Writing in the discipline and reproducible methods: A process-oriented approach to teaching empirical undergraduate economics research

The authors of this article describe an empirical research project as a component of an upper-level undergraduate economics writing-in-the-discipline course, thus aiming to reduce the high fixed costs associated with designing an empirical research project assignment and encourage more undergraduate economics research. This project is central to the course structure and has a dual-purpose: to teach students economics writing conventions and reproducible empirical research methods. The authors present a sequenced project design and replication documentation protocol and posit that this promotes student learning and leads to improvements in organization and coherence throughout the entire research and writing process. As an essential element of the course, students learn to do econometrics through effective writing, data management, and empirical analysis.     

Predatory Lending Laws and the Cost of Credit

Various states and other local jurisdictions have enacted laws intending to reduce predatory and abusive lending in the subprime mortgage market. These laws have created substantial geographic variation in the regulation of mortgage credit. This article examines whether these laws are associated with a higher or lower cost of credit. Empirical results indicate that the laws are associated with at most a modest increase in cost. However, the impact depends on the product type. In particular, loans with fixed (adjustable) rates are associated with a modest increase (decrease) in cost.     

Is environmental regulation bad for competition? A survey

Theoretical and empirical research points to environmental regulation affecting the vigour of competition in product markets. We provide a critical, selective survey of that research. Environmental regulations can advantage large firms over small and raise concentration. They can discourage entry in their own right, and provide instruments with which incumbents can discourage entry strategically. They can provide the basis for predatory behavior by incumbents. Policy governance needs to be coordinated sufficiently to ensure that these secondary effects are accounted for in policy design. Cost-benefit evaluation of environmental policies that fail to account for likely detrimental impacts on product market competition will overstate the net benefits. This survey is a heavily-revised version of a discussion paper that the author wrote for presentation to a meeting of the OECD Competition Committee in June 2006 (OECD 2006). The support of OECD in the writing of that paper is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks also to Nick Johnstone, Jean-Phillipe Barde, Jeremy West, Sandeep Kapur, Michael Crew and an anonymous referee from this journal for helpful comments on earlier versions. All views expressed are those of the author alone.     

Revisiting the welfare effects of eliminating business cycles

We investigate the welfare effects of eliminating business cycles in a model with substantial consumer heterogeneity. The heterogeneity arises from uninsurable and idiosyncratic uncertainty in preferences and employment status. We calibrate the model to match the distribution of wealth in U.S. data and features of transitions between employment and unemployment. In comparison with much of the literature, we find rather large effects. For our benchmark model, we find welfare effects that, on average across all consumers, are of a bit more than one order of magnitude larger than those computed by Lucas [Lucas Jr., R.E., 1987. Models of Business Cycles. Basil Blackwell, New York]. When we distinguish long- from short-term unemployment, long-term unemployment being distinguished by poor (and highly procyclical) employment prospects and low unemployment compensation, the average gain from eliminating cycles is as much as 1% in consumption equivalents. In addition, in both models, there are large differences across groups: very poor consumers gain a lot when cycles are removed (the long-term unemployed as much as around 30%), as do very rich consumers, whereas the majority of consumers—the “middle class”—sees much smaller gains from removing cycles. Inequality also rises substantially upon removing cycles.     

Expectations and exchange rate dynamics: A state-dependent pricing approach

This paper presents a two-country DSGE model with state-dependent pricing as in Dotsey et al. [Dotsey, M., King, R.G., and Wolman, A.L., 1999. State-dependent pricing and the general equilibrium dynamics of money and output. Quarterly Journal of Economics 114, 655-690] and variable demand elasticity as in Kimball [Kimball, M.S., 1995. The quantitative analytics of the basis neomonetarist model. Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 27, 1241-1277]. Following a domestic monetary expansion, the model predicts: (i) positive hump-shaped responses of domestic output and consumption, (ii) positive spillover effects on foreign output and consumption, (iii) a high international output correlation relative to consumption correlation, (iv) a delayed increase in domestic and foreign inflation, (v) a delayed nominal exchange rate overshooting, (vi) a deterioration in the terms of trade, and (vii) a J-curve in the trade balance. The model matches the impulse responses from an identified VAR more closely than an otherwise identical model with time-dependent pricing.     

Just-in-time selling construct: Definition and measurement

Contemporary JIT literature provides evidence that the JIT philosophy has been extended to the selling function. The literature, however, lacks a concise definition of JIT-selling and reliable, valid scales for measuring the construct. A formal definition is proposed and JIT-selling scales are scientifically developed using survey data from manufacturers.     

An empirical investigation of the antecedents,behaviors, and outcomes of bad leadership

This exploratory study identifies actions and behaviors that subordinates attribute to bad leadership and explores the implications these factors have for organizations. Data were obtained through a Web‐based survey that generated 335 respondents who completed at least some of the questions. Results identified the prevalence of bad leaders, behaviors causing a leader to be perceived as bad, the impact of bad leaders on the employee and organization, whether these bad leaders had always been bad, and what happened to the bad leader. An interesting discovery was that the majority of bad leaders were either promoted or rewarded by the organization.     

Measuring customer equity and managing the customer asset: an explanatory study in the Australian hotels

Although there are a range of conceptual and theoretical studies about customer equity (CE) measurement and management in the literature, there are few empirical studies where these two concepts are examined together. This paper focuses on the need for a more synthesised approach and addresses calls for more research into this specific area of marketing management. A conceptual framework was developed that synthesises both customer lifetime value and customer relationship management from a customer equity management (CEM) perspective. The framework was used to empirically examine how four CE strategies, together with a firm’s use of the two types of customer data (aggregated and disaggregated), impact on CEM outcomes. Data were collected from 114 hotel managers in Australia and analysed through a decision tree methodology. The results show that hotels are utilising their CE strategies for acquisition purposes more than retention purposes (customer asset management), which overall appears to satisfice more than maximise their hotel’s capacity in achieving effective CE outcomes. The study’s contribution to theory is through empirically testing a framework that combines two discrete theoretical concepts in one study to provide insights to guide future research.