The integration of economic history into economics

In the USA today the academic field of economic history is much closer to economics than it is to history in terms of professional behavior, a stylized fact that I call the “integration of economic history into economics.” I document this using two types of evidence—use of econometric language in articles appearing in academic journals of economic history and economics; and publication histories of successive cohorts of Ph.D.s in the first decade since receiving the doctorate. Over time, economic history became more like economics in its use of econometrics and in the likelihood of scholars publishing in economics, as opposed to, say, economic history journals. But the pace of change was slower in economic history than in labor economics, another subfield of economics that underwent profound intellectual change in the 1950s and 1960s, and there was also a structural break evident for post-2000 Ph.D. cohorts. To account for these features of the data, I sketch a simple, overlapping generations model of the academic labor market in which junior scholars have to convince senior scholars of the merits of their work in order to gain tenure. I argue that the early cliometricians—most notably, Robert Fogel and Douglass North—conceived of a scholarly identity for economic history that kept the field distinct from economics proper in various ways, until after 2000 when their influence had waned.     

Transaction cost economics and the roles of national culture: a test of hypotheses based on Inglehart and Hofstede

Transaction cost economics (TCE) is probably the most widely accepted theory on how firms can gain competitive advantage through efficient organization of their economic transactions. However, by focusing on the competitive environment in which companies operate, it abstracts from the cultural context in which governance decisions are made. We study the cultural boundedness of TCE using two seminal cultural theories: the political science/sociology framework of Inglehart and the management science framework of Hofstede. We use these theories to develop (main-effect) hypotheses about the cultural contexts in which TCE has higher predictive power as well as (interaction) hypotheses regarding particular cultural contexts that may inherently be more inclined than others to adopt certain non-market governance modes if the market “fails.” Hypotheses are tested using a meta-analysis on data collected from 128 studies from 12 countries on 3 continents, representing governance decisions of 60,926 companies. We find that TCE is a universal theory across all cultural contexts. This being said, we find that in societies low on power distance and in societies characterized by a strong emphasis on secular-rational and self-expression values, companies are more strongly guided in their governance decisions by economic, transaction-cost considerations than companies in societies high on power distance and in countries that are characterized by traditional and survival values. Further, TCE’s power to predict the specific type of non-market governance employed by the firm is systematically moderated by the national culture in which the firm operates. The power of TCE for predicting hierarchical governance is higher in countries that rate high on secular-rational values and on uncertainty avoidance and low on long-term orientation, whereas TCE is more diagnostic for predicting relational governance in countries high on self-expression values and low on power distance and on uncertainty avoidance. In sum, our meta-analysis provides support for our thesis that to fully understand governance choices made by firms, we need to integrate TCE and cultural theory. While managers around the world are guided by economic considerations, the cultural context in which they operate exerts a substantial—and predictable—contingent effect on their governance choices.     

Path dependence: a foundational concept for historical social science

This introduction to the concept of path dependence, its pertinence for the development of historical social science, and its application in economic analysis and economic history, proceeds from intuitive general ideas about history and historicity in narratives. It provides precise definitions of what is meant by describing a dynamical process as being “historical.” Deterministic and stochastic formalizations of such dynamical systems are distinguished. The characterization of stochastic path dependent processes as “non-ergodic” is explained in non-mathematical language by reference to concepts in probability theory, and a variety of representations of such processes in formal models is surveyed (including the Polya urn-process, certain kinds of Markov chain models, branching processes, and reversible spin systems) to show that while all display path dependence, their properties in other respects are quite different. The diverse set of structural, micro-level conditions that can give rise to path dependence is examined, and a further distinction is drawn between the property of path dependence and the existence of so-called “QWERTY-effects”—characterized by decentralized competitive market failures and consequent “lock-in” to Pareto-inefficient equilibria. Concluding sections consider the implications of the existence of non-ergodic dynamics for the methods of economic policy analysis, and the nature of the guidance that can be obtained in regard to public policy affecting endogenous technological change and institutional evolution.     

