Orientations Toward Consumerism: A Test of a Two-Dimensional Theory

Some past studies concerning attitudes toward consumer public policy issues have attempted to distinguish characteristics of consumerism supporters from those of nonsupporters. Results to date have been largely inconsistent. This study incorporates a solution preference dimension into the supporter/nonsupporter analysis in order to help resolve past identification anomalies and to suggest a theoretical explanation for diverse orientations. More specifically, a two-dimensional theory of consumerism orientations is developed and tested as a special case of Rokeach's broader Two-Value Theory of Political Orientations. The survey data presented tend to general support the hypothesized theoretical structure.     

Accounting: The Structure of a Growing Profession

Complete membership records of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Israel are analysed to determine the level of concentration and growth of the accounting profession. This study differs from previous studies in that it concentrates on the supply side of the market. Previously, because of the unique characteristics of auditing services, they were assumed to have no substitute. An analysis of firm switching by CPAs in Israel indicates the existence of substitutes in production. Low levels of overall concentration were found, although large clients are generally audited by large public accounting firms. The profession appears to be competitive as entry is quite easy and switching between firms by CPAs is common.     

FORM OF CONTROL: A CRITICAL DETERMINANT OF ACQUISITION PERFORMANCE AND CEO REWARDS

Based on two research streams, we investigate whether acquiring firms’ form of control might be associated differently with CEO rewards or excess returns. We theoretically reason that in manager-controlled corporations acquisitions may be detrimental to the interests of shareholders and CEO rewards might be based on nonperformance criteria. In owner-manager-controlled and owner-controlled firms acquisitions may benefit the stockholders. While CEO rewards of owner-controlled firms may be based on performance criteria, however, executive rewards of owner-manager-controlled firms may be based on both performance and nonperformance factors. The findings indicate that for manager-controlled firms acquisition announcements result in negative excess returns to shareholders. For owner-controlled and owner-manager-controlled firms such announcements result in positive excess returns. The findings also suggest that increases in corporate size due to acquisitions are significantly and positively associated with CEO rewards of manager-controlled and owner-manager-controlled firms. For owner-controlled firms, excess returns are significantly and positively associated with CEO rewards. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Welfare Stigma Re‐Examined

We dissect welfare stigma into two types: traditional and statistical, and show that the latter can be employed as a desirable form of a welfare ordeal, as its costs are positively correlated with ability.     

Consumer-Interest Study in Higher Education: A Conceptual Analysis of an Emerging Discipline

The study of the consumer interest in higher education is currently represented by departments, program areas, and curricula with a wide variety of titles (e.g., “consumer economics” and “consumer affairs”) and emphases (e.g., consumer purchase decisions and public policy formulation. This diversity of titles and emphases is indicative of the current lack of agreement concerning the focus, scope and direction of the field as a whole. The authors propose a disciplinary rationale which integrates the many approaches to consumer-interest study while distinguishing it from the traditional disciplines to which it is most closely related: economics, home economics, and marketing. It is argued that consumer-interest study has a distinct content focus and distinct dimensional properties which qualify it for separate disciplinary status. The authors further propose that the emerging discipline be known as “consumer science” since that title appropriately encompasses both the field's current characteristics and its anticipated development.     

Optimal Bank Behavior under Uncertain Inflation

In this paper, we derive a model of the individual banking firm facing stochastic inflation. The bank is considered as a depository financial intermediary operating in the primary market as a multiproduct price discriminating firm. A secondary market is also considered where liquidity surpluses and deficits are traded. Two types of assets and liabilities are assumed: deposits and loans linked to a general price level and nonlinked instruments. Effects of changes in the parameters such as inflation rate and variability, reserve requirements are analyzed.     

Mean-Variance Versus Direct Utility Maximization

Levy and Markowitz showed, for various utility functions and empirical returns distributions, that the expected utility maximizer could typically do very well if he acted knowing only the mean and variance of each distribution. Levy and Markowitz considered only situations in which the expected utility maximizer chose among a finite number of alternate probability distributions. The present paper examines the same questions for a case with an infinite number of alternate distributions, namely those available from the standard portfolio constraint set.