Search for differentiated products: identification and estimation

When consumers search for differentiated products, a given search decision can be explained either by low search cost or by low tastes for the set of products already found. We propose an identification strategy that allows to estimate the search cost distribution in the presence of unobserved tastes. The required data takes the form of conditional search decisions: observations of search actions combined with previously observed product displays. We develop an application using clickstream data from a hotel search platform. Estimates of price elasticity of demand in the search model differ from those in the static model, reflecting the bias due to endogeneity of search‐generated choice sets.     

The income elasticity of tax revenue: estimates for income and consumption taxes in the United Kingdom

This paper provides estimates of individual and aggregate revenue elasticities of income and consumption taxes in the UK over the period 1989–2000. It shows how budgetary changes, including changes to income‐related deductions, have substantially affected income elasticities. The estimates of consumption tax revenue elasticities show that changes in consumption patterns over time are important. A merit of the approach used here is that elasticity estimates can be calculated readily from official published sources.     

Do Americans consume too little natural gas? An empirical test of marginal cost pricing

This article measures the extent to which prices exceed marginal costs in the U.S. natural gas distribution market during the period 1991–2007. We find large departures from marginal cost pricing in all 50 states, with residential and commercial customers facing average markups of over 40%. Based on conservative estimates of the price elasticity of demand, these distortions impose hundreds of millions of dollars of annual welfare loss. Moreover, current price schedules are an important preexisting distortion which should be taken into account when evaluating carbon taxes and other policies aimed at addressing external costs.     

商业健康险税收优惠政策的效果分析--基于需求价格弹性的测算

本文基于经典商业健康险需求理论的价格弹性模型,分别利用天津市调研数据和中山大学劳动力动态调查数据库测算了按收入分层的商业健康险需求价格弹性及商业健康险的消费结构。并基于上述测算结果,通过数据库对接推算了全国商业健康险的需求价格弹性和税优政策的预期效果。测算结果表明,我国商业健康险的需求价格弹性为-0.22,在当前的税优政策下,个税税改前后,税优健康险的预期年保费规模分别为16.54亿元、6.09亿元,由此带来的年税式支出预计将分别达到2.47亿元、0.69亿元。最后,基于实证分析结果,本文对税优健康险未来的政策调整方向提供了建议。     

The micro elasticity of substitution and non‐neutral technology

This article provides evidence on the micro capital‐labor elasticity of substitution and the bias of technology. Using data on US manufacturing plants, I find several facts inconsistent with a Cobb‐Douglas production function, including large, persistent variation in capital shares. I then estimate the elasticity using variation in local wages, and several instruments for them, for identification. Estimates of the substitution elasticity using all plants range between 0.3 and 0.5, with similar estimates across industries. I use these elasticity estimates to measure labor augmenting productivity, and find that labor augmenting productivity is highly persistent, and correlated with exports, size, and growth.     

Sales and consumer inventory

Temporary price reductions (sales) are common for many goods and naturally result in a large increase in the quantity sold. We explore whether the data support the hypothesis that these increases are, at least partly, due to demand anticipation: at low prices, consumers store for future consumption. This effect, if present, has broad economic implications. We test the predictions of an inventory model using scanner data with two years of household purchases. The results are consistent with an inventory model and suggest that static demand estimates may overestimate price sensitivity.     

基于消费视角的我国城镇居民住房需求问题研究

“房子是用来住的,不是用来炒的”。根据中央经济工作会议的精神,文章重点从 住房消费属性的层面对我国城镇居民住房需求进行了深入探讨,运用我国2007-2017年31个省（直辖市、自治区）的住房市场数据对影响居民购房的因素进行了实证,在考虑了城市化发展 带动的同时,通过对住房需求市场的收入弹性、价格弹性等进行分析,结果表明：（1）价格对 住房消费需求的调控效果有限;（2）居民对改善居住条件的欲望保持强劲势头;（3）城市化 进程对住房需求所起作用在逐步减弱。     

Durable goods and residential demand for energy and water: evidence from a field trial

This article describes a household production model in which energy‐efficient durable goods cost less to operate so households may use them more. The model is estimated using household‐level data from a field trial in which participants received high‐efficiency clothes washers free of charge. The estimation strategy exploits this quasi‐random replacement of washers to derive precise estimates of the household production technology and a demand function for clothes washing. During the field trial, households increased clothes washing on average by 5.6% after receiving a high‐efficiency washer, implying a price elasticity of ?.06. The complete model is used to evaluate the cost‐effectiveness of recent changes in minimum efficiency standards for clothes washers.     

An additional analysis of estimation techniques for the degree of financial leverage

This study compares three different empirical proxies for the financial leverage component of a systematic risk‐composition model employed in prior financial research. We consider one static accounting measure and two elasticity‐based measures. We find that the traditional static accounting measure of financial leverage provides statistically different estimates of financial leverage when compared to estimates from elasticity‐based measures of the degree of financial leverage. The findings are important because the elasticity‐based models for the degree of financial leverage have clear theoretical links to market‐based models of systematic risk, while the static accounting measure of financial leverage does not. Practitioners and researchers should carefully consider why they are estimating financial leverage and choose the appropriate method for doing so given the goals and potential consequences for biased estimation.     

Money and the Welfare Cost of Inflation in an R&D Growth Model

This study analyzes the effects of inflation on R&D and innovation‐driven growth. In the theoretical section, we incorporate money demand into a quality‐ladder model with elastic labor supply and derive the following result. If the elasticity of substitution between consumption and the real money balance is less (greater) than unity, then R&D and the growth rate of output would be decreasing (increasing) in the growth rate of money supply. Quantitatively, decreasing inflation in the U.S. to achieve price stability improves social welfare, and the welfare gain is equivalent to at least 0.5% of annual consumption. In the empirical section, we use cross‐country data to establish a negative and statistically significant relationship between inflation and R&D.     

