Noncognitive skills in economics: Models,measurement, and empirical evidence

There is an increasing economic literature considering personality traits as a source of individual differences in labor market productivity and other outcomes. This paper provides an overview on the role of these skills with a particular focus on measurement and estimation. Based on the relevant literature from different disciplines, common psychometric measures used to assess personality are discussed and critical assumptions for their applications are highlighted. Moreover, we report and describe ideas of recent research that aims at incorporating personality traits into economic models of decision making. Based on these foundations, the main results of the empirical literature regarding noncognitive skills are summarized. Finally, we provide a brief guide to econometric analysis with consideration of common econometric pitfalls that evolve in empirical analysis of personality traits and review possible solutions.     

The Mountain States Lamb Cooperative: Can Vertical Integration Keep Lamb Producers from Being Fleeced?

The Mountain States Lamb Cooperative was formed in 2001 to ensure markets for fed lambs. The cooperative partnered with B. Rosen & Sons, Inc., a company with over fifty years of experience in the lamb industry. Together, they market approximately 750,000 lambs per year, or almost 25% of U.S. domestic lamb production. The case is designed for senior- and graduate-level courses in agribusiness management. The case describes how trade and exchange rates affect U.S. lamb industry competitiveness and how a firm's choice of strategy is dictated by global trade issues.     

The impact of risk perceptions on the attitude toward multi-channel technologies

ABSTRACT

Several studies show that retailers experience favorable outcomes if consumers use multiple channels. Thus, retailers aim to encourage consumers to do so in a convenient way by offering multi-channel technologies (MCTs). However, not much is known about what affects a positive attitude toward such technologies. Our study investigates how different risk perceptions influence the attitude toward specific MCTs in comparison (check and reserve, click and collect, availability check). Moreover, we examine whether the customer’s general purchase channel preference moderates these effects. Results show that three risk dimensions have significant impacts on the attitude toward MCTs. These effects are generally worst for click and collect, as the negative effects (product quality and data risk) are highest, while the positive effect (product availability risk) is lowest, compared to the other two MCTs. Additionally, we generally find that the more a customer prefers buying via the online channel, the weaker the effects of the risk dimensions on the attitude are. Our findings provide implications on how to improve consumers’ attitudes toward the selected MCTs by influencing their perceptions of different risk dimensions.     

Defining the Abatement Cost in Presence of Learning-by-Doing: Application to the Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle

We consider a partial equilibrium model to study the optimal phasing out of polluting goods by green goods. The unit production cost of the green goods involves convexity and learning-by-doing. The total cost for the social planner includes the private cost of production and the social cost of carbon, assumed to be exogenous and growing at the social discount rate. Under these assumptions the optimization problem can be decomposed in two questions: (i) when to launch a given schedule; (ii) at which rate the transition should be completed that is, the design of a transition schedule as such. The first question can be solved using a simple indicator interpreted as the MAC of the whole schedule, possibly non optimal. The case of hydrogen vehicle (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles) offers an illustration of our results. Using data from the German market we show that the 2015–2050 trajectory foreseen by the industry would be consistent with a carbon price at 52€/t. The transition cost to achieve a 7.5 M car park in 2050 is estimated at 21.6 billion € that is, to JEl 4% discount rate, 115 € annually for each vehicle which would abate 2.18 tCO\(_2\) per year.     

Competing Voices: Marketing and Counter-Marketing Alcohol on Twitter

Excessive alcohol consumption constitutes a global health problem, and despite increasing efforts to promote safe drinking, spending on alcohol advertising far outweighs spending on safe-drinking messages. Twitter represents a new channel for social marketing, but its use to promote safe drinking has not been examined. In this study, six Twitter accounts maintained by advocates of safe drinking and/or abstinence were compared with six accounts maintained by alcohol companies using a mixed-method design. The Twitter accounts of alcohol companies were followed by more people, and their tweets were more likely to use interactive features such as hashtags, to be forwarded to others, and to be associated with positive stimuli, suggesting greater interactivity and influence than prohealth Twitter messages. The results suggest social marketers may benefit from adopting the practices of for-profit marketers to increase the visibility of, engagement with, and influence of their tweets.     

Performance of municipally owned corporations: Determinants and mechanisms

Practitioners often expect service delivery by municipally owned corporations (MOCs) to differ substantially from delivery by municipal bureaucracy. However, research into the circumstances under which municipal corporatization is effective is scarce. We investigate determinants of MOCs’ performance based on a questionnaire sent to all Dutch MOCs, finding no evidence that many expected predictors of performance matter for performance. Key factors driving MOCs’ performance relate to size, resource access, and the interaction between their multiple principals. We suggest that in studying local corporatization, researchers should look less at traditional principal–agent conflict and more at intermunicipal coordination.     

‘Retweet for a Chance to…’: an analysis of what triggers consumers to engage in seeded eWOM on Twitter

Twitter provides an important channel for brands to seed electronic word of mouth (eWOM) by followers retweeting brand messages, but prior research has not established a theoretical framework for how brands can maximise eWOM. This study presents and tests a theoretical model incorporating interactive, textual and visual tweet features to predict eWOM, using tweets by leading brands from three industries. Industry was found to be an important moderator of the effect of tweet features; after controlling for the reach and frequency of tweets, hashtags, retweet requests and photos were consistently associated with a higher retweet rate across industries, but the effect of URL links, non-initial mentions and video varied across industries, in some cases decreasing the retweet rate. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Good Neighbours or Distant Friends?

Abstract

Agencification has extended and intensified the delegation problem. It has created new (administrative) principals, who are confronted with even more uncertainty as agents operate at arm's length. Trust is suggested as a new mode of governance. Based on the literature seven hypotheses are deduced on conditions that politicians can use to build trust: autonomy; contacts; policy involvement; and involvement in the design of monitoring devices. These hypotheses are tested using survey data on 219 Dutch executive agencies. Contrary to the expectations, executive agencies with low degrees of autonomy have a more trusting relationship with their parent ministry than agencies with high autonomy. Proximity and frequent interactions appear more important to trust than autonomy. Monitoring is not always perceived as a sign of distrust. These findings raise new questions on how principals can reduce the delegation problem and control executive agencies.