Willingness to Pay and the Cost of Commitment: An Empirical Specification and Test

In a static setting, willingness to pay for an environmental improvement is equal to compensating variation. In a dynamic setting, however, willingness to pay may also contain a commitment cost. In this paper we incorporate the dynamic nature of the value formation process into a stated preference study designed to test whether there is an important dynamic component (commitment cost) in stated preference values. The results clearly indicate that stated preference values can contain commitment costs and that these can be quite large: respondents offered the opportunity to delay their purchasing decisions until more information became available were willing to pay significantly less for improved water quality than those facing a now-or-never decision. These results have important consequences for the design and interpretation of stated preference data.     

How managers can lower mental illness costs by reducing stigma

The stigma associated with mental illness is not usually an issue that managers include in their portfolio of everyday concerns. However, published data from multiple sources makes it clear that the costs of doing business for any organization are increased when the very common conditions characterized as mental illnesses are stigmatized. Denial, fear of discovery, and insurance inadequacy among an organization's employees often delay treatment, harming organizational productivity and raising health care costs related to both the mental illness itself and other associated medical conditions. Additional costs to businesses range from the possibility of increased liability to higher taxes. To counter stigma among employees, the authors recommend personal communication with co-workers diagnosed with a mental illness, or with members of their families, to create new associations for these illnesses, which is a more effective approach than either education or anti-stigma messages. They also recommend communication to constituencies beyond one's own organization, joining with other companies to demonstrate actions aimed at community-wide stigma reduction, and offering consulting services to organizations promoting mental health.     

The U.S. savings gap and global imbalances

Summary In the 1980s the pattern of international savings flows changed dramatically and this is reflected in huge international imbalances in trade and finance and in the U.S. savings gap. Therefore, the U.S. has had to absorb hundreds of billions of savings from the rest of the world. For a variety of reasons, fiscal rather than monetary policy should eliminate the budget deficit thereby both solving the savings gap problem and creating a stable economic environment.Remarks before the 68th Annual Meeting of the Bankers Association for Foreign Trade, Boca Raton, Florida, Wednesday, May 2, 1990     

Posted Prices and Bid Affiliation: Evidence from Experimental Auctions

In most experimental auctions, researchers ask participants to bid on the same item in multiple potentially binding rounds, posting the price submitted by the top bidder or bidders after each of those rounds. If bids submitted in later rounds are affiliated with posted prices from earlier rounds, this practice could result in biased value estimates. In this article, we discuss the results of an experiment designed explicitly to test whether posted prices affect bidding behavior. We find that for familiar items, high posted prices lead to increased bids in subsequent rounds. Our results have implications for researchers conducting experimental auctions.     

Do practice rounds affect experimental auction results?

Researchers use practice rounds to familiarize participants with experimental auction mechanisms. We find a positive correlation between practice bids and bids submitted in later rounds. We consider three explanations for this correlation: a behavioral anchoring effect, a tendency for some auction participants to be more free-spending, and misconception of the experimental auction’s demand revealing qualities.     

The Effect of Initial Endowments in Experimental Auctions

We report the results of an experiment designed to test whether initial endowments affect value estimates elicited from experimental auctions. Comparing bids for one unit of a good, two units of a good, and a second unit of a good when endowed with the first unit, we find that willingness to pay for the second unit of a good is, on average, as much as 75% higher when endowed with the first unit. We go on to advance two theories that could potentially reconcile our results with neoclassical consumer theory.     

The Effects of Selling Complements and Substitutes on Consumer Willingness to Pay: Evidence from a Laboratory Experiment

Basic economic theory predicts that a consumer's willingness to pay for a good is affected by the availability of complements and substitutes. In an auction setting, this theory implies that the presence of complements would increase bid prices for a good, while the presence of substitutes would decrease bid prices for a good. We designed an experiment that allows the calculation of inverse elasticities, the inverse-demand equivalent of conventional price elasticities. Our results show that the availability of complements and substitutes affects bids in the expected directions. This finding has important implications for researchers who design experimental auctions.
Selon la théorie économique de base, la volonté de payer d'un consommateur pour obtenir un bien est influencée par la disponibilité de compléments et de substituts. Dans un scénario de vente aux enchères, cette théorie implique que la présence de compléments ferait augmenter le prix offert pour un bien, tandis que la présence de substituts ferait diminuer le prix offert. Nous avons conçu une expérience qui a permis de calculer les élasticités inverses, l'équivalent de la demande inverse des élasticités-prix classiques. Nos résultats ont montré que la disponibilité de compléments et de substituts influence les offres d'achat dans les directions prévues. Cette observation a d'importantes répercussions pour les chercheurs qui conçoivent des ventes aux enchères expérimentales.