Economic efficiency of members of protected designations of origin: sharing reputation indicators in the experience goods of wine and cheese

The aim of this paper is to analyse the economic efficiency of members of protected designations of origin (PDO). For the first time we analyse the value of PDO labels from the point of view of economic efficiency. The central hypothesis is that a PDO has a positive impact on the economic efficiency of its member companies and that this is because a PDO label is a collective reputation indicator that foments efficient investment in quality in terms of member returns. The methodology applied to test this hypothesis is based on data envelopment analysis to estimate economic efficiency, and econometric models to explain company efficiency through both the PDO label, as an indicator of collective reputation, and the characteristics of the company. The results obtained in the experience goods of wine and cheese in Spain show that PDO labels have a positive impact on economic efficiency. Additionally, the age and size of the company have a positive effect while the wage level of the company has a different influence on efficiency depending on the sector considered. Overall, the results reveal the importance of PDOs in industries in which the signal of reputation is not only reliant on the individual brands.

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.

Determinants of Advertising Effectiveness: The Development of an International Advertising Elasticity Database and a Meta-Analysis

Increasing demand for marketing accountability requires an efficient allocation of marketing expenditures. Managers who know the elasticity of their marketing instruments can allocate their budgets optimally. Meta-analyses offer a basis for deriving benchmark elasticities for advertising. Although they provide a variety of valuable insights, a major shortcoming of prior meta-analyses is that they report only generalized results as the disaggregated raw data are not made available. This problem is highly relevant because coding of empirical studies, at least to a certain extent, involves subjective judgment. For this reason, meta-studies would be more valuable if researchers and practitioners had access to disaggregated data allowing them to conduct further analyses of individual, e.g., product-level-specific, interests. We are the first to address this gap by providing (1) an advertising elasticity database (AED) and (2) empirical generalizations about advertising elasticities and their determinants. Our findings indicate that the average current-period advertising elasticity is 0.09, which is substantially smaller than the value 0f 0.12 that was recently reported by Sethuraman, Tellis, and Briesch (2011). Furthermore, our meta-analysis reveals a wide range of significant determinants of advertising elasticity. For example, we find that advertising elasticities are higher (i) for hedonic and experience goods than for other goods; (ii) for new than for established goods; (iii) when advertising is measured in gross rating points (GRP) instead of absolute terms; and (iv) when the lagged dependent or lagged advertising variable is omitted.

Valor de marca colectiva: aproximación desde el enfoque de la eficiencia

El objetivo del trabajo consiste en analizar la eficiencia de las empresas que integran una marca colectiva en una industria productora de bienes de experiencia. El supuesto básico es que la marca colectiva tiene un impacto positivo en la eficiencia de las empresas acogidas a la misma, el cual viene explicado porque la reputación colectiva fomenta una inversión eficiente en calidad. Sin embargo, la marca colectiva también puede tener un efecto opuesto sobre los incentivos de una empresa a una inversión en calidad ya que dicha marca puede crear un incentivo a “free ride”. Nuestra propuesta defiende que la interacción entre estos factores opuestos, reputación colectiva y “free ride”, viene moderada por las características de la marca colectiva y de la propia empresa. La metodología aplicada en el contraste de estas hipótesis se apoya en el Análisis Envolvente de Datos para estimar la eficiencia, así como en modelos econométricos para explicar la eficiencia empresarial mediante características de la marca colectiva y de la empresa. Los resultados obtenidos en el ámbito de las bodegas españolas evidencian que las marcas colectivas tienen un impacto positivo sobre la eficiencia, el cual viene moderado por el tamaño de la marca colectiva generando una relación curvilínea en forma de U invertida. Adicionalmente, el volumen de producción de la marca colectiva y el tamaño de las bodegas ejercen un efecto moderador en el impacto del tamaño de la marca colectiva sobre la eficiencia. En general, los resultados ponen de manifiesto la importancia de las marcas colectivas cuando se investigan industrias donde la calidad no es solamente señalizada por una marca típica individual.

Agent-based simulation of lock-in dynamics in a duopoly

Lock-in is observed in real world markets of experience goods; experience goods are goods whose characteristics are difficult to determine in advance, but ascertained upon consumption. We create an agent-based simulation of consumers choosing between two experience goods available in a virtual market. We model consumers in a grid representing the spatial network of the consumers. Utilising simple assumptions, including identical distributions of product experience and consumers having a degree of follower tendency, we explore the dynamics of the model through simulations. We conduct simulations to create a lock-in before testing several hypotheses upon how to break an existing lock-in; these include the effect of advertising and free give-away. Our experiments show that the key to successfully breaking a lock-in required the creation of regions in a consumer population. Regions arise due to the degree of local conformity between agents within the regions, which spread throughout the population when a mildly superior competitor was available. These regions may be likened to a niche in a market, which gains in popularity to transition into the mainstream.

