Do preferences for charitable giving help auctioneers?

Preferences for charitable giving in auctions can be modeled by assuming that bidders receive additional utility proportional to the revenue raised by an auctioneer. The theory of bidding in the presence of such preferences results in a very counterintuitive prediction which is that, in many cases, bidders having preferences for charitable giving does not lead to a substantial revenue advantage for an auctioneer. We test this theory and this prediction with a series of experiments. In one experiment we induce charitable preferences exactly as specified in the model to see if bidders respond to them as predicted. We find that they do. We then conduct a second experiment in which the revenue from the auctions is donated to actual charities to verify the robustness of the prediction when charitable preferences are generated by a more natural source and find again that the theoretical prediction holds: even strong charitable preferences do not result in substantial revenue increases to the auctioneer.     

Institutional Matrices Theory,or X- and Y-Theory: A Response to F. Gregory Hayden

This article draws attention to issues about the institutional matrices theory (IMT) as perceived by and raised in the article by F. Gregory Hayden. To clarify the “controversial” points, I structure my response narrative along two lines. First, I present the prehistory of IMT, or X- and Y- theory, including earlier work by scientists related to the concept of institutional matrix. I connect the development of the actual IMT with the period of “perestroika” and the associated market experiments and reforms in Russia and Eastern European countries. One could see that the effects of market reforms in Russia were different in comparison with other countries in economic transition. I show that the institutional approach was accepted as more relevant to understanding the unexpected results in Russian society. I present IMT as a development of the ideas of Karl Polanyi and Douglas North to answer the challenges of explaining the real social and economic processes in Russia, as well as its wider application to a broader range of economic and social situations in different countries. Second, I then present the main IMT theses, giving special attention to the issues as perceived and raised by Hayden. In conclusion, I suggest the possibility of a joint project that combines IMT consideration and the social fabric matrix (SFM) concept of F. Gregory Hayden.     

Brand defection in a business-to-business financial service

This research examines the reasons for brand defection in a business-to-business financial service. Three cross-sectional studies examine customers who ceased using a brand in the previous month. The research shows that about 60% of brand defection occurs for reasons that brand managers cannot influence, such as business closure or head office decisions. Hence, retention strategies can have a maximum success rate of 40%. Furthermore, most defection within this 40% relates to dissatisfaction with fees and charges, or the attractiveness of competitors' offers. These reasons limit what brand managers can do to retain these customers other than just matching competitors' offers. On the other hand, most customers who defect because of price issues or reasons beyond management control still have a positive attitude towards their former brand and are likely to consider this brand for future purchases. Only 4% of lapsed customers defect because of service service-related issues. These customers are less positive about their former brand, compared to other lapsed customers. The research provides implications for investments in customer acquisition versus customer retention.     

Benchmarking CVB website performance: Spatial and structural patterns

This study evaluated 967 U.S. CVB websites using a modified Balanced Scorecard (mBSC) approach which assesses website performance with respect to overall technical functionality, customer friendliness and usability, effectiveness of marketing the destination, and information content. Spatial maps were constructed for these four dimensions and overall CVB website performance using ArcMap v.9.2 GIS software. A structural pattern of CVB website performance was obtained using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). It was concluded that CVB websites primarily need improvement in marketing the destination product. The analysis revealed significant differences in website performance between members and non-members of Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) as well as regional differences. Study implications for destination marketing organizations and CVB website designers are discussed.     

Cultural and macroeconomic determinants of cash holdings management

This study examines patterns in cash management, particularly cash holdings speed of adjustment (CH‐SOA), across 48 countries. I find that managerial cultural characteristics and country‐level macroeconomic factors influence the persistence of cash reserve levels, deviation from target, and the speed with which firms in different countries adjust their cash holdings. The findings support the idea that agency costs as well as market frictions influence CH‐SOA and other aspects of cash management. The findings are robust to the inclusion of a wide range of firm‐level characteristics, country‐level corporate‐governance variables, and an alternative cultural index.     

WORK INCENTIVES OF MEDICAID BENEFICIARIES AND THE ROLE OF ASSET TESTING

Should asset testing be used in means‐tested programs? Focusing on Medicaid, we show that in the asymmetric information environment, there is a positive role for asset testing. Our tool is a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents. We find that 23% of Medicaid enrollees do not work in order to be eligible. These distortions are costly: If Medicaid eligibility could be linked to (unobservable) productivity, this results in substantial welfare gains. We show that asset testing can achieve a similar outcome when asset limits are allowed to be different for workers and nonworkers.     

Optimal stopping made easy

This paper presents a simple discrete time model for valuing real options. A short and simple proof of optimal exercise rules for the standard problems in the real options theory is given in the binomial and trinomial models, and, more generally, when the underlying uncertainty is modelled as a random walk on a lattice. The method of the paper is based on the use of the expected present value operators. With straightforward modifications, the method works in discrete time-continuous space, continuous time-continuous space and continuous time-discrete space models.     

Introduction: Transitional economies and changing notions of accounting and accountability

This paper explores the issue of the true and fair view (TFV) and the overriding principle within the European Union (EU), via a legally based analysis of the relationship between EU and national laws. We apply the supremacy of European law to methods of incorporating the TFV into national legislation, using Austria as a detailed case study, showing that all countries – maybe against their original intention – either have an override (as does Austria, contrary to the prevailing local opinion) or have failed to honour their EU commitments. As part of our argument, we explain the importance of the Roman law teleological principle in legal application and interpretation, as is well known in Continental countries. We show that the effect of the UK TFV override is in principle exactly analogous, only arguably even more powerful, which is not at all well known in Anglo-Saxon countries. We suggest reasons why the status quo ante in particular countries may be adhered to, and generalise the implications of our arguments.     

Ecotourism experiences reported online: Classification of satisfaction attributes

This study proposed a quantitative method for evaluating ecotourism experiences reported online by U.S. travelers to Costa Rica. The user-generated content (UGC) used in this study was 373 reviews extracted from TripAdvisor^®. By applying the content analysis technique, 26 attributes that influence ecotourists’ satisfaction with their ecolodge stays were identified and further aggregated into seven categories: ecolodge settings, room, nature, service, food, location, and value for money. A two-step non-parametric statistical procedure was developed to quantitatively support the classification of attributes into satisfiers, dissatisfiers, criticals, and neutrals, the typology first proposed by Cadotte and Turgeon [(1988). Dissatisfiers and satisfiers: suggestions from consumer complaints and compliments. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 1(1), 74-79]. The proposed procedure is considered an original contribution of the article to the literature. The authors hope that the results from this study can be useful to ecolodge managers to evaluate performance in critical areas and develop strategies to maximize customer satisfaction through better utilization of limited resources.     

The price of sanctions: An empirical analysis of German export losses due to the Russian agricultural ban

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the vivid political discussion on the consequences of the Russian agricultural import ban on the German export market by quantifying export losses that German agri-food exporters encountered on the Russian market due to the agricultural import ban of 2014. A gravity-type approach is used to measure the sanction effect in a panel of German agri-food exports covering the period from January 1999 to June 2018. The ban effect is disentangled from a sequence of different geopolitically- and economically driven episodes. Once macroeconomic developments of the Russian economy as well as individual stages of decreasing trade cooperation in the preban period are accounted for, the import ban reduced German agri-food exports significantly but was not the major cause. Therefore, a simple elimination of the ban will not be enough to restore trade to the presanctions level.