Endogenous Money Supply and Money Demand

OpenAIRE

Woon Gyu Choi; Seonghwan Oh

2000-01-01

This paper explores the behavior of money demand by explicitly accounting for the money supply endogeneity arising from endogenous monetary policy and financial innovations. Our theoretical analysis indicates that money supply factors matter in the money demand function when the money supply partially responds to money demand. Our empirical results with U.S. data provide strong evidence for the relevance of the policy stance to the demand for MI under a regime in which monetary policy is subs...

Electricity demand and basic needs: Empirical evidence from China's households

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He, Xiaoping; Reiner, David

2016-01-01

An increasing block tariff (IBT) has been implemented nationwide in the residential sector in China since 2012. However, knowledge about IBT design is still limited, particularly how to determine the electricity volume for the first block of an IBT scheme. Assuming the first block should be set based on some measure of electricity poverty; we attempt to model household electricity demand such that the range of basic needs can be established. We show that in Chinese households there exists a threshold for electricity consumption with respect to income, which could be considered a measure of electricity poverty, and the threshold differs between rural and urban areas. For rural (urban) families, electricity consumption at the level of 7th (5th) income decile households can be considered the threshold for basic needs or a measure of electricity poverty since household electricity demand in rural (urban) areas does not respond to income changes until after 7th (5th) income decile. Accordingly, the first IBT block for some provinces (e.g., Beijing) appears to have been set at a level that is too high. Over time however, given continued rapid growth, the IBT will begin to better reflect actual basic needs. - Highlights: • Basic electricity needs of a household are investigated with survey data. • The Basic electricity needs differ between the rural and urban households. • The first block of the IBTs in China has proven too high and beyond the basic needs. • The initial policy targets of the IBTs in China will be difficult to achieve.

Managerial Career Patterns: A Review of the Empirical Evidence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vinkenburg, C.J.; Weber, T.

2012-01-01

Despite the ubiquitous presence of the term "career patterns" in the discourse about careers, the existing empirical evidence on (managerial) career patterns is rather limited. From this literature review of 33 published empirical studies of managerial and similar professional career patterns found

A novel machine learning approach for estimation of electricity demand: An empirical evidence from Thailand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mostafavi, Elham Sadat; Mostafavi, Seyyed Iman; Jaafari, Arefeh; Hosseinpour, Fariba

2013-01-01

Highlights: • A hybrid approach is presented for the estimation of the electricity demand. • The proposed method integrates the capabilities of GP and SA. • The GSA model makes accurate predictions of the electricity demand. - Abstract: This study proposes an innovative hybrid approach for the estimation of the long-term electricity demand. A new prediction equation was developed for the electricity demand using an integrated search method of genetic programming and simulated annealing, called GSA. The annual electricity demand was formulated in terms of population, gross domestic product (GDP), stock index, and total revenue from exporting industrial products of the same year. A comprehensive database containing total electricity demand in Thailand from 1986 to 2009 was used to develop the model. The generalization of the model was verified using a separate testing data. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to investigate the contribution of the parameters affecting the electricity demand. The GSA model provides accurate predictions of the electricity demand. Furthermore, the proposed model outperforms a regression and artificial neural network-based models

Supplier-induced demand: re-examining identification and misspecification in cross-sectional analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Peacock, Stuart J; Richardson, Jeffrey R J

2007-09-01

This paper re-examines criticisms of cross-sectional methods used to test for supplier-induced demand (SID) and re-evaluates the empirical evidence using data from Australian medical services. Cross-sectional studies of SID have been criticised on two grounds. First, and most important, the inclusion of the doctor supply in the demand equation leads to an identification problem. This criticism is shown to be invalid, as the doctor supply variable is stochastic and depends upon a variety of other variables including the desirability of the location. Second, cross-sectional studies of SID fail diagnostic tests and produce artefactual findings due to model misspecification. Contrary to this, the re-evaluation of cross-sectional Australian data indicate that demand equations that do not include the doctor supply are misspecified. Empirical evidence from the re-evaluation of Australian medical services data supports the notion of SID. Demand and supply equations are well specified and have very good explanatory power. The demand equation is identified and the desirability of a location is an important predictor of the doctor supply. Results show an average price elasticity of demand of 0.22 and an average elasticity of demand with respect to the doctor supply of 0.46, with the impact of SID becoming stronger as the doctor supply rises. The conclusion we draw from this paper is that two of the main criticisms of the empirical evidence supporting the SID hypothesis have been inappropriately levelled at the methods used. More importantly, SID provides a satisfactory, and robust, explanation of the empirical data on the demand for medical services in Australia.

Did Fukushima matter? Empirical evidence of the demand for climate protection in Germany

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gallier, Carlo [Zentrum fuer Europaeische Wirtschaftsforschung GmbH (ZEW), Mannheim (Germany); Loeschel, Andreas [Zentrum fuer Europaeische Wirtschaftsforschung GmbH (ZEW), Mannheim (Germany); Heidelberg Univ. (Germany). Alfred Weber Institute; Sturm, Bodo [Zentrum fuer Europaeische Wirtschaftsforschung GmbH (ZEW), Mannheim (Germany); Leipzig Univ. of Applied Sciences (Germany). Dept. of Business Administration

2013-07-01

This paper investigates the extent to which the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of March 2011 has had an impact on the private demand for climate protection in Germany. Data are taken from two framed field experiments (Loeschel et al. 2013a, b) conducted before and after the disaster. We find that the demand for climate protection in the experiment after the nuclear disaster is significantly higher than in the experiment before the disaster.

Did Fukushima matter? Empirical evidence of the demand for climate protection in Germany

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gallier, Carlo; Loeschel, Andreas; Heidelberg Univ.; Sturm, Bodo; Leipzig Univ. of Applied Sciences

2013-01-01

This paper investigates the extent to which the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of March 2011 has had an impact on the private demand for climate protection in Germany. Data are taken from two framed field experiments (Loeschel et al. 2013a, b) conducted before and after the disaster. We find that the demand for climate protection in the experiment after the nuclear disaster is significantly higher than in the experiment before the disaster.

Determinants of import demand for non-renewable energy (petroleum) products: Empirical evidence from Nigeria

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adewuyi, Adeolu O.

2016-01-01

This study estimated determinants of import demand for refined petroleum products in Nigeria for the period 1984–2013. It employed the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test cointegration method and analysed both long-run and short-run determinants of import demand for total and specific petroleum products. In the long-run, aggregate and sectoral incomes are significant determinants of import of refined kerosene. Further, real effective exchange rate (REER), aggregate income (GDP), manufacturing sector's income, domestic energy production (DEP) and population growth rate (PGR) are drivers of import of refined motor spirit Moreover, REER, DEP and manufacturing sector's income are propellers of import of refined distillate fuel. Also, REER and total output of petroleum products are major drivers of total import of refined petroleum products. Short-run results show that previous period GDP, PGR and manufacturing and service sectors' incomes are determinants of import demand for refined kerosene. Moreover, REER, GDP, previous PGR and manufacturing sector's income exert significant effects on the import of refined motor spirit. Further, significant effects of REER, DEP, previous PGR, domestic output of the product and manufacturing and service sectors' incomes on the import demand for distillate fuel were found. Policy implications of the foregoing are articulated in the paper. - Highlights: •Long-run and short-run drivers of import demand for petroleum products were estimated. •kerosene import is income elastic, gasoline import is income and relative price inelastic. •Exchange rate policies may have diverse effects on import of various petroleum product. •Expanding market size has implication for import demand for petroleum product varieties. •Import demand for petroleum products responds differently to various sectoral incomes.

Managerial Career Patterns: A Review of the Empirical Evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Vinkenburg, Claartje J.; Weber, Torsten

2012-01-01

Despite the ubiquitous presence of the term "career patterns" in the discourse about careers, the existing empirical evidence on (managerial) career patterns is rather limited. From this literature review of 33 published empirical studies of managerial and similar professional career patterns found in electronic bibliographic databases, it is…

An empirical analysis of cigarette demand in Argentina.

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez, Eugenio; Mejia, Raul; Pérez-Stable, Eliseo J

2015-01-01

To estimate the long-term and short-term effects on cigarette demand in Argentina based on changes in cigarette price and income per person >14 years old. Public data from the Ministry of Economics and Production were analysed based on monthly time series data between 1994 and 2010. The econometric analysis used cigarette consumption per person >14 years of age as the dependent variable and the real income per person >14 years old and the real average price of cigarettes as independent variables. Empirical analyses were done to verify the order of integration of the variables, to test for cointegration to capture the long-term effects and to capture the short-term dynamics of the variables. The demand for cigarettes in Argentina was affected by changes in real income and the real average price of cigarettes. The long-term income elasticity was equal to 0.43, while the own-price elasticity was equal to -0.31, indicating a 10% increase in the growth of real income led to an increase in cigarette consumption of 4.3% and a 10% increase in the price produced a fall of 3.1% in cigarette consumption. The vector error correction model estimated that the short-term income elasticity was 0.25 and the short-term own-price elasticity of cigarette demand was -0.15. A simulation exercise showed that increasing the price of cigarettes by 110% would maximise revenues and result in a potentially large decrease in total cigarette consumption. Econometric analyses of cigarette consumption and their relationship with cigarette price and income can provide valuable information for developing cigarette price policy. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Practice management: observations, issues, and empirical evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, H M; Braithwaite, J

2001-02-01

The primary objective of this study is to provide objective, empirical, evidence-based practice management information. This is a hitherto under-researched area of considerable interest for both the practitioner and educator. A questionnaire eliciting a mix of structured and free text responses was administered to a random sample of 480 practitioners who are members of the American Academy of Periodontology. Potential respondents not in private practice were excluded and the next listed person substituted. The results provide demographic and descriptive information about some of the main issues and problems facing practice managers, central to which are information technology (IT), financial, people management, and marketing. Human resource and marketing management appear to represent the biggest challenges. Periodontists running practices would prefer more information, development, and support in dealing with IT, finance, marketing, and people management. The empirical evidence reported here suggests that although tailored educational programs on key management issues at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels have become ubiquitous, nevertheless some respondents seek further training opportunities. Evidence-based practice management information will be invaluable to the clinician considering strategic and marketing planning, and also for those responsible for the design and conduct of predoctoral and postdoctoral programs.

Empirical estimation of per capita brandy demand in Armenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.A. Movsisyan

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The empirical estimations were based on linear and double-log regression models, which identified the factors influencing the average per capita brandy demand in Armenia. The model was estimated using quarterly time-series data on per capita brandy consumption, disposable income, prices of various alcoholic beverages for 1997–2015 periods. This is quantitative study based on secondary annual, quarterly and monthly data, and 5% significance level. The average annual per capita brandy consumption data for 1997–2007 periods was obtained from WHO's website, whereas the 2008–2015 data was extracted from the National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia. For annual, quarterly and monthly periods from 1997 through 2015, the price data related to various alcoholic beverages, consumer price index were provided in NSS statistical publications of “Socio-Economic Situation of RA”, ”Consumer price indexes (prices in the Republic of Armenia”, “Prices and tariffs in the Republic of Armenia”. For 1997–2015 periods, the average monthly per capita monetary income data was obtained from “Living Standards of Population and Social Sphere” section of statistical yearbooks. The latter substituted the average per capita monthly disposable income data, since these data were unavailable. Meantime, since the data included numerous years, therefore, the nominal price and income data were adjusted for inflation using consumer price index with 2005 as base year. In conclusion, the average real prices of wine and vodka were statistically significant determinants of the average per capita brandy demand in Armenia, and the demand for brandy was inelastic.

On the Empirical Evidence of Mutual Fund Strategic Risk Taking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Goriaev, A.P.; Nijman, T.E.; Werker, B.J.M.

2001-01-01

We reexamine empirical evidence on strategic risk-taking behavior by mutual fund managers.Several studies suggest that fund performance in the first semester of a year influences risk-taking in the second semester.However, we show that previous empirical studies implicitly assume that idiosyncratic

'Marginal Employment' and the Demand for Heterogenous Labour: Empirical Evidence from a Multi-factor Labour Demand Model for Germany

OpenAIRE

Ronny Freier; Viktor Steiner

2007-01-01

We develop a structural multi-factor labour demand model which distinguishes between eight labour categories including non-standard types of employment such as marginal employment. The model is estimated for both the number of workers and total working hours using a new panel data set. For unskilled and skilled workers in full-time employment, we find labour demand elasticities similar to previous estimates for the west German economy. Our new estimates of own-wage elasticities for marginal e...

The demand for gasoline in South Africa. An empirical analysis using co-integration techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akinboade, Oludele A.; Ziramba, Emmanuel; Kumo, Wolassa L.

2008-01-01

Using the recently developed Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to co-integration, suggested by Pesaran et al. (Pesaran, M.H., Shin, Y., Smith, R.J. Bounds Testing Approaches to the Analysis of Level Relationships. Journal of Applied Econometrics 2001; 16(3) 289-326), we empirically analyzed the long-run relationship among the variables in the aggregate gasoline demand function over the period 1978-2005. Our study confirms the existence of a co-integrating relationship. The estimated price and income elasticities of - 0.47 and 0.36 imply that gasoline demand in South Africa is price and income inelastic. (author)

The demand for gasoline in South Africa. An empirical analysis using co-integration techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Akinboade, Oludele A.; Ziramba, Emmanuel; Kumo, Wolassa L. [Department of Economics, University of South Africa, P.O.Box 392, Pretoria 0003 (South Africa)

2008-11-15

Using the recently developed Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to co-integration, suggested by Pesaran et al. (Pesaran, M.H., Shin, Y., Smith, R.J. Bounds Testing Approaches to the Analysis of Level Relationships. Journal of Applied Econometrics 2001; 16(3) 289-326), we empirically analyzed the long-run relationship among the variables in the aggregate gasoline demand function over the period 1978-2005. Our study confirms the existence of a co-integrating relationship. The estimated price and income elasticities of - 0.47 and 0.36 imply that gasoline demand in South Africa is price and income inelastic. (author)

Evidence-based Nursing Education - a Systematic Review of Empirical Research

Science.gov (United States)

Reiber, Karin

2011-01-01

The project „Evidence-based Nursing Education – Preparatory Stage“, funded by the Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg within the programme Impulsfinanzierung Forschung (Funding to Stimulate Research), aims to collect information on current research concerned with nursing education and to process existing data. The results of empirical research which has already been carried out were systematically evaluated with aim of identifying further topics, fields and matters of interest for empirical research in nursing education. In the course of the project, the available empirical studies on nursing education were scientifically analysed and systematised. The over-arching aim of the evidence-based training approach – which extends beyond the aims of this project - is the conception, organisation and evaluation of vocational training and educational processes in the caring professions on the basis of empirical data. The following contribution first provides a systematic, theoretical link to the over-arching reference framework, as the evidence-based approach is adapted from thematically related specialist fields. The research design of the project is oriented towards criteria introduced from a selection of studies and carries out a two-stage systematic review of the selected studies. As a result, the current status of research in nursing education, as well as its organisation and structure, and questions relating to specialist training and comparative education are introduced and discussed. Finally, the empirical research on nursing training is critically appraised as a complementary element in educational theory/psychology of learning and in the ethical tradition of research. This contribution aims, on the one hand, to derive and describe the methods used, and to introduce the steps followed in gathering and evaluating the data. On the other hand, it is intended to give a systematic overview of empirical research work in nursing education. In order to preserve a

The effect of demand response on purchase intention of distributed generation: Evidence from Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nakada, Tatsuhiro; Shin, Kongjoo; Managi, Shunsuke

2016-01-01

Participation in demand response (DR) may affect a consumer's electric consumption pattern through consumption load curtailment, a shift in the consumption timing or increasing the utilization of distributed generation (DG). This paper attempts to provide empirical evidence of DR's effect on DG adoption by household consumers. By using the original Internet survey data of 5442 household respondents in Japan conducted in January 2015, we focus on the effect of the time-of-use (TOU) tariff on the purchasing intention of photovoltaic systems (PV). The empirical results show the following: 1) current TOU plan users have stronger PV purchase intentions than the other plan users, 2) respondents who are familiar with the DR program have relatively higher purchase intentions compared with their counterparts, and 3) when the respondents are requested to assume participation in the virtual TOU plan designed for the survey, which resembles plans currently available through major companies, 1.2% of the households have decided to purchase PV. In addition, we provide calculations of TOU's impacts on the official PV adoption and emissions reduction targets, and discuss policy recommendations to increase recognitions and participations in TOU programs. - Highlights: •Studies the effect of demand response on purchase intention of PV. •Uses originally collected Internet Japanese household survey data in 2015. •Finds that time-of-use (TOU) plan has positive effect on PV purchase intentions. •Calculates latent TOU impacts on PV installations and emissions reduction targets. •Discusses policy recommendations to increase participations in TOU programs.

Synthesizing Econometric Evidence: The Case of Demand Elasticity Estimates.

Science.gov (United States)

DeCicca, Philip; Kenkel, Don

2015-06-01

Econometric estimates of the responsiveness of health-related consumer demand to higher prices are often key ingredients for risk policy analysis. We review the potential advantages and challenges of synthesizing econometric evidence on the price-responsiveness of consumer demand. We draw on examples of research on consumer demand for health-related goods, especially cigarettes. We argue that the overarching goal of research synthesis in this context is to provide policy-relevant evidence for broad-brush conclusions. We propose three main criteria to select among research synthesis methods. We discuss how in principle and in current practice synthesis of research on the price-elasticity of smoking meets our proposed criteria. Our analysis of current practice also contributes to academic research on the specific policy question of the effectiveness of higher cigarette prices to reduce smoking. Although we point out challenges and limitations, we believe more work on research synthesis in this area will be productive and important. © 2015 Society for Risk Analysis.

Explaining foreign ownership by comparative and competitive advantage. Empirical evidence.

OpenAIRE

Bellak, Christian

1999-01-01

This paper provides empirical evidence on the determinants of foreign ownership in manufacturing industries. Foreign ownership, according to the theory of international production, is the result of the combination of comparative and competitive advantage. An adequate examination of the ownership structure of an industry requires the ability to establish empirically the extent to which international competitiveness of firms rests on comparative and competitive advantage. Analysis is based on a...

A Two-Stage Rural Household Demand Analysis: Microdata Evidence from Jiangsu Province, China

OpenAIRE

X.M. Gao; Eric J. Wailes; Gail L. Cramer

1996-01-01

In this paper we evaluate economic and demographic effects on China's rural household demand for nine food commodities: vegetables, pork, beef and lamb, poultry, eggs, fish, sugar, fruit, and grain; and five nonfood commodity groups: clothing, fuel, stimulants, housing, and durables. A two-stage budgeting allocation procedure is used to obtain an empirically tractable amalgamative demand system for food commodities which combine an upper-level AIDS model and a lower-level GLES as a modeling f...

Firm productivity, pollution, and output: theory and empirical evidence from China.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Erzi; Zhang, Jingjing; Haider, Zulfiqar

2015-11-01

Using a theoretical model, this paper argues that as firm productivity increases, there is a decrease in firm-level pollution intensity. However, as productivity increases, firms tend to increase their aggregate output, which requires the use of additional resources that increase pollution. Hence, an increase in productivity results in two opposing effects where increased productivity may in fact increase pollution created by a firm. We describe the joint effect of these two mechanisms on pollution emissions as the "productivity dilemma" of pollution emission. Based on firm-level data from China, we also empirically test this productivity dilemma hypothesis. Our empirical results suggest that, in general, firm productivity has a positive and statistically significant impact on pollution emission in China. However, the impact of productivity on pollution becomes negative when we control for increases in firm output. The empirical evidence also confirms the positive influence of productivity on output, which suggests that the main determinant of pollution is the firm's output. The empirical results provide evidence of the existence of, what we describe as, the productivity dilemma of pollution emission.

ICT Pathways to Poverty Reduction: Empirical Evidence from East ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2014-01-14

Jan 14, 2014 ... This book provides new empirical evidence on access to and use of ... English · Français ... Overall, the study concluded that ICTs make a difference to the ... staff of development agencies working on livelihoods for the poor.

Demand Potential for Goat Meat in Southern States: Empirical Evidence from a Multi-State Goat Meat Consumer Survey

OpenAIRE

Nelson, Mack C.; Liu, Xuanli

2005-01-01

A survey conducted in 11 Southeastern states elicits consumers' demand and preferences for various goat meat products. The data permit examination of goat meat demand of ethnic populations and the diversity among the states surveyed. The study uses five econometric models to examine the current demand, potential demand, and demand related to season and occasions on the goat meat market. Our analysis suggests that there exist a substantial demand for goat meat and the potential increase in the...

Exogenous empirical-evidence equilibria in perfect-monitoring repeated games yield correlated equilibria

KAUST Repository

Dudebout, Nicolas; Shamma, Jeff S.

2014-01-01

This paper proves that exogenous empirical-evidence equilibria (xEEEs) in perfect-monitoring repeated games induce correlated equilibria of the associated one-shot game. An empirical-evidence equilibrium (EEE) is a solution concept for stochastic games. At equilibrium, agents' strategies are optimal with respect to models of their opponents. These models satisfy a consistency condition with respect to the actual behavior of the opponents. As such, EEEs replace the full-rationality requirement of Nash equilibria by a consistency-based bounded-rationality one. In this paper, the framework of empirical evidence is summarized, with an emphasis on perfect-monitoring repeated games. A less constraining notion of consistency is introduced. The fact that an xEEE in a perfect-monitoring repeated game induces a correlated equilibrium on the underlying one-shot game is proven. This result and the new notion of consistency are illustrated on the hawk-dove game. Finally, a method to build specific correlated equilibria from xEEEs is derived.

Exogenous empirical-evidence equilibria in perfect-monitoring repeated games yield correlated equilibria

KAUST Repository

Dudebout, Nicolas

2014-12-15

This paper proves that exogenous empirical-evidence equilibria (xEEEs) in perfect-monitoring repeated games induce correlated equilibria of the associated one-shot game. An empirical-evidence equilibrium (EEE) is a solution concept for stochastic games. At equilibrium, agents\\' strategies are optimal with respect to models of their opponents. These models satisfy a consistency condition with respect to the actual behavior of the opponents. As such, EEEs replace the full-rationality requirement of Nash equilibria by a consistency-based bounded-rationality one. In this paper, the framework of empirical evidence is summarized, with an emphasis on perfect-monitoring repeated games. A less constraining notion of consistency is introduced. The fact that an xEEE in a perfect-monitoring repeated game induces a correlated equilibrium on the underlying one-shot game is proven. This result and the new notion of consistency are illustrated on the hawk-dove game. Finally, a method to build specific correlated equilibria from xEEEs is derived.

Short- and long-run elasticities of gasoline demand in India. An empirical analysis using cointegration techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramanathan, R.

1999-01-01

In developing countries like India, consumption of petroleum products has implications on its balance of payments, economic growth and fiscal deficit. Gasoline is one of the prime petroleum products. In this paper, the relationship between gasoline demand, national income and price of gasoline is empirically examined using cointegration and error correction techniques. The time frame of the analysis is from 1972-1973 to 1993-1994. It has been found that gasoline demand is likely to increase significantly for a given increase in the gross domestic product. The increase will be larger in the long-run (2.682) than in the short-run (1.178). Gasoline demand is relatively inelastic to price changes, both in the long and short terms. The error correction model has shown that gasoline demand adjusts to their respective long-run equilibrium at a relatively slow rate, with about 28% of adjustment taking place in the first year. 23 refs

The Role of Empirical Evidence for Transferring a New Technology to Industry

Science.gov (United States)

Baldassarre, Maria Teresa; Bruno, Giovanni; Caivano, Danilo; Visaggio, Giuseppe

Technology transfer and innovation diffusion are key success factors for an enterprise. The shift to a new software technology involves, on one hand, inevitable changes to ingrained and familiar processes and, on the other, requires training, changes in practices and commitment on behalf of technical staff and management. Nevertheless, industry is often reluctant to innovation due to the changes it determines. The process of innovation diffusion is easier if the new technology is supported by empirical evidence. In this sense our conjecture is that Empirical Software Engineering (ESE) serves as means for validating and transferring a new technology within production processes. In this paper, the authors report their experience of a method, Multiview Framework, defined in the SERLAB research laboratory as support for designing and managing a goal oriented measurement program that has been validated through various empirical studies before being transferred to an Italian SME. Our discussion points out the important role of empirical evidence for obtaining management commitment and buy-in on behalf of technical staff, and for making technological transfer possible.

Empirical Models of Demand for Out-Patient Physician Services and Their Relevance to the Assessment of Patient Payment Policies: A Critical Review of the Literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga Skriabikova

2010-06-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews the existing empirical micro-level models of demand for out-patient physician services where the size of patient payment is included either directly as an independent variable (when a flat-rate co-payment fee or indirectly as a level of deductibles and/or co-insurance defined by the insurance coverage. The paper also discusses the relevance of these models for the assessment of patient payment policies. For this purpose, a systematic literature review is carried out. In total, 46 relevant publications were identified. These publications are classified into categories based on their general approach to demand modeling, specifications of data collection, data analysis, and main empirical findings. The analysis indicates a rising research interest in the empirical micro-level models of demand for out-patient physician services that incorporate the size of patient payment. Overall, the size of patient payments, consumer socio-economic and demographic features, and quality of services provided emerge as important determinants of demand for out-patient physician services. However, there is a great variety in the modeling approaches and inconsistencies in the findings regarding the impact of price on demand for out-patient physician services. Hitherto, the empirical research fails to offer policy-makers a clear strategy on how to develop a country-specific model of demand for out-patient physician services suitable for the assessment of patient payment policies in their countries. In particular, theoretically important factors, such as provider behavior, consumer attitudes, experience and culture, and informal patient payments, are not considered. Although we recognize that it is difficult to measure these factors and to incorporate them in the demand models, it is apparent that there is a gap in research for the construction of effective patient payment schemes.

Empirical models of demand for out-patient physician services and their relevance to the assessment of patient payment policies: a critical review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Skriabikova, Olga; Pavlova, Milena; Groot, Wim

2010-06-01

This paper reviews the existing empirical micro-level models of demand for out-patient physician services where the size of patient payment is included either directly as an independent variable (when a flat-rate co-payment fee) or indirectly as a level of deductibles and/or co-insurance defined by the insurance coverage. The paper also discusses the relevance of these models for the assessment of patient payment policies. For this purpose, a systematic literature review is carried out. In total, 46 relevant publications were identified. These publications are classified into categories based on their general approach to demand modeling, specifications of data collection, data analysis, and main empirical findings. The analysis indicates a rising research interest in the empirical micro-level models of demand for out-patient physician services that incorporate the size of patient payment. Overall, the size of patient payments, consumer socio-economic and demographic features, and quality of services provided emerge as important determinants of demand for out-patient physician services. However, there is a great variety in the modeling approaches and inconsistencies in the findings regarding the impact of price on demand for out-patient physician services. Hitherto, the empirical research fails to offer policy-makers a clear strategy on how to develop a country-specific model of demand for out-patient physician services suitable for the assessment of patient payment policies in their countries. In particular, theoretically important factors, such as provider behavior, consumer attitudes, experience and culture, and informal patient payments, are not considered. Although we recognize that it is difficult to measure these factors and to incorporate them in the demand models, it is apparent that there is a gap in research for the construction of effective patient payment schemes.

What should we mean by empirical validation in hypnotherapy: evidence-based practice in clinical hypnosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Alladin, Assen; Sabatini, Linda; Amundson, Jon K

2007-04-01

This paper briefly surveys the trend of and controversy surrounding empirical validation in psychotherapy. Empirical validation of hypnotherapy has paralleled the practice of validation in psychotherapy and the professionalization of clinical psychology, in general. This evolution in determining what counts as evidence for bona fide clinical practice has gone from theory-driven clinical approaches in the 1960s and 1970s through critical attempts at categorization of empirically supported therapies in the 1990s on to the concept of evidence-based practice in 2006. Implications of this progression in professional psychology are discussed in the light of hypnosis's current quest for validation and empirical accreditation.

Factors Affecting Quality of Audit; Empirical Evidence from Iran ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study examines factors affecting quality of audit using empirical evidence from Iran Quality of audit was seen as the degree to which an audit report is free from deficiencies and distortions which show up later on. The quality of an audit was measured in terms of an auditor's ability to report financial distortions willingly ...

Tourism demand in Asean-5 countries: Evidence from panel data analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nur Fadzlunnisaa Wakimin

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Tourism has emerged as a major industry worldwide and a sector in many countries. This sector has experienced a rapid growth and has become a key driver for sustainable socioeconomic developments globally. However, tourism is also a vector of environmental degradation through the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the main factors that are affecting the tourism demand in ASEAN-5 countries. Using a panel of five ASEAN countries over a 44-year period and applying the Pooled Mean Group (PMG approach, the empirical results have shown that the major determinants of tourism demand in these countries are income, trade, tourism price, and carbon dioxide emission. The results have also shown that the PMG performed better than the Mean Group (MG estimator. This paper refers to the PMG estimator because it constrains the long run coefficients to be identical, but allows the short run coefficients and error variances to differ across groups. Income and trade appeared to exert significant positive impacts on tourism demand, whereas tourism price and carbon dioxide emissions have negative impacts on tourism demand in these ASEAN-5 countries. The results would be a good reference for policy makers in these specific countries.

The Role of Students’ Emotional Intelligence: Empirical Evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalio Extremera Pacheco

2004-11-01

Full Text Available Emotional intelligence (EI has attracted great interest in the field of education as a vehicle to improve the socioemotional development of students. The first publications that appeared made a great number of claims about the positive influence of emotional intelligence in the classroom. The only problem was that not all these claims were coupled with empirical research to show, on the one hand, the predictive level of EI, and on the other hand, the actual role of EI in different areas of life. It has been only recently that the effect of a high level of EI exercises on people has been investigated. The object of this article is to examine the most relevant empirical research done within the educational setting, in order to collect the existing evidence for the influence of EI, evaluated by different instruments, in the personal, social and scholastic functioning of students.

Household energy demand. Empirical studies concerning Sweden

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dargay, J; Lundin, A

1978-06-01

This paper investigates the effects of energy policy on households in Sweden and provides the material necessary for evaluation of current and proposed energy-conservation measures. Emphasis is placed on the impact of enery taxation or price changes on household demand for electricity, heating oil, and gasoline and the consequences of such measures for income distribution. The results of the Swedish studies of household demand for heating oil and gasoline indicate that price changes can have a considerable long run impact on fuel utilization. In the short run, price responsiveness is notably reduced, but it is nevertheless of consequence for energy demand.

Falling Standards of Education in Nigeria: An Empirical Evidence in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Falling Standards of Education in Nigeria: An Empirical Evidence in Delta State of Nigeria. ... Open Access DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ... the results are often devastating leading especially to poor quality output and wastage which in ... annual budget, inculcation of the tenets of traditional education, and utilization of research ...

Empirical Evidence or Intuition? An Activity Involving the Scientific Method

Science.gov (United States)

Overway, Ken

2007-01-01

Students need to have basic understanding of scientific method during their introductory science classes and for this purpose an activity was devised which involved a game based on famous Monty Hall game problem. This particular activity allowed students to banish or confirm their intuition based on empirical evidence.

Empirical evidence in consumer law cases: what are 'up to' claims up to?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Luzak, J.; Heiderhoff, B.; Schulze, R.

2016-01-01

In this contribution I argue that in certain consumer law cases providing empirical evidence is necessary and that specific standards of proof should then apply. Only through analysing evidence of actual consumer behaviour as well as of trader’s commercial practices courts and enforcement

The supply and demand for pollution control: Evidence from wastewater treatment

Science.gov (United States)

McConnell, V.D.; Schwarz, G.E.

1992-01-01

This paper analyzes the determination of pollution control from wastewater treatment plants as an economic decision facing local or regional regulators. Pollution control is measured by plant design effluent concentration levels and is fully endogenous in a supply- and-demand model of treatment choice. On the supply side, plant costs are a function of the design treatment level of the plant, and on the demand side, treatment level is a function of both the costs of control and the regional or regulatory preferences for control. We find evidence that the economic model of effluent choice by local regulators has a good deal of explanatory power. We find evidence that wastewater treatment plant removal of biological oxygen demand (BOD) is sensitive to many local factors including the size of the treatment plant, the flow rate of the receiving water, the population density of the surrounding area, regional growth, state sensitivity to environmental issues, state income, and the extent to which the damages from pollution fall on other states. We find strong evidence that regulators are sensitive to capital costs in determining the design level of BOD effluent reduction at a plant. Thus, proposed reductions in federal subsidies for wastewater treatment plant construction are likely to have significant adverse effects on water quality. ?? 1992.

Does Missing Classes Decelerate Student Exam Performance Progress? Empirical Evidence and Policy Implications

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Tin-Chun

2014-01-01

A total of 389 business students in undergraduate introductory microeconomics classes in spring 2007, 2009, and 2011, and fall 2012 participated in an exam performance progress study. Empirical evidence suggested that missing classes decelerates and hampers high-performing students' exam performance progress. Nevertheless, the evidence does…

A Survey on Agricultural Trade Policies in Bangladesh: theoretical Insights and empirical Evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dayal Talukder

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to review the theoretical insights and empirical evidence on agricultural trade policies and their impacts on the Bangladesh‟s economy, with a view to presenting both, the positive and negative effects of trade liberalization. Theoretically, while advocates of trade liberalization argue that free trade is an engine of growth and protection leads to wasteful use of resources, critics argue that openness has its costs and sometimes it could be detrimental to the economic development. The empirical evidence in Bangladesh was consistent with the ongoing debate on the effects of trade liberalization on economic development. The evidence remained mixed and loaded with criticisms on the grounds of choice of liberalization determinants, model specifications and methodology, as well as other measurement shortcomings. The review suggests that the literature is inconclusive and outcomes are largely case-specific.

A Survey on Agricultural Trade Policies in Bangladesh: theoretical Insights and empirical Evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Talukder

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to review the theoretical insights and empirical evidence on agricultural trade policies and their impacts on the Bangladesh’s economy, with a view to presenting both, the positive and negative effects of trade liberalization. Theoretically, while advocates of trade liberalization argue that free trade is an engine of growth and protection leads to wasteful use of resources, critics argue that openness has its costs and sometimes it could be detrimental to the economic development. The empirical evidence in Bangladesh was consistent with the ongoing debate on the effects of trade liberalization on economic development. The evidence remained mixed and loaded with criticisms on the grounds of choice of liberalization determinants, model specifications and methodology, as well as other measurement shortcomings. The review suggests that the literature is inconclusive and outcomes are largely case-specific

Emotional Competence in Children with Autism: Diagnostic Criteria and Empirical Evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Begeer, Sander; Koot, Hans M.; Rieffe, Carolien; Terwogt, Mark Meerum; Stegge, Hedy

2008-01-01

The diagnostic criteria of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) include emotional impairments. However, scientific evidence for these impairments is varied and subtle. In this contribution, recent empirical studies that examined the emotional competence in children and adolescents with ASD are reviewed. Four aspects of emotional competence that are…

Modelling Commodity Demands and Labour Supply with m-Demands

OpenAIRE

Browning, Martin

1999-01-01

In the empirical modelling of demands and labour supply we often lack data on a full set of goods. The usual response is to invoke separability assumptions. Here we present an alternative based on modelling demands as a function of prices and the quantity of a reference good rather than total expenditure. We term such demands m-demands. The advantage of this approach is that we make maximum use of the data to hand without invoking implausible separability assumptions. In the theory section qu...

Board diversity in the perspective of financial distress: Empirical evidence from the Netherlands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernard Santen

2009-07-01

Full Text Available This paper analyses the relationship between board diversity (in gender and in nationality and financial distress. A summary of the theory behind board diversity precedes an overview of the empirical evidence on the relationship between diversity and company performance. The paper presents empirical research on the relationship between a negative performance measure, financial distress, and diversity on the board. The results show a positive relationship between the presence of foreign non-executive directors and financial distress. It is suggested that this is caused by negative communication and misunderstandings. No relationship is found between the gender of a director and financial distress. On a micro-level, the data do not show evidence for the glass cliff hypothesis.

Outcome (competency) based education: an exploration of its origins, theoretical basis, and empirical evidence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mørcke, Anne Mette; Dornan, Tim; Eika, Berit

2013-01-01

and professional attributes as ‘‘competencies’’. OBE has been adopted by consensus in the face of weak empirical evidence. OBE, which has been advocated for over 50 years, can contribute usefully to defining requisite knowledge and skills, and blueprinting assessments. Its applicability to more complex aspects...... greatest benefits. Our aim was to explore the underpinnings of OBE: its historical origins, theoretical basis, and empirical evidence of its effects in order to answer the question: How can predetermined learning outcomes influence undergraduate medical education? This literature review had three...... components: A review of historical landmarks in the evolution of OBE; a review of conceptual frameworks and theories; and a systematic review of empirical publications from 1999 to 2010 that reported data concerning the effects of learning outcomes on undergraduate medical education. OBE had its origins...

Motives and chances of firm diversification: theory and empirical evidence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Briglauer, W.

2001-11-01

It is beyond controversy that the majority of the largest companies in the industrialized countries perform to a certain extent product diversification strategies. Tying up to this finding the underlying work firstly deals with alternative theoretical and empirical definitions of corporate diversification. Subsequently the theoretical part mainly elaborates an industrial economic framework for categorizing motives of firm diversification. Despite of some inevitable degree of arbitrariness, a relatively widespread and sufficient categorization can be presented. With regards to the relevant economic literature most explanations of product diversification can be classified appropriately. Observing diversification activities one would prima facie infer a positive relationship between product diversification and firm performance, but both, theory and empirical evidence, yield ambiguous results. The empirical part provides a list of existing studies, classified according to the theoretical categorization. In an overview some stylised facts are filtered and discussed consecutively. Most notably, it was found that related diversification strategies significantly outperform strategies of unrelated diversification. At the end of the empirical section econometric methods are applied to agricultural and industrial economic (relating to telecommunication markets) data sets. For the agricultural studies a significantly positive relationship between product diversification and firm performance was found. In contrast no significant results were obtained for the telecommunication markets. (author)

Taxes, cost and demand shifters as determinants in the regional gasoline price formation process: Evidence from Spain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bello, Alejandro; Contín-Pilart, Ignacio

2012-01-01

This paper examines the pass-through of regional tax changes and spot price variations to regional gasoline prices in Spain. It also analyzes the impact of all major cost and demand shifters that contribute to regional gasoline price formation. To address these research issues, a reduced form price equation using monthly time-series cross-sectional (TSCS) data from January 2004 through December 2008 is estimated. Strong and consistent evidence of full shifting of regional tax changes to regional gasoline prices is found. Gasoline spot price changes are more than proportionally passed through to retail prices. In addition, the empirical evidence shows, on the one hand, that regional gasoline price differences before taxes continue to be quite narrow and, on the other hand, that there is still a margin for larger gasoline price differences among regions. This suggest that “traditional practices” from the monopoly era (i.e. relatively uniform regional gasoline prices) persist after the market has been liberalized, which may have been facilitated by the strong and uniform presence of the major Spanish-based refining companies in the retail sector over the whole country. - Highlights: ► The paper analyzes the impact of all major demand and cost shifters that contribute to regional gasoline price formation. ► It shows that the relatively uniform regional gasoline prices persist after the Spanish gasoline market has been liberalized. ► It shows that regional tax changes are fully passed on to regional gasoline prices. ► It also shows that gasoline spot price changes are fully passed on to consumer prices.

Space evolution model and empirical analysis of an urban public transport network

Science.gov (United States)

Sui, Yi; Shao, Feng-jing; Sun, Ren-cheng; Li, Shu-jing

2012-07-01

This study explores the space evolution of an urban public transport network, using empirical evidence and a simulation model validated on that data. Public transport patterns primarily depend on traffic spatial-distribution, demands of passengers and expected utility of investors. Evolution is an iterative process of satisfying the needs of passengers and investors based on a given traffic spatial-distribution. The temporal change of urban public transport network is evaluated both using topological measures and spatial ones. The simulation model is validated using empirical data from nine big cities in China. Statistical analyses on topological and spatial attributes suggest that an evolution network with traffic demands characterized by power-law numerical values which distribute in a mode of concentric circles tallies well with these nine cities.

