Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees: A 1993–94 Update

An examination of George Stigler's teaching career clarifies the requirements for an effective teacher of graduate economics and especially sheds light on the nature of the supervision of doctoral candidates. The heterogeneous composition of graduate students in aggregate means that quite distinct approaches can prove to be equally successful.     

Writing the differences: Poststructural ist pluralism,retextualization, and the construction of reflexive ethnographic narratives in consumption and market research

Representing social realities in a narrative form is central to the interpretive processes by which market‐oriented ethnographies are constructed. In recent years, the process of textualization has shifted from a taken‐for‐granted aspect of the ethnographic enterprise to a central focus of ethnographers’ reflexive considerations. This shift reflects the realization that textualization poses dilemmas of representation that can not be resolved through additional fieldwork or other methodological procedures. This paper addresses these workbench problems by devising an alternative narrative formretextualization‐based on a poststructuralist version of critical pluralistic analysis. We first discuss how non‐realist genres of ethnographic writing have emerged in response to a heightened sensitivity toward ideological positions embedded in research narratives. We then discuss how the use of retextualization can facilitate the development of reflexivity in consumption research by destabilizing the representational authority of the ethnographic text through expressions of divergence, dissensus, and contested interpretations.     

Entry Solicitation and Deterrence in R&D Competition with Spillovers

The purpose of this note is to examine incumbent behaviour and patterns of entry under R&D competition with spillovers. We find that, in addition to blockading, deterring and accommodating entry, the incumbent may also solicit entry. Entry solicitation occurs when the incumbent strategically alters its R&D commitment in order to take advantage of the spillover generated by the entrant's subsequent R&D investment. Although our results are placed in the context of R&D with spillovers, they are applicable to a wider class of models involving positive externalities, particularly network externalities.
JEL Classification Numbers: L12, O31.     

The Gradual Response of Market Power to Mergers in the U.S. Steel Industry

Studies of the impact of horizontal mergers on market power typically impose an immediate adjustment of market power following a merger. This paper adopts an alternative procedure to estimate the effect of four mergers on market power in the U.S. steel industry. Namely, by estimating a switching regression model that incorporates profit-maximizing behavior, the results show that mergers generally increased market power in the steel industry. However, it did take some time for market power to fully adjust after each merger.     

Earnings management and firm valuation under asymmetric information

This paper seeks to provide an explanation for why corporate officers manage the disclosure of accounting information. We show that earnings management affects firm value when value-maximizing managers and investors are asymmetrically informed. In equilibrium, the strategic management of reported earnings influences investors' assessments of the market values of companies' shares.     

Influences on software piracy: Evidence from the various United States

Examining socio-economic influences on software piracy in the United States, we find a negative relationship between software piracy and income, tax burdens, and economic freedom. A 1% increase in per-capita income correlates with a 0.25% reduction in piracy.     

An empirical analysis of strategy types

Using the PIMS SPIYR data base, which pools cross-section and timeseries data, an empirical study to identify business strategy types was undertaken. Using a two-stage methodological approach combining principal component and cluster analysis on both a consumer products and an industrial products data base, two sets of strategy typologies were identified. Six strategy types were identified for consumer products: (1) harvest, (2) builder, (3) cashout, (4) niche or specialization, (5) climber, and (6) continuity. For industrial products, four strategy types were identified: (1) low commitment, (2) growth, (3) maintenance, and (4) niche or specialization. A discussion of the characteristics of each strategy type is offered.     

Petites bourgeoises and penny capitalists: women in retail in the Lille area during the nineteenth century

With few exceptions, historians have argued that in the nineteenthcentury women were excluded from most retail activities. InEurope women became increasingly concentrated in small-scale,under-capitalized, and short-lived stores. The "separate sphere" ideology in its different guises underlay this evolution.In North America, on the other hand, women capitalized on thisideology to carve a niche for themselves in trade and retailing.Women were not marginalized or segregated everywhere in Europe,however. In northern France the expansion of retail trade andoverall improvements in standards of living provided women,especially married ones, with opportunities they were not reluctantto grasp. Though the activities of married women remained subordinatedto the needs of their families, female retailers were neitherparticularly impoverished nor segregated in sectors deemed appropriatefor persons of their sex.