The Japanese Automobile Tyre Industry under Scrutiny

This paper investigates the evolution of competition in the Japanese tyre market from 1976 to 2010 (35 years). An innovative measure of competition developed by Jan Boone is employed, as well as traditional competition indices and price–cost margin regressions, using accounting data at the firm level. Traditional indicators such as the concentration ratio and Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) suggest a very high market concentration. However, regressions using the two Boone measures and price–cost margin suggest that some competitive behavior in the Japanese tyre industry exists. By introducing dummy variables for the Sumitomo–Ohtsu merger and antimonopoly action by the Japan Fair Trade Commission, the Boone-style regressions also suggest that the merger had no impact, but the cartel breakup did have a statistically significant (p < 0.1) impact on firm’s profitability in this oligopolistic market.     

Willingness to pay for electric vehicles and their attributes

This article presents a stated preference study of electric vehicle choice using data from a national survey. We used a choice experiment wherein 3029 respondents were asked to choose between their preferred gasoline vehicle and two electric versions of that preferred vehicle. We estimated a latent class random utility model and used the results to estimate the willingness to pay for five electric vehicle attributes: driving range, charging time, fuel cost saving, pollution reduction, and performance. Driving range, fuel cost savings, and charging time led in importance to respondents. Individuals were willing to pay (wtp) from $35 to $75 for a mile of added driving range, with incremental wtp per mile decreasing at higher distances. They were willing to pay from $425 to $3250 per hour reduction in charging time (for a 50 mile charge). Respondents capitalized about 5 years of fuel saving into the purchase price of an electric vehicle. We simulated our model over a range of electric vehicle configurations and found that people with the highest values for electric vehicles were willing to pay a premium above their wtp for a gasoline vehicle that ranged from $6000 to $16,000 for electric vehicles with the most desirable attributes. At the same time, our results suggest that battery cost must drop significantly before electric vehicles will find a mass market without subsidy.     

CONSUMER PREFERENCE FOR PST-SUPPLEMENT PORK

Conjoint measurement was used to determine consumer preference for fresh pork produced with genetically engineered porcine somatotropin (pST). A preference model was constructed based on three pork attributes, degree of fat reduction, price, and production technology, which allowed for interactions between attributes to be estimated. Interview surveys were used to collect data in several shopping centres in three Australian cities. Respondents generally preferred leaner pST-supplemented pork, but only at fat reduction levels greater than those possible with conventionally produced pork, and at competitive prices.     

Shackle,nihilism, and the subject of economics ∗

Shackle's economic theories have frequently been labelled ‘nihilistic’, and thus of dubious interest to economists. An examination of this charge reveals it to be meaningless. Through focusing on Nietzsche’s diagnosis of nihilism, it is ossible to conclude that mainstream economics, through appealing to models and concepts explicitly acknowledged to be fictitious, itself denies reality and life, and is thus nihilistic. However, desite suggestions, Shackle is ultimately unable to overcome the nihilistic tenencies of mainstream economic theories. Shackle identifies the individual subject as the source of knowledge, yet identifies the subject as analogous to an object, hence replicating the cause of nihilism.