Flood Risk Acceptability and Economic Value of Evacuation

The economic value of evacuation and its relationship with flood risk acceptability in Japan were studied by applying the contingent valuation method (CVM). Flood risk acceptability here refers to the extent to which people accept the occurrence of floods, in terms of scale and frequency. The economic value of evacuation refers to people's willingness to pay (WTP) for avoiding evacuation inconvenience because of its inconvenience and the potential for certain losses as a result of evacuation. Our main finding was that over half of the people (56%) who actually evacuated in a real flood situation reported inconvenience. The greatest inconveniences were the shortages of information and food. Evacuation inconvenience can be regarded as an important factor causing the low rate of evacuation in Japan. The WTP for avoiding current inconvenience was approximately half of the estimated economic value of evacuation, implying that the current budget for evacuation is too small and should be increased to improve the conditions of evacuation sites. The economic value of evacuation can be taken into consideration in the risk assessment process in order to evaluate the efficiency of risk reduction measures. Flood risk acceptability and home ownership are two major statistically significantly determinants of the WTP. Considering that those who accept flood risk have a lower WTP for flood risk control (ex ante measures) than those who reject it, it is reasonable to think that there may be a tradeoff between the public WTPs for ex ante or ex post measures.     

Benefit Analysis for Natural Hazards

The objective of this paper is to develop the ex ante perspective for benefit analysis with natural hazards. It defines an ex ante evaluation of the economic benefits that arise from policies designed to reduce either the risk of or the detrimental effects associated with a natural hazard. In the process the paper compares the ex ante and ex post perspectives and discusses the prospects for implementing the framework by measuring the valuation concepts that are developed.     

Development of an Asset Value Map for Disaster Risk Assessment in China by Spatial Disaggregation Using Ancillary Remote Sensing Data

The extent of economic losses due to a natural hazard and disaster depends largely on the spatial distribution of asset values in relation to the hazard intensity distribution within the affected area. Given that statistical data on asset value are collected by administrative units in China, generating spatially explicit asset exposure maps remains a key challenge for rapid postdisaster economic loss assessment. The goal of this study is to introduce a top‐down (or downscaling) approach to disaggregate administrative‐unit level asset value to grid‐cell level. To do so, finding the highly correlated “surrogate” indicators is the key. A combination of three data sets—nighttime light grid, LandScan population grid, and road density grid, is used as ancillary asset density distribution information for spatializing the asset value. As a result, a high spatial resolution asset value map of China for 2015 is generated. The spatial data set contains aggregated economic value at risk at 30 arc‐second spatial resolution. Accuracy of the spatial disaggregation reflects redistribution errors introduced by the disaggregation process as well as errors from the original ancillary data sets. The overall accuracy of the results proves to be promising. The example of using the developed disaggregated asset value map in exposure assessment of watersheds demonstrates that the data set offers immense analytical flexibility for overlay analysis according to the hazard extent. This product will help current efforts to analyze spatial characteristics of exposure and to uncover the contributions of both physical and social drivers of natural hazard and disaster across space and time.     

Ex Ante and Ex Post Values for Changes in Risks

In this paper, I take risk to mean a composite of the probability of an adverse event and the severity of the consequences of the event. I explore two issues in the economic valuation of changes in individual risks brought about by public policies. These are: (1) the relationship between the values of risk prevention (i.e., the lowering of the probabilities of adverse events) and risk reduction (i.e., the reduction of the severity of the consequences of adverse events); and (2) the relationship between ex ante and ex post measures of the value of changes in risk.     

基于非排它性互换合约的管理层激励研究

管理者进行金融衍生品市场的非排它性股权互换交易会降低报酬合约的事后激励强度,并对企业价值和风险产生影响.本文在管理者可同时影响企业风险和企业价值的条件下,构建基于股权互换避险交易的管理者激励薪酬动态博弈模型.结果表明,当管理者投入产出效率高于某临界值时,互换避险的存在不会降低激励合约的强度;否则激励合约强度的减弱程度随...     

