Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed January 14, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 110).

This thesis uses nonparametric revealed preference methods to derive new tests for consistency with models of consumer behaviour, and discuss the implications for welfare analysis. Chapter 1 demonstrates how to conduct revealed preference analysis when prices, and hence budget constraints, are only partially observed. This chapter extends the revealed preference results of Crawford and Polisson (2015), derived for the static case, to dynamic settings, allowing for storability of goods. Necessary and sufficient conditions for consistency with intertemporal models are derived, which do not require the researcher to distinguish between corner solutions and unavailability of the good, or to impute prices. Chapter 2 discusses the validity of using reported happiness measures as proxies of utility or social welfare, by testing for consistency between revealed and reported preference orderings in Japanese household survey data. Although the expenditure behaviour of most households is consistent with standard models of utility maximisation, it is generally inconsistent with the preference ordering given by their reported happiness. This inconsistency is likely due to reporting error in the happiness measure, and suggests that happiness and utility are empirically distinct and noninterchangeable. Chapter 3 investigates the effect of price inattention on inflation misperceptions and cost-of-living indices, by developing a behavioural model in which consumers only notice price changes above a certain threshold. A data application, using supermarket scanner data, demonstrates that this model generates plausible results; in particular, consumers have more accurate perceptions of inflation during periods of high or volatile inflation, but may substantially misperceive inflation when it is low. These results have important implications for conducting welfare analysis when consumers are not fully attentive to price changes.

This thesis concerns three important issues related to the problem of time-inconsistency in decision-making and revealed preference analysis. The first chapter focuses on the welfare properties of equilibria in exchange economies with time-dependent preferences. We reintroduce the notion of time-consistent overall Pareto efficiency proposed by Herings and Rohde (2006) and show that, whenever the agents are sophisticated, any equilibrium allocation is efficient in this sense. Thereby, we present a version of the First Fundamental Welfare Theorem for this class of economies. Moreover, we present a social welfare function with maximisers that coincide with the efficient allocations and prove that every equilibrium can be represented by a solution to the social welfare optimisation problem. In the second chapter we concentrate on the observable implications of various models of time-preference. We consider a framework in which subjects are asked to choose between pairs consisting of a monetary payment and a time-delay at which the payment is delivered. Given a finite set of observations, we are interested under what conditions the choices of an individual agent can be rationalised by a discounted utility function. We develop an axiomatic characterisation of time-preference with various forms of discounting, including weakly present-biased, quasi-hyperbolic, and exponential, and determine the testable restrictions for each specification. Moreover, we discuss possible identification issues that may arise in this class of tests. Finally, in the third chapter, we discuss the testable restrictions for production technologies that exhibit complementarities. Suppose that we observe a finite number of choices of input factors made by a single firm, as well as the prices at which they were acquired. Under what conditions imposed on the set of observations is it possible to justify the decisions of the firm by profit-maximisation with production complementarities? In this chapter, we develop an axiomatic characterisation of such behaviour and provide an easy-to-apply test for the hypothesis which can be employed in an empirical analysis.

With reference to the existing literature on liquidity, three key questions have emerged during the last several decades: (i) How to measure liquidity in the most efficient way? (ii) What is the empirical pattern in the relation between market liquidity and stock returns? (iii) What are the determinants of the changes in the Return-Liquidity Relationship? This thesis take the above three questions as its principal focus and studies them by undertaking three separate empirical chapters, using a substantial dataset that covers all the listed firms in these four global economies – Germany, the UK, the US and China from 2001 to 2013. The empirical results imply the following: (i) The Transaction-Cost based liquidity measures, particularly the Quoted Proportional Spread, should be regarded as the most representative liquidity measurement. (ii) There is no evidence consistent with a fixed empirical pattern in the Return-Liquidity Relationship across these four countries as market liquidity is preferred in both Germany and UK, while the opposite results have been obtained for the Chinese stock market. That is, higher market leads to higher stock returns in these two European countries as the higher market liquidity facilitates capital movements to more efficient investments. However in China, the huge number of individual investors generates higher market liquidity through speculative trading rather than as a result of value-related investments, which heightens market risk and thus results in a decrease in stock prices. (iii) There is weak evidence that stock market returns have positive determinant effects on both MLIs (the market impact of liquidity on stock returns) and FLIs, (the firm-level impact of liquidity on stock returns) Return-Liquidity relation on market and firm level respectively. While only FLIs are positively correlated with stock market volatility and the inflation rate and negatively affected by the short-term interest rate.

