Advertising Spending and Perceived Quality

Marketing Letters - In this paper we examine the relationship between advertising spending and perceived product quality. The questions we ask are: Does a product's advertising spending...     

Housing Activity and Consumer Spending

The current expansion has seen record-high levels of transactions in housing, extraordinary growth in the aggregate value of owner-occupied housing, and large increases in the amount of funds realized from the refinancing of mortgage debt. Many analysts thus have pointed to the strong housing market and rising home prices as a major pillar supporting recent economic growth and have expressed concern that a contraction in housing activity and values could pose a significant risk to consumer spending and real economic growth. This paper explores the channels by which the housing market may affect consumer spending and assesses the potential risk from a softening in the housing market. Our assessment is that while a housing slowdown by itself may slow consumer spending some, it is probably insufficient to precipitate a downturn without some additional shocks outside of the sector. JEL Classification E21,R21     

Spending propensity and price perceptions

ABSTRACT

This article presents a systematic investigation of how Spending Propensity moderates consumers’ perceptions of prices. Results from three studies are presented. Studies 1 and 2 reveal that, in the absence of any external cues, consumers who are predisposed to spending freely evaluate a posted price more favorably than those who are not. Such consumers also report anticipating less pain associated with spending than those who are not inclined to spend. Additionally, Study 2 informs that simple price communication tactics, without any real reduction in price, may be effective at mitigating the pain felt among those who are less inclined to spend. Furthermore, such tactics are capable of reducing, and even reversing, the gap between those who are not predisposed to spending and those who are. Finally, Study 3 explores how spending propensity moderates consumers’ perceptions of a discount.     

Currency of Search: How Spending Time on Search is Not the Same as Spending Money

Search theories suggest that a decline in search costs increases search behavior. This relationship has been well supported by prior experimental research but not by studies conducted in retail settings. Our review of the literature suggests that this discrepancy might be driven by the fact that prior experiments typically involve money-based search whereas actual search in retail settings is usually time-based. We argue that the currency of search plays a moderating role. We find that when participants spend money on search, a decrease in search costs has a significant effect on search decisions but, when they spend time on search, a decrease in search costs either has a relatively weak effect (Experiment 1) or no effect at all (Experiment 2). Furthermore, this insensitivity in time also emerges for search payoffs (Experiment 3). We also offer evidence for the processes underlying these effects. Our results provide a new lens to examine inconsistencies in the search literature, and present a view of search that is more applicable to the retail context.     

从众心理理论下提高广告创意效果的路径

从众是受别人的影响,而在自己的知觉、判断、认识上表现出符合于公众舆论或多数人的行为方式,从众现象是一种较普遍的心理现象。从众心理理论下,广告创作可以从优化“众”的质量、强化“众”的规模、强调“众”的切合度、描绘“众”的集舍性四个方面考虑,强化广告对消费者的引导力度,从而实现广告效果的最优化。     

Improving Incentives in Health Care Spending

Although U.S. economic growth is likely to continue to be robust, the growth of private and public spending on health care presents long-run public policy challenges. To meet these challenges health care resources must be used more efficiently. Currently, there are few incentives to put health care dollars to the highest value use. This is true in both public and private spending. An important element of the problem lies in the tax-preferred treatment given to employer-provided insurance but not to out-of-pocket spending. The resulting bias towards first-dollar insurance coverage means that consumers are insulated from the real costs of the health care that they consume and have little reason to evaluate whether the benefits are greater than those costs. Moreover, they seldom have sufficient price and quality information to make informed decisions. Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a promising way to remove the tax-penalty for enrolling in catastrophic insurance and paying for routine care out of pocket. Given the information that they need, consumers would then have more choices and more control, strengthening their role in reducing waste, improving efficiency, and promoting competition. Coupled with other policies, HSAs can be a critical component in moving toward an efficient and equitable health care system. JEL Classification I11     

Choices for Federal Spending and Taxes

Although weakness in the U.S. economy is an important factor in current federal budget deficits, even robust growth will leave unsustainable deficits unless there are major changes in federal policies. Moreover, deficits cannot be eliminated by reversion to past tax and spending policies. This paper explores the causes and magnitudes of the projected deficits and the choices that must be faced for the federal budget to regain a sustainable path.     

