Has the Internet Eliminated Regional Price Differences? Evidence from the Used Car Market

We study the effects of the Internet on regional price differences. Comparing two Dutch regions, we find that before the rise of the Internet, price differences of used cars between those regions amounted to some 11–15%, controlling for mileage, age, fuel type and engine volume. These price differences have completely disappeared after the rise of the Internet, in particular a website that allows consumers to make detailed comparisons between almost all used cars for sale in the Netherlands.     

Monitoring the future. Building an early warning system for the Dutch Ministry of Justice

To determine the sustainability of the policy, an Early Warning System (EWS) has been developed for the Dutch Ministry of Justice. An EWS is used to monitor various developments and to place them within the perspective of future scenarios. Without actually predicting the future, this makes it possible to determine which scenario is the most relevant at any given moment, allowing the department to adapt its policies. Regular modifications to the EWS make it possible to monitor in the direction of which scenario society appears to be moving. This creates a path to the future with which the sustainability of (new) policies can be tested periodically.     

The Demand for Life Insurance Policy Loans

Previous research has examined the demand for life insurance policy loans using aggregate policy loan data. In contrast, we use a detailed household survey data set containing life insurance and policy loan information to alternatively, and in some cases more directly, examine the four hypotheses traditionally associated with policy loan demand. Our research provides the first U.S. evidence (in the post–World War II period) in support of the policy loan emergency fund hypothesis. In particular, we find that the more detailed emergency fund proxies used here reveal a significantly positive relation between loan demand and recent expense or income shocks.     

How social and human capital influence opportunity recognition and resource mobilization in India's handloom industry

Small-scale firms in rural areas play an extremely important role in the development of any country, and especially in developing countries. To understand entrepreneurs who operate in a low-technology industry, we rely on the network perspective on entrepreneurship. In this paper, we investigate how the social and human capital of entrepreneurs (in this case master weavers in the handloom industry) influence their ability to recognize opportunities and mobilize resources. In addition to examining the direct effects, we also explore the possibilities of social capital mediating between human capital, on the one hand, and opportunity recognition and resource mobilization on the other. This paper adds to existing literature in two ways: firstly, we expand the social capital paradigm by including different cultural settings and links to existing studies regarding small enterprises. Secondly, we provide additional evidence to the ongoing debate as to what constitutes a ‘good network’.     

Tariff equivalents of nontariff measures: the case of European horticultural and fish imports from African countries

In the context of the Partnership Agreements between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries, this study estimates ad valorem tariff equivalents of European food safety standards on imports of key horticultural and fish products from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The study uses an extension of the price‐wedge method to account for imperfect substitution and factor endowment in monopolistic competition. The estimated tariff equivalents are 55% and 98% for imports of fresh peas from Zambia to the Netherlands and the U.K., respectively. They range from 39% to 64% for imports of green beans and avocados from Kenya and from 63% to 270% for imports of frozen fish fillets in EU countries from the East African Community. We also observe large variations in tariff equivalents for the horticultural and fish products over time and EU importing countries.     

Interest rate volatility,asymmetric interest rate pass through and the monetary transmission mechanism in the Caribbean compared to US and Asia

