The Minimum Safety Standard, Consumers’ Information, and Competition, February 2007

This paper explores the effects of a standard influencing care choice. Firm(s) may increase the probability of offering safe products by incurring a cost. Under duopoly, they compete either in prices or in quantities. Under perfect information about safety for consumers, the selected standard that corrects a safety underinvestment is always compatible with competition. Safety over investment only emerges under competition in quantities and relatively low values of the cost. Under imperfect information about safety for consumers, the standard leads to a monopoly situation. However, for relatively large values of the cost, a standard cannot impede the market failure coming from the lack of information.

Transition from pediatric to adult health care: expectations of adolescents with chronic disorders and their parents.

The aim of this study was to assess the expectations of adolescents with chronic disorders with regard to transition from pediatric to adult health care and to compare them with the expectations of their parents. A cross-sectional study was carried out including 283 adolescents with chronic disorders, aged 14-25 years (median age, 16.0 years), and not yet transferred to adult health care, and their 318 parents from two university children's hospitals. The majority of adolescents and parents (64%/70%) perceived the ages of 18-19 years and older as the best time to transfer to adult health care. Chronological age and feeling too old to see a pediatrician were reported as the most important decision factors for the transfer while the severity of the disease was not considered important. The most relevant barriers were feeling at ease with the pediatrician (45%/38%), anxiety (20%/24%), and lack of information about the adult specialist and health care (18%/27%). Of the 51% of adolescents with whom the pediatric specialist had spoken about the transfer, 53% of adolescents and 69% of parents preferred a joint transfer meeting with the pediatric and adult specialist, and 24% of these adolescents declared that their health professional had offered this option. In summary, the age preference for adolescents with chronic disorders and their parents to transfer to adult health care was higher than the upper age limits for admission to pediatric health care in many European countries. Anxiety and a lack of information of both adolescents and their parents were among the most important barriers for a smooth and timely transfer according to adolescents and parents.

Parameterized expectations approach; Some practical issues

We discuss some practical issues related to the use of the Parameterized Expectations Approach (PEA) for solving non-linear stochastic dynamic models with rational expectations. This approach has been applied in models of macroeconomics, financial economics, economic growth, contracttheory, etc. It turns out to be a convenient algorithm, especially when there is a large number of state variables and stochastic shocks in the conditional expectations. We discuss some practical issues having to do with the application of the algorithm, and we discuss a Fortran program for implementing the algorithm that is available through the internet.We discuss these issues in a battery of six examples.

Speculation, risk premia and expectations in the yield curve

An affine asset pricing model in which traders have rational but heterogeneous expectations aboutfuture asset prices is developed. We use the framework to analyze the term structure of interestrates and to perform a novel three-way decomposition of bond yields into (i) average expectationsabout short rates (ii) common risk premia and (iii) a speculative component due to heterogeneousexpectations about the resale value of a bond. The speculative term is orthogonal to public informationin real time and therefore statistically distinct from common risk premia. Empirically wefind that the speculative component is quantitatively important accounting for up to a percentagepoint of yields, even in the low yield environment of the last decade. Furthermore, allowing for aspeculative component in bond yields results in estimates of historical risk premia that are morevolatile than suggested by standard Affine Gaussian term structure models which our frameworknests.

Solving non-linear stochastic models by parameterizing expectations: An application to asset pricing with production

A new algorithm called the parameterized expectations approach(PEA) for solving dynamic stochastic models under rational expectationsis developed and its advantages and disadvantages are discussed. Thisalgorithm can, in principle, approximate the true equilibrium arbitrarilywell. Also, this algorithm works from the Euler equations, so that theequilibrium does not have to be cast in the form of a planner's problem.Monte--Carlo integration and the absence of grids on the state variables,cause the computation costs not to go up exponentially when the numberof state variables or the exogenous shocks in the economy increase. \\As an application we analyze an asset pricing model with endogenousproduction. We analyze its implications for time dependence of volatilityof stock returns and the term structure of interest rates. We argue thatthis model can generate hump--shaped term structures.

The Effect of Teacher Expectations on Student Achievement: Does The Pygmalion Effect Hold True for Cape Verde?

