How the sound frequency of background music influences consumers’ perceptions and decision making

This study examined how music frequency affected consumers’ perception and decision making. The results of three experimental studies show that music frequency affects perceived distance between the sound source and the perceiver. Consequently, the representation of marketing message that matched (vs. mismatched) the background music's frequency enhanced consumers’ evaluative judgments. Specifically, Study 1A demonstrates that low‐frequency (vs. high‐frequency) music increased perceived distance. Studies 2, 3A, and 3B indicate that low‐frequency (high‐frequency) music matched products with abstract (concrete) representations and marketing messages signifying far (near) psychological distance. The congruency between psychological distance induced by music frequency and mental representations of products and message orientation offers a novel perspective on the notion of congruency. Moreover, Study 2 provides evidence that supports the congruency–fluency–evaluation chain (i.e., the mediating role of fluency), and Studies 3A and 3B show that the congruency has downstream effects. This study provides a theoretical contribution to the literature on the effects of music in marketing contexts by presenting convergent evidence that individuals exposed to low‐frequency (high‐frequency) music are inclined to construe a marketing message at a high (low) level.     

Pricing Nikkei 225 Options Using Realized Volatility

This article examines option pricing performance using realized volatilities with or without handling microstructure noise, non‐trading hours and large jumps. The dynamics of realized volatility is specified by ARFIMA(X) and HAR(X) models. The main results using put options on the Nikkei 225 index are that: (i) the ARFIMAX model performs best; (ii) the Hansen and Lunde (2005a) adjustment for non‐trading hours improves the performance; (iii) methods for reducing microstructure noise‐induced bias yield better performance, while if the Hansen–Lunde adjustment is used, the other methods are not necessarily needed; and (iv) the performance is unaffected by removing large jumps from realized volatility.     

Effects of Lightness‐Location Congruency on Consumers’ Purchase Decision‐Making

A considerable body of psychological and neuroscientific research has demonstrated the existence of robust sensory correspondences between various features, attributes, or dimensions of experience in different sensory modalities. Despite findings indicating the importance of sensory correspondences to human information processing, research on purchase decision‐making has not to date focused sufficiently on this phenomenon. The present study examines how the lightness of packaging colors, and the location of products on a display shelf interact to affect consumers’ purchase decision‐making via perceived visual heaviness. As predicted, a display with light (dark) colored products positioned in the upper (lower) shelf positions increases shoppers’ perceptual fluency and facilitates their visual search, thus leading to the suggestion that “light” (heavy) locations are most appropriate for light (dark) colored products. Moreover, the lightness‐location congruent display is shown to influence people's choice behavior positively as well. This research also demonstrates that when consumers consider the lightness (in terms of their weight) of the products, they are more likely to choose light (vs. dark) colored products located in the upper shelf positions. These results therefore demonstrate that consumers’ purchase decision‐making may be promoted by in‐store environments designed to be congruent with their sensory correspondences.     

A Qualitative Analysis to Determine the Domains and Skills Necessary to Lead in Public Health

Leadership programs in public health have been declining in numbers since 2012. The decline in training programs could be due to the lack of outcome‐based results and the lack of a manageable set of standardized skills needed for public health leadership. A comprehensive study was completed in two phases to determine if the current model of public health leadership institutes is effective at generating outcome‐based results. The following paper will focus on the first phase of the study. The first phase included a qualitative analysis to determine the domains, definitions, and skills needed to lead. An analysis of the skills, domains, definitions, and traits included in five established and commonly used leadership models/theories in public health leadership development (Transformational, Servant, Appreciative, Collaborative, and Emotional Intelligence leadership) plus the National Public Health Leadership Development Network (NLN) Leadership for Community Health, Safety & Resilience Competency Framework was completed. Of the 161 different skills, definitions, traits, and/or competencies from the five leadership models and the NLN competency framework, 123 were determined to be related to one of six domains needed for leadership and were defined into 21 skills. The findings could lead to more uniformity in public health leadership development and evaluation.     

Market competition,differences in technology,and productivity improvement: An empirical analysis based on Japanese manufacturing firm data

In this paper we examine empirically the effect of market competition on firm productivity improvements using data drawn from the Japanese manufacturing sector. We find that a non-linear relationship between competition and productivity growth induced by R&D activity as suggested by Aghion et al. (2005) holds for Japanese manufacturing firms. We also show that greater market competition widens technology differences across firms, and firms facing more intense competition are more productive than other firms. Our empirical results imply that productivity improvement through R&D activity depends on not only a competitive environment but also technological differences between firms.     

Is the development of the agro-processing industry pro-poor?: The case of Thailand

We examine how the development of the agro-processing industry contributed to poverty reduction in Thailand. The effects on farmers’ income are emphasized because most of the poor in Thailand are farmers. The development of the agro-processing industry could improve farmers’ income through two channels: (i) the purchase of agricultural products; and (ii) the employment of the poor farmers at factories. We show that the development of the agro-processing industry, which also played a leading role in the high economic growth of the Thai economy, contributed to poverty reduction through both of the two channels. It was hence pro-poor.     

Residential rents and price rigidity: Micro structure and macro consequences

Why was the Japanese consumer price index for rents so stable even during the period of the housing bubble in the 1980s? To address this question, we use a unique micro price dataset which we have compiled from individual listings (or transactions) in a widely circulated real estate advertisement magazine. This dataset contains more than 700,000 listings of housing rents over the last 20 years. We start from the analysis of microeconomic rigidity and then investigate its implications for aggregate price dynamics, closely following the empirical strategy proposed by Caballero (Caballero and Engel, 2007). We find that 90% of the units in our dataset had no change in rents per year, indicating that rent stickiness is three times as high as in the United States. We also find that the probability of rent adjustment depends little on the deviation of the actual rent from its target level, suggesting that rent adjustments are not state-dependent but time-dependent. These two results indicate that both the intensive and extensive margins of rent adjustments are small, resulting in a slow response of the CPI for rent to aggregate shocks. We show that the CPI inflation rate would have been higher by 1% point during the bubble period, and lower by more than 1% point during the period following the burst of the bubble, if Japanese housing rents were as flexible as those in the United States.     

Endogenous innovation under New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model

This paper constructs an endogenous growth model using the framework of New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models. We incorporate the Schumpeterian approach that generates seemingly sticky prices and reinterpret the Calvo mechanism from the perspective of Bertrand competition and successful entrepreneurs. Our results demonstrate that both positive productivity shocks and endogenous innovation have a negative effect on subsequent endogenous innovation. These self-destructive effects of endogenous innovation might account for the IT productivity paradox and productivity slowdown seen in advanced countries. Furthermore, it is shown that there are both neutral and non-neutral properties of monetary policy shocks. They are neutral in terms of the growth effect, but non-neutral in terms of the level effect. In particular, expansionist monetary policies are desirable to facilitate endogenous innovation.