OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of branding, as indicated by brand name, on evaluation of the cigarette smoking experience. DESIGN Between-subjects and within-subjects experimental study. Participants were randomly allocated to smoke a cigarette from a pack featuring a premium brand name and a cigarette from a pack featuring a value brand name. Within each condition, participants unknowingly ...

1 Most of the models using option pricing techniques assume a zero risk premium. assume that any risk premium impounded in corporate spreads is captured by adjusting transition probabilities.

oil industry is the largest economic sector in the country. but despite the insurance role in the energy insurance sector, the insurance industry’s share in the oil and energy presents an inappropriate combination. latest analysis and surveys show that during the last three years the premium experience a negative growth in each year with respect to its previous year and it also shows the premiu...

Suppose a risk premium factor denotes the time-varying market prices of risk in the Treasury bond market. The question is whether the risk premium factor affects bond prices. Equivalently, we may ask whether the factor is spanned by the crosssection of term structure. This paper finds that the factor is almost but not completely hidden from term structure. Particularly, Treasury bill yields are...

In this paper a VAR model is employed to construct a measure of the conditional expectations of the future yen/dollar spot rate. This measure allows us to examine the dynamics of an ex-ante time-series for the risk premium in the market. The VAR model produces 'better' forecasts than the survey responses for turbulent periods such as 1981-1982 and 1984-1985. The VAR-generated expectations are t...

The purpose of this article is to explain the spread between rates on corporate and government bonds. We show that expected default accounts for a surprisingly small fraction of the premium in corporate rates over treasuries. While state taxes explain a substantial portion of the difference, the remaining portion of the spread is closely related to the factors that we commonly accept as explain...

In the Medicare Advantage (MA) market, private health insurers compete to offer plans with the most attractive premium and benefit package. Medicare provides a subsidy, based on a \benchmark payment rate", for each Medicare beneficiary a plan enrolls. We investigate how this subsidy, the primary policy lever in the market, affects the equilibrium premiums and benefits of MA plans. We exploit va...

In present study, directly compressed controlled released matrix tablets of Diltiazem Hydrochloride were formulated at drug-to-polymer ratios (D: P) of 10:1, 10:2, 10:3 using polymers Ethocel 45 Premium, K100 LV Methocel, K15M EP Premium Methocel as rate controlling agents. In some formulations of Diltiazem hydrochloride and Ethocel 45 Premium matrices, 30% of filler was replaced by Co-excipien...