Optimal Loss Mitigation and Contract Design

This work examines the interaction between the premium rates set by an insurer and the incentives of an individual to purchase market insurance and undertake mitigation to reduce the size of a potential loss. A risk‐neutral monopolistic insurer prices insurance according to the price‐elasticity of demand for coverage. The elasticity of demand is affected by the presence of both mitigation and government intervention. The availability of loss reduction activities increases the consumer's elasticity of demand and lowers the optimal rate charged by the monopolist. Government intervention reduces both expenditures on mitigation and the rate charged by the monopolistic insurer.     

House Prices and Local Taxes in the UK

In this paper, estimates of the effects of local domestic property taxes (rates) on local house prices are presented, and the effect of local taxes on owner-occupied dwelling prices is calculated for a number of English cities for the period up to 1990. The methods used enable estimation to be made of the effect of the introduction, during 1990, of the Community Charge or poll tax in England, when the local tax base was moved from housing consumption onto individual residency. It is estimated that the reform could have increased house prices by around 15 per cent and contributed substantially to house price inflation.     

中国城镇居民住房的需求与供给

本文研究了自1980年代后期中国城镇住房商品化以来城镇居民住房的需求与供给。我们从耐用消费品需求与供给的标准理论出发,在联立方程框架下估计城镇住房的需求与供给方程,得到了需求的收入与价格弹性及供给的价格弹性的估计值。通过对1987～2006年全国城镇总体水平年度数据的分析,我们发现城镇住房价格的快速上涨主要可由需求与供给的作用解释,即人均收入和建筑成本的变化决定了房价的整体趋势。城镇住房需求的(长期)收入弹性约为1,需求的价格弹性在0.5到0.6之间。住房存量总供给的价格弹性约为0.83。     

ARE COMMON STOCKS A HEDGE AGAINST INFLATION?

We test whether U.K. common stocks hedge against inflation using a framework of the tax‐augmented Fisher hypothesis. Aggregate and disaggregate (seven industry groups) monthly data covering 48 years are used. All pairs of stock and retail price indexes are cointegrated. Tests in most cases reveal significant shifts in the cointegrating vectors, and accounting for these shifts improves the precision of the estimates. The point estimates of goods price elasticity are significantly above unity in all but two cases. These findings, though in sharp contrast to most existing findings that report price elasticity of below unity, appear theoretically more plausible because nominal stock returns must exceed the inflation rate to insulate tax‐paying investors.     

Demand for nondurable goods: a shortcut to estimating long‐run price elasticities

When consumers stockpile, static demand models overestimate long‐term price responses. This article presents a dynamic model of demand with consumer inventories and proposes a shortcut to estimate the long‐run price elasticities without having to solve the dynamic program. Using French data on food purchases, I find elasticities consistent with those that result from the full‐blown estimations found in the literature.     

The demand for stocks: an analysis of IPO auctions

We analyze a unique dataset that includes the full demand schedulesof 27 Israeli IPOs that were conducted as nondiscriminatory(uniform price) auctions. To the best of our knowledge, thisis the first time the whole demand schedule for any asset isdescribed. The demand schedules are relatively flat around theauction clearing price: The average elasticity is 27. The elasticityis low when the return distribution contains a large uniquecomponent. We also find a significant average abnormal returnof 4.5% on the first trading day and a positive correlationbetween the abnormal return and the elasticity of demand.     

Competition among hospitals

We examine competition in the hospital industry, in particular the effect of ownership type (for-profit, not-for-profit, government). We estimate a structural model of demand and pricing in the hospital industry in California, then use the estimates to simulate the effect of a merger. California hospitals in 1995 face an average price elasticity of demand of -4.85. Not-for-profit hospitals face less elastic demand and act as if they have lower marginal costs. Their prices are lower than those of for-profits, but markups are higher. We simulate the effects of the 1997 merger of two hospital chains. In San Luis Obispo County, where the merger creates a near monopoly, prices rise by up to 53%, and the predicted price increase would not be substantially smaller were the chains not-for-profit.     

Price Elasticity of Demand and an Optimal Cash Discount Rate in Credit Policy

While the provision of a cash discount is equivalent to a reduction in price, the role of price elasticity of demand in determining credit terms has been neglected in the extant literature. In this paper, this role is investigated and it is shown that the optimal cash discount rate is affected by the price elasticity of demand for the firm's product. The comparative effects on the optimal cash discount rate with respect to exogenous changes in the fraction of credit sales paid after taking cash discount, the cost of short-term funds and the bad debt loss ratio are investigated. A trade-off between the time value gain and the price elasticity of demand is established. We find that firms which sell in locations having different price elasticities for their products, and/or which face various costs of short-term funds in different locations, should vary their cash discount terms accordingly.     

Law and the Determinants of Property-Casualty Insurance

This article examines the importance of legal rights and enforcement in influencing property‐casualty insurance (PCI) consumption. We extend the existing literature by examining the role of legal factors in determining insurance density across countries. Also, measures of risk aversion, loss probability, and price, which overcome limitations of proxies used in the existing literature on insurance demand, are analyzed. Using a panel data set, we apply a generalized methods of moments dynamic system estimator, which relaxes the assumption of strict exogeneity of the regressors and produces unbiased and efficient estimates. The results show a strong positive relationship between the protection of property rights and insurance consumption, which is robust to various model specifications and estimation techniques. Moreover, the results show the purchase of PCI is significantly and positively related to loss probability and income, as well as providing weaker evidence of a negative relationship with price.