Repeated Auctions with Impatient Bidders and Externalities

This article studies collusion in repeated auctions both among patient and among impatient bidders when the outside option of the participation constraint is endogenous due to negative externalities. We find that (i) there are no bidding wars along the equilibrium path both for patient and for impatient bidders; compared to the optimal collusive bidding scheme for patient bidders, that for impatient bidders involves (ii) a lower threshold type above which bidding starts when externalities are small or (iii) more frequent jumps in a bidding scheme when externalities are large. The results carry an empirical implication that we should observe either a higher probability of sales or a higher number of bid levels in auctions that are repeatedly offered in unstable markets than those offered in stable markets.     

Home-based telecommuting and commuting behavior

The existing spatial models for home-based telecommuting assume that all the jobs are located at the central business district. At the same time, they do not duly treat the conflicting interests of the employer and the employee in adopting the telecommuting as an alternative work mode. The first objective of the paper is to present a spatial equilibrium model overcoming some of these important modeling drawbacks. The second objective is substantive. In the city where telecommuting is adopted, the conventional commuting pattern may no longer prevail: one may commute more to distant workplace than to the nearby workplace. Using the concept of relocation and substitution effects, I show how these two effects are interacting in their impacts on the household's time allocation and the vehicle distance traveled (VDT). It is shown that most of the commute time saved is again put for more work and no more time could be allocated to leisure hours. In addition, when people put a high value on the work on site, the VDT may even increase.     

China and the Exports of Other Asian Countries

We analyze the impact of China’s growth on the exports of other Asian countries, distinguishing China’s demand for imports from its penetration of export markets. We account for the endogeneity of Chinese exports by applying instrumental variables in a gravity model with country-pair fixed-effects. We find that China’s crowding-out effect is felt mainly in markets for consumer goods and hence by less-developed Asian countries, not in markets for capital goods or by the more advanced Asian economies. Meanwhile, China has been sucking in imports from its Asian neighbors, but this effect is mainly felt in markets for capital goods. Hence, more and less developed Asian countries are being affected very differently by China’s rise. JEL no. E5, F4     

Allocation problems among sharing groups

We deal with allocation problems among sharing groups. There are n agents. The agents are divided into several sharing groups. A homogeneous good is allocated among sharing groups rather than among the agents. The good is a private good for sharing groups, and a public good for the members of each sharing group. That is, all of them in the same sharing group can consume it without rivalry. We introduce some allocation rules and axioms. The utilitarian allocation rule and the egalitarian allocation rule are characterized by some axioms.     

RESTORING THE PRINCIPLE OF MINIMUM DIFFERENTIATION IN PRODUCT POSITIONING

Most research on product positioning supports the idea of differentiation. Product standardization (i.e., minimum differentiation) occurs only under very limiting assumptions. Yet, similar products are often observed in the marketplace. We attempt to restore the case for standardization by using more realistic assumptions than in previous work. We assume that consumers consider not only observable attributes in brand choice, but also attributes that are unobservable by the firms. We find that standardization is an equilibrium when consumers exhibit sufficient heterogeneity along the unobservable attributes under both positioning with exogenously given prices and price competition, We also show that, under insufficient heterogeneity along the unobservable attribute, our results coincide with past research that argues in favor of differentiation.     

Including the effects of prior and recent contact effort in a customer scoring model for database marketing

Database marketers often use a scoring model to predict the likely value of contacting customers based on their purchase histories and demographics. However, when purchase history has been a partial result of the firm’s own contacting efforts, these contacts should also be accounted for in the scoring model. The current work extends the existing literature to account for the firm’s contacts by focusing on each customer’s most recent purchase. Contacts prior to that purchase are designated “prior contacts” and those after that purchase “recent contacts.” A new latent variables formulation of the customer’s propensity to respond is used to predict the likelihood and time of response as well as the relationship to the independent variables. The methodology also addresses the statistical problems of “selection bias” and “endogeneity,” which have been largely ignored in most customer scoring models. An application to the database of a charitable organization confirms that, in this case: (1) the effect of the firm’s customer contact efforts is associated with a stronger propensity to respond than is the case for the included demographics; (2) the firm’s “recent contact” efforts are associated with larger returns in customers’ propensity to respond than the “prior contact” efforts; and (3) the “recent contact” efforts are associated with an at-first increasing but then diminishing propensity to respond up to a point beyond which actual decreasing returns are observed with further contacts. Clearly, too much contacting can alienate would-be donors. The proposed model is general enough to calibrate such impacts in other database marketing applications where the relative effects might be different.

和谐社会背景下服务型政府的构建

和谐社会建设是一个庞大的系统工程,服务型政府的建设是构建和谐社会的重要途径和必然选择.服务型政府的构建应从服务型政府理念、服务型政府角色和职能定位、服务型政府行为方式等三大方面着手进行.     

The contradictory roles of ambiguity for innovation in an industry: how beneficial are standardisation and classification?

Studies on the influence of ambiguity on innovation show inconsistent understandings: it could be beneficial owing to flexibility, while it might be detrimental owing to distraction of information. Faced with the contradictory understandings, this study examines whether technological standardisation and industry classification could increase innovations of an industry. Using ISO9001 and the SIC codes in Korea from 1998 to 2010, the empirical tests illustrate inverted U-shaped relationships between industry-level innovation and standardisation/classification. Therefore, it is suggested that a moderate degree of standardisation and classification provides a positive infrastructure for innovation by providing the necessary guidelines for a firm's behaviour as well as maintaining its flexibility.