Zur Energienachfrage privater Haushalte

Summary This paper analyzes the private demand for energy (coal, heating oil, natural gas and electricity) for the period 1958–1974, using yearly data.The energy demand of private households is supposed to be dependent on household incomes, prices of the respective energy sources and yearly temperature levels. The special aim of this paper is to get hold of the influence of the relative prices of the 11 sub-groups of private consumption. The impact of these relativ prices is analyzed through the method of principal components, where upon the first three principal components are introduced as additional independent variables into the regression.Although the principal components do not have any interpretation beyond that of an index, the fit of the estimated demand questions has been improved and the elasticities are more close to the expected values.     

Multi-channel-retailing und kundenbezogene erfolgsrechnung

Die Kombination von Online-Shops, station?ren Gesch?ften und Versandkatalogen versetzt den Einzelh?ndler in die Lage, seine Kunden an unterschiedlichen Orten zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten zu erreichen. Die Bearbeitung des Marktes mit m?glichst vielen Kan?len kann der Schlüssel zum Erfolg sein. Wissen die Multi-Channel-Retailer aber tats?chlich, welche Kan?le ihre Kunden nutzen und welche Kunden welchen Deckungsbeitrag liefern? Kann es sein, dass bestimmte Kunden nur oder überwiegend den elektronischen Kanal nutzen und mehr Handlungskosten als Rohertr?ge verursachen? Antworten hierauf bietet die kundenbezogene Erfolgsrechnung.     

Currency competition in a fundamental model of money

We study how two fiat monies, one safe and one risky, compete in a decentralized trading environment. The currencies' equilibrium values, their transaction velocities and agents' spending patterns are endogenously determined. We derive conditions under which agents holding diversified currency portfolios spend the safe currency first and hold the risky one for later purchases. We also examine when the reverse spending pattern is optimal. Traders generally favor dealing in the safe currency, unless trade frictions and the currency risk is low. As risk increases or trading becomes more difficult, the transaction velocity and value of the safe money increases.     

Spatial disaggregation patterns and structural determinants of job flows: an empirical analysis

The paper investigates the changes in job creation and destruction flows at a very disaggregated level of analysis. We analyse whether job flows at lower levels of spatial aggregation display regularities that are in line with national ones in a bid to disentangle the role of labour market institutions. Using a unique database of the population of firms in Trentino (a north‐eastern province of Italy) from 1991 to 2001, we find that: (1) job flows show a ‘fractal’ tendency, i.e. many regularities appear to be scale invariant (magnitude of flow and persistence) and that job flow magnitude is in line with the average values for Italy; (2) there are some qualifications to their ‘fractality’: the contribution of entrant firms to the job creation process is lower than the corresponding contribution at national level, as is the share of job destruction accounted for by exiting firms; and (3) firm size and age influence job flows.     

The Impact of Middle Manager Training on Productivity: A Test on Italian Companies

This paper presents panel evidence on the productivity effects of middle managers’ off‐the‐job formal training in Italy. It is based on a rich and reliable panel dataset covering all sectors of the Italian economy over the period 2006–2011. We employ panel data techniques and self‐selection models to show that off‐the‐job formal training for middle management has a significant nonlinear exogenous effect on total factor productivity. Moreover, results indicate that middle managers’ off‐the‐job formal training is more effective in larger firms and that different training methods have heterogeneous effects on productivity.     

Money and Price Dispersion

We relax restrictions on the storage technology in a prototypical monetary search model to study price dispersion. In this case, buyers and sellers enter matches with potentially different willingness to trade. Across the distribution of possible bilateral matches, prices generally will differ even though agents have identical preferences and technologies. We provide existence conditions for a particularly simple equilibrium pattern of exchange. We prove that in the limiting case where search frictions are eliminated, equilibrium prices are uniform. We also show that a higher initial money stock can raise the average price level and increase price dispersion.     

Eating With Your Eyes: How Packaging Visual Cues Affect Content Estimation and Self-control in Virtue and Vice Food

This research investigates the effects of visual cues depicted on food packaging on consumers’ estimates of the contained amount and consumers’ self-control intentions. Results from two experiments show that the number of product units shown on the package drives perceptions and behavioral intentions in food categories where product size tends to be quite standardized, supporting the “see more, expect more” effect reported by previous literature, but adding a “see virtue, expect more” effect triggered by product type. Instead, when product size tends to vary across manufacturers, picture size has a greater effect on consumers’ content estimations and self-control intention than the number of product units depicted, suggesting the existence of a “see small, expect more” effect according to which consumers estimate larger content when the package portrays smaller product units. Results stimulate awareness of the effects that can be conveyed by images on packaging, on content estimates and consumer self-control.     

Global Factors Driving Inflation and Monetary Policy: A Global VAR Assessment

International Advances in Economic Research - This paper examines the nexus between inflation and central bank interest rate policies in inflation-targeting countries. First, it looks at the role...