Recentralization as an Alternative to Urban Dispersion: Transformative Planning in a Neoliberal Societal Context

Growing dissatisfaction with the prevailing dispersed urban form and its generalized reliance on the automobile has resulted in the formulation of planning models seeking to substitute dispersed development with recentralization. A survey of 301 planning documents with a metropolitan focus, originating from the 58 US and Canadian urban regions with a population exceeding one million, reveals widespread support for urban recentralization. But interviews with 55 planners, involved in the preparation of these plans and/or the implementation of their proposals, highlight actual and foreseen barriers to the implementation of recentralization strategies. The article interprets the popularity of recentralization in planning documents as the outcome of planners' attempts to reconcile their commitment to sustainable development with societal factors affecting planning possibilities. Still, we anticipate serious problems in achieving large‐scale recentralization due to urban development path dependencies emanating from the prevailing urban form and dynamics, institutional structures, and from the limited urban transformative potential afforded by neoliberalism.     

Testing Alternative Hypotheses in Economic History

This paper employs a statistical technique comparing non-nested quantitative models in order to address an important problem in economic history, namely, the appropriate role of microeconomic models in historical analysis. Discussion proceeds by example. As described in the paper, three research groups have offered explantations of the shift from corn to cotton production in the post-bellum US South but because their research methods are different, it is difficult to evaluate them effectively. This paper suggests a method for comparing them. The method is based on the Neyman–Pearson likelihood ratio and proceeds by focusing on the three groups’ models of crop choice, in turn hypothesizing each model as ‘truth’, and testing all other against it. Though restrictive in its own right, this excercise suggests one data-oriented approach to all-too-common problem of model proliferation in economic history.     

Environmentally conscious consumption: The role of retailers and peers as external influences

Environmentally conscious consumption is one of the key concerns in modern society generally, and increasingly among the consumer population. However, consumers often overstate their willingness to purchase environmentally conscious products, with global purchasing of these products relatively low. Much research has considered the role of drivers internal to an individual in making such consumption choices; however there is less knowledge as to how external influences may impact environmentally conscious consumption behaviour. As retailers increasingly strive to adopt and communicate their environmentally sustainable business practices, and encourage parallel consumer behavior, the question arises: what role do retailers play in influencing consumers’ environmentally conscious consumption? In this paper we investigate this notion, specifically how external influences (the retailer and peers) impact environmentally conscious behavior. We investigate this behavior in terms of two outcomes; sustainable consumption (direct costs) and willingness to accept environmental taxes (indirect costs). Our research demonstrates that retailers can influence consumers to be more environmentally conscious in their consumption, with retailer influence a stronger mediator than peers in this relationship. One important implication of this research is that retailers have the opportunity to shape environmentally conscious consumption if they adopt sustainable business practices.     

Econometric evaluation of asset pricing models

In this article we provide econometric tools for the evaluationof intertemporal asset pricing models using specification-errorand volatility bounds. We formulate analog estimators of thesebounds, give conditions for consistency, and derive the limitingdistribution of these estimators. The analysis incorporatesmarket frictions such as short-sale constraints and proportionaltransactions costs. Among several applications we show how touse the methods to assess specific asset pricing models andto provide non-parametric characterizations of asset pricinganomalies.     

“Unprecedented,” “extraordinary,” and “we're all in this together”: Does advertising really need to be so tedious in challenging times?

As government-mandated lockdowns and steep declines in trade set in because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a common theme became apparent in the advertising of the time: It was all the same. Regardless of the product category or brand personality, many ads were remarkably similar. They began with melancholy music, voiceovers reminding the audience that the brand is here for them, and referred to these times as “unprecedented” and “extraordinary.” Ads reassured viewers that “together, we can get through this.” In this installment of Marketing & Technology, we articulate the problem of advertising sameness and explore how and why it likely arises during a time of crisis. We then discuss why advertising uniformity is a problem and present a series of strategic, media, and creative considerations—taking into account the constraints of a crisis— to help marketing professionals produce more effective advertising in the context of a disaster.     

