Spatial Models in Marketing

Marketing science models typically assume that responses of one entity (firm or consumer) are unrelated to responses of other entities. In contrast, models constructed using tools from spatial statistics allow for cross-sectional and longitudinal correlations among responses to be explicitly modeled by locating entities on some type of map. By generalizing the notion of a map to include demographic and psychometric representations, spatial models can capture a variety of effects (spatial lags, spatial autocorrelation, and spatial drift) that impact firm or consumer decision behavior. Marketing science applications of spatial models and important research opportunities are discussed. This paper is based upon the discussions of the Spatial Models in Marketing seminar at the Sixth Invitational Choice Symposium, June 2004. Eric T. Bradlow, Bart Bronnenberg and Gary J. Russell served as co-chairs of the session.     

Food aid,domestic policy and food security: Contrasting experiences from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa

Food aid, both for short-term emergency relief and as program food aid that helps address medium-term food “deficits”, is often a major component of food security strategies in developing countries. This study reviews the experience with food aid of four major recipients of food aid (India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Zambia) regarding food production, trade, markets, consumption and safety nets, as well as the policy responses to food emergencies. The widely varying experiences of the study countries suggest that food aid that supports building of production and market enhancing infrastructure, is timed to avoid adverse price effects on producers, and is targeted to food insecure households can play a positive role in enhancing food security. However, food aid is not the only, or in many cases, the most efficient means of addressing food insecurity. In many cases private markets can more effectively address shortfalls in food availability and cash transfers may be a viable alternative to food transfers in-kind.     

A method for optimal deposit liability assignment

This note demonstrates the applicability of the Diamond and Mirrlees (1975) conditions concerning the optimality of externality cost transfers in accident and trading settings to the issue of the comparative allocative efficiency of financial institutions being mandated to pay premiums for deposit insurance versus assignment of liability to the depositor. The result is a model which allows the isolation of the requisite quantitative values for such a preferred allocation.     

重新定义中央银行的权责

各国中央银行一直处于全球金融危机的中心.人们一方面把全球爆发金融危机归咎于中央银行的政策与行为,另一方面又称赞中央银行带领全球走出金融危机.这两种评价都是公正的.中央银行既是问题的一部分,也是解决问题的途径之一.