政府消费性支出的总量乘数和结构乘数

2008年金融危机后,大规模财政支出成为各国刺激经济的主要措施之一。然而,在这些支出中,各国政府消费的产品差异明显。有鉴于此,本文构建了一个包含制造业和服务业两部门的新凯恩斯模型,并通过计算总量支出乘数和结构支出乘数来研究政府消费不同产品对总产出和两部门产出的影响。研究发现,需求引致、要素流动、政府总支出的挤出和财富效应是政府消费发生作用的四种机制;政府增加制造业消费,会通过财富效应等机制挤出政府总支出,使总产出增加和制造业产出增加,但会使服务业产出下降;政府增加服务业消费时,会使服务业产出上升,但将显著挤出政府总支出,使总产出和制造业产出下降。     

Customer segmentation in retailing based on retail brand patronage patterns

In this study, we propose an alternative method for customer segmentation based on households’ retail brand portfolios. We suggest blockmodeling, a method that is rooted in social network analysis, to identify homogeneous groups of customers being characterized by similar patronage patterns. In a second step, we combine this method with psychometric analyses to examine group differences based on sociodemographic and purchasing behavior variables. To illustrate our approach, we use a sample of 500 households out of a panel data set of 36,502 German households in the fast-moving consumer goods sector. The findings of our analyses yield support for our assumption that our methodology, taking into account the relationship between households and the different retail brands they patronize, provides a broader understanding of the antecedents of households’ multiple store patronage strategies, leading eventually to a new form of customer segmentation.     

Segmentation of both reviewers and businesses on social media

Employing online consumer reviews, this research develops a market segmentation procedure that is feasible to businesses present on social media. Because online reviews typically encompass large numbers of both reviewers and businesses, this data structure allows for both reviewer segmentation and business segmentation. This two-side segmentation approach segments not only reviewers in the preferences expressed in their reviews, but also businesses in their business practices specified in the reviews. Whereas common existing segmentation approaches predominantly use survey and transaction data, the proposed procedure uses publicly available and detailed consumption information in such reviews. A large number of product features elicited from such reviews lead to rich and detailed profiling of both reviewer segments and business segments. Using restaurant reviews on Yelp, this research demonstrates how the proposed procedure can help businesses develop segmentation strategies on social media.     

A two‐sector Keynesian model of business cycles

In this paper, we examine the effect of sectoral interactions on business cycles in a simple Keynesian model. As a first step for introducing viewpoints of multiple sectors in the context of business cycles, we consider a dual economy in which there are only two kinds of goods: the consumption good and the investment good. By examining a two‐sector Keynesian model, we intend to take a look at some phenomena induced by interactions between the consumption good sector and the investment good sector, which cannot be observed in one‐sector models. We then find that the stability of equilibrium and the possibility of emergence of a periodic orbit depend on whether the Keynesian stability condition holds or not and that along periodic orbits (business cycles), the consumption good sector lags behind the investment good sector and that the volatility (measured by the ratio of the amplitude of cycles to the equilibrium value) of the investment sector is larger than that of the consumption good sector. Also, we supplement the analysis by performing numerical simulations.     

Local costs of distribution,international trade costs and micro evidence on the law of one price

This paper connects trade flows to deviations from the law of one price (LOOP) in a structural model of trade and retailing. It accounts for the observed cross-country dispersion in prices of goods, based on retail price survey data, by focusing on two sources of goods market segmentation — (i) international trade costs, and (ii) non-traded input costs of distribution. I find that a multi-sector Ricardian trade model, ala Eaton–Kortum, augmented with a distribution sector, can account for the average price dispersion for a basket of goods fully and generates 70% of the variation in price dispersion across goods within the basket. While tradability of goods is important in explaining the average price dispersion for the basket of goods, distribution costs are important in explaining why, within the basket, some goods show more price dispersion than others.     

Big Car,More Costly?

Current story on car consumption tax is performing in China. Consumption tax is levied on goods on the basis of value-added tax （VAT）. A small number of commodities are chosen to impose consumption tax, which is usually seen in the production sector. As an ad valorem tax, consumption tax plays an important and positive role in effectively organizing fiscal revenue and correctly guiding production and consumption. China began to levy consumption tax on cars in 1994 and set three different levels of tax rates according to the type and displacement of the cars. It was paid by the manufacturing enterprises in line with the cost prices of the cars. As car consumption keeps growing rapidly in China, the consumption tax has also been adjusted accordingly. The first adjustment came in 2006. The previous three levels were further upgraded to six levels, the gaps between which were widened obviously. The gap between the top and the bottom levels grew from 5% to 17%.     

