Two-step estimation of panel data models with censored endogenous variables and selection bias

This paper presents some two-step estimators for a wide range of parametric panel data models with censored endogenous variables and sample selection bias. Our approach is to derive estimates of the unobserved heterogeneity responsible for the endogeneity/selection bias to include as additional explanatory variables in the primary equation. These are obtained through a decomposition of the reduced form residuals. The panel nature of the data allows adjustment, and testing, for two forms of endogeneity and/or sample selection bias. Furthermore, it incorporates roles for dynamics and state dependence in the reduced form. Finally, we provide an empirical illustration which features our procedure and highlights the ability to test several of the underlying assumptions.     

The diary of a charity donor: an exploration of research information from the Royal Mail Consumer Panel and Mail Characteristics Survey

This paper looks at direct mail in the United Kingdom across all market sectors and in detail at the charity sector. It uses the research information that Royal Mail has been collecting foroveradecadetoshowthegrowthofthe medium. The diary system used by the Consumer Panel gives an insight into the typical donor and their relationship with charities. This paper looks only at direct mail: ‘personally addressed advertising material that is delivered through the post’. This definition means that leaflets put through the letterbox are excluded. Copyright © 1999 Henry Stewart Publications     

Ethics and Executive Coaching: An Agency Theory Approach

In recent years executive coaching has become an important management development practice in many organizations. Executive coaching is a partnership between a management level client and a coach hired by an organization to assist the executive in becoming a more effective and successful manager. While executive coaching has become a frequent and important practice in organizations, there has been relatively little serious consideration of the complex ethical issues that arise for persons and organizations. This study proposes that executive coaching involves an agency relation with specific moral duties that go beyond the usual standards of professional ethics. Agency theory, and in particular a focused understanding of the agency relationship, can provide a needed ethical grounding and basis for moral thinking about executive coaching.     

Consumer Motivation for Reward Pursuit: A Culture-Based and Progress-Based Model of Loyalty Program Effectiveness

Aided by the exponential rate of globalization and digitalization, reward or loyalty programs (LPs) have attained global reach. Paradoxically, however, dropout rates of LPs have averaged over 75%. This disconcerting statistic, coupled with the lack of culture-specific insights in the literature, points to a research area of great theoretical and practical importance. To address the aforementioned issues, we develop a culture-based and progress-based model of consumer motivation that is especially applicable to LP members. Drawing on cross-cultural literature and goal pursuit theory, our research enriches a field that is inherently global in nature. Through a series of research propositions that elucidate how Western individualist (vs. Eastern collectivist) consumers are differentially motivated to pursue LP rewards, we advance theoretical understanding of reward-induced behavior across cultures and offer useful insights for global managers of LPs.     

Market development in practice: A case study of user‐initiated product innovation

User‐initiated innovation refers to the inauguration of new industrial processes and products by their users rather than by manufacturers. The marketing literature has recently been enhanced by the reconceptualisation of industrial innovation to include the possibility of this customer‐active approach. But the accounts of customer‐active innovation which have so far appeared confine the role of the user to the development of internally‐applied process innovations, leaving their wider commercial exploitation entirely to manufacturers. This article presents a case study of the development of flexible manufacturing systems in a major British company and demonstrates the importance of recognising the active role of users in product innovation.     

Agricultural Export-Diversification and Economic Growth in Caribbean Countries: Cointegration and Error-Correction Models

This article uses cointegration and error-correction models to analyze the causal relationship between agricultural export diversification and economic growth in eight selected Caribbean countries using annual data from 1961 to 2000. The empirical results show that in the short run, agricultural export diversification Granger causes economic growth in Barbados and Belize. Noncausality exists for the other countries. In the long run, agricultural export diversification also Granger causes economic growth in the Dominican Republic. On the contrary, agricultural export diversification is the outcome of the economic growth process in Belize, Costa Rica, Haiti, and Jamaica, in the long run. Noncausality exists in Trinidad and Tobago. There is no evidence of bi-directional causality in any of the countries in either the short or long run.     

Budget Allocation Patterns of African Americans

The Consumer Expenditure Survey (1980–1992), Consumer Price Index (1980–1992), and ACCRA Cost of Living Index (1990) are used to construct annual household expenditure data from 1980 to 1992 to compare household budget allocation patterns of African Americans to Asian Americans, Caucasian Americans, and Hispanic Americans. Using the LA/AIDS demand system, researchers found that African American households have statistically significantly different budget allocation patterns in more than half of the 13 expenditure categories investigated in this study, after controlling for other socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.     

Statistical Analysis of Choice Experiments and Surveys

Measures of households' past behavior, their expectations with respect to future events and contingencies, and their intentions with respect to future behavior are frequently collected using household surveys. These questions are conceptually difficult. Answering them requires elaborate cognitive and social processes, and often respondents report only their “best” guesses and/or estimates, using more or less sophisticated heuristics. A large body of literature in psychology and survey research shows that as a result, responses to such questions may be severely biased. In this paper, (1) we describe some of the problems that are typically encountered, (2) provide some empirical illustrations of these biases, and (3) develop a framework for conceptualizing survey response behavior and for integrating structural models of response behavior into the statistical analysis of the underlying economic behavior.     

Taxation and the Performance of Technology Based Small Firms in the U.K.

This paper analyses a database of U.K. small companies in order to establish the profile of Technology Based Small Firms (TBSFs) in terms of their demography, financial structure and performance, and tax affairs. Following the evaluation of the impact of direct taxation on the high technology small companies, compared to that of their low technology counterparts, the paper briefly discusses the current policy debate about the nature and appropriateness of tax-based incentives for the development of this strategically important scale and type of enterprise.