Tourism,heritage and politics: conflicts at the City of David,Jerusalem

This article analyses the development and progress of conflicts at the “City of David” heritage-tourism site in Jerusalem, Israel and the reciprocal relations between heritage sites and conflicts. It offers a comprehensive examination of the development of a major tourist attraction in Israel. Our research is based on the following two methods of qualitative research: (1) in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 43 key stakeholders; (2) textual analysis of current written materials and historical documents. The study investigates the relevant processes and decisions, stakeholder perceptions, the role of the archaeological excavations, and their relationship to the development of conflict. On a broader level, this study formulates a theoretical and practical framework for analysing the development of heritage tourism sites in conflict zones.     

Third‐person perception and purchase behavior in response to various selling methods

Two studies investigated whether various tactics of personal selling that generate different levels of resistance also produce different degrees of third‐person perceptions. Furthermore, the studies compared third‐person perceptions to the actual influence on behavior. Study 1 showed that more direct and blatant selling methods produce more TPP. Study 2 showed that people tend to underestimate the influence of the more direct method, especially with regard to themselves. The study concludes by identifying the ideal selling method as one in which the customers are asked about their willingness to listen to the sales campaign before they are told about it. This method increases sales and creates satisfied customers. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Multi-unit auctions with budget limits

We study multi-unit auctions for bidders that have a budget constraint, a situation very common in practice that has received relatively little attention in the auction theory literature. Our main result is an impossibility: there is no deterministic auction that (1) is individually rational and dominant-strategy incentive-compatible, (2) makes no positive transfers, and (3) always produces a Pareto optimal outcome. In contrast, we show that Ausubel?s “clinching auction” satisfies all these properties when the budgets are public knowledge. Moreover, we prove that the “clinching auction” is the unique auction that satisfies all these properties when there are two players. This uniqueness result is the cornerstone of the impossibility result. Few additional related results are given, including some results on the revenue of the clinching auction and on the case where the items are divisible.     

Does IFRS 10 on Consolidated Financial Statements Abandon Accepted Economic Principles?

The 2007 global financial crisis revealed a deficiency in the financial reporting of off‐balance‐sheet vehicles. To better reflect risks associated with such items, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 10 provided new principles for determining an investor's control of an investee for the purpose of preparing consolidated financial statements. We show that an applicative example appearing under the new guidelines contradicts the conclusion drawn from widely accepted power indices: the Shapley‐Shubik value and the Banzhaf index. Our study adds to the literature aiming to incorporate methodological economic thought into accounting principles.     

Ethnicity and risk: a field test of the white-male effect

In this article, I analyse the different risk-taking tendencies of students comprising the two major ethnic groups in Israel, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews, in a field setting. I determine ethnicity by students’ last names, and I measure risk by students’ propensity to give up a passing grade on a final exam in order to be able to retake the exam in pursuit of a higher grade, but with the risk of earning a lower grade and possibly not passing the course. Differences in preferences for risk may be part of the explanation for differential labour market outcomes between gender and ethnic groups. I find evidence that Ashkenazi men take more exam risk than both Ashkenazi and Mizrahi women, and Mizrahi men. This finding is consistent with the ‘White-Male Effect’, the notion that white males, or males from the dominant socio-economic group, perceive lower risks than females and non-whites.     

Anchoring under Currency Substitution: A Ratchet Price Mechanism in the Housing Market

The currency substitution experienced by the Israeli real estate market in the past decades serves as a unique case for studying the effect of the anchoring heuristic on prices. We hypothesize that players utilize current and past exchange rates between the old and new currency to affect the closing price in their favor. Results of micro‐ and macro‐level estimations indicate that exchange rate fluctuations associate with an upward ratchet price effect. Furthermore, we find that the ratchet price mechanism disappears once the currency substitution is completed. These findings provide new evidence of the effect of anchoring on a market whose transactions involve substantial, long‐term economic consequences.