Asset pricing models have relied on the idea that a representative agent chooses consumption and a portfolio of assets in order to maximize her expected utility. However, this paradigm has led to a great literature describing such pricing anomalies as the equity premium puzzle, the risk-free rate puzzle, variability, predictability, small firm mispricing, weekend and January effects and so on. New assumptions and features have been added to the models in attempt to explain these anomalies. Few papers, in comparison, have taken a step back to the most fundamental initial assumptions of the models to determine the validity of these initial assumptions. Researchers have held tightly to the assumption that utility functions are time separable and that investor risk preferences are constant.
Further, these two assumptions imply that the elasticity of intertemporal substitution is constant and is the inverse of risk aversion. Constantinides (2002) argues that “relaxing the assumption of convenience that preferences are time separable drives a wedge between the preference properties of risk aversion and intertemporal substitution, within the class of von Neumann-Morgenstern preferences. Further work along these lines may enhance our understanding of the price behavior along the business cycle with credibly low risk-aversion coefficient.” Before we completely label the representative-agent paradigm as a failure, we must first better understand the limitations of the traditional assumptions regarding investor preferences.
Households have interacted with financial markets in the last 20 years, much more so than in the past, and also have been exposed to increased financial risk as a consequence of financial market liberalization and policy reforms aimed at promoting retirement savings through private pension funds and individual retirement accounts. Although to different extents, these trends are affecting all countries and all dimensions of economic transactions, from payment needs, as witnessed by the growth of the credit card industry, portfolio investments, and borrowing in the mortgage and consumer credit markets. Many of these activities, however, are entered into by uninformed individuals.
There are many reasons why your child may need a gastrostomy (gas-tros'-to-me). A gastrostomy is the creation of a new opening into the stomach. A small incision (stoma or opening) is made in the skin and stomach wail. The feeding tube is inserted into the stomach. This tube can deliver fluids and formula directly into the stomach enabling your child to receive enough nutrition essential for function, growth, and healing, it can easily be removed if your child is able to consume adequate calories by mouth at a future time.
Many children need assistance to get optimal nutrient intake. They might have a neurologic impairment that prevents them from swallowing safely or are at risk for aspiration (inhaling food into the lungs). Other conditions that require temporary nutritional support are: abnormal esophagus (i.e. esophageal atresia or stricture from gastroesophageal reflux), prematurity (i.e. less than 38-40 weeks gestation), chronic lung disease (i.e. cystic fibrosis), failure to thrive, short bowel syndrome, cardiac disease with poor feeding and growth, or any other medical condition that prevents a child from eating and swallowing safely. Children with pseudo-obstruction or other motility disorders might require a gastrostomy for chronic stomach drainage or decompression (removal of pressure).
