IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS

I consider a scenario where a social planner suspects that a crime has been committed. There are many suspects and at most one of them is guilty. I characterize the optimal mechanism for the social planner under different assumptions with respect to her commitment power. I find that the optimal mechanism is a “confession inducing mechanism”: Before an investigation, each agent can confess to being guilty in exchange for a reduced punishment. I find that these mechanisms do better than the traditional trial mechanism because of information externalities: When an agent credibly confesses his guilt, he reveals everyone else's innocence.     

An application of co-word analysis and bibliometric maps for detecting the most highlighting themes in the consumer behaviour research from a longitudinal perspective

This article presents an application of a bibliometric and visual study of the research carried out on a social science subfield, concretely the consumer behaviour research (CBR), from a longitudinal perspective (period 1966–2008). The study combines performance analysis and science mapping for detecting and visualizing conceptual subdomains. Quantitative and qualitative measures are used in order to identify the most prominent themes. Quantitative data are used to put together very related concepts (themes or clusters of topics), while qualitative indicators (as those based on citations) are used to measure the quality and/or impact of the detected themes. The study also uses bibliometric maps to show in a visual way the associations between the main concepts treated by the CBR community. The maps provide insight into the structure of the CBR, visualize the division of the field into several subfields, and indicate the relationships between these subfields. Co-word analysis is the bibliometric technique used to identify the main themes. All this allows us to quantify and visualize the thematic evolution of the CBR. It also helps to both experts and novices to understand the current state of the art of the CBR and to predict where future research could lead.     

Disaggregating and reaggregating work: Workers,management and the struggle over creating coherency and purpose in a context of work degradation

The article argues that whilst there is a growing sense of degradation and worsening conditions (disaggregation) of work in the cleaning sector in general, there are some important contradictions which require complex organisational responses. In the main, there is a growing sense of isolation in this work, yet also a growing perception of autonomy and workers having to use discretion in new and challenging ways. This article focuses on these issues and management responses to reaggregate the nature of such work, creating new forms of identity and activities intended to enhance (or address) the levels of stability and sustainability at work as well as in operational processes. This management conundrum means that they need to deal with a range of job‐related, skill‐oriented worker learning and also representation issues. These responses bring to the fore the contested nature of such forms of work and how they are changing.     

Optimal savings with taxable and tax-deferred accounts

We solve and estimate a life-cycle model with earnings risk and liquidity constraints in the presence of tax-deferred retirement accounts (TDAs). We explicitly consider two very different types of households (with TDAs): direct and indirect stockholders. The latter hold stocks only through TDAs and, consistent with the data, save considerably less than the former, who hold stocks both inside and outside these accounts. We find that TDAs promote higher wealth accumulation but only marginally higher net savings. Consumption increases mostly during retirement, as desired, but the effect is largest for those households with higher savings rates already.     

How capital markets assess the credibility and accuracy of CSR reporting: Exploring the effects of assurance quality and CSR restatement issuance

This research examines how the credibility and accuracy of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures enhance market confidence by exploring their effect on the cost of capital. How do capital markets react to higher-quality assurance of CSR reporting? Can the hypothetical reduction in the cost of capital that assurance quality produces be explained by restatements of previous information given in these CSR reports? We explore the relationship between assurance quality, as a proxy for credibility and market confidence, and the mediating effect of CSR restatements as indicators of accuracy. We propose regression models with a sample of CSR reports issued by European companies. Building upon the signalling and legitimacy theories, the results support the positive effect of higher assurance quality statements on market confidence by confirming a decrease in the cost of capital; assurance quality gives an indication of credibility to the capital market and restatements related to methodological updates signal accuracy. The reduction in the cost of capital brought on by higher assurance quality appears to be determined by the issuance of CSR restatements, which create legitimacy for both client companies and assurance providers. CSR reporting and assurance have reached a greater level of maturity as demonstrated by the evolution of these practices and financial market perceptions.     

The importance of packaging in purchase and usage behaviour

This study's primary objective is to analyse how consumers evaluate product packaging in two distinct phases of the consumer decision‐making process: at the moment of acquisition and post‐consumption. The packaging's technical, functional and informative attributes, as well as its influence on satisfaction and loyalty, were evaluated. An empirical study was conducted with a product of immediate consumption, milk, using four versions of packaging and a total sample of 265 family units. The model was evaluated using partial least squares (PLS), and differences were compared using variance analysis. The results demonstrate the most and least valued attributes, the primary differences between the four types of packaging, and the perception generated at each moment. The research provides interesting theoretical and empirical perspectives and has business implications for marketing directors and product managers.     

Exploiting old customers and attracting new ones: The case of bank deposit pricing

Recent theoretical contributions suggest that deposit interest rates should be higher in geographic areas characterized by greater in-migration and lower for depositors at banks with greater shares of existing (or so-called “locked-in”) depositors. These hypotheses are tested using a rich data set obtained for the Spanish banking industry. Results confirm that, all else equal, banks offer higher deposit rates in territories characterized by greater in-migration, and also that they tend to offer lower rates, the larger the number of their locked-in depositors. These findings confirm the existence of the trade-off between exploiting old customers and attracting new ones.     

Migration Flows and Intra-Industry Trade Adjustments

In this paper we analyse the link between trade and migration. Focusing on the experience of Spain, we relate a marginal index of intra-industry trade to the stock of foreign workers—classified according to their country of origin and their situation in the Spanish labour market. We focus on the possibility that existing networks of foreign workers and their connections with their countries of origin could stimulate trade with the host country. Our results show a significant impact of the number of immigrants with work permits on intra-industry trade adjustment. However, this impact being positive or negative depends on whether foreign workers are employees or self-employed, the duration of the work permits and the type of job they occupy. JEL no. F10, F14, F15, F22