Cette thèse traite du bien-être des enfants dans le contexte des sociétés de l'Afrique de l'ouest marqué par une forte instabilité économique et par un mode d'organisation familiale susceptible d'entretenir de forts niveaux d'inégalités entre les membres d'un même ménage. La forte exposition des ménages au risque de chocs engendre des mécanismes susceptibles d’enfermer les individus les plus vulnérables dans des trappes à pauvreté intergénérationnelles. L’intensité des chocs endurés mais aussi la période de la vie auxquels ils ont lieu et les stratégies mises en place ex post et ex ante pour gérer ces risques sont autant de canaux de transmission possibles de la vulnérabilité. Le premier chapitre de cette thèse exploite le choc naturel que représente les invasions de criquets pour analyser l’impact d’un choc de revenu sur le bien être à long terme des enfants, estimé par des indicateurs de réussite scolaire. Le deuxième chapitre examine les conséquences du mariage précoce, pratique encore très largement répandue en Afrique de l’ouest sur la mortalité des enfants au Sénégal. Le troisième chapitre investit les conséquences des naissances hors mariage, phénomène en très forte croissance en Afrique de l’ouest alors que les niveaux de fécondité globale tendent à diminuer, sur le bien être des femmes et des enfants. / This doctoral thesis analyzes children welfare in Western African where societies are characterized by a large economic instability and an unequal access to resources among members of a same household. Exposure to high downside risk to income and livelihoods generates inter-generational poverty traps mechanisms for the most exposed individuals. Shocks intensity, life periods and the strategies implemented both ex ante and ex post to cope with risk are many potential channels for enhanced vulnerability. The first essay exploits a natural shock i.e. locust plague, to investigate the long-term impact of income shocks on the well-being of children, estimated by educational outcomes. The second essay focus on the consequences of early marriage, a marital practice still very widespread in West Africa, on child mortality in Senegal. Finally, the third essay studies the consequences of out-of-wedlock births, a rising phenomenon contrasting with the overall fertility decline observed in the region, on women and children’s welfare.

[pt] Este trabalho testa e encontra evidência de que as taxas de juros de empréstimos bancários respondem mais a aumentos do que a quedas na taxa básica de juros (Selic). A assimetria sobrevive a uma análise de evento, na qual a disponibilidade de uma base com dados diários é explorada com o objetivo de isolar o choque de política monetária sobre os juros. Dentre as potencias teorias que racionalizam essa assimetria, duas são consideradas. A primeira refere-se à existência de poder de mercado, o que permite aos bancos coordenarem um menor repasse como forma de aumentar os lucros de curto prazo. A segunda argumenta que a presença de forte seleção adversa no mercado de crédito diminui o incentivo à concorrência na dimensão preço, reduzindo o repasse de quedas no custo de captação. Como as duas hipóteses produzem implicações empíricas similares em forma reduzida, o artigo propõe e estima um modelo estrutural a fim de testar qual dos dois modelos melhor se ajusta aos preços e quantidades observados no mercado de crédito para pessoa física. / [en] This paper tests and find evidence that support the view that credit interest rates respond more to increases than to decreases in the Central Bank basic interest rate (Selic). This asymmetry is robust to an event analysis, in which the availability of a dataset containing daily information is explored in order to isolate monetary policy shocks on interest rates. Among the possible explanations for this asymmetry, two are considered in the article. The first one refers to the existence of market power, which allows banks to coordinate on a smaller pass-through in order to increase profits in the short run. The second refers to the potential existence of severe adverse selection issues in the credit market, which diminishes the incentives to compete on the interest rate dimension and consequently the pass-through from decreases in the cost of funds. Since the two theories present similar empirical implications in reduced forma analysis, the article proposes and estimates a structural model in order to test which of the competing theories better fits the observed data on prices and quantities for household credit in Brazil.