We analyse asymmetric interest rate pass through, the impact of interest rate volatility on interest rates and the monetary transmission mechanism in the countries of the CSME² using the Asymmetric TAR and MTAR cointegration models by Enders and Siklos (2001) and the EC-EGARCH(1, 1)-M model by Wang and Lee (2009), who examined the same issue for the US and nine Asian countries. The CSME is a unique case of study given that it contains within it a monetary union: the OECS². First, our results show that there is complete pass through in the retail lending rate for Trinidad and Tobago and for St. Lucia and therefore, by extension, in all the countries of the OECS³ but not the other countries of the CSME. In contrast, Wang and Lee (2009) found complete pass through for the US deposit rate but not in the rates of the other nine Asian countries. Second, in Wang and Lee (2009) the results of the TAR and MTAR models show asymmetric cointegrating relationships in the lending rate of three Asian countries and the deposit rate of five Asian countries. Comparatively, our results show asymmetric cointegrating relationship in the lending and deposit rate of only three countries out of six: Jamaica, Guyana and St. Lucia. Third, the results from the conditional mean equation in the EC-EGARCH(1, 1)-M model in Wang and Lee (2009) show that for the countries with asymmetric cointegrating relationships, the lending rate displays downward adjustment rigidity and the deposit rate displays upward adjustment rigidity. In contrast, our results show that both rates for Jamaica display upward adjustment rigidity and both rates for Guyana and St. Lucia display downward adjustment rigidity. Finally, similarly to Wang and Lee (2009), our results from the EC-EGARCH(1, 1)-M models show that the effect of interest rate volatility on interest rates varies among countries. Three out of the Asian countries from Wang and Lee (2009) support the collusive pricing arrangement hypothesis while in our case it happens only in two countries out of six from the CSME: Guyana and St. Lucia. Moreover, the leverage effect exists in the lending rate for two out six countries in the CSME as it happens in Wang and Lee (2009) in two out of their Asian countries. Along the same lines, the leverage effect exists in the deposit rate of three countries in the CSME, contrary to Wang and Lee (2009), who do not find any evidence at all. This shows evidence of an important heterogeneity in the behaviour of the CSME countries and that Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia (showing the effect of belonging to a monetary union) are our only analysed countries where, as in the US, there is complete pass through and the central bank can transfer all the cost associated with an increase in its policy rate to the retail rates.     

Common socio-economic cycle periods

We present a meta-analysis of cycle periods in historical socio-economic data found in the K-wave literature. The literature on stochastic and deterministic cycles in variables such as the consumer price index, employment, interest rates, commodity prices, GDP, war and hegemony is huge and scattered. However our meta-analysis reveals various commonalities. Our key finding is that there is a common set of cycle periods that is common across most socio-economic variables.     

La oralidad y la escritura en el proceso de aprendizaje Aplicación del método aprende a escuchar,pensar y escribir

Research design is quasi-experimental, field, with four longitudinal assessments for two groups (one experimental and one control) of students with irregularity student. Intervention, learns listen-think-write (lltw) method. population, 488 students. With a sample conditioned (students with irregular registration) of 170 students from two university careers of accounting and administration, both manner, 24.3 years old. Material, Raven’s Progressive Matrices test and Learning strategies ACRA test. The impact obtained by the intervention (LLTW) was 23%, significant difference between follow-up evaluation 6 and 12 months. Regarding the improvement of learning skills in post-test measurement showed a general increase in average by 28%. Also it is necessary to say, the decline was failed subjects in the two groups evolving 12 months in control group was 3 to 4 and the experimental group was 1 to 2.     

The Myth of Fair Prices: A Graphical Analysis

The issues of fair trade and in particular fair price policies, have been neglected in most international trade courses. The authors show how the latter can be explained to undergraduate students applying the simple graphical methods normally used in general equilibrium trade theory. They show that fair pricing strategies can be looked upon as a suboptimal device for redistributing the gains from trade as compared with a transfer of funds.     

From the outside in: Consumer anti-choice and policy implications in the mobile gaming market

Significant growth in mobile media consumption has prompted a call to better understand the socio-cultural and policy dimensions of consumer choices. Contrary to industry and technology led analysis, this study argues that to guide consumer choice and innovation via regulatory policies requires an understanding of both ex-ante as well as in ex-post consumption conditions. This study examines mobile phone gaming to uncover how consumer anti-choice shapes decision-making as a framework for closely interrogating the ways in which policy concerns impact on consumers’ behavior. Through eleven focus groups (n=62), the study empirically identifies voluntary, intentional, and positive consumer anti-choice behaviors all of which impact policy initiatives when consumers, both gamers and non-gamers, self-regulate their behaviors. Findings point to four types of policy implication: regulating the self-regulated, understanding anti-choice, boundary-setting and including the self-excluded.