Advantageous Semi-Collusion

The textbook view that cartels increase industry profits and lower consumer welfare ignores the effects of competition in other activities. A revisionist view shows that when cartel members compete in other activities, i.e. when they semi-collude, the cartel members may be worse off and consumers better off. Using a two-stage model in which the non-production activity is R&D and is subject to technological spillovers, we show that both the traditional and revisionist views can be wrong, that consumers and producers can both be made worse off, or both better off, by a semi-collusive production cartel.     

Consumers' mood states: Antecedents and consequences of experiential versus informational strategies for brand choice

The relationship between mood (an affective state variable) and choice strategies that are primarily affective (experiential strategy) or cognitive (informational strategy) is examined with a literature review and an empirical study. Findings suggest consumers in positive moods may be more likely to use an experiential strategy than those in negative moods, and consumers in negative moods may be more likely to use an informational strategy than those in positive moods. Results also suggest consumers in positive moods who use an experiential strategy may have more positive post-processing moods than those who use an informational strategy, and consumers in negative moods who use an informational strategy may have more positive and post-processing moods than those who use an experiential strategy. The implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for further research are provided.     

Potential Beneficiaries from Reverse Mortgage Products for Elderly Homeowners: An Analysis of American Housing Survey Data

A variety of reverse mortgage loan programs have been available to elderly households for over a decade. The number of unrestricted reverse mortgage loans issued by the private sector has been quite small. About 12,000 loans have been issued through mid-1992. Some researchers take this to mean that the size of the potential market for reverse mortgages is also quite small. Other researchers claim that current low levels of activity reflect supply and demand problems, but that the potential market is in fact quite large. This paper uses American Housing Survey (AHS) data to estimate the potential size of the market for unrestricted reverse mortgages. The 1989 national AHS shows that there are over twelve million elderly homeowners (age 62 and over) who own their homes free and clear. Depending on their income, age and the level of home equity, the group of households most likely to benefit from reverse annuity mortgages is considerably smaller. As one approach to defining a lower bound of the estimate of potential beneficiaries from reverse mortgages, we count the number of homeowners in a prime group consisting of the older elderly, aged 70 or above, with an annual income of $30,000 or less, with home equity between $100,000 and $200,000, who have lived in their homes for over ten years. We estimate that there are about 800,000 elderly households in this prime group. For such households, reverse mortgage payments could represent a substantial percentage increase in income; other definitions of target groups can also be explored using the tables provided. The paper uses the 1985 through 1988 AHS Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA) surveys to identify areas that have a large number of elderly homeowners in the prime target group, and in which these homeowners represent a large fraction of the elderly homeowner population. These locations are likely targets for introduction of reverse mortgage products because any campaign can be targeted towards a high concentration of likely eligible beneficiaries.     

Stromspeicher für die „Energiewende“ – eine akteursbasierte Analyse der zusätzlichen Speicherkosten

Political targets for implementing the German “energy turnaround” aiming at the ambitious extension of renewable energies to generate electricity. However, a majority of the renewable supply is provided by intermittent sources, e.g. wind and solar power. For balancing the increasing supply fluctuations additional storage options are claimed beside of an enforced grid infrastructure and a more flexible demand side. Despite of the political guidelines the economics of additional flexibility measures has to be considered. For this paper we analyse the costs of large scale stationary battery storages to be operated in wholesale markets and transmission grid level. By deriving a key figure based on a life-cycle cost approach, we are able to evaluate the additional costs of electricity of selected battery technologies (lead-acid, lithium ion, sodium sulphur, redox-flow). Moreover, current and valid parameters of the cost analysis are received by scientific and industrial stakeholders of battery systems via online survey and face-to-face interviews. According to the stakeholder estimation a nationwide operation of stationary battery storages will be established at wholesale and transmission grid level until the year 2030. The life-cycle cost analysis, which also includes estimated future cost reductions, shows that lead-acid batteries remain the cost-efficient technology, assuming about 100 storage cycles p.a. In addition, a sensitivity analysis reveals the impact of increasing annual storage cycles as well as the achievable cost reduction by economies-of-scales of the power unit of the storage system.     

How Selecting and Socializing Newcomers Influences Insiders

The organizational literature on selection and socialization concentrate on what happens to recruits from interview through acculturation. In contrast, little has been written about what happens to “insiders” as they choose new members and help bring them on board. In this paper, we demonstrate how involvement with newcomers can have profound effects on insiders' attitudes, performance, and knowledge. We emphasize how managers can harness these rarely discussed features of selection and socialization to enhance the effectiveness of veteran members and their organizations.     

Illustrating a dynamic model of the mood‐updating process in consumer behavior

Previous research has examined mood as an antecedent of various consumption‐related outcomes and has explored how consumers react to their moods via attempts at self‐regulated consumption‐based mood management. However, little attention has addressed mood as an affective outcome that reflects the dynamic unfolding of consumer experiences over time. The present study explores the latter issue and proposes a model of the mood‐updating process wherein future mood depends on past mood as altered by evaluative judgments that are, in turn, influenced by consumption experiences, by predispositions, and by the previous mood itself. An empirical example illustrates this mood‐updating model in the case of listening to music. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Understanding the economic,daily functioning,and diabetes management burden of non-severe nocturnal hypoglycemic events in Canada: differences between type 1 and type 2

Objective:

To examine the daily functioning, diabetes management, and economic burden of non-severe nocturnal hypoglycemic events (NSNHEs) in Canada and differences in impacts by diabetes type.

Research design and methods:

A 20-min web-based survey, with items derived from the literature, expert and patient interviews, assessing the impact of NSNHEs, was administered to patients with self-reported diabetes aged ≥18 having an NSNHE in the past month.

Results:

Two thousand, two hundred and seventy-nine Canadian persons with diabetes were screened with 200 respondents meeting criteria and included in the analysis sample. Out of 87 working respondents, 15 reported on average 3.5?h of lost work (absenteeism). The reduction in work productivity (presenteeism) reported was comparable to the impact of arthritis. Other functional impacts included sleep and daily activities. Additionally, respondents’ increased their usual blood sugar monitoring practice, on average, 4.2 (SD?=?7.5) extra tests were conducted in the week following the event and reduced their insulin over the following 4.8 days. Increased healthcare utilization was also reported. Increased costs as a result of NSNHE for lost work productivity, increased diabetes management, and resource utilization was CAD 70.67 per person per year in this sample. Limitations of the study include the biases which are associated with a web-based survey and self-reported data.

Conclusions:

NSNHEs have serious consequences for patients and diabetes management practices. Greater attention to treatments which reduce NSNHEs can have a major impact on improving functioning while reducing the economic burden of diabetes.