An analysis of costs in institutions of higher education in England

Cost functions are estimated, using random effects and stochastic frontier methods, for English higher education institutions. The article advances on existing literature by employing finer disaggregation by subject, institution type and location, and by introducing consideration of quality effects. Estimates are provided of average incremental costs attached to each output type, and of returns to scale and scope. Implications for the policy of expansion of higher education are discussed.

Asymmetrical switch costs in children

Switching between tasks produces decreases in performance as compared to repeating the same task. Asymmetrical switch costs occur when switching between two tasks of unequal difficulty. This asymmetry occurs because the cost is greater when switching to the less difficult task than when switching to the more difficult task. Various theories about the origins of these asymmetrical switch costs have emerged from numerous and detailed experiments with adults. There is no documented evidence of asymmetrical switch costs in children. We conducted a series of studies that examined age-related changes in asymmetrical switch costs, within the same paradigm. Similarities in the patterns of asymmetrical switch costs between children and adults suggested that theoretical explanations of the cognitive mechanisms driving asymmetrical switch costs in adults could be applied to children. Age-related differences indicate that these theoretical explanations need to incorporate the relative contributions and interactions of developmental processes and task mastery. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Raising rivals' fixed costs

This paper analyses the strategic use of fixed costs to deter entry or monopolize a market in a standard Cournot framework. First of all a general case shows how the presence of fixed costs can affect the possible equilibria to the Cournot game. It is shown that the presence of a firm with a first-mover advantage can have important implications if fixed costs are raised. In addition the forward induction process becomes important in determining plausible equilibria. The use of firstly regulation and secondly ‘nuisance’ law-suits are considered as strategies to increase fixed costs.

Analysis of transport costs for energy crops for use in biomass pyrolysis plant networks

Fast pyrolysis of biomass produces a liquid bio-oil that can be used for electricity generation. Bio-oil can be stored and transported so it is possible to decouple the pyrolysis process from the generation process. This allows each process to be separately optimised. It is necessary to have an understanding of the transport costs involved in order to carry out techno-economic assessments of combinations of remote pyrolysis plants and generation plants. Published fixed and variable costs for freight haulage have been used to calculate the transport cost for trucks running between field stores and a pyrolysis plant. It was found that the key parameter for estimating these costs was the number of round trips a day a truck could make rather than the distance covered. This zone costing approach was used to estimate the transport costs for a range of pyrolysis plants size for willow woodchips and baled miscanthus. The possibility of saving transport costs by producing bio-oil near to the field stores and transporting the bio-oil to a central plant was investigated and it was found that this would only be cost effective for large generation plants.

Impact of online channel use on customer revenues and costs to serve:considering product portfolios and self-selection

Developing a strategy for online channels requires knowledge of the effects of customers' online use on their revenue and cost to serve, which ultimately influence customer profitability. The authors theoretically discuss and empirically examine these effects. An empirical study of retail banking customers reveals that online use improves customer profitability by increasing customer revenue and decreasing cost to serve. Moreover, the revenue effects of online use are substantially larger than the cost-to-serve effects, although the effects of online use on customer revenue and cost to serve vary by product portfolio. Self-selection effects also emerge and can be even greater than online use effects. Ignoring self-selection effects thus can lead to poor managerial decision-making.