In an overlapping generations framework, the effects of exogenous changes in child mortality on fertility and parental welfare in the short run and on fertility, population density and parental welfare in the long run is analyzed in a primitive, land-constrained economy. In a first step a...

This paper provides evidence on the use of stochastic discount factors in the evaluation of portfolio performance. First we discuss evaluation in this setting, and relates it to traditional mean-variance analysis. We then use Monte Carlo experiments to examine the small sample properties of...

This paper studies the relation between fund performance and the fund manager's investment strategy, which is based on the characteristics of the portfolio. The results show that neither momentum characteristics nor the valuation of stocks can explain differences in fund performance. However,...

Active portfolio management is associated with a costly search for information. This paper provides evidence on how this costly search affects the performance of European-based mutual funds that are actively managed and invest in Asia and Europe. The paper examines both the search for superior...

In this paper, I obtain new measures of the value of active portfolio management by forming replicating portfolios. These measures allow for a separate evaluation of fund managers' strategic and tactical decisions. I also obtain new evidence on the value of trading by decomposing it into...

This paper studies the relation between fund performance and fund attributes in the Swedish market. Performance is measured as the alpha in a linear regression of fund returns on several benchmark assets, allowing for time-varying betas. The estimated performance is then used in a...

This paper analyzes the effects on present consumption of budget deficits under different assumptions regarding demographics. In the first part, birth and death rates are deterministic, and in the second part, birth rates are assumed to be stochastic. In the case of a deterministic population...

Consider team production with two people. Each is characterized by a prior distribution that he will do Right or Wrong. After the outcome of the project is observed, these probabilities are updated. When output depends on the weakest link in production, following project failure the posterior...

We consider a leader and a subordinate he appoints who engage in team production. The public observes the organization’s performance, but is unable to determine the separate contributions of the leader and of the subordinate. The leader may therefore claim credit for the good work of his...

This study investigates under what circumstances there exist a separating equilibrium in which competent leaders choose incompetent co-workers and incompetent leaders choose competent co-workers. The driving force for the competent leader is the insurance motive; if things go wrong he can blame...