Collusion in Industrial Economics: A Comment

This note comments on Feuerstein's (2005) summary of the literature on collusion in infinitely repeated games. It specifically addresses firm asymmetries and settings in which punishments can be asymmetric. Changes in competition policy such as exception from punishment for the first but only the first compliant and the recent practice to study the effects of mergers after the fact, will provide interesting material for testing the theoretical predictions.     

External shocks and stabilization policy in a small open economy: The Australian experience

Zusammenfassung Externe Schocks und Stabilisierungspolitik in einer kleinen offenen Volkswirtschaft: Die Erfahrung Australiens. — Wir untersuchen die übertragung des international verursachten monet?ren Zyklus, von wirtschaftspolitischen Reaktionen und anderen Rückkoppelungs-Mechanismen. Ver?nderungen der Terms of Trade und die Entdeckung von Rohstoffvorkommen stellen reale Linkages her. Versp?tete Aufwertung (1972) führte zu einem überm?\igen Anwachsen der Geldmenge, wobei deren Neutralisierung die Inflation und das au\enwirtschaftliche Ungleichgewicht zwar verz?gerte, aber schlie\lich sogar verst?rkte. Die Kombination von Aufwertung, Zollsenkungen, Preissteigerungen, Lohndruck und ver?nderten komparativen Vorteilen trug zum Entstehen von Inflation, Arbeitslosigkeit und Zahlungsbilanzdefiziten bei. Die Abwertungen von 1974 und 1976 und ein Regierungswechsel im Jahre 1976 führten den politisch-?konomischen Zyklus fort. Zum Schlu\ interpretieren wir die Ereignisse unter Verwendung gew?hnlicher Au\enhandelsmodelle, die durch Berücksichtigung der Wertpapierm?rkte erg?nzt werden.

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Résumé Les chocs externes et la politique de stabilisation dans une petite économie ouverte: l’expérience australienne. — Nous analysons la transmission du cycle monétaire résultant international, les réponses de politique, et les autres mécanismes de réaction. Les changes en termes d’échange et les découvertes des minéraux introduisent des connexions réelles. La revalorisation tardive (1972) permettait une croissance monétaire excessive dont sa stérilisation en effet retardait l’inflation et le déséquilibre externe, mais les intensifiait définitivement. La combinaison de la revalorisation, des réductions tarifaires, de l’inflation, du pressage de salaire, et d’avantage comparatif qui changeait, tous ces facteurs contribuaient à l’inflation subséquente, au ch?mage et aux déficits externes. La dévalorisation en 1974 et 1976 et une change du gouvernement en 1976 continuaient le cycle politiqueéconomique. Finalement nous interprétons des événements qui utilisent des modèles conventionnels de commerce extérieurs augmentés par des considérations de marché d’actif.

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Resumen Impulsos externos y política de estabilización en una economía abierta peque?a. La experiencia australiana. — Se analiza la transmisión de los ciclos monetarios de origen internacional, respuestas de política y otros mecanismos de ?feedback?. Cambios en los términos del intercambio y descubrimientos de yacimientos mineros introducen vinculaciones verdaderas. Una revaluacíon tardía (1972) permitió un crecimiento monetario excesivo con una estirilización retrasada, agravando por último la inflación y el desequilibrio externo. La combinación de revaluación, rebaja de aranceles, inflación, presión de salarios y ventajas comparativas cambiantes ha contribuido a una inflación persistente, desempleo y deficits externos. Devaluaciones en los a?os 1974 y 1976 y un cambio de gobierno en 1976 continuaron el ciclo politico/económico. Finalmente, interpretamos sucesos usando modelos de intercambio convencional ampliados por consideraciones de mercado de activos.

     

Bootstrap validity for the score test when instruments may be weak

It is well-known that size adjustments based on bootstrapping the t$t$-statistic perform poorly when instruments are weakly correlated with the endogenous explanatory variable. In this paper, we provide a theoretical proof that guarantees the validity of the bootstrap for the score statistic. This theory does not follow from standard results, since the score statistic is not a smooth function of sample means and some parameters are not consistently estimable when the instruments are uncorrelated with the explanatory variable.     

