Who is the “Self” that Buys?: An Exploratory Examination of Imaginative Consumption and Explanation of Opinion Leadership

The present research, first, combines literatures on self‐theory, imaginative consumption, and opinion leadership. Second, the research, using self‐theory, explores individual difference variables predictive of imaginative consumption in two studies using different populations. The results reveal fashion product involvement, self‐esteem, fashion knowledge, idea shopping motivation, and probability of a mispurchase influence the degree to which an individual imaginatively consumes fashion products. Third, the research makes a contribution by explaining from where opinion leaders derive their abilities—imaginative consumption. In contributing to scholarly work, the research explains the role of imagination and opinion leadership in both theories of self‐verification and self‐enhancement. Managerial implications include identifying potential opportunities for marketing communications and retail management. The findings are promising and encourage further exploration of the phenomenon of imaginative consumption.     

Multi-country event-study methods

We provide the first simulation evidence of event-study test performance in multi-country non-US samples. The nonparametric rank and generalized sign tests are more powerful than two common parametric tests, especially in multi-day windows. The two nonparametric tests are mostly well specified, but neither is perfectly specified in all situations. The parametric standardized cross-sectional test can provide a useful robustness check but is less powerful than the nonparametric tests and rejects too often in single-market samples and when firm-specific events affect the market index. Local-currency market-model abnormal returns using national market indexes are sufficient.     

The value of project management to organizations in Canada and Germany,or do values add value? Five case studies

Five case studies have been conducted: four in Canada and one in Germany. The authors of this article were particularly interested in understanding the value of values and meaning in the context of project management implementation and project environments. The article first summarizes the authors' particular approach. It then discusses the five case studies and their findings. These findings will be grouped around the concepts of value of project management and meaningful work. In conclusion, the findings of this study will be summarized across all five case studies and based on a comparative content analysis.     

Water pollution and abstraction and economic instruments

The paper assesses the potential role for economic instrumentsin the regulation of water pollution and abstraction in thelight of the UK government's discussion documents. Economicinstruments offer the potential for greater cost efficiencyin achieving environmental targets than existing command-and-controlmethods. Applying economic instruments in the water context,however, is complex, because the location of pollution sourcesis critical and because of the interactions between pollutantsand between effluent and abstraction. Schemes for recyclingtax revenue to polluters in ways which preserve the appropriatemarginal incentives are examined, and the possibility of combiningthe existing quantitative controls with a tax scheme is explored.     

Welfare Consequences of Tight Price-Cap Regulation

This paper analyses the welfare effects of price-cap regulation of a multi-product monopolist when the price index has fixed weights. A tight cap can result in welfare below the level associated with an unregulated monopoly. This does not occur if the weights are based on lagged quantities and the level of the cap exceeds the previous period's total cost. In a two-period model the welfare problem is alleviated in the second period but first-period performance can be worse if the firm is not myopic.     

An experimental study of blind proficiency tests in forensic science

We conducted a series of sender?Creceiver experiments to study the consequences of implementing a regime of blind proficiency tests in forensic science to reduce error rates and improve the criminal justice system. Senders are our surrogate for forensic laboratories and receivers, for the judge or jury. Our experimental surrogate (random audits with a penalty) for blind proficiency tests reduced sender error rates by as much as 46% depending on the level of experimentally induced bias. When penalties improve information quality, receiver error rates fell by as much as 26% depending on the level of the sender bias. We also find that the penalty must be large relative to the payoff to induce the reduction in errors. Our results suggest that a regime of blind proficiency testing has the potential to reduce forensic science errors.     

Price-Cap Regulation and Inefficiency in Relative Pricing

The allocative efficiency properties of three price-cap schemes are compared. The scheme that uses lagged quantities in the price index and has a fixed cap works well when the firm is myopic but generates inefficient relative prices otherwise. With myopia prices are efficient and welfare is higher than with equal pricing, but the gain to the firm comes at the expense of lower consumer surplus. When the firm is not myopic pricing can be so inefficient that steady-state welfare is below the no-regulation level.     

Utility Regulation and Risk Allocation: The Roles of Marginal Cost Pricing and Futures Markets

The effects on consumer welfare of requiring a utility facing cost or demand risk to use either a fixed retail price or marginal cost pricing are assessed. With marginal cost pricing and cost volatility an efficient futures market allows consumer welfare to be at least as high in every state as with the fixed price. With demand risk marginal cost pricing can benefit the consumer in every state without harming the firm if the profit difference is transferred to the consumer. A futures market can act as a partial replacement for the transfer.     

Welfare‐increasing third‐degree price discrimination

When demand functions in different markets are derived from distributions of reservation prices that differ only in their means, conditions exist such that third‐degree price discrimination leads to greater total output and greater total welfare. Welfare is higher with discrimination than with a uniform price when demand functions are derived from logistic distributions with different means. Welfare and consumer surplus are higher with discrimination for demands derived from a distribution related to the Pareto. In general, whether discrimination increases total output depends on demand being more convex in markets in which prices fall with discrimination than in those in which prices rise.