Exploring Everyday Self-Regulation in Nearby Nature: Determinants,Patterns, and a Framework of Nearby Outdoor Recreation Behavior

The understanding of determinants and underlying mechanisms of everyday nearby outdoor recreation behavior (NORB) remains insufficient for use in urban planning. We explored the nearby recreational decisions of walkers, cyclists, and joggers in problem-focused interviews (N = 18). The identified influences include various demands of work and private life, strains, and action circumstances. Loads and strains showed several compensatory associations with NORB. These findings were synthesized into a NORB framework that offers empirically grounded hypotheses for future research. The proposed framework may help to integrate findings from different research fields while providing a more comprehensive understanding of NORB.     

The Loss of the Certainty Effect

Recent changes in the commercial property-liability insurance business have made it unlikely that large claims will be paid promptly and willingly. The situation is not limited to asbestos, pollution, and medical product liability, though certainly evident there. The authors examine the situation from three economic and psychological perspectives—option theory, asymmetric information theory, and prospect theory. All three indicate that if insurance were seen by customers as less than fully certain and reliable, the resulting discounting of its value—and hence buyers' willingness to pay for it—would be much deeper than one would expect. Although competitive and legal steps could be taken to head off such a disaster, none of them is likely.     

Product availabilty as a strategic variable: The implications of regulating retailer stockouts

We study product availability as a strategic variable in a sequential game between consumers and a monopolist. We use a perfect Bayesian equilibrium concept to solve the game under different regulatory regimes. We show that under certain assumptions about the regulatory environment, a two-price equilibrium in which the quantity of the lower-priced good is limited may exist even when a single retailer sells two brands that are perfect substitutes. The FTC Guides Against Bait Advertising are shown to be potentially welfare enhancing as they facilitate commitment on the part of a monopolist credibly to plan for stockouts. Paradoxically, our analysis suggests that the more stringent FTC regulation prohibiting stockouts by retail food stores from 1971 to 1988 was Pareto worsening, as it removed the monopolist's commitment mechanism.     

The Cult of Modernity

This article examines Strategic Performance Management Systems oftenintroduced as a key component of New Public Management. In doing so, it identifies some of the common and long-standing difficulties identified with the introduction and use of performance measures. The article then questions why such management systems are consistently advocated given some of the apparently serious dysfunctions that their introduction and use can engender. It concludes that these systems reflect a deeper attachment to what has been characterised as Enlightenment thinking, and that an archaeology of this style of thought is a necessary pre-requisite for understanding models of management that are promulgated.     

The effects of discussion and question wording on self and proxy reports of behavioral frequencies

Marketing research surveys often rely on one person to report about the consumption and purchase behavior of other household members. We report the results of an experiment examining how the level of discussion among household members and the wording of a recall question affect the accuracy of reports about the frequency of another household member’s behavior. The findings suggest two important implications. First, asking respondents for a count versus an estimate of the behavior affects both the level of reporting for others as well as the accuracy of such reports. Second, screening potential respondents on their level of discussion on a topic with their partner or family member may help reduce reporting error.     

The productivity effects of privatization: The case of Polish cooperatives

This paper evaluates the productivity effects associated with privatization of producer cooperatives. The results, based on a sample of 2164 Polish cooperatives, indicate that privatized cooperatives have: (1) 1% lower total factor productivity (TFP) the year prior to privatization and 3-20% higher TFP in the year of privatization and three years post-privatization, (2) 9-36% higher labor productivity, (3) capital productivity effects of − 16-6%. The evidence is consistent with governance and incentive mechanisms of cooperatives being more effective outside of state interference, and with competition and hard budget constraints leading to pressure to restructure and adopt practices that improve productivity.     

Early Education and Children's Outcomes: How Long Do the Impacts Last?*

We evaluate the effects of undergoing any early education (before the compulsory starting age of 5) and of pre‐school on a cohort of British children born in 1958. In contrast to most available studies, we are able to assess whether any effects on cognition and socialisation are long‐lasting, as well as to estimate their net impact on subsequent educational attainment and labour market performance. Controlling for a particularly rich set of child, parental, family and neighbourhood characteristics, we find some positive and long‐lasting effects from early education. Specifically, pre‐compulsory education (preschool or school entry prior to age 5) was found to yield large improvements in cognitive tests at age 7, which, though diminished in size, remained significant throughout the schooling years, up to age 16. By contrast, attendance of pre‐school (nursery or playgroup) was found to yield a positive but short‐lived impact on test scores. The effects on socialisation appear to be more mixed: we found some positive, though short‐lasting, effects of pre‐compulsory education on teachers' reports of social adjustment (only at age 7); on the other hand, we found some adverse behavioural effects according to parental reports at age 7 which persisted up to age 11. In adulthood, pre‐compulsory education was found to increase the probabilities of obtaining qualifications and of being employed at age 33. For both pre‐compulsory education and pre‐school per se, we found evidence of a marginally significant 3–4 per cent wage gain at age 33.     

Entry and Exit in a Transition Economy: The Case of Poland

The purpose of this paper is to examine the industrialentry and exit in a transitioneconomy, over the interval of change from a predominatelystate-owned productivesystem. The data set employed offers a near-exhaustivecoverage of manufacturingfirms in Poland. The paper estimates entry and exit equationsacross 152 3-digitindustries, using an adaptation of an Orr–Shapiro/Khemani-typemodel to allow for thespecial circumstances of a transition economy. Theresults suggest that, despite theturbulence of the immediate post-transition period,the patterns of entry and exitbehaviour in Poland correspond closely to thoseobserved in more mature marketeconomies.