Pricing to Firm: an Analysis of Firm‐ and Product‐level Import Prices*

We use Hungarian Customs data on product‐level imports of manufacturing firms to document that the import price of a particular product varies substantially across buying firms. We relate the level of import prices to firm characteristics such as size, foreign ownership, and market power. We develop a theory of “pricing to firm” (PTF), where markups depend on the technology and competitive environment of the buyer. The predictions of the model are confirmed by the data: import prices are higher for firms with greater market power, and for more essential intermediate inputs (with a high share in material costs). We take account of the endogeneity of the buyer’s market power with respect to higher import prices and unobserved cost heterogeneity within product categories. The magnitude of PTF is big: the standard deviation of price predicted by PTF is 21.5%.     

Construct validity and second-order factorial model

Three second-order factorial models are defined, using the LISREL notation, to assess the univocity of a construct. The first model assumes that the constructs are heterogeneous, the second that they are homogeneous. The third model introduces the notion of partial homogeneity between constructs. Partial homogeneity is defined in terms of a LISREL second-order factor model. In some cases, this model offers a viable alternative to the collapsing of items into a unique scale. An example is given of scales which fit the partial homogeneity model.     

EMULATION,PREVENTION AND SOCIAL INTERACTION IN CONSUMPTION DYNAMICS

In this paper we show that the role of diversity, local interactions and global endogenous change at the level of social standards might be crucial in understanding the evolution of consumption patterns in modern economies. We propose an evolutionary model from which consumption dynamics can be analyzed as global properties emerging from the endogenous transformation of a society inhabited by boundedly rational interactive consumers. This work aspires to take a modest step forward in the direction of an evolutionary theory of demand change.     

GENERAL AND PARTIAL EQUILIBRIA IN A CONSUMPTION ECONOMY

We consider a simple aggregative consumption economy, where there is a market for commodities and four financial markets: for bonds, deposits, credits and some speculative asset. There is a Wicksellian central bank. The existence of temporary equilibrium is discussed by considering partial equilibria in the different markets.     

A logistic regression-based pairwise comparison method to aggregate preferences

In a group decision making process, several individuals or a committee have the responsibility to choose the best alternative from a set. The problem addressed in this paper is how to aggregate personal preferences to arrive at an optimal group decision. New technologies allow individuals that may seldom or never meet to make group decisions. This paper proposes a methodology to obtain the group preference ordering in two steps. Firstly, each individual studies the problem isolated, and then, in a possibly virtual meeting, the group must agree on the preferences on some pairs of alternatives. Then, the group criterion is achieved by using a logistic regression model within the pairwise comparison framework proposed here. Properties of the procedure are studied and two illustrative examples are presented.