When does Learning by Doing generate current losses?

We study under which conditions a learning by doing effect in the industry causes a monopolist to operate at a loss for some initial periods. Those conditions involve a parameter of the learning process, the slope of inverse demand function and the discount parameter. In order to get results, we explore the analytical solution to a T-period learning by doing model, which is also a novelty. Numerical examples are presented.     

Efficient entrepreneurial culture: a cross-country analysis of developed countries

Entrepreneurship, together with national cultural values, may improve a country’s GDP levels. Under this hypothesis, the aim of this paper is to analyse the relationships between the levels of entrepreneurship, cultural values, and of GDP per capita in a sample of 27 developed countries, by identifying an efficient combination of culture and entrepreneurship variables, under the concept of efficient entrepreneurial culture, that maximises GDP per capita. Through the application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology, nine countries have been identified as having an efficient entrepreneurial culture. The implications derived for policy-makers are substantial, since a better understanding of cultural effects on entrepreneurship can lead to improvements in the design of governmental programmes that foster cultural values related to high-quality entrepreneurship.     

Visitors’ experiences with Intangible Cultural Heritage: a case study from Córdoba,Spain

The development of heritage tourism has experienced significant growth in recent years. In this paper, we present an analysis of the relationship between an Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Fiesta of the Patios in Córdoba, Spain and tourism development. The methodology used in this research consisted of fieldwork to determine the significance of the demographic factors and variables in the level of satisfaction with the visit to the Fiesta of the Patios. Similarly, the contribution of these variables to the level of satisfaction was analysed.     

Spatial dependency and technical efficiency: an application of a Bayesian stochastic frontier model to irrigated and rainfed rice farmers in Bohol,Philippines

We investigated the role of spatial dependency in the technical efficiency estimates of rice farmers using panel data from the Central Visayan island of Bohol in the Philippines. Household‐level data were collected from irrigated and rainfed agro‐ecosystems. In each ecosystem, the geographical information on residential and farm‐plot neighborhood structures was recorded to compare household‐level spatial dependency among four types of neighborhoods. A Bayesian stochastic frontier approach that integrates spatial dependency was used to address the effects of neighborhood structures on farmers’ performance. Incorporating the spatial dimension into the neighborhood structures allowed for identification of the relationships between spatial dependency and technical efficiency through comparison with nonspatial models. The neighborhood structure at the residence and plot levels were defined with a spatial weight matrix where cut‐off distances ranged from 100 to 1,000 m. We found that spatial dependency exists at the residential and plot levels and is stronger for irrigated farms than rainfed farms. We also found that technical inefficiency levels decrease as spatial effects are more taken into account. Because the spatial effects increase with a shorter network distance, the decreasing technical inefficiency implies that the unobserved inefficiencies can be explained better by considering small networks of relatively close farmers over large networks of distant farmers.     

Intellectual capital and value creation in the production and assembly of vehicles and auto-parts sector in Brazil： A panel data analysis

This work investigates the relationship between intellectual capital and value creation in the sector of production and assembly of vehicles and auto-parts in Brazil. Through the access of the database from the annual industrial research conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, we gathered 865 observations, from 2000 to 2006, of public and private Brazilian companies with more than 100 employees. The database allows the estimate of relevant aggregated variables such as national accounts, gross domestic product, intermediate consumption, as well as propitiates a sectorial study of business strategies and performance, including value added by individual companies. In particular, in this study we use data on variables associated to intellectual capital. To achieve the goal of the study, we consider intellectual capital as defined by Pulic （2000, 2002）, including human capital and structural capital. For the analysis of business performance, we used Pulic＇s VAIC （Value Added Intellectual Cofficient） index as a measure of efficiency of the employed financial and intellectual capital. Regression models were run to verify the relationship among the efficiency in the use of intellectual capital and the profitability of Brazilian companies. The gross income, calculated as before selling, general and administrative expenses, depreciation expenses, amortization and interest expenses, was used as measure of the flows of value creation and the profitability was measured by the gross income to the total assets of the companies. Considering the constructs defined by Pulic （2000, 2002）, we tested, for the Brazilian sector of Production and Assembly of Vehicles and Auto-parts, the following hypotheses： （l） there is a positive relationship between value creation and intellectual capital, （2） there is a positive relationship between value creation and stock of intellectual capital, （3） there is a positive relationship between value creation and efficiency of the employed capital, （4） there is a positive relationship between value creation and efficiency of the human capital, （5） there is a positive relationship between value creation and efficiency of the structural capital. The results of the study, obtained through panel data analysis and through the use static and dynamic models, support the hypotheses that the intellectual capital of the companies, in its flow and stock dimensions, is positively and significantly related to value creation.     

“Showrooming” in Consumer Electronics Retailing: An Empirical Study

The present study focuses on multichannel retailing strategies and describes the state of consumer behavior regarding “showrooming” (the practice of examining merchandise or products in a retail store and then buying it online). Founded on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the authors examine the antecedents of showrooming using data collected from a sample of 176 retail consumers. Based on their results, they define perceived control, website compatibility, and subjective norms as the main antecedents of consumer attitudes toward online purchases. Additionally, they state that previous experience and reasons against purchasing online are directly associated with consumers’ intention to purchase on the retailer’s website. Finally, some theoretical conclusions and practical implications for retailers are discussed.     

Actual and counterfactual growth incidence and delta Lorenz curves: Estimation and inference

Different economic growth episodes display very different distributional characteristics, both across countries and over time. Growth is sometimes accompanied by rising and sometimes by falling inequality. Applied economists have come to rely on the growth incidence curve, which gives the quantile‐specific rate of income growth over a certain period, to describe these differences. This paper introduces a mean‐independent analogue, the delta Lorenz curve, which gives the cumulative change in income share up to each quantile. We also develop estimation and inference procedures for both functions of quantiles. We establish the limiting null distribution of the test statistics of interest for those functions, and propose resampling methods to implement inference in practice. The proposed methods are used to compare the growth processes in the USA and Brazil during 1995–2007. Although growth in the average real wages was disappointing in both countries, the distribution of that growth was markedly different. In the USA, wage growth was mediocre for the bottom 80% of the sample, but much more rapid for the top 20%. In Brazil, conversely, wage growth was rapid below the median, and negative at the top. Wage shares fell in the USA up to the 83rd percentile, and rose in Brazil up to the 65th percentile.     

Afro‐descendants in Peru: Do beauty and race matter in the labor market?

This is a first study about labor discrimination against Afro‐descendants in Peru. We randomly assigned Afro‐Peruvian and white surnames and photographs (subjectively beautiful, homely looking, or not photos) to 3,828 fictitious résumés, sent for unskilled, technical, and professional occupations. We find an unprecedented, sizeable beauty premium in unskilled occupations (232.5 percent), no effect of looks in technical occupations, and a beauty penalty in professional occupations (–71.3 percent). Overall, whites receive 19.37 percent more callbacks than similarly qualified Afro‐Peruvians; this racial discrimination affects only Afro‐Peruvian females, and particularly those employed in technical occupations. These results remain unaltered when we restrict the sample to those markedly “Afro” surnames. Our findings unveil different dynamics of discrimination across job categories, which tend to be overlooked by the existing literature.     

Correction to: Counterfactual inference for consumer choice across many product categories

Quantitative Marketing and Economics -