The framing of risks and the communication of subjective probabilities for victimizations

What does ??likely?? mean, when respondents estimate the risk to become a victim of crime? Victimization risks can either be interpreted as gains (??being spared of offences??) or as losses (??becoming a victim of crime??). Because losses are perceived as more severe, respondents will state lower subjective victimization probabilities in the loss-frame, compared to the gain-frame. We demonstrate such a framing-effect with data from an experimental survey. Furthermore, we show that the meaning of vague quantifiers varies with the frequency and the severity of the event. Respondents assign to the same vague quantifiers (e.g. ??unlikely??) higher likelihoods in terms of percentages for frequent and for less severe events than for infrequent and for severe events. In conclusion, respondents do not use vague quantifiers consistently so that it is problematic to compare subjective risks for different victimizations.     

Trade liberalization and the skill premium in developing economies

Empirical evidence shows that while the skill premium narrowed in some developing countries following trade liberalization, it widened in others, or even exhibited non-monotonic behavior. This paper studies a simple dynamic general equilibrium trade model in which differences in initial conditions across developing countries play a key role in explaining the variety of skill premium behaviors. Differences in initial conditions in terms of skilled labor and physical capital emerge in the model due to differences in trade policies. The model can generate non-monotonic behavior for the skill premium following trade liberalization.     

Estimated participation in U.S. carbon sequestration programs: A study of NIPF landowners in Massachusetts

Although carbon sequestration programs for non-industrial forestland owners in Massachusetts are being developed, very little is known about the program attributes of importance to different types of landowners or the likelihood that landowners will participate in any given program. This study estimates the probability that Massachusetts landowners will participate in several carbon offset programs using data from a survey of 3000 Massachusetts forestland owners. Results from an ordered logit discrete choice model suggest that the likelihood of enrollment in most programs is quite low. Landowners are clearly motivated by economic factors, but other aspects of carbon sequestration may also be important in their decision making.     

Author/Abstract Index

Abstract

This study assesses consumer perceptions of advertising messages for two proenvironmental products by examining the effectiveness of environmental versus personal benefit appeals and .99 versus .00 price endings. The authors borrow from Prospect Theory and Mental Accounting Theory to explain consumers' perceptions of psychological pricing and product attributes. In addition, the moderating role of environmental skepticism is assessed as it relates to the effectiveness of environmentally friendly advertisements. Results indicate that consumers feel that some products advertised with environmental appeals are more costly, but are not perceived as lower quality as compared with products advertised with personal benefits. Findings also indicate a price ending × appeal interaction for two different products, but the effects vary between the products. Finally, environmental skepticism is found to moderate perceptions of the message appeal. Implications are provided.     

Understanding Consumer Response to Sponsorship Information: A Resource‐Matching Approach

Sponsorship of sporting teams and events has become an increasingly popular form of corporate and brand communication. Despite the continued growth of sponsorship spending, the corresponding literature base is highly fragmented and little agreement exists related to the psychological mechanisms underlying response. This paper integrates several prominent sponsorship research streams in promoting a “resource‐matching” perspective of cognitive elaboration and attitude change. This research holds that in the absence of clear functional fit between sponsor and event, identifying a basis for sponsor–event fit is likely to require some degree of cognitive effort. The results indicate stronger social identification with the sponsored event influences the favorability they attribute to sponsor motives and promotes stronger perceptions of fit between the sponsor and the sponsored activity. Further, the results indicate fit perceptions mediate the relationship between attribution and sponsorship response. Consistent with ELM theory, when cognitive resources are insufficient for the complexity of the fit‐matching task, social identification may still act as a peripheral cue in driving a positive affective response to sponsorship information.     

PERSPECTIVES ON ADVERTISING RESEARCH: Views from Winners of the American Academy of Advertising Outstanding Contribution to Research Award

To gather insights about the current state and future directions of advertising research, as well as to obtain a glimpse of its evolvement over time, testimony was compiled from experts in the field. The experts were selected from individuals who have won the American Academy of Advertising Outstanding Contribution to Research Award. Their responses provide a chronicle of advertising research that is marked by thoughtful observation, personal introspection, and careful speculation. This paper represents a snapshot of advertising research that is panoramic and clear due to the diversity and contemporaneous comments of the participants. Summary comments are offered that bring attention to general themes that emerge from the contributors' thoughts. It is hoped that this paper will serve as a signpost and catalyst for advertising research both now and in the years to come.     

Agriculture and aggregation

We study the shape of the aggregate production function in the presence of land-intensive agriculture. The traditional Cobb–Douglas formulation is corrected to include a “diversification component.” The implied TFP differences across countries are larger than what Solow residuals suggest.     

Meeting user information needs: The impact of major changes in FASB and GASB standards on financial reporting by colleges and universities

This longitudinal study reports the impact of changes in generally accepted accounting principles on financial statement disclosures for 100 public and private institutions of higher education. Disclosures from the period when all colleges and universities followed the same accounting standards are compared with disclosures in periods after major changes in accounting and reporting standards were made by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) for private institutions and by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) for public institutions. We find that an importance-weighted disclosure index shows that user needs are better met using the new reporting standards for public but not private institutions. An expanded unweighted index, however, shows improvement for both public and private colleges and universities. Using this disclosure index, the improvement for universities reporting under GASB standards exceeded the improvement for those reporting under FASB standards.     

Defining and Understanding Communications Planning: A Current Assessment and an Exploratory Study

This article discusses the concept of communications planning (CP), an approach adopted by Procter & Gamble. One of the basic goals of CP is to make every consumer touch point a unique one so that messages are carefully and specifically targeted. Another goal of CP is to develop an industry-wide approach to measuring ROI so that advertisers have the ability to compare and contrast the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. This article introduces the topic of CP, assesses its role in the advertising and marketing environment and presents the results of an exploratory study. The findings suggest that although some agencies have heard of the concept and a few are actually applying it, CP is an approach that is currently limited in its use. Despite this finding, results also indicate that the basic idea of CP will be accepted and implemented in the future.