Ranking economics departments in the US South: an update

This study provides an update to Mixon and Upadhyaya’s (2001) ranking of Southern economics departments using research output indexed in EconLit. Ranking results from a ‘core’ (i.e. the top five faculty researchers) of each institution’s economics department reveal that Vanderbilt University, George Mason University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland and Georgia State University currently maintain the top five economics departments, respectively, in the US South. Relatedly, the five institutions rising the most from Mixon and Upadhyaya (2001) are Tulane University, Georgia State University, University of Texas–Dallas, Rice University and Florida International University, respectively.     

Multiple product qualities in monopoly: Sailing the RMS Titanic into the economics classroom

In this pedagogical contribution the authors extend the traditional three-class tariff employed in the French passenger railway system with the more resonant story of the service quality variations associated with the three passenger classes of the ill-fated RMS Titanic. In doing so, they provide economics instructors with an opportunity to integrate the well-known motion picture Titanic (Cameron and Landau 1997 Cameron, J., and J. Landau. 1997. Titanic. Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, and Lightstorm Entertainment. [Google Scholar]) into the teaching of economics. This article provides instructors with resources that can be used to link historical and modern travel examples of price discrimination in order for students to reach a “deeper understanding of course concepts” (Salemi 2002 Salemi, M. K. 2002. An illustrated case for active learning. Southern Economic Journal 68 (3): 721–31.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 725).     

Social security trust fund flows and the welfare costs of rent seeking

The current study provides estimates from a Parks regression (using panel data) that suggest that the welfare costs due to rent seeking efforts by interest groups to obtain Social Security trust fund flows ranged from approximately $132 million (per twoyear federal election cycle from 1985–1994) to a theoretical expectation of $66 billion, all in real terms. These welfare costs are in addition to any other social costs that may be present, including the reduced levels of national saving that Social Security may induce.     

Effect of Message Interactivity on Product Attitudes and Purchase Intentions

ABSTRACT

Social media increasingly allows consumers to interact with businesses, although the effects of this novel technology in the context of public relations are under-examined. Consistent with the ideas proposed by the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the present study conducted a 2 × 3 online experiment with a sample of 131 participants to examine the effect of message interactivity and source authority on consumers' ad attitudes, brand attitudes, and purchase intentions. Message interactivity had a positive effect on ad effectiveness via the indirect pathway of perceived informativeness. These findings relate to the ELM in that they suggest that users processed information more centrally than peripherally, or that interactivity had a larger effect on consumer attitudes than authority. Theoretical and practical implications of study results are discussed.     

A Good Walk Foiled: Monopoly Power and Barriers to Entry into the PGA Tour

In order to explore whether the PGA Tour's 2013 qualifications amendments represent a meritocratic evolution or simply a monopolistic barrier to entry, this study compares the results of the 2014 PGA Tour to those of the Web.com Tour. Upon empirical examination of each tour's earnings, scoring characteristics, and course characteristics, we are able to predict the marginal skill differences between players on the two tours. In doing so, we illustrate that sufficiently talented Web.com Tour golfers are being excluded from participation in the PGA Tour. As such, the changes made by the PGA Tour regarding qualification perhaps run counter to welfare maximization in terms of tour participants and fans of professional golf. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.