Risk Modeling, Assessment, and Management of Lahar Flow Threat

The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines is considered one of the most violent and destructive volcanic activities in the 20th century. Lahar is the Indonesian term for volcanic ash, and lahar flows resulting from the massive amount of volcanic materials deposited on the mountain's slope posed continued post-eruption threats to the surrounding areas, destroying lives, homes, agricultural products, and infrastructures. Risks of lahar flows were identified immediately after the eruption, with scientific data provided by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology, the U.S. Geological Survey, and other research institutions. However, competing political, economic, and social agendas subordinated the importance of scientific information to policy making. Using systemic risk analysis and management, this article addresses the issues of multiple objectives and the effective integration of scientific techniques into the decision-making process. It provides a modeling framework for identifying, prioritizing, and evaluating policies for managing risk. The major considerations are: (1) applying a holistic approach to risk analysis through hierarchical holographic modeling, (2) applying statistical methods to gain insight into the problem of uncertainty in risk assessment, (3) using multiobjective trade-off analysis to address the issue of multiple decisionmakers and stakeholders in the decision-making process, (4) using the conditional expected value of extreme events to complement and supplement the expected value in quantifying risk, and (5) assessing the impacts of multistage decisions. Numerical examples based on ex post data are formulated to illustrate applications to various problems. The resulting framework from this study can serve as a general baseline model for assessing and managing risks of natural disasters, which the Philippines' lead agency-the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC)-and other related organizations can use for their decision-making processes.     

A Comprehensive Risk Analysis of Transportation Networks Affected by Rainfall‐Induced Multihazards

Climate change and its projected natural hazards have an adverse impact on the functionality and operation of transportation infrastructure systems. This study presents a comprehensive framework to analyze the risk to transportation infrastructure networks that are affected by natural hazards. The proposed risk analysis method considers both the failure probability of infrastructure components and the expected infrastructure network efficiency and capacity loss due to component failure. This comprehensive approach facilitates the identification of high‐risk network links in terms of not only their susceptibility to natural hazards but also their overall impact on the network. The Chinese national rail system and its exposure to rainfall‐related multihazards are used as a case study. The importance of various links is comprehensively assessed from the perspectives of topological, efficiency, and capacity criticality. Risk maps of the national railway system are generated, which can guide decisive action regarding investments in preventative and adaptive measures to reduce risk.     

Managing value appropriation in buyer–supplier relationships: The role of commercial decision resources

The resource-based view explains firms’ value appropriation in buyer–supplier relationships by pointing to sustained differences in economic efficiency across firms. Firms with more efficient resources create more value than competitors, which in turn provides a “protective cushion” against competition. However, just as firms may differ in the economic efficiency of their resources and in the value they create, they may also differ in their information processing and how successful they are at value appropriation. Building on the literature on decision-making under uncertainty in psychology, I argue that firms may increase their value appropriation in exchange relationships by investing in commercial decision resources that allow for more effective information processing in commercial decisions. Examples of commercial decision resources include IT-based systems for product costing and tracking customers/competitors, the design of commercial organization, control systems, and commercial experience and skill.     

风险规避偏好下农副产品自然风险管理策略的选择:外部采购还是农业保险?

在农副产品加工行业,自己种植原材料有利于企业控制产品质量、获取低成本优势。然而,随着全球气候的变暖,恶劣天气等自然风险事件频发,这无疑加剧了农副产品制造商面对的自然风险。实践中,制造商可通过外部采购策略或农业保险策略降低自然风险带来的损失。然而,这两种策略各有利弊,对于风险规避制造商而言究竟哪种策略更为有效需进行深入探析。为此,本文以单周期风险规避农副产品制造商的计划产量决策模型为基础,研究企业自然风险管理策略的选择问题。通过比较研究,找出两种策略的实施条件,并给出农副产品制造商应对自然风险的占优策略。研究结果表明:(1)当制造商风险规避程度较低时,利用外部采购策略避险是无效的。这时,如果农业保险的安全因子足够低,农业保险策略可完全补偿缺货成本,并帮助制造商降低计划产量节约种植成本,进而提高CVaR值、改善运营状态;(2)当制造商风险规避程度较高时,外部采购策略可完全消除自然风险造成的产量波动并帮助企业进入该产品市场,而农业保险则是通过补偿自然风险引发的缺货成本帮助企业进入该产品市场。哪种策略更有效取决于外部采购价格和安全因子的大小关系;(3)随着原材料单位种植成本、不利事件发生概率、最终产品单位收益及单位缺货成本的上升,外部采购策略占优区域逐渐扩大而农业保险策略的占优区域逐渐减少。     

Socioeconomic Vulnerability and Adaptation to Environmental Risk: A Case Study of Climate Change and Flooding in Bangladesh