REAL STOCK PRICES AND THE LONG-RUN MONEY DEMAND FUNCTION IN MALAYSIA: Evidence from Error Correction Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naziruddin Abdullah

2004-06-01

Full Text Available This study adopts the error correction model to empirically investigate the role of real stock prices in the long run-money demand in the Malaysian financial or money market for the period 1977: Q1-1997: Q2. Specifically, an attempt is made to check whether the real narrow money (M1/P is cointegrated with the selected variables like industrial production index (IPI, one-year T-Bill rates (TB12, and real stock prices (RSP. If a cointegration between the variables, i.e., the dependent and independent variables, is found to be the case, it may imply that there exists a long-run co-movement among these variables in the Malaysian money market. From the empirical results it is found that the cointegration between money demand and real stock prices (RSP is positive, implying that in the long run there is a positive association between real stock prices (RSP and demand for real narrow money (M1/P. The policy implication that can be extracted from this study is that an increase in stock prices is likely to necessitate an expansionary monetary policy to prevent nominal income or inflation target from undershooting.

Gone with the wind? The impact of wind turbines on tourism demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broekel, Tom; Alfken, Christoph

2015-01-01

While wind energy production is relatively free from environmental externalities such as air pollution, it is frequently considered to negatively impact landscapes' visual aesthetic values, thereby inducing negative effects on tourism demand. Existing evidence for Germany indeed points towards a negative relationship between tourism demand and wind turbine construction. However, the existing studies primarily rely on interview data and simple bivariate statistics. In contrast, we make use of secondary statistics on tourism and wind turbine locations at the level of German municipalities. Using spatial panel regression techniques, we confirm a negative relation between wind turbines around municipalities and tourism demand for municipalities not located near the coast. In the latter regions, the relation between wind turbines and tourism demand is more complex. - Highlights: • Comprehensive quantitative empirical study on wind turbines and tourism demand. • Consideration of wind turbines in vacation municipalities and in their geographic surroundings. • Novel data set on wind turbines and touristic demand in all German municipalities. • Application of spatial panel analysis in the context of tourism research. • Evidence for a negative relationship between wind turbines and tourism demand.

AN APPROACH TO THE EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT THROUGH EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ismael Sanz Labrador

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This article presents the empiral evidences of standardized evaluations and explores the aspects of such evaluations more interesting to the educational community, and investigates the effects in implementing those exams on the performance of students. Furthermore, it is analyzed the relationship between external evaluations and teaching to the test , it is seen how it affects the introduction of these evaluations in student learning and their performance in international assessments of different characteristics, and the effect it produces in schools located in disadvantaged areas.

Deriving local demand for stumpage from estimates of regional supply and demand.

Science.gov (United States)

Kent P. Connaughton; Gerard A. Majerus; David H. Jackson

1989-01-01

The local (Forest-level or local-area) demand for stumpage can be derived from estimates of regional supply and demand. The derivation of local demand is justified when the local timber economy is similar to the regional timber economy; a simple regression of local on nonlocal prices can be used as an empirical test of similarity between local and regional economies....

Information demands of occupational health physicians and their attitude towards evidence-based medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Schaafsma, Frederieke; Hulshof, Carel; van Dijk, Frank; Verbeek, Jos

2004-08-01

This study assessed the extent and nature of information demands among occupational health physicians and their attitude towards the application of evidence-based medicine in occupational health. A questionnaire survey was carried out among a random sample of 159 physicians practicing occupational medicine in The Netherlands. The questionnaire investigated the type and number of questions encountered in daily practice, the actions taken in response, the physicians' experience in using scientific databases on the Internet, and their attitude towards evidence-based medicine. The occupational health physicians' questions concerned medical, legal, and rehabilitation topics in particular. In pursuing answers to their questions, they generally chose to contact colleagues. Scientific databases were not consulted very often, although, in general, the attitude towards evidence-based medicine was positive. In addition to known barriers for practicing evidence-based medicine, occupational health physicians perceive a lack of scientific evidence in their field. The extensiveness of the field of knowledge in occupational health care was not regarded as an obstacle to their application of evidence-based medicine. Occupational health physicians have a demand for information on a broad range of topics, and, in most cases, their attitude towards evidence-based medicine is fairly positive. Besides education and training in evidence-based medicine, access to the Internet and the presence of a good knowledge infrastructure would help occupational health physicians use evidence-based medicine.

Micro-Credit and Rural Poverty: An Analysis of Empirical Evidence

OpenAIRE

Chavan, P.; Ramakumar, R.

2003-01-01

This paper reviews empirical evidence on NGO-led micro-credit programmes in several developing countries, and compares them with state-led poverty alleviation schemes in India. It shows that micro-credit programmes have brought about a marginal improvement in the beneficiaries' income, though technological improvements are lacking due to its emphasis on ‘survival skills'. Also, in Bangladesh the practice of repayment of Grameen Bank loans by making fresh loans from moneylenders has resulted ...

Expert opinion vs. empirical evidence: the precautionary principle applied to GM crops.

Science.gov (United States)

Herman, Rod A; Raybould, Alan

2014-01-01

Expert opinion is often sought by government regulatory agencies when there is insufficient empirical evidence to judge the safety implications of a course of action. However, it can be reckless to continue following expert opinion when a preponderance of evidence is amassed that conflicts with this opinion. Factual evidence should always trump opinion in prioritizing the information that is used to guide regulatory policy. Evidence-based medicine has seen a dramatic upturn in recent years spurred by examples where evidence indicated that certain treatments recommended by expert opinions increased death rates. We suggest that scientific evidence should also take priority over expert opinion in the regulation of genetically modified crops (GM). Examples of regulatory data requirements that are not justified based on the mass of evidence are described, and it is suggested that expertise in risk assessment should guide evidence-based regulation of GM crops.

Empirical Evidence from Kenya

African Journals Online (AJOL)

FIRST LADY

2011-01-18

Jan 18, 2011 ... Empirical results reveal that consumption of sugar in. Kenya varies ... experiences in trade in different regions of the world. Some studies ... To assess the relationship between domestic sugar retail prices and sugar sales in ...

Economic modelling of energy services: Rectifying misspecified energy demand functions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunt, Lester C.; Ryan, David L.

2015-01-01

Although it is well known that energy demand is derived, since energy is required not for its own sake but for the energy services it produces – such as heating, lighting, and motive power – energy demand models, both theoretical and empirical, often fail to take account of this feature. In this paper, we highlight the misspecification that results from ignoring this aspect, and its empirical implications – biased estimates of price elasticities and other measures – and provide a relatively simple and empirically practicable way to rectify it, which has a strong theoretical grounding. To do so, we develop an explicit model of consumer behaviour in which utility derives from consumption of energy services rather than from the energy sources that are used to produce them. As we discuss, this approach opens up the possibility of examining many aspects of energy demand in a theoretically sound way that have not previously been considered on a widespread basis, although some existing empirical work could be interpreted as being consistent with this type of specification. While this formulation yields demand equations for energy services rather than for energy or particular energy sources, these are shown to be readily converted, without added complexity, into the standard type of energy demand equation(s) that is (are) typically estimated. The additional terms that the resulting energy demand equations include, compared to those that are typically estimated, highlight the misspecification that is implicit when typical energy demand equations are estimated. A simple solution for dealing with an apparent drawback of this formulation for empirical purposes, namely that information is required on typically unobserved energy efficiency, indicates how energy efficiency can be captured in the model, such as by including exogenous trends and/or including its possible dependence on past energy prices. The approach is illustrated using an empirical example that involves

An empirical investigation of operator performance in cognitively demanding simulated emergencies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roth, E.M.; Mumaw, R.J.; Lewis, P.M.

1994-07-01

This report documents the results of an empirical study of nuclear power plant operator performance in cognitively demanding simulated emergencies. During emergencies operators follow highly prescriptive written procedures. The objectives of the study were to understand and document what role higher-level cognitive activities such as diagnosis, or more generally 'situation assessment', play in guiding operator performance, given that operators utilize procedures in responding to the events. The study examined crew performance in variants of two emergencies: (1) an Interfacing System Loss of Coolant Accident and (2) a Loss of Heat Sink scenario. Data on operator performance were collected using training simulators at two plant sites. Up to 11 crews from each plant participated in each of two simulated emergencies for a total of 38 cases. Crew performance was videotaped and partial transcripts were produced and analyzed. The results revealed a number of instances where higher-level cognitive activities such as situation assessment and response planning enabled crews to handle aspects of the situation that were not fully addressed by the procedures. This report documents these cases and discusses their implications for the development and evaluation of training and control room aids, as well as for human reliability analyses

Educational Leaders and Emotions: An International Review of Empirical Evidence 1992-2012

Science.gov (United States)

Berkovich, Izhak; Eyal, Ori

2015-01-01

The aim of the present article is to review the international evidence about emotional aspects related to educational leaders. The review focuses on empirical studies published in peer-refereed educational journals between 1992 and 2012. First, we address the importance of researching emotions for understanding educational leaders. Next, we…

What drives adult personality development? : A comparison of theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Specht, J.; Bleidorn, W.; Denissen, J.J.A.; Hennecke, M.; Hutteman, R.; Luhmann, M.; Orth, U.; Reitz, A.K.; Zimmerman, J.

2014-01-01

Increasing numbers of empirical studies provide compelling evidence that personality traits change across the entire lifespan. What initiates this continuing personality development and how does this development proceed? In this paper, we compare six theoretical perspectives that offer testable

Whole-body cryotherapy: empirical evidence and theoretical perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Bleakley, Chris M; Bieuzen, François; Davison, Gareth W; Costello, Joseph T

2014-01-01

Whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) involves short exposures to air temperatures below -100°C. WBC is increasingly accessible to athletes, and is purported to enhance recovery after exercise and facilitate rehabilitation postinjury. Our objective was to review the efficacy and effectiveness of WBC using empirical evidence from controlled trials. We found ten relevant reports; the majority were based on small numbers of active athletes aged less than 35 years. Although WBC produces a large temperature gradient for tissue cooling, the relatively poor thermal conductivity of air prevents significant subcutaneous and core body cooling. There is weak evidence from controlled studies that WBC enhances antioxidant capacity and parasympathetic reactivation, and alters inflammatory pathways relevant to sports recovery. A series of small randomized studies found WBC offers improvements in subjective recovery and muscle soreness following metabolic or mechanical overload, but little benefit towards functional recovery. There is evidence from one study only that WBC may assist rehabilitation for adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder. There were no adverse events associated with WBC; however, studies did not seem to undertake active surveillance of predefined adverse events. Until further research is available, athletes should remain cognizant that less expensive modes of cryotherapy, such as local ice-pack application or cold-water immersion, offer comparable physiological and clinical effects to WBC.

Gathering Empirical Evidence Concerning Links between Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Creativity

Science.gov (United States)

Musta'amal, Aede Hatib; Norman, Eddie; Hodgson, Tony

2009-01-01

Discussion is often reported concerning potential links between computer-aided designing and creativity, but there is a lack of systematic enquiry to gather empirical evidence concerning such links. This paper reports an indication of findings from other research studies carried out in contexts beyond general education that have sought evidence…

Early Child Disaster Mental Health Interventions: A Review of the Empirical Evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Pfefferbaum, Betty; Nitiéma, Pascal; Tucker, Phebe; Newman, Elana

2017-01-01

Background: The need to establish an evidence base for early child disaster interventions has been long recognized. Objective: This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the empirical research on early disaster mental health interventions delivered to children within the first 3 months post event. Methods: Characteristics and findings of the…

Judgments under competition and uncertainty : empirical evidence from online poker

OpenAIRE

Engelbergs, Jörg

2010-01-01

Playing poker has many aspects in common with the making of business decisions. Agents act in a strategically rich, dynamic environment, where they are repeatedly facing competition under uncertain prospects. Their main goal is to maximize their resources. However simple this goal is put down, it is difficult to fulfill. As vast and rich research has shown, heuristics and biases affect human decision-making. This work adds to these findings by providing empirical evidence for behavioral patte...

Are smokers rational addicts? Empirical evidence from the Indonesian Family Life Survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thabrany Hasbullah

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Indonesia is one of the largest consumers of tobacco in the world, however there has been little work done on the economics addiction of tobacco. This study provides an empirical test of a rational addiction (henceforth RA hypothesis of cigarette demand in Indonesia. Methods Four estimators (OLS, 2SLS, GMM, and System-GMM were explored to test the RA hypothesis. The author adopted several diagnostics tests to select the best estimator to overcome econometric problems faced in presence of the past and future cigarette consumption (suspected endogenous variables. A short-run and long-run price elasticities of cigarettes demand was then calculated. The model was applied to individuals pooled data derived from three-waves a panel of the Indonesian Family Life Survey spanning the period 1993-2000. Results The past cigarette consumption coefficients turned out to be a positive with a p-value Conclusions Health policymakers should redesign current public health campaign against cigarette smoking in the country. Given the demand for cigarettes to be more prices sensitive for the long run (and female than the short run (and male, an increase in the price of cigarettes could lead to a significant fall in cigarette consumption in the long run rather than as a constant source of government revenue.

Strengthening Research Capacity and Evidence-Based Policy ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

... wider Central Asian region lack capacity to conduct empirical analysis and create policies based on research evidence. To address government priorities, the region needs quality research driven by local demands and analytical skills that can inform effective development responses through policy. This 39-month project, ...

Some empirical evidence on the relationship between inventory management and social responsibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khaled Elsayed

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Despite the crucial role that inventory plays in supply chain management (SCM, research that examines the relationship between inventory and corporate social responsibility (CSR is rare. This is surprising given the evidence that inventory represents a huge source of cost, a matter that is often reported as a major impediment in practicing social responsibility in SCM. As such, this paper fills this gape in literature by examining directly the effect of inventory management on CSR. Maximum-likelihood ordered logistic regression was performed on a sample of 38 Egyptian listed firms during the period from 2007 to 2010. The results demonstrate that inventory management exerts a positive and significant coefficient on CSR. Further analysis shows that inventory management cannot be safely dropped from model of analysis. Rather, inventory management does add something unique in explaining differences in CSR. For practitioners interested in optimizing their firms’ values, thinking in managing supply chain imperatives, and specially inventory, in terms of social responsibility may guide them to build up a stock of reputational capital that can be used, in turn, to increase the cost of their rivals. This study, to the best of knowledge, is the first one that offers empirical evidence regarding the effect of inventory management on CSR. Moreover, the paper adds to both SCM and CSR literature by providing empirical evidence from Egypt as an emerging market, where much of the existing evidence reflects experience from developed countries.

How can the regulator show evidence of (no) risk selection in health insurance markets? Conceptual framework and empirical evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

van de Ven, Wynand P M M; van Vliet, René C J A; van Kleef, Richard C

2017-03-01

If consumers have a choice of health plan, risk selection is often a serious problem (e.g., as in Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, the United States of America, and Switzerland). Risk selection may threaten the quality of care for chronically ill people, and may reduce the affordability and efficiency of healthcare. Therefore, an important question is: how can the regulator show evidence of (no) risk selection? Although this seems easy, showing such evidence is not straightforward. The novelty of this paper is two-fold. First, we provide a conceptual framework for showing evidence of risk selection in competitive health insurance markets. It is not easy to disentangle risk selection and the insurers' efficiency. We suggest two methods to measure risk selection that are not biased by the insurers' efficiency. Because these measures underestimate the true risk selection, we also provide a list of signals of selection that can be measured and that, in particular in combination, can show evidence of risk selection. It is impossible to show the absence of risk selection. Second, we empirically measure risk selection among the switchers, taking into account the insurers' efficiency. Based on 2-year administrative data on healthcare expenses and risk characteristics of nearly all individuals with basic health insurance in the Netherlands (N > 16 million) we find significant risk selection for most health insurers. This is the first publication of hard empirical evidence of risk selection in the Dutch health insurance market.

Academic Advising Systems: A Systematic Literature Review of Empirical Evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Omiros Iatrellis

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to provide the reader with a comprehensive background for understanding current knowledge on Academic Advising Systems (AAS and its impact on learning. It constitutes an overview of empirical evidence behind key objectives of the potential adoption of AAS in generic educational strategic planning. The researchers examined the literature on experimental case studies conducted in the domain during the past ten years (2008–2017. Search terms identified 98 mature pieces of research work, but inclusion criteria limited the key studies to 43. The authors analyzed the research questions, methodology, and findings of these published papers and categorized them accordingly. The results have highlighted three distinct major directions of the AAS empirical research. This paper discusses the emerged added value of AAS research and highlights the significance of further implications. Finally, the authors set their thoughts on possible uncharted key questions to investigate both from pedagogical and technical considerations.

Residential Water Demand in a Mexican Biosphere Reserve: Evidence of the Effects of Perceived Price

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Antonio Almendarez-Hernández

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence for policy-makers of water management, evaluate the applicability of economic variables such as price and other factors that affect demand, and determine the impact thereof on decision-making surrounding water management in the El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve in Mexico. We estimated a dynamic function with an average price specification, as well as price perception specification. Findings demonstrated that consumers tend to react to perceived average price but not to the marginal price. Furthermore, long-term price elasticity was found to be higher than short-term elasticity, and both elasticities were found to be inelastic. Inelastic elasticities, coupled with rising prices, generate substantial revenues with which to improve water planning and supply quality and to expand service coverage. The results suggest that users’ level of knowledge surrounding price is a key factor to take into account when restructuring rates, especially in situations where consumers do not readily possess the necessary information about their rate structure and usage within a given billing period. Furthermore, the results can help water management policy-makers to achieve goals of economic efficiency, social equity, and environmental sustainability.

Visual Task Demands and the Auditory Mismatch Negativity: An Empirical Study and a Meta-Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wiens, Stefan; Szychowska, Malina; Nilsson, Mats E

2016-01-01

Because the auditory system is particularly useful in monitoring the environment, previous research has examined whether task-irrelevant, auditory distracters are processed even if subjects focus their attention on visual stimuli. This research suggests that attentionally demanding visual tasks decrease the auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) to simultaneously presented auditory distractors. Because a recent behavioral study found that high visual perceptual load decreased detection sensitivity of simultaneous tones, we used a similar task (n = 28) to determine if high visual perceptual load would reduce the auditory MMN. Results suggested that perceptual load did not decrease the MMN. At face value, these nonsignificant findings may suggest that effects of perceptual load on the MMN are smaller than those of other demanding visual tasks. If so, effect sizes should differ systematically between the present and previous studies. We conducted a selective meta-analysis of published studies in which the MMN was derived from the EEG, the visual task demands were continuous and varied between high and low within the same task, and the task-irrelevant tones were presented in a typical oddball paradigm simultaneously with the visual stimuli. Because the meta-analysis suggested that the present (null) findings did not differ systematically from previous findings, the available evidence was combined. Results of this meta-analysis confirmed that demanding visual tasks reduce the MMN to auditory distracters. However, because the meta-analysis was based on small studies and because of the risk for publication biases, future studies should be preregistered with large samples (n > 150) to provide confirmatory evidence for the results of the present meta-analysis. These future studies should also use control conditions that reduce confounding effects of neural adaptation, and use load manipulations that are defined independently from their effects on the MMN.

Visual Task Demands and the Auditory Mismatch Negativity: An Empirical Study and a Meta-Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Wiens, Stefan; Szychowska, Malina; Nilsson, Mats E.

2016-01-01

Because the auditory system is particularly useful in monitoring the environment, previous research has examined whether task-irrelevant, auditory distracters are processed even if subjects focus their attention on visual stimuli. This research suggests that attentionally demanding visual tasks decrease the auditory mismatch negativity (MMN) to simultaneously presented auditory distractors. Because a recent behavioral study found that high visual perceptual load decreased detection sensitivity of simultaneous tones, we used a similar task (n = 28) to determine if high visual perceptual load would reduce the auditory MMN. Results suggested that perceptual load did not decrease the MMN. At face value, these nonsignificant findings may suggest that effects of perceptual load on the MMN are smaller than those of other demanding visual tasks. If so, effect sizes should differ systematically between the present and previous studies. We conducted a selective meta-analysis of published studies in which the MMN was derived from the EEG, the visual task demands were continuous and varied between high and low within the same task, and the task-irrelevant tones were presented in a typical oddball paradigm simultaneously with the visual stimuli. Because the meta-analysis suggested that the present (null) findings did not differ systematically from previous findings, the available evidence was combined. Results of this meta-analysis confirmed that demanding visual tasks reduce the MMN to auditory distracters. However, because the meta-analysis was based on small studies and because of the risk for publication biases, future studies should be preregistered with large samples (n > 150) to provide confirmatory evidence for the results of the present meta-analysis. These future studies should also use control conditions that reduce confounding effects of neural adaptation, and use load manipulations that are defined independently from their effects on the MMN. PMID:26741815

26 CFR 1.453-3 - Purchaser evidences of indebtedness payable on demand or readily tradable.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... obligation (determined by taking into account all relevant factors, including proper discount to reflect the... demand or readily tradable. 1.453-3 Section 1.453-3 Internal Revenue INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT... Income Included § 1.453-3 Purchaser evidences of indebtedness payable on demand or readily tradable. (a...

Electricity demand in Tunisia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gam, Imen; Ben Rejeb, Jaleleddine

2012-01-01

This paper examines the global electricity demand in Tunisia as a function of gross domestic product in constant price, the degree of urbanization, the average annual temperature, and the real electricity price per Kwh. This demand will be examined employing annual data over a period spanning almost thirty one years from 1976 to 2006. A long run relationship between the variables under consideration is determined using the Vector Autoregressive Regression. The empirical results suggest that the electricity demand in Tunisia is sensitive to its past value, any changes in gross domestic product and electricity price. The electricity price effects have a negative impact on long-run electricity consumption. However, the gross domestic product and the past value of electricity consumption have a positive effect. Moreover, the causality test reveals a unidirectional relationship between price and electricity consumption. Our empirical findings are effective to policy makers to maintain the electricity consumption in Tunisia by using the appropriate strategy. - Highlights: ► This paper examined the electricity demand in Tunisia in the long-run. ► The empirical analysis revealed that in the long-run the electricity demand is affected by changes in its past value, GDP in constant price and real electricity price. ► There is a unidirectional relationship between price and electricity consumption, that is to say, that the electricity price causes the consumption. ► Those results suggest that a pricing policy can be an effective instrument to rationalize the electricity consumption in Tunisia in the long-run.

Measuring inaccuracy in travel demand forecasting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Flyvbjerg, Bent

2005-01-01

as the basis for measurement. This paper presents the case against both objections. First, if one is interested in learning whether decisions about building transport infrastructure are based on reliable information, then it is exactly the traffic forecasted at the time of making the decision to build......Project promoters, forecasters, and managers sometimes object to two things in measuring inaccuracy in travel demand forecasting: (1)using the forecast made at the time of making the decision to build as the basis for measuring inaccuracy and (2)using traffic during the first year of operations...... that is of interest. Second, although ideally studies should take into account so-called demand ??ramp up?? over a period of years, the empirical evidence and practical considerations do not support this ideal requirement, at least not for large- N studies. Finally, the paper argues that large samples of inaccuracy...

Demand Side Management: An approach to peak load smoothing

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Prachi

A preliminary national-level analysis was conducted to determine whether Demand Side Management (DSM) programs introduced by electric utilities since 1992 have made any progress towards their stated goal of reducing peak load demand. Estimates implied that DSM has a very small effect on peak load reduction and there is substantial regional and end-user variability. A limited scholarly literature on DSM also provides evidence in support of a positive effect of demand response programs. Yet, none of these studies examine the question of how DSM affects peak load at the micro-level by influencing end-users' response to prices. After nearly three decades of experience with DSM, controversy remains over how effective these programs have been. This dissertation considers regional analyses that explore both demand-side solutions and supply-side interventions. On the demand side, models are estimated to provide in-depth evidence of end-user consumption patterns for each North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) region, helping to identify sectors in regions that have made a substantial contribution to peak load reduction. The empirical evidence supports the initial hypothesis that there is substantial regional and end-user variability of reductions in peak demand. These results are quite robust in rapidly-urbanizing regions, where air conditioning and lighting load is substantially higher, and regions where the summer peak is more pronounced than the winter peak. It is also evident from the regional experiences that active government involvement, as shaped by state regulations in the last few years, has been successful in promoting DSM programs, and perhaps for the same reason we witness an uptick in peak load reductions in the years 2008 and 2009. On the supply side, we estimate the effectiveness of DSM programs by analyzing the growth of capacity margin with the introduction of DSM programs. The results indicate that DSM has been successful in offsetting the

Could Regulator Materialize Potential Demand for Islamic Securities? Evidence from Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bayu Kariastanto

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Objective – The objective of this paper is to provide a discussion whether Islamic securities enjoy larger demands than conventional securities. This paper also investigate whether regulator could effectively take a role in materializing demands for Islamic securities and whether regulator declaration is more convincing than sharia compliance declaration by another institution.Methods - We employ differences in differences (DID regression to see the immediate, medium, and long term market response to this announcement. We also estimate cumulative abnormal returns by employing the standard market model for the robustness test.Results - We find that market reacts to sharia compliance declaration by regulator in the long-run, hence potential demands are realized and the Islamic securities will enjoy greater market power. We also provide evidence that Islamic investors are not too strict in screening Islamic securities and are willing to accept different opinions regarding sharia compliance.Conclusion - This finding could explain why Islamic finance is still growing rapidly even though there are critiques in the genuineness of sharia compliance of the current Islamic financial products/services.Keywords: Regulator, Islamic securities, sharia compliance, demand, investor confidence

Towards a Job Demands-Resources Health Model: Empirical Testing with Generalizable Indicators of Job Demands, Job Resources, and Comprehensive Health Outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Brauchli, Rebecca; Jenny, Gregor J; Füllemann, Désirée; Bauer, Georg F

2015-01-01

Studies using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model commonly have a heterogeneous focus concerning the variables they investigate-selective job demands and resources as well as burnout and work engagement. The present study applies the rationale of the JD-R model to expand the relevant outcomes of job demands and job resources by linking the JD-R model to the logic of a generic health development framework predicting more broadly positive and negative health. The resulting JD-R health model was operationalized and tested with a generalizable set of job characteristics and positive and negative health outcomes among a heterogeneous sample of 2,159 employees. Applying a theory-driven and a data-driven approach, measures which were generally relevant for all employees were selected. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that the model fitted the data. Multiple group analyses indicated invariance across six organizations, gender, job positions, and three times of measurement. Initial evidence was found for the validity of an expanded JD-R health model. Thereby this study contributes to the current research on job characteristics and health by combining the core idea of the JD-R model with the broader concepts of salutogenic and pathogenic health development processes as well as both positive and negative health outcomes.

Towards a Job Demands-Resources Health Model: Empirical Testing with Generalizable Indicators of Job Demands, Job Resources, and Comprehensive Health Outcomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca Brauchli

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Studies using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R model commonly have a heterogeneous focus concerning the variables they investigate—selective job demands and resources as well as burnout and work engagement. The present study applies the rationale of the JD-R model to expand the relevant outcomes of job demands and job resources by linking the JD-R model to the logic of a generic health development framework predicting more broadly positive and negative health. The resulting JD-R health model was operationalized and tested with a generalizable set of job characteristics and positive and negative health outcomes among a heterogeneous sample of 2,159 employees. Applying a theory-driven and a data-driven approach, measures which were generally relevant for all employees were selected. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that the model fitted the data. Multiple group analyses indicated invariance across six organizations, gender, job positions, and three times of measurement. Initial evidence was found for the validity of an expanded JD-R health model. Thereby this study contributes to the current research on job characteristics and health by combining the core idea of the JD-R model with the broader concepts of salutogenic and pathogenic health development processes as well as both positive and negative health outcomes.

The role of sleep hygiene in promoting public health: A review of empirical evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Irish, Leah A; Kline, Christopher E; Gunn, Heather E; Buysse, Daniel J; Hall, Martica H

2015-08-01

The ineffectiveness of sleep hygiene as a treatment in clinical sleep medicine has raised some interesting questions. If it is known that, individually, each specific component of sleep hygiene is related to sleep, why wouldn't addressing multiple individual components (i.e., sleep hygiene education) improve sleep? Is there still a use for sleep hygiene? Global public health concern over sleep has increased demand for sleep promotion strategies accessible to the population. However, the extent to which sleep hygiene strategies apply outside clinical settings is not well known. The present review sought to evaluate the empirical evidence for sleep hygiene recommendations regarding exercise, stress management, noise, sleep timing, and avoidance of caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and daytime napping, with a particular emphasis on their public health utility. Thus, our review is not intended to be exhaustive regarding the clinical application of these techniques, but rather to focus on broader applications. Overall, though epidemiologic and experimental research generally supported an association between individual sleep hygiene recommendations and nocturnal sleep, the direct effects of individual recommendations on sleep remains largely untested in the general population. Suggestions for clarification of sleep hygiene recommendations and considerations for the use of sleep hygiene in nonclinical populations are discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Blue Ocean versus Competitive Strategy: Theory and Evidence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A.E. Burke (Andrew); A.J. van Stel (André); A.R. Thurik (Roy)

2009-01-01

textabstractBlue ocean strategy seeks to turn strategic management on its head by replacing ‘competitive advantage’ with ‘value innovation’ as the primary goal where firms must create consumer demand and exploit untapped markets. Empirical analysis has been focused on case study evidence and so

Collective animal navigation and migratory culture: from theoretical models to empirical evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Dell, Anthony I.

2018-01-01

Animals often travel in groups, and their navigational decisions can be influenced by social interactions. Both theory and empirical observations suggest that such collective navigation can result in individuals improving their ability to find their way and could be one of the key benefits of sociality for these species. Here, we provide an overview of the potential mechanisms underlying collective navigation, review the known, and supposed, empirical evidence for such behaviour and highlight interesting directions for future research. We further explore how both social and collective learning during group navigation could lead to the accumulation of knowledge at the population level, resulting in the emergence of migratory culture. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Collective movement ecology’. PMID:29581394

The impact of gasoline price fluctuations on lodging demand for US brand hotels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walsh, Kate; Enz, Cathy A.; Canina, Linda

2004-01-01

Analyzing US brand hotels, over a 13-year period, this study provides empirical evidence of a significant negative relationship between gasoline prices and demand for certain lodging products, controlling for economic factors (i.e. gross domestic product and population density). Applying principles from microeconomic demand theory to the literature on gasoline price elasticities, consumer demographics and lodging demand, a set of hypotheses were devised to test the relationship between gasoline prices and lodging demand for specific hotel locations and price segments. Using fixed effects models, the results reveal that lodging demand decreases as gasoline prices rise in all segments except upper-upscale and all locations except urban areas. Hotels in midscale without food and beverage and economy market segments, in resort, suburban and highway locations, exhibit the greatest association between gasoline price shifts and demand. Implications of these findings are discussed for both hospitality research and practice. (Author)

The impact of gasoline price fluctuations on lodging demand for US brand hotels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Walsh, Kate; Enz, Cathy A.; Canina, Linda [Cornell Univ., School of Hotel Administration, Ithaca, NY (United States)

2004-12-01

Analyzing US brand hotels, over a 13-year period, this study provides empirical evidence of a significant negative relationship between gasoline prices and demand for certain lodging products, controlling for economic factors (i.e. gross domestic product and population density). Applying principles from microeconomic demand theory to the literature on gasoline price elasticities, consumer demographics and lodging demand, a set of hypotheses were devised to test the relationship between gasoline prices and lodging demand for specific hotel locations and price segments. Using fixed effects models, the results reveal that lodging demand decreases as gasoline prices rise in all segments except upper-upscale and all locations except urban areas. Hotels in midscale without food and beverage and economy market segments, in resort, suburban and highway locations, exhibit the greatest association between gasoline price shifts and demand. Implications of these findings are discussed for both hospitality research and practice. (Author)

Market power in the Nordic electricity wholesale market: A survey of the empirical evidence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fridolfsson, Sven-Olof; Tangeras, Thomas P.

2009-01-01

We review the recent empirical research assessing market power on the Nordic wholesale market for electricity, Nord Pool. The studies find no evidence of systematic exploitation of system level market power on Nord Pool. Local market power arising from transmission constraints seems to be more problematic in some price areas across the Nordic countries. Market power can manifest itself in a number of ways that have so far escaped empirical scrutiny. We discuss investment incentives, vertical integration and buyer power, as well as withholding of base-load (nuclear) capacity.

Computational mate choice: theory and empirical evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Castellano, Sergio; Cadeddu, Giorgia; Cermelli, Paolo

2012-06-01

The present review is based on the thesis that mate choice results from information-processing mechanisms governed by computational rules and that, to understand how females choose their mates, we should identify which are the sources of information and how they are used to make decisions. We describe mate choice as a three-step computational process and for each step we present theories and review empirical evidence. The first step is a perceptual process. It describes the acquisition of evidence, that is, how females use multiple cues and signals to assign an attractiveness value to prospective mates (the preference function hypothesis). The second step is a decisional process. It describes the construction of the decision variable (DV), which integrates evidence (private information by direct assessment), priors (public information), and value (perceived utility) of prospective mates into a quantity that is used by a decision rule (DR) to produce a choice. We make the assumption that females are optimal Bayesian decision makers and we derive a formal model of DV that can explain the effects of preference functions, mate copying, social context, and females' state and condition on the patterns of mate choice. The third step of mating decision is a deliberative process that depends on the DRs. We identify two main categories of DRs (absolute and comparative rules), and review the normative models of mate sampling tactics associated to them. We highlight the limits of the normative approach and present a class of computational models (sequential-sampling models) that are based on the assumption that DVs accumulate noisy evidence over time until a decision threshold is reached. These models force us to rethink the dichotomy between comparative and absolute decision rules, between discrimination and recognition, and even between rational and irrational choice. Since they have a robust biological basis, we think they may represent a useful theoretical tool for

Mixed and Complex Mixed Migration during Armed Conflict: Multidimensional Empirical Evidence from Nepal.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Nathalie E

Historically, legal, policy, and academic communities largely ascribed to a dichotomy between forced and voluntary migration, creating a black and white vision that was convenient for legal and policy purposes. More recently, discussions have begun addressing the possibility of mixed migration, acknowledging that there is likely a wide continuum between forced and voluntary, and most migrants likely move with some amount of compulsion and some volition, even during armed conflict. While the mixed migration hypothesis is well-received, empirical evidence is disparate and somewhat blunt at this point. In this article, I contribute a direct theoretical and causal pathway discussion of mixed migration. I also propose the complex mixed migration hypothesis, which argues that not only do non-conflict related factors influence migration during conflict, but they do so differently than during periods of relative peace. I empirically test both hypotheses in the context of the recent armed conflict in Nepal. Using detailed survey data and event history models, results provide strong evidence for both mixed migration and complex mixed migration during conflict hypotheses. These hypotheses and evidence suggest that armed conflict might have substantial impacts on long-term population growth and change, with significant relevance in both academic and policy spheres.

A Systematic Literature Review of Empirical Evidence on Computer Games and Serious Games

Science.gov (United States)

Connolly, Thomas M.; Boyle, Elizabeth A.; MacArthur, Ewan; Hainey, Thomas; Boyle, James M.

2012-01-01

This paper examines the literature on computer games and serious games in regard to the potential positive impacts of gaming on users aged 14 years or above, especially with respect to learning, skill enhancement and engagement. Search terms identified 129 papers reporting empirical evidence about the impacts and outcomes of computer games and…

Do political or economic factors drive healthcare financing privatisations? Empirical evidence from OECD countries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wiese, Rasmus

2013-01-01

This paper adds new empirical evidence to the political economy literature of economic reform. One of the main contributions of this paper is the development of a novel methodology to identify privatisations. The methodology is a combination of the Bai & Perron structural break filter, and

Does risk management contribute to IT project success? A meta-analysis of empirical evidence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Bakker, K.F.C.; Boonstra, A.; Wortmann, J.C.

The question whether risk management contributes to IT project success is considered relevant by people from both academic and practitioners' communities already for a long time. This paper presents a meta-analysis of the empirical evidence that either supports or opposes the claim that risk

The impact of product information and trials on demand for smokeless tobacco and cigarettes: evidence from experimental auctions.

Science.gov (United States)

Rousu, Matthew C; O'Connor, Richard J; Thrasher, James F; June, Kristie M; Bansal-Travers, Maansi; Pitcavage, James

2014-03-01

Epidemiological and toxicological evidence suggests lower risk of smokeless tobacco (ST) products compared to cigarettes. Less is known, however, about consumer perceptions and use of novel forms of ST, including snus and dissolvable tobacco. In this study, we conducted in-person experimental auctions in Buffalo, NY, Columbia, SC, and Selinsgrove, PA with 571 smokers to test the impact of information and product trials on smokers' preferences. Auctions were conducted between November 2010-November 2011. We found no evidence of an impact of product trials on demand in our auctions. Anti-ST information increased demand for cigarettes when presented alone, but when presented with pro-ST information it decreased demand for cigarettes. It did not decrease demand for ST products. Anti-smoking information increased demand for ST products, but did not affect cigarette demand. These findings suggest that credible and effective communications about tobacco harm reduction should reinforce the negative effects of smoking. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Political Economy of International Emission Trading Scheme Choice: Empirical Evidence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boom, J.T.; Svendsen, Gert Tinggaard

2000-01-01

The Kyoto Protocol allows emissions trading. It does however not specify how this is to take place and the discussion on the design of an emissions trading scheme is ongoing. In this paper, we give some empirical evidence on the preference of industry and environmental organizations for internati...... for international emissions trading scheme. Since they may have an influence on decision makers, their opinion is important. Our conclusion is that both industry and environmental organizations prefer credit trading, although for widely different reasons....

Do political or economic factors drive healthcare financing privatisations? Empirical evidence from OECD countries

OpenAIRE

Wiese, Rasmus

2013-01-01

This paper adds new empirical evidence to the political economy literature of economic reform. One of the main contributions of this paper is the development of a novel methodology to identify privatisations. The methodology is a combination of the Bai & Perron structural break filter, and validation of the breaks identified by this filter using de jure evidence of reforms. 21 de facto healthcare financing privatisations are identified in a sample of 23 OECD countries. It is analysed which fa...

Economic Growth and the Environment. An empirical analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

De Bruyn, S.M.

1999-12-21

A number of economists have claimed that economic growth benefits environmental quality as it raises political support and financial means for environmental policy measures. Since the early 1990s this view has increasingly been supported by empirical evidence that has challenged the traditional belief held by environmentalists that economic growth degrades the environment. This study investigates the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality and elaborates the question whether economic growth can be combined with a reduced demand for natural resources. Various hypotheses on this relationship are described and empirically tested for a number of indicators of environmental pressure. The outcome of the tests advocates the use of alternative models for estimation that alter conclusions about the relationship between economic growth and the environment and give insight into the driving forces of emission reduction in developed economies. refs.

Information demands of occupational health physicians and their attitude towards evidence-based medicine

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaafsma, Frederieke; Hulshof, Carel; van Dijk, Frank; Verbeek, Jos

2004-01-01

Objectives This study assessed the extent and nature of information demands among occupational health physicians and their attitude towards the application of evidence-based medicine in occupational health. Methods A questionnaire survey was carried out among a random sample of 159 physicians

Determinants of Financing Decisions in Innovative Firms: A Review on Theoretical Backgrounds and Empirical Evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaela Diaconu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We review some of the main aspects highlighted in the literature on financing innovation. Thetheoretical background related to the distinctive features of innovative firms impacting theirfinancing decisions and the empirical evidence is reviewed. The growing literature on the financingof innovation shows that the theoretical and empirical work are not always constant across thevarious samples and situations faced by firms as a result of generating new findings. We highlightthe interaction between financing choices for innovation and changing internal and externalcondition firms operate.

