Olvar Bergland

On the measurement of risk aversion from experimental data

Attitudes towards risk are measured for households in Northern Zambia using an experimental gambling approach with real payoffs that at maximum were equal to 30% of average total annual income per capita. The results of the experiment show decreasing absolute risk aversion and increasing partial risk aversion. Determinants of risk aversion are investigated using random effects interval regression model exploiting the panel data structure of the repeated experiments. Wealth indicator variables are found to be significant, and partial relative risk aversion decreases as wealth increases. Females are found to be more risk averse than males.

Valuing the social benefits of avoiding landscape degradation from overhead power transmission lines: Do underground cables pass the benefit–cost test?

Abstract Overhead power transmission lines cause external costs including aesthetic impacts on the landscape. We use the contingent valuation method to estimate the external costs from these aesthetic impacts, and find that the social benefits of avoiding these negative impacts on the landscape exceed the costs of burying the lines as underground cables. Our best-estimate of the aesthetic benefits from burying the power lines was three times as large as the cost. These conclusions were based only on an assessment of the aesthetic impacts. Impacts of overhead power lines on wildlife and human health would likely make burial of power lines even more attractive. These results were obtained in an urban setting. Additional studies are needed to assess the costs associated with aesthetic impacts in rural and pristine natural areas, where power line construction is increasing.

Measuring the degree of competition in Pakistan’s banking industry: an empirical analysis

ABSTRACT Pakistan’s banking industry has gone through significant transformation from being in a heavily state regulated and controlled environment to a more liberalized market structure in recent years. This liberalization of banking industry in Pakistan has raised concerns over the dominant banks’ exercise of market power on account of increase in market concentration due to mergers and acquisitions, high profitability in banking sector and increasing interest rate spread. Present study therefore explicitly tests the market conduct of banks using quarterly panel data of 30 banks from 2004 to 2012 and employing Panzar–Rosse, Bresnahan–Lau, Hall–Roeger and Boone’s approaches to study market power. Our findings suggest that Pakistan’s banking industry is working in a competitive environment and we find little evidence for the exercise of market power by the dominant banks. Our results remain robust across all these approaches to measure market power. These findings indicate that the liberalization and deregulation of Pakistan’s banking industry has been successful in improving the competitive conditions in the market.