Mixed Oligopoly,Privatization, and Strategic Trade Policy

This paper investigates the effects of privatization in the presence of strategic trade policies within an international mixed oligopoly serving a single market. If the government uses a domestic production subsidy, then welfare is always increased with privatization, while the optimal subsidy falls. If the government uses an import tariff, privatization increases welfare over much of the parameter space. The optimal tariff, however, may rise or fall.     

Computing the Extent of Circumvention of Proposition 13: A Note

We analyze the own-source revenues of California state and local governments relative to the State's personal income in order to examine the extent to which the growth in non-tax revenues has circumvented the reduction in taxes produced by Proposition 13. Our results show that, while non-tax revenues have been the favored means to circumvent California's fiscal constitution, the circumvention has been only marginal.     

Procedural fairness in lotteries assigning initial roles in a dynamic setting

We extend the study of procedural fairness in three new directions. Firstly, we focus on lotteries determining the initial roles in a two-person game. One of the roles carries a potential advantage over the other. All the experimental literature has thus far focused on lotteries determining the final payoffs of a game. Secondly, we modify procedural fairness in a dynamic—i.e. over several repetitions of a game—as well as in a static—i.e. within a single game-sense. Thirdly, we analyse whether assigning individuals a minimal chance of achieving an advantaged position is enough to make them willing to accept substantially more inequality. We find that procedural fairness matters under all of these accounts. Individuals clearly respond to the degree of fairness in assigning initial roles, appraise contexts that are dynamically fair more positively than contexts that are not, and are generally more willing to accept unequal outcomes when they are granted a minimal opportunity to acquire the advantaged position. Unexpectedly, granting full equality of opportunity does not lead to the highest efficiency.     

Externalities,entry bias,and optimal subsidy policy for cleaner environment

This paper analyses alternative subsidy schemes and long-run entry bias in a new industry that creates positive environmental externalities (both generation externalities and externalities associated with interindustry technology spillovers). It demonstrates that per-unit subsidy scheme, despite attracting fewer firms, results in higher industry output and economic surplus in the equilibrium compared with the expenditure equivalent lump-sum subsidy scheme. However, the later leads to higher total surplus, unless spillover externalities are sufficiently small. Further, the free-entry equilibrium number of firms may be excessive or insufficient. A key finding of this paper is that the first-best equilibrium outcome can be implemented through a unique combination of per-unit subsidy and lump-sum subsidy/tax, which involves positive government expenditure in the presence of positive externalities.     

Strategy-proof club formation with indivisible club facilities

Review of Economic Design - We investigate the strategy-proof provision and financing of indivisible club good facilities when individuals are subject to congestion costs that are non-decreasing in...     

Normative influence and masstige purchase intention: Facilitators,inhibitors, and the moderating effect of celebrity endorsement

Masstige marketing has gained considerable attention in the recent past as a theoretically significant and practically relevant concept. Masstige strategy encompasses all those activities directed to position the products for the masses, neither by offering drastic price reductions nor discounts. Rather its success depends on product innovation and promotion. Although it has been recognized as an important strategic construct, the nascent concept needs further investigation for better understanding. This research identifies significant gaps in the extant literature on fashion accessories masstige brands and intends to bridge them. The objective of the current study is to empirically investigate the factors that facilitate or inhibit masstige purchase intentions. Our study uncovers the role of normative influence in influencing the purchase intentions of a masstige fashion accessory brand, that is, Armani Exchange. Data were collected from 395 respondents, and structural equation modeling was applied to check the proposed hypotheses. The study's results revealed that conspicuous and social values play an important role as facilitators. In addition, the study highlighted that masstige brands need to overcome inhibitors like identity avoidance and deficit-value avoidance to develop masstige purchase intention. Moderation analysis highlighted the significant influence of celebrity endorsement in strengthening the facilitators and overcoming inhibitors associated with masstige purchase intention. The study's results can help marketers to position their masstige brands by adopting the right strategies that can be formulated by taking into account the influence of stimulus, facilitators, inhibitors, and a moderating variable examined in the study.     

Shared consumption and its determinants: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

Shared consumption is rapidly evolving as a potential alternative consumption paradigm and hence gaining increased scholarly attention. In the last 5 years, there has been an exponential increase in research focusing on the adoption of shared consumption. There is a pressing need to consolidate and reconcile the resultant insights, which calls for an appropriate review study. Accordingly, this study aims to systematically review the extant literature on the adoption of shared consumption, synthesize the body of knowledge and provide a comprehensive understanding of this emerging consumption mode. Following the SPAR-4-SLR review protocol, this systematic review draws upon the theoretical guidance provided by the theory of consumption values, innovation resistance theory and value-attitude-behaviour hierarchy to synthesize 331 research articles. Bibliometric analysis was employed to reveal the research trend, most prominent journals, authors, articles and countries of research. A thematic analysis was carried out to synthesize the knowledge of the literature corpus. The results suggest that while economic incentives commonly drive individuals to participate in shared consumption, social incentives significantly influence participation in a peer-to-peer setting. Perceived risks (physical, privacy, safety and security) deter participation, while trust plays a vital role in adoption. It has also unveiled some inconclusive relationships in the literature, such as the effect of environmental considerations and materialism on sharing intention. The analysis shows that the providers' perspective has received less attention than the consumers. Further, it is important to empirically validate the findings in domains that transcend the extant industry specificity of studies. The salient observations were structured in an integrated model capturing the drivers and inhibitors of the adoption of the phenomenon. Finally, based on the TCCM framework, pertinent future research directions have been elaborated.