Error Reduction in Distributed DSS Through Coordination of Modeling Activities: Simulation Study

It is well known that the “lemon” problem can cause market failure. Because difficulties in quality discovery of nonstandardized and complex products will increase transaction costs, it was predicted that the “electronic market” would prevail only with less complex and more standardized goods. However, it has been observed that there are many successful electronic (auction) markets for seemingly typical “lemon” goods such as used cars, raw minerals, and agricultural products. It is argued that in such markets, the equilibrium price of electronic trading appeared higher than in the nonelectronic market. Many speculative explanations have been offered for this, but to the best of our knowledge, no analytical studies have been presented. This study is an attempt to fill this gap. In this paper, we look at the problem of quality discovery in the electronic trading of physical goods especially when the goods are not standardized. The information asymmetry between buyer and seller creates the possibility of a “lemon” in the nonstandardized market. To mitigate this problem, several auction markets have devised third party quality grading systems and limited auctions to only relatively higher quality products. Through analytical modeling, we rationalize these mechanisms; that is, the intervention of an impartial third party for quality inspection, market segmentation by quality measure, and the sellers' willingness to pay the cost of quality inspection.     

The role of fashionability in second-hand shopping motivations

Second-hand consumption has been quietly undergoing a makeover in recent years. As part of this shift, the concept of shopping for second-hand goods has been redefined. In today's retail marketplace, a mix of thrift stores, high-end stores, and online retailers are recognising the value of second-hand and hosting flea markets or launching their own vintage product collections. However, limited research attention has been paid to role of ‘fashionability’ as a motivation for consumers to shop for second-hand goods. In this study, we explore modern consumer second-hand shopping behaviour and motivations, inclusive of fashionability. Through a segmentation of second-hand store shoppers, we identify four distinct segments. While we find a polarisation of fashionability motivations, the vast majority (83%) of second-hand shoppers are driven by fashion when shopping in second-hand stores. The findings present several implications for second-hand retailers, including new ways to expand their customer base by tapping into elements of fashionability.     

Virtual borders

Numerous studies have documented substantial deviations from the law of one price for consumer goods. However, in most cases small transaction costs can explain these violations. In our study, we purposely focus on a market where such frictions are minimal, namely online bookselling in the US and Canada. We exploit the high frequency nature of the data to disentangle nominal rigidities from market segmentation and show that while firms seem to respond to domestic competitive pressure, there is no evidence that they react to fluctuations in the relative price of foreign competition following exchange rate movements. In addition, we cannot identify any significant impact on sales volume stemming from variations in international relative prices. Hence, our results suggest that even in an environment with minimal frictions, international market segmentation is extensive and responsible for violations of the law of one price.     

International Segmentation Using Biplots: A Diffusion Approach

ABSTRACT

Studies on segmentation based on the diffusion of innovations have primarily focused on new products in developed countries, whereas research in emerging economies focusing on products at a maturity or declining stage has been relatively scarce. In this study, the authors address this problem by analyzing the diffusion trends of 31 durable goods across 70 developed, emerging, or less-developed countries over three decades. They propose a dynamic time-dependent segmentation approach that segments countries based directly on the time-varying diffusion patterns of durable goods. The authors find that biplots provide a rich summary of international diffusion patterns that prevent managers over/under predicting penetration.     

论电子商务环境下的税收问题

电子商务是近年来伴随现代化信息技术的快速发展所产生的一种新型贸易方式。电子商务的发展给建立在传统贸易方式和有形交易对象基础之上的税收政策带来巨大的挑战。因此应就电子商务产生带来的一系列问题,认真分析电子商务带来的税务问题,并积极探索应对电子商务的税收对策。     

Investigating exchange rate shocks on agricultural trade balance: The case of Tunisia

The paper studies the impact of changes in Tunisia's exchange rate on the net external position of the agricultural sector. It shows that substitutability on production and consumption among domestically produced goods leads to an ambiguous impact for reasons that go beyond the Marshall-Lerner condition. Using cointegration techniques to disentangle the long and short-run impact of changes in the exchange rate on the net agricultural trade balance, we find that the depreciation of the domestic currency leads to a deterioration of the net external position of Tunisia's agricultural sector in the long-run.     

交易效用理论破解消费者心理“黑匣子”

获得交易效用是消费者产生购买行为的根本原因,而交易效用的获得与消费者的参照物有密切关系。对商品或购物环境产生的第一印象就像"锚"一样很容易成为消费者的参照物,参照的结果决定消费者是否能够获得交易效用,进而影响购买决策。本文在阐述交易效用理论的基础上,分析企业或商家应该如何从产品角度、购物环境角度、销售渠道角度以及消费者思维习惯角度来设计消费者的参照物,使消费者获得交易效用,产生购买行为。     

电子商务中的消费者权益保护

电子商务作为一种新型的市场交易方式,在带给人们便捷、丰富的消费商品和服务信息的同时,也增加了消费者遭受损害的机会,极大地侵害了消费者的合法权益。本文旨在分析当前电子商务交易中存在的几种侵害消费者权益的现象,提出保护消费者权益的几点意见。     

