We explore connections between the certainty equivalent return (CER) functional and the underlying utility function. Curvature properties of the functional depend upon how utility function attributes relate to hyperbolic absolute risk aversion (HARA) type utility functions. If the CER functional...

We consider optimal trade policy for a large country with private information. We show that the optimal tariff leads to a signaling equilibrium with higher tariffs and lower welfare than under complete information, whereas the optimal import quota replicates the complete information equilibrium...

We study trade patterns in a pure exchange economy where preferences are symmetric up to taste intensity parameters. In a 2-person, 2-good endowment economy, then all endowments in a particular Edgeworth box rectangle require trading out of that rectangle. Under strictly quasi-concave...

A partial equilibrium four-region world trade model for the soybean complex is developed in which Roundup Ready (RR) products are weakly inferior substitutes to conventional ones, RR seeds are priced at a premium, and costly segregation is necessary to separate conventional and biotech products....

This paper considers competition between two multinationals (U, J) who compete in a third market (K). The multinationals have similar cost structures, but differ in that J comes from a country that is "culturally similar" to K, and hence produces products that match more closely the preferences...

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This paper endogenizes the choice between import tariffs and quotas of two policy active countries in a duopsonistic world market. Without uncertainty, import quotas are welfare superior to import tariffs in equilibrium. If two importers can precommit to a type of instrument before deciding the...

A copula is a means of generating an n-variate distribution function from an arbitrary set of n univariate distributions. For the class of portfolio allocators that are risk averse, we use the copula approach to identify a large set of n -variate asset return distributions such that the relative...

We consider the hedging problem of a firm that has three sources of risk: price, basis, and yield uncertainty. An exact solution for the optimal futures hesge is derived under the assumption that the three random variables are joint normally distributed and that utility is of the CARA type....

In the absence of a binding pre-commitment mechanism, a government has an incentive to renege on announced policy. This is a well-established result in the literature. The paper applies this theory to tariff policy by developing a two-game model to analyze the credibility of government tariff...