Cumulative Discrete Choice

We present a discrete choice model in which a consumer's impression of each alternative is based on her memory of past experience with this choice, and is stochastically updated whenever the alternative is chosen. The consumer remembers a cumulative utility index per alternative, and, when an alternative is chosen, the index is updated by the addition of a random variable, interpreted as instantaneous utility. We prove that the frequencies of choice converge, with probability 1, to limit frequencies, which can be computed from the model's parameters.     

Post encroachment time threshold identification for right-turn related crashes at unsignalized intersections on intercity highways under mixed traffic

Abstract

Unsignalized intersections in developing countries experience many serious conflicts between cross-traffic due to indiscipline traffic manoeuvrability. Historically, Post Encroachment Time (PET) has gained attention as a proximal indicator to analyze crossing conflicts. However, identifying an appropriate PET threshold to classify critical conflicts for highly heterogeneous traffic scenario is still an unexplored area. Consequently, this study proposes a novel approach of PET threshold identification with proof of application by collecting data from ten intersections located on four-lane intercity highways in the National Capital Region (NCR), India. Both crossing conflicts and right-turn related crash data (for the left-hand drive) are collected. Their correlations are thoroughly studied for each PET threshold using a quantitative technique considering all and individual vehicle categories. Finally, a qualitative analysis is done by ranking the sites based on cumulative PET and related crashes to verify the proposed quantitative technique. A PET threshold of 1?s is obtained from both the techniques which can be used to identify critical conflicts for unsignalized intersections located on four-lane intercity highways. The proposed methodology will serve as an alternative, faster and effective tool to evaluate the hazardousness of unsignalized intersections located on intercity highways under highly heterogeneous traffic condition.     

Endogeneity in survey research

Endogeneity is a crucial problem in survey-based empirical research on marketing strategy (MS) and inter-organizational relationships (IORs); if not addressed, it can cause researchers to arrive at flawed conclusions and to offer poor advice to practitioners. Although the field is increasingly cognizant of endogeneity-related issues, many authors fail to properly address it, particularly in survey-based research. Emphasizing the role of essential heterogeneity, this article develops an overarching framework to help improve the understanding of endogeneity problems and how to tackle them when researchers use cross-sectional survey-based data. The authors provide explanations of and advice for how MS and IOR researchers can address six “painful” and sometimes hidden decisions: 1) Do you have an endogeneity problem? 2) What technique/estimator is appropriate? 3) What instrumental variables (IVs) should be chosen? 4) How should IVs be evaluated empirically? 5) How should the results be interpreted and evaluated? and 6) What results should you report? The authors provide a practical flowchart to guide researchers in their efforts to address endogeneity-related concerns.     

Bank Debt Use and Firm Size: Indian Evidence

The paper employs a sample of listed Indian manufacturing firms over the period 1995–2004 to examine the factors influencing the concentration of bank debt in total debt. The results indicate that the factors vary by firm size. Small to medium-sized firms have a high concentration of bank debt. The results support the reputation view that firms face differential debt choice as they grow larger. When evaluating bank regulations, policymakers need to consider the importance of the reputation-building service which banks provide to businesses.     

On the Systemic Fragility of Finance‐Led Growth

The paper sets up a model of economic crisis by investigating the role played by movement in asset price as a driver of the dynamic interaction between the real and the financial sectors. Such movement influences income determination in the real economy in the short period through aggregate demand leading to the emergence of two macroeconomic regimes. A short period flow model, underpinned by the stock flow consistent accounting framework, is developed to formalize the dynamics of interaction between real and financial sectors mediated by movement in asset price, generates bistability, abrupt crashes, and systemic fragility in the macroeconomic regimes.     

A Model of Household Grocery Shopping Behavior

The shopping trip to the grocery store is one of the most basic elements of consumer behavior. The authors seek to provide an understanding of the factors that account for variations in shopping behavior across households. They present a model of shopping behavior that assumes that households seek to minimize the travel cost associated with shopping and the cost of holding goods in inventory. As in the classic EOQ model, observed shopping behavior reflects the manner in which households balance these costs while meeting their consumption needs. A number of propositions derived from the model are tested using data on shopping trips made by households over a one-year period. The results support the model and indicate that the relationship between household characteristics and shopping behavior can be fairly complex: for some households shopping may have a recreational aspect while for others it may compete directly with wage-earning activity.     

Does R&D intensity influence leverage? Evidence from Indian firm-level data

The paper examines the association between corporate leverage and their investment in R&D. Towards this end, it develops certain testable propositions. These propositions are tested using a dataset of manufacturing firms in India covering the period 1995?C2010. Three main results are gleaned from the analysis. First, the optimal leverage ratio typically declines with R&D intensity. Second, the financial crisis has exerted a negative effect on leverage for firms. And finally, the dampening effect of R&D intensity on leverage is the highest for foreign private firms.     

Allocating a hybrid retailer's assortment across retail stores: Bricks-and-mortar vs online

This paper develops an IP model to determine item allocation for a hybrid retailer's store network, comprising bricks-and-mortar and online stores. Products with low carrying costs are distributed between the bricks-and-mortar stores and the online store. Products with high carrying costs can be withdrawn from the bricks-and-mortar stores and made available exclusively at the online store where the inventory carrying costs are comparatively lower. This strategy assists the hybrid retailer to not only improve the profitability of its bricks- and-mortar stores but also to retain the custom of the market segment that is loyal to the items withdrawn from the traditional stores. In this framework, the online channel complements rather than competes with traditional channels. This model is used to conduct an extensive simulation study to analyze the impact of important business factors on system profitability.     

Strategic trade and delegated competition

Strategic trade theory has been criticized on the grounds that its predictions are overly sensitive to modeling assumptions. Applying recent results in duopoly theory, this paper considers three-stage games in which governments choose subsidies, firms' owners choose incentive schemes for their managers, and then the managers compete in the product market. We show that if firms' owners have sufficient control over their managers' behavior, then the optimal strategic trade policy does not depend on the mode of product-market competition, i.e., whether firms compete by setting prices or quantities.     

Rural Economies and Transitions to Capitalism: Germany and England Compared (c.1200–c.1800)

Based on a synthesis of the empirical scholarship on England and Germany, this paper demonstrates that in both regions, rural socio‐economic developments from c.1200 to c.1800 are similar: this period witnesses the rise to numerical predominance and growing economic significance of the ‘sub‐peasant classes’, which had a growing impact on the market as a result of their increasing market dependence, and from which – towards the end of the period – a rural proletariat emerged. Against the influential theory of Robert Brenner, it is argued that the period c.1200–c.1400 cannot really be categorized as ‘feudal’ according to Brenner's definition; and ‘agrarian capitalism’ does not adequately describe the socio‐economic system that obtained by the end of the sixteenth century. A genuine transition to capitalism is only evident from after c.1750, and can be found in Germany as well as in England; it is predicated both on ideological shifts and on the evolution of the rural proletariat, which is only found in large numbers by or after c.1800.