On the impact of leverage constraints on asset prices and trading volume

Researchers have used stylized facts on asset prices and trading volumein stock markets (in particular, the mean reversion of asset returnsand the correlations between trading volume, price changes and pricelevels) to support theories where agents are not rational expected utilitymaximizers. This paper shows that this empirical evidence is in factconsistent with a standard infite horizon perfect information expectedutility economy where some agents face leverage constraints similar tothose found in todays financial markets. In addition, and in sharpcontrast to the theories above, we explain some qualitative differencesthat are observed in the price-volume relation on stock and on futuresmarkets. We consider a continuous-time economy where agents maximize theintegral of their discounted utility from consumption under both budgetand leverage con-straints. Building on the work by Vila and Zariphopoulou(1997), we find a closed form solution, up to a negative constant, for theequilibrium prices and demands in the region of the state space where theconstraint is non-binding. We show that, at the equilibrium, stock holdingsvolatility as well as its ratio to stock price volatility are increasingfunctions of the stock price and interpret this finding in terms of theprice-volume relation.

Value and prices in Russian economic thought (1890-1920)

The subject "Value and prices in Russian economic thought (1890--1920)" should evoke several names and debates in the reader's mind. For a long time, Western scholars have been aware that the Russian economists Tugan-Baranovsky and Bortkiewicz were active participants to the Marxian transformation problem, that the mathematical models of Dmitriev prefigured forthcoming neoricardian based models, and that many Russian economists were either supporting the Marxian labour theory of value or being revisionists. Moreover, these ideas were preparing the ground for Soviet planning. Russian scholars additionally knew that this period was the time of introduction of marginalism in Russia, and that, during this period, economists were active in thinking the relation of ethics with economic theory. All these issues are well covered in the existing literature. But there is a big gap that this dissertation intends to fill. The existing literature handles these pieces separately, although they are part of a single, more general, history. All these issues (the labour theory of value, marginalism, the Marxian transformation problem, planning, ethics, mathematical economics) were part of what this dissertation calls here "The Russian synthesis". The Russian synthesis (in the singular) designates here all the attempts at synthesis between classical political economy and marginalism, between labour theory of value and marginal utility, and between value and prices that occurred in Russian economic thought between 1890 and 1920, and that embraces the whole set of issues evoked above. This dissertation has the ambition of being the first comprehensive history of that Russian synthesis. In this, this contribution is unique. It has always surprised the author of the present dissertation that such a book has not yet been written. Several good reasons, both in terms of scarce availability of sources and of ideological restrictions, may accounted for a reasonable delay of several decades. But it is now urgent to remedy the situation before the protagonists of the Russian synthesis are definitely classified under the wrong labels in the pantheon of economic thought. To accomplish this task, it has seldom be sufficient to gather together the various existing studies on aspects of this story. It as been necessary to return to the primary sources in the Russian language. The most important part of the primary literature has never been translated, and in the last years only some of them have been republished in Russian. Therefore, most translations from the Russian have been made by the author of the present dissertation. The secondary literature has been surveyed in the languages that are familiar (Russian, English and French) or almost familiar (German) to the present author, and which are hopefully the most pertinent to the present investigation. Besides, and in order to increase the acquaintance with the text, which was the objective of all this, some archival sources were used. The analysis consists of careful chronological studies of the authors' writings and their evolution in their historical and intellectual context. As a consequence, the dissertation brings new authors to the foreground - Shaposhnikov and Yurovsky - who were traditionally confined to the substitutes' bench, because they only superficially touched the domains quoted above. In the Russian synthesis however, they played an important part of the story. As a side effect, some authors that used to play in the foreground - Dmitriev and Bortkiewicz - are relegated to the background, but are not forgotten. Besides, the dissertation refreshes the views on authors already known, such as Ziber and, especially, Tugan-Baranovsky. The ultimate objective of this dissertation is to change the opinion that one could have on "value and prices in Russian economic thought", by setting the Russian synthesis at the centre of the debates.

F-1 Food Assistance Program State Summary, October 2007

The Food Assistance Monthly Participation Report is a monthly summary of Food Assistance program participation, Statewide and for each Iowa county. Breakouts are reported for participants also in the FIP program, those only receiving Food Assistance, and those that are receiving economic assistance under other programs (primarily Medicaid). This report may also be known as the F-1 Report.

