Consumers telling consumption stories: Word-of-mouth and retrospective evaluations

During conversations, people generally comply with norms such as keeping the story interesting for the listener. If word-of-mouth about a previous consumption experience is communicated in a conversational format, then adherence to conversational norms could result in changes to the retrospective evaluation of the event. The research presented here investigates whether an alteration occurs, the possible consequences of an alteration to the retrospective evaluation, and the mechanisms behind a change. A peak-trough moment approach to constructing retrospective evaluations is compared with an average moment (or overall attitude) change. The peak is the most intensely positive moment in a positive experience and the trough is the most intensely negative moment in a positive experience. The results show that post-conversational retrospective evaluations are amplified and that the change in the intensity of the trough that has an important role to play in explaining the changes in the retrospective evaluation of the consumption event.     

Knowledge externalities and demand pull: The European evidence

This paper elaborates the microeconomic foundations of the demand pull hypothesis stressing the role of vertical knowledge externalities stemming from user–producer knowledge interactions that parallel vertical transactions. The paper articulates and tests the hypothesis that such competent demand is actually able to pull technological change only when it is expressed by advanced users, able to provide relevant knowledge externalities to their customers. Using input output tables we test empirically this hypothesis for 15 European countries in the years 1995–2007. The evidence confirms that the increase in productivity of the upstream sectors is positively influenced by the sector-level derived demand, according to the upstream rates of introduction of innovations and to the intensity of the user–producer interactions. The policy implications of the analysis enable to elaborate and implement the notion of a ‘competent’ public demand.     

Canadian airport security: The privatization of a public good

Economic theory would define airport security as a public good; no different than border control or the military, but this is not how it is treated in many countries. In Mexico, airport security is financed entirely from the public treasury. In the U.S., the cost is split evenly between air passengers and the public treasury. In Canada, air passengers pay the entire cost of airport security. The Canadian case is examined in detail. Forcing air passengers to bear the full cost of airport security creates a number of economic distortions. Air travel in Canada is discouraged by the added cost of security, but worse it encourages travelers to cross the Canada-U.S. border where they can fly from lower cost U.S. airports. The tax losses to the public treasury because of this policy are arguably greater than the total security fees collected.Airport security evolved organically rather than by design because governments were forced to react quickly to escalating threats. As a result, a “user-pay” financing system was put in place in Canada without careful policy analysis.     

企业开放式创新社区创意采纳影响因素研究——价值共创视角

从价值共创视角出发，基于信号传递理论，整合消费者使用企业产品创造价值、消费者与消费者互动创造价值、企业与消费者互动创造价值3个层面，探讨开放式创新社区中创意采纳影响因素。通过对小米MIUI社区创意的文本挖掘与实证分析发现，消费者使用企业产品创造价值层面，创意信息熵和情感强度正向影响创意采纳，创意长度负向影响创意采纳；消费者互动创造价值层面，支持量正向影响创意采纳，浏览量和评论量负向影响创意采纳；企业与消费者互动创造价值层面，企业回复信息熵和回复情感强度与创意采纳呈正相关，企业回复长度与创意采纳呈负相关。由此，建议企业规范消费者创意提出形式，注重需求一致性与异质性带来的市场需求信号，通过有效回复策略提升消费者创意质量，从而形成促进价值共创的良性循环。     

Consumer involvement in health research: a UK scoping and survey

Consumer involvement or patient and public involvement (PPI) in health research is a UK policy imperative and a prerequisite for many funders. PPI in research is defined as research carried out with or being carried out by the public (or service users), rather than research on patients and public as subjects or participants. Despite the clear policy driver, there is relatively little empirical evidence on the extent, processes and impact of user involvement in research. This paper aims to add to the international evidence base on PPI in research by providing a key overview of current trends and impacts. In order to understand the current extent and variation of PPI in research, a scoping exercise and survey were carried out on selected UK studies. Six research topic areas (cystic fibrosis, diabetes, arthritis, dementia, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and public health) were selected to ensure a range of designs, study populations and histories of PPI in research. A total of 838 studies (non‐commercial studies and not older than 2 years) were contacted. The response rate for the scoping was 38% and the survey 28%. In the scoping, 51% of studies had some evidence of PPI and in the survey 79%. The most common PPI activity was steering committee membership and reviewing patient information leaflets. There appeared to be some blurred roles with patients participating as research subjects as well as carrying out patient involvement roles. A major finding was the limited amount of available information about PPI in publicly accessible research documents. We suggest that the invisibility of this type of involvement and the lack of routinely collected information about PPI results in a lack of shared understanding of what optimal PPI in a study should look like, with important implications for practice. Furthermore, without a framework to review PPI it is difficult to know if different approaches to PPI have a different impact on key outcomes of the research.     

Adjustable rate mortgages and housing demand: The impact of initial rate discounts

This article investigates the impact of ARM initial rate (teaser) discounts on mortgage choice and housing demand. Because discounted ARM loans may reduce expected user costs, theoretical models predict a positive impact on housing expenditures. To test the hypothesis, a simultaneous model of housing expenditures conditioned upon mortgage instrument choice is estimated using a national sample of transactions for the 1986 to 1988 period. The results indicate that overall housing demand would have been reduced by approximately 13 percent during the period in the absence of ARM loans.     

宋代经济的历史地位评价辩析--与葛金芳教授商榷

两宋经济发展的三百年，是我国经济发展史上一个十分重要的历史时期。也正因如此，史学界对这一时期经济的评价呈现出诸说蜂起的局面，其中有许多学术观点颇值得商榷。而要对宋代经济的发展作出较为客观的评价，必须坚持唯物史观，否则难免出现偏颇。     

Incorporating user costs in preference models for service alternatives

Services are often distinguished from goods by the involvement of the consumer in the production and delivery process. Since the net benefits derived by consumers depend upon their effectiveness and efficiency in fulfilling their required roles, preferences for and choice of alternative services should reflect their effort. We propose a model of preference which incorporatesuser costs, which reflect consumers' efforts, or a corresponding universal set ofuser service dimensions, which reflect attributes of the service that impinge on these user costs. We apply this model to a small-scale study of services for the transfer of written material. The findings demonstrate the ability to treat rigorously essential aspects of services, with implications for the management of services, and for further research.The authors acknowledge the considerable efforts of Rosemary Lyster, MBA student at New York University, and Lorraine Scudieri, Manager of Business Research at Bell Atlantic, in planning and executing a complex survey which provided the data used in this analysis. The authors were stimulated by discussions with Roger Betancourt, who deserves much of the credit and none of the blame for what follows. The authors are also grateful to Avijit Ghosh, Robert Shoemaker, and John Czepiel for their comments on an early version of this paper. Our application was motivated by a research project with Institut National des Telecommunications (France Telecom University) and, in particular with Pierre Vialle.     

Illegal Disposal of Commercial Solid Waste: A Dynamic Analysis

This paper is concerned with the waste stock externality associated with production decisions when garbage collection services are financed by means of user charges and illegal disposal is a viable option to firms. As waste accumulates over time, providing disutility not only to present generations but also to future generations by negatively affecting environmental quality, the private and social production choices are compared in the context of a dynamic (intertemporal) model. The inclusion of the dynamics of the waste stock, which translates into a function describing how the deterioration of environmental quality over time is linked to waste production as well as disposal mix (recycling, curbside disposal, and illegal disposal), enables the design of dynamic Pareto-efficient incentive mechanisms for optimal waste production and management.