The effects of in-store themed events on consumer store choice decisions

Retailers are increasingly using in-store events to provide shoppers with unique experiences that will enhance shopping value and help differentiate their stores from competitors. However, relatively little is known about how consumers respond to experiential retail events in terms of their store choice decisions. The purpose of this research was to find out how in-store retail events affect consumers in terms of their store choice decisions. The paper presents findings from a discrete choice experiment that manipulated the presence of different types of in-store themed events in a do-it-yourself (DIY) category. Participants were 312 randomly recruited residents of Melbourne, Australia, who had recently shopped at a hardware store. The experiment was implemented as a mail-back survey. Using logit models the authors assess the effects of the in-store events along with those of various traditional store attributes, including store appearance, price image and distance, on consumer store choice decisions.     

Can you standardize international marketing strategy?

The intent of this paper is to examine the possibilities for standardization of marketing elements within a multinational marketing strategy. A majority view among international marketers is that each national is unique, and thus each must be treated as a separate and independent operation. This “localized” strategy view is examined first. A growing number of international marketers however, are finding that by standardizing various elements oftheir marketing strategy across national borders, cost savings and/or increased revenues to be realized can yield greater profits. The second, and major, part of the paper examines the opportunities for and potential benefits of standardization of product, packaging, advertisting, and pricing.     

Do Smaller Classes Always Improve Students’ Long‐run Outcomes?

We exploit the strict class size rule in Norway and matched individual and school register information for 1982–2011 to estimate long‐run causal effects on income and educational attainment. Contrary to recent evidence from the US and Sweden, we do not find any significant average effect on long‐run outcomes of reduced class size. We further use the large register data set and quasi‐experimental strategy to estimate whether the class size effect depends on external conditions facing students and schools, such as teacher quality, extent of upper secondary school choice, school district size, local fiscal constraints and labour market conditions. Overall, we find that the class size effect does not depend on these factors measured at the school district level. The absence of class size effects on long‐run outcomes in Norway is consistent with earlier findings for short‐run outcomes, using comparable data and empirical strategies.     

Agriculture and climate change in global scenarios: why don't the models agree

Agriculture is unique among economic sectors in the nature of impacts from climate change. The production activity that transforms inputs into agricultural outputs involves direct use of weather inputs (temperature, solar radiation available to the plant, and precipitation). Previous studies of the impacts of climate change on agriculture have reported substantial differences in outcomes such as prices, production, and trade arising from differences in model inputs and model specification. This article presents climate change results and underlying determinants from a model comparison exercise with 10 of the leading global economic models that include significant representation of agriculture. By harmonizing key drivers that include climate change effects, differences in model outcomes were reduced. The particular choice of climate change drivers for this comparison activity results in large and negative productivity effects. All models respond with higher prices. Producer behavior differs by model with some emphasizing area response and others yield response. Demand response is least important. The differences reflect both differences in model specification and perspectives on the future. The results from this study highlight the need to more fully compare the deep model parameters, to generate a call for a combination of econometric and validation studies to narrow the degree of uncertainty and variability in these parameters and to move to Monte Carlo type simulations to better map the contours of economic uncertainty.     

Cost of health care and quality outcomes of patients at nurse-managed clinics

Lack of health insurance is a critical factor in access to appropriate health services and is directly associated with poor functioning, increased morbidity and mortality, lack of continuity of care, and rising health care costs. Nurse-managed clinics (NMCs) can serve as an important safety net in the health care delivery system by offering needed health services to the poor and underinsured populations. Indicators of quality of care at NMCs include removing barriers to care, improving health care access, and developing therapeutic relationships with nurse practitioners. Much evidence also exists that nurse-managed clinics improve the use of preventative services, aid in the promotion of health, compliance of treatment and patient satisfaction, and reduce emergency room visits and rehospitalizations. One of the consistent themes in this review is the need for patient volume enhancement and the importance of reimbursement through Medicaid and third-party payers if nurse-managed clinics are to remain viable.