COST OF COMPLAINING AND THE EFFICIENCY OF CONSUMER COMPLAINTS AGENCIES

In this paper an attempt is made to analyse the activity of complaining from an economic point of view and a model of consumer complaints is proposed as an aid in this analysis. The author discusses the implications of the analysis and assesses the efficiency and role of consumer complaints agencies.     

Municipal Bond Pricing and the New York City Fiscal Crisis

This paper's findings suggests that the New York City fiscal crisis by itself did not lead to a fundamental change in risk perceptions of investors, resulting in higher interest rates in the municipal bond market. The monthly prediction errors generated by time series tests were relatively small and none were statistically significant. Only the signs on the prediction errors for June, July, and August were consistent with a New York City effect. Thus, if the New York City default had an impact on aggregate interest rates, it was at most small and of short duration.     

OPEN ACCESS AND THE EMERGENCE OF A COMPETITIVE NATURAL GAS MARKET

Recent regulatory changes permitted natural gas pipelines to become "open access" transporters. This change in pipeline carrier status dissolved regulatory barriers to markets. This paper describes the institutions that were developed to support exchange in gas markets and observes and evaluates their emergence, evolution, and performance. The institutional and empirical evidence reveals that gas markets rapidly emerged with the dissolution of regulatory barriers. Spot gas prices converged and became highly correlated. A national market for natural gas developed within four years.     

The Effects of Employer Matching in 401(k) Plans

This paper uses data from the April 1993 pension supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS) to investigate the impact of employer matching and employee tenure on participation levels in 401(k) plans. While earlier studies examine similar issues, this study makes several advances. First, consistent with the theory that employers may use matching contributions to satisfy nondiscrimination rules, the study shows that correcting for the endogeneity of employer matching substantially increases the estimated effect of matching on participation levels. Second, the study provides evidence that the large positive association between employee tenure and 401(k) participation is because "stayers" tend to be "savers."