Integration without employment

Three models for hospital-physician alignment may offer hospitals for which large-scale physician employment is not practical the best means to prepare for payment changes under accountable care: Comanagement arrangements Clinical joint ventures Professional services agreements with performance incentives.     

Analysts' Reactions to Earnings Preannouncement Strategies

Preannouncements of earnings tend to overstate negative or understate positive news, which decreases the chance of a negative surprise when actual earnings is announced. We conduct an experiment to investigate how experienced sell-side analysts' earnings forecasts are affected by preannouncements that either understate, accurately state, or overstate the magnitude of positive or negative total earnings news, holding total earnings news constant. We find that firms with negative (positive) total news receive the highest post-earnings announcement forecasts of future earnings when the earlier preannouncement overstates (understates) the magnitude of the news. These forecasts are consistent with the analysts' perceptions about the firms' future prospects, but not their perceptions of management. While analysts expect preannouncements to be lower than actual earnings, they do not adjust their forecasts for these beliefs. These insights into analysts' responses have implications both for managers and analysts.     

Supply chain challenges. building relationships

Supply chain management is all about software and systems, right? Put in the best technology, sit back, and watch as your processes run smoothly and the savings roll in? Apparently not. When HBR convened a panel of leading thinkers in the field of supply chain management, technology was not top of mind. People and relationships were the dominant issues of the day. The opportunities and problems created by globalization, for example, are requiring companies to establish relationships with new types of suppliers. The ever-present pressure for speed and cost containment is making it even more important to break down stubbornly high internal barriers and establish more effective cross-functional relationships. The costs of failure have never been higher. The leading supply chain performers are applying new technology, new innovations, and process thinking to far greater advantage than the laggards, reaping tremendous gains in all the variables that affect shareholder value: cost, customer service, asset productivity, and revenue generation. And the gap between the leaders and the losers is growing in almost every industry. This roundtable gathered many of the leading thinkers and doers in the field of supply chain management, including practitioners Scott Beth of Intuit, Sandra Morris of Intel, and Chris Gopal of Unisys. David Burt of the University of San Diego and Stanford's Hau Lee bring the latest research from academia. Accenture's William Copacino and the Warren Company's Robert Porter Lynch offer the consultant's perspectives. Together, they take a wide-ranging view of such topics as developing talent, the role of the chief executive, and the latest technologies, exploring both the tactical and the strategic in the current state of supply chain management.     

Operations analysis: Experience and concept

Abstract

The usual introductory, expository articles on operations analysis catch one's eye and hold one's interest through the discussion of examples where particularly novel and clever techniques were used, or where the successes were impressively spectacular. In no sense is this comment derogatory. Those aspects of the subject which have the most dramatic appeal are naturally the best enticement for a newcomer to focus his attention on the subject. For some, this initial contact will be a stimulation to go into the subject more deeply, either as practitioners or as users. For them a more systematic account, including both entertaining and dull aspects, may be worthwhile. The field of operations analysis has now attained sufficient stability that it is possible to draw some conclusions about the ways to obtain the greatest benefits from it, the nature of its investigative procedures, the training of its personnel, and its relationships to previously established fields of study.     

I guess that is fair: How the efforts of other customers influence buyer price fairness perceptions

Past research has demonstrated that consumers' price fairness judgments are influenced by comparisons between the offer price they receive and the prices paid by other consumers for the same product offering. In today's digital age, reference points for purchases are more prevalent than ever. However, investigations on how certain inputs of the transaction affect these judgments is lacking. Specifically, extant research has failed to account for how the purchase efforts of other consumers can influence one's own price fairness evaluations. Moreover, relatively little empirical research has endeavored to understand the simultaneous cognitive and affective processes that explain how consumers arrive at price fairness judgments. To address these gaps in the literature, we introduce two studies aimed at understanding the process through which the salient efforts of referent consumers serve to mitigate perceptions of price unfairness when two customers pay different prices for the same product. The findings support a dual‐process model whereby the efforts of other (referent) customers serve to simultaneously reduce buyer anger and increase buyer understanding of the price disparity, ultimately mitigating perceptions of price unfairness.