Decomposing the declining volatility of long-term inflation expectations

The level and volatility of survey-based measures of long-term inflation expectations have come down dramatically over the past several decades. To capture these changes in inflation dynamics, we embed both short- and long-term expectations into a medium-scale VAR model with stochastic volatility. The model estimates attribute most of the marked decline in the volatility of expectations to smaller shocks to long-run inflation expectations. According to our estimates, the volatility of shocks plummeted in the early to mid-1980s, moved to a somewhat higher level that prevailed for much of the 1990s, and then declined to and remained at very low levels.     

Understanding Urban Public Space in a Leisure Context

For many people, the city is a landscape of everyday life. In cities, public spaces serve as venues for social interaction, sociability, conviviality, and the enactment of community. Despite their relevance to community life, however, urban spaces remain underexamined in the leisure literature. If researchers seek to understand leisure in the context of everyday experiences, they must also consider the spatial perspective in which leisure activities are pursued. In this research reflection, we argue that urban public spaces and some private spaces are fundamentally leisure settings that warrant greater research attention. We propose to broaden the conceptual understanding of what constitutes urban public space by outlining four categories of urban space based on ownership and accessibility.     

Response Format Effects in Questions about Norms: Implications for the Reliability and Validity of the Normative Approach

Several studies have demonstrated that altering the format (question wording or presentation format) can alter responses obtained from normative questions. This study extends that research with two experiments. In a study of McKenzie River boaters in Oregon ( n = 225), respondents received either a semiopen (fill in the blank) or closed (scale with anchored points) format of questions about acceptable waiting time at boat launches, percent of time spent in sight of other boaters, and number of groups met per day. In the second study, at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, 774 respondents received either the semiopen format or one of two closed formats (anchored with 30 or 60), asking for the acceptable number of motorboats and canoes. In both cases, norm prevalence was significantly higher in the closed format (46 to 78%) than in the semiopen format (27 to 60%), and the average increase from one format to the other was 23%. This suggests either that respondents are more likely to guess at a number when given a closed response frame or that the closed format provides important context that elicits valid responses. Examination of the mean values obtained under the different response formats suggest that both processes may be operating, but the latter is more likely. It appears that closed formats, like photographs, offer a cognitively easier and more meaningful task.     

Private monitoring,collusion, and the timing of information

When a principal's monitoring information is private (nonverifiable), the agent should be concerned that the principal could misrepresent the information to reduce the agent's wage or collect a monetary penalty. Restoring credibility may lead to an extreme waste of resources—the so‐called burning of money. A more realistic and efficient outcome is feasible when the private information arrives in time to rescale the agent's effort. Rescaling is more effective than pure monetary penalties because effort has different values to different parties whereas money is equally valuable to all parties. Furthermore, when rescaling is feasible, private monitoring is more efficient than public monitoring subject to collusion because nonmonetary penalties are ineffective to deter collusion.     

Understanding the older shopper: A behavioural typology

With regard to the contemporary retail environment, to date, the older shopper has been afforded limited academic attention, which is somewhat surprising given the growth of this population in the UK. Consequently, this study presents an empirically derived typology of older grocery shoppers through the application of salient retail attributes and store image dimensions developed through extensive qualitative research techniques. The findings provide an important contribution towards better understanding differences in shopping behaviour amongst older consumers. The identification of six distinct shopper types, including three new distinct groups, contributes to theory, whilst a number of potential implications for retail managers are explored in light of the findings.     

Ethical Problems, Conflicts and Beliefs of Small Business Professionals

This paper presents the results of a national study of the beliefs and perceptions of small business professionals concerning ethics within their company and business in general. The study examined their views on the relationship between success and ethical conduct as well as the extent and nature of ethical conflicts experienced by the respondents. Some comparisons are made with similar studies that have been conducted in the past. Respondents have the most ethical conflicts with customers and employees, and with regard to honesty in contracts/agreements. Most also believe that ethical standards are lower than they were 10 and 20 years ago, primarily because society's moral standards are lower. Additionally, they believe that the behavior of top management has the most influence on decisions in ethical situations. Finally, consistent with prior studies, they believe that they have the most responsibility to customers, ahead of employees and stockholders.     

Termination of the WGTA: An Examination of Factor Market Distortions, Input Subsidies anc Compensation

Input subsidies are common in North American agriculture and create production and trade distortions. As the theoretical discussion in this paper shows, the Crow transportation subsidy was no exception. The Crow benefit was eliminated in 1996 with the elimination of the Western Grain Transportation Act. Under the "pay the producer" approach, farmers in western Canada were compensated for the removal of the Crow subsidy, but the compensation was nowhere near that required to make grain and oilseed producers in western Canada at least as well off as before the Crow subsidy was removed. This policy change satisfied the compensation principle but not the Pareto principle. Reasons are given why this was the case, including very divergent views from various farm groups such as the National Farmers Union, the Alberta Cattle Commission, and the Alberta Barley Growers Association.
Les intrants du secteur agricole sont souvent subventionnés en Amérique du Nord, ce qui fausse la production et les échanges. Comme l'illustre la discussion dans cet article, il en a été ainsi pour le tarif du Pas-du-Nid-du-Corbeau, dans les transports. Cette subvention a été abolie en 1996 avec l'abrogation de Loi sur le transport du grain de l'Ouest. Les producteurs de céréales et d'oléagineux de l'Ouest canadien ont été indemnisés, mais la somme qui leur a été versée était largement insuffisante pour qu'ils restent aussi bien lotis qu'avant l'abolition de la subvention. La nouvelle politique a satisfait le principe de la compensation, mais pas celui de Pareto. On explique le pourquoi de cette situation, l'une des raisons étant les points de vue tràs divergents de diverses associations agricoles.