Paradigm Shifts in Economic Theory and Policy

In most countries, mainstream economic policy has not yet undergone any significant change, and there is little consensus on what, if anything, ought to replace it. However, there are some signs of an emerging transition, at several levels.     

Multilevel Information Presentation Strategy and Customer Reaction: An Empirical Investigation in an Online Setting

This study investigates the use of polyinstantiated information in management of customer relationships. Polyinstantiation can be used to present different information to different customers who are segmented according to some criterion, such as prior purchase behavior. An empirical study shows that presentation of multilevel benefits information affects customer satisfaction with the offer and information quality which, in turn, affect the overall Web satisfaction. This effect is independent of and comparable in size to the effect of customer prior attitude toward the Web and the Internet. Although the present study employs a Web-based retail setting, the relationships between this information presentation approach and measures of user/consumer satisfaction need not be limited to retail scenarios or to online interactions. We discuss the applicability of this technique of information control to different types of interactions between organizations and their constituents.     

Housing finance reform: the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Business Economics - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been in conservatorship for over a decade. In September 2019, the U.S. Treasury proposed a plan to release the Government Sponsored Enterprises,...     

Trade liberalization,consumption shifting and pollution: Evidence from Mexico's used vehicle imports

This paper develops a model of used vehicle trade between the United States and Mexico, countries with different environmental regulations regarding vehicle emissions. We demonstrate that the United States, with its strict environmental regulations, has a motive to export used vehicles to Mexico, which impacts air pollution emissions from vehicle driving in Mexico. Using unique data on the import and registration of vehicles in Mexico after NAFTA, we find that Mexico's used vehicle imports reduce pollution emissions generated from vehicle driving mainly because of the technique effect, that is, model–age‐comparable vehicles imported from the United States emit less than those originally operated in Mexico.     

Integral decision analysis in mutually exclusive capital investment projects. Case study: Hard Rock Cafe at Riviera Maya

Brands that have worldwide recognition are perceived as profitable businesses. One of the reasons for this perception might lie in the belief that these companies usually employ some degree of financial evaluation to make the right choice in terms of investment; Hard Rock Cafe is no exception. The brand opened one restaurant in the Riviera Maya in 2011 which closed within nine months. Could a better investment decision have been made if the Hard Rock Cafe Mexico management had followed the Integral Decision Analysis (IDA) method? This method gives decision-makers a chance to analyze mutually exclusive capital budgeting projects. The case study illustrates the type of elements that the model can yield, it provides a brief explanation on how this process could have been used by the Hard Rock Cafe management and it offers an explanation on how this knowledge might have helped in supporting a final investment decision. In conclusion, the IDA method used to analyze this project might reduce the risks in capital investments.     

Existence,uniqueness, and stability of optimal payoffs of eligible assets

In a capital adequacy framework, risk measures are used to determine the minimal amount of capital that a financial institution has to raise and invest in a portfolio of prespecified eligible assets in order to pass a given capital adequacy test. From a capital efficiency perspective, it is important to be able to do so at the lowest possible cost and to identify the corresponding portfolios, or, equivalently, their payoffs. We study the existence and uniqueness of such optimal payoffs as well as their behavior under a perturbation or an approximation of the underlying capital position. This behavior is naturally linked to the continuity properties of the set‐valued map that associates to each capital position the corresponding set of optimal eligible payoffs. Upper continuity can be ensured under fairly natural assumptions. Lower continuity is typically less easy to establish. While it is always satisfied in a polyhedral setting, it generally fails otherwise, even when the reference risk measure is convex. However, lower continuity can often be established for eligible payoffs that are close to being optimal. Besides capital adequacy, our results have a variety of natural applications to pricing, hedging, and capital allocation problems.     

Adolescent brand consciousness and product placements: awareness,liking and perceived effects on self and others

Product placements in entertainment media are increasing, particularly in content targeted to adolescents. This marketing communication tactic is examined in the context of media socialization and individual differences in brand consciousness. The relative influence of commercial media (TV, radio, movies, online) and perceived peer and parent brand consciousness on US adolescent brand consciousness is assessed, as well as differences in how low and high brand‐conscious adolescents view product placements. Awareness, liking and perceived effects of product placements on self and others (third‐person perception) were measured. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses show that movies and perceived parent and peer brand consciousness were positively related to adolescent brand consciousness. Those adolescents considered to be highly brand‐conscious were also those who were most aware of and favourable towards product placements. All adolescents demonstrated third‐person perception of media effects in that they considered others to be more influenced by product placements than themselves, with peers influenced more than friends. Highly brand‐conscious teens perceived the greatest effects of product placements on their own and others’ buying behaviours, yet low brand‐conscious teens revealed the largest gap in perceptions of impact on self vs. peers. The results are discussed in view of media effects; ramifications for marketers and public policy makers are also appraised.     

Saturdays of leisure and memories … : The Mexican market ‘La Pulga’ in the San Joaquin Valley (California)

This research note aims to explore the links between food, memory, nostalgia and leisure through a series of weekly visits to an itinerant Mexican market in the United States. Taking an ethnographic approach to the market of La Pulga held in the city of Merced in California’s San Joaquin Valley, we consider how, in the Mexican–American transnational context, this market provides an opportunity for Mexican migrants to interact with other Mexican people, recreating similar social dynamics displayed in traditional food markets in Mexico. We argue that as well as being a food supply centre, this market may be viewed as a space in which Mexican migrants seek to recreate their homeland and to enjoy an alternative leisure experience. Thus, the visit to the market may be observed as a complex activity in which the senses, the social interactions between Mexican migrants and the consumption of food in a festive setting play a central role in enabling these migrants to break with their everyday lives. Likewise, we suggest that the visit to the market every Saturday not only constitutes a leisure activity, but also serves to construct the ethnic and collective migratory identity that links Mexican migrants with their homeland.