Finite-time ruin probabilities under large-claim reinsurance treaties for heavy-tailed claim sizes

We investigate the probability that an insurance portfolio gets ruined within a finite time period under the assumption that the r largest claims are (partly) reinsured. We show that for regularly varying claim sizes the probability of ruin after reinsurance is also regularly varying in terms of the initial capital, and derive an explicit asymptotic expression for the latter. We establish this result by leveraging recent developments on sample-path large deviations for heavy tails. Our results allow, on the asymptotic level, for an explicit comparison between two well-known large-claim reinsurance contracts, namely LCR and ECOMOR. Finally, we assess the accuracy of the resulting approximations using state-of-the-art rare event simulation techniques.

When does creativity matter: the impact of consumption motive and claim set-size

Purpose This paper aims to identify two boundary conditions (consumption motive and claim set-size) affecting the effectiveness of an advertisement’s creativity. Design/methodology/approach Across two experiments, the authors find support for hypotheses using both hedonic vs utilitarian products (Study 1) and hedonic vs utilitarian decision goals within the same product category (Study 2). Findings Creativity is more effective for an advertisement when the consumption motive is utilitarian (vs hedonic). Further, using a larger claim set-size within an advertisement increases (decreases) the effectiveness of advertisement creativity for those with hedonic (utilitarian) consumption motives. Research limitations/implications This research contributes to the creativity literature by showing when creativity matters depending on the consumption motive and claim set-size. In addition, this research expands the utilitarian vs hedonic consumption literature by highlighting another way in which these two motives differ. Finally, this study expands the claim set-size literature by demonstrating that the effects of claim set-size depend on both consumption motive and features of the ad (i.e. its level of creativity). Practical implications These findings help marketers manage their advertising budget more effectively and efficiently knowing when advertisement creativity matters and thus when to invest in creativity. Originality/value The present research is the first to explicitly study boundary conditions for when ad creativity matters and shows that creativity matters more (i.e. enhances persuasiveness of the ad and attitudes toward the ad) when the consumption motive is utilitarian, especially when ads have small claim set-size. Additionally, creativity matters for hedonic consumption contexts if the advertisement has a large claim size.

Ritual form and mythologization of death in Wole Soyinka’s ‘Procession’

Critics make a large claim that Wole Soyinka mythologizes death and deploys ritual form in his dramatic works but hardly account for the same in this light regarding his poetry, especially "Procession", a sequence which bears so many marks of this style. Critics of "Procession" discount a lot from its richness in mythological and ritual forms but focus more on its topical, social and political nature. The trend in the criticism of the sequence is obviously informed by the historical and political context of the sequence and its inclusion in A Shuttle in the Crypt (1972), a collection on Soyinka's prison experience. This approach to "Procession" detracts from the art in the sequence, fails to appreciate fully the poetry's formal properties and so the poetry requires a close reading. Formalism is applied to study the poem and the study stresses the analysis of the work as a self-sufficient verbal entity, constituted by internal relations and independent of reference either to the state of mind of Soyinka or the actualities of the "external" world. The approach highlights in a fresh manner the elements which the earlier criticism the poetry stresses to reveal Soyinka's mythologization of death and preoccupation with ritual forms in "Procession". The study reveals that Soyinka is not just preoccupied with political imprison- ment and judicial death but mythologizes the experience and treats rites de passage. It shows further the breadth with which the poet accentuates the esoteric theme through his by deployment of devices such as symbols, the motifs of passage, biblical allusion, pathetic fallacy, pun, incantatory rhythm, paradox, irony and humour.

The Capitalism and Economic Behavior of the Maritime Community A Case Study of the Pasompe’ Community in the Bugis Makassar Land of South Sulawesi

<p>This study aims to reveal the influence of capitalism on the economic behavior of the maritime community, by studying the case of the Pasompe’ Community in the Bugis Makassar Land of South Sulawesi. This research was conducted using the Verstehen method which is the "reversal of the burden of proof" of what is at the "back" of the Pasompe’ Community’s income distribution in the Bugis-Makassar area in South Sulawesi. The results showed that the underdevelopment of the maritime community, especially the Pasompe Community is rooted in the uncultured mentality characterized by the large claim made by owners of capital to the workers, a negative deflection of Western capitalism, which historically has been created since the days of colonialism. Without ignoring the positive side of capitalism, further research also found that the greater the capital invested by the owners of capital (bourgeois) on the one hand and the lower productivity of workers (proletariat) on the other hand in the socio-economic structure of the maritime community, resulted in the ever flourishing uncultured mentality, where it is very clear that people with this type of mentality can not be expected to build maritime civilizations in the future.</p>

Why and How Do I Write the History of Science?

I make a large claim for the intellectual and institutional centrality of the history of science as critical reason. The reality on the ground, of course, does not always exhibit this. I trace the vicissitudes of my own way of thought in relation to developments in the field, leading to an interest, first, in relating intellectual history (with its philosophical orientation) to mainstream (evidence based) history, and second, to finding a place for the human sciences in the history of science. The latter area, which involves questioning the nature of science as knowledge, leads to an engagement with notions of being human. It is an interest which potentially makes the history of science a boundless field, and it is necessary to comment on the questions, both intellectual and practical, that this raises. I welcome a notion of the history of science as a family of activities, and I relate this to practices which seek models of good history rather than explicit methods.