This research studies the role of multivariate distribution structure on random asset returns in determining the optimal allocation vector for an expected utility maximizing agent. By carefully disturbing symmetry in the distribution of the, possibly covarying, returns, we ascertain the ordinal...

For a homogeneous good, this article studies firm-level production activities when the firm controls a plural number of plants. Through careful construction of cost function technology asymmetries, we inquire into the ordinal structure of the production vector for multiplant cost minimizers....

no abstract

The Saskatchewan short-term hog loan program of 2002 provided a non-market credit line to participating hog producers. The repayment conditions for cash advances committed to by the provincial government depend on later hog prices, and so the program has derivative contract attributes. We model...

Proceedings of the SERA-IEG-31 Conference on the Economics and Management of Risk in Agriculture and Natural Resources, Gulf Shores, AL, March 23-25, 2000.

abstract not available at this time

Sellers auctioning items use advertisements and location to generate interest. They seek a rightward shift in the ex-ante distribution of bidder valuations. We characterize distribution pairs such that all more-is-better expected utility maximizing sellers in preference-revealing auctions prefer...

Model invariances have been used extensively to understand welfare and conduct consequences of firm heterogeneity in a one-product Cournot oligopoly. Nothing is known about the richer and more realistic context of firm heterogeneity in multi-product Cournot oligopoly. In this note, welfare in a...

Here we consider the hedging roles of a price futures contract versus a revenue futures contract. In the absence of idiosyncratic output risk, the revenue contract almost always dominates the price contract. Idiosyncratic output risk provides conditions under which the price contract should...

Suppose a farmer had to apply a herbicide pre-emergence or not at all. The advent of a herbicide-tolerance trait innovation then provides the option to wait for more information before making a state-contingent post-emergence application. This option to wait can increase or decrease average...