Determinants and outcomes of superstitious beliefs: a multi-study approach

ABSTRACT

Two studies grounded in experiential consumption theory – law of apparent reality and model of emotion-driven choice – test path models exploring determinants and outcomes of superstitious beliefs. Based on a survey of 218 US undergraduates, Study#1 suggests yearning-for-the-past as an antecedent of superstitious beliefs, which in turn relates positively to horoscope importance. Based on a survey of 247 US adults, Study#2 again shows yearning-for-the-past as a determinant of superstitious beliefs and explores previously untested superstitious belief consequences. Study#2 results imply resistance-to-change, buying-brands-due-to-family-traditions, obsessiveness, and intention-to-buy-luck-laden-products, as outcomes that relate positively to superstitious beliefs. These studies extend the consumer behaviour literature on nostalgia, superstition, and resistance to novelty.     

The Role of Physically Active Leisure for Enhancing Quality of Life

Drawing upon bottom-up theory of life satisfaction, this study develops and tests a model that links physically active leisure to people's quality of life. Results from a sample of 827 running event participants revealed that satisfaction with event participation and psychological involvement in running were significant predictors of participants’ life domain satisfaction and overall life satisfaction, both of which are common subjective indicators of quality of life. Conversely, behavioral involvement in running was a non-significant predictor of life domain satisfaction and overall life satisfaction. These findings suggest that physically active leisure may enhance participants’ quality of life by providing positive experiences through event participation and contributing to psychological involvement in physical activity.     

Description, modelling and forecasting of data with optimal wavelets

Cascade processes have been used to model many different self-similar systems, as they are able to accurately describe most of their global statistical properties. The so-called optimal wavelet basis allows to achieve a geometrical representation of the cascade process-named microcanonical cascade- that describes the behavior of local quantities and thus it helps to reveal the underlying dynamics of the system. In this context, we study the benefits of using the optimal wavelet in contrast to other wavelets when used to define cascade variables, and we provide an optimality degree estimator that is appropriate to determine the closest-to-optimal wavelet in real data. Particularizing the analysis to stock market series, we show that they can be represented by microcanonical cascades in both the logarithm of the price and the volatility. Also, as a promising application in forecasting, we derive the distribution of the value of next point of the series conditioned to the knowledge of past points and the cascade structure, i.e., the stochastic kernel of the cascade process.     

International competition policy and telecommunications. Lessons from the EU and prospects for the WTO

The changes in the international telecommunications market are rapidly outgrowing the existing structure of regulation. Moreover the trends in the sector indicate that if the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rule is to be viable some form of international competition policy is needed. This must tackle the difficult problems of market access, joint ventures and anticompetitive behaviour and most importantly prevent the different approaches to these problems leading to trade frictions, especially in the USA. Such rules have proved difficult, but not necessarily impossible, to develop as the stalled talks within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have shown. The paper considers the possible relevance of developments within EU telecommunications regulation where a competition policy-led regime is emerging.     

Canadian Exports of Livestock and Meat to the United States

Canadian exports of beef and live cattle to the United States have increased significantly since the late 1980s. Hog and pork exports have increased since the mid-1990s. Major factors affecting exports of beef, pork, cattle and hogs from Canada to the United States include the exchange rate, increased Canadian production, Canada-U.S. price differentials and trade liberalization under the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement of 1989. Increased Canadian exports have resulted in small but significant reductions in U.S. domestic prices of beef, pork and hogs.     

What Is an Asset Price Bubble? An Operational Definition

This paper reviews and analyses the current definitions of bubbles in asset prices. It makes the case that one cannot identify a bubble immediately, but one has to wait a sufficient amount of time to determine whether the previous prices can be justified by subsequent cash flows. The paper proposes an operational definition of a bubble as any time the realised asset return over given future period is more than two standard deviations from its expected return. Using this framework, the paper shows how the great crash of 1929 and 1987—both periods generally characterised as bubbles—prove not to be bubbles but the low point in stock prices in 1932 is a 'negative bubble.' The paper then extends this analysis to the internet stocks and concludes that it is virtually certain that it is a bubble.     

Trends in University Ag-Biotech Patent Production

This work exploits information on U.S. patents to identify trends in university ag-biotech patenting and citation performance. It sets forth some key issues concerning patterns of university ag-biotech patenting and then provides an empirical analysis of the evolving trends. Land grant universities account for most U.S. ag-biotech patents. The data show a path-dependent innovation pattern, in which there also seems to be a culture of patenting that develops at certain universities. Evidence shows that ag-biotech patents are more cited than the average university patent. Inequalities across land grant universities are also evident in the production of ag-biotech patents, although perhaps not to a much greater degree than underlying inequalities in funding and research qualities. The paper closes by considering how the evidence offered might be used to advance the public discussion regarding trends in agricultural biotechnology research in the United States.