‘So,what is it? And do I like it?’ New product categorisation and the formation of consumer implicit attitude

Prior literature on knowledge transfer learning suggests that cognitive effort is required to categorise new products and to develop attitudes toward them. This study investigates whether a single exposure to category-related cues of a new product can trigger successful categorisation and lead to attitude formation. A total of 250 respondents were confronted with a fictitious new product, in condition of either high- or low-attention devoted to the new product. We found that a single exposure to category-related cues of a new product not only led to the participants’ categorisation of the new product into the targeted category independently of the attention level, but also shaped their implicit and explicit attitudes toward the new product. However, a minimum level of attention was required to observe the formation of implicit attitudes while explicit attitudes were not fully developed.     

Innovation in the Shadow of Patent Litigation

We analyze non-cooperative R&D investment by two firms that already hold patents that they can assert against each other with probabilistic success. The market structure results from stochastic innovation and patent litigation. Depending on the level of infringement fees, we highlight positive and negative effects of litigation threats on innovation. We define an appropriate regulatory structure of infringement fees that will implement socially efficient R&D investments in the case of symmetric and asymmetric patent portfolios.     

A longitudinal content analysis of gender role portrayal in Belgian television advertising

This study explores gender role portrayal in advertisements broadcasted on Belgian commercial television. We gathered a sample of 493 commercials (featuring 907 characters) randomly selected out of two periods (January 2002–April 2003, n = 250 and January 2009–April 2010, n = 243) from a database containing all advertisements broadcasted on Belgian commercial television. A content analysis was carried out using a coding scheme based on existing literature. Content categories included gender of the characters, gender roles (i.e. parental, housekeeping and professional expert) and sexual objectification. Hypotheses predicted that men and women would be represented differently in television advertising, and that these differences would reflect traditional gender stereotypes. Moreover, due to regulatory changes, we hypothesize that these differences should decrease over time. Results are largely in accordance with the existing literature. Women tend to be depicted as younger and are portrayed more often within dependent roles as caregiving parent, housewife or as sexual objects than men. A longitudinal analysis of role portrayal changes across two periods within and between genders indicates little change in gender role portrayals in Belgian television advertising between 2002–2003 and 2009–2010. Despite social and regulatory changes, gender stereotypes in advertising seem to persist over time.     

Solving the incomplete markets model with aggregate uncertainty using parameterized cross-sectional distributions

This note describes how the incomplete markets model with aggregate uncertainty in Den Haan et al. [Comparison of solutions to the incomplete markets model with aggregate uncertainty. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, this issue] is solved using standard quadrature and projection methods. This is made possible by linking the aggregate state variables to a parameterized density that describes the cross-sectional distribution. A simulation procedure is used to find the best shape of the density within the class of approximating densities considered. This note compares several simulation procedures in which there is—as in the model—no cross-sectional sampling variation.     

Macroeconomic implications of financial policy

This paper studies the effects of financial policy in a model with heterogeneous agents, incomplete markets and portfolio restrictions. For an economy calibrated to replicate key aspects of the U.S. wealth distribution, we find that the quantitative effects of financial policy are relatively small. The reason is that the households determining aggregate behavior are relatively well insured and can therefore offset the actions of the firm by modifying their portfolio allocations. However, financial policy has important effects on asset prices. Whereas a higher level of debt in the capital structure of the firm introduces more risk into the economy by increasing the volatility of the equity return, it enhances the liquidity of households by increasing the supply of bonds. In an economy with a substantial amount of heterogeneity, this last effect dominates and leverage leads to a decrease in the equity premium. This is in contrast to the findings in representative agent models, in which leverage unambiguously increases the premium through a higher equity return volatility.     

Interactivity and Soft Computing in Portfolio Management: Should Farmers Own Food and Agribusiness Stocks?

This article proposes a fully integrated and interactive elicitation-optimization procedure for portfolio management. A soft computing approach based on fuzzy logic is developed as an alternative to the traditional mean variance model and compromise programming approach. The models are applied to farmers to examine whether they should buy publicly traded food and agribusiness firms stocks rather than invest in a broader market stock portfolio. Results suggest that investments in publicly traded food and agribusiness stocks allow farmers to capture additional benefits beyond those of simply diversifying in the broader market.     

Social networks and labor market transitions

We study the influence of social networks on labor market transitions. We develop the first model where social ties and job status coevolve through time. Our key assumption is that the probability of formation of a new tie is greater between two employed individuals than between an employed and an unemployed individual. We show that this assumption generally generates negative duration dependence of exit rates from unemployment. Our model has a number of novel testable implications. For instance, we show that a higher connectivity among unemployed individuals reduces duration dependence and that exit rates depend positively on the duration of the last job held by the unemployed worker.     

Perceived value of interactive digital textbook and adaptive learning: Implications on student learning effectiveness

The authors studied the perceived value of an interactive digital textbook LearnSmart (McGraw-Hill Education, New York, NY) and examined its implications on adaptive learning and student learning effectiveness. Constructionism and constructivism provided the theoretical foundation. Data were collected from an American public university over three semesters. Multiple regression analysis results show that LearnSmart improves students’ perceived competency and their satisfaction with LearnSmart, thus increasing their perceived value of using LearnSmart. In addition, perceived value of LearnSmart varies across different course delivery formats and devices, while perceived challenge has no influence on perceived value. Pedagogical implications and future research directions are discussed.