Information Unraveling Revisited: Disclosure of Horizontal Attributes

This paper analyzes in a spatial framework how much information a seller discloses about the variety he sells when he faces a buyer with a privately known taste for variety. I identify an equilibrium in which, for each possible variety, the seller's optimal strategy consists of either fully disclosing the variety or disclosing how far it is from the buyer's expected taste. The set of varieties the seller fully discloses monotonically expands as the buyer's taste for variety becomes stronger. I show that this is the unique undefeated equilibrium. From a policy perspective, mandating full disclosure is socially harmful.     

Spatial interaction modeling of interregional commodity flows

Drawing from both the spatial price equilibrium theoretical framework and the empirical literature on spatial interaction modeling, this paper expands models of interregional commodity flows (CFs) by incorporating new variables and using a flexible Box-Cox functional form. The 1993 US commodity flows survey provides the empirical basis for estimating state-to-state flow models for 16 commodity groups over the 48 continental US states. The optimized Box-Cox specification proves to be superior to the multiplicative one in all cases, while selected variables provide new insights into the determinants of state-to-state CFs.     

Sequential facility location with distance dependent demand

Systems providing identical service to many population centers frequently face the issue of where to locate the next retail outlet, branch, store, etc. In such systems the demand for the facilities' service depends mainly on the distance between facilities and customers. It is assumed that there are already m facilities located on a network to respond to the demand at the nodes. The paper addresses the problems of finding a location on the network for the (m +1 )st facility corresponding to a given total expected demand and of determining which demand points will be served by which facility. Also the range of the total expected demand values that can be realized along each link in the m +1 facility system is determined. Examples and a discussion of the results are provided.     

Operational competitiveness ratings of production units

The operational competitiveness of a production unit (PU) where resources are transformed into outputs of goods and services is a very important component of its overall competitiveness. A PU's operations are comprised of a number of purposeful activities that consume resources and generate rewards. The efficiency with which these activities are carried out determines the PU's operational competitiveness. A reliable rating system is prerequisite in order to control and improve operational competitiveness. In the present paper we adopt a multi-activity view of the concept of operational competitiveness and develop a procedure to calculate ratings to help gauge the relative operational competitiveness of a set of PUs. The procedure is based on a nonparametric model but its implementation involves simple ratio-type computations. The principal criteria for the procedure and the ratings resulting from its application are intuitive appeal, transparency, ease of computation, robustness and ability to reflect the prevailing managerial perspectives and competitive priorities. We demonstrate the application of the procedure to gauge the relative operational competitiveness of a major chartered bank's branch personnel.     

Population growth and per capita income： A panel cointegration analysis

The noteworthy effects of demographic factors on economic development have been well documented. However, the empirical formulation grounds heavily on theoretical framework. Moreover, there is no set agreement on the relationship between population growth and per capita income. This paper retraces the famous pastime relationship for a sample of thirty-two countries classified as developing and developed over the period of 1970-2007. The methodology includes panel unit root tests and panel cointegration analysis. The main conclusion of the study is that population growth is an indicator of per capita income. The empirical findings display the existence of cointegration for both country groups. Moreover, the results support a significantly positive effect for developed countries; whereas a significantly negative effect for developing countries.     

Sample size needed for calibrating trip distribution and behavior of the gravity model

Conventional calibration algorithms of trip distribution models assume that the analyst has a whole base year trip matrix. To attain a whole trip matrix, the sample size for travel surveys needed to be as large as possible. However, this could be very expensive especially in large cities. Some studies in the past showed a small sized sample would be enough to estimate functional parameters of observed trip length frequency distribution. But the performance of a gravity model with small sized samples has never been addressed. This empirical study has shown that sample sizes as small as 1000 (even smaller for quick response studies) could be as dependable as large sample surveys using a line search calibration algorithm.     

Reciprocal relationships and mechanism design

We study an incomplete information game in which players can coordinate their actions by contracting among themselves. We model this relationship as a reciprocal contracting procedure where each player has the ability to make commitments contingent on the other players' commitments. We differ from the rest of the literature on reciprocal contracting by assuming that punishments cannot be enforced in the event that cooperation breaks down. We fully characterize the outcomes that can be supported as perfect Bayesian equilibrium outcomes in such an environment. We use our characterization to show that the set of supportable outcomes with reciprocal contracting is larger than the set of outcomes available in a centralized mechanism design environment in which the mechanism designer is constrained by his inability to enforce punishments against non‐participants. The difference stems from the players' ability in our contracting game to convey partial information about their types at the time they offer contracts. We discuss the implications of our analysis for modelling collusion between multiple agents interacting with the same principal.     

An exploratory study on the perspectives of prospective computer teachers following project-based learning

This study investigates perceptions of 29 prospective teachers about a course based on Project-Based Learning (PBL) approach. The course, ‘Authoring Languages in PC Environment (B-320)’ lasted in 14 weeks in fall semester of 2004–2005. In this course each prospective teacher carried out a project that requires designing and developing courseware individually. This study is qualitative in nature and data were collected through an open ended questionnaire composed of seven items and analyzed by content analysis technique. The results show that prospective teachers found PBL as an effective way of learning. It also suggests that when efficient guidance about technical issues and time management is provided, PBL approach can be successfully implemented in computer related courses such as programming language and web designing.     

Trade policy-making in a model of legislative bargaining

In democracies, trade policy is the result of interactions among many agents with different agendas. In accordance with this observation, we construct a dynamic model of legislative trade policy-making in the realm of distributive politics. An economy consists of different sectors, each of which is concentrated in one or more electoral districts. Each district is represented by a legislator in the Congress. Legislative process is modeled as a multilateral sequential bargaining game à la Baron and Ferejohn (1989). Some surprising results emerge: bargaining can be welfare-worsening for all participants; legislators may vote for bills that make their constituents worse off; identical industries will receive very different levels of tariff. The results pose a challenge to empirical work, since equilibrium trade policy is a function not only of economic fundamentals but also of political variables at the time of congressional negotiations — some of them random realizations of mixed bargaining strategies.     

Measuring the performance of hotel operations

Hotel operations comprise many activities that are performed to satisfy guests' needs for accommodation, business, dining, and entertainment. These activities consume resources and provide a wide range of services from checking-in to cleaning and re-supplying rooms. In this paper, hotel operations are considered on a montjly basis. The manner in which a hotel's activities are performed in a given month determines the competitiveness of its operations in that month. A reliable performance measurement system is essential for effective control and improvement of hotel operations. A procedure is proposed to obtain a hotel's operational competitiveness profile based on its observed performance over a number of months. The application of the procedure involves simple ratio-type computations that produce relative performance ratings. The procedure's data requirement is not excessive and management may select any level of aggregation of resources and/or products as well as incorporating into the ratings its perception of the relative importance of consumption of resources and generation of revenues. A case study of a 100-room hotel that caters primarily to business travellers is included to demonstrate application of the procedure. Comparisons with other measurement techniques are provided, including financial ratios, total factor productivity, and data envelopment analysis models.