Getting and Spending in a Democracy

Francesco Forte and Alan Peacock (eds), Public Expenditure and Government Growth (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985) 237 pp., |SL22.50     

The Effects of Prior Spending on Future Spending Decisions: The Role of Acquisition Liabilities and Payments

Research in mental accounting shows that prior spending influences a consumer's decision to make a new spending decision (Heath and Soll 1996, Soman 2001). In particular, greater spending in a particular category reduces the likelihood of further spending in that category. In the present research, we decompose spending into two distinct episodes—the acquisition liability episode during which a purchase is made accompanied by a commitment to pay (e.g., using a credit card) and the payment episode during which the consumer's wealth actually gets depleted (e.g., paying the credit card bill). Using a controlled laboratory experiment and real world data from a group of consumers, we replicate earlier findings that prior spending influences a pending spending decision, but also show that the location of both the acquisition liability episode and the payment episode play a role. Our results contribute to an understanding of the dynamic mental accounting of acquisition liability and actual outflows.     

Trade Liberalisation and Capital Spending by US Manufacturers

This is the first paper to study the impact of long‐term tariff reductions on capital spending by US manufacturers. We investigate fluctuations in investment for approximately 400 different four‐digit industries during the period 1974–2005. Our results indicate that the dismantling of tariff and quota protection has had a stimulatory effect on US manufacturing investment, despite the relatively low average tariff rate that existed at the start of our sample period. However, our findings reveal that reductions in input tariffs rather than output tariffs were the source of this effect, suggesting that better access to foreign inputs rather than increased foreign competition at the output level served as the primary stimulus for increased US manufacturing investment.     

Is Infrastructure Spending an Effective Fiscal Policy?

The impact of expansionary fiscal policy intended to increase economic growth by using infrastructure‐focused stimulus packages is analyzed by considering the debt to GDP ratio dynamics model. It is shown that for the data characterizing the current state of the US economy the government investment in infrastructure cannot decrease the debt to GDP ratio. The paper contributes to the ongoing fiscal policy debate whether government investment in infrastructure is an effective approach to boost the economy.     

Spending patterns of lone-parent and two-parent Canadian families

Data on 214 lone-parent families and 1,133 two-parent families were drawn from the Canadian 1990 Survey of Family Expenditures to examine their expenditure patterns. Tobit analysis was used to estimate marginal propensities to consume and income elasticities of 14 expenditure categories. Statistically significant differences between lone-parent families and two-parent families were found for the marginal propensities to consume and the income elasticities for expenditures on food at home, household operations and personal care.     

大学生消费支出差异分析

不论是学术界还是一般老百姓,对培养大学生的家庭负担等问题曾进行一系列热烈的讨论,但是对于在校大学生日常经济生活状况,尤其是大学生可支配现金收入的支出情况可能还不甚明了.随着我国高等教育大众化步伐的加快,大学生消费支出情况会引起更多的关注.为此我们对这一问题进行了调查.     

孩子们忙“上班”,家长们忙花钱

<正>零点研究咨询集团2007年5月一项针对城市普通居民的入户调查发现了一个"有趣"而普遍的现象:孩子们"上班"忙,家长们"花钱"忙。在调查所涉及到的4～12岁儿童中,半数以上(51.6%)的孩子上了课外学习班或是特长班、兴趣班;在所     

2011年全球商务旅行支出上升9.2%

全球商务旅行协会的研究机构GBTA基金会近日公布一份全面报告,分析当前状态的全球商务旅行支出和关于未来五年的增长预测。由Visa赞助的2011—2015年全球商务旅行支出前景研究显示,世界各地商务旅行消费在2010年增加8.4%,2009年该项支出下降7.8%。预计2011年全球商务旅行支出将增长9.2%,总量将超过1万亿美元。     

A Temporary Federal Discount Program to Stimulate Consumer Spending

In this paper, we evaluate a new proposal to stimulate recovery from the current recession: a temporary federal price discount on consumer goods. An attractive feature of the temporary federal discount program is that it gives consumers a price incentive to purchase more rather than simply giving consumers more disposable income, which they might choose to either spend or to save. According to our simulations with the Fair macro-econometric model, a temporary 20 percent federal discount on all consumer goods in a severe recession would significantly reduce the unemployment rate while causing only a small increase in federal debt as a percentage of GDP.     

Differences in Spending Habits and Credit Use of College Students

In a study of college students, affective credit attitude (feeling about using credit cards) and gender influenced college students' credit purchasing. Affective credit attitude predicted the purchase of clothing, electronics, entertainment, travel, gasoline, and food away from home. Females purchased clothing; males purchased electronics, entertainment, and food away from home. Gender was more influential in predicting financial management practices than was affective credit attitude, with female students employing a greater number of financial practices. A path analysis model showed gender differences in the relationship between financial practices, financial stress, affective credit attitude, and the number of credit cards with a balance.