Producer Willingness to Pay for Precision Application Technology: Implications for Government and the Technology Industry

This paper focuses on the willingness to pay (WTP) for precision application/site-specific management technologies on the part of agricultural producers. We use a contingent valuation survey to elicit WTP for a package of technologies and examine the impact of government subsidies on potential demand. Results suggest that producer WTP is significantly lower than current technology prices, necessitating a 60% government subsidy to induce adoption, on average. Agronomic factors such as soil characteristic variability and soil quality are important determinants of WTP. In addition, how well the technology integrates into current farming practices and equipment also appears important.     

Directors' Recommendations in Takeovers: An Agency and Governance Analysis

Abstract:   This paper evaluates whether directors of target companies make response recommendations in takeovers which are consistent with the interests of shareholders, by examining the relationship between target director recommendations and associated takeover characteristics and ownership and corporate governance characteristics of target companies. The findings suggest that response recommendations appear to be more closely associated with the self‐interest of directors rather than shareholders' concerns, and that common governance initiatives aimed at aligning the interests of shareholders and managers are ineffective in resolving this agency problem. The results suggest the need for legislative or judicial reforms in Australia to encourage takeover activity and reduce takeover hostility.     

The role of individual personality type in subjective risk elicitation outcomes

Managing uncertainty is an unavoidable challenge in a variety of decision contexts. On many occasions, objective data are not available, necessitating the use of experts. However, research into procedures to elicit and aggregate information from experts is difficult to validate or test empirically. A controlled economic experiment was used to assess subjective probability elicitation accuracy resulting from three alternative elicitation procedures and two aggregation alternatives. The empirical results provide evidence of the impacts of elicitation techniques, distribution type, and personal characteristics such as risk preferences and personality type on subjective risk assessment accuracy. Our conclusion is that experimental approaches hold promise as a technique to assess the forecast accuracy of aggregated subjective probabilities in a variety of contexts.     

Experimental evidence on trading behavior,market efficiency and price formation in double auctions with unknown trading duration

The reasons for the highly efficient market outcomes observed under the double auction remain unclear. This paper presents a series of experimental financial markets designed to investigate the importance of unknown trading period duration on trading behavior and the convergence tendencies of such markets. Using panel data techniques the results support the conclusions that individuals generally display more aggressive trading strategies, trading earlier in a period, and that markets exhibit reduced levels of informational efficiency when unknown duration is present. Markets with imperfect information structures are also studied and, in a unique result, are associated with significantly slower rates of trade, as traders become more cautious over their trading strategies. Investigation of the price formation process provides evidence that the pricing error varies over time and the estimation of a fixed effects model provides unique support that learning effects and unknown trading period duration influence the price formation process. Future refinement of theoretical models of the price formation process or institutions of exchange should recognize the effect of unknown trading period duration on market behavior, along with potential learning effects. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What You Don't Know Can Cost You: A Web-Based Experiment in Price Discrimination

This paper presents a Web-based experiential learning tool to assist instructors in conveying the central principles of price discrimination under asymmetric information. The game allows students to make monopoly-pricing decisions when the characteristics of individual consumers are not known. The Web-based approach allows for involvement by all students in the class and can be used in or out of class as a support for classroom lectures.     

Can Hand Washing Influence Hedonic Food Consumption?

The act of hand washing has been a routine part of hygienic practices across time and society. Aside from its physiological effects, hand washing has also been shown to symbolically cleanse individuals of their transgressions. However, most research demonstrating the metaphorical effect of hand washing has mainly been focused within the domain of morality. The objective of the current research is to explore the role of hand washing on consumption behavior, and more specifically, hedonic food consumption. Across two studies, this article establishes the role of hand washing after hedonic food consumption as well as prior to a hedonic food choice. In Study 1, washing one's hands after consumption of hedonic food decreased perceived guilt. In Study 2, washing one's hands prior to choice led to an increased likelihood of choosing a more hedonic (compared to less hedonic) food item. Thus, by washing one's hands, individuals are provided with a license to indulge in hedonic foods without the guilt that is commonly associated with such a choice. Several implications for consumer behavior research and the effects of hand washing on food decision making are discussed.     

Status inconsistency: an antecedent to bullying behaviour in groups

This paper draws on frameworks developed by the strategic international human resource management (HRM) literature to analyse human resource practices in foreign-invested enterprises in China and their affiliates. It argues that such strategies can be best understood in the context of global commodity chains. Drawing on data from a study of 27 China-based enterprises in two industries, garments and consumer electronics, it contests that strategy is a good determinant of HRM policies. Moreover, most of the enterprises are following cost reduction strategies but with certain quality levels, based on standardized mature products and production processes. Industry sector is also important, as is the institutional milieu of China.