CONSUMER THEORY, HOME PRODUCTION, AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Arguments about the existence of the so-called energy efficiency gap are typically based on evaluations of efficiency measures as investments whose end result is to reduce the cost of providing a given level of energy services. This article demonstrates that the investment approach tends to undervalue energy efficiency improvements because it omits the increase in utility that results from the consumer's substitution of energy services for other goods. The substitution occurs because the efficiency measure reduces the marginal cost (implicit price) of energy services. Sample calculations based on a Cobb-Douglas utility function are used to illustrate the potential size of the undervaluation of efficiency investments.     

家具企业核心竞争力评价体系研究

在激烈的市场竞争中,企业的核心竞争力成为管理界的研究热潮。在家具市场由卖方市场转为买方市场的今天,对家具企业的核心竞争力进行研究具有一定的现实意义。本文从以客户为中心的角度,将财务绩效融入核心竞争力的评价,构建了家具企业核心竞争力的评价体系。     

Issues Facing Small Accounting Practices in Regional North Queensland: An Exploratory Study

Small accounting practices (SAP), most of which are sole principals, are an important part of the accounting profession and the Australian economy. This exploratory study identifies issues and challenges experienced by small accounting principals in Far North Queensland, Australia. The findings generally correspond with previous research, ranking staffing and keeping up to date through professional development as key areas of concern, and also highlighting the expectation gap between SAP principals and their clients. Stress emerged as a major concern for principals, and new areas of possible conflict of interests were uncovered. A number of potential areas for future research, including comparative studies in city and suburban areas, have been identified.     

Intraday return and volatility relationships between the Ibex 35 spot and futures markets

This paper analyses the intraday lead-lag relationships between returns and volatilities in the Ibex 35 spot and futures markets. Using hourly data, we jointly analyze the interactions between markets, estimating a bivariate error correction model with GARCH perturbations which captures stochastically the presence of an intraday U-shaped curve for both spot and futures market volatility. Our findings show a bidirectional causal relationship between market volatilities, with a positive feedback. This two-way transmission of volatility is consistent with market prices evolving according to a long-run equilibrium relationship, and shocks affecting both markets in the same direction. Our empirical results also support a unidirectional cross interaction from futures to spot market returns. This pattern suggests that the futures market leads the spot market in order to incorporate the arrival of new information.     

Worker Turnover, Job Turnover and Collective Bargaining in Spain

This paper analyses the relationship between the presence of organized labour in firms (approximated by the scope of collective bargaining) and the extent of gross worker and job flows. According to the voice theory of Freeman, those firms having a union presence will have lower worker mobility. However, there is no analysis of the effects of the presence of organized labour on gross job flows. Using a Spanish data base, we find evidence of the existence of a voice effect on gross worker flows but not clear support for a voice effect on gross job flows.     

Ethics,gratuities, and professionalization of the purchasing function

This study investigated (1) whether potential future purchasing agents were predisposed to accept gratuities or whether the practice of gratuity acceptance is a manifestation of the job itself, (2) whether the existence of a code of ethics forbidding gratuity acceptance curtails the occurrence, and (3) whether disparities in ethics policies between the sales and purchasing functions affect gratuity acceptance. Hypotheses based upon the concepts of organizational concern and institutionalized ethics are developed and empirically tested. Results suggest that future purchasing agents are predisposed to accept gratuities and that formal written ethics policies decrease the acceptance of gratuities. Disparities in ethics policies between the sales and purchasing functions concerning gratuities failed to affect gratuity acceptance significantly.Gregory B. Turner is assistant professor of marketing at Livingston University. He has published inThe International Journal of Logistics Management and theTransportation Journal.G. Stephen Taylor is Associate Professor of management at Mississippi State University. His research interests include ethics in computer usage, performance appraisal, and turnover control.Mark F. Hartley is Assistant Professor and National Association of Purchasing Management/Carolinas-Virginia chair of Purchasing at the College of Charleston. His research interests include ethics and professionalization of the purchasing function.     

The law of one price: a test based on prices for selected inputs in New Zealand agriculture

The law of one price (LOOP) is an essential foundation of both the pure theory of trade and monetary theory. Strictly speaking, the law relates to prices of individual commodities. However, empirical tests of LOOP have often relied on aggregated data. In this paper, a model is derived and estimated using price data for 15 selected inputs in New Zealand agriculture. The results offer no support for the LOOP in the short run, and the results for the long run are mixed. It may be inappropriate, therefore, to assume that the LOOP holds generally in modelling exercises, particularly when models are used for policy purposes.