In this article we investigate the complex relationship between environmental risk, poverty, and vulnerability in a case study carried out in one of the poorest and most flood-prone countries in the world, focusing on household and community vulnerability and adaptive coping mechanisms. Based upon the steadily growing amount of literature in this field we develop and test our own analytical model. In a large-scale household survey carried out in southeast Bangladesh, we ask almost 700 floodplain residents living without any flood protection along the River Meghna about their flood risk exposure, flood problems, flood damage, and coping mechanisms. Novel in our study is the explicit testing of the effectiveness of adaptive coping strategies to reduce flood damage costs. We show that, households with lower income and less access to productive natural assets face higher exposure to risk of flooding. Disparity in income and asset distribution at community level furthermore tends to be higher at higher risk exposure levels, implying that individually vulnerable households are also collectively more vulnerable. Regarding the identification of coping mechanisms to deal with flood events, we look at both the ex ante household level preparedness for flood events and the ex post availability of community-level support and disaster relief. We find somewhat paradoxically that the people that face the highest risk of flooding are the least well prepared, both in terms of household-level ex ante preparedness and community-level ex post flood relief.     

基于满意度BLP-DEA的区域可持续发展系统效率评价研究

为了实现生态环境保护与社会经济发展的动态平衡,在对环境造成的损害最少的情况下同时获得最大的社会经济效益,是实现可持续发展的紧迫和关键问题。本文以生态子系统为上层(Leader)、经济-社会子系统为下层(Follower),构建考虑可持续发展的评价系统。通过引入公共权重、区间效率和满意度,构建基于max-min满意度的双层规划数据包络模型(BLP-DEA),并将其应用于中国省际可持续发展系统的效率评价与满意度研究。结果表明：(1) 相比于BLP-DEA模型,本文构建的基于满意度BLP-DEA模型是一种令大多数决策单元能够接受自身效率值结果的评价方法,因此导致中国整体经济-社会子系统效率值相较于生态子系统效率值偏低。(2)在满足全局可持续发展系统满意度最大化的前提下,各地区的效率值体现出显著的地域性特征,其中生态子系统效率值以西部地区最优,经济-社会子系统效率值以东部地区最优,可持续发展系统综合效率值以东部地区最优。     

Can Environmental Insurance Succeed Where Other Strategies Fail? The Case of Underground Storage Tanks

Private risk reduction will be socially efficient only when firms are liable for all the damage that they cause. We find that environmental insurance can achieve social efficiency even when two traditional policy instruments—ex post fines and risk management mandates with ex ante fines—do not. Inefficiency occurs with ex post fines, when small firms declare bankruptcy and escape their liabilities, limiting the incentives from this policy tool. Firms ignore mandates to implement efficient risk management because regulatory agencies do not have sufficient resources to monitor every firm. The evolution of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's and states’ underground storage tank programs suggests that mandating environmental insurance can address inefficiency due to small firms declaring bankruptcy. Comparing insurance mandates to risk management mandates, the burden on a regulator is lower if all it has to do is to confirm that the firm has insurance rather than that the firm has actually, and effectively, implemented required management practices. For underground storage tanks, we show that insurance lowered toxic releases.     

基于参照点的产学研知识产权冲突协调契约设计

产学研合作中，企业方和学研方由于主体异质性，容易引发知识产权冲突，从而导致效率损失或合作破裂。对此，本文采用不完全契约理论下的参照点契约理论框架，选择实践中知识产权交易价格和知识产权成果价值两个矛盾集中点入手，基于契约参照点偏差，引入企业方和学研方在议价能力、价值认知及折减行为上的不对称假定，从事前知识产权的最优分配、事后自我履约价格区间求解以及事后最优知识产权交易价格的选取三个方面，建立了参照点契约模型，对产学研研发合作契约进行优化设计。研究表明，创新知识产权份额的分配将对产学研合作整体效率产生影响，签订弹性价格契约有助于事后价格位于自我履约区间内，从而在一定程度上提高事后效率，但仍不能完全避免折减行为，需优化选取事后价格以实现产学研合作整体效率的最优。     

Assess your quality of care quotient

The upsurge of large, single/multi-specialty group practices in contemporary health care has precipitated a corresponding surge in marketing strategies aimed at promoting group speed, efficiency, and/or productivity. Subsequently, the quality of care is often overlooked or redefined in financial terms. However, assessing quality of care--above and beyond strictly economic factors--can provide crucial information for executives concerned with making informed managerial decisions. This article explores one prototypical physician group's quest to assess their "quality care quotient," and explicates the process by which they obtained important data from patients, as well as how they used the assessment to improve their practice. The process may serve as an exemplar to physician groups concerned with conducting such analyses.     

