An Analysis of Country Image of Brazil and Its Fresh Fruits: A Two Scales Comparison

The ever-increasing trade openness has raised the importance of the country image construct. Despite the number of articles published on the image of many countries worldwide, little focus has been paid to Brazil so far. The present study is aimed at measuring the country image of Brazil and its fresh fruits by comparing two different scales, one developed by Pisharodi and Parameswaran (1992) and the other by Nebenzahl, Jaffe, and Usunier (2003). The method used was a cross-sectional one, with the survey being characterized as quantitative and involving the application of questionnaires to 223 students of the Royal Agricultural College in England. The scales yielded five and three strong correlations, respectively. The image of Brazil was found to be negative in the former scale, whereas the latter one showed a positive image. The present research has contributed not only to further the discussion on the existing gap in the literature regarding “country image” but also to provide useful information for both marketing professionals and government agencies with the aim of strengthening the image of Brazil.     

Spurious deterministic seasonality and autocorrelation corrections with quarterly data: Further Monte Carlo results

Following recent work of Franses, Hylleberg and Lee (FHL), this paper analyses the consequences of fitting a deterministic seasonal model to a quarterly time series which can be (at least approximately) described by a seasonal unit root(s) model. Besides the distribution of the coefficient of determination, the empirical distributions of two commonly used statistics are also investigated through Monte Carlo experiments for small, moderately large and large samples. FHL's work is also extended allowing the possibility of residual autocorrelation corrections. The main conclusion that emerges from the results is that one should not try to measure the importance of deterministic seasonality nor test for its presence in the context of such (static) regression models, even when using some form of residual autocorrelation correction. A simple empirical application is provided to illustrate our results. First version received: July 1997/final version received: July 1998     

Decomposing and Analysing the Determinants of Current Accounts’ Cyclicality: Evidence from the Euro Area

Open Economies Review - In this paper, we decompose the current account (CA) balance in 19 Euro area countries into cyclical and non-cyclical components. For the period 1999:Q1 to 2015:Q4, we...     

Publishing? You can count on knowledge,experience, and expectations

Quality & Quantity - The study based on an online survey covering 655 researchers from hard and soft sciences addresses the influence of different conditions on academic publishing. Results...     

Economic growth,public, and private investment returns in 17 OECD economies

Portuguese Economic Journal - We study the macroeconomic effects of public and private investment in 17 OECD economies through a VAR analysis with annual data from 1960 to 2014. From impulse...     

Fiscal Episodes and Market Power

We assess the effect of fiscal episodes, as determined via alternative approaches, on GDP and on markups in a panel of 14 OECD countries. Our results with narrative action-based data show counter-cyclicality since negative fiscal shocks increase markups. Additional empirical exercises reveal that spending-based consolidation programs have a more counter-cyclical effect on the behaviour of markups over the short and medium term than tax-based ones. Moreover, in times of economic contraction the degree of counter-cyclicality of negative (positive) government spending (tax) shocks is larger than during economic expansions.     

The market for certification by external parties: Evidence from underwriting and banking relationships

This paper provides evidence that an underwriter is better able to certify an equity issue if it has a lending relationship with the firm. An announcement of being underwritten by the firm’s lending-relationship bank reduces ex post information asymmetry, thereby improving the announcement return. Further, because this reduction in information asymmetry effectively disseminates what was previously the lending bank’s private information, it decreases its affiliated market maker’s information advantage, thus reducing its contribution to price discovery and liquidity. These results provide evidence on the value of information production and transmission by banks, and more generally on the role of external parties in reducing information asymmetry.     

What do we really know about fiscal sustainability in the EU? A panel data diagnostic

We assess the sustainability of public finances in the EU-15 over the period 1970–2006 using stationarity and cointegration analysis. Specifically, we use panel unit root tests of the first and second generation allowing in some cases for structural breaks. We also apply modern panel cointegration techniques developed by Pedroni (Oxf Bull Econ Stat 61(1):653–670, 1999; Econom Theory 20(3):597–625, 2004), generalized by Banerjee and Carrion-i-Silvestre (Cointegration in panel data with breaks and cross-section dependence, European Central Bank, Working Paper 591, 2006) and Westerlund and Edgerton (Econ Lett 97(3):185–190, 2007), to a structural long-run equation between general government expenditures and revenues. While estimations point to fiscal sustainability being an issue in some countries, fiscal policy was sustainable both for the EU-15 panel set, and within sub-periods (1970–1991 and 1992–2006).     

STATE INCOME TAXES AND MILITARY SERVICE MEMBERS' LEGAL RESIDENCY CHOICES

Using military residency data from 1998 to 2005 across all 50 states, I find that income taxes deter legal residencies and that the effect grows as income increases. My results indicate that states with no income tax or with exemptions for military wages experience 100% and 39% more service member residencies, respectively, than states with an income tax. The influence of state tax policy increases with higher pay and tenure. My findings are in keeping with economic theory, which suggests that high income workers will migrate out of high tax areas and be replaced by low income workers. (JEL H24, H71, J61)     

The Moderating Role of Involvement on the Overchoice Effect in Retail Decision Making

We tested the overchoice effect hypothesis. In the experiments, we manipulated the options in three levels and assessed their impact on the dependent variables. In study 1, we presented 11 vs. 7 vs. 5 drink options to consumers. In study 2, we presented 50 vs. 40 vs. 30 pizza menu options. In Study 3, we presented 16 vs. 12 vs. 8 gum options. The results did not show a main effect of overchoice on the dependent variable, rejecting the overchoice theory. However, the findings supported null empirical finding in the 2010 Scheibehenne, B., Greifeneder, R., & Todd, P. M. (2010). Can there ever be too many options? A meta-analytic review of choice overload. Journal of Consumer Research, 37(2), 135–142. https://doi.org/10.1086/651235  [Google Scholar] meta-analytic study by Scheibehenne, Greifeneder, and Todd. In addition, this article found support for an interactive effect of involvement with the overchoice condition.