The gender wage gap in Austria: eppur si muove!

We examine the change of the gender wage gap in Austria between 2002 and 2007 using Juhn et al. (Workers and their wages, AEI Press, Washington DC, pp 107–143, 1991) decomposition. We analyze data from Austrian tax records which we merge with social security records and Austrian micro-censuses of the years 2002 and 2007. We find that the gender wage gap declined from 21 % in 2002 to 18 % in 2007. The main determinant of this decline is the relative improvement of women’s unobserved characteristics. The decline of the gender wage gap is also due to women having attained more formal education and to a convergence of men’s and women’s returns to education. Women’s improved educational attainments were partly offset by a shift in the demand for skilled workers that disadvantaged unskilled workers, most of whom are women, resulting in a moderate decrease of the gender pay gap over these years. Robustness checks confirm our results.     

Multiunit Pay‐Your‐Bid Auction with One‐Dimensional Multiunit Demands*

An arbitrary number of units of a good is sold to two bidders through a discriminatory auction. The bidders are homogeneous ex ante and their demand functions are two‐step functions that depend on a single parameter. We characterize the symmetric Bayesian equilibrium and prove its existence and uniqueness. We compare this equilibrium with the equilibrium of the multiunit Vickrey auction and with the equilibria of the single‐unit first price and second price auctions. We examine the consequences of bundling all units into one package. We study the impacts that variations of the “relative” supply have on the equilibrium, on the bidders' average payoffs per unit, and on the efficiency of the equilibrium allocation.     

The Effects of a Federal Flat Tax on Agriculture

This study examines the impact of a federal flat tax on agriculture by determining the tax liability under the current and flat tax systems using actual farm records. The study considers the linkages between agriculture and the rest of the economy by examining the impact of a flat tax on interest rates and capital investment and how those changes would affect agriculture. Results indicate that roughly 63% of agricultural producers would benefit from a flat tax in terms of lowering taxes paid. Under the flat tax, larger farms and more profitable farms would be relatively better off.     

Forecasting performance

It is widely accepted that accuracy represents the appropriate criterion for evaluation of forecast performance. Christine Martin, Lecturer in Operations Management, and Stephen Witt, Lecturer in Econometrics, at the Management Centre, University of Bradford, UK, present the results of a questionnaire survey of tourism practitioners and academics which support this view.     

EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS,QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF INFORMATION,AND STOCK PRICE CHANGES

We analyze the informational effect of earnings announcements on stock price changes. Although prior studies postulate that the direction and magnitude of earnings surprises contribute to abnormal stock price changes, we attribute earnings surprises and subsequent stock price changes to the quality and quantity of available information. If a stock is followed by many financial analysts, the amount of information available to investors contributes to higher quality information, which in turn is reflected by a small earnings surprise. Furthermore, we demonstrate that as the quality and quantity of information increase, stock prices adjust more quickly, which sheds additional light on the post-earnings-announcement drift issue. Finally, cross-sectional analysis reveals that the flow of information, as measured by the rate of trading volume changes, and the stock of information, as measured by the number of financial analysts, contributes significantly to the variations in excess returns and return volatility. Traditional variables, such as earnings surprises, earnings reporting lag, and firm size, do not perform well.     

The implications of interstate banking for consumers

The purpose of this article is to discuss the implications of interstate banking for consumers. The article describes the current structure of the banking industry, the history of legislation affecting interstate banking, and the expected effects of interstate banking on bank operating costs, availability of local funds, and concentration and competition within local banking markets as well as the anticipated effects on consumers of banking services. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Program context antecedents of attitude toward radio commercials

A theoretical model of program context effects on attitude toward the ad (Aad) is developed and tested. Involvement in and liking for a program are shown to exert a positive influence on both claim and nonclaim components of Aad by enhancing commercial-processing motivation. Additional analyses replicate earlier findings that Aad mediates program influence on brand attitude and identify claim strength, appeal of nonclaim factors, and number of exposures as moderators of program effects on Aad. His research has appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Advertising, andJournal of Economic Psychology. He has published previously in theJournal of Economic Psychology. He is the author of articles appearing in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Journal of Direct Marketing, andEDI Forum.     

Are employers pursuing value-based purchasing?

Some employers have begun to undertake a variety of initiatives, collectively termed value-based purchasing (VBP), which aim at factoring quality into the purchasing decision-making process when negotiating costs with providers and insurers. There is evidence that the VBP movement has begun gaining momentum; yet it is unclear whether employers are firmly committed to VBP principles. By surveying a national sample of employers, this study investigates the extent to which employers are currently engaged in VBP activities and also increases our understanding of barriers hampering the broader implementation of these activities.