Information Acquisition and Efficient Mechanism Design

We consider a general mechanism design setting where each agent can acquire (covert) information before participating in the mechanism. The central question is whether a mechanism exists that provides the efficient incentives for information acquisition ex‐ante and implements the efficient allocation conditional on the private information ex‐post. It is shown that in every private value environment the Vickrey‐Clark‐Groves mechanism guarantees both ex‐ante as well as ex‐post efficiency. In contrast, with common values, ex‐ante and ex‐post efficiency cannot be reconciled in general. Sufficient conditions in terms of sub‐ and supermodularity are provided when (all) ex‐post efficient mechanisms lead to private under‐ or over‐acquisition of information.     

Examining Links Between Sign-Out Reporting During Shift Changeovers and Patient Management Risks

This article reports on a qualitative study that investigated how various risk factors associated with the process of sign-out reporting across shifts in critical care hospital environments could lead to flawed communication and thus to increased risk of poor patient outcomes. The study was performed in two critical care hospital units: the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). We collected data from observations of eight nurses and four resident physicians in the PICU and four nurses and four resident physicians in the PACU giving sign-out reports during their shift changes. In addition, we conducted semi-structured interviews with a separate sample of medical providers consisting of nurse managers, attending physicians, nurses, and residents from each of these two units. The issues that were addressed in these interviews included how various methods of conducting sign-outs and factors such as personality and experience could impact the effectiveness of communication during sign-out reporting. We also collected data from these medical providers on how failures in communication during sign-out reporting could lead to potentially adverse patient outcomes. The article concludes with the presentation of a modeling framework that demonstrates how the combined influences of risk factors can generate a particularly important type of failure mode in communication and how interventions can be targeted to serve as barriers to such events. A number of recommendations intended for reducing risks associated with the communication of sign-out reports are also presented.     

Risk Management for Leontief-Based Interdependent Systems

When stricken by a terrorist attack, a war, or a natural disaster, an economic unit or a critical infrastructure may suffer significant loss of productivity. More importantly, due to interdependency or interconnectedness, this initial loss may propagate into other systems and eventually lead to much greater derivative loss. This belongs to what is known as a cascading effect. It is demonstrated in this article that the cascading effect and the derivative loss can be significantly reduced by effective risk management. This is accomplished by deliberately distributing the initial inoperability to other systems so that the total loss (or inoperability) is minimized. The optimal distribution strategy is found by a linear programming technique. The same risk management can also be applied to situations where objectives need to be prioritized. A case study featuring 12 economic sectors illustrates the theory. The result suggests that using the same amount of resources, minimizing risk (inoperability) of infrastructures will generally give rise to highest payoff, whereas overlooking it may result in greatest total loss. The framework developed in this work uses a steady-state approach that applies primarily to managing situations where the attack is catastrophic resulting in very long recovery time.     

AN ANALYSIS OF SHAREHOLDER AGREEMENTS

Shareholder agreements govern the relations among shareholders in privately held firms, such as joint ventures and venture capital‐backed companies. We provide an economic explanation for key clauses in such agreements—namely, put and call options, tag‐along and drag‐along rights, demand and piggy‐back rights, and catch‐up clauses. In a dynamic moral hazard setting, we show that these clauses can ensure that the contract parties make efficient ex ante investments in the firm. They do so by constraining renegotiation. In the absence of the clauses, ex ante investment would be distorted by unconstrained renegotiation aimed at (i) precluding value‐destroying ex post transfers, (ii) inducing value‐increasing ex post investments, or (iii) precluding hold‐out on value‐increasing sales to a trade buyer or the IPO market. (JEL: G34)     

只有输出的广义样本区间DEA模型

在应用多个绩效指标综合评价决策单元有效性时，决策者常常把这些决策单元与另外预先指定的标准（样本单元）进行比较。由于客观事物的复杂性和不确定性导致样本单元和决策单元的指标信息有时必须用区间数的形式给出。针对区间数指标信息的综合评价问题，本文通过分解的方法讨论样本单元和决策单元指标信息为区间数时用广义DEA模型评价决策单元有效性的方法，并相应地构建了只有输出的广义区间DEA模型。同时，对模型的含义、求解以及性质等进行了分析。之后，探讨了该方法在决策单元有效性分类和排序中的应用。最后，通过实例表明该方法的可行性和有效性。