Uncertainty causes rounding: an experimental study

Rounding is a common phenomenon when subjects provide an answer to an open-ended question, both in experimental tasks and in survey responses. From a statistical perspective, rounding implies that the measured variable is a coarsened version of the underlying continuous target variable. Since the coarsening process is non-random, inference from rounded data is generally biased. Despite the potentially severe consequences of rounding, little is known about its causes. In this paper, we focus on subjects’ uncertainty about the target variable as one potential cause for rounding behavior. We present a novel experimental method that induces uncertainty in a controlled way, thus providing causal evidence for the effect of subjects’ uncertainty on the extent of rounding. Then, we specify and estimate a mixture model that relates uncertainty and rounding. The results suggest that an increase in the exogenous level of uncertainty translates into higher variance of the subjects’ beliefs, which in turn results in more rounding.     

Status quo des multi-channel-managements im deutschen einzelhandel

Im Kontext von E-Commerce wurde Multi-Channel-Retailing zu einem der Schlagw?rter im Handel. Es wurde vergleichsweise polarisiert und gleicherma?en emotional diskutiert, ob Multi-Channel-Retailing der „K?nigsweg” oder der „Todessto?” für den Einzelhandel sei. Aus theoretischer Perspektive wird Multi-Channel-Retailing-Systemen das Potenzial zugesprochen, Steigerungen der Kundenbindung, der Kundenpotenzialaussch?pfung und der Neukundengewinnung zu erm?glichen. In dem folgenden Beitrag wird — exemplarisch am Beispiel des Lebensmittel- und Textileinzelhandels — analysiert, inwieweit und in welcher Form sich Multi-Channel-Systeme in Deutschland etabliert haben. Zudem werden Implikationen für die Ausgestaltung und die Optimierung des Multi-Channel-Managements im deutschen Einzelhandel herausgearbeitet.     

Inter-organizational meets inter-personal: An exploratory study of social capital processes in relationships between Northern European and ethnic Chinese firms

This paper deals with social capital in a business network setting focusing on three aspects of social capital: social interaction, social bonds and trust. The paper argues that because of variations in underlying principles and inter-organizational business practices between different countries and culture, social capital processes will take different forms and place different levels of importance on relationships in different countries. The paper investigates how northern European managers perceive social interaction, social bonds and trust in conducting business with ethnic Chinese business partners. The explorative study builds on interviews with 28 Finnish and Swedish managers in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The findings of the study indicate that when northern European and ethnic Chinese firms develop trading relationships, the resulting relationship is neither Nordic nor Chinese. Both parties deviate from their native behaviour and a new type of relationship evolves as the exchange partners interact.     

Book reviews

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Weniger Frakturen durch gezielte Medikation

Zusammenfassung  Medikament?se Therapie bei Osteoporose — H?ufig werden erste Zeichen für eine Osteoporose nicht wahrgenommen. Da die Erkrankung chronisch verl?uft, lassen sich bei rechtzeitigem Erkennen einer Osteoporose durch gezielte Therapie und Pflege die Krankheitsentwicklung und Krankheitsfolgen positiv beeinflussen.     

Environmental Quality and Industry Protection with Noncooperative Versus Cooperative Domestic and Trade Policies

This paper characterizes environmental quality and industry protection in a large-country Grossman–Helpman model when production or consumption externalities exist and governments decide noncooperatively or cooperatively on domestic and trade policies. Governments choose policies efficiently from among those available, but competitive lobbies may prefer less efficient regimes. Under restricted policy availability, political-support effects can offset terms-of-trade effects on equilibrium outcomes, and inefficient trade policies can lead to higher environmental quality than efficient domestic policies. If governments cooperate, they can satisfy particular organized industries at lower costs to other lobbies and total welfare. This may result in lower environmental quality than noncooperation.     

Aggregate consumption with heterogeneous agents and a changing income distribution

A simple Monte-Carlo model is used to demonstrate that the statistical problems typical for aggregate consumption, such as autocorrelation and noncointegration, can be generated through a change in income distribution if individual consumers are sufficiently heterogeneous in their marginal propensity to consume. The results are obtained for individual consumers who are assumed to be completely myopic. The dynamics at the aggregate level can, therefore, be attributed only to the aggregation process, not to dynamic optimization of individual consumers or to adjustment costs and lags on the part of a representative agent.