Explaining personality pay gaps in the UK

Using the British Household Panel Survey we estimate the effect on pay of each of the Big Five personality traits for employed men living in the UK. We add to the existing literature by estimating the role of factors such as education and occupation in explaining personality pay gaps, by allowing the personality traits to affect wage differently across occupations, education levels and other workers characteristics, and by investigating personality pay gaps for high- and low-paid workers. We find that openness to experience is the most relevant personality trait in explaining wages, followed by neuroticism, agreeableness, extroversion and conscientiousness. Openness and extroversion are rewarded while agreeableness and neuroticism are penalized, but the openness pay gap is totally explained by differences in worker characteristics, particularly education and occupation.     

‘Mainline’ telecommunications infrastructure, levels of development and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of developing countries

This paper assesses the growth impact of telecommunications infrastructure investment in developing countries by subjecting country-specific data on mainline tele-density and per capita growth to a Granger causality test within a panel cointegration framework. The results suggest that growth effects vary widely across country groupings reflecting different levels of development. Mainline tele-density and per capita growth strongly reinforce each other for countries that are relatively less developed. The reinforcement effect is even stronger for emerging countries that can be identified by their higher than average growth rates. In contrast, there is, at best, weak evidence of bi-directional causal links between the two variables for countries that are relatively more developed. These differences in the mainline tele-density and per capita growth relationships suggest that investment in telecommunications infrastructure, with its potential to generate high growth return, may serve as the critical tool for driving the growth and development process forward in the less developed countries.     

Consumer Motives and Purchase Preferences for Organic Food Products: Empirical Evidence From a Consumer Survey in Bangalore,South India

ABSTRACT

Consumer organic food choice motives and purchase preferences were studied in a structured quantitative survey (N = 201) in Bangalore, with the aim of identifying consumer segments based on these motives and preferences. Further, sociodemographic differences between the clusters were studied. Face-to-face interviews were used to sample the data, which were analyzed with factor and k-means cluster analysis (SPSS 16.0). Five latent factors were identified based on the motives, representing a set of consumer concerns labeled here as “food phobia” (health),” “environment,” “humanity,” “healthy eaters,” and “control.” Further, three clusters emerged from these motives representing 38%, 37%, and 25% of the sample size. The factors differ in terms of variance. Here, the records of perceived healthiness (food phobia) were the most important element, explaining 18.37% of the total variance. These clusters were differing in terms of the level and order of motivations. The health factor was a most important motive in two clusters, followed by environment. Further, humanity was the most important motive for the third cluster. This may reflect a heterogeneous nature of consumers in study area. Additionally, five clusters were identified based on the preferences, and profiles of these clusters differed in terms of sociodemographic factors and consumption pattern. Segments were identified based on motivating factors and preferences, and linking them with food choice motives and products preference provides the input needed by marketing professionals and policy makers to calibrate more efficient marketing strategies to better focus and position their products and design their communication strategies for target segments.     

The changing structure of cost and demand for the U.S. telecommunications industry

This paper formulates a multiproduct structural model to examine the evolution of the structures of production and demand and their dynamic interaction, over an extended period, 1935–1987, in the U.S. telecommunications industry. We estimate the degree of scale economies, cost elasticities, input price elasticities and the determinants of demand for outputs and for various factors of production. The contributions of the quasi-fixed inputs, such as R&D and physical capital, in the evolution of this industry are evaluated. A number of important issues like the changing characteristics of demand for and cost of local and toll services and the variation of price–cost margin over time are examined under different economic conditions, market structures and regulatory environments. We also analyze the effects of the 1984 divestiture of the Bell System on the cost structure, employment and capital formation of the U.S. telecommunications industry.     

