Decision theory has relatively little to say about the formal choice of priors. We pursue the issue of prior choice in a framework that builds on consumer theory. We analyze discovery decisions of a reasoner, in an environment of hypotheses with heterogeneous, subjective plausibility. We...

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Governments in extraction countries are anxious to estimate expected investment in development projects, since they represent an essential element of the macro economy. The overall level of activity is also crucial to oil companies, since the macro picture affects cost levels, the supplies...

Petroleum administration can be regarded as a principal-agent problem. The government allocates exploration and production rights to petroleum companies on behalf of the population. The government is the principal and the companies are agents. With the aim of capturing revenue for the state, the...

We analyze whether executive compensation reflects firm default risk, measured by distance to default of Merton (1974). Using a large panel of firms, we explore several empirical frameworks. In least squares, fixed effects and quantile regression settings, default risk and volatility possess...

Where do prior beliefs come from and how do decisionmakers ascribe confidence in a theory before probabilities are available? To address these questions, we outline an axiomatic approach for selection of priors, where the reasoner is misspecification averse, and exhibits rare event...

In order to determine the optimal allocation of responsibilities in disease interventions, and in designing commitment mechanisms, the paper develops a three-period game comprising policy- makers, the international community providing financial aid, and individuals. A policy-maker chooses, in...

We show evidence of a contemporaneous relation between stock market liquidity and the business cycle. Stock market liquidity worsen when the economy is slowing down, and vice versa. This effect is most pronounced for small firms. Using data for both the US and Norway, we find strong evidence...

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This paper expands our understanding of possible specialization effects of extended parental leave policies. Identification is based on the introduction of the Cash-for-Care program in Norway in 1998, which increased mothers’ incentives to withdraw from the labor market when their child was...