Investment Choice with Polluted Capital

This paper develops a two-sector overlapping generations model in which one sector produces an externality on the environmental quality and the other has no effect. We assume that environmental quality degradation results from production activity of one sector. Then, we characterise the dynamical system globally and establish sufficient conditions for the global uniqueness of a perfect-foresight equilibrium path in the case of a Cobb-Douglas production function and a CES utility function. We show that the existence and the stability of the steady state depend on substitution and income effect and on the degree of pollution.     

Manufacturing quality in the pre‐industrial age: finding value in diversity

When deployed on a large and rational scale and committed to high throughput levels, early modern manufacturing methods inevitably yielded a substantial proportion of non‐standard and defective items. This proportion could only increase as the pace of work accelerated in the eighteenth century. Manufacturers regained a degree of control over their marketing strategies through the more or less rigorous sorting of this output, in a pattern suited to their markets. In so doing, they forged a transitional definition of quality that moved away from the linear pursuit of excellence that motivated their predecessors towards a relative understanding of the needs of diverse groups of buyers.     

Internet Technology and the Extensive Margin of Trade: Evidence from eBay in Emerging Economies

Online platforms such as eBay offer technologies that make it easier for firms to export. This paper dissects a new firm‐level dataset that covers sales made through eBay by sellers based in 21 emerging economies to provide a new lens through which to look at the effect of trade costs on the extensive margin of trade. Comparing eBay sellers with “offline” firm‐level data from the World Bank's Exporter Dynamics Database allows us to test whether the observed trade patterns on eBay fit with the trade‐liberalization predictions of heterogeneous‐firm models. We find that eBay firms export to more destinations, suggesting low destination‐specific fixed costs on eBay. We then show that the distribution of export destinations across eBay sellers is well approximated by a balls‐and‐bins model of frictionless trade, suggesting eBay indeed lowers fixed export costs. Finally, we compare the gravity of eBay with that of offline trade and find geographic distance, languages, and trade agreements to matter less for online trade.     

The dynamics and evolution of the service marketing literature: 1993–2003

This article analyzes service research published in marketing journals between 1993 and 2003. Two levels of analysis of the dynamics and evolution of the service marketing literature are distinguished: first, the dynamics of specific themes of the service marketing literature, and second, the structural evolution of these themes. Through a content analysis, we study the dynamics of individual themes in the service marketing literature as well as the relationships between these themes. Multiple correspondence analysis provides maps of themes and of the most frequent contributors, and a framework to track the structural dynamics and structural evolution of this literature over time. An evaluation of past predictions about the dynamics and evolution of service research is also provided with a discussion of its future.     

When customers get clever: Managerial approaches to dealing with creative consumers

Creative consumers (defined as customers who adapt, modify, or transform a proprietary offering) represent an intriguing paradox for business. On one hand, they can signify a black hole for future revenue, with breach of copyright and intellectual property. On the other hand, they represent a gold mine of ideas and business opportunities. Central to business is the need to create and capture value, and creative consumers demand a shift in the mindsets and business models of how firms accomplish both. Based upon their attitude and action toward customer innovation, we develop a typology of firms' stances toward creative consumers. We then consider the implications of the stances model for corporate strategy and examine a three-step approach to dealing with creative consumers: awareness, analysis, and response.     

Introduction tourism and re-created ethnicity

This collection of papers by sociologists and anthropologists focuses on the effect of tourism on the maintenance, transformation, and re-creation of ethnic boundaries. Tourism is seen as a special form of ethnic relations, particularly that form of tourism in which the cultural exoticism of the host population is the principal attraction for the tourist. This type of tourism leads to the formation of three main roles: tourist, touree, and middleman. The authors address different aspects of the marketing of ethnicity, such as the role of the state in the development of ethnic tourism; the modification and recreation of ethnic attributes and consciousness as the result of tourism; the transformation of art forms through the tourist trade; the role of the tourist agent; and the formation of ethnic stereotypes in tourist interactions.     

CHALLENGES OF MIXED‐ECONOMY SOLUTIONS IN HEALTHCARE: THE EXAMPLES OF SWITZERLAND AND SINGAPORE

In the search for improved healthcare systems able to cope with rising costs, policy‐makers are likely to turn to mixed‐economy solutions. The lure of integrating ‘the best of both worlds’ generally leads to a blend of public and private providers, high regulation density as well as legal constraints on consumers based on top‐down political prerogatives. The Swiss and Singaporean healthcare systems perfectly exemplify this strategy. Both combine market features and government planning. They differ significantly, however, when it comes to the specific policies being implemented and the scope of private sector involvement in each country. This article discusses the Swiss and Singaporean healthcare systems and highlights the dissimilarities between the two countries.     

Did the Invisible Hand Need a Regulatory Glove to Develop a Green Thumb? Some Historical Perspective on Market Incentives,Win-Win Innovations and the Porter Hypothesis

The idea that properly designed environmental regulations can improve a firm’s competitiveness while simultaneously contributing to a cleaner environment through the development of so-called ‘win-win’ innovations (i.e., that reduce environmental damage while simultaneously increasing profits) is usually credited to Porter (1991). Numerous studies have since attempted to assess the validity of the concept, with mixed results. This paper contributes to this debate by surveying a nearly forgotten body of literature written in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century that discussed the impact of market incentives on the development of valuable by-products out of industrial waste. Based on the opinions held by several industrial chemists, engineers, technical journalists and economists, the development of ‘win-win’ manufacturing practices seems to have been primarily the result of the profit motive, although actual or potential legal actions based on private property rights and/or government regulations occasionally triggered this process. After reviewing some important historical writings on the latter issue, a suggestion is made that perhaps the best way to craft ‘well-designed’ environmental regulations is to return to a private property rights approach to mitigating pollution problems whenever possible.