A closed-form GARCH option valuation model

This paper develops a closed-form option valuation formula fora spot asset whose variance follows a GARCH(p, q) process thatcan be correlated with the returns of the spot asset. It providesthe first readily computed option formula for a random volatilitymodel that can be estimated and implemented solely on the basisof observables. The single lag version of this model containsHeston's (1993) stochastic volatility model as a continuous-timelimit. Empirical analysis on S&P500 index options showsthat the out-of-sample valuation errors from the single lagversion of the GARCH model are substantially lower than thead hoc Black-Scholes model of Dumas, Fleming and Whaley (1998)that uses a separate implied volatility for each option to fitto the smirk/smile in implied volatilities. The GARCH modelremains superior even though the parameters of the GARCH modelare held constant and volatility is filtered from the historyof asset prices while the ad hoc Black-Scholes model is updatedevery period. The improvement is largely due to the abilityof the GARCH model to simultaneously capture the correlationof volatility, with spot returns and the path dependence involatility.     

Factors Influencing Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Organic Fruits and Vegetables: Empirical Evidence from a Consumer Survey in India

Numerous consumers confronted with increasing environmental problems, food safety issues, and augmentative health problems increasingly desire to have healthier and more natural foods grown in an eco-friendly manner. Hitherto organic foods only partly benefit from this increasing market environment, and their market share stays rather low despite high growth rates. This article aims to investigate consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for organic fruits and vegetables and relevant factors affecting consumers WTP. The contingent valuation method was selected to estimate WTP. Empirical data was drawn from a 250-consumer survey conducted in Bangalore during February 2013. A binomial logistic regression model was applied to obtain the value of WTP and determine the factors influencing it. The results indicated that about 90% of the consumers were willing to pay a premium price ranging between 5% to more than 100% in order to acquire better-quality fruits and vegetables; factors such as family income, size of the family, gender, and other opinion variables such as chemical residue in conventional foods, trust on retailers, taste, and environmental concerns significantly influence consumers’ WTP. More than 87% of the consumers indicated that high price, lack of availability, narrow range, and irregular supply are the major barriers for them to buy these products. The results provide useful evidence to pertinent governmental agencies in terms of assisting in the design of policies for the promotion of organic food production and marketing and reaching the target public. Furthermore, firms involved in the organic foods business may also see benefits when drawing information in order to calibrate marketing strategies.     

The effect of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict on child labor and school attendance in the West Bank

In this paper we analyze the impact of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict on child labor and school attendance of Palestinian children in the West Bank between the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada (September 2000) and the end of 2006. In particular, we investigate the effects, on children' s status, of number of days Israel closed its border with Palestinian Territories. We find that an increase in the number of closure days increases child labor while it (weakly) reduces school attendance in the West Bank. We provide evidence on different mechanisms that possibly account for these results.     

A multi-factor Markovian HJM model for pricing American interest rate derivatives

This article presents a numerically efficient approach for constructing an interest rate lattice for multi-state variable multi-factor term structure models in the Makovian HJM [Econometrica 70 (1992) 77] framework based on Monte Carlo simulation and an advanced extension to the Markov Chain Approximation technique. The proposed method is a mix of Monte Carlo and lattice-based methods and combines the best from both of them. It provides significant computational advantages and flexibility with respect to many existing multi-factor model implementations for interest rates derivatives valuation and hedging in the HJM framework.

The Unintended Effects of a Ban on Sex-Selective Abortion on Infant Mortality: Evidence from India

India has long struggled with persistent problems of sex-selective abortions and the neglect of female children. In 1996, the Pre-Natal Diagnostics Techniques Act was implemented to stop the practices of prenatal sex determination and selective abortions. This paper examines whether the law has been effective in reducing gender imbalance, and in turn potentially exacerbated post-natal discrimination against newborn girls. Using retrospective birth history data from the Indian District Level Household Survey (2002–2004), we exploit a natural experiment involving a variation in the timing of the law across states. We analyse the differential impact of the law on newborn sex ratios and infant mortality rates. Our findings indicate that the law significantly increased the likelihood of a female birth, improving female-to-male sex ratios at birth. We also find that it was generally associated with no change in the relative mortality of infant girls.