Effects of accountability on symbolic information search and information analysis by organizational buyers

Most studies of the organizational buying process assume that buyers acquire and use information “prosocially”—to make better decisions and promote their company’s welfare. The authors propose, however, that demands to account for their behavior causes organizational buyers to also gather and use information for political purposes—to protect their own self-interest. The authors present the results of an empirical study that investigates the extent to which four types of accountability—informal, official, process, and decision accountability—result in political (or symbolic) information search and prosocial information analysis by organizational buyers. Study findings suggest that buyers accountable to superiors and those accountable to subordinates or peers engage in more symbolic information search. Buyers accountable for their decision-making process analyze information more extensively. Surprisingly, buyers accountable for decision outcomes neither search for symbolic information nor analyze information more extensively. She received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include industrial buying behavior, business-to-business relationships, and international marketing. She has published articles in theJournal of International Marketing and theJournal of Macromarketing, as well as various conference proceedings. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. His research interests are in the marketing strategy and public policy areas. His work has been published inJournal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Advertising Research, and several other journals.     

Reflections on gaining competitive advantage through customer value

Summary Woodruff’s detailed discussion of the meaning and measurement of customer value and how companies can use customer value information in designing their strategies makes a major contribution to marketing theory and practice. It provides an insightful synthesis of the literature on customer value and points out why and how current theory on the subject should be strengthened. It also offers suggestions for companies to foster customer value learning and incorporate it as a cornerstone of their competitive strategies. The primary objectives of my commentary have been (1) to critically examine Woodruff’s contributions and highlight unresolved issues requiring further investigation and (2) extend Woodruff’s contributions by proposing and discussing a detailed framework for monitoring and leveraging customer value. In addressing these objectives, I have attempted to raise questions and offer suggestions—some of which are necessarily tentative—in the hope that they will stimulate additional interest, debate, and research on the topic. He obtained his Ph.D. in business administration from Indiana University, Bloomington. His articles have appeared in such journals as theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Retailing, andSloan Management Review. He serves on five editorial review boards of journals and has been named as editor of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science for a 3-year term beginning June 1, 1997. He is the author ofMarketing Research, a college textbook, and is a coauthor of two other books written for practitioners in a variety of sectors:Delivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations andMarketing Services: Competing Through Quality.     

从经济系统的复杂性看现代经济学理论的发展

传统的经济学理论虽然给人类经济发展作出过重大贡献,但随着社会经济的发展日显其局限性。本文通过对经济学发展史的回顾,总结了传统西方经济学理论假设的荒谬性和经济学基本理论的局限性;分析了由于具有主动性的人参与到经济系统中而产生的个体的主动性、相互作用的非线性、整体发展的不确定性、信息和信息系统的重要作用等复杂性特点;介绍了复杂系统科学的发展,分析了复杂系统科学的马克思主义哲学原理;最后探讨了现代经济学理论的发展方向。     

Learning effect in multinational diffusion of consumer durables: An exploratory investigation

Literature reflects that a product/technological innovation introduced later in a country results in faster diffusion as the consumers in the lag market have an opportunity to learn about the new product from the consumers in the lead market. A systematic understanding of the learning that takes place between consumers in two countries—a pair of lead and lag countries—can provide insights for a firm’s international market entry decisions. To provide a richer understanding of the underlying structure and patterns that govern this process, propositions linking factors (country characteristics, product/innovation characteristics, and time lag) to the learning process are drawn. Subsequently, these propositions are tested through an empirical investigation of the diffusion patterns of four consumer innovations in multiple European countries. The findings help provide some preliminary guidelines for manufacturers regarding selection of foreign markets and the timing and order-of-entry decisions. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Houston in 1995. His research interests include global competition and marketing strategy, brand equity and brand extensions, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, and issues pertaining to product development and introduction. He has been recognized with numerous teaching and research excellence awards and has published numerous articles in many scholarly journals in marketing and forecasting. He has coauthored the textbookMarketing Research and is currently working on a book titledInternational Marketing Research, which is based on his marketing research experience across the globe. He is on the editorial review board of many journals and has lectured on marketing-related topics in various universities worldwide. His research interests include developing forecasting models, international marketing strategy and research issues, models for sales promotions, and new methodologies for product positioning and market segmentation. His research interests focus on marketing strategy and international marketing. He has published articles and presented at conferences on research in his area of interest.     

