Asset indexes and the measurement of poverty,inequality and welfare in Southeast Asia

Using data on household consumer durables from the Asian Barometer Survey, this paper examines the evolution of inequality, poverty and welfare in six countries of South East Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. We start by deriving the most common order of acquisition of these durables, using first an algorithm proposed by Paroush (1965), and then Item Response Theory. We also compute the frequency distribution of the number of durables owned by households. We then use these results to compute inequality, poverty and achievement or welfare indices adapted to the case of ordinal variables.Our empirical results confirm the existence of an order of acquisition. The results show that inequality was higher in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines and lower in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. A similar classification of countries was obtained when computing multidimensional poverty indices.Finally, using the welfare or achievement index recently introduced by Apouey et al. (2019), we found that welfare was generally higher in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia and lower in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines.     

Evaluation of new first response initiatives in emergency services

By training and equipping human resources from other public service sectors than emergency response, to act as first responders, it is possible to reduce the first response times at a low cost. Before launching such an initiative, it is however important to evaluate the potential benefits. In this work, a method for doing this kind of evaluation is developed and applied to a potential initiative, utilizing fire service day personnel as new first responders. By developing a smartphone application and performing an experiment, sending alerts to potential first responders, and combining this with expert reviews of the possible value of their contribution, it is possible to estimate the response time reductions, as well as the monetary benefits of the initiative. The results show that there is a monetary benefit, even with a low number of new first responders, but that it is highly dependent on how quickly they can start travelling towards the emergency site.     

Prospect Theory,Fairness, and the Escalation of Conflict at a Negotiation Impasse*

We study a bilateral negotiation set-up where, at a bargaining impasse, the disadvantaged party chooses whether to escalate the conflict or not. Escalation is costly for both parties, and it results in a random draw of the winner of the escalated conflict. We derive the behavioral predictions of a simple social utility function, which is convex in disadvantageous inequality, thus connecting the inequity aversion and the prospect theory models. Our causal laboratory evidence is, to a large extent, consistent with the predicted effects. Among other things, the model predicts that the escalation rate is higher when escalation outcomes are riskier, and that the disagreement rate is lower when the cost of escalating the conflict is higher.     

Give mind to the gap: Measuring gender differences in financial knowledge

Prior research consistently finds a gender gap in financial knowledge where males appear to outperform females. Despite the wealth of studies attempting to explain this gap, none have considered whether the gender gap may be a product of measurement method. This study re-examines the gender gap with item response theory (IRT) which can account for guessing behavior and differential item functioning. Survey data on 184,869 individuals from 39 countries and territories is analyzed. Results show that when IRT is employed, a gender gap exists in only 54% of the sample. In contrast, when a conventional measurement approach is used, there is a gender gap in financial knowledge in 81% of the sample. These results reveal that prior measurements may underestimate women's financial knowledge and inflate the gender gap.     

An item response theory approach to constructing and evaluating brief and in-depth financial literacy scales

We applied item response theory (IRT) to construct and evaluate new brief and in-depth financial literacy scales. A survey of a UK adult sample (N = 589) included 50 questions to assess knowledge about managing financial resources and competence in using personal finance-related information—including five widely used items, on interest rates, inflation, investment diversification, mortgages and bonds. IRT applied to a scale of these items identified some limitations, overcome via further iterations to construct a new brief scale with sound psychometric properties. IRT was then applied iteratively to our pool, resulting in an in-depth, 20-item scale, also psychometrically sound, covering four broad financial domains: everyday money transactions; the concept of money; borrowing; and saving and investment. Parallel 10-item sub-scales were also evaluated. The validity of the new scales was demonstrated by regression analyses which found that, controlling for demographic variables, financial literacy predicted key indicators of financial well-being.     

Don't call us,we'll call you: Considering cognitive and physical effort in designing effective response systems to manage extended in-process wait

People must often wait for days or weeks to receive test results, price quotes, products, etc. Service providers may manage user experience during such in-process waits using notification systems that inform users when a response is available or inquiry systems that require users to inquire about response availability, thereby imposing prospective memory requirements on users. Based on the prospective memory and wait time literature, we make predictions regarding how response system (notification vs. inquiry) moderates the effects of waits that are shorter or longer than the provider promised on user evaluation of the wait. We find that users of a notification system evaluate a wait more positively and are less sensitive to deviations of actual from promised wait time than are users of an inquiry system. This advantage was more pronounced for a wait that was longer (vs. shorter) than promised. These effects of system and expectation on evaluation were fully mediated by their impact on the cognitive and physical effort of navigating the system. Finally, a week after having experienced a wait, users of an inquiry system who had waited longer (vs. shorter) than promised cooperated less on a follow-up task, highlighting another downside of using an inquiry system.     

