Myopic loss aversion and the equity premium puzzle reconsidered

Benartzi and Thaler [The Quarterly Journal of Economics 110 (1995) 73–92] offer a quasi-rational explanation for the equity premium puzzle. We reconsider their methodology and, making a simple modification to it, find that their analysis is not robust.     

A Framework for Independent Monetary Policy in China

As the Chinese economy becomes more market based and continuesits rapid integration into the global economy, having an independentand effective monetary policy regime oriented to domestic objectiveswill become increasingly important. Employing modern principlesof monetary policy in light of the current state of China'sfinancial institutions, we motivate and present a package ofproposals to guide the operation of a new monetary policy regime.Specifically, we recommend an explicit low long-run inflationobjective, operational independence for the People's Bank ofChina (PBC) with formal strategic guidance from the government,and a minimal set of financial sector reforms (to make the Chinesebanking system robust against interest rate fluctuations). Weargue that anchoring monetary policy with an explicit inflationobjective would be the most reliable way for the PBC to tiedown inflation expectations, and thereby enable monetary policyto make the best contribution to macroeconomic and financialstability, as well as economic growth. The management and monitoringof money (and credit) growth by the PBC would continue to playa useful role in the stabilization of inflation, but a moneytarget would not constitute a good stand-alone nominal anchor.(JEL codes: E5 and P2)     

Country of origin labeling for complex supply chains: the case for labeling the location of different supply chain links

We investigate the value of a country of origin label (COOL) that separately identifies the geographic location of different stages in a food product's supply chain. We estimate the willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) of U.S. consumers for a packaged cereal product where the key grain ingredient may be grown in one country and processed in a second country (multicountry supply chain) and compare it to equivalent products that have both stages located in a single country. We find consumer WTP for products with single‐country and multicountry supply chains are statistically different, meaning that simplifying a multicountry label by listing only the country where the ingredients are grown or only the country where the ingredients are processed can result in different consumer values. We also find that for countries with a poor quality reputation, consumers respond more negatively when that country has the “last touch” than when that country's involvement is limited to upstream supply chain links.     

Short life-cycle deteriorating product remanufacturing in a green supply chain inventory control system

Due to global warming, environmental consciousness and shortening product life-cycles, more attentions have been paid to ecological protection and resource utilization. Green products and production process designs significantly influence the environment and resource re-usage. The relevant EU regulations, such as WEEE and EuP, have reduced negative effects by controlling the disposals and the resource re-usage. In this study, green product designs and remanufacturing efforts are investigated when we develop an integrated production inventory model with short life-cycles. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the theory. We have shown that new technology evolution, remanufacturing ratios and system’s holding costs are critical factors affecting decision making in a green supply chain inventory control system.     

Going to the movies: cinema development in Singapore

Using readings of Foucault's heterotropia and Friedberg's imaginary mobility, this paper analyses movie-going as leisure practice. In highlighting the paucity of research in this area, the paper argues that such practice should be understood as a symbolic interaction between people's behaviour and the spaces that they occupy. This theorization is applied to Singapore, where per capita movie-going is amongst the highest in the world. The paper illustrates how, in Singapore, the development of cinemas has been used to underpin land use policies associated with the relocation of residential areas and social policies related to the growth in consumerism. While effectively alienating older audiences, the paper argues that the spatial and cultural metonymy of the cinema with other primary consumption sites – the mall and the fast food outlet – offers young people reassurance about the growing centrality of consumerism to contemporary social life in Singapore. We argue that the cinema offers a temporary escape from the regulation of social life – access to ‘deviant’ space. However, this same consumerism that facilitates such access simultaneously denotes conformity with the dominant ideology: acceptance of the heterotropic possibilities – and limitations – of cinema and movie-going as leisure practice.     

Music,music videos,and wear out

Repeated exposure to a music video was found to forestall wear out relative to repetitive exposure to the music only. Susceptibility to wear out in the case of the music video was further reduced by eliminating the closure associated with the story told by the video. The level of positive cognitive responses was posited as a mediator to help explain the observed results. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

INCOME TAX DATA AND FARM FINANCIAL STATISTICS

Tracing the income patterns of individual farm operators whose major source of income is generally derived from farming indicates that off-farm income is becoming an increasingly important income component. The relative importance of off-farm income has nearly quadrupled during the last 20 years, rising from about 10 percent of total income to about 37 percent of total income. Most of this off-farm income can be traced to wages and salaries. These fractions are heavily dependent upon relative income levels. In 1970, very low income farmers posted an aggregate net farm loss whereas the $15,000 - $20,000 class secured about three-quarters of their total income from farm sources. In this same year, wages and salaries were generally the prime off-farm income source for farmers with an assessed income of less than $20,000. Dividends and interest were more important to farmers with an income in excess of $20,000. These differences are faithfully reflected in the regional compilations. As a percent of total income, off-farm income ranged from 41 percent in Ontario to about 29 percent in Quebec. The composition of off-farm sources also varies considerably between regions. In 1970 the income position of taxable unincorporated farm operators (who relied on the farm for their major source of income) remained relatively unfavorable. These farmers still had one of the lowest average incomes of any major occupational class in Canada, with an income distribution which was relatively equally distributed between income classes and not unlike that of the national average. These assessed income statistics, of course, are not necessarily indicative of the welfare position of the respective occupational classes. The calculations conducted are simply illustrative of how income tax statistics can be utilized to facilitate our understanding of the income structure in primary agriculture today. The exercise simply underlines the observation that: The fact that there are conceptual differences between income tax data and other data sources should not detract from the usefulness of the income tax data …. Income tax statistics can stand as an independent data source for the analysis of a variety of issues [13]. For many purposes the tax definition of a farm operator may be more operational than the concept of a farmer as defined in the Census of Agriculture. We might profit considerably from further analyses which attempt to disaggregate Census farms into more homogeneous farm-types using the tax statistics available.     

Decomposing Local: A Conjoint Analysis of Locally Produced Foods

Increasingly, foods are marketed as "locally grown." We use stated preference data from a choice-based conjoint instrument to address two issues surrounding consumer demand for locally produced goods: (1) what is the geographical extent of "local," and (2) is the value consumers place on "local" production distinct from other factors that are often confounded with locally produced foods such as farm size and product freshness? We find our subjects place similar value on products produced "in state" and "nearby" and that consumers' willingness to pay for local production is independent from values associated with product freshness and farm size.