F-1 Food Assistance Program State Summary, November 2007

The Food Assistance Monthly Participation Report is a monthly summary of Food Assistance program participation, Statewide and for each Iowa county. Breakouts are reported for participants also in the FIP program, those only receiving Food Assistance, and those that are receiving economic assistance under other programs (primarily Medicaid). This report may also be known as the F-1 Report.

Utilização do target costing na determinação do preço de venda: O caso da Alvo, s.a.

Com a crescente competitividade no mundo empresarial, os preços dos produtos passaram a exercer um papel fundamental na expansão e sobrevivência das empresas. Consequentemente, hoje em dia é o mercado que determina o preço de venda de um produto, devendo a empresa produzir ao menor custo possível para garantir o retorno financeiro desejado. O objectivo do trabalho é verificar se os procedimentos de Target Costing podem ser aplicados nas Pequenas e Médias Empresas industriais, em São Vicente, cuja actividade também se destina à produção de produtos alimentícios. Como produto teste foi selecionado o produto A, confecçionado pela empresa Alvo, SA. Para atingirmos os objectivos foram utilizadas várias técnicas e métodos de pesquisa, tais como: levantamento bibliográfico, entrevista, conversas informais, questionário, levantamento de dados nos documentos financeiros da empresa ALVO, SA. Para entendermos e aplicarmos o processo de Target Costing recorreu-se à literatura do mesmo. Foi aplicado um questionário para ver a percepção dos clientes da empresa objecto de estudo, quanto ao preço que considerariam ideal pagar por cada quilograma do produto A adquirida. A entrevista realizada com o director geral da ALVO, SA acompanhada com os dados obtidos do departamento de contabilidade serviram como um meio de conhecer a empresa e o seu funcionamento, realçando informações sobre a fixação do preço venda dos seus produtos, a gestão de custos, entre outros. Antes de testar, através de um caso prático, a aplicação do Target Costing, verificou-se, primeiramente, sua aplicação em termos teóricos, testando os seus princípios e premissas para o produto A, na Empresa ALVO, SA. Como resultado constactou-se que os procedimentos de Target Costing podem ser aplicados, tanto na teoria como na prática, nas Pequenas e Médias Empresas industriais, em São Vicente, cuja actividade se destina a produção do produto A. With the increasing competition in the business world, the prices of products have come to play a key role in the expansion and survival of businesses. Consequently, today the selling price of a product is determined by the market so companies should produce at the lowest possible cost to ensure the desired financial return. The purpose of this paper work is to verify if the Target Costing’s procedure can be applied in small and medium business enterprises in São Vicente, whose activity is production of food. For that, product A was selected for tests. In order to achieve these objectives, some techniques and research methods like bibliographic analysis, interviews, informal conversations, questionnaires and analysis of the financial documents of ALVO, SA that is the subject of this case study, were utilized. With the intention of understanding and applying the Target Costing process we also resorted to a detailed reading of related bibliography. A questionnaire was applied in order to know the customers’ opinions about the ideal price for each kilogram of product A. The interview with the managing director of ALVO, SA, combined with the data obtained in the accounting department, was also used as a way to know the company, and it ’s functioning, highlight ing items such as: selling price format ion, cost management, among other aspects. Before testing, through a practical case study, the use of the Target Costing, the theoretical application was firstly verified by testing its principles and assumptions. Secondly, the application of the Target Costing’s process was shown step by step concerning product A at ALVO SA company. As a result we came to the conclusion that procedures used with Target Costing can be applied, in theory and in practice, in small or medium-sized industrial enterprises, in São Vicente, where product A is being manufactured.

International commodity prices, growth and the outbreak of Civil War in Sub-Saharan Africa

To learn more about the effect of economic conditions oncivil war, we examine whether Sub-Saharan civil wars aremore likely to start following downturns in the internationalprice of countries main export commodities. The data showa robust effect of commodity price downturns on the outbreakof civil wars. We also find that Sub-Saharan countries aremore likely to see civil wars following economic downturnsin their main OECD export destinations.

Factor prices and productivity growth during the British Industrial Revolution

This paper presents new estimates of total factor productivity growth in Britain for the period1770 1860. We use the dual technique and argue that the estimates we derive from factorprices are of similar quality to quantity-based calculations. Our results provide further evidence,calculated on the basis of an independent set of sources, that productivity growth duringthe British Industrial Revolution was relatively slow. The Crafts Harley view of theIndustrial Revolution is thus reinforced. Our preferred estimates suggest a modest accelerationafter 1800.

