Lessons from the Japanese ninja: on achieving a higher trade equilibrium under anarchy and private constitutions

This paper investigates the possibility of anarchy achieving a high trade equilibrium via the example of ninja communities in Japan. Initially, ninjas in the mountainous regions of Iga and Kōka were stateless, constantly feuded, and had few opportunities for exchange. With the advent of civil war in the sixteenth century, ninjas’ economic conditions changed. The mercenary market significantly expanded and presented great profit opportunities for the ninjas. However, instead of creating a formal government to move to a higher trade equilibrium, the ninjas resorted to forming voluntary confederations held together by private constitutions. I argue that this development was possible because the institutional environment of the Sengoku period enabled a framework of self-governing institutions and principles. The ninjas were able to build on this framework with very low organizational costs. As a result, the ninjas were able to reap large economic gains on the mercenary market while remaining stateless—a seemingly paradoxical development that goes against the standard dichotomy of “states and thick markets” versus “anarchy and thin markets.”

EXPRESS: Context Information can Increase Revenue in Online Display Advertising Auctions: Evidence from a Policy Change

Ad exchanges where real-time auctions for display ad impressions take place historically emphasized user targeting, and advertisers sometimes did not know which sites their ads would appear on, i.e., the ad context. More recently, some ad exchanges have been encouraging publishers to provide context information to ad buyers, allowing them to adjust their bids for ads at specific sites. This paper explores the empirical effect of a change in context information provided by a private European ad exchange. Analyzing this as a quasi-experiment using difference-in-differences, the authors find that average revenue per impression rose when the exchange provided subdomain information to ad buyers. Thus, ad context information is important to ad buyers, and they will act on it. Revenue per impression rises for nearly all sites, which is what is predicted by auction theory when rational buyers with heterogeneous preferences are given more information. The exception to this are sites with thin markets prior to the policy change; consistent with theory, these sites do not show a rise in prices. This paper adds evidence that ad exchanges with reputable publishers, particularly smaller volume, highquality sites, should provide ad buyers with context information, which can be done at almost no cost.

Estimating the CAPM Beta for Public and Private Firms

This chapter presents solutions to some challenges when calculating CAPM Beta. Three methods for calculating traditional beta are presented and illustrated through the case of Facebook. Different choices of market index, data frequency, and sample size result in different values of beta; however, in all cases beta was greater than one. The chapter explores ordinal beta as an alternative measure to treat outliers in both developed and thin markets. Using a sample of 84 US stocks, there was no statistical difference between median traditional and ordinal betas. This was not the case for a sample of 47 Colombian stocks, which questions the usefulness of traditional beta in thin markets. In contrast with median traditional beta, median ordinal beta did not change significantly as a result of irregular data series. The contrary occurred when the observation (sampling) period was reduced; this leaves open the question of subjectivity when defining such period. Finally, the process of valuing a private company was illustrated through the case of Palmoil Ltd., a Colombian company.

The concept of market value in thin markets and its implications for international accounting rules (IFRS)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the concepts market value (MV) and exit price should be interpreted in thin markets and how accounting rules may need to change to take this into account. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper using hypothetical examples as a base for the conclusions. Findings In a thin market, actors can have rather different reservation prices. The price will then be set through bargaining and the agreed price could be considerable above the reservation price of the actor with the second highest reservation price. The exit price should then be below what the MV was before the transaction and below the entry price, and according to the current accounting rules, the value in the balance sheet should then be below the price paid. The authors’ experience is, however, that this rarely happens in practice. Research limitations/implications The limitation of the paper is that it is a conceptual paper and not based a systematic empirical study of accounting practices. Practical implications The results of the paper indicate that there is a need to revise the current accounting rules. Possible changes are discussed. Originality/value As far as the authors know, this is the first paper that looks at problems in the current value concepts related to differences in reservation prices in thin markets.