A pre-diffusion growth model of intentions and purchase

In this paper, we investigate whether information on the history of purchase intentions is useful in predicting actual purchase behavior. The research is motivated by two factors. The first factor is the empirical finding in the literature that measuring intentions just prior to purchase provides better predictions of actual purchase as compared to when these intentions are measured earlier. The second factor is the role of the timing of the formation of intentions prior to purchase. While one stream of literature based on preference fluency predicts that early formation of intentions is more likely to lead to actual purchase, the other stream based on the memory-based “recency” effect predicts that formation of intentions just prior to purchase is more likely to lead to actual purchase. Together, these two factors motivate the potential need to account for the entire history of intentions prior to purchase. A canonical example of a market where intention histories are tracked is the movie industry, where “first choice” movie watching intentions are tracked up to (and in some cases beyond) the time of release. Accommodating the history of intentions in an econometric model that predicts actual box office performance is challenging due to the differing numbers of observations for the movies, the large numbers of observations for certain movies, as well as the role of various time-invariant and time-varying covariates influencing intentions. We propose a two-part model where the first part involves a hierarchical growth model that summarizes the trajectories of intentions via “growth factors.” These growth factors also reflect the role of the various covariates. The second part is a regression of the box office performance on the growth factors and other covariates. The models are simultaneously estimated within a Bayesian framework. Consistent with the previous literature, we find that including information on intentions improves our ability to predict behavior, with the recent intentions being the most informative. Importantly, when the history of intentions is accounted for, our results indicate that the data support the “recency” literature—intentions grow over time leading up to purchase, and this growth has a positive impact on opening box office performance. While a linear growth model performs best for most movies, there exists a subset of movies for which the quadratic growth model better captures the “spike” in intentions just prior to purchase. Further, accounting for information on the history of intentions dramatically improves model fit and forecasting performance relative to when only the intentions at one point in time (e.g., the ones just prior to purchase) are accounted for.     

Two sides to attitudinal commitment: The effect of calculative and loyalty commitment on enforcement mechanisms in distribution channels

Previous conceptualizations of attitudinal commitment are extended by considering two very different components of a manufacturer's attachment to an independent channel intermediary. Relying on commitment theory, a model is developed that describes how attitudinal commitment may reside in either the instrumental or the social strain of a manufacturer's relationship with its distributor. For each strain, the developmental role played by key facets of the channel setting—relative dependence, pledges, and trust—are shown. Furthermore, the nature of the attachment bond is posited to motivate very different governance mechanisms as the distribution agreement is enforced by either social or contractual means. Empirical support for the model demonstrates that an expanded view of attitudinal commitment is important in understanding the complex nature of attachment in channel relationships. David I. Gilliland is an assistant professor of marketing at Colorado State University. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Georgia State University. He has published articles on governance and control of domestic and international channel relationships in the Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, and other journals. Daniel C. Bello is the Round Table Research Professor of Marketing at Georgia State University. His research interests include distribution strategy in domestic and international channel systems. He has published widely in professional journals and currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of International Marketing, the Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Marketing Management (United Kingdom).     

经济学和伦理学关系的历史演变与阿马蒂亚·森的重建工作

追溯西方经济思想的发展历程,古代经济思想曾作为伦理学之一部分而被思考,即使在古典经济学中,道德哲学也是一个挥之不去的背景,只是随着经济学技术化、公理化和科学化,20世纪的主流经济学才逐渐丧失了道德兴趣。然而,经济学要回到对现实问题的真正思考和解释,就不得不深入经济学公式背后的伦理问题。基于这样的认识,复兴经济学中曾有的伦理旨趣已然成为当今的一股思潮。在这种历史背景下,1998年诺贝尔经济学奖获得者阿马蒂亚.森掀起了一场恢复经济与伦理学联盟、重建经济学伦理之维的“革命”。     

