Bias in consumer panel and store audit data

Sample survey data such as consumer panel data and store audit data may deviate remarkably from each other and from internal secondary data. These deviations are called data biases. In this study we use information regarding some brands of a fast moving nondurable consumer good to show that the data bias may lead to a large bias in parameter estimation, implying wrong indications for the use of marketing decision variables.A formal analysis explaining the coverage factor - measuring data bias - by a number of exogeneous variables can lead to a reduction in the case of consumer panel data.A similar reduction of the data bias in store audit data can be reached through the use of a reweighing procedure.     

Approximation and Calibration of Short-Term Implied Volatilities Under Jump-Diffusion Stochastic Volatility

We derive an asymptotic expansion formula for option impliedvolatility under a two-factor jump-diffusion stochastic volatilitymodel when time-to-maturity is small. We further propose a simplecalibration procedure of an arbitrary parametric model to short-termnear-the-money implied volatilities. An important advantageof our approximation is that it is free of the unobserved spotvolatility. Therefore, the model can be calibrated on optiondata pooled across different calendar dates to extract informationfrom the dynamics of the implied volatility smile. An exampleof calibration to a sample of S&P 500 option prices is provided.(JEL G12)     

Market Access and Welfare under Free Trade Agreements: Textiles under NAFTA

The effective market access granted to textiles and apparelunder the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is estimated,taking into account the presence of rules of origin. First,estimates are provided of the effect of tariff preferences combinedwith rules of origin on the border prices of Mexican final goodsexported to the United States and of U.S. intermediate goodsexported to Mexico, based on eight-digit Harmonized System tariff-linedata. A third of the estimated rise in the border price of Mexicanapparel products is found to compensate for the cost of complyingwith NAFTA’s rules of origin, and NAFTA is found to haveraised the price of U.S. intermediate goods exported to Mexicoby around 12 percent, with downstream rules of origin accountingfor a third of that increase. Second, simulations are used toestimate welfare gains for Mexican exporters from preferentialmarket access under NAFTA. The presence of rules of origin isfound to approximately halve these gains.     

From Libertinism to Marital Commitment: The Economics of Marital Search with Heterogeneous Agents

Synopsis The actual characteristics and desires of candidates or marriage cannot be clearly identified without careful examination (Anderson & Hamori 2000). Accordingly, the classified advertisement system looks like a market or lemons (Akerlof 1970), which sharply contrasts with the matchmaking agency system. The continued existence of classified advertisement system just proves it furthers the goals of certain singles—namely, libertine females and libertine males. The present paper uses two databases: the first database consists of a sample of personal advertisements extracted from a specialized publication; the second database is the customer file of a matchmaking agency. This paper predicts which variables will determine the commitment level desired by individuals and why matchmaking agencies customers are more sincere than advertisers.     

小家电塔扇水箱组件生产的精益改善

在深入调研的基础上,利用价值流程图分析,发现小家电水箱生产过程中存在严重的不平衡问题,而且生产过程中不符合精益生产中“八大浪费”的问题非常多,应用价值流对整体生产分析后提出“跨车间一个流”概念,从注塑生产到总装生产实现了一个流的均衡化生产。     

Stewardship vs. Stagnation: An Empirical Comparison of Small Family and Non‐Family Businesses*

abstract Two major perspectives can be construed in the literature concerning the nature of family owned businesses (FOBs). The first implies that these enterprises have unique characteristics of stewardship. FOB owners are said to care deeply about the long‐term prospects of the business, in large part because their family's fortune, reputation and future are at stake. Their stewardship is said to be manifested by unusual devotion to the continuity of the company, by more assiduous nurturing of a community of employees, and by seeking out closer connections with customers to sustain the business. The second perspective is less flattering. It proposes that FOBs are unusually subject to stagnation: they are said to face unique resource restrictions, embrace conservative strategies, eschew growth, and be doomed to short lives. This paper develops and examines the merits of the two perspectives, neither of which has been systematically articulated or researched. It does so in an empirical study of only small firms that are owned and managed by their founder. Within this sample, it compares firms that are FOBs, that is, family owned and managed, with non‐FOBs, that is, owned and managed by a founder with no other relative involved in the business. The findings show significant support for all three aspects of the stewardship perspective of FOBs, and no support for any elements of the stagnation perspective.     

Free admission to museums and monuments: an exploration of some perceptions of the audiences

• This paper considers the theme of the audiences' perceptions of free admission in national French museums and monuments. The results show that, from an individual perspective, perceptions of free admission are linked to perceptions of price, money and payment, hence complementing perceptions expressed in a collective perspective (a symbolic, political measure causing either adhesion or rejection). These perspectives are generally put forward by both advocates and opponents of the measure in their discussions. These different visions of free admission have managerial implications for managers of museums and monuments.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

政府科教支持下产业集聚对全要素生产率的影响研究 ——以长江经济带108个城市为例

基于新结构经济学理论,运用空间杜宾模型,依据长江经济带108个城市2003-2019年数据,考量产业集聚技术外部性发挥的有限性,以及政府科教支持对产业集聚技术外部性的交互作用。结果显示：在一定临界值之前,产业集聚能推动全要素生产率的提升,过度集聚则会产生拥塞效应,多元化集聚可能产生的拥塞效应更强,专业化集聚对全要素生产率的作用更稳定,产业集聚对全要素生产率具有积极的空间溢出效应。政府加大教育支持有助于释放产业集聚的技术外部性,但在当前的支持力度下,政府科教支持效果甚微。     

The provision of urban housing in the BLS countries: Policy and strategy since independence

After studying housing policies applied in the Third World the conclusion was drawn that extensive housing shortages cannot be ascribed only to the rapid growth of the urban population, but that housing policies and strategies implemented in the past were equally important. On the one hand the housing policies and strategies were unrealistic in terms of standards and costs and on the other, there was a lack of planning and co‐ordination in the implementation of the housing strategies.

In this paper an attempt is made to test the validity of the above‐mentioned as applied to Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. The structures responsible for the provision of urban housing as well as the policies and strategies as applied in the BLS countries since independence are therefore analysed. Differences and similarities in the implementation of housing policies and strategies between the various BLS countries are also highlighted.