Expert opinion and cuisine reputation in the market for restaurant meals

As food is an experience good, the market for restaurant meals is a market where the cost of acquiring information regarding quality is relatively high. In such markets consumers often turn to reputation measures to guide purchase decisions. As Australia does not have a longstanding cuisine style of its own, and given Australia has been open to substantial immigration inflows since federation, it represents an especially appropriate market to study regarding the impact of individual restaurant reputation and collective cuisine reputation on meal prices. The following study uses the hedonic price approach to investigate the implicit price of individual reputation indicators, cuisine type reputation indicators and other objective indicators in the market for restaurant meals. The empirical findings presented suggest that both individual restaurant reputation and cuisine type reputation are important. Other important factors are shown to include the quality of the restaurant wine list, the availability of private dining rooms, and whether or not there is an outdoor dining option.     

The demand for mortgage finance in the united kingdom

This paper examines the rationing behaviour of building societies in the United kingdom. Mortgage rationing is defined as the use of non-interest rate terms to allocate available funds and the empirical results indicate that the adjustment of such terms is significant in determining the demand for mortgage finance. In contrast with previous studies, the demand side of the mortgage market is disaggregated between first-time house buyers and existing owner-occupiers.     

Policy Assignments for Central Bank Activities

This paper contrasts different policy assignments for central bank operations. Two types of asset market transactions (domestic, foreign) and two policy targets (interest rate, exchange rate) are examined within a portfolio-balance model. It is demonstrated that assigning domestic asset transactions to the internal target, and foreign asset transactions to the external target, produces stable policy paths, while the opposite assignment does not. [310]     

Growth and decline of the paper industry: an econometric analysis of US regions

An explanation was sought of the different growth of the paper and paperboard industries in regions of the United States. To that end, a theory of regional demand and supply was formulated. Elasticities of regional production with respect to important supply and demand factors were then calculated by econometric methods, with data for the period 1950–78. These elasticities were used, together with the observed average annual percentage changes of the corresponding variables, to determine the contribution each had on the growth of production. The results indicated that demand was the major factor causing the differences in growth rates. The rapid growth of paper and paperboard production in the regions of the South and West was spurred mostly by high economic and demographic growth in their market area. Supply (cost) factors, and the price of paper substitutes, were found to have played a minor role in comparison.     

Economics: Its History,Themes, Approaches

This article is not concerned with “A Theory of Value” or “The Theory of Value.” It is strictly limited to a discussion of the concepts specified in its title and consists of three parts. The first of these is concerned with ideas of Charles Sanders Peirce and is based upon a study of his published and unpublished papers contained in the eight-volume edition of his Collected Works.¹ The second part is concerned with ideas of Clarence Ayres, primarily those presented in his Toward A Reasonable Society [Ayres 1961]. The third part contains some brief concluding remarks.     

“Womb for Rent”: International Service Trade Employing Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ARTs)

Infertility affects approximately 2–3 million married couples in the USA and a larger cohort of unmarried men and women. For those not inclined to adopt, science has provided another option, one based on assisted reproduction through artificial insemination, commonly known as in vitro fertilization (IVF). Under this framework a woman, designated as a “surrogate”, bears a baby on behalf of the intended parents with the objective of relinquishing her rights to the child after birth. The subcontract for the services of a “surrogate” or more specifically for the use of her “womb” can be viewed as part of the literature on outsourcing of production by a vertically integrated family. The lack of universal enforcement of “surrogacy” contracts in the USA creates a demand for outsourcing of surrogacy services. One beneficiary of this uncertainty in enforcement is India which provides gestational services to intended international parents.