Market mispricings and portfolio allocation to mutual fund classes

Major factors affecting Greek household budget flows to mutual fund classes with different risk-return profiles are studied, applying the flexible functional form of the Almost Ideal Demand System to analyse allocation to equity, bond, balanced, and money market funds. An increase in household expenditure can have a positive impact; an adverse price change may erode budget benefits for a class. Volatility in possible “mispricings” in the underlying market valuation, with risk aversion attitudes, can result in asset reallocation. Cross-price effects provide insight on complementarity and substitutability between classes. Conclusions have useful policy implications for asset management and portfolio allocation strategies.     

A SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF MULTI‐ITEM SCALES USED IN LOGISTICS RESEARCH

Academic disciplines are strengthened through many years of theoretical research leading to significant knowledge advancements in the field. One primary technique for measuring concepts important for theory development is the use of multi‐item scales. This research documents the multi‐item scales utilized throughout the history of leading logistics journals. The test results for validity and reliability with respect to each scale are disclosed. Results indicate a need for logistics researchers to continue developing new measures and refining existing measures by employing rigorous methods to establish scales having highly acceptable psychometric properties.     

Greece in the European Union: policy lessons from two decades of membership

This paper examines the first two decades of Greece’s experience as a member of the European Union (EU). In evaluating the Greek experience within the EU, we derive three fundamental policy lessons that apply both to similar small peripheral countries now entering the EU and to the EU itself in terms of facilitating their integration in a large economic area. First, small peripheral countries that enter the EU must address the structural deficiencies of their economies before entry in order to minimize the impact of increased competition after the removal of trade protection, and follow domestic policies that maintain and promote their comparative advantage within the EU. Second, the Convergence Criteria have proven to be a successful mechanism for countries with a poor historical policy record to achieve macroeconomic stability, as shown by the case of Greece. Third, common EU policies can be very helpful in facilitating structural reforms in small peripheral economies. However, these policies must be continuously evaluated and improved so that their effectiveness is maximized.     

LOGISTICS SERVICE PERFORMANCE: ESTIMATING ITS INFLUENCE ON MARKET SHARE

The research examines the relationships among three dimensions of logistics service performance (operational, relational, and cost performance), customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and market share. Perceptions of customers of third party logistics (3PL) providers are used to assess 3PL performance constructs. Of the three dimensions of service performance, relational performance is the single most important factor in engendering customer satisfaction. The research supports the strong relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty identified in previous studies. It also establishes an empirical link between customer loyalty and a measure of market share that is anchored by objective, secondary data.     

The end of the internet rush

The concept of natural growth in competition is being exploited to produce forecasts for the use of Internet worldwide. Population trends and Internet-user trends indicate that the percentage of the population using the Internet is slowing down everywhere despite large discrepancies: 68% in the US, 45% in Europe, and 8% in the rest of the world. Whereas new growth phases with slow rates of growth should be expected from the third world, the boom years of Internet explosion are over. Significant growth in the use of Internet in the rest of the world must await for a couple of decades.     

The term structure of interest rates,the expectations hypothesis and international financial integration: Evidence from Asian economies

The validity of the expectations hypothesis of the term structure is examined for a sample of Asian countries. A panel stationarity testing procedure is employed that addresses both structural breaks and cross-sectional dependence. Asian term structures are found to be stationary and supportive of the expectations hypothesis. Further analysis suggests that international financial integration is associated with interdependencies between domestic and foreign term structures insofar as cross-term structures based on differentials between domestic (foreign) short- and foreign (domestic) long-rates are also stationary.     

Teaching Economic Principles Interactively: A Cannibal's Dinner Party

The author describes techniques that he uses to interactively teach economics principles. He describes an experiment on market entry and gives examples of applications of classroom clickers. Clicker applications include (a) collecting data about student preferences that can be used to construct demand curves and supply curves, (b) checking students’ knowledge of central concepts, and (c) playing interactive games that illustrate economic concepts.     

MEASURES OF PRODUCTION PRICE‐LABOUR VALUE DEVIATION AND INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN ACTUAL ECONOMIES: A NOTE

Many empirical studies indicate that the deviations of actual prices of production from labour values are not too sensitive to the type of measure used for their evaluation. This paper attempts to theorize this rather ‘stylized fact’ by focusing on the relationships between the traditional and the numéraire‐free measures of deviation. On the empirical side, it provides an illustration of these relationships using input–output data from the Japanese economy.