OPTIMUM-WELFARE AND MAXIMUM-REVENUE TARIFFS IN MIXED OLIGOPOLY WITH FOREIGN COMPETITORS

This paper re-examines the important tariff ranking issue under a linear mixed oligopoly model with foreign competitors and asymmetric costs. We demonstrate that under Cournot competition, when the size of domestic private and foreign private firms become more unequally distributed, optimum-welfare tariff will exceed maximum-revenue tariff. We also show that under Stackelberg competition, when the domestic government protects its domestic sector, it will levy higher optimum-welfare tariffs versus maximum-revenue tariffs; however, when it decides to open its doors more for foreign competitors, it will need to levy higher maximum-revenue tariffs versus optimum-welfare tariffs. The above results remain valid whether the domestic public firm acts as a leader or a follower.     

A Two‐Step Estimation of Consumer Adoption of Technology‐Based Service Innovations

Firms initially offer new technology‐based services to a limited number of customers to reduce risks and maximize their returns on the investments in the new technology. Consequently, consumers’ adoption of new technology‐based services is restricted by the limited access provided by the businesses. A model of consumer adoption was developed and estimated via a two‐step procedure. A significant sample selection bias was found with regard to access when estimating consumer adoption of a relatively new innovation, computer banking, but no such bias was found for a mature innovation, ATMs.     

Willingness to Pay for Information: An Analyst's Guide

This paper defines, illustrates, and critiques the different ways in which researchers have contemplated and estimated a consumer's willingness to pay for a particular attribute of a good or service. In particular, the authors are interested in exploring the apparent difficulty in measuring willingness to pay for information. It becomes more complicated to measure the value of having information when the actual information influences demand in its own right. This implies that information such as food dating is likely to be underproduced in a free market, even less than it is given the public goods aspect of the attribute. It also means that the bias in measuring willingness to pay will depend on whether the attribute in question adds value to the good.     

A Fuzzy Cognitive Map-Based Bi-Directional Inference Mechanism: An Application to Stock Investment Analysis

The objective of this paper is to apply fuzzy cognitive map (FCM)-related techniques to (1) extract causal knowledge from a specific problem-domain, (2) construct a hierarchical knowledge base, and (3) perform a bi-directional inference. The causal knowledge base built by FCM can be described as a matrix form, guaranteeing mathematically compact operation compared with a production (if–then) knowledge base. Based on the causal knowledge base, we can break down a given decision problem into a multi-leveled one. Then bi-directional (downward or upward) inference can be applied to the multi-leveled problem to find a more robust solution. We applied our method to a stock investment analysis problem which is typical of highly unstructured problems in OR/MS fields. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seguridad social y rendimiento empresarial. El caso de las pymes vietnamitas

Se investiga cómo la provisión de cobertura social –un factor clave de la formalidad– afecta al rendimiento de las pymes en Viet Nam. Con datos censales de todas las empresas declaradas de 2006 a 2011, los autores encuentran que las que aumentan su cobertura social en un 10 por ciento experimentan un aumento del ingreso por trabajador del 1,4 al 2 por ciento y un incremento del beneficio de hasta el 1,8 por ciento, dependiendo del tiempo de supervivencia. Sin embargo, dado el desfase entre la «inversión» y sus retornos (mejora del rendimiento), medidas como la subvención de las cotizaciones iniciales podrían incentivar la participación en los regímenes obligatorios.     

Historical Interpretation: The Worthington Commentary

The authors of 'Accounting History: Definition and Relevance' (1990) address the comments of Scorgie (1991) to achieve the appropriate perspective from which to interpret the 'Worthington commentary'.     

INCREASED INDUSTRIAL USES OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES POLICY, TRADE AND ETHANOL

Using agricultural feedstocks for industrial products affects domestic and international agricultural markets, all of which are encumbered with complex policies. This article examines the interaction of three seemingly unrelated policies: the Clean Air Act, the U.S. corn program, and European Union agricultural subsidies. More ethanol production, resulting from new regulations associated with the Clean Air Act, increases the use of U.S. corn and increases the supply of corn gluten feed, an ethanol co-product. Corn gluten feed is primarily exported to Europe under a loophole in European Union trade barriers. But recent reform of European Union farm policy will lower the price of the European grain for which corn gluten feed is a substitute. This development lowers prices for a major ethanol co-product and thus makes ethanol itself less profitable just as the demand for the fuel is expanding. NAFTA, GATT, and new technologies also play cameo roles in the story .     

FOREIGN EXPERIENCES WITH MONETARY TARGETING: A PRACTITIONER'S PERSPECTIVE

Under certain conditions, monetary targets can reduce information costs and transaction costs to market participants. In international financial markets, these costs are associated with several types of risk which can influence the extent of international financial intermediation. During the 1970s, several factors seem to have prompted the trend toward targeting. The search by central banks for improved methods of inflation control was the primary factor. Targeting took a number of forms with respect to time periods, growth rates, and aggregates employed. In general, the experience with foreign monetary targeting to date probably has not lowered information costs or transactions costs to market participants, due to the extensive shifting between targets, changing of targeting time periods, and continual base drift. Such changes in targeting procedures along with the failure to hit targets tend to mask whether a change in monetary growth is temporary or permanent. The desire of foreign central banks to implicitly target exchange rates influences their ability to achieve monetary targets. The extent of this influence depends on the ability of foreign central banks to sterilize exchange market intervention.     

Strategies and Tactics in Union Organizing Campaigns

This study assesses the effects of employer and union organizing tactics on union election wins versus losses, the percentage of votes, and the time between election and first contract signing. The data were obtained from the organizing staff of a large international union. The results showed that some tactics resulted in expected election outcomes, but others resulted in unexpected outcomes.