A longitudinal view of women's role portrayal in television advertising

This article concerns an issue of interest to both advertisers and consumers: female sex-role portrayal in television advertisements. A comparative study using content analysis was conducted for television commercials observed in 1977 and in 1980, respectively. Significant changes between these years are noted on a number of dimensions relevant to the way women are represented in television commercials. These changes are also interpreted in a broader historical perspective whenever possible. Both positive and negative changes are noted and discussed.     

Is households’ risk attitude robust to different experimental payoffs?

We compared risk attitudes among rural people in Tanzania and Kenya using an experimental design where payoffs were defined and quantified in maize and milk production. About 42% of the sample revealed different risk attitude between the two payoff types. The difference was mainly explained by household livelihood strategy, geographical location and ethnicity. Hence, appropriate pay-off metrics differ across contexts and different metrics may provide noncomparable results that does not reflect intrinsic risk attitude.     

Estimation of the public benefits of urban water supply improvements in Ethiopia: a choice experiment

Improving existing drinking water supply services in developing countries depends crucially on available financial resources. Cost recovery rates of these services are typically low, while demand for more reliable services is high and rapidly growing. Most stated preference-based demand studies in the developing world apply the contingent valuation method and focus on rural areas. This study examines household Willingness to Pay (WTP) for improved water supply services in a choice experiment in an urban area in Ethiopia, a country with the lowest water supply coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa. The design of the choice experiment allows estimation of the value of both drinking water supply reliability and safety. The estimated economic values can be used in policy appraisals of improved supply investment decisions. Despite significant income constraints, households are willing to pay up to 80% extra for improved levels of water supply over and above their current water bill. Women and households living in the poorest part of the city with the lowest service levels value the improvement of water quality most. As expected, also averting behaviour and expenditures play an important role.     

Who benefits most? The effects of managerial assistance on high- versus low-performing small businesses

This study investigates the relationship between outside managerial assistance and small business performance using a conditional quantile regression approach. The model was tested using a sample of 902 ventures that received managerial or technical assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration's Entrepreneurial Development Resource Partners. Results show that outside assistance for primary business functions, such as marketing strategy, promotional strategy, financial management and general management, is more effective for firms with lower levels of financial performance. Outside assistance for secondary business functions, such as human resources and obtaining capital, is likely to have a greater impact on firms in the middle- to upper-quantile levels. Based on the results, we propose that managerial outside assistance providers should employ different approaches for firms with lower versus higher levels of financial performance.