Material Offshoring: Alternate Measures

Industry measures of offshoring of material inputs are often generated using the proportionality assumption applied to aggregate import data—that the import share of each commodity used in the production process for a particular industry is similar to the import share of a commodity for the total economy. This note compares estimates of offshoring for the Canadian manufacturing sector derived using this assumption to four alternatives: two measures that use direct measures of firm‐based imports, and two hybrid measures that use both input and import information. These indirect measures are compared to survey estimates that directly assess import intensity in the production process in an effort to evaluate which indirect method yields more reasonable offshoring measures.     

Changing Economic Structures and Impacts of Shocks: Evidence from a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Model for China

We present a small‐scale dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model that features price rigidities, habit formation in consumption and costs in capital adjustment. We estimate the key parameters and calibrate the model with data for the Chinese economy. Our interest centres on the impact of technology and monetary policy shocks for different structures of the Chinese economy. In particular, we evaluate how a rebalancing of the economy from investment‐led to consumption‐led growth would affect the economic dynamics after a shock occurs. Our findings suggest that a rebalancing would reduce the volatility of the real economy in the event of a technology shock, which provides support for policies aiming to increase the consumption share in China.     

Understanding the Motivation and Travel Behavior of Cycle Tourists Using Involvement Profiles

Bicycle tourism is a growing niche tourism market which has potential economic, social, and environmental outcomes for individual participants and host communities. However, there has been a lack of research into heterogeneity of this market and their respective motivations and behavior. This article applies the concept of enduring involvement, in conjunction with tourist motivational theory, to segment and better understand cycle tourist behavior and intentions. A total of 564 completed questionnaires was collected from an online survey of bicycle club members in Australia. Respondents were segmented into five initial clusters by their level of enduring involvement. A number of significant differences were found on their travel motivations, travel behavior, and behavioral intentions, as well as their sociodemographics and cycling behavior. The results lend support to the application of enduring involvement in a tourism context to better understand the behavior of niche markets which include popular leisure pursuits. Recommendations as a result of the findings are made for product development and marketing communication, while future research opportunities are also outlined.     

Barrier option pricing: a hybrid method approach

This paper adapts the hybrid method, a combination of the Laplace transformation and the finite-difference approach, to the pricing of barrier-style options. The hybrid method eliminates the time steps and provides a highly accurate and precise numerical solution that can be rapidly obtained. This method is superior to lattice methods when trying to solve barrier-style options. Previous studies have tried to solve barrier-style options; however, there have continually been several disadvantages. Very small time steps and stock node spaces are needed to avoid undesirable numerically induced oscillations in the solution of barrier option. In addition, all the intermediate option prices must be computed at each time step, even though one may be only interested in the terminal price of barrier-style complex options. The hybrid method may also solve more complex problems concerning barrier-style options with various boundary constraints such as options with a time-varying rebate. In order to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed scheme, we compare our algorithm with several well-known pricing formulas of barrier-type options. The numerical results show that the hybrid method is robust, and provides a highly accurate solution and fast convergence, regardless of whether or not the initial asset prices are close to the barrier.     

Regulator flexibility and the administrative allocation licensing of 3G spectrum

Globally, most nations assign radio spectrum to provide 3G mobile services during the period 1999–2007. While there is consensus among most economists that auctions are the preferred assignment mechanism, the assignment mode is split, more or less, equally (in terms of the number of licences issued) between administrative allocations and auctions. With auction procedures tending to raise more revenue for governments (Cartelier, 2003) the question that naturally arises is: why are administrative allocations so popular a method to assign spectrum? McMillan (1995) conjectures that administrative allocations provide additional ‘flexibility’. Accordingly, this study examines the performance of 3G assignments in terms of an econometric analysis of a unique sample of national 3G spectrum administrative allocations. These outcomes are modelled as depending on spectrum package attributes, and post-award network deployment requirements.     

Sport sponsorship,team support and purchase intentions

This research assessed the influence of team support and perception of sponsors on the purchase intentions of sport consumers. In a case study of a not‐for‐profit, membership‐based Australian professional football club, 1647 respondents reported their perceptions of team support, sponsor integrity and purchase intentions for the sponsor's products. Results revealed that the key pathway to purchase intention is associated with fan passion and a perception of sponsor integrity. This implies that the best mechanism for sponsor return on investment comes in the form of activities to bolster both passion for the team and perceptions of sponsor integrity.     

Estimating the economic benefits of acidic rock drainage clean up using cost shares

This paper reports the results of a stated preference study that estimates the economic value for cleaning up acid rock drainage in Colorado's Snake River watershed. In contrast to much of the existing literature, the present study emphasizes benefit estimation for three implementing projects rather than benefit estimation for general changes in water quality or large scale water quality policy. The focus on implementing projects delivers information that is specifically relevant to current decisions being faced in the watershed. While valuation questions in most stated preference studies present costs that have no relation to actual project costs, this study presents a new cost share approach. Project costs are estimated and then valuation questions present different local cost shares to subjects. This approach facilitates stated cost variation necessary for estimating the mean of the distribution of project values without resorting to experimentally designed, fictitious stated costs. In addition to estimating the mean value, which facilitates benefit cost analysis, the study also provides median value estimates, which provide insights into the political feasibility of these projects. Study results suggest that local cost shares on the order of 20%-40%, depending on the project, are politically feasible.     

Managing the Intangible Aspects of a Project: The Affect of Vision,Artifacts, and Leader Values on Project Spirit and Success in Technology‐Driven Projects

Successful projects are often characterized by a unique spirit. Phase one results, based on 193 employees partaking in 60 projects across organizations, support a model positing that leader building activities affect employees' emotions, attitudes, and behavioral norms that are focused on expected project outcomes, termed project spirit. Spirit affects employees' contextual performance behavior, which in turn affects success as proposed. Phase two cases, designed to ground these results in technology‐driven project contexts, highlight the value of managing the project's intangible aspects captured by spirit. Quantitative and qualitative findings imply that leaders can be coached to execute behaviors that generate a project's spirit, which boosts contextual performance behavior and increases project success.