Cette thèse se compose de quatre essais sur l’analyse de la production appliquée, avec un accent mis sur la technologie, la productivité et les coûts fixes. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'identifier les limites de la modélisation du comportement de producteurs, et de proposer certaines améliorations. Dans cette thèse, nous avons comparé les principales spécifications empiriques et les méthodes statistiques qui ont été utilisées dans l’analyse de la production, et souligné leurs implications pour l’estimation des paramètres technologiques. Nous avons étudié les causes et les remèdes au problème d’endogénéité. Cette thèse a également abordé un aspect important de la production : les coûts fixes. Ce travail a contribué à la définition et à la caractérisation des coûts fixes. Nous avons développé des stratégies d’estimation du coût fixe, et montré que le coût fixe a un impact significatif sur la politique de prix, les rendements d’échelle et les exportations. / This thesis consists of four essays on applied production analysis, with a focus on technology, productivity and fixed costs. The aim of this thesis is to identify some limitations of recent contributions to production behavior modeling, and to propose improvements. In this dissertation, I compared different empirical specifications and statistical methods which have often been used in production analysis, and pointed out their implications for estimating technology parameters. I studied the causes and cures of endogeneity problems in the context of production analysis. This thesis also addressed the important but neglected issue of fixed costs. This work defined and characterized the fixed cost, and developed empirical strategies to estimate the fixed cost using the standard production database. Empirical evidence suggests that the fixed cost is significant and has profound impacts on producer’s behavior in terms of price setting, returns to scale and exports.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo identificar e inventariar as similaridades e as discrepâncias entre a Microeconomia e a Contabilidade Gerencial em relação à gestão e à mensuração de custos de entidades individuais. Estudos anteriores dessa natureza se limitaram à Teoria Neoclássica da Firma comparativamente à Contabilidade Societária. Este estudo modifica este padrão de comparação. Para suprir lacunas da Teoria Neoclássica da Firma, outros três referenciais teóricos da Microeconomia foram adicionados: a Organização Industrial (em relação à Gestão Estratégica de Custos), a Economia dos Custos de Transação (em relação ao Custeio Baseado em Atividades) e a Teoria Behaviorista (contraponto da Teoria Neoclássica para diferenciar entre métodos de custeio). A Contabilidade Gerencial é a referência para conceituar custos contábeis bem como servir de base para as comparações restantes. A metodologia empregada foi a da pesquisa bibliográfica, seguida de um processo de reflexão crítica, e se baseou nas literaturas da Economia e da Contabilidade Gerencial. Como resultado ficou demonstrado que, no plano teórico, a Contabilidade Gerencial é consistente com as teorias econômicas, o que explica as semelhanças, mas a recíproca não pôde ser confirmada nem rejeitada. Verificou-se também que, analogamente à Microeconomia, a Contabilidade Gerencial é composta por várias linhas de pesquisa; consequentemente, comparações absolutas se arriscam a conclusões improcedentes, como, por exemplo, afirmar que o custo contábil seria menos relevante que o econômico, embora a Contabilidade Gerencial ofereça alternativas para aproximar um do outro. O foco analítico provoca divergências: a Microeconomia leva vantagem em desenvolver modelos de custos endogenamente determinados, porém a Contabilidade Gerencial é mais hábil em pormenorizar determinantes de custos e entidades objeto de custeio. Essa habilidade torna factível, por exemplo, a mensuração dos custos de transação pela Contabilidade Gerencial, através do Custeio Baseado em Atividades. Isso sugere que a Contabilidade Gerencial pode influenciar a pesquisa em Microeconomia e vice-versa. Logo, investigar o impacto da Contabilidade Gerencial sobre o desenvolvimento da Microeconomia é uma das questões sugeridas para as pesquisas futuras. / The objective of this study was to identify and to inventory the similarities and discrepancies between Microeconomics and Management Accounting in relation to cost management and measurement of individual entities. Previous studies of this nature have limited itself to only Neoclassical Theory of the Firm comparatively to Financial Accounting. This study changes this comparison pattern. In order to fulfill Neoclassical Theory of the Firm blanks, other three microeconomic theoretical references were added: Industrial Organization (in relation to Strategic Cost Management), Transaction Cost Economics (in relation to Activity Based Management) and Behavioral Theory (Neoclassical Theory of the Firm counterweight to distinguish among costing methods). Management Accounting is the reference to define accounting costs as well as to serve as the basis for the remaining comparisons. The methodology employed was that of a bibliographical research, followed by a critical reflective procedure, and was based on Economics and Management Accounting literatures. As a result, it was demonstrated that, on theoretical sphere, Management Accounting is consistent with economic theories, what explains similarities, but the reciprocal assertion couldnt be confirmed nor rejected. It was also verified that, analogously as Microeconomics, Management Accounting is composed by several research lines; consequently, absolute comparisons risk bring about flawed conclusions as, for example, to state that accounting cost would be less relevant than economic one, although Management Accounting offers alternatives to approximate the former to the latter. The analytical focus causes divergences: Microeconomics has advantages in developing endogenously determined cost models, however Management Accounting is more skillful in specifying cost determinants and cost object entities. This skill makes plausible, for example, transaction costs measurement by Management Accounting, throughout Activity Based Costing. This suggests Management Accounting may influence Microeconomic research and vice-versa. Thus, investigate Management Accounting impact over Microeconomics development is one of suggested questions for future researches.

