A separation theorem for the weak s-convex orders

The present paper extends to higher degrees the well-known separation theorem decomposing a shift in the increasing convex order into a combination of a shift in the usual stochastic order followed by another shift in the convex order. An application in decision making under risk is provided to illustrate the interest of the result.     

Revenue in contests with many participants

We show that in a contest with a single prize, the expected effort made by the k$k$th highest valuation participant bounds the sum of the expected efforts made by all of the participants with valuations less than the k$k$th highest valuations. We also show that in the limit case of a contest with m$m$ prizes, the expected effort made by the k$k$th highest valuation participant when the bidders are risk-neutral is greater than the expected effort in the risk-averse case.     

奈特不确定条件下企业有成本可逆投资策略研究

风险是企业投资决策关键影响因素之一,采纳奈特不确定性来刻画风险,并在此基础上构建了模糊规避偏好和投资有成本可逆条件下企业投资决策模型.模型结果表明企业最优投资策略为双阈值策略:企业增加投资以避免资本边际收益大于上限阈值,削减资本存量以避免资本边际收益低于下限阈值,当资本边际收益处于上下限阈值之间时,企业既不增加投资也不削减资本.比较静态分析显示奈特不确定性增加会降低最优投资策略上下限阈值范围.     

Contractivity of Bellman operator in risk averse dynamic programming with infinite horizon

The paper deals with a risk averse dynamic programming problem with infinite horizon. First, the required assumptions are formulated to have the problem well defined. Then the Bellman equation is derived, which may be also seen as a standalone reinforcement learning problem. The fact that the Bellman operator is contraction is proved, guaranteeing convergence of various solution algorithms used for dynamic programming as well as reinforcement learning problems, which we demonstrate on the value iteration and the policy iteration algorithms.     

The decision to raise firm value through a sports-business exchange: How much are Real Madrid’s goals worth to its president’s company’s goals?

Global brands emerging from the world of sports are becoming commonplace, and firms invest in the realm of sports, usually through sponsorship initiatives, to get a link with these global brands. Over and above just a mere business link, what if a company makes a personal commitment to get into the core of a renowned, celebrated sports team? This article provides managers with a procedure to analyze, in a weekly basis, how valuable this type of decision is. A conceptual model shows that the personal involvement of a firm’s figurehead in a first-class sports club can impact positively on firm value if the person is doing well in the task s/he is entrusted with by the club. The empirical application to the soccer club Real Madrid, over 1,409 days and 215 matches, finds that the club’s performance on the field has a significant impact on the economic returns of its president’s company, with asymmetrical effects on firm value in a “loss aversion” pattern, that is, lost matches have a greater effect on firm value than games won.     

Inventory competition for newsvendors under the objective of profit satisficing

Inventory competition for newsvendors (NVs) has been studied extensively under the objective of expected profit maximization which is based on risk neutrality. In this paper, we study this classic problem under the objective of profit satisficing which is based on downside-risk aversion. Consistent with prior literature, we consider two possible scenarios. In the first scenario, each NV’s demand depends on the stocking levels of all NVs other than herself. In this scenario, we show that there is a unique Nash equilibrium where all NVs optimally order as if they were independent. In the second scenario, each NV’s demand depends on the stocking levels of all NVs including herself. We prove the existence of Nash equilibrium for both additive and multiplicative forms of demands. As a special case, we also study symmetrical NVs under the proportional allocation model. We show that at equilibrium, if the number of NVs exceeds a threshold, the market becomes highly competitive.     

The minmax regret gradual covering location problem on a network with incomplete information of demand weights

The gradual covering location problem seeks to establish facilities on a network so as to maximize the total demand covered, allowing partial coverage. We focus on the gradual covering location problem when the demand weights associated with nodes of the network are random variables whose probability distributions are unknown. Using only information on the range of these random variables, this study is aimed at finding the “minmax regret” location that minimizes the worst-case coverage loss. We show that under some conditions, the problem is equivalent to known location problems (e.g. the minmax regret median problem). Polynomial time algorithms are developed for the problem on a general network with linear coverage decay functions.     

Optimal investment of DC pension plan under short-selling constraints and portfolio insurance

In this paper we investigate an optimal investment problem under short-selling and portfolio insurance constraints faced by a defined contribution pension fund manager who is loss averse. The financial market consists of a cash bond, an indexed bond and a stock. The manager aims to maximize the expected S-shaped utility of the terminal wealth exceeding a minimum guarantee. We apply the dual control method to solve the problem and derive the representations of the optimal wealth process and trading strategies in terms of the dual controlled process and the dual value function. We also perform some numerical tests and show how the S-shaped utility, the short-selling constraints and the portfolio insurance impact the optimal terminal wealth.     

基于风险偏好的供应链企业社会责任投入与定价策略研究

本文研究制造商承担企业社会责任时,竞争市场下供应链的均衡价格策略。通过Stackelberg博弈模型,探讨供应链成员的风险规避程度、竞争市场的需求波动性和竞争市场的需求相关性以及制造商企业社会责任水平对供应链均衡策略的影响。研究表明,在制造商承担企业社会责任时,风险规避程度对价格策略的影响依赖于制造商企业社会责任水平的高低;竞争市场的需求波动性较大或竞争市场需求相关性较高时,制造商向下游风险规避型零售商提供较低的批发价格合约, 此时产品的市场价格降低,消费者福利增加;当制造商的生产成本较低时,承担越高的企业社会责任导致消费者福利增加;反之,当制造商的生产成本较高时,消费者福利总是减少。     

THE INSURANCE VALUE OF BIODIVERSITY IN THE PROVISION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

ABSTRACT. Biodiversity provides insurance against the uncertain provision of ecosystem services which are being used by risk‐averse economic agents. I present a conceptual ecological‐economic model that combines (i) current results from ecology about the relationships between biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and the provision of ecosystem services with (ii) economic methods to study decision‐making under uncertainty. In this framework I (1) determine the insurance value of biodiversity, (2) study the optimal allocation of funds in the trade‐off between investing into biodiversity protection and the purchase of financial insurance, and (3) analyze the effect of different institutional regimes in the market for financial insurance on biodiversity protection. I conclude that biodiversity acts as a form of natural insurance for risk‐averse ecosystem managers against the over‐ or under‐provision with ecosystem services. Therefore, biodiversity has an insurance value, which is a value component in addition to the usual value arguments, such as direct or indirect use or non‐use values. In this respect, biodiversity and financial insurance are substitutes. Hence, the availability, and exact institutional design, of financial insurance influence the level of biodiversity protection.