Price promotions effects of virtue and vice products

Purpose: This paper aims to propose models that capture the own effect of price promotions of virtue and vice products on sales and cross effects within the subcategory, between subcategories and between periods. The hypotheses assume that, due to reverse consumption self-control, the demand for vice products is more price-sensitive than demand for virtue products, but the demand for vice products is less price-sensitive between periods than demand for virtue products; furthermore, due to the degree of impulse-buying and to licensing, the demand sensitivity of the products of a subcategory and of those of other subcategories varies according to the type of promoted product (vice or virtue). Design/methodology/approach: The methodology is based on different econometrical models that estimate the total net effect of price promotions of virtue and vice products on sales. Findings: The results show a greater own effect for price promotions of vice products than for virtue products. However, the complementary sales effect between subcategories for virtue products facilitates greater expansion of the subcategory in virtue products than in vice products. Originality/value: Although price promotions of virtue products (light) and vice products (regular) have proliferated in recent years, researchers have only estimated their own sales effect. Alternatively, the paper contributes by considering own and cross effects.

On the existence of exponential polynomials with prefixed gaps

This paper shows that the conjecture of Lapidus and Van Frankenhuysen on the set of dimensions of fractality associated with a nonlattice fractal string is true in the important special case of a generic nonlattice self-similar string, but in general is false. The proof and the counterexample of this have been given by virtue of a result on exponential polynomials P(z), with real frequencies linearly independent over the rationals, that establishes a bound for the number of gaps of RP, the closure of the set of the real projections of its zeros, and the reason for which these gaps are produced.

Il valore del voto: Italia e Spagna nel dibattito sulla rappresentanza politica liberale (1860-1870)

During the 1860's and 1870's, Spain and Italy experienced a convergence of debates on the significance of political representation in the framework of Liberal State. Spain suffered a political and social crisis, ending with the Revolution of 1868 and the adoption of male universal suffrage in 1878. Its coeval Italy began to build its new Kingdom, anxious about state building, as well as the relevance of electoral processes in the Constitutional scheme. Although members of parliament and essayists of both countries well knew their neighbour's political reality, a dialogue on representation didn't occur. Nonetheless, we believe it is useful to analyse the survey drawn by the Italian publicist in the light of current knowledge of the opinions that prevailed in Spain. What sense did they give to the general election? How did they understand the value of the vote? Who were considered eligible voters? These questions comprise the main subjects of the essay.

Calmness of the Feasible Set Mapping for Linear Inequality Systems

In this paper we deal with parameterized linear inequality systems in the n-dimensional Euclidean space, whose coefficients depend continuosly on an index ranging in a compact Hausdorff space. The paper is developed in two different parametric settings: the one of only right-hand-side perturbations of the linear system, and that in which both sides of the system can be perturbed. Appealing to the backgrounds on the calmness property, and exploiting the specifics of the current linear structure, we derive different characterizations of the calmness of the feasible set mapping, and provide an operative expresion for the calmness modulus when confined to finite systems. In the paper, the role played by the Abadie constraint qualification in relation to calmness is clarified, and illustrated by different examples. We point out that this approach has the virtue of tackling the calmness property exclusively in terms of the system’s data.