Landscapes and territory-specific economic bases

The objective of this paper is to assess the potential of the landscape as a factor for regional development. Using the economic base theoretical framework, economic sectors are differentiated according to their alleged sensitivity to amenities. The empirical analysis clusters French counties on the basis of landscape physical attributes and economic sectors, then estimates the amenity-related basic employment multiplier in three study areas located in the Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes regions. Results tend to show that spending behavior is related to landscape type.     

A cross-section analysis of household demand for food and nutrients in Tanzania

Undernutrition and malnutrition are still problems of unacceptable proportions in many developing countries. However, the debate on the roles of income and other socio-economic variables such as women’s education and household size on food and nutrient demand continues. This study examines the demand for food and nutrients amongst households in Tanzania, using recent survey data. A quadratic almost ideal demand system (QUAIDS) is employed to estimate price and expenditure elasticities, as well as the impact of socio-economic variables on food demand patterns. A moment-based instrumental variable approach is then used to analyse the determinants of nutrient demand. The results show that income and other socio-economic variables exert significant effects on the demand for food and nutrients. The estimated expenditure elasticities for the nutrients range from 0.307 for iron to 1.26 for Vitamin B₁₂. The elasticities are higher for those micronutrients that are consumed through animal products and lower for those micronutrients that are mainly obtained through staple foods. These results reflect the higher expenditure elasticities for meat, fish, eggs, milk, and milk products, as well as fruits and vegetables, relative to cereals and pulses, reinforcing the assertion that the demand for Vitamins A and B₁₂, as well as calcium and zinc will increase with rising income.     

Job matching when employment contracts suffer from moral hazard

We consider a job matching model where the relationships between firms and wealth-constrained workers suffer from moral hazard. Specifically, effort on the job is non-contractible so that parties that are matched negotiate a bonus contract. Higher unemployment benefits affect the workers' outside option. The latter is improved for low-skilled workers. Hence they receive a larger share of the surplus, which strengthens their effort incentives and increases productivity. Effects are reversed for high-skilled workers. Moreover, raising benefit payments affects the proportion of successful matches, which induces some firms to exit the economy and causes unemployment to increase.     

Scoring run-off paradoxes for variable electorates

   Summary. A no-show paradox occurs each time a single voter or a group of voters can manipulate the outcome by not participating to the election process. Among other voting procedures, the scoring run-off methods, which eliminate progressively the alternatives on the basis of scoring rules, suffer from this flaw. We here estimate how frequent this paradox is for three candidate elections under the classical Impartial Culture and Impartial Anonymous Culture assumptions, for different population sizes. The conditions under which this paradox occurs are also described, as well as the relationships with manipulations for a fixed number of voters. Received: October 21, 1999; revised version: January 12, 2000     

The effects of processing mode and brand scandals on copycat product evaluations

Conventional wisdom suggests a ‘copycat’ (look-alike) product’s success is due in part to the halo generated by its positive association with national leader brands (NLB). But, what if the NLB is the focus of negative publicity? In the current investigation, we seek to determine the extent to which NLB scandals (i.e. negative news stories) have an impact on consumers’ evaluations of copycat products. Further, we extend recent work on comparative evaluation strategies (consumer information processing modes) by demonstrating that a copycat product is evaluated more favorably when presented separate from (as opposed to adjacent to) the NLB product. However, negative perceptions of the NLB are shown to moderate these effects. Furthermore, a follow-up study supports the notion that visual similarity drives these effects.     

Capital Allocation Under a Financial Constraint: The Classical Investment Function

In the modern literature on investment, a distinction is normally made between neo-Classical and Keynesian theories of investment. An earlier original approach can, however, be located in the works of Smith, Ricardo, and Marx. In this Classical tradition, investment is subject to a capital constraint, and capitalists allocate their capital according to the relative profitability of the various industries. We show that this behaviour is rational in a model in which capitalists optimize over an infinite horizon and form rational expectations: inter-industry mobility can be expressed as an adjustment behaviour such that investments, ΔKⁱ are proportional to profitability differentials: ΔKⁱ = Aⁱ (r¯ⁱ−r¯)     

Legal competition, political process and irreversible investment decisions

We compare the effects of competition for the design of labor laws in an environment characterized by irreversible investments in human and physical capital. We compare autarky with two-country cases, assuming that capital is mobile and labor immobile. We distinguish two cases. In the first, the political system is free from capture, while in the second, we examine the case where labor captures the institutional design problem. We find that in the former case legal competition reduces welfare while in the latter it improves the overall outcome.     

A note on Musgrave asymmetrical trend-cycle filters

In this paper, we derive the implicit forecasts in the asymmetrical trend-cycle averages used in the X-11 seasonal adjustment method. We give an algorithm to calculate them, and we study their statistical properties. We express the forecasts as Stein estimators. We derive expressions for their bias, variance, covariances and prediction mean squared errors. We show that the prediction mean squared errors of the implied predictors are always smaller or equal to those obtained using the least squares predictors. Finally, we derive the prior distributions under which the implied predictors are Bayes estimators.     

Strategic Manipulation in Committees Using the Plurality Rule: Alternative Concepts and Frequency Calculations

This paper suggests an evaluation of the plurality rule according to how much it can be manipulated by individuals. We analyze strategic voting with reference not only to the usual notion of Nash equilibrium but also to some weaknesses of this notion, depending on the assumptions about how the individual agents choose their strategies. We provide two types of results for each concept of equilibrium: First, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for a profile to be an equilibrium when the plurality rule is used; and second, we present formulas giving the exact frequencies of unstable situations in the three-alternative case.     

Modeling Marketing Dynamics by Time Series Econometrics

This paper argues that time-series econometrics provides valuable tools and opens exciting research opportunities to marketing researchers. It allows marketing researchers to advance traditional modeling and estimation approaches by incorporating dynamic processes to answer new important research questions. The authors discuss the challenges facing time-series modelers in marketing, provide an overview of recent methodological developments and several applications, and highlight fruitful areas for future research. This discussion is based on the First Annual Conference on Modeling Marketing Dynamics by Time Series Econometrics at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA on September 16–17, 2004.Insights from the First Annual Conference, Tuck School of Business at DartmouthThis revised version was published online in May 2005 with a corrected cover date.