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.     

More is More: Some Economics of Distinctively-Named White Kids

Using data covering every child born in California from 1961 to 2000, Fryer and Levitt (2004) find that in the 1960s, the differences in name choices by blacks and whites were relatively small, but that a profound shift began among blacks in the mid-1970s toward more distinctively black names, especially among blacks in racially isolated neighborhoods. As an extension of Fryer and Levitt (2004), this study uses data on the names of about 1,300 white children born over the four-year period from 1997 to 2000 and living in a segment of a Metropolitan Statistical Area in the Deep South, and finds that use of combination first names—largely based on combinations of single names included among the names of high-end white children from Fryer and Levitt (2004) and Levitt and Dubner (2005)—is significantly more prevalent among high-end white children than it is among low-end white children. Unlike the data described in Fryer and Levitt (2004), which support an Identity Model wherein distinctively black names result from the Black Power movement that encouraged blacks to “accentuate and affirm black culture and fight the claims of black inferiority,” the present study suggests that high-end parents may use the combination first name convention to increase the likelihood of the child’s future success in various partnership markets, such as dating, marriage and business-partnership markets.     

Using Pacioli’s pedagogy and medieval text in today’s introductory accounting course

Students today see little relevance in learning double-entry bookkeeping and find it difficult to learn how to prepare journal entries correctly. In particular, they struggle with the first stage of the double-entry process: identifying which accounts are to be debited and which are to be credited for each transaction. This paper reports on an attempt to overcome this situation by using the first printed instructional text on the subject (Pacioli, 1494) as the principal textbook on a 20-hour component of the introductory financial accounting course in an undergraduate accounting degree program. Instruction followed the pedagogy presented by Pacioli and only minimal additional costs to faculty were incurred.     

Trends in Financial Innovation and their Welfare Impact: an Overview

There is evidence that financial innovations are sometimes undertaken to create complexity and exploit the purchaser. Thus financial innovation does have a dark side. As far as the financial crisis is concerned, securitisation and subprime mortgages may have exacerbated the problem. However, financial crises have occurred in a very wide range of circumstances, where these and other innovations were not important. There is evidence that financial liberalisation has been more of a problem. There are many financial innovations that have had a significant positive effect including venture capital and leveraged buyouts and innovations to fund environmental and health improvements.     

Bank branch operating efficiency: Evaluation with Data Envelopment Analysis

Measuring and evaluating the operating efficiency of bank branches requires analytic techniques that provide insights beyond those available from accounting ratio analysis. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a mathematical programming technique, provides useful insights in locating inefficient branches by explicitly considering the mix of services provided and the resources used to provide these bank services. Bank management finds the DEA results provide meaningful insights not available from other techniques that focus on ways to improve productivity. The results suggests that DEA is a beneficial complement to other techniques for improving bank branch efficiency.     

Union Influence and Right-to-Work Law Passage

A bstract . Urban and labor economists have examined macro and micro effects of the passage of right-to-work laws in various states. These laws prohibit unions from negotiating bargains that require new and previous hires to join the union. The results have been suggestive, pointing out that cost-of-living indices are dramatically influenced by the presence of unionized workers.
This analysis describes the economic and political evolution necessary for the legal passage of right to-work laws. Although individual studies have pointed out that a low degree of unionization is necessary for the passage of such laws, no study has attempted to describe the timing of the decline in unionization rates as it relates to the passage of these laws. To test this thesis, a discrete-time or hazard model is employed. Evidence suggests that a low threshold of union activity must be reached before an individual state will adopt such labor laws. Also important in the analysis is the degree of construction and manufacturing within each state, as well as public choice determinants of legislative activity such as the role of the Democratic Party. The discrete-time model suggests that a declining union membership is important in determining the "timing" of the adoption of right-to-work laws by states, as well as the actual adoption of these laws by states.     

Analysing Misleading Discrete Responses: A Logit Model Based on Misclassified Data*

This study presents an alternative to direct questioning and randomized response approaches to obtain survey information about sensitive issues. The approach used here is based on a logit model that can be used when survey data on the dependent variable are misclassified. The method is applied to a direct survey of undergraduate cheating behaviour. Student responses may not always be truthful. In particular, a student claiming to be a non‐cheater may actually be a cheater. The results indicate that the incidence of cheating in our sample is approximately 70% rather than the self‐reported value of 51%.     

Functional Foods as a Value-Added Strategy: The Commercial Potential of "Cancer-Fighting" Dairy Products

Levels of conjugated linoleic acid, which may help prevent cancer, can be elevated in milk. A sensory evaluation, willingness-to-pay survey, and feasibility analysis suggest that profit potential exists for producers serving niche markets via small-scale processing ventures. Households with children and health-conscious consumers appear most willing to pay premiums for "cancer-fighting" dairy products. Consumer demand and the legality of health claims hinge on pending medical research outcomes.