Understanding consumers' in-store visual perception: The influence of package design features on visual attention

It is widely accepted that the human brain has limited capacity for perceptual stimuli and consumers' visual attention, when searching for a particular product or brand in a grocery store, should then be limited by the boundaries of their own perceptual capacity. In this exploratory study, we examine the relationship between abundant in-store stimuli and limited human perceptual capacity. Specifically, we test the influence of package design features on visual attention. Data was collected through two eye-tracking experiments, one in a grocery store using wireless eye-tracking equipment, and another in a lab setting. Findings show that consumers have fragmented visual attention during grocery shopping, and that their visual attention is simultaneously influenced and disrupted by the shelf display. Physical design features such as shape and contrast dominate the initial phase of searching. Time pressure and familiarity with the grocery store are studied and discussed.     

Bayesian estimation of an open economy DSGE model with incomplete pass-through

In this paper, we develop a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model for an open economy, and estimate it on Euro area data using Bayesian estimation techniques. The model incorporates several open economy features, as well as a number of nominal and real frictions that have proven to be important for the empirical fit of closed economy models. The paper offers: i) a theoretical development of the standard DSGE model into an open economy setting, ii) Bayesian estimation of the model, including assessments of the relative importance of various shocks and frictions for explaining the dynamic development of an open economy, and iii) an evaluation of the model's empirical properties using standard validation methods.     

Wealth Concentration over the Path of Development: Sweden, 1873–2006*

We study wealth concentration in Sweden over 130 years, from the beginning of industrialization until the present day. Our series are based on new evidence from estate and wealth tax data, foreign and domestic family firm‐wealth, and pension wealth estimates. We find that Swedish wealth concentration was high in the agrarian state, and changed little during early industrialization. From World War I until about 1950, the richest percentile lost ground to high‐income earners in the rest of the top‐wealth decile. This equalization continued postwar; the entire top decile lost‐out relative to the rest of the population. Around 1980, wealth compression stopped and inequality increased. We approximate the effects of international flows and find that the recent increase in wealth inequality is probably larger than what official estimates suggest.     

Economic versus physical input measures in the analysis of technical efficiency in fisheries

The measurement of technical efficiency requires the estimation of an appropriate production frontier. This is based on a set of inputs that are assumed to influence the level of output. Deviations from this frontier production function are separated into random variation and inefficiency. However, mis-specification of the production function through the use of inappropriate input measures may result in a bias in the measures of inefficiency. In fisheries, production is generally assumed to be a function of stock size, fishing time and the level of physical inputs employed. Defining the appropriate levels of physical inputs, however, is not straightforward, and several alternative measures are available. While economic measures of capital are more intuitively appealing, physical measures are generally readily available and hence less costly to collect. In this study, technical efficiency is measured for three fleet segments operating in the North Sea using three different gear types. The effects of using different measures of capital in the production frontier on the efficiency estimates are examined.     

Perspective on models in theoretical and practical traditions of knowledge: the example of Otto engine animations

Nineteen informants (n?=?19) were asked to study and comment two computer animations of the Otto combustion engine. One animation was non-interactive and realistic in the sense of depicting a physical engine. The other animation was more idealised, interactive and synchronised with a dynamic PV-graph. The informants represented practical and theoretical traditions of knowledge: science students and teachers at upper secondary school level; vocational students and teachers in vehicle mechanics at upper secondary school level, and; MSc and PhD students in vehicle system engineering. The aim was to explore how they interpreted the animations against the background of their different traditions of knowledge and their experience of physical engines and models of engines. A key finding was that the PhD students saw the interactive animation as a familiar and useful model of engines, whereas the vehicle mechanics teachers saw it as a poor representation of reality. A general conclusion was that there is a variety of competent ways to interpret a model, depending on the tradition of knowledge.     

Determinants of executive compensation in privately held firms

We examine what determines executive compensation in privately held firms. Our study is motivated by the fact that most studies in this area rely on data from publicly traded firms. Further, the few studies that are based on data from privately held firms only examine a limited number of determinants of executive compensation. Our findings indicate that the pay‐to‐performance relation is weak. Board size and ownership concentration are the only corporate governance characteristics that explain variations in executive compensation. Executive characteristics like skills, title and educational attainment all explain variations in executive compensation. Contrary to our expectations, we do not find a stronger pay‐to‐performance relation in firms with better designed bonus plans.     

Gains from quota trade: theoretical models and an application to the Danish fishery

We provide a framework for evaluating potential effects of introducingtradable quotas to a sector. The effects depend on the economiesof scale and scope of the production technology, and on firms'ability and willingness to learn best practice methods (catchingup) and to change their input and output composition (mix).To illustrate our approach, data from the Danish fishery areused to calculate the potential gains from introducing individuallytransferable fishing quotas. Data envelopment analysis is usedto model the production technology. We find that pure reallocationis as important as pure learning, i.e. quota reallocation withoutcatching-up is as valuable as learning best practice with fixedallocations.     

Rating mutual funds: Construction and information content of an investor-cost based rating of Danish mutual funds

We develop a new rating of mutual funds: the atpRating. The atpRating assigns crowns to each individual mutual fund based upon the costs an investor pays when investing in the fund in relation to what it would cost to invest in the fund's peers. Within each investment category, the rating assigns five crowns to funds with the lowest costs and one crown to funds with the highest costs.We investigate the ability of the atpRating to predict the future performance of a fund. We find that an investor who has invested in the funds with the lowest costs within an investment category would have obtained a risk-adjusted excess return that is approximately 3–4 percentage points higher per annum than if the funds with the highest costs had been invested in.We compare the atpRating with the Morningstar Rating. We show that one reason why the atpRating and the Morningstar Rating contain different information is that the returns Morningstar uses as inputs when rating funds are highly volatile whereas the costs the atpRating uses as inputs when rating funds are highly persistent. In other words, a fund that has low costs one year will most likely also have low costs the following year, whereas the return of a fund in a certain year generally contains only little information about the future return that the fund will generate.Finally, we have information on the investments in different mutual funds made by a small subgroup of investors known to have been exposed to both the atpRating and the Morningstar Rating. We find that investors have clear preferences for funds rated high by both the atpRating and the Morningstar Rating.