经济周期的实体经济诱因与虚拟经济诱因——基于理论发展线索的探究

经济周期,也称商业周期,是贯穿于经济发展史或商业发展史的经济现象和经济问题,因此,关于经济周期的理论研究也贯穿于整个现代经济学理论发展的历史。经济周期在不同的历史阶段呈现出不同的特征和诱因,不同历史时期的经济周期理论也就呈现出不同的视角和分析重点。在古典经济学、新古典经济学、凯恩斯主流经济学、20世纪80年代以来经济学发展的不同时期,经济周期理论纷呈,而关于经济周期的实体经济诱因和虚拟经济诱因的探究无疑是理论发展的一条重要线索,把握这条线索有助于我们分析全球化背景下的经济周期问题。     

论社会主义政治经济学的理论创新方向

社会主义政治经济学要以唯物史观和<资本论>的基本立场、方法和观点为指导.<资本论>的立场是彻底的科学主义立场,其科学性与阶级性是完全一致的;社会主义政治经济学的对象是由唯物史观决定的社会主义社会经济形态,即社会主义市场经济;整体论的方法是社会主义政治经济学的基本研究方法;劳动价值论和<资本论>是社会主义政治经济学的理论基础,要坚持与发展劳动价值论和<资本论>;要从公有制出发理解社会主义市场经济.     

2013年中国区域经济学研究热点评述

本文对2013年 CSSCI 最具代表性的30种经济类核心期刊和《中国区域经济》、《区域经济评论》两种专业性区域经济学期刊以及2013年出版的区域经济学领域专著进行了整理总结,归纳出了2013年中国区域经济学研究的七大热点：区域规划与空间结构演化、新型城镇化、区域创新、区域产业发展、区域关系、区域资源与生态环境、区域经济政策。与2012年相比,2013年的区域经济学热点是对各个问题的研究更加具体、深入和微观化,且对现实问题的认识更加深刻,具有很强的指导意义。     

李斯特经济理论及其现实意义

纵观经济学史,李斯特是首位建立了一套完整的经济学理论对今天仍处于正统地位的斯密学说进行系统批判的经济学家。李斯特认为,由于古典经济学家混淆了价值理论和生产力理论,从而只是探讨了个人经济学和人类经济学,忽视了国家经济学。如果考虑到国家经济学,动态的贸易保护政策才能最终实现自由贸易,并最终符合所有人的利益。李斯特的经济理论无论对经济学本身还是对广大发展中国家对外贸易政策的制定仍然具有非常重要的理论和现实意义。     

Extending the service-dominant logic: from customer centricity to balanced centricity

This is a contribution to the reorientation of marketing. It aligns the service-dominant logic with other developments in marketing and management. It claims that the marketing concept and customer-centricity are too limited as a foundation for marketing and have not—and cannot—but partially be implemented in practice. It urges marketing scholars and educators to accept the complexity of marketing and develop and teach a network-based stakeholder approach—balanced centricity—epitomized by the concept of many-to-many marketing.     

新政治经济学·海派经济学·大文化经济学——程恩富教授学术成就与学术思想评述

程恩富教授较早地指出了我国在传统和现有经济学理论模式分析上,存在着较大的缺陷和弊病,并主张科学地重建中国社会主义经济理论,即以世界经济和人类经济的发展历史为背景,与资本主义市场经济的多类模式相对照,重点从中外社会主义经济的多种实践中,实证地描述出经济事物变动的基本现象,科学地提练和抽象出合乎经济事物本质的规律性范畴和原理。为此,程教授首创了现代政治经济学"五过程法体系",领军创立了海派经济学和大文化经济学,并撰写发表了大量的独创性、高品位学术著作,对中国经济学理论的创新与发展产生了巨大影响。     

经济学、历史学、社会学对经济史产生和发展的影响：一种历史角度的考察

本文主要从历史角度梳理经济学、历史学和社会学对经济史产生和发展的影响.经济学早期研究中的历史方法、历史学研究视域从政治、外交转向到社会经济以及在研究过程中对社会学思想、观点和方法的吸收是促使经济史产生和发展的多种力量.     

