The effect of various price markdowns on consumers' ratings of a new product

The purpose of the current study was to determine whether the magnitude of a price markdown affects consumers' purchase intentions and/or price perception. Four groups of subjects were all shown a brochure for a new TV video game selling for $49.95. Three different list prices were used: $200, $100, and $75. A fourth group, the control, was shown only the selling price. The results of the experiment indicated that the group shown the $200 list price (i.e., a 75% markdown) had greater intent-to-purchase the product than did the control group. There were no differences among the groups with respect to price perception.     

John Atkinson Hobson and the roots of John Dewey's economic thought

Abstract

American pragmatist John Dewey's economic thought has remained relatively unknown by both philosophers and economists. This article addresses this lack of interest and replies to criticism of pragmatism as the philosophy of ‘corporate liberalism’ by tracing one source of Dewey's economic thought to British New Liberal John Atkinson Hobson. General similarities are discussed first, followed by a presentation of Dewey's use of Hobson's theory of underconsumption during the Great Depression. It concludes by presenting Dewey's understanding of a liberalism that had truly become corporate.     

Stanfield’s Concepts of Social and Political Economy: Introduction to the Special Issue

This paper examines the contributions of James Ronald Stanfield to social and political economy. We start the analysis with Stanfield’s contribution to institution building through his education of PhD students, building a graduate program in political economy, and through the associations of social and political economy. Then we go on to scrutinise his creative developments and applications of the notions of economic surplus and social reproduction. This is followed by his extensive work on Karl Polanyi and the disembedded economy. Finally we explore his path-breaking analysis of the great capitalist restoration, the nurturance gap and love. Stanfield was one of the greatest institutionalists and social economists of the last hundred years, and these four areas of energetic creativity are his prime achievements in the area.     

UNIONIZATION AND STRATEGIC TRADE POLICY

This article examines the effect of unionization on welfare and trade policy using a model of duopolists competing in a third market. The traditional result that the presence of a union necessitates a stronger strategic trade policy to reach the optimal level of welfare hinges on the mode of competition. With Bertrand duopolists, a union can be welfare-improving; it can also lead to a weaker trade policy, or even reverse the direction of the optimal policy. Our results highlight the importance for trade policy of understanding the nature of firm behavior and the institutional features of the labor market.     

Security analysis, agency costs, and UK firm characteristics

The paper examines the monitoring power of security analysts from the manager-shareholder conflict perspective. Our evidence supports the view that security analysis acts as a monitoring mechanism in reducing agency costs for smaller as opposed to larger firms. Moreover, we also find evidence that security analysis has a positive and significant impact on firm value only for smaller firms. These findings support the proposition that, as firms grow larger and more complex, the monitoring activity of security analysis becomes less effective. Our evidence also shows that the monitoring role of security analysts is not restricted to the US capital market environment.