Longitudinal analysis versus cross-sectional analysis in assessing the factors influencing shoppers’ impulse purchase behavior – Do the store ambience and salesperson interactions really matter?

Numerous studies in the marketing literature focused on consumer behavior in general, but relatively few studies have examined Impulse purchase behavior (IPB). Although few studies examined IPB, the vast majority of the studies were conducted using the cross-sectional design. These studies suffer from certain limitations like random measurement error, common method bias, causality & validity-related issues that are inherently associated with the cross-sectional design. Despite these limitations, very few studies have examined the IPB using the longitudinal design. Multilevel structural equation modeling (ML-SEM) is conducted in the study to analyze the longitudinal data for examining the changes in the causal effects of the factors influencing the shoppers' IPB over a period of time. Additionally, structural equation modeling (SEM) is conducted to examine changes in the causal effects of the factors influencing IPB at each time point of data collection. Drawing upon the stern's model and stimulus-organism-response model, the study examines the causal effects of the factors influencing the IPB. The results of ML-SEM indicate significant fluctuations in the factors influencing IPB over time. Similarly, the results of SEM indicates that few factors (like store ambience and salesperson interactions) have shown a significant influence on IPB in the initial time points (i.e., during the initial store visits of shoppers), but became insignificant over a period of time in their subsequent store visits. The findings suggest that the store crowd, secondary customers influence, and in-store promotions show a significant influence on the IPB, compared to the store ambience and salesperson interactions.     

Productivity impact of drought tolerant maize varieties under rainfall stress in Malawi: A continuous treatment approach

Drought tolerant (DT) maize varieties have received massive support in sub‐Saharan Africa because of their potential to protect smallholder farmers against drought‐related maize yield losses. Using four waves of household farm panel data from six districts in Malawi, we examine the impact heterogeneity of this technology on maize productivity using a continuous treatment approach. We find strong evidence of positive correlation between maize yield and adoption of DT maize varieties. On average, an increase by one hectare in the area allocated to DT varieties increases maize yield by 547 Kg/ha representing a 44% increase from the average maize yield of 1,254 Kg/ha for our sample. Our findings give evidence that DT maize technology has potential to protect smallholder farmers against drought‐related production losses. Policies that promote increased allocation of maize area to DT maize hold potential to enhance food security. Smallholder farmers especially in drought‐prone areas should be encouraged to allocate at least one‐third of the maize plot to DT varieties while breeders continue with the efforts of breeding a DT variety that is not only drought tolerant but also adapted to all weather conditions. More importantly, the government should ensure provision of timely ex ante weather information to guide farmers on decision‐making with respect to maize varietal choices.     

基于任务技术匹配的“互联网+回收”价值共创行为研究

本文根据修改后的任务技术匹配模型，采用多项式回归和响应面分析法，对互联网回收平台的任务技术匹配度与消费者的心理距离及价值共创行为间的关系进行分析。本文的结果表明当任务特征与技术特征水平一致时，高度匹配对心理距离的影响大于低度匹配；当任务特征与技术特征水平不一致时，匹配过度对心理距离的影响大于匹配不足；心理距离在任务技术匹配度与价值共创行为间起中介作用。该研究丰富了任务技术匹配模型的理论成果，对促进电子废弃物规范化回收有一定启发意义。     

Long‐term economic consequences of corporate environmental responsibility: Evidence from heavily polluting listed companies in China

In this study, we aim to investigate the long‐term economic consequences of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) by companies from the perspective of earnings persistence and investors' response. Based on firm‐level data of 1,010 heavily polluting listed companies in China, the empirical results are as follows. First, the CER of China's heavily polluting listed companies has significantly improved their earnings persistence, that is, earnings quality. Second, the positive long‐term economic effect of CER has been achieved through two paths: improving companies' operational efficiency and reducing their credit costs. Third, CER increases investors' response to heavily polluting companies' accounting earnings. Moreover, state‐owned listed companies achieve more significant positive long‐term economic effects from CER than others. The results suggest that heavily polluting companies should correctly identify the long‐term value of CER rather than pay excessive attention to the impact of CER on their current costs and benefits.