Rethinking time and money at the beginning of the 21st century

According to this writer Garrison’sTime and Money is precisely what it purports to be: an exercise in comparative frameworks.     

Environmental labels-the German ‘Blue Angel’

Environmental considerations are becoming increasingly important for consumers and producers. A credible environmental label can only be established if it is issued by a neutral or state organisation on the basis of scientifically derived criteria. This holds true for the German ‘Blue Angel’. A case study of emulsion lacquer paints labelled with the Blue Angel indicates that an environmental label can support a product's market penetration effectively, even if this is accompanied by rising prices. Nevertheless, it is quite clear from survey data, that in general households' willingness to pay higher prices for an environmentally friendly product is unlikely to be strongly pronounced. In the case study there was a scope for demand expansion at an even higher price level because the individual consumer can expect a personal positive advantage by utilizing the labelled product.     

Hedonic price measurement: the CCC approach

An accurate measurement of general price inflation is an essential prerequisite for sound economic analysis and prudent policy-making. Regrettably, numerous hedonic regression studies (predominately focusing on computers) have suggested that due to product quality changes, national statistical agencies are not computing unbiased price-trend estimates. This paper argues that the time-honored hedonic estimation procedure—the adjacent year regression (AYR) method—is generally neither unbiased nor robust. Consequently, the continuously changing coefficient (CCC) approach is introduced. Utilizing various hedonic techniques, several quality-adjusted price-trends for laser printers (1992–2005) were estimated and compared with the one officially released by the statistical agency.     

Housing mobility programs and economic self-sufficiency: Evidence from a randomized experiment

This paper examines the effects of a randomized housing-voucher program on individual economic outcomes. Public housing residents who are offered relocation counseling together with housing vouchers that can only be redeemed in low-poverty areas experience a reduction in welfare receipt of between 11% and 16% compared to controls. These effects are not accompanied by changes in earnings or employment rates as measured by unemployment insurance records. Offering families unrestricted housing vouchers without additional counseling appears to have little effect on economic outcomes.     

The pricing of sentiment risk in European stock markets

This paper studies whether sentiment is rewarded with a significant risk premium in the European stock markets. We examine several sentiment proxies and identify the Economic Sentiment Indicator from the EU Commission as the most relevant sentiment proxy for our sample. The analysis is performed for the contemporaneous excess returns of EA-11 stock markets in the period from February 1999 to September 2015. We apply a conditional multi-beta pricing model in order to track the variation of the sentiment risk premium over time. The results demonstrate a positive significant relationship between sentiment and contemporaneous excess returns which is consistent with previous studies. The calculated sentiment risk premium is significant as well but negative implying that an investment in EA-11 countries over the examined time period – that is bearing sentiment risk – would have been unattractive to the investors on average.     

Environmental efficiency measurement and the materials balance condition

The materials balance condition is a fundamental adding up condition, which essentially says that: “what goes in must come out”. In this paper we argue that a number of the recently developed methods of incorporating pollution measures into standard productive efficiency models may be inconsistent with this fundamental condition. We propose an alternative method that involves the incorporation of the materials balance concept into the production model in a similar manner to which price information is normally incorporated. This produces a new environmental efficiency measure that can be decomposed into technical and allocative components, in a similar manner to the conventional cost efficiency decomposition. The approach is illustrated with the case of phosphorus emission on Belgian pig-finishing farms, using data envelopment analysis (DEA) methods. Our results indicate that a substantial proportion of nutrient pollution on these farms can be abated in a cost reducing manner.     

Alternative Fat Taxes to Control Obesity

This paper examines three alternative types of fat taxes to determine how effective they may be in reducing obesity. Upon the examination of the available evidence as to the effectiveness of fat taxes in reducing obesity authors conclude that all types of fat taxes are not sufficiently specific in targeting obesity. In some cases imposition of fat tax may actually lead to reversal of the intended effect. Therefore, the use of taxes to reduce obesity and promote healthy outcomes is not recommended.     

Sensemaking in expatriation—A theoretical basis

Contemporary thinking and research into expatriation has fallen into two clusters: a macrostrategic level and a micropractice level. Some theoretical tension exists between the clusters, and calls for the reframing of understanding gained from the theoretical basis of past acculturation studies to address global management in volatile business environments. This article explores the theoretical concept of sensemaking in expatri‐ation. Two sensemaking elements, Sense of Coherence and Socio‐Cultural Brokerage, are introduced as potentially contributing to expatriation responses, together with the implications of sensemaking theory for research and practice in the management of overseas assignments. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Trust formation in Korean new product alliances: How important are pre-existing social ties?

The focus of this study is on the nature and influence of social connections versus other relational mechanisms on trust formation in an emerging Asian economy. We examine the role of communication quality, perceived fairness, and pre-existing social relationships for the formation of trust in 47 vertical new product development alliances in South Korea. The empirical results indicate a relatively minor importance of pre-existing social ties vis-à-vis communication quality and fairness for the development of trust. Contrary to widespread perceptions, pre-existing social ties do not appear to directly contribute to establishing trust with external alliance partners in Korea. Multiple explanations are offered for this unexpected finding. Instead, existing social relationships moderate the importance of fairness for trust formation. When conducting partnerships with Korean firms, managers should focus more on a quality communication and fair behavior when trust formation is the objective, than on social connections.