Category management and consumer choice

This paper shows the results of an exploratory analysis of the structure of a complex product category: Wine. In complex categories, a usual strategy of consumers is the partitioning of alternatives into homogeneous subsets and the sequential eliminations of subsets until a product/brand is chosen from among few homogeneous alternatives in the last subset. To identify if there is such a kind of strategy and the product attributes involved is of great interest for the retailer. After a discussion of the different modelling alternatives of the choice process, the authors provide an application of the additive trees (ADDTREE) model to explore the hierarchical structure. The ADDTREE results provide a first overview of the competitive market structure of the wine category: competition becomes more intense as the wine category is partitioned by, first, the type of wine criteria and, second, the designation of origin (DO) criteria.     

Preferential trade agreements and manufactured goods exports: does it matter whom you PTA with?

This article explores two questions. First, do preferential trade agreements (PTAs) affect manufactured goods exports of developing countries? Second, does it matter for developing countries whom they sign the PTAs with? We find that the answer to both questions is yes. Using bilateral manufactured goods exports data from 28 developing countries during 1978–2005; we find that South–South PTAs have a significantly positive effect on manufactured goods exports. In contrast, no such effect is detected in the case of South–North PTAs. We confirmed the robustness of these findings to estimation methodology, sample selection, time period, zero trade flows and multilateral trade resistance.     

Socioeconomic variations in perceived barriers to recreation participation among would‐be participants

Abstract

The effects of fifteen barriers to participation were examined among people who expressed a desire for but were unable to participate in a new recreational activity. Work commitments, overcrowding of facilities, and lack of partners were the three main barriers. The effects of barriers were not perceived uniformly across the sample but varied between subgroups defined according to socioeconomic variables: the people most likely to be affected by barriers to participation included the poor, the elderly, and single parents. The extent to which recreation practitioners can and should respond to these kinds of research findings is discussed, and several ways in which the effects of barriers to participation might be modified or alleviated are evaluated.     

Services as part of modern economic process in Russia

This paper deals with reasons and circumstances of the new emerging structure of the Russian economy at the turn of the century, expressed in the substantial growth of the share of services in the GDP. Those changes have both positive and negative influences on the Russian economic conditions and domestic reproductive performance in the period of transformation and are analyzed here. Based on cross-country comparisons, the authors estimate the adequacy of upcoming structural shifts for the real condition the national economy under the hypothetical assumption that it actually functions according to free-market principles.     

Utility Functions

Abstract

This article is a self-contained survey of utility functions and some of their applications. Throughout the paper the theory is illustrated by three examples: exponential utility functions, power utility functions of the first kind (such as quadratic utility functions), and power utility functions of the second kind (such as the logarithmic utility function). The postulate of equivalent expected utility can be used to replace a random gain by a fixed amount and to determine a fair premium for claims to be insured, even if the insurer’s wealth without the new contract is a random variable itself. Then n companies (or economic agents) with random wealth are considered. They are interested in exchanging wealth to improve their expected utility. The family of Pareto optimal risk exchanges is characterized by the theorem of Borch. Two specific solutions are proposed. The first, believed to be new, is based on the synergy potential; this is the largest amount that can be withdrawn from the system without hurting any company in terms of expected utility. The second is the economic equilibrium originally proposed by Borch. As by-products, the option-pricing formula of Black-Scholes can be derived and the Esscher method of option pricing can be explained.     

河南省普通高校高水平运动队发展研究

从河南省普通高校高水平运动队发展现状来看,河南省普通高校高水平运动队存在运动队规模相对较小、教练水平有待提高、管理机制不完善、训练条件不足以及比赛偏少等制约因素。因此,要不断加强教练员的培训及引进工作,完善教练员的激励机制、运动员的管理体制和竞赛机制,积极改善训练条件,从而促进普通高校高水平运动队的健康发展。     

WTO对中国行政程序改革之影响

中国要发展，必须融入世界经济体系，这已成为不争的公识。中国加入WTO，无疑为中国角逐世界经济市场获得了国际法上的主体资格。当中国成为世贸组织一员，我们就必须遵守世贸组织确立的基本原则、规则及其所制定、管理的一系列协议。当代民主国家，经济的管理职能主要由政府代表国家行使，因此在某种意义上，世贸组织法则约束的主体是各成员国政府。尽管此类法则并不一定能够全面体现各成员国，尤其是发展中国家的意志，其规则的制定和实施更多受强国的左右，但世贸组织所确立的基本原则、政策目标及其基