O Acordo da Basiléia, originalmente criado em 1988 e posteriormente reformulado em 2004, estabelece critérios para a regulação do setor bancário com o intuito de garantir a estabilidade do sistema financeiro internacional. Para atingir estes objetivos, o seu principal instrumento é a requisição .de que os bancos internacionalmente ativos devem manter níveis mínimos de capital e relação aos seus ativos ajustados pelo risco. O objetivo do presente trabalho é analisar as motivações econômicas para esta requisição de capital do setor bancário, assim como analisar suas principais implicações. Iniciamos este trabalho com uma breve descrição histórica do Acordo da Basiléia e do papel da estrutura de capital do setor bancário neste Acordo. Em seguida, apresentamos uma descrição da teoria econômica dos contratos e as principais aplicações desta teoria para o estudo da estrutura de capital de uma firma em geral e do setor bancário em particular. Por fim, mostramos como os resultados obtidos pela teoria econômica justificam a estrutura geral do Acordo da Basiléia, e ressaltamos os principais desafios que serão enfrentados na pratica por seus formuladores. / The Basel Capital Accord, created in 1988 and reformulated in 2004, defines patterns for the banking sector with the aim of achieving the stability of the international financial system. It main instrument is theuse of minimum capital requirements. This work tries to understand the economic underpining of the Basel Capital Accord and its main inplications. We start with a description of the Accord and explain the role of the minimum capital requirements. We then introduce the main elements of the microeconic models of contract theory and use this models to explain the importance of the capital structure of a bank. Finally, we show how the main results of the models base don the insights of contract theory explain most of the features of the Basel Capital Accord and introduce its main limitations.

The use of fire as an agricultural tool perpetuates in Brazilian Amazon, despite its negative socioeconomic, environmental and public health impacts. Two topics of the problem are investigated, by looking to the current period (2009-2010) and for three municipalities of the State of Pará, namely Santarém, Belterra and Paragominas. The analysis is restricted to motivations and consequences with strictly economic nature and fires linked with deforestation are kept out of the scope of analysis. Slash and Burn Agriculture (S&BA) is practiced by smallholders mainly for growing annual crops. The first essay demonstrates that the profitability of S&BA is governed by the trade-off between cost-free fertilization through the burning of secondary vegetation and idleness of the land. Additionally, it is established that, a reduction of the fallow duration, depending on the initial duration, can generate a cash surplus that can be used to finance (at least partially) the transition to a fire-free agriculture. The second topic addressed is the one of accidental fires, conceived as a phenomemon that emerges from collective behavior. The second essay tests the hypothesis that eventual damage to assets belonging to other farmers is not internalized by farmers when they decide to start a fire. Such hypothesis is not refuted by georeferenced data for the municipality of Paragominas and for the year of 2010. For this, spatial econometric and instrumental variables models are estimated. The third essay tests the hypothesis that the risk of losses potentially imposed by fires started in neighboring farms is not accounted by farmers when deciding how to allocate their land among alternative uses. This hypothesis is not refuted by microdata at the farm level, collected through a field survey conducted in the municipalities of Santarém, Belterra and Paragominas. The analysis is restricted to 2009. The technique of Iterated Seemingly-Unrelated Regressions is employed to estimate a system of equations determining how much land is allocated to each class of land of use. / Na Amazônia brasileira, o uso de fogo no suporte à agropecuária se perpetua, apesar de seus efeitos negativos sobre sociedade, meio-ambiente e saúde pública. Dois tópicos do problema são investigados, olhando-se para o período atual (2009-2010) e para três municípios do estado do Pará, nomeadamente Santarém, Belterra e Paragominas. A análise se restringe a motivações e consequências de ordem estritamente econômicas e as queimadas que dão apoio à supressão de floresta primária são mantidas fora do escopo da análise. O sistema agrícola conhecido por corte-e-queima é utilizado por pequenos produtores como base técnica para o cultivo de culturas anuais. O primeiro ensaio demonstra que a lucratividade do sistema é regida pelo trade-off entre fertilização gratuita via queima da vegetação secundária e ociosidade da terra. Adicionalmente, é estabelecido que, uma redução na duração do pousio, a depender da duração de partida, pode gerar uma sobra de caixa que pode ser empregada no financiamento (ainda que parcial) da transição para uma agricultura livre de fogo. O segundo tópico estudado é o de incêndios iniciados por atividades agropecuárias, como produto da ação coletiva de diversos produtores, geograficamente próximos. O segundo ensaio testa a hipótese de que os danos causados ao patrimônio alheio pela perda de controle sobre o fogo não são internalizados pelos produtores quando decidem iniciar uma queimada. Tal hipótese é não refutada por dados georreferenciados referentes ao município de Paragominas e ao ano de 2010. Para isso, são estimados modelos de econometria espacial e de variáveis instrumentais. O terceiro ensaio testa a hipótese de que o risco de perdas impostas por incêndios iniciados em estabelecimentos vizinhos não é levado em conta pelos produtores, ao decidirem quanto à alocação da terra entre fins alternativos. Tal hipótese é não-refutada por microdados no nível de estabelecimentos agrícolas, coletados por meio de um levantamento de campo, nos munícipios de Santarém, Belterra e Paragominas. A análise se restringe ao ano de 2009. A técnica de Iterated Seemingly Unrelated Regression é empregada para estimar um sistema de equações que determina a área ocupada por cada uma das classes de uso da terra.