I Instrumental behavior refers to those actions whose acquisition and mainte­ nance depend on their consequences for the animal or, in others words, on the fact that the action is irzslrumClllal in causing some outcome. The func­ ,t tional significance of the capacity for instrumental action is gO obvious.as to require little comment; it is this capacity that allows us and other animals to lear...

After the re-emancipation from pure mathematics in the latter part of the twentieth century, application-oriented mathematicians are now facing a wealth of new areas of activities and challenges for their research. This means that apart from individual open problems, two typical examples of which will be outlined here, applied mathematics is facing a lot of new tasks, from modelling practical s...

This article provides an overview of risk-neutral valuation methodology and presents historical milestones in the development of quantitative …nance. It also discusses current challenges and new perspectives in model choice, pricing and hedging. 1 Historical background In 1973, Black, Scholes and Merton ([5], [13]) developed a method for the valuation of a European option based on the idea of p...

This paper demonstrates how formal housing ® nance is the product of the perceptions that prevail among the middle and upper classes, who as policy-makers, econom ists and managers, determ ine how housing ® nance institutions ® x the terms and conditions of housing loans for the urban poor. They use affordability criteria that ® t the purchase or construction of a house in one go. However, affo...

Bergenin is a C-glucoside of 4-O-methyl gallic acid is a colourless crystalline polyphenol isolated from medicinal plants like Bergenial crassifolia (B. crassifolia), Mallotus philippinensis (M. philippinensis), Corylopsis spicata (C. spicata), Caesalpinia digyna (C. digyna), Mallotus japonicus (M. japonicus), Sacoglottis gabonensis (S. gabonensis) etc. It is hydrolyzable tannin and an isocouma...

We analyze the relations between Granger (G) non-causality and a notion of structural causality arising naturally from a general nonseparable recursive dynamic structural system. Building on classical notions of G non-causality, we introduce interesting and natural extensions, namely weak G non-causality and retrospective weakG non-causality. We show that structural non-causality and certain (r...

This paper proposes an integrated approach to discrete time modelling in nance and insurance This approach is based on the existence of a speci c benchmark portfolio known as the growth optimal portfolio When used as numeraire this portfolio ensures that all benchmarked price processes are supermartingales A fair price is characterized in terms of the type of maximum that the growth rate of the...

This paper studies macroeconomic conditions and ...nancing decisions of ...rms that face various degrees of agency problems. A calibrated model is developed that explains the pronounced counter-cyclical leverage patterns observed for ...rms that access public capital markets. It relates these patterns to debt and equity issues. Moreover, it explains why leverage and debt issues do not exhibit t...