A Cross-National Analysis of the Student- and School-Level Factors Affecting the Demand for Private Tutoring

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Kyoung-Oh; Park, Hyun-Jeong; Sang, Kyong-Ah

2013-01-01

Private tutoring has become a worldwide phenomenon, yet there is little empirical evidence for the main factors leading the demand for private tutoring across nations. Using data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study of 2003, this study classified the countries into four different groups according to the proportion of student…

Import demand of crude oil and economic growth. Evidence from India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghosh, Sajal

2009-01-01

This study establishes a long-run equilibrium relationship among quantity of crude oil import, income and price of the imported crude in India for the time span 1970-1971 to 2005-2006 using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach of cointegration. Empirical results show that the long-term income elasticity of imported crude in India is 1.97 and there exists a unidirectional long-run causality running from economic growth to crude oil import. So reduction of crude oil import will not affect the future economic growth in India in the long-run. India should take various energy efficiency and demand side management measures in transport sector along with other measures like expanding and strengthening indigenous resource-base, substituting imported fuels by domestic fuels and de-controlling the price of petroleum products to reduce its import dependence. (author)

Analysis on Price Elasticity of Energy Demand in East Asia: Empirical Evidence and Policy Implications for ASEAN and East Asia

OpenAIRE

Han PHOUMIN; Shigeru KIMURA

2014-01-01

This study uses time series data of selected ASEAN and East Asia countries to investigate the patterns of price and income elasticity of energy demand. Applying a dynamic log-linear energy demand model, both short-run and long-run price and income elasticities were estimated by country. The study uses three types of dependent variable “energy demand” such as total primary energy consumption (TPES), total final energy consumption (TFEC) and total final oil consumption (TFOC) to regress on its ...

The Globalization of Food Systems: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Patterns

OpenAIRE

Senauer, Benjamin; Venturini, Luciano

2005-01-01

This paper discusses a number of stylized facts and empirical patterns regarding agri-food trade flows as well as foreign direct investments in food processing and retailing. This evidence supports the hypothesis of an increasingly global food system. We identify the main factors at work such as push/supply side, pull/demand-side, and enabling/external factors. We show how the shift from national to global retailing is a recent phenomenon whose relevance for the globalization of upstream sect...

Status Concern and Relative Deprivation in China: Measures, Empirical Evidence and Economic and Policy Implications

Science.gov (United States)

Xi, CHEN

2017-01-01

Status concern and feelings of relative deprivation affect individual behaviour and well-being. Traditional norms and the alarming inequality in China have made relative deprivation increasingly intense for the Chinese population. This article reviews empirical literature on China that attempts to test the relative deprivation hypothesis, and also reviews the origins and pathways of relative deprivation, compares its economic measures in the literature and summarises the scientific findings. Drawing from solid empirical evidence, the author discusses the important policy implications on redistribution, official regulations and grassroots sanctions, and relative poverty alleviation. PMID:29033479

Are stock market returns related to the weather effects? Empirical evidence from Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Tsangyao; Nieh, Chien-Chung; Yang, Ming Jing; Yang, Tse-Yu

2006-05-01

In this study, we employ a recently developed econometric technique of the threshold model with the GJR-GARCH process on error terms to investigate the relationships between weather factors and stock market returns in Taiwan using daily data for the period of 1 July 1997-22 October 2003. The major weather factors studied include temperature, humidity, and cloud cover. Our empirical evidence shows that temperature and cloud cover are two important weather factors that affect the stock returns in Taiwan. Our empirical findings further support the previous arguments that advocate the inclusion of economically neutral behavioral variables in asset pricing models. These results also have significant implications for individual investors and financial institutions planning to invest in the Taiwan stock market.

Effects of Monetary Shocks on Exchange Rate: Empirical Evidence from India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharma Chandan

2017-08-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the effect of monetary policy shocks on exchange rate in a Multiple Indicator Approach (MIA framework. This study has employed a monetary policy index of key monetary policy instruments in India (Bank rate, Cash Reserve Ratio, Repo and Reverse Repo rates. The study finds the empirical evidence for puzzling behavior of price level and exchange rate. Both price and exchange rate increase initially in response to a contractionary policy shock. Policy shocks affect output, inflation and exchange rate to an appreciable extent over a forecasting horizon of one year.

Further evidence of close correspondence for alcohol demand decision making for hypothetical and incentivized rewards.

Science.gov (United States)

Amlung, Michael; MacKillop, James

2015-04-01

Alcohol purchase tasks (APTs) are increasingly being used to assess behavioral economic demand for alcohol. Prior studies utilizing APTs have typically assessed demand for hypothetical outcomes, making the extent to which these hypothetical measures reflect preferences when actual rewards are at stake an important empirical question. This study examined alcohol demand across hypothetical and incentivized APTs. Nineteen male heavy drinkers completed two APTs - one for hypothetical alcohol and another in which one randomly-selected outcome was provided. Participants were given an opportunity to consume the alcohol associated with their choice on the incentivized APT during a self-administration period in a simulated bar environment. Results indicated generally close correspondence between APT versions, though participants were more sensitive to increases in price and tended to consume more at low prices on the incentivized version. Estimated consumption on the incentivized APT was highly correlated with the amount of alcohol consumed in the laboratory (r=.87, pdecision-making when rewards are hypothetical vs. actually available. Implications for behavioral economic approaches to addictive behavior and directions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Bacterial clonal diagnostics as a tool for evidence-based empiric antibiotic selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Tchesnokova, Veronika; Avagyan, Hovhannes; Rechkina, Elena; Chan, Diana; Muradova, Mariya; Haile, Helen Ghirmai; Radey, Matthew; Weissman, Scott; Riddell, Kim; Scholes, Delia; Johnson, James R; Sokurenko, Evgeni V

2017-01-01

Despite the known clonal distribution of antibiotic resistance in many bacteria, empiric (pre-culture) antibiotic selection still relies heavily on species-level cumulative antibiograms, resulting in overuse of broad-spectrum agents and excessive antibiotic/pathogen mismatch. Urinary tract infections (UTIs), which account for a large share of antibiotic use, are caused predominantly by Escherichia coli, a highly clonal pathogen. In an observational clinical cohort study of urgent care patients with suspected UTI, we assessed the potential for E. coli clonal-level antibiograms to improve empiric antibiotic selection. A novel PCR-based clonotyping assay was applied to fresh urine samples to rapidly detect E. coli and the urine strain's clonotype. Based on a database of clonotype-specific antibiograms, the acceptability of various antibiotics for empiric therapy was inferred using a 20%, 10%, and 30% allowed resistance threshold. The test's performance characteristics and possible effects on prescribing were assessed. The rapid test identified E. coli clonotypes directly in patients' urine within 25-35 minutes, with high specificity and sensitivity compared to culture. Antibiotic selection based on a clonotype-specific antibiogram could reduce the relative likelihood of antibiotic/pathogen mismatch by ≥ 60%. Compared to observed prescribing patterns, clonal diagnostics-guided antibiotic selection could safely double the use of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and minimize fluoroquinolone use. In summary, a rapid clonotyping test showed promise for improving empiric antibiotic prescribing for E. coli UTI, including reversing preferential use of fluoroquinolones over trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. The clonal diagnostics approach merges epidemiologic surveillance, antimicrobial stewardship, and molecular diagnostics to bring evidence-based medicine directly to the point of care.

Mostly Heterosexual as a Distinct Sexual Orientation Group: A Systematic Review of the Empirical Evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Savin-Williams, Ritch C.; Vrangalova, Zhana

2013-01-01

We reviewed empirical evidence regarding whether mostly heterosexual exists as a sexual orientation distinct from two adjacent groups on a sexual continuum--exclusively heterosexual and substantially bisexual. We addressed the question: Do mostly heterosexuals show a unique profile of sexual and romantic characteristics that distinguishes them as…

Empirical analysis of uranium spot prices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morman, M.R.

1988-01-01

The objective is to empirically test a market model of the uranium industry that incorporates the notion that, if the resource is viewed as an asset by economic agents, then its own rate of return along with the own rate of return of a competing asset would be a major factor in formulating the price of the resource. The model tested is based on a market model of supply and demand. The supply model incorporates the notion that the decision criteria used by uranium mine owners is to select that extraction rate that maximizes the net present value of their extraction receipts. The demand model uses a concept that allows for explicit recognition of the prospect of arbitrage between a natural-resource market and the market for other capital goods. The empirical approach used for estimation was a recursive or causal model. The empirical results were consistent with the theoretical models. The coefficients of the demand and supply equations had the appropriate signs. Tests for causality were conducted to validate the use of the causal model. The results obtained were favorable. The implication of the findings as related to future studies of exhaustible resources are: (1) in some cases causal models are the appropriate specification for empirical analysis; (2) supply models should incorporate a measure to capture depletion effects

The Measurement of Central Bank Autonomy; Survey of Models, Indicators, and Empirical Evidence

OpenAIRE

Bernard J Laurens; Marco Arnone; Jean-François Segalotto

2006-01-01

This paper presents a survey of the literature on the measurement of central bank autonomy. We distinguish inputs that constitute the building blocks in the literature, and the literature that builds on them. Issues including sensitivity analysis, robustness, and endogeneity are discussed. The review shows that empirical evidence regarding the beneficial effects of central bank autonomy is substantial, although some technical issues still remain for further research. In particular, central ba...

The Effect of Private Benefits of Control on Minority Shareholders: A Theoretical Model and Empirical Evidence from State Ownership

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kerry Liu

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of private benefits of control on minority shareholders. Design/methodology/approach: A theoretical model is established. The empirical analysis includes hand-collected data from a wide range of data sources. OLS and 2SLS regression analysis are applied with Huber-White standard errors. Findings: The theoretical model shows that, while private benefits are generally harmful to minority shareholders, the overall effect depends on the size of large shareholder ownership. The empirical evidence from government ownership is consistent with theoretical analysis. Research limitations/implications: The empirical evidence is based on a small number of hand-collected data sets of government ownership. Further studies can be expanded to other types of ownership, such as family ownership and financial institutional ownership. Originality/value: This study is the first to theoretically analyse and empirically test the effect of private benefits. In general, this study significantly contributes to the understanding of the effect of large shareholder and corporate governance.

Does Access to Finance Lower Firms’ Cost of Capital? Empirical Evidence from International Manufacturing Data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lashitew, Addisu A.

2011-01-01

Lack of access to finance is argued to be one of the most binding constraints for firm growth. There is, however, limited empirical evidence on the relationship between access to finance and the cost of capital. This paper uses international manufacturing data to analyze the effect of access to

[Accepted Manuscript] Doctor Competence and the Demand for Healthcare: Evidence from Rural China.

OpenAIRE

Fe, E.; Powell-Jackson, T.; Yip, W.

2016-01-01

: The agency problem between patients and doctors has long been emphasised in the health economics literature, but the empirical evidence on whether patients can evaluate and respond to better quality care remains mixed and inconclusive. Using household data linked to an assessment of village doctors' clinical competence in rural China, we show that there is no correlation between doctor competence and patients' healthcare utilisation, with confidence intervals reasonably tight around zero. H...

Whole-body cryotherapy: empirical evidence and theoretical perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bleakley CM

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Chris M Bleakley,1 François Bieuzen,2 Gareth W Davison,1 Joseph T Costello3 1Sport and Exercise Science Research Institute, Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, University of Ulster, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland; 2Research Department, Laboratory of Sport, Expertise and Performance, French National Institute of Sport (INSEP, Paris, France; 3School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia Abstract: Whole-body cryotherapy (WBC involves short exposures to air temperatures below –100°C. WBC is increasingly accessible to athletes, and is purported to enhance recovery after exercise and facilitate rehabilitation postinjury. Our objective was to review the efficacy and effectiveness of WBC using empirical evidence from controlled trials. We found ten relevant reports; the majority were based on small numbers of active athletes aged less than 35 years. Although WBC produces a large temperature gradient for tissue cooling, the relatively poor thermal conductivity of air prevents significant subcutaneous and core body cooling. There is weak evidence from controlled studies that WBC enhances antioxidant capacity and parasympathetic reactivation, and alters inflammatory pathways relevant to sports recovery. A series of small randomized studies found WBC offers improvements in subjective recovery and muscle soreness following metabolic or mechanical overload, but little benefit towards functional recovery. There is evidence from one study only that WBC may assist rehabilitation for adhesive capsulitis of the shoulder. There were no adverse events associated with WBC; however, studies did not seem to undertake active surveillance of predefined adverse events. Until further research is available, athletes should remain cognizant that less expensive modes of cryotherapy, such as local ice-pack application or cold-water immersion, offer comparable

Demand driven innovation policies in the European Union

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Camilla; Goldberg, Itzhak

The objective of the PICK-ME (Policy Incentives for Creation of Knowledge – Methods and Evidence) research project is to provide theoretical and empirical perspectives on innovation which give a greater role to the demand-side aspect of innovation. The main question is how can policy make...... on the skills side must be targeted through education policies that fosters centers of excellence. R&D incentives are also considered as a separate instrument but more a question for future research since there is no evidence available on R&D incentives as a Gazelle type of policy. Spatial policies to foster...... throughout the paper. The main concern of policy-makers should therefore be how to support Gazelle type of firms through various policies. The effectiveness of different policy instruments are considered. For example, venture capitalism is in the paper identified as an important modern institution...

Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining in Practice: A Systematic Literature Review of Empirical Evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Papamitsiou, Zacharoula; Economides, Anastasios A.

2014-01-01

This paper aims to provide the reader with a comprehensive background for understanding current knowledge on Learning Analytics (LA) and Educational Data Mining (EDM) and its impact on adaptive learning. It constitutes an overview of empirical evidence behind key objectives of the potential adoption of LA/EDM in generic educational strategic…

Price formation and intertemporal arbitrage within a low-liquidity framework. Empirical evidence from European natural gas markets

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nick, Sebastian

2013-08-15

In this study, the informational efficiency of the European natural gas market is analyzed by empirically investigating price formation and arbitrage efficiency between spot and futures markets. Econometric approaches are specified that explicitly account for nonlinearities and the low liquidity framework of the considered gas hubs. The empirical results reveal that price discovery takes place on the futures market, while the spot price subsequently follows the futures market price. Furthermore, there is empirical evidence of significant market frictions hampering intertemporal arbitrage. UK's NBP seems to be the hub at which arbitrage opportunities are exhausted most efficiently, although there is convergence in the degree of intertemporal arbitrage efficiency over time at the hubs investigated.

Why borrowers pay premiums to larger lenders: Empirical evidence from sovereign syndicated loans

OpenAIRE

Hallak, Issam

2002-01-01

All other terms being equal (e.g. seniority), syndicated loan contracts provide larger lending compensations (in percentage points) to institutions funding larger amounts. This paper explores empirically the motivation for such a price design on a sample of sovereign syndicated loans in the period 1990-1997. I find strong evidence that a larger premium is associated with higher renegotiation probability and information asymmetries. It hardly has any impact on the number of lenders though. Thi...

Price and expenditure elasticities of residential energy demand during urbanization: An empirical analysis based on the household-level survey data in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, Chuanwang; Ouyang, Xiaoling

2016-01-01

Urbanization, one of the most obvious characteristics of economic growth in China, has an apparent “lock-in effect” on residential energy consumption pattern. It is expected that residential sector would become a major force that drives China's energy consumption after urbanization process. We estimate price and expenditure elasticities of residential energy demand using data from China's Residential Energy Consumption Survey (CRECS) that covers households at different income levels and from different regional and social groups. Empirical results from the Almost Ideal Demand System model are in accordance with the basic expectations: the demands for electricity, natural gas and transport fuels are inelastic in the residential sector due to the unreasonable pricing mechanism. We further investigate the sensitivities of different income groups to prices of the three types of energy. Policy simulations indicate that rationalizing energy pricing mechanism is an important guarantee for energy sustainable development during urbanization. Finally, we put forward suggestions on energy pricing reform in the residential sector based on characteristics of China's undergoing urbanization process and the current energy consumption situations.

Bacterial clonal diagnostics as a tool for evidence-based empiric antibiotic selection.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veronika Tchesnokova

Full Text Available Despite the known clonal distribution of antibiotic resistance in many bacteria, empiric (pre-culture antibiotic selection still relies heavily on species-level cumulative antibiograms, resulting in overuse of broad-spectrum agents and excessive antibiotic/pathogen mismatch. Urinary tract infections (UTIs, which account for a large share of antibiotic use, are caused predominantly by Escherichia coli, a highly clonal pathogen. In an observational clinical cohort study of urgent care patients with suspected UTI, we assessed the potential for E. coli clonal-level antibiograms to improve empiric antibiotic selection. A novel PCR-based clonotyping assay was applied to fresh urine samples to rapidly detect E. coli and the urine strain's clonotype. Based on a database of clonotype-specific antibiograms, the acceptability of various antibiotics for empiric therapy was inferred using a 20%, 10%, and 30% allowed resistance threshold. The test's performance characteristics and possible effects on prescribing were assessed. The rapid test identified E. coli clonotypes directly in patients' urine within 25-35 minutes, with high specificity and sensitivity compared to culture. Antibiotic selection based on a clonotype-specific antibiogram could reduce the relative likelihood of antibiotic/pathogen mismatch by ≥ 60%. Compared to observed prescribing patterns, clonal diagnostics-guided antibiotic selection could safely double the use of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and minimize fluoroquinolone use. In summary, a rapid clonotyping test showed promise for improving empiric antibiotic prescribing for E. coli UTI, including reversing preferential use of fluoroquinolones over trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. The clonal diagnostics approach merges epidemiologic surveillance, antimicrobial stewardship, and molecular diagnostics to bring evidence-based medicine directly to the point of care.

The imperfect price reversibility of non-transport oil demand in the OECD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dargay, J.; Gately, D.

1995-01-01

This paper examines the price reversibility of OECD non-transport oil demand and its components: residual (heavy) fuel oil, non-transport distillates and other non-transport oil products. Our purpose is to determine the extent to which the reductions in demand following the oil price increases of the 1970s have been - and will be - reversed by the price cuts of the 1980s. The analysis is based on an econometric model which utilizes price decomposition methods to measure separately the effects of price increases and price decreases. These methods allow empirical testing of irreversibility and hysteresis, and should be applicable in other areas of economics where asymmetry of response or persistence of effect are evident. Based on the statistical evidence, we reject the conventional specification of demand being perfectly price reversible. We conclude that the response to the price cuts of the 1980s has been significantly smaller than to the price increases of the 1970s. Demand has followed a ratchet process: price increases reduced demand substantially when demanders conserved and switched away from oil, but price cuts did not reverse this process completely, if at all. This has important implications for projections of oil demand, especially under low price assumptions: the OECD's dependency on oil will not increase as much as some analysts may have feared. There is, however, another aspect of imperfect price reversibility: the possibilities of adjusting to future price rises may not be as great as they have been in the past. The easiest and least costly demand savings have already been made, and oil has been replaced by other energy sources in many uses: what's done is done. (author)

Attention demands of spoken word planning: A review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ardi eRoelofs

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Attention and language are among the most intensively researched abilities in the cognitive neurosciences, but the relation between these abilities has largely been neglected. There is increasing evidence, however, that linguistic processes, such as those underlying the planning of words, cannot proceed without paying some form of attention. Here, we review evidence that word planning requires some but not full attention. The evidence comes from chronometric studies of word planning in picture naming and word reading under divided attention conditions. It is generally assumed that the central attention demands of a process are indexed by the extent that the process delays the performance of a concurrent unrelated task. The studies measured the speed and accuracy of linguistic and nonlinguistic responding as well as eye gaze durations reflecting the allocation of attention. First, empirical evidence indicates that in several task situations, processes up to and including phonological encoding in word planning delay, or are delayed by, the performance of concurrent unrelated nonlinguistic tasks. These findings suggest that word planning requires central attention. Second, empirical evidence indicates that conflicts in word planning may be resolved while concurrently performing an unrelated nonlinguistic task, making a task decision, or making a go/no-go decision. These findings suggest that word planning does not require full central attention. We outline a computationally implemented theory of attention and word planning, and describe at various points the outcomes of computer simulations that demonstrate the utility of the theory in accounting for the key findings. Finally, we indicate how attention deficits may contribute to impaired language performance, such as in individuals with specific language impairment.

THE DEMAND FOR MEAT PRODUCTS IN THE UNITED STATES: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

OpenAIRE

Olowolayemo, Surajudeen O.; Martin, Neil R., Jr.; Raymond, Jennie E.

1993-01-01

Given the importance of meat consumption, and the proportion of consumers' income spent on meat, this study estimates the demand for eight meat categories using two different functional forms. An inverse almost ideal demand system (IAIDS), and linear double-log price dependent demand models are specified. In most cases, flexibilities obtained from both methods are comparable and show that the demand for meat products is price inflexible. In addition, there are regional as well as seasonal var...

Job Demand and Control Interventions: A Stakeholder-Centered Best-Evidence Synthesis of Systematic Reviews on Workplace Disability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K Williams-Whitt

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Background: Physical and psychological job demands in combination with the degree of control a worker has over task completion, play an important role in reducing stress. Occupational stress is an important, modifiable factor affecting work disability. However, the effectiveness of reducing job demands or increasing job control remains unclear, particularly for outcomes of interest to employers, such as absenteeism or productivity. Objective: This systematic review reports on job demand and control interventions that impact absenteeism, productivity and financial outcomes. Methods: A stakeholder-centered best-evidence synthesis was conducted with researcher and stakeholder collaboration throughout. Databases and grey literature were searched for systematic reviews between 2000 and 2012: Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, DARE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, TRIP, health-evidence.ca, Rehab+, National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC, and Institute for Work and Health. Articles were assessed independently by two researchers for inclusion criteria and methodological quality. Differences were resolved through consensus. Results: The search resulted in 3363 unique titles. After review of abstracts, 115 articles were retained for full-text review. 11 articles finally met the inclusion criteria and are summarized in this synthesis. The best level of evidence we found indicates that multimodal job demand reductions for either at-work or off-work workers will reduce disability-related absenteeism. Conclusion: In general, the impacts of interventions that aim to reduce job demands or increase job control can be positive for the organization in terms of reducing absenteeism, increasing productivity and cost-effectiveness. However, more high quality research is needed to further assess the relationships and quantify effect sizes for the interventions and outcomes reviewed in this study.

Job demand and control interventions: a stakeholder-centered best-evidence synthesis of systematic reviews on workplace disability.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams-Whitt, K; White, M I; Wagner, S L; Schultz, I Z; Koehn, C; Dionne, C E; Koehoorn, M; Harder, H; Pasca, R; Warje, O; Hsu, V; McGuire, L; Schulz, W; Kube, D; Hook, A; Wright, M D

2015-04-01

Physical and psychological job demands in combination with the degree of control a worker has over task completion, play an important role in reducing stress. Occupational stress is an important, modifiable factor affecting work disability. However, the effectiveness of reducing job demands or increasing job control remains unclear, particularly for outcomes of interest to employers, such as absenteeism or productivity. This systematic review reports on job demand and control interventions that impact absenteeism, productivity and financial outcomes. A stakeholder-centered best-evidence synthesis was conducted with researcher and stakeholder collaboration throughout. Databases and grey literature were searched for systematic reviews between 2000 and 2012: Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, DARE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, TRIP, health-evidence.ca, Rehab+, National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), and Institute for Work and Health. Articles were assessed independently by two researchers for inclusion criteria and methodological quality. Differences were resolved through consensus. The search resulted in 3363 unique titles. After review of abstracts, 115 articles were retained for full-text review. 11 articles finally met the inclusion criteria and are summarized in this synthesis. The best level of evidence we found indicates that multimodal job demand reductions for either at-work or off-work workers will reduce disability-related absenteeism. In general, the impacts of interventions that aim to reduce job demands or increase job control can be positive for the organization in terms of reducing absenteeism, increasing productivity and cost-effectiveness. However, more high quality research is needed to further assess the relationships and quantify effect sizes for the interventions and outcomes reviewed in this study.

Competition and quality indicators in the health care sector: empirical evidence from the Dutch hospital sector

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Croes, R.R.; Krabbe-Alkemade, Y.J.F.M.; Mikkers, M.C.

2017-01-01

textabstractThere is much debate about the effect of competition in healthcare and especially the effect of competition on the quality of healthcare, although empirical evidence on this subject is mixed. The Netherlands provides an interesting case in this debate. The Dutch system could be

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS AND THE ROMANIAN STOCK MARKET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iamandi Irina Eugenia

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Based on empirical studies and theoretical evidence, the paper investigates the relationship between mergers and acquisitions in Romania and Romanian stock market, described by the BET and BET-C indexes. By using the Granger causality test for the number of mergers and acquisitions, the research results suggest that, for the market and period considered, one way and both ways relationships are present.

Compliance costs caused by agency action? Empirical evidence and implications for tax compliance

OpenAIRE

Eichfelder, Sebastian; Kegels, Chantal

2012-01-01

The compliance costs of private taxpayers are not only affected by the tax law itself but also by its implementation through the tax authorities. In this paper we analyze the effect of the tax authorities on the burden of complying with tax regulations. Using survey data of Belgian businesses and controlling for potential endogeneity, we find empirical evidence that tax authority behavior is an important cost driver. According to our estimate, a customer-unfriendly tax administration increase...

Monetary policy efficiency in the euro zone: some empirical evidence of money demand stability and endogeneity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kapounek, S.

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The primary target of most central banks in developed economies is to maintain price stability. When there is no threat to the fulfilment of the primary target, the central bank focuses on its secondary target which is defined as support of a sustainable economic growth and full employment. Even though, a substantial part of the discussions regarding the targets of the central banks focus on price stability, the real target is to support a sustainable economic growth, especially to stabilize the fluctuation in the economic activity.This paper focuses on the current problems of monetary policy implementation in the Eurozone. Firstly, the author focus on the money demand function estimation and its stability. Another problem lies in the Postkeynesians´ assumptions of money endogeneity. Although central banks may have certain control over the money supply, they cannot fix the stock of money in a country. Different trends in monetary aggregates fluctuation contribute to reject the money exogeneity hypothesis.

Competition and quality indicators in the health care sector : Empirical evidence from the Dutch hospital sector

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Croes, Ramsis; Krabbe, Yvonne; Mikkers, Misja

There is much debate about the effect of competition in healthcare and especially the effect of competition on the quality of healthcare, although empirical evidence on this subject is mixed. The Netherlands provides an interesting case in this debate. The Dutch system could be characterized as a

Empirical investigation of purchasing power parity for Turkey: Evidence from recent nonlinear unit root tests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dilem Yıldırım

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This study explores the empirical validity of the purchasing power parity (PPP hypothesis between Turkey and its four major trading partners, the European Union, Russia, China and the US. Accounting for the nonlinear nature of real exchange rates, we employ a battery of recently developed nonlinear unit root tests. Our empirical results reveal that nonlinear unit root tests deliver stronger evidence in favour of the PPP hypothesis when compared to the conventional unit root tests only if nonlinearities in real exchange rates are correctly specified. Furthermore, it emerges from our findings that the real exchange rates of the countries having a free trade agreement are more likely to behave as linear stationary processes.

Preference shifts in the demand for wine and beer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Butter, F.A.G. den; Delifotis, A.; Koning, Ruud H.

1997-01-01

Preference shifts in the demand for wine and beer are empirically investigated for Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Italy. With the rise in disposable income we see a shift from the demand for beer to the demand for wine notably in the Netherlands and somewhat less clearly in Germany, and a

Temperature Effect on Energy Demand

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Young Duk [Korea Energy Economics Institute, Euiwang (Korea)

1999-03-01

We provide various estimates of temperature effect for accommodating seasonality in energy demand, particularly natural gas demand. We exploit temperature response and monthly temperature distribution to estimate the temperature effect on natural gas demand. Both local and global smoothed temperature responses are estimated from empirical relationship between hourly temperature and hourly energy consumption data during the sample period (1990 - 1996). Monthly temperature distribution estimates are obtained by kernel density estimation from temperature dispersion within a month. We integrate temperature response and monthly temperature density over all the temperatures in the sample period to estimate temperature effect on energy demand. Then, estimates of temperature effect are compared between global and local smoothing methods. (author). 15 refs., 14 figs., 2 tabs.

Doctor Competence and the Demand for Healthcare: Evidence from Rural China.

Science.gov (United States)

Fe, Eduardo; Powell-Jackson, Timothy; Yip, Winnie

2017-10-01

The agency problem between patients and doctors has long been emphasised in the health economics literature, but the empirical evidence on whether patients can evaluate and respond to better quality care remains mixed and inconclusive. Using household data linked to an assessment of village doctors' clinical competence in rural China, we show that there is no correlation between doctor competence and patients' healthcare utilisation, with confidence intervals reasonably tight around zero. Household perceptions of quality are an important determinant of care-seeking behaviour, yet patients appear unable to recognise more competent doctors - there is no relationship between doctor competence and perceptions of quality. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

E-shopping and its relationship with in-store shopping : empirical evidence from the Netherlands and the USA

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Farag, Sendy; Krizek, K.J.; Dijst, M.J.

2006-01-01

Despite considerable examination of the impact of telecommunications on travel, little empirical evidence sheds light on the impact of e-shopping on travel—a recent and increasingly popular form of telecommunications. This paper analyses determinants of online buying and their relationship with

Optimal Monetary Policy with Durable Consumption Goods and Factor Demand Linkages

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petrella, Ivan; Santoro, Emiliano

of production in both sectors, according to an input-output matrix calibrated on the US economy. As shown in a number of recent contributions, this roundabout technology allows us to reconcile standard two-sector New Keynesian models with the empirical evidence showing co-movement between durable and non......-durable spending in response to a monetary policy shock. A main result of our monetary policy analysis is that strategic complementarities generated by factor demand linkages amplify social welfare loss. As the degree of interconnection between sectors increases, the cost of misperceiving the correct production......This paper deals with the implications of factor demand linkages for monetary policy design. We develop a dynamic general equilibrium model with two sectors that produce durable and non-durable goods, respectively. Part of the output produced in each sector is used as an intermediate input...

Cross-country Evidence on the Demand for Money

OpenAIRE

Serletis , Apostolos; Vaccaro , Jason

2006-01-01

In this article we examine money demand issues using cross-country data, for 48 countries over the 1980-1995 period. In particular, we investigate conventional money demand functions, for both narrow and broad aggregates, and the role that institutions, financial structure and financial development may have in the demand for money. On the basis of possible heterogeneity within the cross-country data set, we exploit Bayesian classification and finite mixture models to partition the data based ...

Endogenous Women's Autonomy and the Use of Reproductive Health Services: Empirical Evidence from Tajikistan

OpenAIRE

Yusuke Kamiya

2010-01-01

Though gender equity is widely considered to be a key to improving maternal health in developing countries, little empirical evidence has been presented to support this claim. This paper investigates whether or not and how female autonomy within the household affects women's use of reproductive health care in Tajikistan, where the situation of maternal health and gender equity is worse compared with neighbouring countries. Estimation is performed using bivariate probit models in which woman's...

Demand spillovers of smash-hit papers: evidence from the 'Male Organ Incident'.

Science.gov (United States)

Kässi, Otto; Westling, Tatu

2013-12-01

This study explores the short-run spillover effects of popular research papers. We consider the publicity of 'Male Organ and Economic Growth: Does Size Matter?' as an exogenous shock to economics discussion paper demand, a natural experiment of a sort. In particular, we analyze how the very substantial visibility influenced the downloads of Helsinki Center of Economic Research discussion papers. Difference in differences and regression discontinuity analysis are conducted to elicit the spillover patterns. This study finds that the spillover effect to average economics paper demand is positive and statistically significant. It seems that hit papers increase the exposure of previously less downloaded papers. We find that part of the spillover effect could be attributable to Internet search engines' influence on browsing behavior. Conforming to expected patterns, papers residing on the same web page as the hit paper evidence very significant increases in downloads which also supports the spillover thesis. A11, C21. 97K80.

The impact of principles-based versus rules-based accounting standards on auditors' motivations and evidence demands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Peytcheva, M.; Majoor, G.C.M. (Barbara); Wright, A.M.

2014-01-01

Auditing research has investigated the effects of different accounting standards on auditors' decisions to constrain aggressive reporting by clients. Missing from this literature is evidence on how the type of accounting standard influences auditors' cognitive motivations and demand for audit

The impact of free trial acceptance on demand for alternative nicotine products: evidence from experimental auctions.

Science.gov (United States)

Rousu, Matthew C; O'Connor, Richard J; Bansal-Travers, Maansi; Pitcavage, James M; Thrasher, James F

2015-06-11

This study explored the relationship between product trials and consumer demand for alternative nicotine products (ANP). An experimental auction was conducted with 258 adult smokers, wherein participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions. The participants received the opportunity to try, but did not have to accept, one of three relatively novel ST products (i.e., snus, dissolvable tobacco, or medicinal nicotine), or they were placed into a control group (i.e., no trial). All the participants then bid on all three of these products, as well as on cigarettes. We assessed interest in using ANP based on both trial of the product and bids placed for the products in the experimental auction. Fewer smokers were willing to try snus (44%) than dissolvable tobacco (64%) or medicine nicotine (68%). For snus, we find modest evidence suggesting that willingness to try is associated with greater demand for the product. For dissolvable tobacco or medicinal nicotine, we find no evidence that those who accept the product trial have higher demand for the product. Free trials of a novel ANP were not strongly associated with product demand, as assessed by willingness to pay. Given the debate over the potential for ANP to reduce the harm from smoking, these results are important in understanding the impact of free trial offers on adoption of ST product as a strategy to reduce harm from tobacco use.

CSR Disclosures in the Mining Industry: Empirical Evidence from Listed Mining Firms in Indonesia

OpenAIRE

Rina Asmeri; Tika Alvionita; Ardi Gunardi

2017-01-01

Companies that are involved in CSR strive to meet the expectations of stakeholders. Therefore, CSR and CSR reporting are tools of legitimacy to demonstrate its obedience (legitimacy theory). This study aims to look at empirical evidence on the effect of profitability and environmental performance on CSR disclosure. This study examined the target population of mining companies listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange that included the CSR reporting in the 2010-2014 annual report, obtained a sam...

History of demand side management and classification of demand response control schemes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lampropoulos, I.; Kling, W.L.; Ribeiro, P.F.; Berg, van den J.

2013-01-01

The scope of this paper is to provide a review on the topic of demand side management. A historical overview provides a critical insight to applied cases, while the discovery of new evidence calls for reconsideration of the design of demand response control schemes. The developments at the demand

An empirical analysis of Diaspora bonds

OpenAIRE

AKKOYUNLU, Şule; STERN, Max

2018-01-01

Abstract. This study is the first to investigate theoretically and empirically the determinants of Diaspora Bonds for eight developing countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri-Lanka) and one developed country - Israel for the period 1951 and 2008. Empirical results are consistent with the predictions of the theoretical model. The most robust variables are the closeness indicator and the sovereign rating, both on the demand-side. The spread is ...

The Schumpeterian Entrepreneur: A Review of the Empirical Evidence on the Antecedents, Behavior, and Consequences of Innovative Entrepreneurship

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J.H. Block (Jörn); C.O. Fisch (Christian); M. van Praag (Mirjam)

2016-01-01

textabstractInnovative entrepreneurship is considered an important pillar for economic development and has sparked a lively discussion in academia and practice alike. Oftentimes, however, the debate is not sufficiently grounded on solid empirical evidence. The academic literature is growing but very

The Schumpeterian entrepreneur: a review of the empirical evidence on the antecedents, behavior and consequences of innovative entrepreneurship

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Block, J.O.; Fisch, C.O.; van Praag, M.

2017-01-01

Innovative entrepreneurship is considered an important pillar for economic development and has sparked a lively discussion in academia and practice alike. Oftentimes, however, the debate is not sufficiently grounded on solid empirical evidence. The academic literature is growing but very scattered

Empirical evidence for site coefficients in building code provisions

Science.gov (United States)

Borcherdt, R.D.

2002-01-01

Site-response coefficients, Fa and Fv, used in U.S. building code provisions are based on empirical data for motions up to 0.1 g. For larger motions they are based on theoretical and laboratory results. The Northridge earthquake of 17 January 1994 provided a significant new set of empirical data up to 0.5 g. These data together with recent site characterizations based on shear-wave velocity measurements provide empirical estimates of the site coefficients at base accelerations up to 0.5 g for Site Classes C and D. These empirical estimates of Fa and Fnu; as well as their decrease with increasing base acceleration level are consistent at the 95 percent confidence level with those in present building code provisions, with the exception of estimates for Fa at levels of 0.1 and 0.2 g, which are less than the lower confidence bound by amounts up to 13 percent. The site-coefficient estimates are consistent at the 95 percent confidence level with those of several other investigators for base accelerations greater than 0.3 g. These consistencies and present code procedures indicate that changes in the site coefficients are not warranted. Empirical results for base accelerations greater than 0.2 g confirm the need for both a short- and a mid- or long-period site coefficient to characterize site response for purposes of estimating site-specific design spectra.

Prices and E-Cigarette Demand: Evidence From the European Union.

Science.gov (United States)

Stoklosa, Michal; Drope, Jeffrey; Chaloupka, Frank J

2016-10-01

Many European Union (EU) Member States have expressed the need for EU legislation to clarify the issue of e-cigarette taxation, but the economic evidence to inform creation of such policies has been lacking. To date, only one study-on the United States only-has examined responsiveness of e-cigarette demand to price changes. We used 2011-2014 pooled time-series data on e-cigarette sales, as well as e-cigarette and cigarette prices for six EU markets (Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). We utilized static and dynamic fixed-effects models to estimate the own and cross-price elasticity of demand for e-cigarettes. In a separate model for Sweden, we examined the effects of snus prices on e-cigarette sales. Based on static models, every 10% increase in e-cigarette prices is associated with a drop in e-cigarettes sales of approximately 8.2%, while based on dynamic models, the drop is 2.7% in the short run and 11.5% in the long run. Combustible cigarette prices are positively associated with sales of e-cigarettes. Snus prices are positively associated with sales of e-cigarettes in Sweden. Our results indicate that the sales of e-cigarettes are responsive to price changes, which suggests that excise taxes can help governments to mitigate an increase in e-cigarette use. E-cigarettes and regular cigarettes are substitutes, with higher cigarette prices being associated with increased e-cigarette sales. Making combustible cigarettes more expensive compared to e-cigarettes could be effective in moving current combustible smokers to e-cigarettes, which might have positive health effects. This study is an exploratory analysis of the issues around e-cigarette taxation in Europe. Our results suggest that taxation is a measure that could potentially address the concerns of both opponents and proponents of e-cigarettes: taxes on e-cigarettes could be used to raise prices so as to deter e-cigarette initiation by never users, while concomitant greater

What drives the demand of monetary financial institutions for domestic government bonds? Empirical evidence on the impact of Basel II and Basel III

OpenAIRE

Lang, Michael; Schröder, Michael

2015-01-01

This paper examines the treatment of sovereign debt exposure within the Basel framework and measures the impact of bank regulation on the demand of Monetary Financial Institutions (MFI) for marketable sovereign debt. Our results suggest that bank regulation has a significant positive impact on MFI demand for domestic government securities. The results are representative for the MFI in the euro zone. They remain highly robust and significant after controlling for other influential factors and ...

Computational and empirical simulations of selective memory impairments: Converging evidence for a single-system account of memory dissociations.

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, Evan T; Jamieson, Randall K

2018-04-01

Current theory has divided memory into multiple systems, resulting in a fractionated account of human behaviour. By an alternative perspective, memory is a single system. However, debate over the details of different single-system theories has overshadowed the converging agreement among them, slowing the reunification of memory. Evidence in favour of dividing memory often takes the form of dissociations observed in amnesia, where amnesic patients are impaired on some memory tasks but not others. The dissociations are taken as evidence for separate explicit and implicit memory systems. We argue against this perspective. We simulate two key dissociations between classification and recognition in a computational model of memory, A Theory of Nonanalytic Association. We assume that amnesia reflects a quantitative difference in the quality of encoding. We also present empirical evidence that replicates the dissociations in healthy participants, simulating amnesic behaviour by reducing study time. In both analyses, we successfully reproduce the dissociations. We integrate our computational and empirical successes with the success of alternative models and manipulations and argue that our demonstrations, taken in concert with similar demonstrations with similar models, provide converging evidence for a more general set of single-system analyses that support the conclusion that a wide variety of memory phenomena can be explained by a unified and coherent set of principles.

Informal sector labour demand: Evidence from Zimbabwe's urban ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Siphambe H (Prof)

during the country's economic structural adjustment programme (ESAP) and the ... The study of informal labour demand is important for Zimbabwe which faces .... is assumed to be identically and independently distributed, that is, ..... The labour demand equation's low Chi-square statistic (1.91) and its probability value of.

