Subnational home market bias in Vietnam: Evidence from enterprise‐level data

This paper contributes to the home (market) bias literature where administrative or political borders limit trade across borders. Home bias is well documented at the national and subnational level. To sort out macro (e.g., location characteristics) and micro (e.g., enterprise characteristics) factors behind home bias, we use small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) data from Vietnam. Using the fractional multinomial logit model, we find that the proportion of SME sales outside of their home markets is positively associated with enterprise size, age, number of business association memberships and the distance of SMEs' most important supplier. In contrast, the proportion of SME sales to neighbouring provinces is negatively associated with the share of SME production for final consumption. Besides enterprise‐level frictions, market characteristics matter too. The proportion of SME sales to customers in their home markets is negatively associated with home or neighbouring provinces' governance quality, while the proportion of sales to customers in neighbouring provinces is positively associated with these areas' governance quality. These suggest that good governance frees SME resources for use in selling to less familiar markets.     

How do materialists choose prominent brands in emerging markets?

Materialism is a worldwide phenomenon. However, our knowledge about the effect of materialism on consumer brand choice is limited. This study unlocks the path from materialism to brand prominence focusing on fashion, quality, and price consciousness. Our findings within the Chinese context show that the paths from materialism to fashion, quality, and price consciousness are positive. Further, we found that the paths from fashion and quality conscious to brand prominence are positive, while the path from price conscious to brand prominence is negative but not significant. These findings have significant implications for brand managers in emerging markets.     

Testing for cointegration with threshold effect between unemployment and stock prices

Under the dominant role of a belief function, Farmer argues that the stock market is the Granger cause of the unemployment rate, which implies that the natural rate hypothesis is an outdated idea. This article provides some new empirical evidence supporting this view using threshold cointegration and asymmetric error correction models. The results show that these models can assess asymmetric dynamics between unemployment and the stock market. Moreover, regime switches of the momentum threshold autoregressive adjustment specification are highly consistent with recessions in the US economy during the last 60 years.     

To each according to their ability? Academic ranking and salary inequality across public colleges and universities

This article compares the salary structure of tenured and tenure-track faculty across schools within the university systems of North Carolina and New York. Specifically, we establish a positive relationship between school prestige and salary inequality, both overall and within specific academic ranks. This result suggests that the value to teaching is less discipline-specific than the value to research output. Marked differences in the aforementioned statistical linkage across academic ranks also confirm prior speculation that junior faculty salaries are more closely tied to academic value than senior faculty salaries.     

Rise of the gold market in China: liberalisation and market development

The Chinese gold market is rapidly rising to global prominence in the recent decades. The paper reviews the history of the gold market in China and its liberalisation process amid the country’s opening to the outside world. Details of the current market structure and its main business are presented. Global impacts of the rise of the Chinese gold market are discussed.     

The role of the entrepreneurial encounter in the emergence of opportunities: Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to explore the conceptual potential of the Deleuzian notion of the encounter in order to better understand the genealogy of opportunities. We adopt a processual perspective of opportunities. In order to translate this notion to the domain of entrepreneurship, we analysed and interpreted Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club. This film follows the creation of the first club in the United States that illegally allowed HIV-positive people to supply themselves with foreign antiretroviral drugs from Mexico or Japan. The article highlights encounters in this process that disturb the entrepreneur’s belief systems and allow him or her to be open to potential opportunity. It finally explores how the encounter may improve our understanding of the political becoming of opportunities within the entrepreneurial process.     

Conditions influencing the adoption of a soda tax for public health: Analysis of the French case (2005–2012)

Although over 40 jurisdictions have adopted a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) for public health worldwide, it is still debated in many places. Policy processes can influence the prospect of an SSB tax, its design and its public health benefits. To get an insight into such processes, we undertook a case study of the soda tax enacted in France on the 1^st of January 2012. Newspaper articles (2003–2013) and institutional documents (2007–2012) were identified using keywords and search engines. Qualitative data extraction and analyses were performed on a thematic and chronological basis, with guidance from Kingdon’s multiple streams theory (MST). Triangulation was enhanced by using complementary sources. This study shows that in August 2011, the French government surprisingly announced a €3.58 cent/L excise tax on SSBs, excluding juices with no added sugars and non-calorically sweetened beverages (NCSBs). As part of a large budgetary plan, the proposal aimed to reduce SSB consumption and raise revenue that was earmarked for health care. Several conditions contributed to opening a policy window: The announcement occurred in the context of severe budgetary deficits; soda tax scenarios had already been discussed at a high level; and the bill was supported by convinced political leaders. Subsequently, the tax successfully passed through the legislative process due to a series of unexpected events, but its public health rationale and design were weakened. The first event was the disorganised reaction by the food industry, despite their sharp opposition to the tax. The next event was the support of the soda tax that came from a majority of Deputies, provided that the revenues would serve another purpose: relieving wage costs in the farming sector. Finally, policy entrepreneurs favoured a compromise to make the tax politically acceptable and legally viable: The tax rate doubled, the scope was extended to NCSBs and revenues were split between health care and agriculture. This study sheds light on influence factors that could be taken into account by public health actors willing to influence soda tax policy processes.     

Exploring sentiment-driven trading behaviour of different types of investors in the London office market

We investigates the sentiment-driven trading behaviour of the four types of investors in the London office market, i.e. UK institutional investors, UK private investors, UK listed real estate companies/Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)s and overseas investors. In addition, we examine the relationship between investor sentiment and property performance. Related indices are calculated to examine the existence of herding behaviour of different investors. We find that UK private investors follow a contrarian strategy to UK institutional investors and listed real estate companies/REITs and enter/exit the market at different points of time. UK institutional investors tend to follow the sentiment of UK listed real estate companies/REITs and overseas investors with lags. There is no evidence that overseas investors rely upon the sentiment of UK specialised property investors in their decision-making. We find the sentiment of different investors is influenced differently by market fundamentals. Yield and rental growth rate have significant impact on trading activity of overseas investors, but not on other investors. The stock market return and securitised real estate return have significant impact on the trading activity of UK institutional investor and overseas investor, but have no significant influence on the trading behaviour of UK private investor and listed real estate company/REIT.     

The economics of markets and platforms

Advances in the study of both markets and platforms contribute to economics. Platforms are typically digital markets, although platforms can designate markets generally. So, the economics of markets and the economics of platforms are one and the same. Platforms show the critical role of intermediaries in endogenous price adjustment and market clearing. The platform model remedies problems with general equilibrium analysis by combining and extending the basic Walrasian and Marshalian market models. The analysis of platforms provides explanations for the bid–ask spread, including market power, search costs, matching costs, adverse selection, and moral hazard. The study of platforms demonstrates the importance of participation and coordination in the formation of markets. The discussion emphasizes that platforms have significant implications for the theory of the firm. The analysis further considers how platforms affect innovation and entrepreneurship.     

Noise traders,firm-specific uncertainty and technical trading effectiveness

This is the first study to document evidence of technical trading effectiveness at firm level in the Chinese A-share market by investigating the relationship between excess profits of technical trading rules and firm-specific characteristics. Our results reveal that firms with higher excess profits from technical trading have more noise traders and higher institutional ownership and that those firms tend to be growth firms with lower liquidity and higher firm-specific uncertainty. Further analysis shows that the profitability of technical trading rules is unsustainable and the excess profits of the highest technical trading profit quintile portfolio disappear in the following year.