Why is a portfolio sometimes valued less than the sum of its underlying components? In this paper, I provide a novel explanation for this question by utilizing closed-end funds, mergers and acquisitions, and conglomerates, where the value of the aggregate portfolio and the values of the underlying components can be separately evaluated. Inspired by the model of Barberis and Huang (2008), in whi...

This paper presents applications for the weak protection of secrets in which weakness is not just acceptable but desirable. For one application, two versions of a lottery scheme are presented in which the result of the lottery is determined by the ticket numbers purchased, but no one can control the outcome or determine what it is until after the lottery closes. This is because the outcome is k...

We report an experiment conducted to gain insight into factors that may affect revenues in English auctions and lotteries, two commonly used charity fund-raising formats. In particular, we examine how changes in the marginal per capita return (MPCR) from the public component of bidding, and how changes in the distribution of values affect the revenue properties of each format. Although we obser...

In a fair, infinite lottery, it is possible to conclude that drawing number divisible by four strictly less likely than an even number; and, with apparently equal cogency, equally as number.

This report is the first in a series of papers to concentrate on gambling in Europe. The focus of this first report is lottery gambling (including scratchcards and video lottery terminals) across Europe in relation to addiction and other social impacts. We are well aware that the picture we present in this first report is incomplete as there is very little in the established peer-reviewed resea...

Pr(unique winner) Pr(unique winnerjchoice is good) Pr(choice is good): The probability that the choice is good is at least 1 ? 1 p N , by the previous claim. In such a case we are exactly in the same situation as in the original lottery. By assumption, this lottery guarantees unique winner with probability at least 2=3 for any set of`participants, hence this is certainly true for a random set o...

We estimate the causal effect of wealth on stock market participation using administrative data on Swedish lottery players. A $150,000 windfall gain increases stock ownership probability among pre-lottery non-participants by 12 percentage points, while pre-lottery stock holders are unaffected. The effect is immediate, seemingly permanent and heterogeneous in intuitive ways. Standard lifecycle m...