On the Incentive Effects of Sample Size in Monitoring Agents – A Theoretical and Experimental Analysis

When agents compete for a bonus and their productivity in each of several possible occasions depends stochastically on (constant) effort, the number of times this is checked to assign the bonus affects the level of uncertainty in the selection process. Uncertainty, in turn, is expected to increase the effort made by competing agents (Cowen and Glazer, 1996; Dubey and Haimanko, 2003; Dubey and Wu, 2001). Theoretical predictions are derived and experimental evidence is collected for two competing agents, with the bonus awarded to that agent who outperforms the other. Sampling occasions (1 or 3), cost of production (high or low), cost symmetry (asymmetric or symmetric), and piece‐rate reward are manipulated factorially to test the robustness of the effects of uncertainty. For control, a single‐agent case is included. Results indicate that, for tournaments, greater uncertainty does indeed lead to greater than expected effort and lower average variable costs.     

Liberalization of Opening Hours with Free Entry

Abstract. This paper studies competition in prices and opening hours in a model with free entry. It is shown that under free competition market failures arise: Entry is excessive and opening hours are under‐provided. The larger the demand elasticity, the larger market failures are going to be. Restrictions on opening hours aggravate this failure. We analyze the impact of a liberalization of opening hours. The model predicts that prices will remain constant in the short run but increase in the long run. Concentration in the retail sector will rise. Additionally, employment in the retail sector increases.     

A Pre-purchase Product Trial of a Monopolist with Multiple Products

For the heterogeneous consumers who do not know their individual utilities from a new product, a pre-purchase product trial would be helpful. We found out that a monopoly firm with two similar products would have a strong incentive not to allow a pre-purchase product trial, even though it is socially optimal to allow it. Furthermore, it is more likely for a monopoly firm with a pre-purchase product trial policy to introduce a new product to the market when introducing a new product is socially optimal.     

The European Union and Kaliningrad: Taking the Low Road

there is no abstract     

The effects of cognitive ability and high school quality on college entry decisions: nonparametric estimation of parameters of interest

The decisions to attend college are analysed and nonparametric predictions compared to those obtained from the widely used logit model. The impacts of measured cognitive ability and proxies for high school quality on the decisions to attend college are examined for a sample of white and black males and females from the USA. Two different parameters of interest which isolate the effects of ability and high school quality on college entry decisions are described and estimated by ‘integrating out’ the effect of other covariates. It is found that measured cognitive ability is an extremely important determinant of college entry for all race and gender groups. At the same point in the ability distribution, blacks are more likely to select into college than whites, and females more likely than males of the same racial group. Proxies for high school quality such as teacher education, student teacher ratios, school enrolment and library size are shown to have little or no effects on the likelihood of college entry for all race and gender groups. Further, predictions obtained from the flexible nonparametric analysis are found to be quite similar to those obtained from the logit model, suggesting that simpler fully parametric binary choice models perform quite well as modelling college entry decisions.     

The role of shorting,firm size,and time on market anomalies

We examine the role of shorting, firm size, and time on the profitability of size, value, and momentum strategies. We find that long positions make up almost all of size, 60% of value, and half of momentum profits. Shorting becomes less important for momentum and more important for value as firm size decreases. The value premium decreases with firm size and is weak among the largest stocks. Momentum profits, however, exhibit no reliable relation with size. These effects are robust over 86 years of US equity data and almost 40 years of data across four international equity markets and five asset classes. Variation over time and across markets of these effects is consistent with random chance. We find little evidence that size, value, and momentum returns are significantly affected by changes in trading costs or institutional and hedge fund ownership over time.     

PanelWhiz and the Australian Longitudinal Data Infrastructure in Economics

PanelWhiz is a graphical user interface that was written for the statistical software, Stata SE/MP Version 11 (Win/Mac/Linux) or later, which allows users to extract data from complicated multi‐level longitudinal datasets in an easy and efficient manner. Specifically, Australian datasets, such as Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life, Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, Footprints in Time—The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children and Consumer Attitudes, Sentiments & Expectations in Australia, have already been integrated into the common platform of the PanelWhiz system.     

Characteristics of a Logistics-Based Business Model

In companies where excellence in logistics is decisive for the outperformance of competitors and logistics has an outspoken role for the strategy of the firm, there is present what we refer to here as a “logistics-based business model.” Based on a multiple case study of three Nordic retail companies, the purpose of this article is to explore the characteristics of such a logistics-based business model. As such, this research helps to provide structure to logistics-based business models and identifies a way forward for companies for whom logistics and distribution are a major concern for the overall strategy of the firm.     

Demographischer Wandel und dessen Auswirkungen auf den Energieverbrauch in Hamburg und Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

This study estimates the impact of demographic change on energy use in two German regions, Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Data from the EVS household survey are used to identify demographic characteristics and age-specific consumption patterns in the two regions. They are used in combination with regional household projections to construct consumption expenditure forecasts, which are then entered as demand impulses into regional input-out-put models to calculate sectoral production effects and energy use. The analysis shows that the impact of demographic change on energy use differs considerably between the two regions. Therefore, studies conducted at the national level may miss important effects, making it necessary to conduct more studies at the regional level.     

Markenkommunikation 2.0 — Konsumenten formen Markenbotschaften

Zusammenfassung  Hoch involvierte Konsumenten agieren zunehmend als Sender von Markenbotschaften. Sie m?chten an markenpolitischen Fragestellungen partizipieren. Aus diesem Wunsch resultieren durch die ausgepr?gte soziale Vernetzung und die Entkopplung der Kommunikation neue Herausforderungen für die Kommunikationspolitik. Denn die konsumenteninitiierte Kommunikation birgt durchaus Gefahren, die vom Unternehmen rechtzeitig gemanagt werden sollten. Die Chance, von der Meinung ihrer Konsumenten zu profitieren, nutzen bislang noch zu wenige Unternehmen. Prof. Dr. Tobias Langner Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Betriebswirtschaftslehre, insbesondere Marketing, an der Bergischen Universit?t Wuppertal sowie wissenschaftlicher Direktor des Instituts für Marken- und Kommunikationsforschung, Bergische Universit?t Wuppertal Dipl.-Kfm. Alexander Fischer Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Lehrstuhl für Betriebswirtschaftslehre, insbesondere Marketing, an der Bergischen Universit?t Wuppertal