Low compliance with dietary recommendations for food intake among adults.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: To assess the adherence to the national dietary recommendations and to identify factors contributing to dietary compliance in Switzerland. METHODS: Population-based cross-sectional study in Lausanne, Switzerland (CoLaus study), 2009-2012. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Participants were dichotomized according to whether they followed the national recommendations for fruits, vegetables, meat, fish and dairy products. RESULTS: Data from 4371 participants (54% women, mean age ± SD: 57.6 ± 10.5 years) were analyzed. Compliance with the recommendations was low: only 39.4%, 7.1%, 61.3%, 66.4%, and 8.4% complied with the Swiss recommendations for fruit (≥2/day), vegetables (≥3/day), meat (≤5/week), fish (≥1/week) and dairy products (≥3/day), respectively. In multivariate analyses, gender, age, smoking status, Swiss-born status, education, being on a diet and body mass index were associated with dietary compliance, while no difference was found between women before and after menopause. Factors specifically associated with fruits, vegetables, meat, fish or dairy products recommendations were identified. CONCLUSION: The low degree of compliance with dietary recommendations calls for a continued effort to increase the population awareness of the importance of a healthy and balanced diet, especially for vegetables and dairy products. This study identified determinants that should guide this effort.

F-1 Food Assistance Program State Summary, December 2007

The Food Assistance Monthly Participation Report is a monthly summary of Food Assistance program participation, Statewide and for each Iowa county. Breakouts are reported for participants also in the FIP program, those only receiving Food Assistance, and those that are receiving economic assistance under other programs (primarily Medicaid). This report may also be known as the F-1 Report.

A general decomposition formula for derivative prices in stochastic volatility models

We see that the price of an european call option in a stochastic volatilityframework can be decomposed in the sum of four terms, which identifythe main features of the market that affect to option prices: the expectedfuture volatility, the correlation between the volatility and the noisedriving the stock prices, the market price of volatility risk and thedifference of the expected future volatility at different times. We alsostudy some applications of this decomposition.

F-1 Food Assistance Program State Summary, January 2008

The Food Assistance Monthly Participation Report is a monthly summary of Food Assistance program participation, Statewide and for each Iowa county. Breakouts are reported for participants also in the FIP program, those only receiving Food Assistance, and those that are receiving economic assistance under other programs (primarily Medicaid). This report may also be known as the F-1 Report.

F-1 Food Assistance Program State Summary, February 2008

The Food Assistance Monthly Participation Report is a monthly summary of Food Assistance program participation, Statewide and for each Iowa county. Breakouts are reported for participants also in the FIP program, those only receiving Food Assistance, and those that are receiving economic assistance under other programs (primarily Medicaid). This report may also be known as the F-1 Report.

F-1 Food Assistance Program State Summary, March 2008

The Food Assistance Monthly Participation Report is a monthly summary of Food Assistance program participation, Statewide and for each Iowa county. Breakouts are reported for participants also in the FIP program, those only receiving Food Assistance, and those that are receiving economic assistance under other programs (primarily Medicaid). This report may also be known as the F-1 Report.

Firm-specific investment, sticky prices and the Taylor principle

According to the Taylor principle a central bank should adjust the nominal interest rate by more than one-for-one in response to changes in current inflation. Most of the existing literature supports the view that by following this simple recommendation a central bank can avoid being a source of unnecessary fluctuations in economic activity. The present paper shows that this conclusion is not robust with respect to the modelling of capital accumulation. We use our insights to discuss the desirability of alternative interest raterules. Our results suggest a reinterpretation of monetary policy under Volcker and Greenspan: The empirically plausible characterization of monetary policy can explain the stabilization of macroeconomic outcomes observed in the early eighties for the US economy. The Taylor principle in itself cannot.

The determinants of pricing in pharmaceuticals: Are U.S. prices really higher than those of Canada?

This paper studies price determination in pharmaceutical markets using data for 25 countries, six years and a comprehensive list of products from the MIDAS IMS database. We show that market power and the quality of the product has a significantly positive impact of prices. The nationality of the producer appears to have a small and often insignificant impact on prices, which suggests that countries which regulates prices have relatively little power to do it in a way that advances narrow national interest. We produce a theoretical explanation for this phenomenon based on the fact that low negotiated prices in a country would have a knock-on effect in other markets, and is thus strongly resisted by producers.Another key finding is that the U.S. has prices that are not significantly higher than those of countries with similar income levels. This, together with the former observation on the effect of the nationality of producers casts doubt on the ability of countries to pursue "free-riding" regulation.