Tax‐Time Savings among Low‐Income Households in the $aveNYC Program

This article explores savings outcomes for participants in the $aveNYC tax‐time matched savings program compared with a group of New York City tax filers who were not offered the program. $aveNYC was administered at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites during the 2008–2010 tax seasons. The program offered taxpayers the opportunity to open a savings account with their tax refund and receive a 50% match on their initial deposit. The study's primary outcome is savings held by respondents 6–11 months after receipt of matching funds. We compare participants in the 2009 program cohort to a comparison group on the following outcomes: level of savings, having nonzero savings, and having enough savings to cover one or two months of expenses at current consumption levels. We find significant differences on savings levels, the presence of any savings, and the likelihood of having savings to meet one month's expenses.     

Firm efficiency: Domestic owners,coalitions, and FDI

In this paper we analyze the evolution of firm efficiency in the Czech Republic. Using a large panel of more than 190,000 Czech firm/years we study whether firms fully utilize their resources, how firm efficiency evolves over time, and how firm efficiency is determined by ownership structure. We employ a panel version of a stochastic production frontier model for the period 1996–2007 with time-varying efficiency. We differentiate among various degrees of ownership concentration and domestic or foreign origin. In a two-stage set-up we first estimate the degree of firm inefficiency and then the effect of ownership structure on the distance from the efficiency frontier. Our results support the hypothesis that concentrated ownership is positively related to efficiency. FDI has beneficial effects at the microeconomic level. However, we show that a simple majority is not necessarily the best structure to improve efficiency. We further analyze the effects of ownership coalitions and shed light on many other subtleties of how ownership and the specific industry affect firm efficiency.     

INDIVIDUAL VERSUS AGGREGATE INCOME ELASTICITIES FOR HETEROGENEOUS POPULATIONS

This paper deals with different concepts of income elasticities of demand for a heterogeneous population and the relationship between individual and aggregate elasticities. In general, the aggregate elasticity is not equal to the mean of individual elasticities. The difference depends on the heterogeneity of the population and is quantified by a covariance term. Sign and magnitude of this term are determined by an empirical analysis based on the UK Family Expenditure Survey. It is shown that the relevant quantities can be identified from cross‐sectional data and, without imposing restrictive structural assumptions, can be estimated by nonparametric techniques. It turns out that the aggregate elasticity significantly overestimates the mean of individual elasticities for many commodity groups. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Exploratory Approach to Evaluating Performance Measures: The Managers' Perspective

It is commonly agreed that firm performance is a multi-faceted construct. Lacking a single accepted method for performance, managers are often judged by a mechanism they do not know or understand. This paper utilises a bottom-up approach to investigate manager perceptions of the important dimensions of performance in the hotel industry, and their evaluations of achievements in these dimensions. The paper offers a qualitative technique that characterises the managers' profile in a two-dimensional space of performance. One dimension is a composite of production-oriented indicators of performance, and the other is a composite of service-oriented indicators of performance. The findings indicate that most managers lack a focus and do not differentiate between production and service indicators of performance. The qualitative technique can be utilised for gauging manager perceptions of performance and for evaluation and feedback for manager performance.     

Strong equilibrium in cost sharing connection games

We study network games in which each player wishes to connect his source and sink, and the cost of each edge is shared among its users either equally (in Fair Connection Games—FCG's) or arbitrarily (in General Connection Games—GCG's). We study the existence and quality of strong equilibria (SE)—strategy profiles from which no coalition can improve the cost of each of its members—in these settings. We show that SE always exist in the following games: (1) Single source and sink FCG's and GCG's. (2) Single source multiple sinks FCG's and GCG's on series parallel graphs. (3) Multi source and sink FCG's on extension parallel graphs. As for the quality of the SE, in any FCG with n players, the cost of any SE is bounded by H(n) (i.e., the harmonic sum), contrasted with the Θ(n) price of anarchy. For any GCG, any SE is optimal.     

The Role of Decision Importance and the Salience of Alternatives in Determining the Consistency between Consumers' Attitudes and Decisions

This research examines how the importance of a consumer decision influences attitude-decision consistency and choice in decision contexts that contain versus do not contain specified alternatives. Results demonstrate that decision importance moderates attitude-decision consistency when alternatives are not specified, but not when alternatives are specified. These results, in conjunction with the time participants devote to choice, suggest that importance plays a larger role in attitude-decision consistency when alternatives are unspecified versus specified because importance leads to greater effort in generation of alternatives when alternatives are unspecified (an unnecessary task when alternatives are specified in context). Implications for promotion are discussed.     

Renewable energy sources as an attractive element of industrial tourism

This paper deals with the overview of the interaction of tourism and renewable energy sources, and evaluates their potential regarding tourism industry as well as in terms of increasing of tourism attractiveness in the selected area. Renewable energy sources can be considered an attractive element within the industrial tourism and, in some cases, can increase the number of visitors to the area, mainly due to its modern design, proportions, eco-image and, in certain regions, due to its uniqueness. In analysis, interactions of renewable energy and tourism were classified into four categories. The analysis showed that the touristic subjects connected to the sensitively selected and located type of renewable energy source could have significant numbers of visitors in tens of thousands. According to results of the analysis, the highest number of visitors reached the visitor centres next to geothermal power plants and wind parks, which can be explained by their unique visual aspects. The paper also analysed the possible impact of the renewable energy infrastructure on tourists, when available studies indicate the minimal impact of installation if the power plants are sensibly placed in the country regarding location or distance from considered subject.     

A Façade of Collaboration

Abstract

The study presented in this article examined the relationship between philanthropic foundations (PFs) and the government in social policy-making. The Yaniv Project, which aimed to establish collaboration between PFs and the Israeli government in the field of children and youth at risk in Israel, is analysed as a case in point. The findings reveal that the collaboration that emerged was ceremonial and symbolic. The government and the PFs perceived the collaboration more as a technical means of achieving their own goals and gaining control than as a relationship that benefits both parties. The article discusses the implications of those relationships for PFs and the government.