Search results for "microeconomics"
showing 10 items of 442 documents
Carry a big stick, or no stick at all
2016
We investigate the effect of costly punishment in a trust game with endowment heterogeneity. Our findings indicate that the difference between the investor and the allocator’s initial endowments determines the effect of punishment on trust and trustworthiness. Punishment fosters trust only when the investor is wealthier than the allocator. Otherwise, punishment fails to promote trusting behavior. As for trustworthiness, the effect is just the opposite. The higher the difference between the investor and the allocator’s initial endowments, the less willing allocators are to pay back. We discuss the consistency of our findings with social preference models (like inequality aversion, reciprocit…
A Joint Reading of Positional and Relational Goods
2012
Both relational and positional goods are based upon an idea of joint consumption – though with opposite signs. Indeed, in both cases, individuals’ consumption choices take into account not only the individuals themselves, but others, as well. Given that relational goods provide a form of identity to their consumers, we show that a certain degree of positionality emerges within the consumption of relational goods. Analogously, except in a two-agent context, each positional good also has a relational component. What emerges is a complex structure of economic outcomes based on both relational and positional motives.
Corporate Governance: Stakeholder Value Versus Shareholder Value
2001
Unsatisfied with the dominating shareholders point of view, that appears to be too limited to build a relevant theory of corporate governance, we propose an enlarged definition of the value which may be called, the stakeholder value. This definition and its associated measure are more suitable for the stakeholder approach to the firm and more relevant to understand the value creation and sharing mechanisms.
Measuring Firm Performance: Testing a Proposed Model
2018
Abstract Firm performance is a very complex and exhaustive concept. It can be related to many factors: starting with variables from balance sheet, income statement or cash-flow statement, continuing with research and development expenses or IT competences, and last but not least with intangible assets like human capital, goodwill, or brand value. The purpose of the present paper is to develop and test a model in order to measure firm performance by considering US companies that are ranked into the Global Fortune 500. In this study we used control variables (assets growth rate, net income growth rate and revenue growth rate) and depended variables – return on assets (ROA), debt to equity, re…
On the distribution of education and democracy
2006
This paper empirically analyzes the influence of the distribution of education on democracy by controlling for unobservable heterogeneity and by taking into account the persistency of some of the variables. The most novel finding is that increase in the education attained by the majority of the population is what matters for the implementation and sustainability of democracy, rather than the average years of schooling. We show this result is robust to issues pertaining omitted variables, outliers, sample selection, or a narrow definition of the variables used to measure democracy.
Variation between Self- and Mutual Assessment in Animal Contests
2014
Limited resources lead animals into conflicts of interest, which are resolved when an individual withdraws from a direct contest. Current theory suggests that the decision to withdraw can be based on a threshold derived from an individual’s own state (self-assessment) or on a comparison between their own state and their opponent’s (mutual assessment). The observed variation between these assessment strategies in nature does not conform to theory. Thus, we require theoretical developments that explain the functional significance of different assessment strategies. We consider a hawk-dove game with two discrete classes that differ in fighting ability, in which the players strategically decide…
Marginal contribution, reciprocity and equity in segregated groups: Bounded rationality and selforganization in social networks
2007
We study the formation of social networks that are based on local interaction and simple rule following. Agents evaluate the profitability of link formation on the basis of the Myerson-Shapley principle that payoffs come from the marginal contribution they make to coalitions. The NP-hard problem associated with the Myerson-Shapley value is replaced by a boundedly rational 'spatially' myopic process. Agents consider payoffs from direct links with their neighbours (level 1), which can include indirect payoffs from neighbours' neighbours (level 2) and up to M-levels that are far from global. Agents dynamically break away from the neighbour to whom they make the least marginal contribution. Com…
Value, supplier dependence and long‐term orientation
2011
PurposeIn organizational markets, many companies tend to reduce the number of providers to focus on establishing relationships with few of them. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of relationship value and dependence of supplier on long‐term orientation and customer loyalty in the setting of relationships between travel agencies and their main providers.Design/methodology/approachA partial least square regression is performed to test a proposed model that links several relational variables with outcomes in terms of customer loyalty.FindingsResults provide support for the positive indirect influence of relationship value on long‐term orientation, while customer dependence …
The tradeoffs between retail service and exclusivity in distribution: Welfare and policy implications
2006
Abstract This paper examines the welfare tradeoffs between retail service and exclusivity in distribution in a successive duopoly with differentiated retailers. A simple two-stage game is developed to model quantity and retail service competition under two situations, one where retailers operate under exclusivity and one where retailers can sell both products. It is shown that welfare is higher under exclusivity in distribution when the transfer price without exclusivity exceeds that under exclusivity and intra-product and in-store competition are intense. Our findings call for a detailed analysis of the antitrust treatment of exclusive dealing when interrelated with the provision of retail…
Taste heterogeneity and latent preferences in the choice behaviour of freight transport operators
2013
In this paper we show that individual attitudes of road carriers and their latent preferences toward specific freight service attributes do play a role in determining their mode choices. Specifically, we contribute to the empirical literature on freight agents' mode choice by exploring the role of the "perceived importance" of the most relevant service dimensions in determining the attractiveness of two alternatives to "all-road" transport: logistics terminals and road-sea intermodal services. This is carried out through a revealed/stated preference experiment and a mixture of logit framework. Our results support the hypothesis that operators' attitudes towards time, punctuality and risk of…