Dynamic Analysis of Money Demand Function: Case of Turkey*

OpenAIRE

doğru, bülent

2013-01-01

In this paper, the dynamic determinants of money demand function and the long-run and short-run relationships between money demand, income and nominal interest rates are examined in Turkey for the time period 1980-2012. In particular we estimate a dynamic specification of a log money demand function based on Keynesian liquidity preference theory to ascertain the relevant elasticity of money demand. The empirical results of the study show that in Turkey inflation, exchange rate and money deman...

A meta-analysis on the price elasticity of energy demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Labandeira, Xavier; Labeaga, José M.; López-Otero, Xiral

2017-01-01

Price elasticities of energy demand have become increasingly relevant in estimating the socio-economic and environmental effects of energy policies or other events that influence the price of energy goods. Since the 1970s, a large number of academic papers have provided both short and long-term price elasticity estimates for different countries using several models, data and estimation techniques. Yet the literature offers a rather wide range of estimates for the price elasticities of demand for energy. This paper quantitatively summarizes the recent, but sizeable, empirical evidence to facilitate a sounder economic assessment of (in some cases policy-related) energy price changes. It uses meta-analysis to identify the main factors affecting short and long term elasticity results for energy, in general, as well as for specific products, i.e., electricity, natural gas, gasoline, diesel and heating oil. - Highlights: • An updated and wider meta-analysis on price elasticities of energy demand. • Energy goods are shown to be price inelastic both in the short and long-term. • Results are relevant for a proper design and implementation of energy policies. • Our results refer to energy, as a whole, and specific energy goods.

Empirical Evidence of Stakeholder Management in Sports Clubs: The Impact of the Board of Directors

OpenAIRE

Esteve, M.; Di Lorenzo, F.; Inglés, E.; Puig, N.

2011-01-01

A major challenge for non-profit sports organizations is how to raise resources from their stakeholders. The present article empirically assesses how the management of stakeholders can affect the resources raised by non-profit sports organizations. The moderating effect of particular characteristics of the Board of Directors is also considered. Evidence is obtained by surveying a large sample of sports clubs from Catalonia, Spain. Results indicate how the quality of relations between sports c...

R&D and Price Elasticity of Demand

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lucke, D.; Schröder, Philipp; D., Schumacher,

2004-01-01

This paper explores the relationship between the price elasticity of demand and the R&D intensity of the product. We introduce the concept of R&D intensity into a standard Dixit-Stiglitz/Krugman-type setting. R&D activity is treated as a fixed cost of production. Within this framework, sectors...... with a higher R&D intensity show a lower price elasticity of demand. This proposition is confirmed by an empirical investigation of export demand for manufactured goods from major industrialised countries. Consequently, real exchange rate changes have an impact on the commodity structure of exports....

The Efficiency of the Chinese Commodity Futures Markets: Development and Empirical Evidence

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Yu Xin; Gongmeng Chen; Michael Firth

2006-01-01

This study investigates the efficiency of the Chinese metal futures (i.e. copper and aluminum) traded on China's Shanghai Futures Exchange. First, we thoroughly analyze the development of China's commodity futures markets, which provides a fundamental background. Then we examine the random walk and unbiasedness hypotheses for two metal futures during 1999-2004. Based on the empirical evidence, we argue that China's copper and aluminum futures markets are efficient, and that they aid the process of price discovery because futures prices can be considered as unbiased predictors of future spot prices. We attribute this efficiency to the regulatory changes made in 1999 and the increased financial skills and acumen of the participants in the market.

Persistent Educational Advantage Across Three Generations: Empirical Evidence for Germany

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Ziefle

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article uses survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP to analyze the persistence of educational attainment across three generations in Germany. I obtain evidence of a robust effect of grandparents' education on respondents' own educational attainment in West Germany, net of parental class, education, occupational status, family income, parents' relationship history, and family size. I also test whether the grandparent effect results from resource compensation or cumulative advantage and find empirical support for both mechanisms. In comparison, the intergenerational association between grandparents' and respondents' education is considerably weaker in East Germany and is also mediated completely by parental education. There are hardly any gender differences in the role of grandparents for respondents’ educational attainment, except for the fact that resource compensation is found to be exclusively relevant for women’s attainment in both West Germany and in East Germany after German reunification and the associated transition to an open educational system.

Job demands-resources theory: Taking stock and looking forward.

Science.gov (United States)

Bakker, Arnold B; Demerouti, Evangelia

2017-07-01

The job demands-resources (JD-R) model was introduced in the international literature 15 years ago (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). The model has been applied in thousands of organizations and has inspired hundreds of empirical articles, including 1 of the most downloaded articles of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology (Bakker, Demerouti, & Euwema, 2005). This article provides evidence for the buffering role of various job resources on the impact of various job demands on burnout. In the present article, we look back on the first 10 years of the JD-R model (2001-2010), and discuss how the model matured into JD-R theory (2011-2016). Moreover, we look at the future of the theory and outline which new issues in JD-R theory are worthwhile of investigation. We also discuss practical applications. It is our hope that JD-R theory will continue to inspire researchers and practitioners who want to promote employee well-being and effective organizational functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Women's autonomy and reproductive health care utilisation: empirical evidence from Tajikistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamiya, Yusuke

2011-10-01

Women's autonomy is widely considered to be a key to improving maternal health in developing countries, whereas there is no consistent empirical evidence to support this claim. This paper examines whether or not and how women's autonomy within the household affects the use of reproductive health care, using a household survey data from Tajikistan. Estimation is performed by the bivariate probit model whereby woman's use of health services and the level of women's autonomy are recursively and simultaneously determined. The data is from a sample of women aged 15-49 from the Tajikistan Living Standard Measurement Survey 2007. Women's autonomy as measured by women's decision-making on household financial matters increase the likelihood that a woman receives antenatal and delivery care, whilst it has a negative effect on the probability of attending to four or more antenatal consultations. The hypothesis that women's autonomy and reproductive health care utilisation are independently determined is rejected for most of the estimation specifications, indicating the importance of taking into account the endogenous nature of women's autonomy when assessing its effect on health care use. The empirical results reconfirm the assertion that women's status within the household is closely linked to reproductive health care utilisation in developing countries. Policymakers therefore need not only to implement not only direct health interventions but also to focus on broader social policies which address women's empowerment. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

DEMAND FOR MALAYSIA'S EXPORTS: EVIDENCE FROM THE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY

OpenAIRE

Koi Nyen Wong

2006-01-01

This study estimates the determinants of foreign demand for Malaysia's top five electronics exports by SITC (Standard International Trade Classification) product groups from 1990 to 2001. Cointegration results indicate a unique long-run relationship between export demand for electronic products and relative prices and foreign income. Both the estimated long-run income and price elasticities of export demand are greater than 1, conforming to a pattern found in most fast-growing economies and i...

Econometric Modeling: An Application to the Demand for Electricity ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The empirical results show an inverse relationship between real appliance purchase price, the real per capita income and the demand for electricity. Also the rate of population growth rate as a proxy for electricity consumers appears to be insignificant. This reveals the clear fact that the demand for electricity is greater than ...

Labour Demand and Exchange Rate Volatility

OpenAIRE

Udo Broll; Sabine Hansen

2004-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to assess under what conditions exchange rate volatility exerts a positive effect on a firm's labour demand. As the exchange rate volatility increases, so does the value of the export option provided the firm under study is flexible. Flexibility is important because it gives the firm option value. Higher volatility increases the potential gains from trade and may increase the demand for labour. This may explain part of the mixed empirical findings regarding the ef...

A RECOGNITION OF HEALTH AND NUTRITION FACTORS IN FOOD DEMAND ANALYSIS

OpenAIRE

Capps, Oral, Jr.; Schmitz, John D.

1991-01-01

A theoretical framework in which to formally consider health and nutrition factors in demand analyses is developed. The framework is employed to empirically identify and assess the impacts of information pertaining to cholesterol on the demands for beef, pork, poultry, and fish. Issues in considering health and nutrition factors in food demand analysis are documented.

Governance and Human Development: Empirical Evidence from ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study empirically investigates the effects of governance on human development in Nigeria. Using annual time series data covering the period 1998 to 2010, obtained from various sources, and employing the classical least squares estimation technique, the study finds that corruption, foreign aid and government ...

Selection Bias in Educational Transition Models: Theory and Empirical Evidence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Anders; Jæger, Mads

variables. This paper, first, explains theoretically how selection on unobserved variables leads to waning coefficients and, second, illustrates empirically how selection leads to biased estimates of the effect of family background on educational transitions. Our empirical analysis using data from...

Like grandparents, like parents: Empirical evidence and psychoanalytic thinking on the transmission of parenting styles.

Science.gov (United States)

De Carli, Pietro; Tagini, Angela; Sarracino, Diego; Santona, Alessandra; Bonalda, Valentina; Cesari, Paola Elena; Parolin, Laura

2018-01-01

The authors discuss the issue of intergenerational transmission of parenting from an empirical and psychoanalytic perspective. After presenting a framework to explain their conception of parenting, they describe intergenerational transmission of parenting as a key to interpreting and eventually changing parenting behaviors. Then they present (1) the empirical approach aimed at determining if there is actually a stability across generations that contributes to harsh parenting and eventually maltreatment and (2) the psyphoanalytic thinking that seeks to explain the continuity in terms of representations and clinical phenomena. The authors also discuss the relationship between the attachment and the caregiving systems and hypothesize a common base for the two systems in childhood experience. Finally, they propose the psychoanalytic perspective as a fruitful theoretical framework to integrate the evidence for the neurophysiological mediators and moderators of intergenerational transmission. Psychoanalytically informed research can provide clinically relevant insights and hypotheses to be tested.

An empirical analysis of energy demand in Namibia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Vita, G.; Hunt, L.C.

2006-01-01

Using a unique database of end-user local energy data and the recently developed Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration, we estimate the long-run elasticities of the Namibian energy demand function at both aggregated level and by type of energy (electricity, petrol and diesel) for the period 1980-2002. Our main results show that energy consumption responds positively to changes in GDP and negatively to changes in energy price and air temperature. The differences in price elasticities across fuels uncovered by this study have significant implications for energy taxation by Namibian policy makers. We do not find any significant cross-price elasticities between different fuel types. (author)

Testing and estimating time-varying elasticities of Swiss gasoline demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neto, David

2012-01-01

This paper is intended to test and estimate time-varying elasticities for gasoline demand in Switzerland. For this purpose, a smooth time-varying cointegrating parameters model is investigated in order to describe smooth mutations of the Swiss gasoline demand. The methodology, based on Chebyshev polynomials, is rigorously outlined. Our empirical finding states that the time-invariance assumption does not hold for long-run price and income elasticities. Furthermore they highlight that gasoline demand passed through some periods of sensitivity and non sensitivity with respect to the price. Our empirical statements are of great importance to assess the performance of a gasoline tax as an instrument for CO 2 reduction policy. Indeed, such an instrument can contribute to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases only if the demand is not fully inelastic with respect to the price. Our results suggest that such a carbon-tax would not be always suitable since the price elasticity is found not stable over time and not always significant.

Alcohol demand and risk preference.

Science.gov (United States)

Dave, Dhaval; Saffer, Henry

2008-12-01

Both economists and psychologists have studied the concept of risk preference. Economists categorize individuals as more or less risk-tolerant based on the marginal utility of income. Psychologists categorize individuals' propensity towards risk based on harm avoidance, novelty seeking and reward dependence traits. The two concepts of risk are related, although the instruments used for empirical measurement are quite different. Psychologists have found risk preference to be an important determinant of alcohol consumption; however economists have not included risk preference in studies of alcohol demand. This is the first study to examine the effect of risk preference on alcohol consumption in the context of a demand function. The specifications employ multiple waves from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which permit the estimation of age-specific models based on nationally representative samples. Both of these data sets include a unique and consistent survey instrument designed to directly measure risk preference in accordance with the economist's definition. This study estimates the direct impact of risk preference on alcohol demand and also explores how risk preference affects the price elasticity of demand. The empirical results indicate that risk preference has a significant negative effect on alcohol consumption, with the prevalence and consumption among risk-tolerant individuals being 6-8% higher. Furthermore, the tax elasticity is similar across both risk-averse and risk-tolerant individuals. This suggests that tax policies are as equally effective in deterring alcohol consumption among those who have a higher versus a lower propensity for alcohol use.

Transformational leadership: application of magnet's new empiric outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Meredith, Erin K; Cohen, Elaine; Raia, Lucille V

2010-03-01

The many benefits to hospitals throughout the world that achieved Magnet designation is well documented. This status of recognition demands the support of leadership during the Magnet journey. In 2008, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) announced a new model for the Magnet Recognition Program that translates the original 14 Forces of Magnetism into Five Model Components. Specifically, this new model includes sources of evidence and empiric outcomes that by definition accentuates transformational nursing leadership. The day-to-day impact of this change places an even greater emphasis on demonstrated outcomes and innovation that may potentially transform nursing practice, quality and safety of care, and the population served. This article provides tangible examples and outcomes for reaching nursing excellence through leadership support and engagement. Published by Elsevier Inc.

A holistic approach to corporate social responsibility as a prerequisite for sustainable development: Empirical evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zlatanović Dejana

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The growing importance of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (CSR for contemporary organizations demands appropriate holistic tools. The paper highlights how Soft Systems Methodology (SSM, a relevant holistic, i.e., soft systems approach, supports the conceptualization and management of the complex issues of CSR and sustainable development. The SSM’s key methodological tools are used: rich picture, root definitions, and conceptual models. Empirical research compares a selected sample of enterprises in the automotive industry in the Republic of Serbia, to identify possible systemically desirable and culturally feasible changes to improve their CSR behaviour through promoting their sustainable development. Some limitations of this research and of SSM application are discussed. Combining SSM with some other systems approaches, such as System Dynamics or Critical Systems Heuristics, is recommended for future research.

A generalized preferential attachment model for business firms growth rates. I. Empirical evidence

Science.gov (United States)

Pammolli, F.; Fu, D.; Buldyrev, S. V.; Riccaboni, M.; Matia, K.; Yamasaki, K.; Stanley, H. E.

2007-05-01

We introduce a model of proportional growth to explain the distribution P(g) of business firm growth rates. The model predicts that P(g) is Laplace in the central part and depicts an asymptotic power-law behavior in the tails with an exponent ζ = 3. Because of data limitations, previous studies in this field have been focusing exclusively on the Laplace shape of the body of the distribution. We test the model at different levels of aggregation in the economy, from products, to firms, to countries, and we find that the predictions are in good agreement with empirical evidence on both growth distributions and size-variance relationships.

Introducing a demand-based electricity distribution tariff in the residential sector: Demand response and customer perception

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bartusch, Cajsa; Wallin, Fredrik; Odlare, Monica; Vassileva, Iana; Wester, Lars

2011-01-01

Increased demand response is essential to fully exploit the Swedish power system, which in turn is an absolute prerequisite for meeting political goals related to energy efficiency and climate change. Demand response programs are, nonetheless, still exceptional in the residential sector of the Swedish electricity market, one contributory factor being lack of knowledge about the extent of the potential gains. In light of these circumstances, this empirical study set out with the intention of estimating the scope of households' response to, and assessing customers' perception of, a demand-based time-of-use electricity distribution tariff. The results show that households as a whole have a fairly high opinion of the demand-based tariff and act on its intrinsic price signals by decreasing peak demand in peak periods and shifting electricity use from peak to off-peak periods. - Highlights: → Households are sympathetic to demand-based tariffs, seeing as they relate to environmental issues. → Households adjust their electricity use to the price signals of demand-based tariffs. → Demand-based tariffs lead to a shift in electricity use from peak to off-peak hours. → Demand-based tariffs lead to a decrease in maximum demand in peak periods. → Magnitude of these effects increases over time.

Migrations of the Creative Class: Evidence from Sweden

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Høgni Kalsø; Niedomysl, Thomas

2009-01-01

A central element in contemporary regional development strategies is the ability for regions to attract and retain talented people. The underlying argument is that by attracting talented people, regions are better geared to meet the demand of competences of the knowledge economy and become more...... for other groups. The results, moreover, show that most migration activities for the creative class take place just after finishing university and that the creative class people move for jobs rather than place. The presented empirical findings of the article do not support central theoretical arguments...... about the mobility of the creative class. In light of these findings, the article concludes with discussing why the creative class theory has become so influential despite the lack of empirical evidence...

Empirical analysis of the spot market implications of price-responsive demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siddiqui, A.S.

2006-01-01

Although electricity is theoretically an inelastic good in the short term, the steep slope of the supply stack implies that even modest response by demand could translate into reduced capacity requirements and significant price decreases. This article examined the effect of price-responsive demand strategies in an actual deregulated electricity industry. Auction data from the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) day-ahead electricity market were used to form supply stacks for various zones. A simple linear demand function was used to determine the effect of price responsiveness on equilibrium spot market price and consumption. The aim was to quantify the benefits from the pricing protocol and to determine whether modest levels of price elasticity can significantly lower prices and consumption. Market-clearing prices and quantities were estimated using various supply curves in order to quantify the responsiveness necessary to achieve given price reductions. Price response was induced in the demand curve by varying its slope. Estimates were then used to estimate the average level of slope needed to reduce the average market-clearing price during the year by a certain percentage. Results showed that an average slope of -50.04 was necessary for prices to be reduced by 25 per cent. Results also showed that necessary price responses can be ascertained for any desired reduction in the market-clearing price or quantity. Although price responsiveness unambiguously reduces the spot market price and quantity, its effect on the forward price is not yet clear. It was concluded that a separate analysis of peak hours may reveal the effectiveness of enhanced price response. 8 refs., 1 tab., 8 figs

The effect of economic development on population health: a review of the empirical evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Lange, Simon; Vollmer, Sebastian

2017-01-01

Economic growth is considered an important determinant of population health. Relevant studies investigating the effect of economic growth on health outcomes were identified from Google Scholar and PubMed searches in economics and medical journals. Additional resources generated through economic growth are potentially useful for improving population health. The empirical evidence on the aggregate effect of economic growth on population health is rather mixed and inconclusive. The causal pathways from economic growth to population health are crucial and failure or success in completing the pathways explains differences in empirical findings. Future research should investigate how additional resources can more effectively reach those in need and how additional resources can be used more efficiently. It is particularly relevant to understand why preventive health care in developing countries is very price elastic whereas curative health care is very health inelastic and how this understanding can inform public health policy. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Evidence-based process for decision-making in the analysis of legal demands for medicines in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana Aragão Figueiredo

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Legal actions have been playing a significant role as an alternative pathway to access to medicines in Brazil. These lawsuits demand medicines used in Primary Health Care as well as medicines that are still in clinical research and have not been market approved by the Brazilian National Agency for Sanitary Surveillance (ANVISA. The goal was to analyze medicines demanded through lawsuits brought to the judicial district which includes the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July/2007 to June/2008. The medicines in 281 lawsuits were examined for their respective indications, classified according to their presence in publicly-funded lists, market approval by ANVISA, compliance with national clinical guidelines, existence of alternative therapies in lists and support of indication by scientific evidence. Six different categories were described, which are deemed useful to managers and the Judiciary in decision-making. The support of evidence is of utmost importance for medicines that are not included in public funding lists and also for those with no available therapeutic alternatives.

Empirical Analysis Of The Determinants Of Demand For Children In ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Using cross-section data on urban households from Jimma city, Southwestern Ethiopia, in this paper we apply the economic theory of consumer choice and examine some endogenous household characteristics that affect the demand for children among urban households in Ethiopia. Based on parameter estimates derived ...

Do People Overestimate Their Information Literacy Skills? A Systematic Review of Empirical Evidence on the Dunning-Kruger Effect

Science.gov (United States)

Mahmood, Khalid

2016-01-01

This systematic review has analyzed 53 English language studies that assessed and compared peoples' self-reported and demonstrated information literacy (IL) skills. The objective was to collect empirical evidence on the existence of Dunning-Kruger Effect in the area of information literacy. The findings clearly show that this theory works in this…

Three Essays on National Oil Company Efficiency, Energy Demand and Transportation

Science.gov (United States)

Eller, Stacy L.

This dissertation is composed of three separate essays in the field of energy economics. In the first paper, both data envelopment analysis and stochastic production frontier estimation are employed to provide empirical evidence on the revenue efficiency of national oil companies (NOCs) and private international oil companies (IOCs). Using a panel of 80 oil producing firms, the analysis suggests that NOCs are generally less efficient at generating revenue from a given resource base than IOCs, with some exceptions. Due to differing firm objectives, however, structural and institutional features may help explain much of the inefficiency. The second paper analyzes the relationship between economic development and the demand for energy. Energy consumption is modeled using panel data from 1990 to 2004 for 50 countries spanning all levels of development. We find the relationship between energy consumption and economic development corresponds to the structure of aggregate output and the nature of derived demand for electricity and direct-use fuels in each sector. Notably, the evidence of non-constant income elasticity of demand is much greater for electricity demand than for direct-use fuel consumption. In addition, we show that during periods of rapid economic development, one in which the short-term growth rate exceeds the long-run average, an increase in aggregate output is met by less energy-efficient capital. This is a result of capital being fixed in the short-term. As additional, more efficient capital stock is added to the production process, the short-term increase in energy intensity will diminish. In the third essay, we develop a system of equations to estimate a model of motor vehicle fuel consumption, vehicle miles traveled and implied fuel efficiency for the 67 counties of the State of Florida from 2001 to 2008. This procedure allows us to decompose the factors of fuel demand into elasticities of vehicle driving demand and fuel efficiency. Particular

Empirical studies on the labor market and on consumer demand

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gong, X.

2001-01-01

The thesis covers three topics on the labour market and on consumer demand. Chapters two and three focus on the labour market mobility and wage differentials between the formal sector and the informal sector in urban Mexico. Dynamic random effects panel data models are used in the analysis. Chapters

Virtuous States and Virtuous Traits: How the Empirical Evidence Regarding the Existence of Broad Traits Saves Virtue Ethics from the Situationist Critique

Science.gov (United States)

Jayawickreme, Eranda; Meindl, Peter; Helzer, Erik G.; Furr, R. Michael; Fleeson, William

2014-01-01

A major objection to the study of virtue asserts that the empirical psychological evidence implies traits have little meaningful impact on behavior, as slight changes in situational characteristics appear to lead to large changes in virtuous behavior. We argue in response that the critical evidence is not these effects of situations observed in…

Towards a Job Demands-Resources Health Model: Empirical Testing with Generalizable Indicators of Job Demands, Job Resources, and Comprehensive Health Outcomes

OpenAIRE

Brauchli, Rebecca; Jenny, Gregor J.; Füllemann, Désirée; Bauer, Georg F.

2015-01-01

Studies using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model commonly have a heterogeneous focus concerning the variables they investigate?selective job demands and resources as well as burnout and work engagement. The present study applies the rationale of the JD-R model to expand the relevant outcomes of job demands and job resources by linking the JD-R model to the logic of a generic health development framework predicting more broadly positive and negative health. The resulting JD-R health model ...

A Long-run Equilibrium Demand Function: Tourism in Mexico

OpenAIRE

Brida, Juan Gabriel; Risso, Wiston Adriàn; Carrera, Edgar J. Sanchez

2007-01-01

Tourism demand in Mexico is around 80 percent represented by USA visitors. The goal of this paper is to explain the long-term effects of Tourism Demand in Mexico with respect to US visitors. To reach our goal the methodology of this paper follows the Johansen cointegration analysis and using annual time-series data, a single equation is estimated. With the empirical analyze, we study the tourism demand elasticities considering public investment, relative prices of tourist products, and US inc...

Empirical Support for Perceptual Conceptualism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicolás Alejandro Serrano

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The main objective of this paper is to show that perceptual conceptualism can be understood as an empirically meaningful position and, furthermore, that there is some degree of empirical support for its main theses. In order to do this, I will start by offering an empirical reading of the conceptualist position, and making three predictions from it. Then, I will consider recent experimental results from cognitive sciences that seem to point towards those predictions. I will conclude that, while the evidence offered by those experiments is far from decisive, it is enough not only to show that conceptualism is an empirically meaningful position but also that there is empirical support for it.

HRM practices and knowledge processes outcomes: empirical evidence from a quasi-experiment on UK SMEs in the tourism hospitality and leisure sector

OpenAIRE

Andreas Georgiadis; Christos N. Pitelis

2008-01-01

This paper presents empirical evidence of the relationship between human resources practices and the effectiveness of a firm to capitalise on investment in knowledge as measured by the returns to innovation and business development expenditure. The empirical design is based on exploiting a natural experiment provided by a policy intervention that offers human resources-related support to small and medium sized enterprises in the UK Tourism Hospitality and Leisure sector. Our findings suggest ...

HOW A SUPPLY CHAIN PROCESS MATTERS IN FIRMS’ PERFORMANCE-AN EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE OF PAKISTAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Ziaullah

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In recent years, supply chain processes (i.e. demand management, customer relationship management, and new product development have gained a great importance from academicians and practitioners. Yet, research into the subject of supply chain processes’ effects on performance is nascent. The purpose of this study is to examine the process dimensions’ effects on supply chain (SC partners’ trust and firms’ performance as supply chain processes are essential for firms’ competitiveness. The research framework consists of seven hypotheses. An empirical study was conducted in Pakistan, and the data were collected from 164 supply chain firms. The reliability and validity of the model were examined through the exploratory factor analysis (EFA and Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA. The results delineate that supply chain processes have a significant relationship with SC partners’ trust and performance. Thus, all hypotheses were supported. This study presents interesting theoretical contributions and managerial implications. At last, limitations regarding future research directions are discussed.

Empirical evidence for multi-scaled controls on wildfire size distributions in California

Science.gov (United States)

Povak, N.; Hessburg, P. F., Sr.; Salter, R. B.

2014-12-01

Ecological theory asserts that regional wildfire size distributions are examples of self-organized critical (SOC) systems. Controls on SOC event-size distributions by virtue are purely endogenous to the system and include the (1) frequency and pattern of ignitions, (2) distribution and size of prior fires, and (3) lagged successional patterns after fires. However, recent work has shown that the largest wildfires often result from extreme climatic events, and that patterns of vegetation and topography may help constrain local fire spread, calling into question the SOC model's simplicity. Using an atlas of >12,000 California wildfires (1950-2012) and maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), we fit four different power-law models and broken-stick regressions to fire-size distributions across 16 Bailey's ecoregions. Comparisons among empirical fire size distributions across ecoregions indicated that most ecoregion's fire-size distributions were significantly different, suggesting that broad-scale top-down controls differed among ecoregions. One-parameter power-law models consistently fit a middle range of fire sizes (~100 to 10000 ha) across most ecoregions, but did not fit to larger and smaller fire sizes. We fit the same four power-law models to patch size distributions of aspect, slope, and curvature topographies and found that the power-law models fit to a similar middle range of topography patch sizes. These results suggested that empirical evidence may exist for topographic controls on fire sizes. To test this, we used neutral landscape modeling techniques to determine if observed fire edges corresponded with aspect breaks more often than expected by random. We found significant differences between the empirical and neutral models for some ecoregions, particularly within the middle range of fire sizes. Our results, combined with other recent work, suggest that controls on ecoregional fire size distributions are multi-scaled and likely are not purely SOC. California

Competence-based demands made of senior physicians: an empirical study to evaluate leadership competencies.

Science.gov (United States)

Lehr, Bosco; Ostermann, Herwig; Schubert, Harald

2011-01-01

As a result of more economising in German hospitals, changes evolve in organising the deployment of senior medical staff. New demands are made of senior hospital management. Leadership competencies in the training and development of physicians are of prime importance to the successful perception of managerial responsibilities. The present study investigates the actual and targeted demands of leadership made of senior medical staff in terms of how these demands are perceived. To this end, the demands of leadership were surveyed using a competence-based questionnaire and investigated with a view to potentials in professional development by way of example of the senior management of psychiatric hospitals in Germany. In all, the results show high ratings in personal performance, the greatest significance being attributed to value-oriented competence in the actual assessment of demands on leadership. Besides gender-specific differences in the actual assessments of single fields of competence, the greatest differences between the targeted and the actual demands are, in all, shown to be in the competencies of self-management and communication. Competence-based core areas in leadership can be demonstrated for the professional development of physicians and an adaptive mode of procedure deduced. Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Empirical Evidence for the Outcomes of Therapeutic Video Games for Adolescents With Anxiety Disorders: Systematic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Steven

2018-01-01

Background Extant evidence suggests that the proportion of adolescents suffering from anxiety disorders (ADs) has increased by up to 70% since the mid-1980s, with experience of anxiety at this stage associated with significant negative short- and long-term life outcomes. The existing therapeutic interventions (eg, cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT; attention bias modification, ABM) have proven to have clinically measurable benefits in reducing anxiety, but their efficacy is often compromised by social and practical barriers. The growing discrepancy between demand for, and access to, clinical interventions for anxiety has led to the development of a range of eHealth (health care practice supported by electronic processes and communication) and mHealth (versions of eHealth using mobile devices) interventions. One such protocol is therapeutic games, which aim to provide clinical frameworks in dynamic, adaptable, and personalized virtual environments. Although some evidence exists to suggest therapeutic games are associated with reductions in subjective anxiety and observed stress reactivity, there is currently, to our knowledge, no systematic review of the adherence to, and effectiveness of, therapeutic games for adolescent anxiety. Objective The aim of this review was to establish the effectiveness of therapeutic games in making clinically measurable reductions in anxiety symptoms in adolescent samples. Methods A systematic search of the existing academic literature published between 1990 and July 2017 was conducted using the databases Journal of Medical Internet Research, Journal Storage, Psychology Articles, Psychology Info, ScienceDIRECT, and Scopus. Records linked to empirical papers on therapeutic games for anxiety using adolescent samples were evaluated. Results A total of 5 studies (N=410 participants) met the inclusion criteria, and 3 gamified anxiety interventions for adolescents were identified. The papers included a mixture of randomized controlled trials

A Growing Demand for Monitoring and Evaluation in Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Porter

2013-09-01

Full Text Available When decision-makers want to use evidence from monitoring and evaluation (M&E systems to assist them in making choices, there is a demand for M&E. When there is great capacity to supply M&E information, but low capacity to demand quality evidence, there is a mismatch between supply and demand. In this context, as Picciotto (2009 observed, ‘monitoring masquerades as evaluation’. This article applies this observation, using six case studies of African M&E systems, by asking: What evidence is there that African governments are developing stronger endogenous demand for evidence generated from M&E systems? The argument presented here is that demand for evidence is increasing, leading to further development of M&E systems, with monitoring being dominant. As part of this dominance there are attempts to align monitoring systems to emerging local demand, whilst donor demands are still important in several countries. There is also evidence of increasing demand through government-led evaluation systems in South Africa, Uganda and Benin. One of the main issues that this article notes is that the M&E systems are not yet conceptualised within a reform effort to introduce a comprehensive results-based orientation to the public services of these countries. Results concepts are not yet consistently applied throughout the M&E systems in the case countries. In addition, the results-based notions that are applied appear to be generating perverse incentives that reinforce upward compliance and contrôle to the detriment of more developmental uses of M&E evidence.

Short- and long-run time-of-use price elasticities in Swiss residential electricity demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Filippini, Massimo

2011-01-01

This paper presents an empirical analysis on the residential demand for electricity by time-of-day. This analysis has been performed using aggregate data at the city level for 22 Swiss cities for the period 2000-2006. For this purpose, we estimated two log-log demand equations for peak and off-peak electricity consumption using static and dynamic partial adjustment approaches. These demand functions were estimated using several econometric approaches for panel data, for example LSDV and RE for static models, and LSDV and corrected LSDV estimators for dynamic models. The attempt of this empirical analysis has been to highlight some of the characteristics of the Swiss residential electricity demand. The estimated short-run own price elasticities are lower than 1, whereas in the long-run these values are higher than 1. The estimated short-run and long-run cross-price elasticities are positive. This result shows that peak and off-peak electricity are substitutes. In this context, time differentiated prices should provide an economic incentive to customers so that they can modify consumption patterns by reducing peak demand and shifting electricity consumption from peak to off-peak periods. - Highlights: → Empirical analysis on the residential demand for electricity by time-of-day. → Estimators for dynamic panel data. → Peak and off-peak residential electricity are substitutes.

How task characteristics and social support relate to managerial learning: empirical evidence from Dutch home care.

Science.gov (United States)

Ouweneel, A P Else; Taris, Toon W; Van Zolingen, Simone J; Schreurs, Paul J G

2009-01-01

Researchers have revealed that managers profit most from informal and on-the-job learning. Moreover, research has shown that task characteristics and social support affect informal learning. On the basis of these insights, the authors examined the effects of task characteristics (psychological job demands, job control) and social support from the supervisor and colleagues on informal on-the-job learning among 1588 managers in the Dutch home-care sector. A regression analysis revealed that high demands, high control, and high colleague and supervisor support were each associated with high levels of informal learning. The authors found no evidence for statistical interactions among the effects of these concepts. They concluded that to promote managers' informal workplace learning, employers should especially increase job control.

CSR Disclosures in the Mining Industry: Empirical Evidence from Listed Mining Firms in Indonesia

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Rina Asmeri

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Companies that are involved in CSR strive to meet the expectations of stakeholders. Therefore, CSR and CSR reporting are tools of legitimacy to demonstrate its obedience (legitimacy theory. This study aims to look at empirical evidence on the effect of profitability and environmental performance on CSR disclosure. This study examined the target population of mining companies listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange that included the CSR reporting in the 2010-2014 annual report, obtained a sample of 18 companies. By using multiple regression analysis test, there is no significant influence between profitability to CSR disclosure, whilst environmental performance has effect on CSR disclosure.

Disaggregated export demand of Malaysia: evidence from the electronics industry

OpenAIRE

Koi Nyen Wong

2008-01-01

This study estimates the determinants of foreign demand for Malaysia's top five electronics exports by SITC (Standard International Trade Classification) product groups from 1990 to 2001. Cointegration results indicate a unique long-run relationship between export demand for electronic products and relative prices and foreign income. Both the estimated long-run income and price elasticities of export demand are greater than 1, conforming to a pattern found in most fast-growing economies and i...

Empirical Evidence for the Relation between Customer Satisfaction and Business Performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A. van der Wiele (Ton); J.P.P.E.F. Boselie (Paul); M. Hesselink

2001-01-01

textabstractThis paper focuses on the analysis of empirical data on customer satisfaction and the relationship with hard organisational performance data. The organisation is a Flexcompany with its headquarters in The Netherlands, but also operating in other countries in Europe. The empirical data on

Quantitative work demands, emotional demands, and cognitive stress symptoms in surgery nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Elfering, Achim; Grebner, Simone; Leitner, Monika; Hirschmüller, Anja; Kubosch, Eva Johanna; Baur, Heiner

2017-06-01

In surgery, cognitive stress symptoms, including problems in concentrating, deciding, memorising, and reflecting are risks to patient safety. Recent evidence points to social stressors as antecedents of cognitive stress symptoms in surgery personnel. The current study tests whether cognitive stress symptoms are positively associated with emotional abuse, emotional- and task-related demands and resources in surgery work. Forty-eight surgery nurses from two hospitals filled out the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire in its German version. Task-related and emotional demands were positively related to cognitive stress symptoms. In a stepwise, multiple, linear regression of cognitive stress symptoms on task-related and emotional demands, emotional abuse and emotional demands were unique predictors (p emotional abuse, emotional demands, and, therefore, communication and cooperation team climate in surgery personnel.

Industrial companies' demand for electricity. Evidence from a micropanel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bjoerner, T.B.; Togeby, M.; Jensen, H.H.

2001-01-01

The paper presents a micro-econometric analysis of industrial companies' demand for electricity. Previous studies on electricity consumption in the industrial sector have relied on aggregate data or cross-section observations. Here we present an econometric study on electricity demand based on a panel of 2949 Danish companies followed from 1983 to 1996. It is found that estimators of electricity demand that take account of the panel structure (fixed effect models) yield considerably lower price and production elasticities compared to estimators that do not (like cross-section models). It is also investigated how various company characteristics like size, type of industrial sub-sector and electricity intensity in production influence price and production elasticities. It appears that companies with a high electricity intensity also have a high own-price elasticity

Product Aggregation Bias as a Specification Error in Demand Systems

OpenAIRE

George C. Davis

1997-01-01

Inherent in all demand studies is some form of product aggregation which can lead to product aggregation bias. This article develops a simple procedure for incorporating product aggregation bias in demand systems that permits testing of product aggregation bias with a standard likelihood ratio test. An empirical illustration of the procedure demonstrates the importance of proper product aggregation. Copyright 1997, Oxford University Press.

Differences in price elasticities of demand for health insurance: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Pendzialek, Jonas B; Simic, Dusan; Stock, Stephanie

2016-01-01

Many health insurance systems apply managed competition principles to control costs and quality of health care. Besides other factors, managed competition relies on a sufficient price-elastic demand. This paper presents a systematic review of empirical studies on price elasticity of demand for health insurance. The objective was to identify the differing international ranges of price elasticity and to find socio-economic as well as setting-oriented factors that influence price elasticity. Relevant literature for the topic was identified through a two-step identification process including a systematic search in appropriate databases and further searches within the references of the results. A total of 45 studies from countries such as the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland were found. Clear differences in price elasticity by countries were identified. While empirical studies showed a range between -0.2 and -1.0 for optional primary health insurance in the US, higher price elasticities between -0.6 and -4.2 for Germany and around -2 for Switzerland were calculated for mandatory primary health insurance. Dutch studies found price elasticities below -0.5. In consideration of all relevant studies, age and poorer health status were identified to decrease price elasticity. Other socio-economic factors had an unclear impact or too limited evidence. Premium level, range of premiums, homogeneity of benefits/coverage and degree of forced decision were found to have a major influence on price elasticity in their settings. Further influence was found from supplementary insurance and premium-dependent employer contribution.

Owning, letting and demanding second homes in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bloze, Gintautas; Skak, Morten

with administrative register data and presents estimations of the probability of owning a second home, the decision to let the second home and the number of let weeks per year. Also income elasticities for primary and second housing demand are estimated. We find a conventional monotonic increase in demand...... elasticities for primary housing demand for non-owners of second homes; however, owners of second homes have the highest income elasticity in the middle income group.......An increasing number of households consume housing beyond the primary home as owners of a second home. Economic studies of non-speculative demand for second homeownership are still scarce, and the present empirical study fills this gap to some extent. It is based on Danish survey data combined...

Analyses of demand response in Denmark

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moeller Andersen, F.; Grenaa Jensen, S.; Larsen, Helge V.; Meibom, P.; Ravn, H.; Skytte, K.; Togeby, M.

2006-10-01

Due to characteristics of the power system, costs of producing electricity vary considerably over short time intervals. Yet, many consumers do not experience corresponding variations in the price they pay for consuming electricity. The topic of this report is: are consumers willing and able to respond to short-term variations in electricity prices, and if so, what is the social benefit of consumers doing so? Taking Denmark and the Nord Pool market as a case, the report focuses on what is known as short-term consumer flexibility or demand response in the electricity market. With focus on market efficiency, efficient allocation of resources and security of supply, the report describes demand response from a micro-economic perspective and provides empirical observations and case studies. The report aims at evaluating benefits from demand response. However, only elements contributing to an overall value are presented. In addition, the analyses are limited to benefits for society, and costs of obtaining demand response are not considered. (au)

Credit demand in Mozambican manufacturing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Byiers, Bruce; Rand, John; Tarp, Finn

2010-01-01

This paper uses two industrial firm surveys to identify the key determinants of credit demand in Mozambican manufacturing. We construct five different measures of being credit constrained and estimate desired debt demand. Besides firm size and ownership structure, we find evidence that general...

Intermediation by Banks and Economic Growth: A Review of Empirical Evidence

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Marijana Bađun

2009-06-01

Full Text Available This paper provides a review of empirical research on the link between financial intermediation by banks and economic growth. Special attention is paid to the issues of causality, non-linearity, time perspective, financial intermediation proxies, and interaction terms. The review shows that there are still quite a few unresolved issues in empirical research, which causes scepticism towards prioritizing financial sector policies in order to cause economic growth. Progress in the finance and growth literature is slow and researchers seem to go round in circles. A possibly fruitful direction for future empirical research is the relationship between government and banks, especially from the standpoint of political economy.

