A child health production function estimated from longitudinal data. Cebu Study Team

Collaborating researchers used a multi equation model to analyze 3080 mother-infant pairs living on the island of Cebu in the central Philippines and to estimate a child health production function. The econometric methods used eliminated obstacles such as heterogeneity and endogeneity of significant explanatory factors. They also maximized the longitudinal quality of the data. The results showed that morbidity in 1 period reduced infant weight in following periods. For example, diarrhea and febrile respiratory infection reduced growth in the time period following the illnesses. Further effects of some contributing factors were great near birth not diminished with age. For example, breast feeding promoted growth and protected against infection, especially diarrhea and febrile respiratory infection, more substantially near birth than it did later. Further, in urban areas, preventive health care positively affected growth independently of its indirect influence on reducing respiratory infection. Yet it had little effect on diarrhea. Diarrhea had a strong adverse effect on growth. Exposure of the infant to enteric pathogens had the greatest influence on production of diarrhea. In urban areas, exposure included water supply contamination, exposure to feces, a more pathogenic diet, and community crowding. In rural areas, however, exposure included community crowding and increased rainfall which presumably washed feces into the water supply. Household crowding in both urban and rural areas and irritation from smoke in urban areas only tended to bring about febrile respiratory infection.     

Does Fiscal Decentralization Promote Fiscal Discipline?

We investigate the efficiency and equity implications of a redistributive rule that takes into account both local tax collection efforts and deviation of local incomes from respective targets under alternative fiscal mechanisms. We show that, if the general budget constraint is binding, the proposed transfer rule leads to higher fiscal discipline under fiscal decentralization (FD) than under centralized redistribution. Although the centralized decision yields better income distribution than FD, FD also improves income distribution unambiguously when equalization across regions is targeted explicitly. When localities act strategically, the private sector’s utility weight enhances the disciplinary effect of decentralization.     

Understanding Market-Driving Behavior: The Role of Entrepreneurship

In recent years, the marketing literature has placed significant emphasis on market-driving and proactive market-driven behavior within firms in attempts to reconceptualize the meaning of "market orientation." For their part, market-driving firms such as Starbucks, Amazon.com, Dell, and Southwest Airlines are demonstrating how business model innovation results in sustainable advantage and superior long-term performance in a wide range of industries. In this paper, we contend that market-driving behavior is distinct from a firm's market orientation, and instead is the essence of entrepreneurial action in the Schumpeterian "creative destruction" sense. It is further argued that the firm's entrepreneurial orientation interacts with other strategic orientations, in the process determining how they are manifested and, in some cases, whether they are manifested. Furthermore, entrepreneurial orientation plays a critical role in determining transitions among various strategic orientations over time. An integrative model illustrates the dynamics of the interface between marketing and entrepreneurship from both a content and process perspective. Two case studies illustrate how trajectories can be identified in the dominant strategic orientations within companies as they evolve.     

Do barriers to export vary for born globals and across stages of internationalization? An empirical inquiry in the emerging market of Turkey

Although the literature on export barriers has been growing, this issue of whether barriers to export exhibit significant differences among firms has not been addressed. In particular, the question of whether these impediments are uniform for born globals – a new breed of exporting firms that initiate exporting soon after inception – is unresolved. Similarly, barriers to export are thought to vary across different stages of internationalization. Therefore, the present work explores this fundamental issue. The empirical study is carried out in the context of an emerging market, Turkey, providing an opportunity for examining the stability of earlier findings (carried out largely in advanced economy settings) for rapidly developing economies. Results suggest that perceived barriers differ mainly for firms in the domestic marketing stage, pre-export stage and for born global firms.     

Rushing to Overpay: Modeling and Measuring the REIT Premium

We explore the questions of why Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) pay more for real estate than non-REIT buyers and by how much. First, we develop a search model where REITs optimally pay more for property because (1) they are willing, due to cost of capital advantages and, (2) they are occasionally rushed, due to external regulatory time constraints and internal incentives to deploy capital quickly. Second, using commercial real estate transactions, we find that the extant hedonic pricing models contain an unobserved explanatory variables bias leading to inflated estimates of the REIT premium. Third, using a repeat-sales methodology that controls for unobserved property characteristics, we derive more plausible estimates of the REIT premium. Consistent with our model, we also find the REIT-buyer premium depends on the size of the REIT advantage, the rush to deploy, and the relative presence of REITs in the market.     

A look for low season tourist profile: Antalya Region of Turkey example

This paper investigates the profile of low season tourists who visit Antalya Region of Turkey. The research findings belong to their opinions regarding destination and quality of services. At the same time additional information on demographic aspects of sampled tourists can be followed from the research. In order to satisfy tourists, providing information about their likes and dislikes is always important. Primary goal of this paper is to be a potential part of future marketing strategy for Antalya Region. Ana Cristina N. Silva was an “Erasmus Student”.     

Gap Analysis in Customer Loyalty: A Research in 5-Star Hotels in the Antalya Region of Turkey

Today everybody knows that in balance of establishment–customer relation, customers had gained big advantage. In order to continue long-term relationships with customers understanding them, meeting their expectations, being different from rivals are important. This situation is especially vital in similiar goods and services offering establishments. For gaining advantage and being unique, offering suitable goods and services, meeting even over meeting expectations and desires of customers are needed. Customer loyalty topic had changed the ways of looking of establishments to customers. Now, establishments are trying to satisfy, make loyal their customers. Loyal customers mean financial and spiritually inputs to establishments. It is generally known that especially on tourism sector there are few researches on customer loyalty. In this context, author believes that this research will have a positive input to the related literature.     

An investment planning model for the electricity sector in Nigeria

In this study the methodology of mixed integer programming is used to deal with investment resource allocation problems that involve economies of scale in the Nigerial economic planning environment. The specific application is to long-term investment decisions in the government-operated electric power supply industry (NEPA). The investment planning problem involves determining the optimal generating plant/transmission mix from among a set of fossil fuel and conventional hydro plants which will meet the demand for electricity in Nigeria over the next three decades at minimum cost. Economies of scale in plant construction makes the investment cost function to be non-linear. However the non-linearity is approximated by a fixed charge function. Alternative price assumptions are made about locally found fuel resources (oil, gas, coal and liguite) to calculate the energy cost of fossil fuel plants. Different investment strategies are then evaluated in terms of the present values of the cost of supplying electricity to meet the required demand.     

The changing pattern of foreign trade

Like many of the other less developed countries, one of the major sources of growth in the Nigerian economy is foreign-oriented. With exports accounting for close to one-fifth of the Gross Domestic Product and imports representing about the same proportion, external trade since World War II has been of particular importance to the economy.     

Regulate one service,tame the entire market: Credit cards in Turkey

In credit card markets banks provide both payment and credit services. Two regulations were recently enacted in the Turkish credit card market: one on payment services in 2005 and the other on credit services in 2006. By employing the well-known  and  method and a unique quarterly data set for 21 Turkish banks between 2002 and 2008, we investigate the extent of banks’ market power in the Turkish credit card market before and after the regulations. Unlike most of the existing literature, which considers competition and regulation for either credit or payment services and ignores the externalities between them, we consider the entire market by taking both services into account. Fixed effects estimations reveal that banks enjoyed collusive oligopoly power before the regulations. Although the first regulation did not have much impact, the second led to rises in both banks’ total revenues and competition in the entire market.