Gender differences in socially responsible consumption. An experimental investigation

We report on a simple experimental study designed to investigate the different gender attitudes towards socially responsible consumption. We use the Vote-with-the-Wallet Game, (VWG), a version of a repeated multiplayer prisoner’s dilemma that mimics the characteristics of the choice between a conventional and a socially responsible product. More precisely we test the effect of three factors: two different frames and an ex-post redistribution mechanism that transfers resources from purely self-interested consumers to responsible ones. We find that women remain significantly more cooperative (choosing more often the responsible good) when the redistribution mechanism is interrupted and are significantly less satisfied about the behaviour of the other players in that treatment.     

Adapting to a retail environment: Modeling consumer-environment interactions

This paper extends current thinking on the relationship between consumers and the retail environment by assessing a theory of consumer-environment interaction that reinterprets arousal and dominance, two dimensions of the PAD model (Mehrabian, Albert, Russel, James A., An approach to environmental psychology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1974.), as appraisal dimensions (affective expectations). According to the new account, the more specific the task, the less tolerant consumers are about discrepancies between expected and experienced arousal and dominance. The study evaluated the effects of matching or mismatching appraisals on judgments of emotional dimensions as participants shopped within a virtual store environment. Appraisals were manipulated by combining two goal conditions (goal specificity vs. goal ambiguity) with two levels of store arousal (high vs. low) to produce four separate hypothetical states: hedonic fit (ambiguous goal and high arousal), utilitarian fit (specific goal and low arousal), rational control (ambiguous goal and low arousal), and emotional submissiveness (specific goal and high arousal). When perceptual and cognitive appraisals matched (i.e., hedonic or utilitarian fit), participants judged pleasure to be significantly greater than when expectations mismatched (i.e., rational control or emotional submissiveness). Affective expectations concerning arousal and dominance thus are a strong determinant of consumer predisposition toward the environment.     

Testing for heterogeneity of preferences in randomized experiments: a satisfaction-based approach applied to multiplayer prisoners’ dilemmas

We use experimental data from the ‘vote with the wallet’ multiplayer prisoner’s dilemma to investigate with a finite mixture approach the effect of a responsible purchase on players’ satisfaction. We find clear-cut evidence of heterogeneity of preferences with two groups of players that differ significantly in terms of effects of the responsible choice on satisfaction.     

The labor market impact of immigration in Western Germany in the 1990s

In this article we estimate the wage and employment effects of recent immigration in Western Germany. Using administrative data for the period 1987-2001 and a labor-market equilibrium model, we find that the substantial immigration of the 1990s had very little adverse effects on native wages and on their employment levels. Instead, it had a sizeable adverse employment effect on previous immigrants as well as a small adverse effect on their wages. These asymmetric results are partly driven by a higher degree of substitution between old and new immigrants in the labor market and in part by the rigidity of wages in less than flexible labor markets. In a simple counter-factual experiment we show that in a world of perfect wage flexibility and no unemployment insurance the wage-bill loss of old immigrants would be much smaller.     

Modernist Ideas and Local Reception: The company towns of Piazzola sul Brenta and Borgonyà, 1895–1930

Utopianism, paternalism and the myth of progress were the ideological foundations underpinning company towns. These communities, which sprang up towards the end of the nineteenth century, were dependent on a single company for all or most of the functions and services necessary for town life. This article explores aspects of company town life as variously implemented and received depending on cultural and geographical contexts. In particular, this article examines the emergence of two company towns established during the same period but in two distinct geographical contexts: Piazzola sul Brenta in the Veneto (Italy) and Borgonyà in Catalonia (Spain). While development of these two company towns relied on the same ideals of social and technological progress, the visions of their respective companies, their locations and broader topographical circumstances differed significantly. These new towns are examined through key factors reflecting their owners' and planners' faith in social and technological progress, such as the harnessing of water power, the construction of railways and moral paternalism. These features are analysed by reflecting on the meaning of space in specific contexts. Piazzola sul Brenta and Borgonyà were experimental spaces that their designers and owners used to achieve ephemeral social, political and cultural goals, allowing me to examine both the ways and the spaces in which knowledge and ideas were received, and how different types of knowledge and ideas were transformed and realized.     

Extended Producer Responsibility and the Evolution of Sustainable Specializations: Evidences From the e‐Waste Sector

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is an environmental policy approach that could potentially have a positive impact on different determinants of the business environment, including scientific production. Despite that, direct and indirect impacts on those national research environments where EPR is not directly implemented are under‐represented in the current literature. Based on a dataset of 411 papers related to e‐waste published in the period between 2001 and 2011, our study explores the research dynamics of the e‐waste literature and presents a map of the main areas of interest. Two representations of the geographical time frames of research depict the on‐going reshaping of worldwide technical specializations and inform policy makers on the evolution of regional needs and competences. The conclusions highlight the importance of worldwide impact assessments of EPR in order to achieve both industrial and environmental goals. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Would less regional income distribution justify the present call for devolution?

We model a local public good with spillovers, in a framework where devolution is socially inefficient. Nevertheless, we show that decentralisation may be preferred by one region if it implies a reduction in regional income redistribution. This result is due to the inter-regional mechanism of the equalisation grant. For an expenditure-based grant, we define a threshold for regional income disparity above which decentralisation is preferred, while for a resource-based grant the threshold depends on the spillover and the difference in preferences for the local public good. Finally, for given levels of regional income disparity we show which grant form may minimise the claims for decentralisation.     

Approximating exact expected utility via portfolio efficient frontiers

Expected utility theory is nowadays accepted as the standard for rational choice among risky assets. However, as Harry Markowitz recently pointed out, the problem of how the maximum expected utility along the risk–return portfolio efficient frontiers approximates the exact maximum expected utility is still open. This paper shows that some popular risk–return models are actually able to approximate expected utility maximization with respect to classical and new distance measures. It also analyzes the ability of the whole risk–return efficient frontiers to approximate the exact one. Our empirical analysis is based on recent publicly available real-world data sets.     

Passenger satisfaction: a multi-group analysis

To analyse the level of passenger satisfaction of a public local transport service, after an explorative factorial analysis, a Structural Equation Model was adopted. The main goal of this paper is to verify how much some service characteristics could influence the perceived quality of the service. The passengers are found very sensitive to the level of the service organization and to the way the service is delivered (punctuality and regularity, and short waiting time). The safety and reliability of buses, the level of comfort and cleanness and the professionalism and courtesy of staff had, also, a big weight to determinate of the customer satisfaction. Applying a further analysis on different sub-samples, based on individual characteristics, we found that the model above identified is full invariant for different residence area and frequency of use of the service, and partially invariant for age groups, employment status, time slot of use and reason of use. The test of invariance the structural coefficients failed considering gender or education level of the passengers.     

Forward exchange rates as predictors of future spot rates and the efficiency of the foreign exchange market

The theory of informationally efficient markets (EMIT) is applied to the foreign exchange market and some of its operational implications are illustrated. The EMIT is joined with alternative models of the equilibrium return on the foreign exchange market: the Pure Expectations Hypothesis, the Modern Theory and tentative formulations of return as a function of risk. The alternative joint Hypotheses are rejected by the data but this does not necessarily imply the rejection of EMIT. The rejection may be due to the inadequacies of the equilibrium return models used, notwithstanding the fact that the risk premium has been captured, to a certain extent, in the empirical tests and the evidence against the EMIT weakened.