Multi‐period mean‐variance portfolio selection in a regime‐switching market with a bankruptcy state

This paper first develops a discrete‐time multi‐period mean‐variance portfolio selection model under the assumption that return of a risky asset depends on the states of a stochastic market with a bankruptcy state. When bankruptcy happens, the investor can only retrieve a random fraction δ of the wealth that she or he should acquire and then invests her or his retrieved money in a risk‐free asset until the terminal time. Then, by dynamic programming approach and induction method, explicit closed‐form expressions for the optimal strategy and efficient frontier are derived. Analysis of the optimal results is also provided. Finally, some numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effects of bankruptcy probability and fraction δ on the efficient frontier and optimal strategy. Specially, (i) our results under the mean‐variance model have quite different properties compared with those under power‐utility criterion, and (ii) our model generalizes the existing mean‐variance portfolio selection with regime switching without bankruptcy state. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ageisms

In this paper some very fundamental attitudes we have and assumptions we make in the US about persons, what they owe and what they are owed, are scrutinized and found to be indefensibly ageist. It is argued that these assumptions and the attitudes they engender are supported by logically and ethically suspect methods and conclusions. These errors are summarized and some remedial steps by which we might better protect against such illicit and unwarranted methods and conclusions in the future are suggested.     

Does Major Illness Cause Financial Catastrophe?

Objective. We examine the financial impact of major illnesses on the near‐elderly and how this impact is affected by health insurance. Data Sources. We use RAND Corporation extracts from the Health and Retirement Study from 1992 to 2006. 1 Study Design. Our dependent variable is the change in household assets, excluding the value of the primary home. We use triple difference median regressions on a sample of newly ill/uninsured near elderly (under age 65) matched to newly ill/insured near elderly. We also include a matched control group of households whose members are not ill. Results. Controlling for the effects of insurance status and illness, we find that the median household with a newly ill, uninsured individual suffers a statistically significant decline in household assets of between 30 and 50 percent relative to households with matched insured individuals. Newly ill, insured individuals do not experience a decline in wealth. Conclusions. Newly ill/uninsured households appear to be one illness away from financial catastrophe. Newly ill insured households who are matched to uninsured households appear to be protected against financial loss, at least in the near term.     

生产者破产后产品责任的解决路径

生产者破产后产品责任的解决是消费者面临的新难题。我国产品责任既有的生产者与销售者不真正连带责任的制度设计，旨在让销售者承担生产者破产后的产品责任，使销售者承担了与其对产品的控制力和收益不相称的风险。我国生产者产品责任保险的局限性使生产者破产后产品责任问题的解决雪上加霜。我国《破产法》应首先认可人身伤害债权的优先性，并将产品致害预期债权人代表制度作为一项特殊制度加以规定，通过设立赔偿基金、预期产品责任转让等方式，有效解决生产者破产后产品责任问题，全面保护生产者破产后其仍在市场流通的产品相关消费者的权益。     

Medical bankruptcy in Massachusetts: has health reform made a difference?

Background

Massachusetts' recent health reform has decreased the number of uninsured, but no study has examined medical bankruptcy rates before and after the reform was implemented.

Methods

In 2009, we surveyed 199 Massachusetts bankruptcy filers regarding medical antecedents of their financial collapse using the same questions as in a 2007 survey of 2314 debtors nationwide, including 44 in Massachusetts. We designated bankruptcies as “medical” based on debtors' stated reasons for filing, income loss due to illness, and the magnitude of their medical debts.

Results

In 2009, illness and medical bills contributed to 52.9% of Massachusetts bankruptcies, versus 59.3% of the bankruptcies in the state in 2007 (P = .44) and 62.1% nationally in 2007 (P < .02). Between 2007 and 2009, total bankruptcy filings in Massachusetts increased 51%, an increase that was somewhat less than the national norm. (The Massachusetts increase was lower than in 54 of the 93 other bankruptcy districts.) Overall, the total number of medical bankruptcies in Massachusetts increased by more than one third during that period. In 2009, 89% of debtors and all their dependents had health insurance at the time of filing, whereas one quarter of bankrupt families had experienced a recent lapse in coverage.

Conclusion

Massachusetts' health reform has not decreased the number of medical bankruptcies, although the medical bankruptcy rate in the state was lower than the national rate both before and after the reform.     

BANKRUPTCY,MEDICAL INSURANCE,AND A LAW WITH UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Congress passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) in 1986, guaranteeing a standard of medical care to anyone who entered an emergency room. This guarantee made default a more reliable substitute for medical insurance. I construct a tractable structural model of the medical insurance market and find that repealing EMTALA would increase the fraction of the population with insurance while decreasing its price. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trading Bankruptcy for Health: A Discrete-Choice Experiment

Background

Although nearly two-third of bankruptcy in the United States is medical in origin, a common assumption is that individuals facing a potentially lethal disease opt for cure at any cost. This assumption has never been tested, and knowledge of how the American population values a trade-off between cure and bankruptcy is unknown.