The evolution of the geographical concentration of tertiary sector activities in Europe

The purpose of this article is to measure the concentration of tertiary activities in Europe. Usually, these sectors are depicted as ‘invisible goods’ by international economics theories. However, the expansion of the tertiary sector in developed economies, liberalisation and an increasing number of studies argue that services have a serious influence upon the economy, most notably in the field of economic geography. This study measures the concentration of tertiary sector activities, breaking this field down into 21 distinct sectors. This research shows that Knowledge Intensive Business Services are highly concentrated, and are becoming even more so. This result points towards the desirability of explicitly including these activities in New Economic Geography models.     

Transaction Structure in Japanese Small Business Sector

An attempt has been made to examine some aspects of transaction structure of the small business sector in Japanese manufacturing. It has been found that there are some interesting findings in the industrial organization of the sector (1) In the transactions of intermediate goods with manufacturing, small businesses have more frequent transactions with other small businesses than with large firms. On the other hand, large firms have more transactions with each other than with small businesses; (2) The transactions between SMEs and large firms, and between SMEs themselves vary from industry to industry, depending on production/demand structure of an industry and product structure of its SMEs sector; (3) In engineering, such as electrical machinery and transport equipment, the intra-industry transactions from small businesses to large firms are great, suggesting a larger extent of subcontracting relationships. Also, textiles, clothing, and printing and publishing also have higher subcontracting transactions.The relationships are different between the two groups.     

Tariff and Consumption Tax Reforms in a Developing Tourism Economy

This paper examines the effects of a coordinated tax reform by replacing import tariffs with point-by-point increases in consumption taxes for a small-open developing tourism economy. Foreign tourists demand for the non-traded goods provided in the informal sector of the host economy, resulting in a tourism-induced terms-of-trade effect. The presence of inbound tourism lends a support to positive tariffs even for a small open economy. The indirect tax reform of this kind can increase residents’ welfare and government revenue when the initial tariffs are relatively larger to the consumption taxes.     

网络游戏虚拟物品交易探析

本文以网络游戏虚拟物品为研究对象,探讨国内网游虚拟交易活动的相关问题;首先指出了采购与流通虚拟物品交易环境需要规范,然后对虚拟货币在整个虚拟交易过程中的地位和作用的重要性进行了讨论,最后针对完善采购与流通虚拟物品的交易平台,给出了可行性的具体措施要求。     

Shedding light on sharing ECONOMY and new materialist consumption: An empirical approach

In the last decade, the sharing economy has emerged as a business model that improves the use of goods, uses fewer resources than traditional markets, increases social interactions and promotes more responsible and environmentally friendly consumption. This has led various authors to propose that the sharing economy could be a business model that will change consumers’ relationship to objects and the materialistic lifestyle. This exploratory research is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to specifically identify a new consumer materialism with the sharing economy. To this end, a survey was conducted among 384 participants in the sharing economy, identifying not only the drivers of the new materialism but also their impact on consumption.Our conclusions show that we are currently experiencing a new materialism in which the main elements of traditional materialism—property and the accumulation of goods and the happiness derived from the accumulation of goods and their exhibition as a status symbol—are losing importance. Thus, materialism is evolving from a mere static accumulation of goods towards a hybrid model in which property and the enjoyment of goods coexist with the enjoyment of experiences, which are becoming increasingly more important. Last, participation in the sharing economy drives this new materialism through its contribution to a greater awareness of consumption. In other words, the consumer has a greater consumption awareness.This paper proposes theoretical foundations to conceptualize the new materialism and a new materialist consumer profile that represents a break from the traditional conception, provides evidence on the dynamics of the feedback and empowerment of the sharing economy, and finally contributes by shedding light on its impact because the dynamics and impact of the sharing economy are more complex than they initially seem and thus it is necessary to analyse different angles and concepts.     

Are Emerging Markets Catching Up With the Developed Markets in Terms of Consumption?

ABSTRACT

The study tests the consumption convergence hypothesis between developed and emerging markets over a 30-year period (1980–2009) with eight consumption variables: consumer expenditure on food, consumer expenditure on household goods and services, average consumption of calories per day, average consumption of protein per day, and possession of four durables: dishwasher, microwave oven, refrigerator, and washing machine. Socioeconomic influence on consumption convergence is also tested with income, energy consumption, life expectancy, and trade. The regression results indicate that the emerging markets are catching up in terms of consumption but the rate is very slow. Consumption of durables shows slightly faster convergence than other variables. All four socioeconomic variables exert some degree of influence on consumption convergence, with income showing the greatest effect. Knowledge about convergence should be useful to managers for demand estimation and forecasting and for market penetration, segmentation, and positioning strategy.