The efficiency of the Scandinavian banking sector – a wavelet quantile regression analysis

In this article, the Scandinavian housing financing market is analysed in order to determine whether the interest rate price-discovery processes of Denmark, Norway and Sweden are efficient. Based on wavelet quantile regression analysis, we find systematic positive asymmetric price transmission (APT) inefficiencies. We conclude that there is a very high propensity for mortgage lenders to directly increase its customers’ mortgage interest rates subsequently to an increase in its borrowing costs. However, after a corresponding borrowing cost decrease, the same mortgage lenders are very slow to decrease its customers’ mortgage rates. These positive coefficients for so-called APT effects are found in all Scandinavian countries, even if the coefficients for Norway were not statistically significant. Wavelet quantile regression analysis, with a focus on the relevant higher percentiles, is easily motivated since the mortgage rates are adjusted very infrequently. Moreover, wavelet decomposition allows a robust analysis at different time frequency scales, while simultaneously controlling for nonstationary trends, autocorrelation and structural breaks. Except for the still positive but yet insignificant and inconclusive coefficients for Norway, the result is very clear-cut. Regardless of which wavelet scaling decomposition or quantile coefficient that is studied – positive APT effects are clearly identified and confirmed on the Scandinavian mortgage market.     

Regularized conditional estimators of unit inefficiency in stochastic frontier analysis,with application to electricity distribution market

In stochastic frontier analysis, the conventional estimation of unit inefficiency is based on the mean/mode of the inefficiency, conditioned on the composite error. It is known that the conditional mean of inefficiency shrinks towards the mean rather than towards the unit inefficiency. In this paper, we analytically prove that the conditional mode cannot accurately estimate unit inefficiency, either. We propose regularized estimators of unit inefficiency that restrict the unit inefficiency estimators to satisfy some a priori assumptions, and derive the closed form regularized conditional mode estimators for the three most commonly used inefficiency densities. Extensive simulations show that, under common empirical situations, e.g., regarding sample size and signal-to-noise ratio, the regularized estimators outperform the conventional (unregularized) estimators when the inefficiency is greater than its mean/mode. Based on real data from the electricity distribution sector in Sweden, we demonstrate that the conventional conditional estimators and our regularized conditional estimators provide substantially different results for highly inefficient companies.

     

The use of electronic media for advertising and selling: A consumer policy outline

The purpose of the article is to summarize the use of the electronic media for advertising and selling, to identify the present or potential problems of this use for consumers, and to outline national and international consumer policies on the use of the electronic media for advertising and selling.The main suggestions for consumer policy are that consumer organizations and authorities should: (a) set aside resources for the preparation of a code of standards for the use of data media for advertising and selling, (b) follow closely what we have identified as the most urgent consumer problem, namely the use of the visual media for new ways of advertising and selling, (c) carry out detailed studies of the necessity of adjusting legislation in light of the expected developments in the field of visual media, and (d) in view of the international range of both data media and visual media investigate the possibility of international co-operation concerning the detailed consumer policy elements proposed in this article.

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Elektronische Medien in Werbung und Verkauf: ein verbraucherpolitischer Überblick

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag schildert zunächst den Einsatz elektronischer Medien in der Werbung und im Verkauf, wie er sich in den USA und den westeuropäischen Ländern beobachten läßt. Er untersheidet dabei Daten-Medien und visuelle Medien. Anschließend versucht er, bestehende und potentiell auftretende Probleme dieses Medien-Einsatzes zu benennen, und geht dabei im Bereich der Werbung vor allem auf Fragen der Identifizierbarkeit, des Informationsgehaltes und der Strukturierung, im Bereich des Verkaufs auf Fragen der Information über Verkaufskonditionen, des Rücktrittsrechts und des Datenschutzes ein.Schließlich entwirft der Beitrag einen Vorschlag für nationale und internationale verbraucherpolitische Maßnahmen. Nach diesem Vorschlag sollten die Verbraucherorganisationen (a) Mittel für die Erarbeitung von Richtlinien für den Einsatz elektronischer Daten-Medien in Werbung und Verkauf bereitstellen, (b) dem wichtigen Problem des Einsatzes visueller Medien für neue Formen von Werbung und Verkauf auf der Spur bleiben, (c) genau prüfen, inwieweit die Gesetzgebung der zu erwartenden Entwicklung im Bereich der visuellen Medien angepaßt werden muß, und (d) angesichts der übernationalen Reichweite der behandelten Medien die Möglichkeit internationaler verbraucherpolitischer Zusammenarbeit fördern.

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Folke Ölander is Professor and Preben Sepstrup Associate Professor at the Aarhus School of Business Administration and Economics, Ryhavevej 8, DK-8210 Aarhus V, Denmark.The project has been conducted with financial support from the Nordic Council of Ministers.     

Introductory Remarks

Journal of Consumer Policy -     

Consumer power: Enabling and limiting factors

A conceptual framework is developed for the study of factors that enable consumers to exert power, or prevent them from doing so, at different levels of aggregation and organization. The framework has four main categories: Constellation of Actors and Interests, Context of Interaction, Process of Interaction, and Outcomes. It is hoped that by means of such a framework, it will be possible to systematize and compare various cases in which attempts have been made — successfully or not so successfully — at exercising consumer influence. Such comparisons can provide the basis for hypotheses and generalizations as to factors that determine the outcomes of uses of consumer power or influence. The application of the framework is illustrated by means of a case study from Finland: that of a conflict between consumers and banks. Advantages and limitations of the approach are outlined in the final section.

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Die Macht der Verbraucher: förderliche und hinderliche Einflußfaktoren

Zusammenfassung Die Autoren entwickeln einen begrifflichen Bezugsrahmen zur Analyse der Faktoren, die Konsumenten auf verschiedenen Ebenen der Aggregation und der Organisation positiv oder negativ darin beeinflussen, Macht auszuüben. Der Bezugsrahmen hat vier Hauptkategorien: die Konstellation der Akteure und Interessen, der Zusammenhang der Interaktion zwischen den Akteuren, der Prozeß der Interaktion und die Ergebnisse.Die Autoren erhoffen sich von dem Bezugsrahmen die Möglichkeit einer Systematisierung und eines Vergleiches verschiedener Fälle, in denen die Ausübung von Konsumenteneinfluß versucht wurde — sei es mit oder ohne Erfolg. Solche Vergleiche können bei der Ableitung von Hypothesen und Verallgemeinerungen im Hinblick auf Faktoren nützlich sein, die den Erfolg der Ausübung von Konsumentenmacht beeinflussen. Die Anwendung des Bezugsrahmens wird beispielhaft an einer Fallstudie aus Finnland demonstriert, an einem Konflikt zwischen Konsumenten und Banken. Abschließend versucht der Beitrag die Vorteile und Grenzen des Ansatzes abzuschätzen.

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Sigmund Grønmo is Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, University of Bergen, Hans Holmboes gate 22, N-5007 Bergen, Norway. Folke Ölander is Professor of Economic Psychology, The Aarhus School of Business, Ryhavevej 8, DK-8210 Aarhus V, Denmark.This paper is part of the output from a research project sponsored by the Consumer Policy Committee of the Nordic Council of Ministers. The project was carried out by the authors in collaboration with Arild Danielsen, Department of Sociology, University of Oslo, and we have drawn heavily on his erudition and insights in preparing this paper.The paper first appeared in Enhancing Consumer Choice, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Research in the Consumer Interest, Robert N. Mayer, Ed., American Council on Consumer Interests, Columbia, MO, 1991, and is published here with the permission of the ACCI and the Editor of the Proceedings.