Animating the Ethical Demand

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vistisen, Peter; Jensen, Thessa; Poulsen, Søren Bolvig

2015-01-01

This paper addresses the challenge of attaining ethical user stances during the design process of products and services and proposes animation-based sketching as a design method, which supports elaborating and examining different ethical stances towards the user. The discussion is qualified...... by an empirical study of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in a Triple Helix constellation. Using a three-week long innovation workshop, U- CrAc, involving 16 Danish companies and organisations and 142 students as empirical data, we discuss how animation-based sketching can explore not yet existing user...... dispositions, as well as create an incentive for ethical conduct in development and innovation processes. The ethical fulcrum evolves around Løgstrup’s Ethical Demand and his notion of spontaneous life manifestations. From this, three ethical stances are developed; apathy, sympathy and empathy. By exploring...

Climate change and the collapse of the Akkadian empire: Evidence from the deep sea

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cullen, H.M.; Menocal, P.B. de; Hemming, S.; Hemming, G.; Brown, F.H.; Guilderson, T.; Sirocko, F.

2000-04-01

The Akkadian empire ruled Mesopotamia from the headwaters of the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers to the Persian Gulf during the late third millennium B.C. Archeological evidence has shown that this highly developed civilization collapsed abruptly near 4,170 {+-} 150 calendar yr B.P., perhaps related to a shift to more arid conditions. Detailed paleoclimate records to test this assertion from Mesopotamia are rare, but changes in regional aridity are preserved in adjacent ocean basins. The authors document Holocene changes in regional aridity using mineralogic and geochemical analyses of a marine sediment core from the Gulf of Oman, which is directly downwind of Mesopotamian dust source areas and archeological sites. Results document a very abrupt increase in eolian dust and Mesopotamian aridity, accelerator mass spectrometer radiocarbon dates to 4,025 {+-} 125 calendar yr B.P., which persisted for {approximately} 300 yr. Radiogenic (Nd and Sr) isotope analyses confirm that the observed increase in mineral dust was derived from Mesopotamian source areas. Geochemical correlation of volcanic ash shards between the archeological site and marine sediment record establishes a direct temporal link between Mesopotamian aridification and social collapse, implicating a sudden shift to more arid conditions as a key factor contributing to the collapse of the Akkadian empire.

Domestic and outbound tourism demand in Australia: a System-of-Equations Approach

OpenAIRE

George Athanasopoulos; Minfeng Deng; Gang Li; Haiyan Song

2013-01-01

This study uses a system-of-equations approach to model the substitution relationship between Australian domestic and outbound tourism demand. A new price variable based on relative ratios of purchasing power parity index is developed for the substitution analysis. Short-run demand elasticities are calculated based on the estimated dynamic almost ideal demand system. The empirical results reveal significant substitution relationships between Australian domestic tourism and outbound travel to ...

Information overload, choice deferral, and moderating role of need for cognition: Empirical evidence

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Luis Eduardo Pilli

2016-03-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Choice deferral due to information overload is an undesirable result of competitive environments. The neoclassical maximization models predict that choice avoidance will not increase as more information is offered to consumers. The theories developed in the consumer behavior field predict that some properties of the environment may lead to behavioral effects and an increase in choice avoidance due to information overload. Based on stimuli generated experimentally and tested among 1,000 consumers, this empirical research provides evidence for the presence of behavioral effects due to information overload and reveals the different effects of increasing the number of options or the number of attributes. This study also finds that the need for cognition moderates these behavioral effects, and it proposes psychological processes that may trigger the effects observed.

Occupational stress in (inter)action: the interplay between job demands and job resources

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vegchel, van N.; Jonge, de J.; Landsbergis, P.A.

2005-01-01

The present study addresses theoretical issues involving different interaction effects between job demands and job resources, accompanied by a thorough empirical test of interaction terms in the demand-control (DC) model and the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model in relation to employee health and

State ownership and firm performance: Empirical evidence from Chinese listed companies

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Mei Yu

2013-06-01

Full Text Available While the relationship between state ownership and firm performance has been widely researched, the empirical evidence has provided mixed results. This study applies panel data regression techniques to 10,639 firm-year observations of non-financial Chinese listed firms during 2003–2010 to examine the relationship between state ownership and firm performance. The results show that state ownership has a U-shaped relationship with firm performance. The Split Share Structure Reform in 2005–2006 played a positive role in enhancing the relationship between state ownership and firm profitability ratios. Although state ownership decreased significantly after 2006, it remains high in strategically important industry sectors such as the oil, natural gas and mining sector and the publishing, broadcasting and media sector. The findings reveal that a higher level of state ownership is superior to a dispersed ownership structure due to the benefits of government support and political connections. The Split Share Structure Reform made previously non-tradable shares legally tradable, improving corporate governance and reducing the negative effect of non-tradable state shares.

New estimates of elasticity of demand for healthcare in rural China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Zhongliang; Su, Yanfang; Gao, Jianmin; Xu, Ling; Zhang, Yaoguang

2011-12-01

Only limited empirical studies reported own-price elasticity of demand for health care in rural China. Neither research on income elasticity of demand for health care nor cross-price elasticity of demand for inpatient versus outpatient services in rural China has been reported. However, elasticity of demand is informative to evaluate current policy and to guide further policy making. Our study contributes to the literature by estimating three elasticities (i.e., own-price elasticity, cross-price elasticity, and income elasticity of demand for health care based on nationwide-representative data. We aim to answer three empirical questions with regard to health expenditure in rural China: (1) Which service is more sensitive to price change, outpatient or inpatient service? (2) Is outpatient service a substitute or complement to inpatient service? and (3) Does demand for inpatient services grow faster than demand for outpatient services with income growth? Based on data from a National Health Services Survey, a Probit regression model with probability of outpatient visit and probability of inpatient visit as dependent variables and a zero-truncated negative binomial regression model with outpatient visits as dependent variable were constructed to isolate the effects of price and income on demand for health care. Both pooled and separated regressions for 2003 and 2008 were conducted with tests of robustness. Own-price elasticities of demand for first outpatient visit, outpatient visits among users and first inpatient visit are -0.519 [95% confidence interval (-0.703, -0.336)], -0.547 [95% confidence interval (-0.747, -0.347)] and -0.372 [95% confidence interval (-0.517, -0.226)], respectively. Cross-price elasticities of demand for first outpatient visit, outpatient visits among users and first inpatient visit are 0.073 [95% confidence interval (-0.176, 0.322)], 0.308 [95% confidence interval (0.087, 0.528)], and 0.059 [95% confidence interval (-0.085, 0

A Note on R&D and Price Elasticity of Demand

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schröder, Philipp J.H.; Schumacher, Dieter; Lucke, Dorothea

2005-01-01

This note explores the relationship between the price elasticity of demand and the R&D intensity of the product. We introduce the concept of R&D intensity into a standard Dixit-Stiglitz/Krugman-type setting. R&D activity is treated as a fixed cost of production. Within this framework, sectors...... with a higher R&D intensity show a lower price elasticity of demand. This proposition is confirmed by an empirical investigation of export demand for manufactured goods from major industrialised countries. Consequently, real exchange rate changes have an impact on the commodity structure of exports....

Differences in Dynamic Brand Competition Across Markets: An Empirical Analysis

OpenAIRE

Jean-Pierre Dubé; Puneet Manchanda

2005-01-01

We investigate differences in the dynamics of marketing decisions across geographic markets empirically. We begin with a linear-quadratic game involving forward-looking firms competing on prices and advertising. Based on the corresponding Markov perfect equilibrium, we propose estimable econometric equations for demand and marketing policy. Our model allows us to measure empirically the strategic response of competitors along with economic measures such as firm profitability. We use a rich da...

Advancing Empirical Approaches to the Concept of Resilience: A Critical Examination of Panarchy, Ecological Information, and Statistical Evidence

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Ali Kharrazi

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Despite its ambiguities, the concept of resilience is of critical importance to researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers in dealing with dynamic socio-ecological systems. In this paper, we critically examine the three empirical approaches of (i panarchy; (ii ecological information-based network analysis; and (iii statistical evidence of resilience to three criteria determined for achieving a comprehensive understanding and application of this concept. These criteria are the ability: (1 to reflect a system’s adaptability to shocks; (2 to integrate social and environmental dimensions; and (3 to evaluate system-level trade-offs. Our findings show that none of the three currently applied approaches are strong in handling all three criteria. Panarchy is strong in the first two criteria but has difficulty with normative trade-offs. The ecological information-based approach is strongest in evaluating trade-offs but relies on common dimensions that lead to over-simplifications in integrating the social and environmental dimensions. Statistical evidence provides suggestions that are simplest and easiest to act upon but are generally weak in all three criteria. This analysis confirms the value of these approaches in specific instances but also the need for further research in advancing empirical approaches to the concept of resilience.

Empirical Analysis of Renewable Energy Demand in Ghana with Autometrics

OpenAIRE

Ishmael Ackah; Mcomari Asomani

2015-01-01

Increased investment in renewable energy has been identified as a potential solution to the intermittent power supply in Ghana. Recently, a Renewable Energy Act has been passed which has a target of 10% of renewable energy component in Ghana’s energy mix by 2020. Whilst effort is been made to enhance supply through feed in tariffs, education and tax reduction on renewable energy related equipment, there is the need to understand the drivers of renewable energy demand. Due to dearth of studie...

Working Capital Management and Firm Profitability. Empirical Evidence for the Romanian Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miloş Marius Cristian

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper aims on empirically testing the connection between a firm's liquidity, or else a firm's ability to manage short-term liabilities, without undue stress and its profitability. We are using both a static and dynamic measure of firm liquidity: the traditional current liquidity ratio alongside one of the most frequent used working capital management indicator, the cash conversion cycle. An empirical analysis is performed based on 50 listed companies from Bucharest Stock Exchange, covering various industries. The empirical results are confirming the previous research that has confirmed the negative connection between the days sales outstanding (DSO, respectively the days inventory outstanding (DIO and the profitability of the firm, while cash conversion cycle seems to be positively connected with the firm profitability, in contradiction with some of the previous empirical literature.

Modeling the Dynamics and Spillovers of the Health Labor Market: Evidence from China’s Provincial Panel Data

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Bin Zhu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Health workforce misdistribution is a major challenge faced by almost all countries. A more profound understanding of the dynamics of the health labor market provides evidence for policy makers to balance health workforce distribution with solid evidence. However, one major deficit of existing theoretical and empirical studies is that they often ignore the intra-regional spillovers of the health labor market. This study builds a theoretical “supply–demand–spillover” model that considers both intra-regional supply and demand-side factors, and inter-regional spillovers, hence providing a theoretical reference point for further in-depth studies. Using spatial econometric panel models, the effect of all determinants and spillovers were empirically measured based on a Chinese panel data set, shedding light on health workforce policies in China.

Religious Europe, Russia and Serbia: Past and present (Arguments of empirical evidence: The case of Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Blagojević Mirko

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The author has envisaged to publish three articles in three issues of "Philosophy and Society" magazine in which, relying on the empirical scientific evidence, plans to reveal the scope and level of religiousness in some European countries, then to study the case of Russia in a separate text and finally to analyze religiousness of people in Serbia and their attachment to the church and religion. This sequence of publication has its own logics looking forward to the empirical research called "European Values Study" - a longitudinal and international comparative survey of human values - in almost all European countries including, for the first time, Serbia in 2008, the author first aims to present results of previous sociological research which are representative for the area of Europe, and then for the Orthodox area in the country with the highest number of Orthodox believers in the world. Therefore, in the last article the author will be able to compare the religious situation in Serbia not only with the (non-religious Europe but the (non-religious Orthodox Russia as well.

Psychological Models of Art Reception must be Empirically Grounded

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nadal, Marcos; Vartanian, Oshin; Skov, Martin

2017-01-01

We commend Menninghaus et al. for tackling the role of negative emotions in art reception. However, their model suffers from shortcomings that reduce its applicability to empirical studies of the arts: poor use of evidence, lack of integration with other models, and limited derivation of testable...... hypotheses. We argue that theories about art experiences should be based on empirical evidence....

A critique on efficient market hypothesis (EMH): Empirical evidence of return anomalies in 12 U.S. industry portfolios

OpenAIRE

Lee, Cheng Hsun George

2006-01-01

This paper focuses on two major arguments the momentum effect and market-learns hypothesis concerning the validity of the Efficient Market Hypothesis are summarized. Six empirical experiments with 12 U.S. Industry Portfolio are conducted. They not only provide the evidence against some of the EMH assumptions, but also aim to address the formation of return anomalies. Of them, three are designed to assess the validity of EMH with different approaches (White Noise, Effectiveness, Forecastibilit...

Relative effects of demand and control on task-related cardiovascular reactivity, task perceptions, performance accuracy, and mood.

Science.gov (United States)

Flynn, Niamh; James, Jack E

2009-05-01

The hypothesis that work control has beneficial effects on well-being is the basis of the widely applied, yet inconsistently supported, Job Demand Control (JDC) Model [Karasek, R.A., 1979. Job demands, job decision latitude and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Adm. Sci. Q. 24, 285-308.; Karasek, R., Theorell, T., 1990. Healthy Work: Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life. Basic Books, Oxford]. The model was tested in an experiment (N=60) using a cognitive stressor paradigm that sought to prevent confounding between demand and control. High-demand was found to be associated with deleterious effects on physiological, subjective, and performance outcomes. In contrast, few main effects were found for control. Evidence for the buffer interpretation of the JDC Model was limited to a significant demand-control interaction for performance accuracy, whereas substantial support was found for the strain interpretation of the model [van der Doef, M., Maes, S., 1998. The job demand-control(-support) model and physical health outcomes: A review of the strain and buffer hypotheses. Psychol. Health 13, 909-936., van der Doef, M., Maes, S., 1999. The Job Demand-Control(-Support) model and psychological well-being: A review of 20 years of empirical research. Work Stress 13, 87-114]. Manipulation checks revealed that objective control altered perceptions of control but not perceptions of demand. It is suggested that beneficial effects of work-related control are unlikely to occur in the absence of reductions in perceived demand. Thus, contrary to the propositions of Karasek and colleagues, demand and control do not appear to be independent factors.

Empirical Evidence for the Outcomes of Therapeutic Video Games for Adolescents With Anxiety Disorders: Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Steven; Prescott, Julie

2018-02-28

Extant evidence suggests that the proportion of adolescents suffering from anxiety disorders (ADs) has increased by up to 70% since the mid-1980s, with experience of anxiety at this stage associated with significant negative short- and long-term life outcomes. The existing therapeutic interventions (eg, cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT; attention bias modification, ABM) have proven to have clinically measurable benefits in reducing anxiety, but their efficacy is often compromised by social and practical barriers. The growing discrepancy between demand for, and access to, clinical interventions for anxiety has led to the development of a range of eHealth (health care practice supported by electronic processes and communication) and mHealth (versions of eHealth using mobile devices) interventions. One such protocol is therapeutic games, which aim to provide clinical frameworks in dynamic, adaptable, and personalized virtual environments. Although some evidence exists to suggest therapeutic games are associated with reductions in subjective anxiety and observed stress reactivity, there is currently, to our knowledge, no systematic review of the adherence to, and effectiveness of, therapeutic games for adolescent anxiety. The aim of this review was to establish the effectiveness of therapeutic games in making clinically measurable reductions in anxiety symptoms in adolescent samples. A systematic search of the existing academic literature published between 1990 and July 2017 was conducted using the databases Journal of Medical Internet Research, Journal Storage, Psychology Articles, Psychology Info, ScienceDIRECT, and Scopus. Records linked to empirical papers on therapeutic games for anxiety using adolescent samples were evaluated. A total of 5 studies (N=410 participants) met the inclusion criteria, and 3 gamified anxiety interventions for adolescents were identified. The papers included a mixture of randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, and

Do emerging markets matter in the world oil pricing system? Evidence of imported crude by China and India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong Li; Lin Xiaowen, Sharon

2011-01-01

This paper provides empirical evidence on the changing structure of world oil price system by identifying an additional driver-emerging market factor. We choose China and India as a representative of emerging markets to examine if the quantity of crude oil imported by China and India is significant in the existing oil pricing system (. Our data starts from January 2002 and ends in March 2010, which includes the oil shock of 2007-2008. We utilize cointegration and error correction model framework developed by and in the analysis. Our results indicate that demand from emerging markets has become a significant factor in the world oil pricing system since 2003. This result is significant as it lends empirical support to the widely held conjecture that the oil shock of 2007-2008 is a demand-led shock (). Our result also has significant policy implications that go beyond the oil shock. The emerging market factor is there to stay and reflects the changing power between emerging and developed economies in the world economic system as a result of decades of fast economic development in the former. It will certainly influence policy issues related to oil and beyond. - Highlights: → We test the existing oil price modelling with data from 2002-2010. → We find evidence of structural breaks in the world oil pricing model. → We find that emerging market factor is a new driver in the world oil pricing system since 2003. → The emerging market factor lends empirical support to 'consumption-led' conjecture of oil shock. → New factor reflects significant changes of oil demand landscape following shifting economic power.

Empirical findings on socioeconomic determinants of fertility differentials in Costa Rica.

Science.gov (United States)

Carvajal, M J; Geithman, D T

1986-01-01

"This paper seeks to (1) identify socioeconomic variables that are expected to generate fertility differentials; (2) hypothesize the direction and magnitude of the effect of each variable by reference to a demand-for-children model; and (3) test empirically the model using evidence from Costa Rica. The estimates are obtained from a ten-percent systematic random sample of all Costa Rican individual-family households. There are 15,924 families in the sample...." The authors specifically seek "to capture the effects of changing relative prices and available income and time constraints on parental preferences for children. Least-squares estimates show statistically significant relationships between household fertility and opportunity cost of time, parental education, occurrence of an extended family, medical care, household sanitation, economic sector of employment, and household stock of nonhuman capital." excerpt

The DSM revision process: needing to keep an eye on the empirical ball.

Science.gov (United States)

First, M B

2017-01-01

From DSM-III onward, successive DSM editions have strived to ground the diagnostic definitions in empirical evidence. DSM-IV established a three-stage process of empirical review, consisting of comprehensive and systematic literature reviews, secondary analyses of datasets, and field trials to provide reliability and validity data for the most substantial or controversial proposals. DSM-IV Work Group members were required to review the empirical literature to document explicitly the evidence supporting the text and criteria published in DSM-IV. As noted by Kendler and Solomon (2016), in contrast to the emphasis on systematic reviews in medicine which is a manifestation of the evidence-based medicine movement, such systematic evidence-based reviews have not been consistently integrated into the development of DSM-5, raising questions about empirical rigor underlying the DSM-5 revision. It is likely that this regression in terms of anchoring the revision process in a comprehensive review of empirical data stemmed from the emphasis during the DSM-5 revision process on trying to move DSM-5 from its categorical descriptive approach towards a more etiological dimensional approach. Although such a shift ultimately did not occur, the effort spent on trying to achieve a paradigm shift likely came at the expense of the hard work of conducting systematic empirical reviews. For the DSM to continue to remain credible in the current era of evidence-based medicine, it is essential that the developers of future editions of the DSM avoid taking their eye off the empirical ball and insure that the manual remains grounded in solid empirical evidence.

Natural gas demand in the European household sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nilsen, Odd Bjarte; Asche, Frank; Tveteras, Ragnar

2005-08-01

This paper analyzes the residential natural gas demand per capita in 12 European countries using a dynamic log linear demand model, which allows for country-specific elasticity estimates in the short- and long-run. The explanatory variables included lagged demand per capita, heating degree days index, real prices of natural gas, light fuel oil, electricity, and real private income per capita. The short-run own-price and income elasticity tend to be very inelastic, but with greater long-run responsiveness. By splitting the data set in two time periods, an increase in the own-price elasticities were detected for the European residential natural gas demand market as a whole. We have provided support for employing a heterogeneous estimator such as the shrinkage estimator. But the empirical results also motivate a further scrutiny of its properties. (Author)

Replicating empirical research in behavioral ecology: how and why it should be done but rarely ever is.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Clint D

2006-09-01

That empirical evidence is replicable is the foundation of science. Ronald Fisher a founding father of biostatistics, recommended that a null hypothesis be rejected more than once because "no isolated experiment, however significant in itself can suffice for the experimental demonstration of any natural phenomenon" (Fisher 1974:14). Despite this demand, animal behaviorists and behavioral ecologists seldom replicate studies. This practice is not part of our scientific culture, as it is in chemistry or physics, due to a number of factors, including a general disdain by journal editors and thesis committees for unoriginal work. I outline why and how we should replicate empirical studies, which studies should be given priority, and then elaborate on why we do not engage in this necessary endeavor. I also explain how to employ various statistics to test the replicability of a series of studies and illustrate these using published studies from the literature.

A new approach to measuring the rebound effect associated to energy efficiency improvements: An application to the US residential energy demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orea, Luis; Llorca, Manuel; Filippini, Massimo

2015-01-01

This paper brings attention to the fact that the energy demand frontier model introduced by Filippini and Hunt (2011, 2012) is closely connected to the measurement of the so-called rebound effect associated with improvements in energy efficiency. In particular, we show that their model implicitly imposes a zero rebound effect, which contradicts most of the available empirical evidence on this issue. We relax this restrictive assumption through the modelling of a rebound-effect function that mitigates or intensifies the effect of an efficiency improvement on energy consumption. We illustrate our model with an empirical application that aims to estimate a US frontier residential aggregate energy demand function using panel data for 48 states over the period 1995 to 2011. Average values of the rebound effect in the range of 56–80% are found. Therefore, policymakers should be aware that most of the expected energy reduction from efficiency improvements may not be achieved. - Highlights: • A new approach to measuring rebound effects in energy consumption is presented. • We illustrate our proposal with an application to US residential energy demand. • Relatively large rebound effects in the range of 56–80% are found. • Energy-inefficient states tend to exhibit low rebound effects. • We identify states where energy-saving policies should be more effective

Access to data and material for research: Putting empirical evidence into perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rodriguez, V.

2009-01-01

The aim of this article is to put into critical perspective the empirical findings on secrecy and withholding in research. In other words, by taking existing empirical literature into account, it is intended that a crucial question is answered: Is secrecy and withholding in research harmful or

Estimating Aggregate Import-Demand Function In Nigeria: A Co ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper investigates the behaviour of Nigeria's aggregate imports between the periods 1980-2005. In the empirical analysis of the aggregate import demand function for Nigeria, cointegration and Error Correction modeling approaches have been used. Our econometric estimates suggest that real GDP largely explains ...

Energy Innovations-GHG Emissions Nexus: Fresh Empirical Evidence from OECD Countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Álvarez-Herránz, Agustín; Balsalobre, Daniel; Cantos, José María; Shahbaz, Muhammad

2017-01-01

This study explores the impact of improvements in energy research development (ERD) on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for 28 OECD countries over the period of 1990–2014. In doing so, we have employed a panel data where public budget in energy research development and demonstration (ERD&D) has transformed into a finite inverted V-lag distribution model developed by De Leeuw (1962). This model considers that energy innovation accumulates in time and presents empirical evidence, how energy innovation contributes in reducing energy intensity and environmental pollution as well. Our results indicate that energy innovation measures require lapses of time to reach their full effect i.e. innovation applied to measures for environmental correction does not reach its whole effect immediately, requiring instead a certain amount of time to pass. Innovation policies have recommended for improving environmental quality. - Highlights: • This study analyses the impact of public budget in energy RD&D for 28 OECD countries on environmental quality. • Energy innovation contributes positively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. • Advances in energy technology seem to be the key of improved environmental quality.

The Sudan Demand for International Reserve: A Case of a Labour-Exporting Country.

OpenAIRE

Elbadawi, Ibrahim A

1990-01-01

An empirical analysis of the demand for international reserves in the Sudan is presented, based on the error-correction model. This model is parametrically rich enough to allow the division of the effects into long-run influences, short-term adjustments, and proportional equilibrium impacts. Beside addressing conventional issues in reserve demand literature, the model explicitly incorporates the impact on reserve demand of remittances transferred by Sudanese nationals working abroad and the i...

Estimating the effect of urban density on fuel demand

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karathodorou, Niovi; Graham, Daniel J. [Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Noland, Robert B. [Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 (United States)

2010-01-15

Much of the empirical literature on fuel demand presents estimates derived from national data which do not permit any explicit consideration of the spatial structure of the economy. Intuitively we would expect the degree of spatial concentration of activities to have a strong link with transport fuel consumption. The present paper addresses this theme by estimating a fuel demand model for urban areas to provide a direct estimate of the elasticity of demand with respect to urban density. Fuel demand per capita is decomposed into car stock per capita, fuel consumption per kilometre and annual distance driven per car per year. Urban density is found to affect fuel consumption, mostly through variations in the car stock and in the distances travelled, rather than through fuel consumption per kilometre. (author)

Innovation Forms and Firm Export Performance: Empirical Evidence from ECA Countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrzej Cieślik

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Objective: The main objective of this paper is to verify empirically the relationship between various forms of innovation and export performance of firms from European and Central Asian (ECA countries. Research Design & Methods: In our empirical approach we refer to the self-selection hypothesis derived from the Melitz (2003 model which proposed the existence of a positive relationship between firm productivity and the probability of exporting. We argue that innovation activities should be regarded as a key element that can increase the level of firm productivity. We focus our analysis on four forms of innovation activities: product, process, marketing, organizational and managerial innovation. The empirical implementation of our analytical framework is based on the probit model, applied to the fifth edition of the BEEPS firm level dataset covering 2011-2014. Findings: Our empirical results indicate that the probability of exporting is positively related to both product and process innovations. The marketing and managerial innovations do not seem to affect positively export performance of firms from ECA countries. Implications & Recommendations: It is recommended to develop innovation supporting mechanisms that would target both product and process innovations rather than other forms of innovation in the ECA countries. Contribution & Value Added: The originality of this work lies in the use of the multi-country firm level dataset that allows distinguishing between various forms of innovations in the ECA countries.

Price and income elasticities of demand for alcoholic beverages.

Science.gov (United States)

Ornstein, S I; Levy, D

1983-01-01

Estimating the demand for alcoholic beverages represents a difficult statistical problem. A number of studies have attempted to estimate the demand for beer, wine, distilled spirits, or total alcohol consumption. The results vary widely according to country of study, data used, and model and statistical technique. For the United States, most studies find the demand for beer to be relatively price inelastic, at around -0.3. The demand for distilled spirits appears to be unitary price elasticity or somewhat greater, around -1.5. The evidence on wine is too sketchy to draw any conclusions. There is no strong evidence of substitutability among beer, wine, and distilled spirits based on econometric models, nor evidence that advertising plays a strong role in the aggregate demand for beer, wine, or distilled spirits. The main policy implication is that price increases to control consumption will have a stronger impact on the consumption of distilled spirits than on beer.

Who supported the Deutsche Bundesbank? An empirical investigation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maier, P; Knaap, T

2002-01-01

The relevance of public support for monetary policy has largely been over-looked in the empirical Central Bank literature. We have constructed a new indicator for the support of the German Bundesbank and present descriptive and empirical evidence. We find that major German interest groups were quite

SERVICE QUALITY MEASUREMENT AND DEMAND FOR INSURANCE: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY FROM NIGERIAN INSURANCE INDUSTRY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abass, OlufemiAdebowale

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Insurance provides financial protection to the insured, though; its acceptance by Nigerian insuring public is still low. This can sharply be traced to low awareness of insurance service. More importantly, quality of service to the few who embraced it had been low. Therefore, insuring public perceives insurance service as defective because customers’ expectations are not met. The objective of this research is to find out whether application of service quality measurement will drive demand for insurance products. Hypothesis was tested to find out whether SERVQUAL measurement is not significantly related to demand for insurance products in Nigeria. The study adopts descriptive research design; hypothesis was tested using regression analysis. The study reveals that there is a significant relationship between application of SERVQUAL measurement and demand for insurance. It is recommended that insurance companies operating in Nigeria should adopt SERVQUAL measurement which will further increase customer retention and loyalty.

Why do women choose or reject careers in academic medicine? A narrative review of empirical evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Edmunds, Laurel D; Ovseiko, Pavel V; Shepperd, Sasha; Greenhalgh, Trisha; Frith, Peggy; Roberts, Nia W; Pololi, Linda H; Buchan, Alastair M

2016-12-10

Women are under-represented in academic medicine. We reviewed the empirical evidence focusing on the reasons for women's choice or rejection of careers in academic medicine. Using a systematic search, we identified 52 studies published between 1985, and 2015. More than half had methodological limitations and most were from North America. Eight main themes were explored in these studies. There was consistent evidence for four of these themes: women are interested in teaching more than in research; participation in research can encourage women into academic medicine; women lack adequate mentors and role models; and women experience gender discrimination and bias. The evidence was conflicting on four themes: women are less interested in research than men; women lose commitment to research as their education and training progress; women are deterred from academic careers by financial considerations; and women are deterred by concerns about work-life balance. Inconsistency of findings across studies suggests significant opportunities to overcome barriers by providing a more enabling environment. We identified substantial gaps in the scientific literature that could form the focus of future research, including shifting the focus from individuals' career choices to the societal and organisational contexts and cultures within which those choices are made; extending the evidence base to include a wider range of countries and settings; and testing the efficacy of interventions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ethanol demand in Brazil: Regional approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freitas, Luciano Charlita de; Kaneko, Shinji

2011-01-01

Successive studies attempting to clarify national aspects of ethanol demand have assisted policy makers and producers in defining strategies, but little information is available on the dynamic of regional ethanol markets. This study aims to analyze the characteristics of ethanol demand at the regional level taking into account the peculiarities of the developed center-south and the developing north-northeast regions. Regional ethanol demand is evaluated based on a set of market variables that include ethanol price, consumer's income, vehicle stock and prices of substitute fuels; i.e., gasoline and natural gas. A panel cointegration analysis with monthly observations from January 2003 to April 2010 is employed to estimate the long-run demand elasticity. The results reveal that the demand for ethanol in Brazil differs between regions. While in the center-south region the price elasticity for both ethanol and alternative fuels is high, consumption in the north-northeast is more sensitive to changes in the stock of the ethanol-powered fleet and income. These, among other evidences, suggest that the pattern of ethanol demand in the center-south region most closely resembles that in developed nations, while the pattern of demand in the north-northeast most closely resembles that in developing nations. - Research highlights: → Article consists of a first insight on regional demand for ethanol in Brazil. → It proposes a model with multiple fuels, i.e., hydrous ethanol, gasohol and natural gas. → Results evidence that figures for regional demand for ethanol differ amongst regions and with values reported for national demand. → Elasticities for the center-south keep similarities to patterns for fuel demand in developed nations while coefficients for the north-northeast are aligned to patterns on developing countries.

Ethanol demand in Brazil: Regional approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Freitas, Luciano Charlita de, E-mail: lucianofreitas@hiroshima-u.ac.j [Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Development Policy, Hiroshima University 1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8529 (Japan); Kaneko, Shinji [Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Development Policy, Hiroshima University 1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8529 (Japan)

2011-05-15

Successive studies attempting to clarify national aspects of ethanol demand have assisted policy makers and producers in defining strategies, but little information is available on the dynamic of regional ethanol markets. This study aims to analyze the characteristics of ethanol demand at the regional level taking into account the peculiarities of the developed center-south and the developing north-northeast regions. Regional ethanol demand is evaluated based on a set of market variables that include ethanol price, consumer's income, vehicle stock and prices of substitute fuels; i.e., gasoline and natural gas. A panel cointegration analysis with monthly observations from January 2003 to April 2010 is employed to estimate the long-run demand elasticity. The results reveal that the demand for ethanol in Brazil differs between regions. While in the center-south region the price elasticity for both ethanol and alternative fuels is high, consumption in the north-northeast is more sensitive to changes in the stock of the ethanol-powered fleet and income. These, among other evidences, suggest that the pattern of ethanol demand in the center-south region most closely resembles that in developed nations, while the pattern of demand in the north-northeast most closely resembles that in developing nations. - Research highlights: {yields} Article consists of a first insight on regional demand for ethanol in Brazil. {yields} It proposes a model with multiple fuels, i.e., hydrous ethanol, gasohol and natural gas. {yields} Results evidence that figures for regional demand for ethanol differ amongst regions and with values reported for national demand. {yields} Elasticities for the center-south keep similarities to patterns for fuel demand in developed nations while coefficients for the north-northeast are aligned to patterns on developing countries.

Empirical evidence of direct rebound effect in Catalonia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Freire Gonzalez, Jaume

2010-01-01

This paper reviews the empirical literature concerning the direct rebound effect in households; it briefly analyzes the main theoretical and methodological aspects, and finally estimates the magnitude of direct rebound effect for all energy services using electricity in households of Catalonia (Spain) using econometric techniques. The main results show an estimated direct rebound effect of 35% in the short term and 49% in the long term. The existence of a rebound effect reduces the effectiveness of energy efficiency policies.

A supply and demand based volatility model for energy prices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kanamura, Takashi

2009-01-01

This paper proposes a new volatility model for energy prices using the supply-demand relationship, which we call a supply and demand based volatility model. We show that the supply curve shape in the model determines the characteristics of the volatility in energy prices. It is found that the inverse Box-Cox transformation supply curve reflecting energy markets causes the inverse leverage effect, i.e., positive correlation between energy prices and volatility. The model is also used to show that an existing (G)ARCH-M model has the foundations on the supply-demand relationship. Additionally, we conduct the empirical studies analyzing the volatility in the U.S. natural gas prices. (author)

A supply and demand based volatility model for energy prices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kanamura, Takashi [J-POWER, 15-1, Ginza 6-Chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-8165 (Japan)

2009-09-15

This paper proposes a new volatility model for energy prices using the supply-demand relationship, which we call a supply and demand based volatility model. We show that the supply curve shape in the model determines the characteristics of the volatility in energy prices. It is found that the inverse Box-Cox transformation supply curve reflecting energy markets causes the inverse leverage effect, i.e., positive correlation between energy prices and volatility. The model is also used to show that an existing (G)ARCH-M model has the foundations on the supply-demand relationship. Additionally, we conduct the empirical studies analyzing the volatility in the U.S. natural gas prices. (author)

Beggar-thy-neighbor in Art Consumption: Evidence from the “Bel Paese”

OpenAIRE

Nadia Campaniello; Matteo Richiardi

2011-01-01

This paper contributes to the relatively underdeveloped empirical literature on the demand for culture, testing whether the existence of cultural goods located in one region increases the demand for cultural goods in other regions. The measurement of such spillovers is important to determine the efficient allocation of cultural resources. We develop an empirical test based on aggregate data on the demand and supply of tourism in twenty Italian regions, that we complement with survey data coll...

The Supply and Demand for College Educated Labor.

Science.gov (United States)

Nollen, Stanley D.

In this study a model for the supply of college educated labor is developed from human capital theory. A demand model is added, derived from neoclassical production function theory. Empirical estimates are made for white males and white females, using cross-sectional data on states of the U.S., 1960-70. In human capital theory, education is an…

Financial development and economic growth: literature survey and empirical evidence from sub-Saharan African countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Songul Kakilli Acaravci

2011-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper we review the literature on the finance-growth nexus and investigate the causality between financial development and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa for the period 1975-2005. Using panel co-integration and panel GMM estimation for causality, the results of the panel co-integration analysis provide evidence of no long-run relationship between financial development and economic growth. The empirical findings in the paper show a bi-directional causal relationship between the growth of real GDP per capita and the domestic credit provided by the banking sector for the panels of 24 Sub-Saharan African countries. The findings imply that African countries can accelerate their economic growth by improving their financial systems and vice versa.

Forecasting urban water demand: A meta-regression analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Sebri, Maamar

2016-12-01

Water managers and planners require accurate water demand forecasts over the short-, medium- and long-term for many purposes. These range from assessing water supply needs over spatial and temporal patterns to optimizing future investments and planning future allocations across competing sectors. This study surveys the empirical literature on the urban water demand forecasting using the meta-analytical approach. Specifically, using more than 600 estimates, a meta-regression analysis is conducted to identify explanations of cross-studies variation in accuracy of urban water demand forecasting. Our study finds that accuracy depends significantly on study characteristics, including demand periodicity, modeling method, forecasting horizon, model specification and sample size. The meta-regression results remain robust to different estimators employed as well as to a series of sensitivity checks performed. The importance of these findings lies in the conclusions and implications drawn out for regulators and policymakers and for academics alike. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Analyses of demand response in Denmark[Electricity market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moeller Andersen, F.; Grenaa Jensen, S.; Larsen, Helge V.; Meibom, P.; Ravn, H.; Skytte, K.; Togeby, M.

2006-10-15

Due to characteristics of the power system, costs of producing electricity vary considerably over short time intervals. Yet, many consumers do not experience corresponding variations in the price they pay for consuming electricity. The topic of this report is: are consumers willing and able to respond to short-term variations in electricity prices, and if so, what is the social benefit of consumers doing so? Taking Denmark and the Nord Pool market as a case, the report focuses on what is known as short-term consumer flexibility or demand response in the electricity market. With focus on market efficiency, efficient allocation of resources and security of supply, the report describes demand response from a micro-economic perspective and provides empirical observations and case studies. The report aims at evaluating benefits from demand response. However, only elements contributing to an overall value are presented. In addition, the analyses are limited to benefits for society, and costs of obtaining demand response are not considered. (au)

Agricultural rent-seeking in developing countries: an empirical investigation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hvid, Anna

2014-01-01

or rural development? This article finds empirical support for a proposed theory which suggests that the extent of agricultural rent-seeking, in the form of large-scale land acquisitions, is determined by the relative political power of an elite and a farmer group. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.......Recent increases in demand for agricultural land has fuelled academic, as well as public, interest in the potential effects of high value agricultural land, particularly in developing countries. The dominating question seems to be: will increasing demand for agricultural land imply land grabbing...

Empirical testing of forecast update procedure forseasonal products

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wong, Chee Yew; Johansen, John

2008-01-01

Updating of forecasts is essential for successful collaborative forecasting, especially for seasonal products. This paper discusses the results of a theoretical simulation and an empirical test of a proposed time-series forecast updating procedure. It involves a two-stage longitudinal case study...... of a toy supply chain. The theoretical simulation involves historical weekly consumer demand data for 122 toy products. The empirical test is then carried out in real-time with 291 toy products. The results show that the proposed forecast updating procedure: 1) reduced forecast errors of the annual...... provided less forecast accuracy improvement and it needed a longer time to achieve relatively acceptable forecast uncertainty....

Business models of micro businesses: Empirical evidence from creative industries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pfeifer Sanja

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Business model describes how a business identifies and creates value for customers and how it organizes itself to capture some of this value in a profitable manner. Previous studies of business models in creative industries have only recently identified the unresolved issues in this field of research. The main objective of this article is to analyse the structure and diversity of business models and to deduce how these components interact or change in the context of micro and small businesses in creative services such as advertising, architecture and design. The article uses a qualitative approach. Case studies and semi-structured, in-depth interviews with six owners/managers of micro businesses in Croatia provide rich data. Structural coding in data analysis has been performed manually. The qualitative analysis has indicative relevance for the assessment and comparison of business models, however, it provides insights into which components of business models seem to be consolidated and which seem to contribute to the diversity of business models in creative industries. The article contributes to the advancement of empirical evidence and conceptual constructs that might lead to more advanced methodological approaches and proposition of the core typologies or classifications of business models in creative industries. In addition, a more detailed mapping of different choices available in managing value creation, value capturing or value networking might be a valuable help for owners/managers who want to change or cross-fertilize their business models.