The Effects of Experience on Preference Uncertainty: Theory and Empirics for Public and Quasi-Public Environmental Goods

This paper develop and estimates a model of demand estimation for environmental public goods which allows for consumers to learn about their preferences through consumption experiences. We develop a theoretical model of Bayesian updating, perform comparative statics over the model, and show how the theoretical model can be consistently incorporated into a reduced form econometric model. We then estimate the model using data collected for two environmental goods. We find that the predictions of the theoretical exercise that additional experience makes consumers more certain over their preferences in both mean and variance are supported in each case.

Hegemonia e contra-hegemonia na construção de políticas de esporte e lazer : a experiência do Consórcio Brasília = Hegemony and counter-hegemony in the process of sport and leisure policy-making : the experience of the Consortium Brasilia

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Interpreting white goods: Kunie women's perceptions of progress in New Caledonia

Acknowledging and describing the ways that women shape relations of power and property can add to understandings of how local communities create and experience globalisation. In this paper I examine how relations of power are actively and discursively constructed within Kunieacute households in New Caledonia, how they are inscribed by gender, and link them to local narrativisations of progress.

Effects of Experience, Knowledge and Signals on Willingness to Pay for a Public Good

This paper compares how increases in experience versus increases in knowledge about a public good affect willingness to pay (WTP) for its provision. This is challenging because while consumers are often certain about their previous experiences with a good, they may be uncertain about the accuracy of their knowledge. We therefore design and conduct a field experiment in which treated subjects receive a precise and objective signal regarding their knowledge about a public good before estimating their WTP for it. Using data for two different public goods, we show qualitative equivalence of the effect of knowledge and experience on valuation for a public good. Surprisingly, though, we find that the causal effect of objective signals about the accuracy of a subject’s knowledge for a public good can dramatically affect their valuation for it: treatment causes an increase of $150-$200 in WTP for well-informed individuals. We find no such effect for less informed subjects. Our results imply that WTP estimates for public goods are not only a function of true information states of the respondents but beliefs about those information states.

The role of the tourism sector in economic development. Lessons from the Spanish experience

Tourism is one of the most important sectors in the global economy and is considered an efficient tool with which to promote economic growth. The case of Spain¿s economy is well known in this respect; in fact, widespread consensus exists on the part played by tourism in enhancing the industrialisation process in Spain and the part played by foreign currency receipts from tourism in financing the imports of capital goods, which made the expansion of manufacturing possible. This paper aims to assess the real role of foreign currency receipts from tourism in Spain¿s economy from 1960 to the present. The results of Spain¿s experience may well help to guide policy decisions in developing countries in similar circumstances.

The role of the tourism sector in economic development. Lessons from the Spanish experience

Tourism is one of the most important sectors in the global economy and is considered an efficient tool with which to promote economic growth. The case of Spain¿s economy is well known in this respect; in fact, widespread consensus exists on the part played by tourism in enhancing the industrialisation process in Spain and the part played by foreign currency receipts from tourism in financing the imports of capital goods, which made the expansion of manufacturing possible. This paper aims to assess the real role of foreign currency receipts from tourism in Spain¿s economy from 1960 to the present. The results of Spain¿s experience may well help to guide policy decisions in developing countries in similar circumstances.

Harmonization of policies and training systems in Europe for urban development – The Experience of LUDA Project

The work developed in LUDA’s project has clearly showed that, in a European economic and cultural diversified frame, crossed by recent and not so recent historical challenging processes, the issues of the urban affairs certainly have different layouts, but, as a matter of fact, we can assume that in their essence they are common to all regions. Identifying a set of common problems is not difficult: the Luda’s; the disadjustment between people and goods mobility, the difficult articulation between space and development sustainability the fragile features of the urban space in its complexity, the responsible social management of current migrations etc.

Trade in services negotiations: a review of the experience of the United States and the European Union in Latin America

Includes bibliography

Surveys on time use and unpaid work in Latin America and the Caribbean: Experience to date and challenges for the future

Incluye bibliografía.