Corrigendum to “Stable matchings and preferences of couples” [J. Econ. Theory 121 (1) (2005) 75–106]

We correct an omission in the definition of the domain of weakly responsive preferences introduced in [B. Klaus, F. Klijn, Stable matchings and preferences of couples, J. Econ. Theory 121 (2005) 75–106] or KK05 for short. The proof of the existence of stable matchings [KK05, Theorem 3.3] and a maximal domain result [KK05, Theorem 3.5] are adjusted accordingly.     

Mandatory Pensions and Personal Savings in The Netherlands*

The Netherlands has a relatively generous social security system and a wide coverage of individuals by private (occupational) pension schemes. Total household savings are rather high and fairly stable, although the amount of contractual savings apears to be going up at the expense of non-contractual (free) savings. Using an approach originally pioneered by Feldstein (1974) we employ microdata to investigate the displacement effect of security and pension wealth on free household savings. It turns out that the data available are too noisy to make precise statements about the displacement effects. Our results do suggest, however, that a one-for-one displacement of free savings by social security is consistent with the data. For pensions such a complete offset is less likely. This suggests that increase of coverage by private pensions is an effective way of raising savings.     

Measuring service performance in mobile communications

With the rapid growth in the size of the cellular phone market, performance standards are emerging as the strategic imperative for the service providers in ensuring customer satisfaction. This article develops and validates a psychometrically sound multi-item measure of service performance in mobile communications. A pool of 16 items was developed to cover the hypothesised multiple aspects of service performance and tested using a sample of 120 customers. The construct validity of the multi-aspect service performance measure was evaluated through assessing convergent, discriminant and predictive validity.     

The influence of supermarket attributes on perceived customer satisfaction: an East Asian study

Despite the proliferation of theoretical developments in the area of western consumer behaviour, to date the likelihood of Asian variants to existing consumer behavioural models has not been explored in any detail. Based on prior research in the field of retail attribute testing this empirical study investigates the influence of supermarket store attributes on Chinese (Macau) customer satisfaction moderated by the biographical factors of age and income. The results indicate that the store attributes of distance and speed of check out were significant for age, and that delivery service and price reductions were significant by income. Total independent variable rankings indicated store location, price and product variety were perceived by Chinese respondents as being the most important store attributes influencing satisfaction.     

冷战与东欧——近二十年国外学界相关代表性研究及述评

20世纪80年代末90年代初,东欧八个社会主义国家相继发生政治剧变,并自此走上了以建立并巩固多党制为基础的议会民主制、确立并完善私有制为基础的市场经济体制、融入欧洲一体化为转型目标的综合性历史进程。此后迄今为止的20年间,东欧社会主义作为一段完整的历史、一个政治现象,受到了前所未有的关注,并极大地拓展了国际冷战史、比较政治学、社会主义学等诸多学科领域的研究视野。相关成果涉及问题既广且深,不仅包括对东欧社会主义的历史脉络从整体和国别两个层面重新加以细致归理与阐释,还集中体现在利用新解密的多边档案对那些深刻地影响了东西方冷战进程特别是东欧各国以至苏联自身历史演进的重大危机事件进行更为深入的研究。此外,还有基于新材料、新发现、新解读透过东欧剧变对具有普遍意义的一些社会主义基本问题展开的系统反思和理论总结等。本文的要旨即在于对20世纪90年代以来国外有关冷战时期东欧研究的大体情况及主要结论加以介绍和评述,以期对中国同领域的研究提供可能的借鉴与参考。     

Public Management and Policy Networks

In this article we address the elaboration of the central concepts of a theory of networks and of network management. We suggest that the network approach builds on several theoretical traditions. After this we clarify the theoretical concepts and axioms of the policy network approach and argue that this framework has important explanatory power both on the level of strategic interaction processes as well as on the level of institutional relations. We argue that government's special resources and its unique legitimacy as representative of the common Interest make it the outstanding candidate for fulfilling the role of network manager, a role which means arranging and facilitating interaction processes within networks In such a way that problems of under or non representation are properly addressed and interests are articulated and dealt with in an open, transparent and balanced manner.