Demand-side financing measures to increase maternal health service utilisation and improve health outcomes: a systematic review of evidence from low- and middle-income countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Susan F; Hunter, Benjamin M; Bisht, Ramila; Ensor, Tim; Bick, Debra

2012-01-01

In many countries financing for health services has traditionally been disbursed directly from governmental and non-governmental funding agencies to providers of services: the 'supply-side' of healthcare markets. Demand-side financing offers a supplementary model in which some funds are instead channelled through, or to, prospective users. In this review we considered evidence on five forms of demand-side financing that have been used to promote maternal health in developing countries: OBJECTIVES: The overall review objective was to assess the effects of demand-side financing interventions on maternal health service utilisation and on maternal health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Broader effects on perinatal and infant health, the situation of underprivileged women and the health care system were also assessed. This review considered poor, rural or socially excluded women of all ages who were either pregnant or within 42 days of the conclusion of pregnancy, the limit for postnatal care as defined by the World Health Organization. The review also considered the providers of services.The intervention of interest was any programme that incorporated demand-side financing as a mechanism to increase the consumption of goods and services that could impact on maternal health outcomes. This included the direct consumption of maternal health care goods and services as well as related 'merit goods' such as improved nutrition. We included systems in which potential users of maternal health services are financially empowered to make restricted decisions on buying maternal health-related goods or services - sometimes known as consumer-led demand-side financing. We also included programmes that provided unconditional cash benefits to pregnant women (for example in the form of maternity allowances), or to families with children under five years of age where there was evidence concerning maternal health outcomes.We aimed to include quantitative studies (experimental

Underlying energy demand trends in South Korean and Indonesian aggregate whole economy and residential sectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sa' ad, Suleiman [Surrey Energy Economics Centre (SEEC), Department of Economics, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH (United Kingdom)

2011-01-15

This paper used annual time series data over the period 1973-2008 to estimate energy demand functions for South Korea and Indonesian aggregated whole economy and Residential sectors. Furthermore, the underlying energy demand trend (UEDT), which may be non-linear and reflects not only technical progress, which usually produces greater energy efficiency, but also other factors such as changes in consumer tastes and the economic structure that may be working in the opposite direction, is also examined in the paper. In estimating the price and income elasticities, the study applies Harvey's structural time series approach where a stochastic trend is used as a proxy for UEDT. Empirical evidence from this study reveals that the estimated long-run income and price elasticities range from 0.58 to 1.15 and from -0.09 to -066, respectively. Furthermore the stochastic form for the UEDT is preferred for both countries and sectors, suggesting a wide variation in the exogenous effects of energy saving technical progress in addition to other pertinent exogenous factors such as economic structure, consumer preferences, and socio-economic influences. (author)

Underlying energy demand trends in South Korean and Indonesian aggregate whole economy and residential sectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sa' ad, Suleiman, E-mail: suleimansaad@gmail.co [Surrey Energy Economics Centre (SEEC), Department of Economics, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH (United Kingdom)

2011-01-15

This paper used annual time series data over the period 1973-2008 to estimate energy demand functions for South Korea and Indonesian aggregated whole economy and Residential sectors. Furthermore, the underlying energy demand trend (UEDT), which may be non-linear and reflects not only technical progress, which usually produces greater energy efficiency, but also other factors such as changes in consumer tastes and the economic structure that may be working in the opposite direction, is also examined in the paper. In estimating the price and income elasticities, the study applies Harvey's structural time series approach where a stochastic trend is used as a proxy for UEDT. Empirical evidence from this study reveals that the estimated long-run income and price elasticities range from 0.58 to 1.15 and from -0.09 to -066, respectively. Furthermore the stochastic form for the UEDT is preferred for both countries and sectors, suggesting a wide variation in the exogenous effects of energy saving technical progress in addition to other pertinent exogenous factors such as economic structure, consumer preferences, and socio-economic influences.

Underlying energy demand trends in South Korean and Indonesian aggregate whole economy and residential sectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sa'ad, Suleiman

2011-01-01

This paper used annual time series data over the period 1973-2008 to estimate energy demand functions for South Korea and Indonesian aggregated whole economy and Residential sectors. Furthermore, the underlying energy demand trend (UEDT), which may be non-linear and reflects not only technical progress, which usually produces greater energy efficiency, but also other factors such as changes in consumer tastes and the economic structure that may be working in the opposite direction, is also examined in the paper. In estimating the price and income elasticities, the study applies Harvey's structural time series approach where a stochastic trend is used as a proxy for UEDT. Empirical evidence from this study reveals that the estimated long-run income and price elasticities range from 0.58 to 1.15 and from -0.09 to -066, respectively. Furthermore the stochastic form for the UEDT is preferred for both countries and sectors, suggesting a wide variation in the exogenous effects of energy saving technical progress in addition to other pertinent exogenous factors such as economic structure, consumer preferences, and socio-economic influences. (author)

Consumer Demand for Healthy Diet: New Evidence from the Healthy Eating Index

OpenAIRE

Gao, Zhifeng; Yu, Xiaohua; Lee, Jonq-Ying

2011-01-01

A large volume of literature has been focusing on the measure of diet quality and consumer demand for food. However, little has estimated consumer demand for diet quality. In this article, we systematically estimate consumer demand for diet quality using the healthy eating index (HEI) developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Results show that consumers have insufficient consumption of the food containing dark green, orange vegetable, legumes and total grain. Age and education have...

Social mobility and demand for redistribution in Europe: a comparative analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaime-Castillo, Antonio M; Marqués-Perales, Ildefonso

2018-03-14

The literature on preferences for redistribution has paid little attention to the effect of social mobility on the demand for redistribution and no systematic test of the hypotheses connecting social mobility and preferences for redistribution has yet been done to date. We use the diagonal reference model to estimate the effect of origin and destination classes on preferences for redistribution in a large sample of European countries using data from the European Social Survey. Our findings are consistent with the logic of acculturation in the sense that newcomers tend to adapt their views to those of the destination class at early stages and that upward and downward mobility do not have distinctive effects on the formation of political preferences. However, even though social origins seem to have a limited impact on preferences for redistribution, the evidence does not support the hypothesis that mobile and non-mobile individuals are alike. We also find that the effect of social origin on preferences varies largely across countries. The empirical evidence leads to the conclusion that the effect of social origin on preferences for redistribution increases in contexts of strong familism. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2018.

Political instability and economic growth: an empirical evidence from the Baltic states

OpenAIRE

Ladislava Grochová; Luděk Kouba

2011-01-01

For more than last 20 decades, new political economics has been dealing with theories of economic growth (for example influential contributions by Mancur Olson, Dani Rodrik). However, less attention has been paid to their empirical verification. The new political economics growth theory defines some factors that are necessary for economic growth among which political stability. Our aim is to test the theory focused on political stability empirically in order to enrich the studies with recent ...

Impact of climate change on human infectious diseases: Empirical evidence and human adaptation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Xiaoxu; Lu, Yongmei; Zhou, Sen; Chen, Lifan; Xu, Bing

2016-01-01

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in weather conditions and patterns of extreme weather events. It may lead to changes in health threat to human beings, multiplying existing health problems. This review examines the scientific evidences on the impact of climate change on human infectious diseases. It identifies research progress and gaps on how human society may respond to, adapt to, and prepare for the related changes. Based on a survey of related publications between 1990 and 2015, the terms used for literature selection reflect three aspects--the components of infectious diseases, climate variables, and selected infectious diseases. Humans' vulnerability to the potential health impacts by climate change is evident in literature. As an active agent, human beings may control the related health effects that may be effectively controlled through adopting proactive measures, including better understanding of the climate change patterns and of the compound disease-specific health effects, and effective allocation of technologies and resources to promote healthy lifestyles and public awareness. The following adaptation measures are recommended: 1) to go beyond empirical observations of the association between climate change and infectious diseases and develop more scientific explanations, 2) to improve the prediction of spatial-temporal process of climate change and the associated shifts in infectious diseases at various spatial and temporal scales, and 3) to establish locally effective early warning systems for the health effects of predicated climate change. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Estimation of urban residential electricity demand in China using household survey data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Shaojie; Teng, Fei

2013-01-01

This paper uses annual urban household survey data of Sichuan Province from 2007 to 2009 to estimate the income and price elasticities of residential electricity demand, along with the effects of lifestyle-related variables. The empirical results show that in the urban area of Sichuan province, the residential electricity demand is price- and income-inelastic, with price and income elasticities ranging from −0.35 to −0.50 and from 0.14 to 0.33, respectively. Such lifestyle-related variables as demographic variables, dwelling size and holdings of home appliances, are also important determinants of residential electricity demand, especially the latter. These results are robust to a variety of sensitivity tests. The research findings imply that urban residential electricity demand continues to increase with the growth of income. The empirical results have important policy implications for the Multistep Electricity Price, which been adopted in some cities and is expected to be promoted nationwide through the installation of energy-efficient home appliances. - Highlights: • We estimate price and income elasticities in China using household survey data. • The current study is the first such study in China at this level. • Both price and income are inelastic. • Behavior factors have important impact on electricity consumption

USING ALMOST IDEAL DEMAND SYSTEM TO ANALYZE DEMAND FOR SHRIMP IN US FOOD MARKET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xia “Vivian” Zhou

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the demand for shrimp along with beef, pork, and chicken in the US food market, which contributes much to predicting supply strategies, consumer preferences and policy making. It focuses on the own and cross elasticity relationship between the expenditure share, price, and expenditure changes. An Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDs model and two alternative specifications (both nonlinear AIDs and LA-AIDs are used to estimate a system of expenditure share equations for ocean shrimp, penaeid shrimp, beef, pork, and chicken. Empirical results from nonlinear AIDs model is compared with those from LA-AIDs model. There are quite a few inconsistency between nonlinear and LA results. Results from nonlinear are more expected and more complied with microeconomic theory than those from LA. Also, results indicated that some insignificant slope coefficients and inappropriate signs of them did not comply with microeconomic theory. This could be caused by heteroscedasticity, autocorrelation, a limitation in the data used, or shrimp is a quite different commodity.

Exploring ethical justification for self-demand amputation.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomasini, Floris

2006-01-01

Self-demand amputees are persons who need to have one or more healthy limbs or digits amputated to fit the way they see themselves. They want to rid themselves of a limb that they believe does not belong to their body-identity. The obsessive desire to have appendages surgically removed to fit an alternative body-image is medically and ethically controversial. My purpose in this paper is to provide a number of normative and professional ethical perspectives on whether or not it is possible to justify surgery for self-demand amputees. In doing so I proceed dialogically, moving between empirical context and normative theory, revealing the taken for granted normative assumptions (what I call the natural attitude--a technical term borrowed from phenomenology) that provide ethical limits to justifying the treatment of self-demand amputees. While I critically examine both Kantian responses against as well as Utilitarian responses for amputation on demand, I conclude that neither normative tradition can fully incorporate an understanding of what it is like to be a self-demand amputee. Since neither theory can justify the apparent non-rational desire of amputation on demand, ethical justification, I argue, falls short of the recognition that there may be a problem. To end, I introduce a meta-ethical idea, "the struggle for recognition," opening up the theoretical possibility of a hermeneutics of recognition before ethical justification that may be more sensitive to the problem of radical embodied difference exemplified by self-demand amputees.

How rational should bioethics be? The value of empirical approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Alvarez, A A

2001-10-01

Rational justification of claims with empirical content calls for empirical and not only normative philosophical investigation. Empirical approaches to bioethics are epistemically valuable, i.e., such methods may be necessary in providing and verifying basic knowledge about cultural values and norms. Our assumptions in moral reasoning can be verified or corrected using these methods. Moral arguments can be initiated or adjudicated by data drawn from empirical investigation. One may argue that individualistic informed consent, for example, is not compatible with the Asian communitarian orientation. But this normative claim uses an empirical assumption that may be contrary to the fact that some Asians do value and argue for informed consent. Is it necessary and factual to neatly characterize some cultures as individualistic and some as communitarian? Empirical investigation can provide a reasonable way to inform such generalizations. In a multi-cultural context, such as in the Philippines, there is a need to investigate the nature of the local ethos before making any appeal to authenticity. Otherwise we may succumb to the same ethical imperialism we are trying hard to resist. Normative claims that involve empirical premises cannot be reasonable verified or evaluated without utilizing empirical methods along with philosophical reflection. The integration of empirical methods to the standard normative approach to moral reasoning should be reasonably guided by the epistemic demands of claims arising from cross-cultural discourse in bioethics.

Monetary policy and bank behavior: Empirical evidence from India

OpenAIRE

Ghosh, Saibal

2006-01-01

The paper develops an empirical model to explore the role that bank characteristics play in influencing the monetary transmission process. Employing data on Indian commercial banks for the period 1992-2004, the findings indicate that for banks classified according to size and capitalization, a monetary contraction lowers bank lending, although large and well-capitalized banks are able to shield their loan portfolio from monetary shocks.

Principles Involving Marketing Policies: An Empirical Assessment

OpenAIRE

JS Armstrong; Randall L. Schultz

2005-01-01

We examined nine marketing textbooks, published since 1927, to see if they contained useful marketing principles. Four doctoral students found 566 normative statements about pricing, product, place, or promotion in these texts. None of these stateinents were supported by empirical evidence. Four raters agreed on only twenty of these 566 statements as providing meaningful principles. Twenty marketing professors rated whether the twenty meaningful principles were correct, supported by empirical...

Estimating elasticities of demand for natural gas in the European household sector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nilsen, Odd Bjarte; Asche, Frank; Tveteras, Ragnar

2005-12-15

This paper analyzes the residential natural gas demand in 12 European countries using a dynamic loglinear demand model, which allows for country-specific elasticity estimates in the short-run and long run. The explanatory variables include a heating degree days index, real prices of natural gas, light fuel oil, electricity, and real private income per capita. Our data set is a country panel with annual observations from 1978 to 2002. Short panel data sets like this represents a challenge for econometric estimation, as standard estimators often provide implausible estimates of elasticities. The demand model is estimated using both homogeneous and heterogeneous estimators, with a particular focus on the shrinkage estimator (an empirical Bayes estimator). The shrinkage short-run own-price and income elasticity tend to be very inelastic, but with greater long-run responsiveness. We provide support for employing a heterogeneous estimator such as the shrinkage estimator. But the empirical results also motivate a further scrutiny of its properties. We also consider the problem of reporting t-statistics of shrinkage estimators in the empirical Bayes (EB) framework and the problem of using the delta method to approximate the elasticities. The delta method biases upward the t-statistics of the shrinkage elasticities. An alternative approach, the bootstrap sampling methods obtained more reliable confidence intervals. We call into question - is the traditional way of constructing confidence intervals or t-statistics of the shrinkage estimator to naive. (Author)

Price freezes, durables and residential electricity demand - Evidence from the Greater Buenos Aires

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Casarin, Ariel; Delfino, Maria Eugenia

2010-09-15

This paper examines the determinants of residential electricity demand in the Greater Buenos Aires between 1997 and 2006. During the second half of this period, residential tariffs remained nominally fixed, while an income boom boosted up the sales of durables. This study differs from previous works in that it explicitly considers the impact of the stock of air-conditioners on residential demand. The paper reports short- and long-run elasticities and examines the contribution of prices and durables to recent demand growth. Simulations illustrate the impact of prices and durables on future demand.

[Systematic review and evidence mapping of empirical studies on health status and medical care among refugees and asylum seekers in Germany (1990-2014)].

Science.gov (United States)

Bozorgmehr, Kayvan; Mohsenpour, Amir; Saure, Daniel; Stock, Christian; Loerbroks, Adrian; Joos, Stefanie; Schneider, Christine

2016-05-01

Owing to a lack of routine statistics on the health status and medical care of asylum seekers, empirical studies play a major role in the mapping of these aspects. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the research landscape in this area, synthesizing knowledge from empirical studies and identifying evidence gaps. A three-tiered search strategy included searching for empirical studies in national/international databases and on the internet, screening reference lists, and contacting experts. Studies meeting predefined inclusion criteria were thematically organized and described in a narrative synthesis. The searches generated 1,190 hits; 52 articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 41 were quantitative studies (78.9 %), 10 qualitative (19.2 %), and 1 was a review (1.9 %). A total of 30 primary articles (58.9 %) analyzed mental health aspects, followed by infectious diseases (n = 12, 23.5 %). Qualitative studies, mainly ethnographies and case studies, explored mental health and social determinants of health, providing evidence for the impact of living conditions on health and medical care. Few studies analyzed chronic diseases (n = 3) or childhood illnesses (n = 6). No studies analyzed the health needs or medical care of asylum-seeking women during pregnancy and child birth. In 62.7 % of the primary studies, a single sampling point was used to recruit asylum seekers. Nationwide external validity was given in two quantitative studies. The priority research areas identified are chronic diseases and childhood and maternal health. The divergency and heterogeneity of the studies hamper a comprehensive and comparable acquisition of knowledgeand emphasize the  need for collaborative research to close the existing evidence gaps.

The price elasticity of electricity demand in South Australia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan Shu; Hyndman, Rob J.

2011-01-01

In this paper, the price elasticity of electricity demand, representing the sensitivity of customer demand to the price of electricity, has been estimated for South Australia. We first undertake a review of the scholarly literature regarding electricity price elasticity for different regions and systems. Then we perform an empirical evaluation of the historic South Australian price elasticity, focussing on the relationship between price and demand quantiles at each half-hour of the day. This work attempts to determine whether there is any variation in price sensitivity with the time of day or quantile, and to estimate the form of any relationships that might exist in South Australia. - Highlights: → We review the scholarly literature on electricity own-price elasticity for different regions and systems. → We use annual log-linear econometric models of the electricity demand to estimate the historic South Australian price elasticity. → We focus on the relationship between price and demand quantiles at each half-hour of the day. → The overall price elasticity in South Australia ranges from -0.363 to -0.428.

Is economic growth good or bad for the environment? Empirical evidence from Korea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baek, Jungho; Kim, Hyun Seok

2013-01-01

The effects of economic growth on the environment in Korea, for a given level of energy consumption, and fossil fuels and nuclear energy in electricity production, are examined in a dynamic cointegration framework. To that end, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach is used. We find empirical evidence supporting the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for Korea; that is, economic growth indeed plays a favorable role in influencing environmental outcomes. It is also found that, in both the short- and long-run, nuclear energy has a beneficial effect on environmental quality, whereas fossil fuels in electricity production and energy consumption have a detrimental effect on the environment. - Highlights: ► We examine the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for Korea. ► The model includes the roles of energy consumption and electricity production. ► We find the existence of the EKC hypothesis for Korea. ► Nuclear energy is found to have a beneficial effect on the environment. ► Fossil fuels and energy consumption have a detrimental effect on the environment

Do modified audit opinions have economic consequences? Empirical evidence based on financial constraints

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhiwei Lin

2011-09-01

Full Text Available We present a framework and empirical evidence to explain why, on average, 11% of listed firms in China received modified audit opinions (MAOs between 1992 and 2009. We argue that there are two reasons for this phenomenon: strong earnings management incentives lower firms’ financial reporting quality and soft budget constraints weaken the information and governance roles of audit opinions. We find that firms’ financial constraints eased after receiving MAOs, which suggests that MAOs have limited economic consequences. Further analysis shows that this phenomenon predominantly exists in government-controlled firms and firms that receive MAOs for the first time. We also find that MAOs have not influenced financial constraints after 2006. Finally, we find that MAOs did not affect borrowing cash flows from banks until 2005, suggesting that MAOs did not start affecting bank financing until that year. We also find that firms receive more related-party financing after receiving MAOs. Our results indicate that a limited effect on bank financing and increased related-party financing reduce the effect of MAOs on financial constraints.

Entrepreneurship Education in Schools: Empirical Evidence on the Teacher's Role

Science.gov (United States)

Ruskovaara, Elena; Pihkala, Timo

2015-01-01

Different approaches and methodologies for entrepreneurship education have been introduced for schools. However, a better theoretical and empirical understanding of the antecedents of entrepreneurship education is needed. The authors analyze what entrepreneurship education practices are used in schools and what role the school and the teacher are…

Public Demand and Climate Change Policy Making in OECD Countries – From Dynamics of the Demand to Policy Responsiveness

OpenAIRE

Bianca Oehl

2015-01-01

Climate change is one of today’s major political challenges. The Kyoto Protocol assigned national emission reduction goals for the developed countries however national governments in these countries have implemented policies varying widely in range and ambition over time and across countries to meet their goals. Can this variation in policy making be explained by dierences in the typically taken for granted – but empirically often neglected – influence of public demand for climate protection?...

Short-Run and Long-Run Elasticities of Diesel Demand in Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seung-Hoon Yoo

2012-11-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the demand function for diesel in Korea covering the period 1986–2011. The short-run and long-run elasticities of diesel demand with respect to price and income are empirically examined using a co-integration and error-correction model. The short-run and long-run price elasticities are estimated to be −0.357 and −0.547, respectively. The short-run and long-run income elasticities are computed to be 1.589 and 1.478, respectively. Thus, diesel demand is relatively inelastic to price change and elastic to income change in both the short-run and long-run. Therefore, a demand-side management through raising the price of diesel will be ineffective and tightening the regulation of using diesel more efficiently appears to be more effective in Korea. The demand for diesel is expected to continuously increase as the economy grows.

Nonparametric bootstrap analysis with applications to demographic effects in demand functions.

Science.gov (United States)

Gozalo, P L

1997-12-01

"A new bootstrap proposal, labeled smooth conditional moment (SCM) bootstrap, is introduced for independent but not necessarily identically distributed data, where the classical bootstrap procedure fails.... A good example of the benefits of using nonparametric and bootstrap methods is the area of empirical demand analysis. In particular, we will be concerned with their application to the study of two important topics: what are the most relevant effects of household demographic variables on demand behavior, and to what extent present parametric specifications capture these effects." excerpt

Traceability and Demand Sensitiveness: Evidences from Italian Fresh Potatoes Consumption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Caracciolo

2011-02-01

Full Text Available When a traceability system takes place, either when mandatory or voluntary, many questions arise that need to be addressed and answered. One of the firsts concerns whether it introduces new costs with no gain in efficiency or, on the contrary, the system efficiency increases lowering costs and, as a consequence, market price of the good in hand. Among others, another issue that only rarely is addressed regards the effect of a price change on the final market. The objective of this paper was to simulate the effect on fresh Italian vegetables market of prices change due to a newer traceability procedure, focusing on early potato. Reasons why early potato was the main object of our study will be explained in detail later in the paper. Moreover, this study concerns a demand system estimation that has, as main goal, the measurement of own and cross price elasticities as well as expenditure elasticities. Such estimations are not strictly related with traceability because they measure any change in quantity demanded due to price changes due to any market perturbation. However, since early potato is experiencing a peculiar market and chain change in Italy, our simulation is meant to reason in terms of a “what if” approach, formally simulating the effect of any change in price due to an hypothesis of traceability system involved. In order to estimate a demand system, real household consumption data (3,000 observations of a statistically representative sample of the Italian population of households was taken into account. Relevant measures of market variables were estimated by means of a Linear Almost Ideal Demand System implementing a large set of fresh vegetables: potato split in early and late, cabbage, salad, mushrooms, fruits vegetables, roots, asparagus, onion, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans, zucchinis and others.

THE PRICE OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND INDIVIDUAL DEMAND

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Filiz Golpek

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The rise in the living standards in most of the world, the rise in population and schooling rates have increased the demand for higher education. The attribution of semi public property becomes determinant to decide whom will provide the supply and the production in semi public properties is realized by means of a supply and demand mechanism. The supply of higher education is mostly secured in accordance with the public demand as well as the resources available.  In addition, the fact that higher education services have produced significant benefits has led to over demand. This situation relates to a simple economic rule that a commodity or service which costs almost nothing or little will increase until the mariginal benefit of its demand equals to 0 or almost 0. However, the educational supply and demand is difficult to identify in accordance to the supply and demand and balance of price as observed in the economic theory. The high profits that would be attracted in the future are significant factors influencing individual’s decisions for investment. The decision for investment depends on the possible return in the future, the cost of investment, and the current interest rates. Higher education with investment purposes is influenced by these three factors and higher education is demanded more and more by individuals on the expectation that they will gain high profits In theory, it is accepted that the basic factors identifying the demand for higher education are in harmony with empirical research results in several countries including Turkey.

Are PIIGS so different? An empirical analysis of demand and supply shocks

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Syssoyeva-Masson Irina

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyses responses to supply and demand shocks in PIIGS countries. We compare the results obtained for PIIGS with those of Germany and the USA, and also with those of France, which despite its government’s efforts demonstrate relatively poor recent economic performance. The main objective of this paper is to establish whether it is still reasonable to consider PIIGS as a group apart. Our methodological strategy is based on the Okun Law (OL which is incorporated in a Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR model with Blanchard-Quah (BQ restrictions. We address two drawbacks that usually present in the OL: the interdependency problem and the non-stationarity problem. By using a non-parametric representation of OL, we identify the heterogeneity between countries. We build stable VAR models for each of the economies and use the BQ SVAR impulses to analyse the importance of contemporary and long-run effects of supply and demand shocks. The main conclusion of this paper is that it does not make any sense today to identify PIIGS as a separate group. Additionally, a country that stands out from our analysis is France. The question can thus be posed that if “PIIGS” signifies “countries with poor economic performances” then should not France also belong to this group?

Survey Forecasts and Money Demand Functions: Some International Evidence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stadtmann, Georg; Pierdzioch, Christian; Rülke, Jan

2011-01-01

We derive a money demand function from a dynamic macroeconomic general equilibrium model to analyze the correlations between professional economists’ forecasts of the growth rate of money supply, the inflation rate, the growth rate of real output, and the nominal interest rate. Upon estimating...... by the macroeconomic model....

Do Convertible Bond Issuers Cater to Investor Demand?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Jong, Abe; Duca, Eric; Dutordoir, Marie

2013-01-01

We examine the impact of fluctuations in investor demand for convertible securities on convertible bond issue volumes, pricing, and design. We find evidence of a positive impact of investor demand proxies on convertible bond issue volumes. We also document significantly lower convertible bond

A meta-analysis of the price elasticity of gasoline demand. A SUR approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brons, Martijn; Rietveld, Piet [Department of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam (Netherlands); Tinbergen Institute Amsterdam (TIA), Roetersstraat 31, 1018 WB Amsterdam (Netherlands); Nijkamp, Peter [Department of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam (Netherlands); Tinbergen Institute Amsterdam (TIA), Roetersstraat 31, 1018 WB Amsterdam (Netherlands); The Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research (NWO), postbus 93138 - 2509 AC Den Haag (Netherlands); Pels, Eric [Department of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2008-09-15

Automobile gasoline demand can be expressed as a multiplicative function of fuel efficiency, mileage per car and car ownership. This implies a linear relationship between the price elasticity of total fuel demand and the price elasticities of fuel efficiency, mileage per car and car ownership. In this meta-analytical study we aim to investigate and explain the variation in empirical estimates of the price elasticity of gasoline demand. A methodological novelty is that we use the linear relationship between the elasticities to develop a meta-analytical estimation approach based on a Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) model with Cross Equation Restrictions. This approach enables us to combine observations of different elasticities and thus increase our sample size. Furthermore, it allows for a more detailed interpretation of our meta-regression results. The empirical results of the study demonstrate that the SUR approach leads to more precise results (i.e., lower standard errors) than a standard meta-analytical approach. We find that, with mean short run and long run price elasticities of - 0.34 and - 0.84, respectively, the demand for gasoline is not very price sensitive. Both in the short and the long run, the impact of a change in the gasoline price on demand is mainly driven by responses in fuel efficiency and mileage per car and to a slightly lesser degree by changes in car ownership. Furthermore, we find that study characteristics relating to the geographic area studied, the year of the study, the type of data used, the time horizon and the functional specification of the demand equation have a significant impact on the estimated value of the price elasticity of gasoline demand. (author)

A meta-analysis of the price elasticity of gasoline demand. A SUR approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brons, Martijn; Rietveld, Piet; Nijkamp, Peter; Pels, Eric

2008-01-01

Automobile gasoline demand can be expressed as a multiplicative function of fuel efficiency, mileage per car and car ownership. This implies a linear relationship between the price elasticity of total fuel demand and the price elasticities of fuel efficiency, mileage per car and car ownership. In this meta-analytical study we aim to investigate and explain the variation in empirical estimates of the price elasticity of gasoline demand. A methodological novelty is that we use the linear relationship between the elasticities to develop a meta-analytical estimation approach based on a Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) model with Cross Equation Restrictions. This approach enables us to combine observations of different elasticities and thus increase our sample size. Furthermore, it allows for a more detailed interpretation of our meta-regression results. The empirical results of the study demonstrate that the SUR approach leads to more precise results (i.e., lower standard errors) than a standard meta-analytical approach. We find that, with mean short run and long run price elasticities of - 0.34 and - 0.84, respectively, the demand for gasoline is not very price sensitive. Both in the short and the long run, the impact of a change in the gasoline price on demand is mainly driven by responses in fuel efficiency and mileage per car and to a slightly lesser degree by changes in car ownership. Furthermore, we find that study characteristics relating to the geographic area studied, the year of the study, the type of data used, the time horizon and the functional specification of the demand equation have a significant impact on the estimated value of the price elasticity of gasoline demand. (author)

Household demand elasticities for meat products in Uruguay

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lanfranco, B. A.; Rava, C.

2014-06-01

This article analyzed the demand for meats at household level over the past decade in Uruguay, a country that exhibits a very high per capita consumption of these products. In particular, the consumption of beef is one of the highest in the world and only comparable to Argentina. The analysis involved a two-step estimation of an incomplete system of censored demand equations using household data from the last available national income and expenditure survey (2005/06). Thirteen meat products were included in the analysis: six broad beef products (de boned hindquarter cuts, bone-in hindquarter cuts, ground beef, rib plate, bone-in forequarter cuts, and other beef cuts), four products from other meats (sheep, pork, poultry, and fish), and three generic mixed-meat products. A complete set of short-term income, own-price and cross-price elasticities were computed and reported along with their 90% confidence intervals (CI). The results were consistent with both economic theory and empirical evidence as well as with the expected behavior, considering the relevance of these products, particularly beef, in the diet of Uruguayan consumers. All meat items were necessary goods and evidenced income-inelastic responses, which was expected given their high consumption level. All meats behaved as normal goods although exhibiting different reactions to changes in price. In general, beef cuts were more price elastic than other more broadly defined products. The more specific and dis aggregated the meat product the higher its corresponding direct price elasticity. The complement/substitute relationships found in this study were highly depended on the specific product combinations. (Author)

Household demand elasticities for meat products in Uruguay

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruno A. Lanfranco

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This article analyzed the demand for meats at household level over the past decade in Uruguay, a country that exhibits a very high per capita consumption of these products. In particular, the consumption of beef is one of the highest in the world and only comparable to Argentina. The analysis involved a two-step estimation of an incomplete system of censored demand equations using household data from the last available national income and expenditure survey (2005/06. Thirteen meat products were included in the analysis: six broad beef products (deboned hindquarter cuts, bone-in hindquarter cuts, ground beef, rib plate, bone-in forequarter cuts, and other beef cuts, four products from other meats (sheep, pork, poultry, and fish, and three generic mixed-meat products. A complete set of short-term income, own-price and cross-price elasticities were computed and reported along with their 90% confidence intervals (CI. The results were consistent with both economic theory and empirical evidence as well as with the expected behavior, considering the relevance of these products, particularly beef, in the diet of Uruguayan consumers. All meat items were necessary goods and evidenced income-inelastic responses, which was expected given their high consumption level. All meats behaved as normal goods although exhibiting different reactions to changes in price. In general, beef cuts were more price elastic than other more broadly defined products. The more specific and disaggregated the meat product the higher its corresponding direct price elasticity. The complement/substitute relationships found in this study were highly depended on the specific product combinations.

Internationalisation and technological innovation: empirical evidence on their relation

OpenAIRE

Filipescu, Diana-Andreea

2010-01-01

Descripció del recurs: el 25 d'octubre de 2011 Internationalisation and innovation of the firms have been considered two of the most important factors determining business success over the last decade (Buckler and Zien, 1996; Wind and Mahajan, 1997; Zahra and George, 2002; Vila and Kuster, 2007). The purpose of this dissertation is to understand better the relation which exists between these two factors. To do so, we undertake empirical investigation which consists of three studies (an ini...

The causes of international labor migrations--a demand-determined approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Straubhaar, T

1986-01-01

The author first studies the reasons why people migrate using a neoclassical approach concerning income differentials. He tests this approach empirically and demonstrates its limits. A demand-determination approach based on human capital theory is then outlined to overcome these limits and to take into account restrictive immigration controls. Migration from Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Turkey to the European Community destination countries is examined. It is concluded that "the demand for immigrants in the destination country is the decisive condition for the phenomenon of international labor migration, and the supply of migration-willing workers is only a necessary condition." excerpt

Empirical methods for systematic reviews and evidence-based medicine

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Enst, W.A.

2014-01-01

Evidence-Based Medicine is the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values. Systematic reviews have become the cornerstone of evidence-based medicine, which is reflected in the position systematic reviews have in the pyramid of evidence-based medicine. Systematic

Subjective social status, social network and health disparities: empirical evidence from Greece.

Science.gov (United States)

Charonis, Antonios; Kyriopoulos, Ilias-Ioannis; Spanakis, Manos; Zavras, Dimitris; Athanasakis, Kostas; Pavi, Elpida; Kyriopoulos, John

2017-02-27

Several studies suggest that socioeconomic status affects (SES) affects self-rated health (SRH), both in Greece and internationally. However, prior research mainly uses objective measures of SES, instead of subjective evaluations of individuals' social status. Based on this, this paper aims to examine (a) the impact of the economic dowturn on SRH in Greece and (b) the relationship between subjective social status (SSS), social network and SRH. The descriptive analysis is based on four cross-sectional surveys conducted by the National School of Public Health, Athens, Greece (2002, 2006, 2011, 2015), while the data for the empirical investigation were derived from the 2015 survey (Health + Welfare Survey GR). The empirical strategy is based on an ordinal logistic regression model, aiming to examine how several variables affect SRH. Size of social network and SSS are among the independent variables employed for the empirical analysis RESULTS: According to our findings, average SRH has deteriorated, and the percentage of the population that reports very good/good SRH has also decreased. Moreover, our empirical analysis suggests that age, existence of a chronic disease, size of social network and SSS affect SRH in Greece. Our findings are consistent with the existing literature and confirm a social gradient in health. According to our analysis, health disparities can be largely attributed to socioeconomic inequalities. The adverse economic climate has impact on socioeconomic differences which in turn affect health disparities. Based on these, policy initiatives are necessasy in order to mitigate the negative impact on health and the disparities caused by economic dowturn and the occuring socioeconomic inequalities.

Selection Demands and Working Memory Mediate Interference during Naming

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Julie W Hughes

2015-05-01

Analyzing RTs, we replicated previous SI effects in BCN in healthy subjects and patients (reported effects’ p’s < .05. Subjects responded more slowly to items in semantically related vs. unrelated groups, and this interference increased across cycles (evidence of increasing selection demands; Figures 1a/c. Indicative of WM, healthy subjects were faster to name items as the number of unrelated items to be named (i.e., remembered decreased. However, this was attenuated by selection demand, as there was no decrease in RTs across repeated related items (Figure 1b. Converging evidence from patients demonstrated more impaired selection capacity produced increasingly slower RTs across item positions within the related condition (high selection demand (Figure 1d. Larger WM capacity (rhyme probe but not category probe, p = .54 produced increasingly faster RTs across items positions in the unrelated condition (low selection demand (Figure 1e. Together, these findings suggest that both selection demand and phonological WM processes mediate interference during naming.

Demand for radiotherapy in Spain.

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Rodríguez, A; Borrás, J M; López-Torrecilla, J; Algara, M; Palacios-Eito, A; Gómez-Caamaño, A; Olay, L; Lara, P C

2017-02-01

Assessing the demand for radiotherapy in Spain based on existing evidence to estimate the human resources and equipment needed so that every person in Spain has access to high-quality radiotherapy when they need it. We used data from the European Cancer Observatory on the estimated incidence of cancer in Spain in 2012, along with the evidence-based indications for radiotherapy developed by the Australian CCORE project, to obtain an optimal radiotherapy utilisation proportion (OUP) for each tumour. About 50.5 % of new cancers in Spain require radiotherapy at least once over the course of the disease. Additional demand for these services comes from reradiation therapy and non-melanoma skin cancer. Approximately, 25-30 % of cancer patients with an indication for radiotherapy do not receive it due to factors that include access, patient preference, familiarity with the treatment among physicians, and especially resource shortages, all of which contribute to its underutilisation. Radiotherapy is underused in Spain. The increasing incidence of cancer expected over the next decade and the greater frequency of reradiations necessitate the incorporation of radiotherapy demand into need-based calculations for cancer services planning.

Electricity demand of manufacturing sector in Turkey. A translog cost approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boeluek, Guelden; Koc, A. Ali

2010-01-01

This paper models factor demand for manufacturing sector in Turkey. We estimated a translog cost function with four factor consist of capital, labor, intermediate input and electricity over the 1980-2001. Our objective, taking in the consideration electricity as production input, was twofold: on the one hand, to estimate the price elasticity of electricity demand in manufacturing sector, and on the other hand to use cross-price and Morishima Elasticities of Substitution results for structural analysis regarding effects of electricity liberalization which initiated in 2001. Empirical result shows that electricity demand is relatively price sensitive (- 0.85). Our result in terms of electricity price is consistent with the previous studies. While electricity-labor and electricity-capital inputs are complementary, results indicate the existence of substitution possibilities between electricity and intermediate input. This means that changes in electricity prices have impact on labor demand and investment demand. These results have important implications for public policy. (author)

Electricity demand of manufacturing sector in Turkey. A translog cost approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boeluek, Guelden; Koc, A. Ali [Akdeniz University, Department of Economics, Antalya, 07058 (Turkey)

2010-05-15

This paper models factor demand for manufacturing sector in Turkey. We estimated a translog cost function with four factor consist of capital, labor, intermediate input and electricity over the 1980-2001. Our objective, taking in the consideration electricity as production input, was twofold: on the one hand, to estimate the price elasticity of electricity demand in manufacturing sector, and on the other hand to use cross-price and Morishima Elasticities of Substitution results for structural analysis regarding effects of electricity liberalization which initiated in 2001. Empirical result shows that electricity demand is relatively price sensitive (- 0.85). Our result in terms of electricity price is consistent with the previous studies. While electricity-labor and electricity-capital inputs are complementary, results indicate the existence of substitution possibilities between electricity and intermediate input. This means that changes in electricity prices have impact on labor demand and investment demand. These results have important implications for public policy. (author)

Innovation and productivity: empirical evidence for Brazilian industrial enterprises

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Luciana Carvalho

Full Text Available Abstract The aim of this paper is to carry out an empirical investigation into the relationship between innovation and the productive performance of Brazilian businesses measured by Work Productivity and Total Factor Productivity. Data taken from the Research of Innovation and estimated cross section models and panel data was used. The results suggest that innovation produces an incipient impact on competition in the national industry, reflected in the small magnitude of coefficients associated with the diverse indicators of innovation.

Consumer trust in food safety--a multidisciplinary approach and empirical evidence from Taiwan.

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Chen, Mei-Fang

2008-12-01

Food scandals that happened in recent years have increased consumers' risk perceptions of foods and decreased their trust in food safety. A better understanding of the consumer trust in food safety can improve the effectiveness of public policy and allow the development of the best practice in risk communication. This study proposes a research framework from a psychometric approach to investigate the relationships between the consumer's trust in food safety and the antecedents of risk perceptions of foods based on a reflexive modernization perspective and a cultural theory perspective in the hope of benefiting the future empirical study. The empirical results from a structural equation modeling analysis of Taiwan as a case in point reveal that this research framework based on a multidisciplinary perspective can be a valuable tool for a growing understanding of consumer trust in food safety. The antecedents in the psychometric research framework comprised reflexive modernization factors and cultural theory factors have all been supported in this study except the consumer's perception of pessimism toward food. Moreover, the empirical results of repeated measures analysis of variance give more detailed information to grasp empirical implications and to provide some suggestions to the actors and institutions involved in the food supply chain in Taiwan.

Evidence-based Heuristics for Evaluating Demands on eHealth Literacy and Usability in a Mobile Consumer Health Application.