A comprehensive model of customer direct and indirect revenge: understanding the effects of perceived greed and customer power

This article develops and tests a comprehensive model of customer revenge that contributes to the literature in three manners. First, we identify the key role played by the customer’s perception of a firm’s greed—that is, an inferred negative motive about a firm’s opportunistic intent—that dangerously energizes customer revenge. Perceived greed is found as the most influential cognition that leads to a customer desire for revenge, even after accounting for well studied cognitions (i.e., fairness and blame) in the service literature. Second, we make a critical distinction between direct and indirect acts of revenge because these sets of behaviors have different repercussions—in “face-to-face” vs. “behind a firm’s back”—that call for different interventions. Third, our extended model specifies the role of customer perceived power in predicting these types of behaviors. We find that power is instrumental—both as main and moderation effects—only in the case of direct acts of revenge (i.e., aggression and vindictive complaining). Power does not influence indirect revenge, however. Our model is tested with two field studies: (1) a study examining online public complaining, and (2) a multi-stage study performed after a service failure.     

Consumer evaluations of corporate brand redeployments

There has been little attention paid to the management of corporate brand names as part of the merger and acquisition process. As an initial step towards developing a better understanding of this brand redeployment decision the authors consider the reactions of one important stakeholder group—consumers—to alternative strategies. Specifically, the authors discuss the importance of the corporate branding decision in the M&A process and present a typology of alternative redeployment strategies as well as an exploratory study examining reactions to different postmerger branding strategies. The authors find evidence that the brand equity related to corporate brands is often decreased as a result of M&A activities and that individuals react differently to mergers employing different redeployment strategies. These results emphasize the need for firms to evaluate the corporate branding component of M&A activities as part of the process of managing corporate brands and should generate interest and research in this managerially relevant area. Anupam Jaju (ajaju@gmu.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing at George Mason University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia at Athens. His articles have appeared in leading marketing journals, including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of International Management, Marketing Theory, andMarketing Education Review. His current research focuses primarily on exploring three interrelated domains of business: the link between corporate and functional (marketing) strategy, the market orientation of corporate strategies, and the market and customer-related consequences of corporate strategy. Christopher Joiner (cjoiner@gmu.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing at George Mason University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. His articles have appeared in leading marketing journals, including theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, the Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, andAdvances in Consumer Research. Srinivas K. Reddy (sreddy@terry.uga.edu) is the Robert O. Arnold Professor of Marketing and the director of the Coca-Cola Center for Marketing Studies at the Terry College of Business, University of Georgia. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has taught previously at New York University, Columbia University, and the University of California, Los Angeles, and was a visiting professor at Stanford Business School. His research on brand and marketing strategy and has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Management Science, Marketing Letters, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and theJournal of Business Research. His current research interests include the financial and marketing impacts of brand failure and understanding the value of creative products such fine art.     

How first impressions of a customer impact effectiveness in an initial sales encounter

First impressions of others affect both the content and outcomes of a variety of interpersonal encounters. In sales encounters, a salesperson’s first impressions of a customer provide a starting point for probing customer needs and for adapting to those needs. This implies that salesperson effectiveness in an initial sales encounter is associated— at least in part—with a salesperson’s first impression of the customer. The reported quasi-experiment is the first study to explore empirically the connection between salespeople’s first impressions, their cognitive structures, and sales effectiveness in a single, initial sales encounter. The results provide an intriguing glimpse into the dilemma salespeople face in trying to establish the basis of a relationship while achieving short-term sales outcomes (e.g., closing a sale, satisfaction). Kleine & Associates Symmetrics Kenneth R. Evans received his D.B.A. from the University of Colorado. He has served on the faculty at Arizona State University and currently serves as associate dean and professor of marketing at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He has published articles in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Advertising, Industrial Marketing Management, and inDistinguished Essays in Marketing Theory. Robert E. Kleine, III, received his Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati and has served on the marketing faculty at Arizona State University. He is presently chief scholar for Kleine & Associates. His work has appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and in other journals. Timothy D. Landry is a doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He has presented his work at the American Marketing Association’s conferences. Lawrence A. Crosby received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He has served on the marketing faculty at the University of Nebraska and at Arizona State University. He served as managing director of CSM Worldwide, Inc., and is presently chief executive officer of Symmetrics. He has published several articles in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, and in other journals.