Entry under Asymmetric Regulation

In recent years, the local telephone industry has evolved from a traditionally regulated structure of natural monopoly to one characterized as having a dominant firm and competitive fringe. Yet, legacy regulation from the monopoly era still remains in this new environment, and is often applied solely to the dominant firm. Economic theory suggests that asymmetric regulation of this sort will induce competitive entry. We find support for this theory by demonstrating that the amount of entry into local telephone markets is significantly higher when asymmetric quality-of-service standards are present.     

Divisia moments of Australian consumption

Quarterly Australian consumption data, 1959–1978, are used to compute Divisia price and quantity indexes, together with Divisia variances and covariances. The quantity variances tend to exceed the price variances, and the price-quantity covariances are mostly negative. Estimates of the income flexibility are also presented.     

A simple method of estimating price elasticities in international trade

The differential production theory approach is applied to world trade matrices of 1971 and 1975, which yields a price elasticity estimate of the demand for foreign food of about ?0.7. The elasticity estimates for raw material and manufactures are both between ?0.3 and ?0.4.     

The impact of stress management on nurse productivity and retention

Throughout the history of nursing there is a seeming legacy of personnel shortage, lack of funds, and, based on the nature of the role and related services, heightened levels of stress involved in patient care. The future of the profession, and more imminently, patient care and the health of nurses, may be significantly impacted by repeated challenges where current levels of stress and burnout are contributing to organizational problems, burnout, and attrition. Employee stress and burnout commonly lead to myriad health-related problems that result in significant organizational consequences. There are many methods of stress management, and sometimes the best and most effective begin with simple recognition, validation, and visible and committed efforts by the nurse executive. Regardless of the technique or approach, what is clear is that there is a need for nurse executives to include the development and enhancement of comprehensive stress-management programming for employees as a priority item to avoid burnout and attrition.     

Simplifying The Big Mac Index

The Economist magazine recently introduced a major innovation to its famous Big Mac Index of currency values by adjusting for differences in incomes of countries. A recent paper (O'Brien and Ruiz de Vargas, 2017 , OR) explains clearly the workings of the new index, something overlooked by The Economist. The current article draws on OR to suggest an alternative formulation that is attractive in its simplicity.     

Probability distributions or point predictions? Survey forecasts of US output growth and inflation

We consider whether survey respondents’ probability distributions, reported as histograms, provide reliable and coherent point predictions, when viewed through the lens of a Bayesian learning model. We argue that a role remains for eliciting directly-reported point predictions in surveys of professional forecasters.     

An aggregative multiproduct supply model

This paper develops a simple multiproduct supply model. Differential supply equations are parameterized in terms of log-changes and resemble the Rotterdam demand model. U.S. data with three product groups is used to estimate the model by maximum likelihood and the restrictions implied by the theoretical model are tested.     

A cross-cross-section analysis of consumption patterns

Houthakker's (1957) cross-section data are pooled across surveys to estimate one Engel curve system. Using the Working (1943) - Leser (1963) model, the estimated income elasticities are for food 0.78, clothing 1.07, housing 1.08 and miscellaneous 1.28.     

Specific complements and the demand for money in Australia

Clements and Nguyen, using Australian data, found that money, durables, and other consumption are specific complements. This letter applies a Nasse-type model to the same data and describes the associated preference independence transformation in order to interpret the results.