Science.gov (United States)

Monkman, Helen; Griffith, Janessa; Kushniruk, Andre W

2015-01-01

Heuristic evaluations have proven to be valuable for identifying usability issues in systems. Commonly used sets of heuritics exist; however, they may not always be the most suitable, given the specific goal of the analysis. One such example is seeking to evaluate the demands on eHealth literacy and usability of consumer health information systems. In this study, eight essential heuristics and three optional heuristics subsumed from the evidence on eHealth/health literacy and usability were tested for their utility in assessing a mobile blood pressure tracking application (app). This evaluation revealed a variety of ways the design of the app could both benefit and impede users with limited eHealth literacy. This study demonstrated the utility of a low-cost, single evaluation approach for identifying both eHealth literacy and usability issues based on existing evidence in the literature.

Vertical Integration of Hospitals and Physicians: Economic Theory and Empirical Evidence on Spending and Quality.

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Post, Brady; Buchmueller, Tom; Ryan, Andrew M

2017-08-01

Hospital-physician vertical integration is on the rise. While increased efficiencies may be possible, emerging research raises concerns about anticompetitive behavior, spending increases, and uncertain effects on quality. In this review, we bring together several of the key theories of vertical integration that exist in the neoclassical and institutional economics literatures and apply these theories to the hospital-physician relationship. We also conduct a literature review of the effects of vertical integration on prices, spending, and quality in the growing body of evidence ( n = 15) to evaluate which of these frameworks have the strongest empirical support. We find some support for vertical foreclosure as a framework for explaining the observed results. We suggest a conceptual model and identify directions for future research. Based on our analysis, we conclude that vertical integration poses a threat to the affordability of health services and merits special attention from policymakers and antitrust authorities.

Avoiding the Conflict: Metacognitive Awareness Drives the Selection of Low-Demand Contexts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Desender, K.; Buc Calderon, C.; Van Opstal, F.; Van den Bussche, E.

2017-01-01

Previous research attempted to explain how humans strategically adapt behavior in order to achieve successful task performance. Recently, it has been suggested that 1 potential strategy is to avoid tasks that are too demanding. Here, we report 3 experiments that investigate the empirically neglected

More Health Expenditure, Better Economic Performance? Empirical Evidence From OECD Countries

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Fuhmei Wang PhD

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Recent economic downturns have led many countries to reduce health spending dramatically, with the World Health Organization raising concerns over the effects of this, in particular among the poor and vulnerable. With the provision of appropriate health care, the population of a country could have better health, thus strengthening the nation’s human capital, which could contribute to economic growth through improved productivity. How much should countries spend on health care? This study aims to estimate the optimal health care expenditure in a growing economy. Applying the experiences of countries from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD over the period 1990 to 2009, this research introduces the method of system generalized method of moments (GMM to derive the design of the estimators of the focal variables. Empirical evidence indicates that when the ratio of health spending to gross domestic product (GDP is less than the optimal level of 7.55%, increases in health spending effectively lead to better economic performance. Above this, more spending does not equate to better care. The real level of health spending in OECD countries is 5.48% of GDP, with a 1.87% economic growth rate. The question which is posed by this study is a pertinent one, especially in the current context of financially constrained health systems around the world. The analytical results of this work will allow policymakers to better allocate scarce resources to achieve their macroeconomic goals.

More Health Expenditure, Better Economic Performance? Empirical Evidence From OECD Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Fuhmei

2015-01-01

Recent economic downturns have led many countries to reduce health spending dramatically, with the World Health Organization raising concerns over the effects of this, in particular among the poor and vulnerable. With the provision of appropriate health care, the population of a country could have better health, thus strengthening the nation’s human capital, which could contribute to economic growth through improved productivity. How much should countries spend on health care? This study aims to estimate the optimal health care expenditure in a growing economy. Applying the experiences of countries from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) over the period 1990 to 2009, this research introduces the method of system generalized method of moments (GMM) to derive the design of the estimators of the focal variables. Empirical evidence indicates that when the ratio of health spending to gross domestic product (GDP) is less than the optimal level of 7.55%, increases in health spending effectively lead to better economic performance. Above this, more spending does not equate to better care. The real level of health spending in OECD countries is 5.48% of GDP, with a 1.87% economic growth rate. The question which is posed by this study is a pertinent one, especially in the current context of financially constrained health systems around the world. The analytical results of this work will allow policymakers to better allocate scarce resources to achieve their macroeconomic goals. PMID:26310501

Bayesian Analysis of Demand Elasticity in the Italian Electricity Market

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Maria Chiara D'Errico

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The liberalization of the Italian electricity market is a decade old. Within these last ten years, the supply side has been extensively analyzed, but not the demand side. The aim of this paper is to provide a new method for estimation of the demand elasticity, based on Bayesian methods applied to the Italian electricity market. We used individual demand bids data in the day-ahead market in the Italian Power Exchange (IPEX, for 2011, in order to construct an aggregate demand function at the hourly level. We took into account the existence of both elastic and inelastic bidders on the demand side. The empirical results show that elasticity varies significantly during the day and across periods of the year. In addition, the elasticity hourly distribution is clearly skewed and more so in the daily hours. The Bayesian method is a useful tool for policy-making, insofar as the regulator can start with a priori historical information on market behavior and estimate actual market outcomes in response to new policy actions.

A MACROPRUDENTIAL SUPERVISION MODEL. EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN BANKING SYSTEM

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Trenca Ioan

2013-07-01

Full Text Available One of the positive effects of the financial crises is the increasing concern of the supervisors regarding the financial system’s stability. There is a need to strengthen the links between different financial components of the financial system and the macroeconomic environment. Banking systems that have an adequate capitalization and liquidity level may face easier economic and financial shocks. The purpose of this empirical study is to identify the main determinants of the banking system’s stability and soundness in the Central and Eastern Europe countries. We asses the impact of different macroeconomic variables on the quality of capital and liquidity conditions and examine the behaviour of these financial stability indicators, by analyzing a sample of 10 banking systems during 2000-2011. The availability of banking capital signals the banking system’s resiliency to shocks. Capital adequacy ratio is the main indicator used to assess the banking fragility. One of the causes of the 2008-2009 financial crisis was the lack of liquidity in the banking system which led to the collapse of several banking institutions and macroeconomic imbalances. Given the importance of liquidity for the banking system, we propose several models in order to determine the macroeconomic variables that have a significant influence on the liquid reserves to total assets ratio. We found evidence that GDP growth, inflation, domestic credit to private sector, as well as the money and quasi money aggregate indicator have significant impact on the banking stability. The empirical regression confirms the high level of interdependence of the real sector with the financial-banking sector. Also, they prove the necessity for an effective macro prudential supervision at country level which enables the supervisory authorities to have an adequate control over the macro prudential indicators and to take appropriate decisions at the right time.

Does responsive pricing smooth demand shocks?

OpenAIRE

Pascal, Courty; Mario, Pagliero

2011-01-01

Using data from a unique pricing experiment, we investigate Vickrey’s conjecture that responsive pricing can be used to smooth both predictable and unpredictable demand shocks. Our evidence shows that increasing the responsiveness of price to demand conditions reduces the magnitude of deviations in capacity utilization rates from a pre-determined target level. A 10 percent increase in price variability leads to a decrease in the variability of capacity utilization rates between...

The scale-dependent market trend: Empirical evidences using the lagged DFA method

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Daye; Kou, Zhun; Sun, Qiankun

2015-09-01

In this paper we make an empirical research and test the efficiency of 44 important market indexes in multiple scales. A modified method based on the lagged detrended fluctuation analysis is utilized to maximize the information of long-term correlations from the non-zero lags and keep the margin of errors small when measuring the local Hurst exponent. Our empirical result illustrates that a common pattern can be found in the majority of the measured market indexes which tend to be persistent (with the local Hurst exponent > 0.5) in the small time scale, whereas it displays significant anti-persistent characteristics in large time scales. Moreover, not only the stock markets but also the foreign exchange markets share this pattern. Considering that the exchange markets are only weakly synchronized with the economic cycles, it can be concluded that the economic cycles can cause anti-persistence in the large time scale but there are also other factors at work. The empirical result supports the view that financial markets are multi-fractal and it indicates that deviations from efficiency and the type of model to describe the trend of market price are dependent on the forecasting horizon.

Determinants of Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Russian Regions

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Svetlana Ledyaeva

2008-06-01

Full Text Available A modification of Barro and Sala-i-Martin empirical framework of growth model is specified to examine determinants of per capita growth in 74 Russian regions during period of 1996-2005. We utilize both panel and cross-sectional data. Results imply that in general regional growth in 1996-2005 is explained by the initial level of region's economic development, the 1998 financial crisis, domestic investments, and exports. Growth convergence between poor and rich regions in Russia was not found for the period studied.

Unanticipated money and the demand for foreign assets : a rational expectations approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kumah, F.Y.

1995-01-01

This paper is an attempt at empirically investigating one of the building blocks of the foreign exchange market - the demand for foreign financial assets - under two alternative monetary policy rules (the fixed rate of growth of money rule and the feedback monetary policy rule) using time series

Empirical evidence of design-related bias in studies of diagnostic tests

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lijmer, J. G.; Mol, B. W.; Heisterkamp, S.; Bonsel, G. J.; Prins, M. H.; van der Meulen, J. H.; Bossuyt, P. M.

1999-01-01

CONTEXT: The literature contains a large number of potential biases in the evaluation of diagnostic tests. Strict application of appropriate methodological criteria would invalidate the clinical application of most study results. OBJECTIVE: To empirically determine the quantitative effect of study

Demand scenarios, worldwide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schaefer, A [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development and the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Cambridge, MA (United States)

1996-11-01

Existing methods are inadequate for developing aggregate (regional and global) and long-term (several decades) passenger transport demand scenarios, since they are mainly based on simple extensions of current patterns rather than causal relationships that account for the competition among transport modes (aircraft, automobiles, buses and trains) to provide transport services. The demand scenario presented in this paper is based on two empirically proven invariances of human behavior. First, transport accounts for 10 to 15 percent of household total expenditures for those owning an automobile, and around 5 percent for non-motorized households on average (travel money budget). Second, the mean time spent traveling is approximately one hour per capita per day (travel time budget). These two budgets constraints determine the dynamics of the scenario: rising income increases per capita expenditure on travel which, in turn, increase demand for mobility. Limited travel time constraints travelers to shift to faster transport systems. The scenario is initiated with the first integrated historical data set on traffic volume in 11 world regions and the globe from 1960 to 1990 for all major modes of motorized transport. World average per capita traffic volume, which was 1,800 kilometers in 1960 and 4,2090 in 1990, is estimated to rise to 7,900 kilometers in 2020 - given a modest average increase in Gross World Product of 1.9% per year. Higher economic growth rates in Asian regions result in an increase in regional per capita traffic volume up to a factor of 5.3 from 1990 levels. Modal splits continue shifting to more flexible and faster modes of transport. At one point, passenger cars can no longer satisfy the increasing demand for speed (i.e. rising mobility within a fixed time budget). In North America it is estimated that the absolute traffic volume of automobiles will gradually decline starting in the 2010s. (author) 13 figs., 6 tabs., 35 refs.

Air pollution impacts from demand-side management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hall, D.C.; Sandii Win, M.; Hall, J.V.

1995-01-01

Air-polluting emission rates and energy-efficiency ratings vary widely among power plants, depending on location, age and whether the power plant is repowered. Traditional regulations require installation of specified emission control equipment that varies among power plants. These regulations do not specify that utilities first dispatch the cleanest power plants as demand varies from peak to off-peak periods. This empirical analysis shows, for 2 years out of 20, that demand-side management (DSM) programs increase air pollution. One reason for this result is that regulations require installation of specific emission-control technology but do not provide the incentive to take actual emissions or their air quality impacts into account when operating the system. For certain types of air pollutants and in some regions, regulatory programs now include markets for tradable emission credits. Such programs may alter this incentive. (author)

Anomalies and Investor Sentiment: Empirical Evidences in the Brazilian Market

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Gustavo Correia Xavier

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This study examined the relationship between investor sentiment and value anomalies in Brazil. In addition, it analyzed if pricing deviations caused by investors with optimistic views are different from those caused by pessimistic investors. The sample included all non-financial firms listed on the B3 (Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão stock exchange from July 1999 to June 2014. We used the Principal Component Analysis multivariate technique to capture the component common to four different proxies for investor sentiment. The study empirically tested the index series and its variation on the return series of Long-Short portfolios of 12 anomaly-based strategies. The study found that the measure of the sentiment index had a partial explanatory power for the anomalies only when included in the CAPM. Yet, when using the index sentiment changes as an explanatory variable, the study found a relationship with future returns, robust to all risk factors. Thus, it is possible to relate investor sentiment index to anomaly-based portfolio returns. When analyzing average returns after optimistic and pessimistic periods, the values we found in our empirical test were not statistically significant enough to infer the possible existence of short-sale constraints.

Literary and Documentary Evidence for Lay Medical Practice in the Roman Republic and Empire.

Science.gov (United States)

Draycott, Jane

2016-01-01

The majority of surviving ancient medical literature was written by medical practitioners and produced for the purpose of ensuring the effective diagnosis and treatment of their patients, suggesting an audience of medical professionals ranging from instructors to students. This has led historians to concentrate on the professional medical practitioner and their theories, methods and practices, rather than on lay medical practitioners, or even patients themselves. This chapter seeks to redress this imbalance, and examine the ancient literary and documentary evidence for lay medical theories, methods and practices in the Roman Republic and Empire in an attempt to reconstruct the experiences of lay medical practitioners and their patients. The Roman agricultural treatises of Cato, Varro and Columella, papyri and ostraca from Egypt, and tablets from Britain are investigated, and it is established that the individual's personal acquisition of knowledge and expertise, not only from medical professionals and works of medical literature, but also from family members and friends, and through trial and error, was considered fundamental to domestic medical practice.

Researcher Self-Care in Emotionally Demanding Research: A Proposed Conceptual Framework.

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Kumar, Smita; Cavallaro, Liz

2018-03-01

Researchers are emotionally and psychologically affected by emotionally demanding research that demands a tremendous amount of mental, emotional, or physical energy and potentially affects or depletes the researcher's well-being. Little attention has been given to preparing doctoral students and novice researchers engaged in such studies. Four possible types of emotionally demanding research experiences are presented: sensitive issues, personal trauma previously experienced, experience of traumatic life events during research, and unexpected events that arise during research in what was previously not identified as a sensitive issue. The need for self-care is highly relevant to each type, despite their different impacts on researcher well-being. This conceptual article furthers conversation in the field about how researchers and educators can address the need for self-care to prepare novice researchers and proposes a conceptual framework for researcher self-care in emotionally demanding research, with an aim for future empirical study.

The dynamics of sectoral electricity demand for a panel of US states: New evidence on the consumption–growth nexus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saunoris, James W.; Sheridan, Brandon J.

2013-01-01

In this paper, we use a panel of the 48 contiguous US states over the period 1970–2009 to examine the dynamics of electricity demand in addressing the four hypotheses set forth in the literature: growth, conservation, neutrality, and feedback. In doing so we provide both short-run and long-run elasticity estimates for electricity demand. Recent developments in nonstationary panel estimation techniques allow for heterogeneity in the coefficients while examining the direction of causality among electricity consumption, electricity prices, and income growth. In addition to the full sample, we also disaggregate the sample into three sectors: commercial, industrial, and residential. The short-run results provide evidence in favor of the growth hypothesis for the aggregate sample, as well as for the industrial sector. For the residential and commercial sectors, the conservation hypothesis is supported. Long-run results favor the conservation hypothesis. To ascertain differences in electricity demand relating to electricity intensity we also examine states based on their efficiency in electricity consumption. Overall, the results yield in favor of the growth hypothesis for low intensity states and conservation hypothesis for high intensity states. - Highlights: • We use dynamic panel techniques to model electricity demand by sector for US states. • The conservation hypothesis is supported in the long run; short-run results are mixed. • The conservation hypothesis is supported in the high-electricity-intensity subsample. • The growth hypothesis is supported in the low-electricity-intensity subsample. • Policies aimed at energy conservation should be long-run in nature

Appropriate methodologies for empirical bioethics: it's all relative.

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Ives, Jonathan; Draper, Heather

2009-05-01

In this article we distinguish between philosophical bioethics (PB), descriptive policy orientated bioethics (DPOB) and normative policy oriented bioethics (NPOB). We argue that finding an appropriate methodology for combining empirical data and moral theory depends on what the aims of the research endeavour are, and that, for the most part, this combination is only required for NPOB. After briefly discussing the debate around the is/ought problem, and suggesting that both sides of this debate are misunderstanding one another (i.e. one side treats it as a conceptual problem, whilst the other treats it as an empirical claim), we outline and defend a methodological approach to NPOB based on work we have carried out on a project exploring the normative foundations of paternal rights and responsibilities. We suggest that given the prominent role already played by moral intuition in moral theory, one appropriate way to integrate empirical data and philosophical bioethics is to utilize empirically gathered lay intuition as the foundation for ethical reasoning in NPOB. The method we propose involves a modification of a long-established tradition on non-intervention in qualitative data gathering, combined with a form of reflective equilibrium where the demands of theory and data are given equal weight and a pragmatic compromise reached.

Why autobiographical memories for traumatic and emotional events might differ: theoretical arguments and empirical evidence.

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Sotgiu, Igor; Rusconi, Maria Luisa

2014-01-01

The authors review five arguments supporting the hypothesis that memories for traumatic and nontraumatic emotional events should be considered as qualitatively different recollections. The first argument considers the objective features of traumatic and emotional events and their possible influence on the formation of memories for these events. The second argument assumes that traumatic memories distinguish from emotional ones as trauma exposure is often associated with the development of psychological disorders involving memory disturbances. The third argument is that traumatic experiences are more likely than emotional experiences to be forgotten and recovered. The fourth argument concerns the possibility that emotional memories are socially shared more frequently than traumatic memories. A fifth argument suggests that trauma exposure may impair selected brain systems implicated in memory functions. Theoretical and empirical evidence supporting these claims is reviewed. In the conclusions, the authors illustrate future research directions and discuss some conceptual issues related to the definitions of traumatic event currently employed by memory researchers.

Beyond technology-push and demand-pull: Lessons from California's solar policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, Margaret

2008-01-01

The scale of the technological transformation required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 'safe' levels while minimizing economic impacts necessitates an emphasis on designing climate policy to foster, or at least not impede, environmental innovation. There is only a weak empirical base for policy-makers to stand on regarding the comparative innovation effects of various climate policy options, however. Empirical scholarship in environmental innovation is hindered by the complexity of both the innovation process and the interactions between the dual market failures of pollution and innovation that are in play, and it appears that the field would benefit from the structure provided by a common lexicon. This paper focuses on the issues related to policy categorization in this field; these issues have received little attention in the literature despite their importance to making insights gained from empirical studies generalizable. The paper reviews the origins, strengths, and weaknesses of the dominant policy typology of technology-push versus demand-pull instruments. Its primary contribution, however, is to assemble a comprehensive chronology of solar policy in California and its impacts on innovation, where known, and then use this as a basis for building a new policy categorization that takes advantage of the intuitive resonance of the dominant typology, while encompassing the broader range of policy instruments that are employed in practice in order to stimulate environmental innovation. The most noteworthy aspect of the new categorization is that it introduces a third category of environmental innovation policy instrument that focuses on improving the interface between technology suppliers and users. This reflects developments in the economics of innovation literature as well as considerable evidence in the domain of distributed solar energy technologies that opportunism by some of the actors that work at this interface can be a barrier to innovation

The emergent demand chain management: key features and illustration from the beef business

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Canever, M.D.; Trijp, van J.C.M.; Beers, G.

2008-01-01

Abstract Purpose - The paper seeks to delineate the emergence of demand chain management (DCM) from a theoretical perspective and to illustrate its occurrence in practice. Design/methodology/approach ¿ The DCM concept is examined empirically through a case study with retailers involved in the beef

National systems of innovation: determinants and industrial policy measures, empirical evidence for OECD; Sistemas nacionales de innovacion: determinantes y acciones de politica industrial. Evidencia empirica para la OCDE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hervas, J. L.; Rojas, R.; Sempere, F.; Albors, J.

2012-11-01

The paper presents an attempt to tackle the main gaps in the national innovation systems (NIS) literature: the problem specifying the boundaries of the NIS and the lack of connection between theory and empirics. For this purpose, the paper uses 55 countries as sample and constructs an NIS index based on a factor analysis of 28 variables. Empirical evidence shows that a firm's strategies, technology infrastructure, government governance, education and linkages are the main components of the NIS. The implications are important for policy-makers and the academia. (Author) 49 refs.

Sociopolitical Instability and Economic Growth Empirical Evidence from Sri Lanka

OpenAIRE

Changsheng Xu; Santhirasegaram Selvarathinam; Wen X. Li

2007-01-01

Sociopolitical instability severely affects economic growth in short and long run. This study analyzes that sociopolitical instability measured by proxy measure; annual growth rate of tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka during 1960-2005 adversely affects economic growth. Our empirical findings based on ordinary lease square econometric estimation, show that sociopolitical instability negatively and significantly affect economic growth. Reduction of economic growth rate (-0.032) due to the sociopoli...

Fuel demand elasticities for energy and environmental policies: Indian sample survey evidence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gundimeda, Haripriya; Koehlin, Gunnar

2008-01-01

India has been running large-scale interventions in the energy sector over the last decades. Still, there is a dearth of reliable and readily available price and income elasticities of demand to base these on, especially for domestic use of traditional fuels. This study uses the linear approximate Almost Ideal Demand System (LA-AIDS) using micro data of more than 100,000 households sampled across India. The LA-AIDS model is expanded by specifying the intercept as a linear function of household characteristics. Marshallian and Hicksian price and expenditure elasticities of demand for four main fuels are estimated for both urban and rural areas by different income groups. These can be used to evaluate recent and current energy policies. The results can also be used for energy projections and carbon dioxide simulations given different growth rates for different segments of the Indian population. (author)

Large Field Visualization with Demand-Driven Calculation

Science.gov (United States)

Moran, Patrick J.; Henze, Chris

1999-01-01

We present a system designed for the interactive definition and visualization of fields derived from large data sets: the Demand-Driven Visualizer (DDV). The system allows the user to write arbitrary expressions to define new fields, and then apply a variety of visualization techniques to the result. Expressions can include differential operators and numerous other built-in functions, ail of which are evaluated at specific field locations completely on demand. The payoff of following a demand-driven design philosophy throughout becomes particularly evident when working with large time-series data, where the costs of eager evaluation alternatives can be prohibitive.

The General Evolving Model for Energy Supply-Demand Network with Local-World

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Mei; Han, Dun; Li, Dandan; Fang, Cuicui

2013-10-01

In this paper, two general bipartite network evolving models for energy supply-demand network with local-world are proposed. The node weight distribution, the "shifting coefficient" and the scaling exponent of two different kinds of nodes are presented by the mean-field theory. The numerical results of the node weight distribution and the edge weight distribution are also investigated. The production's shifted power law (SPL) distribution of coal enterprises and the installed capacity's distribution of power plants in the US are obtained from the empirical analysis. Numerical simulations and empirical results are given to verify the theoretical results.

The Implication of Effectiveness of Demand for Money on Economic Growth in Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taiwo Adewale Muritala

2012-02-01

Full Text Available The demand for money plays a major role in macroeconomic analysis, especially inselecting appropriate policy. This brings in the demand for money function which expresses amathematical relationship between the quantity of money demanded and its various determinants;interest rate, income, price level, credit availability, frequency of payments etc. Aggregate demandwill be affected only in so far as consumption or investment is affected by the change in the interestrate. Against this background, the task in this paper is to empirically analyze and examine theimplication of the effectiveness of demand for money on economic growth performance within theNigerian context between the periods of 1970-2008 through the use of the application of OrdinaryLeast Square method, the multiple linear regressionanalysis on E-views 7.0. The paper thereforeconcludes that money demand has a major effect on the aggregate demand which accounts for theGDP of the economy. This implies that by ensuring efficiency in demand for money, aggregatedemand would be achieved and adequately sustained growth that will ensure that inflation is atminimum will be achieved in the economy.

Demand response from the non-domestic sector: Early UK experiences and future opportunities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grünewald, Philipp; Torriti, Jacopo

2013-01-01

Demand response is believed by some to become a major contributor towards system balancing in future electricity networks. Shifting or reducing demand at critical moments can reduce the need for generation capacity, help with the integration of renewables, support more efficient system operation and thereby potentially lead to cost and carbon reductions for the entire energy system. In this paper we review the nature of the response resource of consumers from different non-domestic sectors in the UK, based on extensive half hourly demand profiles and observed demand responses. We further explore the potential to increase the demand response capacity through changes in the regulatory and market environment. The analysis suggests that present demand response measures tend to stimulate stand-by generation capacity in preference to load shifting and we propose that extended response times may favour load based demand response, especially in sectors with significant thermal loads. - Highlights: • Empirical demand response data from non-domestic sector evaluated. • Load profiles suggest strong sector dependence on availability response at system peak. • Majority of aggregated demand response still stems from stand-by generation, not from demand turn down. • Scope for substantial increase in demand response capacity if response times were extended

Testing simulation and structural models with applications to energy demand

Science.gov (United States)

Wolff, Hendrik

2007-12-01

This dissertation deals with energy demand and consists of two parts. Part one proposes a unified econometric framework for modeling energy demand and examples illustrate the benefits of the technique by estimating the elasticity of substitution between energy and capital. Part two assesses the energy conservation policy of Daylight Saving Time and empirically tests the performance of electricity simulation. In particular, the chapter "Imposing Monotonicity and Curvature on Flexible Functional Forms" proposes an estimator for inference using structural models derived from economic theory. This is motivated by the fact that in many areas of economic analysis theory restricts the shape as well as other characteristics of functions used to represent economic constructs. Specific contributions are (a) to increase the computational speed and tractability of imposing regularity conditions, (b) to provide regularity preserving point estimates, (c) to avoid biases existent in previous applications, and (d) to illustrate the benefits of our approach via numerical simulation results. The chapter "Can We Close the Gap between the Empirical Model and Economic Theory" discusses the more fundamental question of whether the imposition of a particular theory to a dataset is justified. I propose a hypothesis test to examine whether the estimated empirical model is consistent with the assumed economic theory. Although the proposed methodology could be applied to a wide set of economic models, this is particularly relevant for estimating policy parameters that affect energy markets. This is demonstrated by estimating the Slutsky matrix and the elasticity of substitution between energy and capital, which are crucial parameters used in computable general equilibrium models analyzing energy demand and the impacts of environmental regulations. Using the Berndt and Wood dataset, I find that capital and energy are complements and that the data are significantly consistent with duality

Labor market deregulation and globalization: empirical evidence from OECD countries

OpenAIRE

Potrafke , Niklas

2010-01-01

Abstract This paper empirically investigates the influence of globalization on various aspects of labor market deregulation. I employ the data set by Bassanini and Duval (2006) on labor market institutions in OECD countries and the KOF index of globalization. The data set covers 20 OECD countries in the 1982?2003 period. The results suggest that globalization did neither influence the unemployment replacement rate, the unemployment benefit length, public expenditures on ALMP, the t...

Confronting New Demands : Inclusive Growth, Inclusive Trade ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Confronting New Demands : Inclusive Growth, Inclusive Trade. Policymakers, businesspeople and civil society advocates need evidence-based research to react ... understood implications, such as labour standards and intellectual property; ...

Organizational Structure and Firms' Demand for HRM Practices

OpenAIRE

Eriksson, Tor; Ortega, Jaime

2014-01-01

A question largely left unanswered in previous studies of firms’ use of HRM practices, and the consequences thereof, is why some firms adopt these practices while others do not. We examine empirically the determinants of firms’ demand for HRM pay, work and training practices with a special focus on the role of differences in the organizational structure of firms. For this purpose we merge data from a detailed questionnaire study of Danish private sector firms’ use of HRM practices with workfo...

Supply and demand for wood: a worldwide perspective?

Science.gov (United States)

Sally. Duncan

1998-01-01

In a unique effort to compare and contrast differing views on future supply and demand for wood, a study found that demand for wood will increase, but there is no evidence of a crisis at the world scale. Opportunities to increase wood production, however, are limited and trade-offs among competing uses of forests are inevitable. A complex of factors determine supply...

[DGRW-update: neurology--from empirical strategies towards evidence based interventions].

Science.gov (United States)

Schupp, W

2011-12-01

Stroke, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and neuropathies are the most important diseases in neurological rehabilitation financed by the German Pension Insurance. The primary goal is vocational (re)integration. Driven by multiple findings of neuroscience research the traditional holistic approach with mainly empirically derived strategies was developed further and improved by new evidence-based interventions. This process had been, and continues to be, necessary to meet the health-economic pressures for ever shorter and more efficient rehab measures. Evidence-based interventions refer to symptom-oriented measures, to team-management concepts, as well as to education and psychosocial interventions. Drug therapy and/or neurophysiological measures can be added to increase neuroregeneration and neuroplasticity. Evidence-based aftercare concepts support sustainability and steadiness of rehab results.Mirror therapy, robot-assisted training, mental training, task-specific training, and above all constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) can restore motor arm and hand functions. Treadmill training and robot-assisted training improve stance and gait. Botulinum toxine injections in combination with physical and redressing methods are superior in managing spasticity. Guideline-oriented management of associated pain syndromes (myofascial, neuropathic, complex-regional=dystrophic) improve primary outcome and quality of life. Drug therapy with so-called co-analgetics and physical therapy play an important role in pain management. Swallowing disorders lead to higher mortality and morbidity in the acute phase; stepwise diagnostics (screening, endoscopy, radiology) and specific swallowing therapy can reduce these risks and frequently can restore normal eating und drinking.In our modern industrial societies communicative and cognitive disturbances are more impairing than the above mentioned disorders. Speech and language therapy (SLT) is dominant in

Housing wealth and US money demand : A panel estimation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Arnold, I.J.M.; Roelands, S.

2011-01-01

This article estimates a panel model for U.S. money demand using annual state-level data for the period from 1977 to 2008. We incorporate housing wealth in the demand-for-money function and find strong evidence of a relationship between a broad monetary aggregate and housing wealth. This finding is

A Formidable Task: Reflections on obtaining legal empirical evidence on human trafficking in Canada

OpenAIRE

Hayli Millar; Tamara O'Doherty; Katrin Roots

2017-01-01

This article explores the experiences, challenges and findings of two empirical research studies examining Canada’s legal efforts to combat human trafficking. The authors outline the methodologies of their respective studies and reflect on some of the difficulties they faced in obtaining empirical data on human trafficking court cases and legal proceedings. Ultimately, the authors found that Canadian trafficking case law developments are in their early stages with very few convictions, despit...

Quantitative analyses of empirical fitness landscapes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Szendro, Ivan G; Franke, Jasper; Krug, Joachim; Schenk, Martijn F; De Visser, J Arjan G M

2013-01-01

The concept of a fitness landscape is a powerful metaphor that offers insight into various aspects of evolutionary processes and guidance for the study of evolution. Until recently, empirical evidence on the ruggedness of these landscapes was lacking, but since it became feasible to construct all possible genotypes containing combinations of a limited set of mutations, the number of studies has grown to a point where a classification of landscapes becomes possible. The aim of this review is to identify measures of epistasis that allow a meaningful comparison of fitness landscapes and then apply them to the empirical landscapes in order to discern factors that affect ruggedness. The various measures of epistasis that have been proposed in the literature appear to be equivalent. Our comparison shows that the ruggedness of the empirical landscape is affected by whether the included mutations are beneficial or deleterious and by whether intragenic or intergenic epistasis is involved. Finally, the empirical landscapes are compared to landscapes generated with the rough Mt Fuji model. Despite the simplicity of this model, it captures the features of the experimental landscapes remarkably well. (paper)

Essays in the Economics of Corruption: Experimental and empirical evidence

OpenAIRE

Leszczynska, Nastassia

2018-01-01

The advent of experimental methodologies have led to decisive progress in the study of corrupt behaviour in the last two decades. Since they can complement survey data and perception indexes with controlled experimental data, scholars and policy makers have reached a better understanding of decision-making in bribery situations and are able to design innovative anticorruption policies.In this thesis, I use experimental and empirical data to contribute to the field of the economics of corrupti...

When health policy and empirical evidence collide: the case of cigarette package warning labels and economic consumer surplus.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Anna V; Brown, Paul; Glantz, Stanton A

2014-02-01

In its graphic warning label regulations on cigarette packages, the Food and Drug Administration severely discounts the benefits of reduced smoking because of the lost "pleasure" smokers experience when they stop smoking; this is quantified as lost "consumer surplus." Consumer surplus is grounded in rational choice theory. However, empirical evidence from psychological cognitive science and behavioral economics demonstrates that the assumptions of rational choice are inconsistent with complex multidimensional decisions, particularly smoking. Rational choice does not account for the roles of emotions, misperceptions, optimistic bias, regret, and cognitive inefficiency that are germane to smoking, particularly because most smokers begin smoking in their youth. Continued application of a consumer surplus discount will undermine sensible policies to reduce tobacco use and other policies to promote public health.

People's Risk Recognition Preceding Evacuation and Its Role in Demand Modeling and Planning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Urata, Junji; Pel, A.J.

2017-01-01

Evacuation planning and management involves estimating the travel demand in the event that such action is required. This is usually done as a function of people's decision to evacuate, which we show is strongly linked to their risk awareness. We use an empirical data set, which shows tsunami

Data-Driven and Expectation-Driven Discovery of Empirical Laws.

Science.gov (United States)

1982-10-10

occurred in small integer proportions to each other. In 1809, Joseph Gay- Lussac found evidence for his law of combining volumes, which stated that a...of Empirical Laws Patrick W. Langley Gary L. Bradshaw Herbert A. Simon T1he Robotics Institute Carnegie-Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...Subtitle) S. TYPE OF REPORT & PERIOD COVERED Data-Driven and Expectation-Driven Discovery Interim Report 2/82-10/82 of Empirical Laws S. PERFORMING ORG

Monetary policy implementation and money demand instability during the financial crisis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Svatopluk Kapounek

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The author focuses on the money endogeneity in the context of common monetary policy implementation in the euro area. The empirical analysis shows money demand function instability during the financial crisis. The instability is described by decrease in credit money creation and money velocity changes. The cointegration tests identifed long-run positive relationship between monetary aggregates and economic activity. Concurrently, the economic activity is treated to be weakly exogenous in the model.The conclusions are discussed with Postkeynesians’ assumption, that central banks cannot fix the stock of money in a country. The causality is directed from economic activity to money demand.

The structure of residential energy demand in Greece

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rapanos, Vassilis T.; Polemis, Michael L.

2006-01-01

This paper attempts to shed light on the determinants of residential energy demand in Greece, and to compare it with some other OECD countries. From the estimates of the short-run and long-run elasticities of energy demand for the period 1965-1999, we find that residential energy demand appears to be price inelastic. Also, we do not find evidence of a structural change probably because of the low efficiency of the energy sector. We find, however, that the magnitude of the income elasticity varies substantially between Greece and other OECD countries

Demand controllers with optimized programing; Controladores de demanda com programacao otimizada

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santos, A.H.M.; Haddad, J.; Almeida, A.T.L. [Escola Federal de Engenharia de Itajuba, MG (Brazil); Devienne, R.F. [Universidade de Taubate (UNITAU), SP (Brazil)

1995-12-31

This work presents a methodological proposal for load re-allocation strategy in opposition to the empiric methodology presently used by demand controllers. Through the utilization of dynamic programing techniques associated to fuzzy theory it is possible to modulate the electric power consumers load curve, incorporating different objectives resulting in the global energy consumption rationing 6 figs., 5 tabs., 8 refs.

Empirical evidence about inconsistency among studies in a pair‐wise meta‐analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, Rebecca M.; Higgins, Julian P. T.

2015-01-01

This paper investigates how inconsistency (as measured by the I2 statistic) among studies in a meta‐analysis may differ, according to the type of outcome data and effect measure. We used hierarchical models to analyse data from 3873 binary, 5132 continuous and 880 mixed outcome meta‐analyses within the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Predictive distributions for inconsistency expected in future meta‐analyses were obtained, which can inform priors for between‐study variance. Inconsistency estimates were highest on average for binary outcome meta‐analyses of risk differences and continuous outcome meta‐analyses. For a planned binary outcome meta‐analysis in a general research setting, the predictive distribution for inconsistency among log odds ratios had median 22% and 95% CI: 12% to 39%. For a continuous outcome meta‐analysis, the predictive distribution for inconsistency among standardized mean differences had median 40% and 95% CI: 15% to 73%. Levels of inconsistency were similar for binary data measured by log odds ratios and log relative risks. Fitted distributions for inconsistency expected in continuous outcome meta‐analyses using mean differences were almost identical to those using standardized mean differences. The empirical evidence on inconsistency gives guidance on which outcome measures are most likely to be consistent in particular circumstances and facilitates Bayesian meta‐analysis with an informative prior for heterogeneity. © 2015 The Authors. Research Synthesis Methods published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. © 2015 The Authors. Research Synthesis Methods published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. PMID:26679486

The Effect of Biogas Production on Farmland Rental Prices: Empirical Evidences from Northern Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eugenio Demartini

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In the last decade, increased environmental awareness has prompted the adoption of incentives for exploiting renewable energy sources. Among these, biogas production has received a certain attention in developed countries. Nonetheless, the subsidies provided have posed the problem of an activity (the production of bioenergy that engages in direct competition with food and feed production for limited resources, like agricultural land. Even if this competition may be softened by allocating marginal land and/or using dedicated non-agricultural crops, empirical evidence shows that biogas plants have been developed in highly-productive agricultural areas, using increasing amounts of maize silage as feedstock. Thus, studies aimed at measuring the effect of biogas production on agricultural activities are needed in order to avoid this socially undesirable outcome. The paper presents an econometric estimation of the impact of biogas plants on farmland rental values of a Northern Italian rural area. Results show that biogas has a non-linear effect on rental prices, suggesting that incentive schemes specifically accounting for plants’ dimensions and technologies would improve the social sustainability of the bioenergy sector and its coexistence with agricultural activity.

Health status of and health-care provision to asylum seekers in Germany: protocol for a systematic review and evidence mapping of empirical studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Christine; Mohsenpour, Amir; Joos, Stefanie; Bozorgmehr, Kayvan

2014-11-29

There are more than 100,000 asylum seekers registered in Germany, who are granted limited access to health services. This study aims to provide a systematic overview of the empirical literature on the health status of and health-care provision to asylum seekers in Germany in order to consolidate knowledge, avoid scientific redundance, and identify research gaps. A systematic review and evidence mapping of empirical literature on the health status of and health-care provision to asylum seekers in Germany will be performed. We will apply a three-tiered search strategy: 1. search in databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, IBSS, Sociological Abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, CINAHL, Sowiport, Social Sciences Citation Index, ASSIA, MedPilot, DNB), dissertation and theses databases, and the internet (Google); 2. screening references of included studies; 3. contacting authors and civil society organizations for grey literature. Included will be studies which report quantitative and/or qualitative data or review articles on asylum seekers in Germany, published in German or English language. Outcome measures will include physical, mental, or social well-being, and all aspects of health-care provision (access, availability, affordability, and quality). Search results will be screened for eligibility by screening titles, abstracts and full texts. Data extraction comprises information on study characteristics, research aims, and domains of health or health-care services analyzed. The quality of studies will be appraised and documented by appropriate assessment tools. A descriptive evidence map will be drawn by categorizing all included articles by research design and the health conditions and/or domains of health-care provision analyzed. The body of evidence will be evaluated, and a narrative evidence synthesis will be performed by means of a multi-level approach, whereby quantitative and qualitative evidence are analyzed as separate streams and the product

A Formidable Task: Reflections on obtaining legal empirical evidence on human trafficking in Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hayli Millar

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This article explores the experiences, challenges and findings of two empirical research studies examining Canada’s legal efforts to combat human trafficking. The authors outline the methodologies of their respective studies and reflect on some of the difficulties they faced in obtaining empirical data on human trafficking court cases and legal proceedings. Ultimately, the authors found that Canadian trafficking case law developments are in their early stages with very few convictions, despite a growing number of police-reported charges. The authors assert it is difficult to assess the efficacy and effects of Canadian anti-trafficking laws and policies due to the institutional and political limitations to collecting legal data in this highly politicised subject area. They conclude with five recommendations to increase the transparency of Canada’s public claims about its anti-trafficking enforcement efforts and call for more empirically-based law reform.

