Anchoring and cognitive ability

We find that the actual willingness to pay for various consumer goods can be manipulated by an uninformative anchor, replicating Ariely et al. (2003). We furthermore demonstrate that the anchoring effect decreases but does not vanish with higher cognitive ability.     

Is There a Hold‐up Problem?

We report on a hold‐up experiment in which unilateral investment is followed by bilateral bargaining according to Nash’s demand game. Without communication, investment is low and coordination is poor. Unilateral communication facilitates coordination, but not perfectly. Successful coordination predominantly entails “fair” outcomes. Perhaps surprisingly, sellers (investors) do at least as well under buyer communication as under seller communication.     

What consumers want and what they get from complaints directed at the place of purchase

A Danish survey with 1,003 respondents, reporting in detail on 278 cases of complaints to the place of purchase of a product or service, shows that consumers with a short education obtain as good results from complaining as do consumers with a longer education. They also have the same propensity to complain in case of dissatisfaction.The bias among complainers therefore seems to be associated with the fact that consumers with short education have a much smaller propensity to be dissatisfied.

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Was Verbraucher von Reklamationen im Geschäft erwarten und was sie tatsächlich erhalten

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag berichtet über eine für Dänemark repräsentative Studie mit 1003 Befragten und 278 Fällen von Reklamationen bei Gütern oder Dienstleistungen. Dabei zeigt sich, daß Verbraucher mit niedrigerer Bildung ebenso gute Ergebnisse bei Reklamationen erzielen wie Verbraucher mit höherer Bildung. Tabelle 4 faßt die erwarteten und erzielten Ergebnisse in Form einer Kreuztabelle zusammen. Auf Grund dieser Daten können drei verschiedene Fallgruppen unterschieden werden.1. Fälle, wo die Reklamation zu dem erwarteten Ergebnis führte.2. Fälle, wo die Reklamation nicht zu dem erwarteten, aber auch zu einem Ergebnis führte.3. Fälle, wo die Reklamation ganz ohne Erfolg blieb.Bei den Gruppen 1. und 3. war der Anteil von Beschwerdeführern mit einer Schulbildung bis zu 9 Jahren 31% bzw. 32%.Tabelle 3 zeigt, daß die Bereitschaft zur Reklamation nicht von der Länge der Schulbildung abhängt, wenn ein Kauf zu subjektiver Unzufriedenheit geführt hat.Wie Tabelle 2 zeigt, liegt das Problem vielmehr darin, daß Verbraucher mit kürzerer Bildung in geringerem Ausmaße Unzufriedenheit empfinden als Verbraucher mit höherer Bildung.

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Preben Sander Kristensen is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Production, Aalborg University, Postbox 159, DK-9100 Aalborg, Denmark. Participants in the Danish CS/D project are C. S. Poulsen, H. Vestergaard, A. J. Wiis, and P. S. Kristensen.     

Estimation of dynamic models with nonparametric simulated maximum likelihood

We propose an easy-to-implement simulated maximum likelihood estimator for dynamic models where no closed-form representation of the likelihood function is available. Our method can handle any simulable model without latent dynamics. Using simulated observations, we nonparametrically estimate the unknown density by kernel methods, and then construct a likelihood function that can be maximized. We prove that this nonparametric simulated maximum likelihood (NPSML) estimator is consistent and asymptotically efficient. The higher-order impact of simulations and kernel smoothing on the resulting estimator is also analyzed; in particular, it is shown that the NPSML does not suffer from the usual curse of dimensionality associated with kernel estimators. A simulation study shows good performance of the method when employed in the estimation of jump-diffusion models.     

Industrial Policy and Firm Heterogeneity

Our concern in this paper is with firm-specific industrial policy. When R&D subsidies or taxes are differentiated among firms, the question arises as to which firms in an industry should receive such support. We analyze a situation where firms differ in their R&D technologies in two distinct ways: in the costs of performing R&D activities and in the output obtained from such activities. We find that the optimal firm-specific industrial policy is affected differently by the two sources of firm heterogeneity. Furthermore, a change in a firm's R&D productivity has an ambiguous effect on the optimal policy towards the firm.
JEL classification: O 31; L 52; F 13     

Einzelbesprechungen

Ohne ZusammenfassungAus dem Italienischen übersetzt von Dr. R. MeyerAus dem Italienischen übersetzt von Dr. R. Meyer, WienAus dem Englischen übersetzt von Alexander Gerschenkron, WienAus dem Russischen übersetzt von Dr. Alexander Gerschenkron, Wien     

Can limits-to-arbitrage from bounded storage improve commodity term-structure modeling?

This paper develops and estimates a two-factor competitive storage model for the purpose of pricing commodity futures. The empirical relevance of the model is evaluated for US natural gas and crude oil futures by comparing the pricing performance to reduced form models. Results suggest jump models, both reduced form and economic, improve modeling due to incorporating pricing discontinuities. Furthermore, the economic model precludes carry arbitrage, which appears relevant for pricing natural gas futures. For crude oil, the reduced form models produce superior pricing under nonstationary market conditions, and the economic model produces superior long-dated futures pricing under stationarity.     

Maximum likelihood estimation of partially observed diffusion models

This paper develops a maximum likelihood (ML) method to estimate partially observed diffusion models based on data sampled at discrete times. The method combines two techniques recently proposed in the literature in two separate steps. In the first step, the closed form approach of Aït-Sahalia (2008) is used to obtain a highly accurate approximation to the joint transition probability density of the latent and the observed states. In the second step, the efficient importance sampling technique of Richard and Zhang (2007) is used to integrate out the latent states, thereby yielding the likelihood function. Using both simulated and real data, we show that the proposed ML method works better than alternative methods. The new method does not require the underlying diffusion to have an affine structure and does not involve infill simulations. Therefore, the method has a wide range of applicability and its computational cost is moderate.     

Strengths and Weaknesses of Crosscompliance in the CAP

Cross-compliance has increasingly been used to integrate environmental considerations into the CAP. From 2005 it became compulsory for all Member States to ensure that recipients of Single Farm Payments adhered to Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs), stemming from 19 EU regulations and directives, and kept their whole agricultural holding in 'Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition' (GAEC), to be defined by Member States or regional authorities. The potential for cross-compliance to enhance implementation of EU environmental legislation and reach a large area of farmland seems good, although there are some questions remaining over whether it will reach the agricultural land at most risk of environmental damage or with the highest nature value. In addition, farmers could react in several ways to exempt themselves or some area of their holding from cross-compliance conditions. Member States or regional authorities have taken a variety of approaches to setting cross-compliance standards, some of which seem minimal and vague. There is scope for the SMRs and GAEC to cover more environmental issues. Better guidance at EU level and increased communication could enhance implementation of cross-compliance. Self-audits, co-operation with private assurance schemes or other methods of monitoring should be explored to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of administrative efforts.     

Commissioning Design: Evidence from the Furniture Industry

Design is defined as a strategic competency that can be utilized in order to create new objects, artifacts (i.e. products), systems and services, starting with some idea about customer needs. Since the products and services from the design process are of strategic importance to the company, design knowledge itself can become a strategic asset. Although one might expect design to be an internal resource from the point of view of transaction costs, most companies only possess some design competencies and acquire creative design skills from design consultants. The important issue is how they delineate what is strategic and what is not strategic, but skills. The article is based on two case studies from the furniture industry in which the companies have found different solutions. In the paper we therefore explain the differences in terms of the resource-based view on strategy. This indicates different conceptions of design resources, operating in different, but comparable contexts.