLUSION: The total costs of function-centred and pain-centred inpatient treatment were similar over the whole 3-year follow-up.