The demand for small cars in the United States: Implications for energy conservation strategies

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the impact of household characteristics and preferences for Japanese cars on the demand for small cars in the United States. Two stage probit analysis was used to examine the impact of various explanatory variables on the purchase decision. The results indicated that preferences for Japanese cars, income, price and several household characteristics had a significant impact on the probability of purchasing a small car. The results of this study provide support for freer trade in automobiles and higher gasoline taxes as energy conservation strategies.

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Zusammenfassung Die Nachfrage nach Kleinwagen in USA: Implikationen für Strategien zur Energieeinsparung. Diese Untersuchung wollte herausfinden, wie sich Haushaltseigenschaften und Präferenzen für japanische Autos auf die Nachfrage nach Kleinwagen in den Vereinigten Staaten auswirken. Die Stichprobe umfa\te 367 Haushalte, die im Jahr 1986 ein neues Auto kauften. Davon kauften 141 Haushalte amerikanische Kleinwagen, 84 japanische Kleinwagen und 142 Haushalte kauften gro\e amerikanische Wagen. Eine zweistufige Probit-Analyse prüfte den Einflu\ der verschiedenen Erklärungsvariablen auf die Kaufentscheidung. Die Ergebnisse besagen im wesentlichen, da\ es die Präferenzen für japanische Autos, das Einkommen, der Preis und einige Haushaltseigenschaften sind, die einen signifikanten Einflu\ auf die Wahrscheinlichkeit eines Kleinwagenkaufs haben. Die Autoren sehen in den Ergebnissen eine Unterstützung für die Forderung nach Freihandel im Automobilsektor und nach höherer Besteuerung von Kraftstoffen als Strategien zur Energieeinsparung.

     

Why Punish? Social reciprocity and the enforcement of prosocial norms

Recently economists have become interested in why people who face social dilemmas in the experimental lab use the seemingly incredible threat of punishment to deter free riding. Three theories with evolutionary microfoundations have been developed to explain punishment. We survey these theories and use behavioral data from surveys and experiments to show that the theory called social reciprocity in which people punish norm violators indiscriminately explains punishment best.JEL Classification: C91, C92, D64, H41 Correspondence to: Jeffrey P. CarpenterWe thank Carolyn Craven, Corinna Noelke and two referees for comments, and Middlebury College for financial assistance. In addition, Carpenter acknowledges the support of the National Science Foundation (SES-CAREER 0092953).     

Hawker centres as tourist attractions: The case of Singapore

Cooked food hawkers are a sometimes neglected part of the tourism and hospitality industries, yet can play a significant role as a visitor attraction which offers both inexpensive food and insights into the contemporary society and heritage of the destination. Hawking is ubiquitous in much of South East Asia where it is integral to the life of local residents and this includes Singapore, the focus of the paper which also comments on the relationship between food and tourism in general. The cooked food hawker sector in the city state is described and the results of a survey of tourists about their experiences of dining at hawker centres are presented. Responses appear favourable on the whole, but some concerns are identified. It seems that hawkers may have unrealised potential as an amenity for tourists, although widening their appeal and use is a challenging task compounded by the threat to the survival of hawker centres from urban development pressures.     

Shift work in nursing: is it really a risk factor for nurses' health and patients' safety?

There is evidence in the scientific literature of the adverse physiological and psychological effects of shift work, including disruption to biological rhythm, sleep disorders, health problems, diminished performance at work, job dissatisfaction, and social isolation. In this study, the results of health problems and sleep disorders between female and male nurses, between daytime and shift nurses, and between sleep-adjusted and non-sleep-adjusted shift nurses were compared. Also the relationship between adjustment to shift work and organizational outcomes (errors and incidents and absenteeism from work) was analyzed. Gender, age, and weight were more significant factors than shift work in determining the well-being of nurses. Shift work by itself was not found to be a risk factor for nurses' health and organizational outcomes in this study. Moreover, nurses who were identified as being "non-adaptive" to shift work were found to work as effectively and safely as their adaptive colleagues in terms of absenteeism from work and involvement in professional errors and accidents. This research adds two additional findings to the field of shift work studies. The first finding is that female shift workers complain significantly more about sleep disorders than male shift workers. Second, although high rates of nurses whose sleep was not adapted to shift work were found, this did not have a more adverse impact on their health, absenteeism rates, or performance (reported errors and incidents), compared to their "adaptive" and "daytime" colleagues.     

Analysis of Credit Risks in Asset-Backed Securitization Transactions in Singapore

Asset-backed securitization (ABS) is a relatively new financial instrument in Singapore's capital market, which has been accepted by developers (originators) as an alternative source of financing. Credit assessment and rating requirements have not been imposed on the ABS bond issues. Default-risk evaluation has also been understated, if not omitted, in the process of structuring ABS deals. This is the first study that applies a theoretical default-risky swaps valuation model to evaluate credit risks in ABS bonds in Singapore. The Monte-Carlo simulation results, based on the Century Square shopping mall ABS case, show significant effects of the changes in rental volatility and default-free interest rate volatility on the default-risk premium of swap. More specifically, an increase in the rental volatility reduces the default-risky swap values significantly. However, an increase in the instantaneous default-free interest rate volatility increases the default-risk premium of swaps, and this effect is only observed in the high default-free interest rate volatility regime (above 20 percent). The results suggest that the rental dynamics of the securitized real estate are critical in determining the default risks of ABS deals. The fixed-rate (coupon yield) and floating-rate (rental cash flows) should therefore be adequately determined to reflect the default risks, which may be caused by the rental dynamics of the securitized real estate.     

U.S.–Japan and U.S.–China trade conflict: Export growth,reciprocity, and the international trading system

First Japan and more recently China have pursued export-oriented growth strategies. While other Asian countries have done likewise, Japan and China are of particular interest because their economies are so large and the size of the associated bilateral trade imbalances with the United States so conspicuous. In this paper we focus on U.S. efforts to restore the reciprocal GATT/WTO market-access bargain in the face of such large imbalances and the significant spillovers to the international trading system. The paper highlights similarities and differences in the two cases. We describe U.S. attempts to reduce the bilateral imbalances through targeted trade policies intended to slow growth of U.S. imports from these countries or increase growth of U.S. exports to them. We then examine how these trade policy responses, as well as U.S. efforts to address what were perceived as underlying causes of the imbalances, influenced the evolution of the international trading system. Finally, we compare the macroeconomic conditions associated with the bilateral trade imbalances and their implications for the conclusions of the two episodes.     

Transmission of information within transnational social networks: a field experiment

Several studies have shown a relationship between the stocks of migrants and country-level investment in the home country; however the mechanism through which this relationship operates is still unexplored. We use a field experiment in which participants who are recent immigrants send information about risky decisions to others in their social network in their home country. The results demonstrate how this information influences decisions in the home country. We find that the advice given by family members and decisions made by friends significantly affects an individual’s risky decision-making.     

Consumer Behavior, Public Policy, and Country-of-Origin Labeling

Recent work by agricultural economists has failed to adequately identify why consumers desire country-of-origin labeling, a key piece of information needed to determine whether a market-failure exists. This paper brings to the attention of agricultural economists a sizable body of literature on country-of-origin effects from the marketing and business disciplines. Based on this literature, we draw a distinction between several consumer motivations for origin labels and we identify which of these is cause for public policy. We propose several research questions that require answers if the consequences of country-of-origin labeling policy are to be fully understood.