The present study is about the relationship between teacher expectations and student achievement. Do teachers have the power to influence student achievement? This is the question at hand. Are students under the influence of their teachers in regards to how they perceive themselves as achievers and ultimately how well they perform? What are the other factors that come into play when assessing student’s academic achievement? In light of the literature written on this topic, the two most prevalent theories are (1) Pygmalion in the Class and (2) The Sustaining Effect. These theories show a direct and determinant relationship between teacher expectations and student achievement. The main objective of this study was to investigate if in Cape Verde, teachers follow the same trend. Responses to teacher and student surveys carried out at Domingos Ramos High School gave revealing insights into how Capeverdean teachers view their students and the role the teachers themselves play in supporting the studen’s academic performance. Is the teacher’s expectation of their students the last word? In general, teachers do have a powerful influence on their students for good or for bad, but the key questions are: (1) are they aware of this power and (2) how well do they manage it? This paper includes an in-depth discussion on the different factors that influence student achievement and research carried out at an urban secondary school which characterizes how teachers and students view their roles in the student’s academic success. Recommendations are also provided to assist teachers in managing their expectations to maximize their role as a positive contributor to the success of their students.

Seeking theta's desperately: Estimating the distribution of consumers under increasing block rates

This paper shows that the distribution of observed consumption is not a good proxy for the distribution of heterogeneous consumers when the current tariff is an increasing block tariff. We use a two step method to recover the "true" distribution of consumers. First, we estimate the demand function induced by the current tariff. Second, using the demand system, we specify the distribution of consumers as a function of observed consumption to recover the true distribution. Finally, we design a new two-part tariff which allows us to evaluate the equity of the existence of an increasing block tariff.

Consumer Advisory Bulletin, Gift Card Fact Sheet – and Tips for Consumers, December 2007

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division receives hundreds of calls and consumer complaints every year. Follow these tips to avoid unexpected expense and disappointments. This record is about: Gift Card Fact Sheet – and Tips for Consumers

Selling to consumers with endogenous types

For many goods (such as experience goods or addictive goods), consumers preferences may change over time. In this paper, we examine a monopolist s optimal pricing schedule when current consumption can affect a consumer s valuation in the future and valuations are unobservable. We assume that consumers are anonymous, i.e. the monopolist can t observe a consumer s past consumption history. For myopic consumers, the optimal consumption schedule is distorted upwards, involving substantial discounts for low valuation types. This pushes low types into higher valuations, from which rents can be extracted.For forward looking consumers, there may be a further upward distortion of consumption due to a reversal of the adverse selection effect; low valuation consumers now have a strong interest in consumption in order to increase their valuations. Firms will find it profitable to educate consumers and encourage forward looking behavior.

Supermarket key attributes and location decisions: A comparative study between British and Spanish consumers

The Maximum Capture problem (MAXCAP) is a decision model that addresses the issue of location in a competitive environment. This paper presents a new approach to determine which store s attributes (other than distance) should be included in the newMarket Capture Models and how they ought to be reflected using the Multiplicative Competitive Interaction model. The methodology involves the design and development of a survey; and the application of factor analysis and ordinary least squares. Themethodology has been applied to the supermarket sector in two different scenarios: Milton Keynes (Great Britain) and Barcelona (Spain).

Staying With the Tension: “Estranged Intimacy” and Gendered Expectations in the Field

The position of the anthropologist in the field is discussed, in this article, as a position of “estranged intimacy”, that is to say, the anthropologist occupies an ambiguous position of becoming intimately involved whilst concurrently standing back. This definition derives from reflections upon fieldwork, conducted in the north of Portugal, with Cape Verdean migrant young women and their experiences as mothers. The article discusses two aspects related to the fieldwork. Firstly, the way in which diverse strategies of establishing relations in the field placed me in a position of “estranged intimacy” which reconfigured the meanings I had initially attributed to the term “Cape Verdean women”. Secondly, how becoming unexpectedly involved in a situation of intense conjugal conflict led me to reconsider my understanding of Cape Verdean gender relations. Both cases demonstrate how the endeavour to produce analytical and ethnographical knowledge was shot through with an unstable mix of detachment and involvement and how coming up against the unexpected may contribute towards the reconfiguration of ethnographic knowledge, in this specific case, with regard to the dynamics of gender relations.