Great Expectations. Part I: On the Customizability of Generalized Expected Utility

We propose a generalization of expected utility that we call generalized EU (GEU), where a decision maker’s beliefs are represented by plausibility measures and the decision maker’s tastes are represented by general (i.e., not necessarily real-valued) utility functions. We show that every agent, “rational” or not, can be modeled as a GEU maximizer. We then show that we can customize GEU by selectively imposing just the constraints we want. In particular, we show how each of Savage’s postulates corresponds to constraints on GEU.     

Private Information and the ‘Information Function’: A Survey of Possible Uses

Under certain conditions private information can be a source of trade. Arbitrage for instance can occur as a result of the existence of private information. In this paper we want to explicitly model information. To do so we define an ‘information function’. This information function is a mathematical object, also known as a so called ‘wave function’. We use the definition of wave function as it is used in quantum mechanics and we attempt to show the usefulness of this wave function in an economic context. We attempt to answer the following questions. How does the information function relate to private information? How can we use the information function to define the ‘quantity’ of information? How can we use the information function in arbitrage-based option pricing? How can the information function be used in the formulation of a so called Universal Brownian motion?     

A semidefinite programming study of the Elfving theorem

The theorem of Elfving is one of the most important and earliest results which have led to the theory of optimal design of experiments. This paper presents a fresh study of it from the viewpoint of modern semidefinite programming. There is one-to-one correspondence between solutions of the derived semidefinite programming problem (SDP) and c-optimal designs. We also derive a uniqueness theorem which ensures a unique optimal design without assuming the linear independence property over the largest set of supporting points. The SDP can also be cast as an ?₁‐convex program which has recently been extensively studied and often yields sparse solutions. Our numerical experiments on the trigonometric regression model confirm that the SDP does produce a sparse optimal design.     

Health care privatization processes in Europe: Theoretical justifications and empirical classification

This article analyses the health care system reform process in Europe based on the concept of privatization. This notion is understood from two perspectives. First, privatization may concern the health care financing or the provision of health services. Second, privatization can be “imposed” on individuals or be “internalized” and then introduced by individuals (patients and doctors). So we emphasize the diversity that privatization can assume. We classify privatization mechanisms used by different countries and identify which of the perspectives presented are more common in 14 European Union countries since the 1980s. The article shows that even if privatization processes are widespread, they assume different patterns in each country.     

L'attitude des employeurs à l'égard des réfugiés: les résultats d'une enquête suédoise

En se fondant sur une enquête auprès des entreprises, menée à grande échelle en Suède, les auteurs concluent à une hétérogénéité importante des attitudes par rapport à la main‐d'?uvre immigrée d'origine réfugiée, au comportement professionnel de ces travailleurs, à leur niveau de salaire et à la discrimination à leur égard, même si une expérience préalable en la matière limite les attitudes négatives. Pour la majorité des entreprises, les salaires minima conventionnels ne constituent pas un obstacle majeur au recrutement de réfugiés. Cependant, celles qui emploient beaucoup de réfugiés estiment que la réduction de ces seuils serait très bénéfique à l'emploi.     

On Estimation of Hurst Parameter Under Noisy Observations

It is widely accepted that some financial data exhibit long memory or long dependence, and that the observed data usually possess noise. In the continuous time situation, the factional Brownian motion B^H and its extension are an important class of models to characterize the long memory or short memory of data, and Hurst parameter H is an index to describe the degree of dependence. In this article, we estimate the Hurst parameter of a discretely sampled fractional integral process corrupted by noise. We use the preaverage method to diminish the impact of noise, employ the filter method to exclude the strong dependence, and obtain the smoothed data, and estimate the Hurst parameter by the smoothed data. The asymptotic properties such as consistency and asymptotic normality of the estimator are established. Simulations for evaluating the performance of the estimator are conducted. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

Central limit theorems for four new types of U-designs

Orthogonal array (OA)-based Latin hypercube designs, also called U-designs, have been popularly adopted in designing a computer experiment. Nested U-designs, sliced U-designs, strong OA-based U-designs and correlation controlled U-designs are four types of extensions of U-designs for different applications in computer experiments. Their elaborate multi-layer structure or multi-dimensional uniformity, which makes them desirable for different applications, brings difficulty in analysing the related statistical properties. In this paper, we derive central limit theorems for these four types of designs by introducing a newly constructed discrete function. It is shown that the means of the four samples generated from these four types of designs asymptotically follow the same normal distribution. These results are useful in assessing the confidence intervals of the gross mean. Two examples are presented to illustrate the closeness of the simulated density plots to the corresponding normal distributions.     

Adjustment mechanisms and intergenerational actuarial neutrality in pension reforms

In the context of the reform of defined benefit pension systems under population ageing, we focus on the introduction of automatic adjustment mechanisms linked to life expectancy. Our goal is to establish a relationship between changes in the key parameters of the pension system and changes in life expectancy, applying the principle of intergenerational actuarial neutrality. For a defined benefit pension scheme, we first obtain the fundamental adjustment equation and then, for particular cases, we derive different designs of automatic adjustment mechanisms depending on the involved parameter. We include a numerical application only for illustrative purposes.     

产业结构与城市化:美国的“去工业化”和“再城市化”现象及其启示

美国 2 0世纪产业结构变化的突出现象是“去工业化”和与信息产业相关的新兴产业的崛起。伴随产业结构变化 ,人口区域分布也经历了“非都市转折”和“再城市化”的过程。产业结构的变化是城市兴衰的决定性因素。对我国来说 ,重视城市化发展过程中的产业支撑 ,根据区域发展格局的调整和产业结构的演进实施不同的城市化发展模式 ,尤为重要。     

两个幂平均不等式的推广

设n≥2的正自然数,0〈θ〈1,a=（a1,a2,…,an）∈（0,＋∞）n,a的调和平均、几何平均、算术平均和θ次幂平均分别设为H（a）、G（a）、A（a）和Mθ（a）.该文将利用最值压缩定理,建立两个与它们有关的不等式,进而推广了一个已知结论.