Empirical Evidence of Priming, Transfer, Reinforcement, and Learning in the Real and Virtual Trillium Trails

Science.gov (United States)

Harrington, M. C. R.

2011-01-01

Over the past 20 years, there has been a debate on the effectiveness of virtual reality used for learning with young children, producing many ideas but little empirical proof. This empirical study compared learning activity in situ of a real environment (Real) and a desktop virtual reality (Virtual) environment, built with video game technology,…

Budget deficit, money growth and inflation: Empirical evidence from Vietnam

OpenAIRE

Khieu Van, Hoang

2014-01-01

This study empirically examines the nexus among budget deficit, money supply and inflation by using a monthly data set from January 1995 to December 2012 and a SVAR model with five endogenous variables, inflation, money growth, budget deficit growth, real GDP growth and interest rate. Since real GDP and budget deficit are unavailable on the monthly basis, we interpolate those series using Chow and Lin’s (1971) annualized approach from their annual series. Overall, we found that money growth h...

Introducing the e-newspaper - Audience Preferences and Demands

OpenAIRE

C.Ihlström Eriksson; M.Å. kesson

2007-01-01

This paper adds to the overall understanding of new media adoption in general and the promotion of the e-newspaper in particular by empirically studying the preferences and demands of the potential users. The e-newspaper is a newspaper published on e-paper technology. The findings in this paper is based on the results from two studies, i.e. an online questionnaire with 3626 respondents and an evaluation in real life settings with 10 families over a two week period. Our initial hypothesis was ...

Ad libitum or demand/semi-demand feeding versus scheduled interval feeding for preterm infants.

Science.gov (United States)

McCormick, Felicia M; Tosh, Karen; McGuire, William

2010-02-17

finding. Limited evidence exists that feeding preterm infants with ad libitum or demand/semi-demand regimens allows earlier attainment of full oral feeding and earlier hospital discharge. This finding should be interpreted cautiously because of methodological weaknesses in the included trials. A large randomised controlled trial is needed to confirm this finding and to determine if ad libitum of demand/semi-demand feeding of preterm infants affects other clinically important outcomes.

Future demand of petroleum products in India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghosh, Sajal

2006-01-01

This paper examines the long-run equilibrium relationship between total petroleum products consumption and economic growth in India for the period 1970-1971 to 2001-2002 using cointegration and error-correction modeling approach. Augmented Dickey-Fuller tests reveal that both the series, after logarithmic transformation, are non-stationary and individually integrated of order one. The empirical results suggest that the series are cointegrated. The 'long-term demand elasticity for petroleum products' has been estimated. Furthermore, as a special case, similar sort of exercise between the consumption of middle-distillates and economic growth in India using annual data for the time span 1974-1975 to 2001-2002 has been carried out, which also confirms the existence of cointegration. In-sample forecasts fitted well against actual numbers. Finally, the paper forecasts total petroleum products and middle-distillates demands till 2011-2012 and provide an idea about the investment required in refinery sector in India till 2011-2012

Avoiding the conflict: Metacognitive awareness drives the selection of low-demand contexts.

Science.gov (United States)

Desender, Kobe; Buc Calderon, Cristian; Van Opstal, Filip; Van den Bussche, Eva

2017-07-01

Previous research attempted to explain how humans strategically adapt behavior in order to achieve successful task performance. Recently, it has been suggested that 1 potential strategy is to avoid tasks that are too demanding. Here, we report 3 experiments that investigate the empirically neglected role of metacognitive awareness in this process. In these experiments, participants could freely choose between performing a task in either a high-demand or a low-demand context. Using subliminal priming, we ensured that participants were not aware of the visual stimuli creating these different demand contexts. Our results showed that participants who noticed a difference in task difficulty (i.e., metacognitive aware participants) developed a clear preference for the low-demand context. In contrast, participants who experienced no difference in task difficulty (i.e., metacognitive unaware participants) based their choices on variables unrelated to cognitive demand (e.g., the color or location associated with a context), and did not develop a preference for the low-demand context. Crucially, this pattern was found despite identical task performance in both metacognitive awareness groups. A multiple regression approach confirmed that metacognitive awareness was the main factor driving the preference for low-demand contexts. These results argue for an important role of metacognitive awareness in the strategic avoidance of demanding tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Government revenue-expenditure nexus: Evidence from several transitional economies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Konukcu-Önal Debi

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Budget deficits and the debate on the sources of deficit finance have been on the agenda of public economics ever since the 1980s. However recently in the post-communist countries fiscal imbalances appear to be an important problem due to prolonged periods of growing poverty resulting from the transition process. Poverty alleviation policies considerably affect the revenue and expenditure decisions of governments, which are subject to hard budget constraints in an open transitional economy and do not have room for departing from sound fiscal policies. The public finance literature provides a vast number of studies analyzing the relationship between public revenues and expenditures. These studies are mostly characterized by efforts to reveal the attitude of the fiscal authority towards maintaining the budget balance. In this respect, budgetary dynamics in which past government revenues have predictive power on the current level of government expenditures are accepted as evidence of the so-called tax-and-spend hypothesis. On the other hand, the revenue-expenditure nexus running from expenditures to revenues is known in the literature as the spend-and-tax hypothesis. The objective of this study is to analyze empirically the relationship between government revenues and expenditures in four of the transitional economies, i.e. Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation. The empirical findings of this study, which are based on Granger causality tests, indicate evidence supporting the tax-and-spend hypothesis in Belarus and the Russian Federation and fiscal synchronization in Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic. The empirical support for the tax-and-spend hypothesis in these economies implies that increasing government revenues may not end up with lower budget deficits due to their stimulating effect on the demand for public goods and services.

Are work demands associated with mental distress? Evidence from women in rural India.

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Robin A; Nandi, Arijit; Jaswal, Surinder; Harper, Sam

2017-12-01

High work demands might be a determinant of poor mental health among women in low- and middle-income countries, especially in rural settings where women experience greater amounts of labor-intensive unpaid work. Research originating from such settings is lacking. We estimated the cross-sectional association between work demands and mental distress among 3177 women living in 160 predominantly tribal communities in southern Rajasthan, India. A structured questionnaire captured the number of minutes women spent on various activities in the last 24 h, and we used this information to measure women's work demands, including the total work amount, nature of work (e.g., housework), and type of work (e.g., cooking). Mental distress was measured with the Hindi version of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. We used negative binomial regression models to estimate the association between work demands (amount, nature, and type) and mental distress. On average, women spent more than 9.5 h a day on work activities. The most time, intensive work activity was caring for children, the elderly, or disabled (149 min). In adjusted models, we found a U-shaped association between work amount and mental distress. High amounts of housework were associated with higher distress, whereas paid work and farmwork amount were not. Certain types of housework, including collecting water and cleaning, were associated with increased distress scores. We found an association between aspects of work demands and mental distress. Research in other contexts where women perform high amounts of unpaid work, particularly within the home or farm, is warranted.

Behavioural processes in marketing channel relationships: Review and integration of empirical evidence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Nils Bøgelund; Skytte, Hans

1997-01-01

This paper reviews the empirical research on behavioural processes in marketing channel relationships. Systematically examining nine international journals, we find 49 papers on behavioural processes. On the basis of the hypothesis tests in the papers, we discuss the results and integrate...

Seasonality in cocoa spot and forward markets: empirical evidence

OpenAIRE

Sarfo, S.; Geman, Hélyette

2012-01-01

This paper first describes the main features of supply and demand in cocoa spot markets. A state- variable model is proposed to describe the random evolution of cocoa forward curves over time, which essentially adapts to agricultural commodities, introduced by Borovkova and Geman (2006) for energy. In contrast to most of the literature on the subject, the first state variable is not the spot price, as it combines seasonal and stochastic features and may not be observable, instead, the average...

The Determinants of Banking Performance: Empirical evidence from Tunisian Listed Banks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khalfaoui Hamdi

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to identify the determinants of performance of the Tunisian banking sector. The results found, following an empirical study using panel data of Tunisian banks listed on the stock market over the period 2000-2013, show that credit risk, liquidity, total assets and disclosure of information relating to credit are the main determinants of banking performance.

THE DYNAMIC INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OBESITY AND SCHOOL PERFORMANCE: NEW EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM AUSTRALIA.

Science.gov (United States)

Nghiem, Son; Hoang, Viet-Ngu; Vu, Xuan-Binh; Wilson, Clevo

2017-12-04

This paper proposes a new empirical model for examining the relationship between obesity and school performance using the simultaneous equation modelling approach. The lagged effects of both learning and health outcomes were included to capture both the dynamic and inter-relational aspects of the relationship between obesity and school performance. The empirical application of this study used comprehensive data from the first five waves of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), which commenced in 2004 (wave 1) and was repeated every two years until 2018. The study sample included 10,000 children, equally divided between two cohorts (infants and children) across Australia. The empirical results show that past learning and obesity status are strongly associated with most indicators of school outcomes, including reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy national tests, and scores from the internationally standardized Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Matrix Reasoning Test. The main findings of this study are robust due to the choice of obesity indicator and estimation methods.

The effect of waiting times on demand and supply for elective surgery: Evidence from Italy.

Science.gov (United States)

Riganti, Andrea; Siciliani, Luigi; Fiorio, Carlo V

2017-09-01

Waiting times are a major policy concern in publicly funded health systems across OECD countries. Economists have argued that, in the presence of excess demand, waiting times act as nonmonetary prices to bring demand for and supply of health care in equilibrium. Using administrative data disaggregated by region and surgical procedure over 2010-2014 in Italy, we estimate demand and supply elasticities with respect to waiting times. We employ linear regression models with first differences and instrumental variables to deal with endogeneity of waiting times. We find that demand is inelastic to waiting times while supply is more elastic. Estimates of demand elasticity are between -0.15 to -0.24. Our results have implications on the effectiveness of policies aimed at increasing supply and their ability to reduce waiting times. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Demand and withdraw behaviors in couples with a history of infidelity.

Science.gov (United States)

Balderrama-Durbin, Christina M; Allen, Elizabeth S; Rhoades, Galena K

2012-02-01

Although relationship distress and dissolution are common consequences of sexual involvement outside a committed relationship, there is little empirical information regarding communication behaviors of couples who have experienced extradyadic involvement (EDI). This study examined male and female demand and withdraw behaviors in videotaped conflict discussions among 170 married or seriously dating couples categorized into 3 groups: those without a history of sexual EDI, those with a history of sexual EDI that was known to the other partner, and those with a history of "unknown" (undisclosed or undiscovered) sexual EDI. Both men and women in a relationship where there was at least one unknown EDI demonstrated the highest levels of demand behaviors. Furthermore, demand behaviors were higher for participating partners (those engaging in an outside sexual relationship) in relationships with an unknown EDI compared with participating partners in relationships with a known EDI. Conversely, demand behaviors were higher among nonparticipating partners in relationships with known EDI, compared to with nonparticipating partners in relationships with unknown EDI. Withdraw behaviors demonstrated a less pronounced and less consistent pattern of elevation by EDI group, and role within EDI, compared with demand behaviors. Clinical and relational implications for these findings are discussed.

The role of brand image congruity in Iranian consumers’ demand for auto parts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naser Azad

2014-06-01

Full Text Available One of the primary issues in handling demands for auto parts in the world is to build a mutual trust between consumers and vendors. When people trust a brand, they purchase more easily and it is possible to develop market. In Iran, there is a growing interest in demand for auto parts and each year, tens of millions of auto parts are getting sold. This paper presents an empirical investigation to detect the effects of brand image on demand for auto parts. Using a sample of 202 randomly selected people who buy/sell auto parts in city of Tehran, Iran, the study determines three variables including brand strength, brand attributes and consumer trust through the implementation of structural equation modeling.

Eldercare Demands, Mental Health, and Work Performance : The Moderating Role of Satisfaction With Eldercare Tasks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zacher, Hannes; Jimmieson, Nerina L.; Winter, Gabriele

Due to demographic changes, a growing number of employees provide in-home care to an elderly family member. Previous research suggested a negative relationship between employees' eldercare demands and their work performance. However, the empirical nature of this relationship and its boundary

A literature review of demand studies in world oil markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Atkins, F.; Tayyebi Jazayeri, S.M.

2004-04-01

The literature on world oil market demands was reviewed, summarized and organized into seven major groupings. The objective was to model economic behaviour before and after price shocks. In particular, the paper demonstrated how the price elasticity of demand in world oil markets is estimated. It also showed how the relationship between energy and oil consumption and income are estimated. The income elasticity of demand was also estimated, and empirical estimates of the elasticity of aggregate output regarding crude oil and energy prices were presented. The paper also referred to the transportation sector and estimates of the changing nature of seasonal factors. The review showed that there is much heterogeneity of econometric results. The literature showed that demand increased considerably in response to the price shocks of the 1970s, but these shocks were reversed in the 1980s when the increase in demand did not correspond with the decrease in price. Some of the literature is driven by the belief that there must be a stable, non-linear model that fits the data both before and after price shocks. The authors question whether this could be true and propose an alternative hypothesis that there is a different model that pertains to economic behaviour after price shocks. 15 refs., 7 tabs., 1 fig

empiric treatment based on helicobacter pylori serology cannot ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

EMPIRIC TREATMENT BASED ON. HELICOBACTER PYLORI SEROLOGY. CANNOT SUBSTITUTE FOR EARLY. ENDOSCOPY IN THE. MANAGEMENT OF DYSPEPTIC. RURAL BLACK AFRICANS. Stephen JD O'Keefe, B Salvador, J Nainkin, S Majikir H. Stevens, A Atherstone. Background_ Evidence that chronic gastric ...

Institutions and growth: theoretical foundations and empirical evidence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wagner, A.F.

2000-09-01

Institutions and growth rates are strongly linked both theoretically and empirically. They act through 'efficiency of governance'), as institutions of conflict management, and as devices for inter temporal optimization. Contrary to most of the literature, a non-linear (inversely u-shaped) influence of institutions on growth is also formally derived as a general hypothesis; this reflects the widely neglected notion that institutions also bring opportunity costs with them. Systematic econometric evaluations for a world-wide cross-sectional sample and a European Union panel show mixed results: the rule of law, property rights, and contract and law enforcement are consistently positively related to growth. In Europe, a non-linear relationship is often found for these and other institutions. Corporatism and trust are good for growth in Europe; both bring with them significant rent-seeking costs, though. Comparing the results one notes that no easy transfer of knowledge is possible from one sample to the other. This is an important policy conclusion in its own right. (author)

LA FONCTION DE DEMANDE DE MONNAIE EN ALGERIE (1964 ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2 The inventory theory of demand for money. 3 The optimum ... stability of money demand in China: Evidence from the ARDL model, Economic. Systems ..... 4.13. 6.93. Optimal number of lags ( up to 10 lags. AIC: 8. FPE: 8. HQC: 8. SC: 8. Sample range: [1972, 2009], T = 38. Dimension of the process: 4. Intercept included.

Mindfulness as a personal resource to reduce work stress in the job demands-resources model.

Science.gov (United States)

Grover, Steven L; Teo, Stephen T T; Pick, David; Roche, Maree

2017-10-01

Based on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, this study examines the different ways that the personal resource of mindfulness reduces stress. Structural equation modeling based on data from 415 Australian nurses shows that mindfulness relates directly and negatively to work stress and perceptions of emotional demands as well as buffering the relation of emotional demands on psychological stress. This study contributes to the literature by employing empirical analysis to the task of unravelling how personal resources function within the JD-R model. It also introduces mindfulness as a personal resource in the JD-R model. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Effect of Social Interaction and Tourism Scenario on Tourism Demand:Empirical Research Based on Spring Festival Golden Week%社会交往、旅游情境对旅游需求的影响研究--基于春节“黄金周”的实证分析

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

杨勇

2016-01-01

the consumer is monetarily compensated for the effect of higher prices. Further, as the tourism scenario deteriorates, tourism demand will decrease, shifting the demand curve lower at all possible prices. Golden Week has become an important phenomenon in China and is an excellent case for discussion and research. Since its establishment on October 1, 1999, the Golden Week holiday system has signi fi cantly boosted domestic demand, stimulated consumption, and promoted large-scale economic growth. It has also produced a major expansion in long-distance travel. However, there is evidence that this holiday system has led to many social problems, which pose obstacles for sustainable tourism development. Many experts have concluded that China’s existing holiday policies need to be reformed, and the Golden Week holiday system has emerged as the most urgent priority. Previous tourism demand modeling and forecasting research has relied heavily on secondary data in terms of model construction and estimation. In this paper, we conducted a questionnaire survey on tourism demand during Spring Festival Golden Week in 2014 and obtained firsthand data. Econometric analysis has empirical usefulness in interpreting tourism demand from an economist’s perspective;it is able to support policy recommendations and evaluate the effectiveness of existing tourism policies. In this paper, we place particular emphasis on empirical tests of the hypotheses we developed about tourism demand. The econometric technique we employed is the ordered choice model. We discuss our empirical method together with our empirical findings. We found that individual economic factors had a slight impact on tourism demand in Spring Festival Golden Week; however, such social interaction factors as family structure and appropriate companions significantly affected tourism demand. We observed that although tourists may tolerate traffic congestion and market chaos, a serious imbalance between supply and demand and

Speculative Carryover: An Empirical Examination of the U.S. Refined Copper Market

OpenAIRE

Walter N. Thurman

1988-01-01

This article develops and estimates an empirically tractable model of equilibrium storage. The method bridges the gap between theoretical rational expectations models and applied commodity market work. The application to the U.S. refined copper market provides estimates of structural supply and demand, rational price forecasts, and the risk of copper storage that is consistent with modern portfolio theory.

When Health Policy and Empirical Evidence Collide: The Case of Cigarette Package Warning Labels and Economic Consumer Surplus

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Anna V.; Brown, Paul

2014-01-01

In its graphic warning label regulations on cigarette packages, the Food and Drug Administration severely discounts the benefits of reduced smoking because of the lost “pleasure” smokers experience when they stop smoking; this is quantified as lost “consumer surplus.” Consumer surplus is grounded in rational choice theory. However, empirical evidence from psychological cognitive science and behavioral economics demonstrates that the assumptions of rational choice are inconsistent with complex multidimensional decisions, particularly smoking. Rational choice does not account for the roles of emotions, misperceptions, optimistic bias, regret, and cognitive inefficiency that are germane to smoking, particularly because most smokers begin smoking in their youth. Continued application of a consumer surplus discount will undermine sensible policies to reduce tobacco use and other policies to promote public health. PMID:24328661

Monopoly models with time-varying demand function

Science.gov (United States)

Cavalli, Fausto; Naimzada, Ahmad

2018-05-01

We study a family of monopoly models for markets characterized by time-varying demand functions, in which a boundedly rational agent chooses output levels on the basis of a gradient adjustment mechanism. After presenting the model for a generic framework, we analytically study the case of cyclically alternating demand functions. We show that both the perturbation size and the agent's reactivity to profitability variation signals can have counterintuitive roles on the resulting period-2 cycles and on their stability. In particular, increasing the perturbation size can have both a destabilizing and a stabilizing effect on the resulting dynamics. Moreover, in contrast with the case of time-constant demand functions, the agent's reactivity is not just destabilizing, but can improve stability, too. This means that a less cautious behavior can provide better performance, both with respect to stability and to achieved profits. We show that, even if the decision mechanism is very simple and is not able to always provide the optimal production decisions, achieved profits are very close to those optimal. Finally, we show that in agreement with the existing empirical literature, the price series obtained simulating the proposed model exhibit a significant deviation from normality and large volatility, in particular when underlying deterministic dynamics become unstable and complex.

Investigation of the process energy demand in polymer extrusion: A brief review and an experimental study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abeykoon, Chamil; Kelly, Adrian L.; Brown, Elaine C.; Vera-Sorroche, Javier; Coates, Phil D.; Harkin-Jones, Eileen; Howell, Ken B.; Deng, Jing; Li, Kang; Price, Mark

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Energy consumption and losses in polymer extrusion are discussed. • This compares energy consumption in polymer extrusion at different conditions. • The role of power factor on energy efficiency in polymer extrusion is explored. • Empirical models on extruder energy consumption are provided. • Computer modelling of energy consumption of polymer extrusion is performed. - Abstract: Extrusion is one of the fundamental production methods in the polymer processing industry and is used in the production of a large number of commodities in a diverse industrial sector. Being an energy intensive production method, process energy efficiency is one of the major concerns and the selection of the most energy efficient processing conditions is a key to reducing operating costs. Usually, extruders consume energy through the drive motor, barrel heaters, cooling fans, cooling water pumps, gear pumps, etc. Typically the drive motor is the largest energy consuming device in an extruder while barrel/die heaters are responsible for the second largest energy demand. This study is focused on investigating the total energy demand of an extrusion plant under various processing conditions while identifying ways to optimise the energy efficiency. Initially, a review was carried out on the monitoring and modelling of the energy consumption in polymer extrusion. Also, the power factor, energy demand and losses of a typical extrusion plant were discussed in detail. The mass throughput, total energy consumption and power factor of an extruder were experimentally observed over different processing conditions and the total extruder energy demand was modelled empirically and also using a commercially available extrusion simulation software. The experimental results show that extruder energy demand is heavily coupled between the machine, material and process parameters. The total power predicted by the simulation software exhibits a lagging offset compared with the

Hysteretic Energy Demand in SDOF Structures Subjected to an Earthquake Excitation: Analytical and Empirical Results

OpenAIRE

Taner UÇAR; Onur MERTER

2018-01-01

In energy-based seismic design approach, earthquake ground motion is considered as an energy input to structures. The earthquake input energy is the total of energy components such as kinetic energy, damping energy, elastic strain energy and hysteretic energy, which contributes the most to structural damage. In literature, there are many empirical formulas based on the hysteretic model, damping ratio and ductility in order to estimate hysteretic energy, whereas they do not directly consider t...

Energy efficiency in the British housing stock: Energy demand and the Homes Energy Efficiency Database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamilton, Ian G.; Steadman, Philip J.; Bruhns, Harry; Summerfield, Alex J.; Lowe, Robert

2013-01-01

The UK Government has unveiled an ambitious retrofit programme that seeks significant improvement to the energy efficiency of the housing stock. High quality data on the energy efficiency of buildings and their related energy demand is critical to supporting and targeting investment in energy efficiency. Using existing home improvement programmes over the past 15 years, the UK Government has brought together data on energy efficiency retrofits in approximately 13 million homes into the Homes Energy Efficiency Database (HEED), along with annual metered gas and electricity use for the period of 2004–2007. This paper describes the HEED sample and assesses its representativeness in terms of dwelling characteristics, the energy demand of different energy performance levels using linked gas and electricity meter data, along with an analysis of the impact retrofit measures has on energy demand. Energy savings are shown to be associated with the installation of loft and cavity insulation, and glazing and boiler replacement. The analysis illustrates this source of ‘in-action’ data can be used to provide empirical estimates of impacts of energy efficiency retrofit on energy demand and provides a source of empirical data from which to support the development of national housing energy efficiency retrofit policies. - Highlights: • The energy efficiency level for 50% of the British housing stock is described. • Energy demand is influenced by size and age and energy performance. • Housing retrofits (e.g. cavity insulation, glazing and boiler replacements) save energy. • Historic differences in energy performance show persistent long-term energy savings

Price elasticities of alcohol demand: evidence from Russia.

Science.gov (United States)

Goryakin, Yevgeniy; Roberts, Bayard; McKee, Martin

2015-03-01

In this paper, we estimate price elasticities of demand of several types of alcoholic drinks, using 14 rounds of data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey-HSE, collected from 1994 until 2009. We deal with potential confounding problems by taking advantage of a large number of control variables, as well as by estimating community fixed effect models. All in all, although alcohol prices do appear to influence consumption behaviour in Russia, in most cases the size of effect is modest. The finding that two particularly problematic drinks-cheap vodka and fortified wine-are substitute goods also suggests that increasing their prices may not lead to smaller alcohol consumption. Therefore, any alcohol pricing policies in Russia must be supplemented with other measures, such as restrictions on numbers of sales outlets or their opening times.

BENEFITS OF WILDERNESS EXPANSION WITH EXCESS DEMAND FOR INDIAN PEAKS

OpenAIRE

Walsh, Richard G.; Gilliam, Lynde O.

1982-01-01

The contingent valuation approach was applied to the problem of estimating the recreation benefits from alleviating congestion at Indian Peaks wilderness area, Colorado. A random sample of 126 individuals were interviewed while hiking and backpacking at the study site in 1979. The results provide an empirical test and confirmation of the Cesario and Freeman proposals that under conditions of excess recreational demand for existing sites, enhanced opportunities to substitute newly designated s...

An Empirical Study of Relationships between Student Self-Concept and Science Achievement in Hong Kong

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jianjun; Oliver, Steve; Garcia, Augustine

2004-01-01

Positive self-concept and good understanding of science are important indicators of scientific literacy endorsed by professional organizations. The existing research literature suggests that these two indicators are reciprocally related and mutually reinforcing. Generalization of the reciprocal model demands empirical studies in different…

Electricity demand by the commercial sector in Kuwait: an econometric analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eltony, M.N.; Hajeeh, M.

1999-01-01

This paper models and estimates electricity demand by the Kuwaiti commercial sector, using an error correction model. It also simulates the estimated model under three scenarios and presents an analysis of the results. The empirical results indicate that short- and long-run electricity consumption and the level of economic activity are interrelated. The forecasts show that electricity consumption varies directly with economic growth. They also suggest that an increase of 100 per cent in nominal electricity prices will lead to a reduction in commercial sector electricity demand of 45 per cent by the year 2010. The simulation of the model under the different scenarios demonstrates that the potential for energy conservation exists in the commercial sector

AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION. EVIDENCE FROM ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandru CONSTANGIOARA

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In order to achieve the desired performances and the increased value added to the final consumer, organizations need not only to integrate their core businesses and align them to business strategy but also to develop essential entrepreneurial competences. After presenting the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation and their specificity in a supply chain, we propose an empirical research using a working dataset of 64 firms from various industries to analyze the Romanian entrepreneurial supply chains. Structural equations are employed to estimate the complex relationships between organizational performances and entrepreneurial orientation in supply chains at national level. Results show that entrepreneurial orientation influences organizational competences only in the framework of the supply chain management strategic approach to operational excellence.

The urban health transition hypothesis: empirical evidence of an avian influenza Kuznets curve in Vietnam?

Science.gov (United States)

Spencer, James Herbert

2013-04-01

The literature on development has focused on the concept of transition in understanding the emergent challenges facing poor but rapidly developing countries. Scholars have focused extensively on the health and urban transitions associated with this change and, in particular, its use for understanding emerging infectious diseases. However, few have developed explicit empirical measures to quantify the extent to which a transitions focus is useful for theory, policy, and practice. Using open source data on avian influenza in 2004 and 2005 and the Vietnam Census of Population and Housing, this paper introduces the Kuznets curve as a tool for empirically estimating transition and disease. Findings suggest that the Kuznets curve is a viable tool for empirically assessing the role of transitional dynamics in the emergence of new infectious diseases.

Hypnosis Treatment of Gastrointestinal Disorders: A Comprehensive Review of the Empirical Evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Palsson, Olafur S

2015-10-01

Hypnotherapy has been investigated for 30 years as a treatment for gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. There are presently 35 studies in the published empirical literature, including 17 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that have assessed clinical outcomes of such treatment. This body of research is reviewed comprehensively in this article. Twenty-four of the studies have tested hypnotherapy for adult irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and 5 have focused on IBS or abdominal pain in children. All IBS hypnotherapy studies have reported significant improvement in gastrointestinal symptoms, and 7 out of 10 RCTs in adults and all 3 RCTs in pediatric patient samples found superior outcomes for hypnosis compared to control groups. Collectively this body of research shows unequivocally that for both adults and children with IBS, hypnosis treatment is highly efficacious in reducing bowel symptoms and can offer lasting and substantial symptom relief for a large proportion of patients who do not respond adequately to usual medical treatment approaches. For other GI disorders the evidence is more limited, but preliminary indications of therapeutic potential can be seen in the single randomized controlled trials published to date on hypnotherapy for functional dyspepsia, functional chest pain, and ulcerative colitis. Further controlled hypnotherapy trials in those three disorders should be a high priority. The mechanisms underlying the impact of hypnosis on GI problems are still unclear, but findings from a number of studies suggest that they involve both modulation of gut functioning and changes in the brain's handling of sensory signals from the GI tract.

ECONOMIC & DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERICTICS, SOCIAL CAPITAL AND DEMAND FOR LIFE INSURANCE: EVIDENCE FROM CENTRAL REGION OF SRI LANKA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sisira Kumara NARADDA GAMAGE

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This paper presents findings of the determinants of demand for life insurance in the central region of Sri Lanka.  It is a novel study in the sense that it incorporated social capital as a determinant of demand for life insurance. Primary data has been collected through random sampling and the logistic model was used to examine the determinants of the demand for life insurance. Results confirmed that gender, income, trust and social capital has significant effect on demand for life insurance in the study area. Income and trust came out positive contributors of life insurance demand. However, it is worthy to note that although income has a positive effect on life insurance demand but its odds ratio makes it less important factor to influence demand for life insurance. Gender has deteriorated effect on demand for life insurance indicating that male household head less likely to purchase life insurance. Similarly, social capital also has a negative impact on demand for life insurance. Other determinants like age, religious status, working status, and education, has not significant effect on life insurance demand. Policies are recommended on research findings.

The driving factors behind coal demand in China from 1997 to 2012: An empirical study of input-output structural decomposition analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Ya; Zhang, Wanying

2016-01-01

With the rapid development of economy, especially the constant progress in industrialisation and urbanisation, China's energy consumption has increased annually. Coal consumption, which accounts for about 70% of total energy consumption, is of particular concern. Hence, it is crucial to study the driving factors behind coal demand in China. This work uses an input-output structural decomposition analysis (I-O SDA) model to decompose the increments of coal demand in China from 1997 to 2012 into the sum of the weighted average for eight driving factors from three aspects, including: domestic demand, foreign trade and industrial upgrading. Results show that: during the research period, the demand for coal increases by 153.3%, which is increased by 185.4% and 76.4% respectively due to the driving forces of domestic demand and foreign trade; in addition, industrial upgrading can effectively restrain the growth in coal demand with a contribution rate of −108.6%. On this basis, we mainly studied the driving factors of coal demand in six high energy-consuming industries, namely the electrical power, energy processing, metals, mining, building materials and chemical industries. Finally, we proposed targeted policy suggestions for the realisation of energy conservation and emissions reduction in China. - Highlights: •The driving factors behind coal demand in China from 1997 to 2012 are studied. •An input-output structural decomposition analysis is developed. •A fresh perspective of domestic demand, foreign trade, and industrial upgrading is employed. •The influences of these affecting factors on China's coal demand from six high energy-consuming industries are investigated. •Targeted policy suggestions for energy conservation and emissions reduction are suggested.

Regional infrastructure and firm investment. Theory and empirical evidence for Italy

OpenAIRE

Aiello, Francesco; Iona, Alfonsina; Leonida, Leone

2009-01-01

We model the channels through which public expenditure on infrastructure influences firm value and shapes its investment decisions via both adjustment costs and marginal profitability of capital. We test these hypotheses by using a large panel of Italian firms. Empirical results show that infrastructure interacts with revenues and costs in shaping firm's profitability of capital and influences its adjustment costs. Finally we find that infrastructure expenditure contributes to reduce the econ...

An estimation of crude oil import demand in Turkey: Evidence from time-varying parameters approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ozturk, Ilhan; Arisoy, Ibrahim

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to model crude oil import demand and estimate the price and income elasticities of imported crude oil in Turkey based on a time-varying parameters (TVP) approach with the aim of obtaining accurate and more robust estimates of price and income elasticities. This study employs annual time series data of domestic oil consumption, real GDP, and oil price for the period 1966–2012. The empirical results indicate that both the income and price elasticities are in line with the theoretical expectations. However, the income elasticity is statistically significant while the price elasticity is statistically insignificant. The relatively high value of income elasticity (1.182) from this study suggests that crude oil import in Turkey is more responsive to changes in income level. This result indicates that imported crude oil is a normal good and rising income levels will foster higher consumption of oil based equipments, vehicles and services by economic agents. The estimated income elasticity of 1.182 suggests that imported crude oil consumption grows at a higher rate than income. This in turn reduces oil intensity over time. Therefore, crude oil import during the estimation period is substantially driven by income. - Highlights: • We estimated the price and income elasticities of imported crude oil in Turkey. • Income elasticity is statistically significant and it is 1.182. • The price elasticity is statistically insignificant. • Crude oil import in Turkey is more responsive to changes in income level. • Crude oil import during the estimation period is substantially driven by income.

Estimating short and long-term residential demand for electricity. New evidence from Sri Lanka

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Athukorala, P.P.A Wasantha; Wilson, Clevo

2010-01-01

This study investigates the short-run dynamics and long-run equilibrium relationship between residential electricity demand and factors influencing demand - per capita income, price of electricity, price of kerosene oil and price of liquefied petroleum gas - using annual data for Sri Lanka for the period, 1960-2007. The study uses unit root, cointegration and error-correction models. The long-run demand elasticities of income, own price and price of kerosene oil (substitute) were estimated to be 0.78, - 0.62, and 0.14 respectively. The short-run elasticities for the same variables were estimated to be 0.32, - 0.16 and 0.10 respectively. Liquefied petroleum (LP) gas is a substitute for electricity only in the short-run with an elasticity of 0.09. The main findings of the paper support the following (1) increasing the price of electricity is not the most effective tool to reduce electricity consumption (2) existing subsidies on electricity consumption can be removed without reducing government revenue (3) the long-run income elasticity of demand shows that any future increase in household incomes is likely to significantly increase the demand for electricity and (4) any power generation plans which consider only current per capita consumption and population growth should be revised taking into account the potential future income increases in order to avoid power shortages in the country. (author)

Estimating short and long-term residential demand for electricity. New evidence from Sri Lanka

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Athukorala, P.P.A Wasantha; Wilson, Clevo [School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane (Australia)

2010-09-15

This study investigates the short-run dynamics and long-run equilibrium relationship between residential electricity demand and factors influencing demand - per capita income, price of electricity, price of kerosene oil and price of liquefied petroleum gas - using annual data for Sri Lanka for the period, 1960-2007. The study uses unit root, cointegration and error-correction models. The long-run demand elasticities of income, own price and price of kerosene oil (substitute) were estimated to be 0.78, - 0.62, and 0.14 respectively. The short-run elasticities for the same variables were estimated to be 0.32, - 0.16 and 0.10 respectively. Liquefied petroleum (LP) gas is a substitute for electricity only in the short-run with an elasticity of 0.09. The main findings of the paper support the following (1) increasing the price of electricity is not the most effective tool to reduce electricity consumption (2) existing subsidies on electricity consumption can be removed without reducing government revenue (3) the long-run income elasticity of demand shows that any future increase in household incomes is likely to significantly increase the demand for electricity and (4) any power generation plans which consider only current per capita consumption and population growth should be revised taking into account the potential future income increases in order to avoid power shortages in the country. (author)

Supply chain strategy: empirical case study in Europe and Asia:

OpenAIRE

Sillanpää, Ilkka; Sillanpää, Sebastian

2014-01-01

The purpose of this case study research is to present a literature review of supply chain strategy approaches, develop supply chain strategy framework and to validate a framework in empirical case study. Literature review and case study research are the research methods for this research. This study presents the supply chain strategy framework which merges together business environment, corporate strategy, supply chain demand and supply chain strategy. Research argues that all the different c...

Evidence is growing on demand side of an oil peak

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2009-07-15

After years of continued growth, the number of miles driven by Americans started falling in December 2007. Not only are the number of miles driven falling, but as cars become more fuel efficient, they go further on fewer gallons - further reducing demand for gasoline. This trend is expected to accelerate. Drivers include, along with higher-efficiency cars, mass transit, reversal in urban sprawl, biofuels, and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Short- and long-run elasticities in energy demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bentzen, J.; Engsted, T.

1993-01-01

Short- and long-run energy demand elasticities are estimated on Danish annual data for 1948-90. Energy consumption, the real price of energy and real GDP appear to be non-stationary variables. Cointegration and error-correction methods are therefore applied. All estimated parameters have the expected signs and magnitudes and no evidence is found of a structural break in energy demand caused by the increases in real energy prices since 1973/74. (author)

Empiric treatment based on Helicobacter Pylori serology cannont ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Evidence that chronic gastric Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection is an aetiological factor in dyspepsia, peptic ulcer disease, gastric carcinoma and lymphoma has led to the suggestion that all serologically positive dyspeptic patients should be treated empirically with antibiotics to eradicate the infection, without ...

U.S. Ethanol Demand and World Hunger: Is There Any Connection?

OpenAIRE

Hao, Na; Colson, Greg; Wetzstein, Michael

2015-01-01

U.S. ethanol expansion objectives are to improve both energy security and the environmental. However, this expansion has raised issues concerning its detrimental impacts on the price volatility of developing countries’ agricultural commodities. These concerns are addressed by empirically investigating the relations among U.S. ethanol and corn markets with developing countries’ corn prices. Results indicate that U.S. ethanol demand impacts on developing countries’ corn prices vary by country. ...

An Empirical Analysis of the Default Rate of Informal Lending—Evidence from Yiwu, China

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Wei; Yu, Xiaobo; Du, Juan; Ji, Feng

This study empirically analyzes the underlying factors contributing to the default rate of informal lending. This paper adopts snowball sampling interview to collect data and uses the logistic regression model to explore the specific factors. The results of these analyses validate the explanation of how the informal lending differs from the commercial loan. Factors that contribute to the default rate have particular attributes, while sharing some similarities with commercial bank or FICO credit scoring Index. Finally, our concluding remarks draw some inferences from empirical analysis and speculate as to what this may imply for the role of formal and informal financial sectors.

Bank Credit and Aggregate Import Demand in Nigeria: A Cointegration Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philip Chimobi Omoke

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This study reformulated the aggregate import demand for Nigeria by including a financial variable (bank credit into the traditional import demand function for the period 1970-2009. The Johansen Multivariate cointegration analysis was used to estimate the function. The result obtained from the study shows no evidence of the existence of cointegrating relations between bank credit and import demand. This shows that bank credit is found to be insufficient as a policy instrument for long term import demand in Nigeria. Thus, the financial variable should not be included in modelling the aggregate import demand for Nigeria.

Workplace bullying: A perspective from the Job Demands-Resources model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anja van den Broeck

2011-05-01

Research purpose: The purpose of the study was to test the work environment hypothesis by applying the Job Demands-Resources model to workplace bullying. We expected job demands and job resources to relate to both perpetrators’ and actors’ reports of workplace bullying. Motivation for the study: We aimed to extend the outcomes examined in the Job Demands- Resources model to a specific form of counterproductive interpersonal behaviour, namely workplace bullying. From the point of view of the literature on bullying, we aimed to substantiate the well-known work environment hypothesis with empirical data. Research design, approach and method: We applied structural equation modelling on questionnaire data of a large heterogeneous sample of Flemish employees (N = 749. Main findings: Job demands and job resources interacted in the prediction of perpetrators’ reports of bullying: job demands associated positively to perpetrators’ reports of bullying particularly under the condition of high job resources. Job demands related positively to targets’ reports of bullying, while job resources related negatively. These associations were (partially mediated by emotional exhaustion. Practical/managerial implications: These results suggest that workplace bullying may indeed be reduced by good job design, that is, by limiting the job demands and increasing job resources. Particular prevention plans may be developed for exhausted employees, as they are vulnerable to workplace bullying, in terms of both becoming perpetrators and victims. Contribution/value-add: This study attests to the predictive validity of the JD-R model for perpetrators’ and targets’ reports of workplace bullying. The findings also underline the complex and multi-causal nature of workplace bullying.

Measuring the Level of Industrial Green Development and Exploring Its Influencing Factors: Empirical Evidence from China’s 30 Provinces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chaofan Chen

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, with the green economy becoming mainstream in the world, an industrial revolution as the core of green development has emerged. Based on the empirical evidence from China’s 30 provinces, this study establishes an evaluation index system of China’s industrial green development and applies the analytic hierarchy process to determine the indices’ weights and properties to measure the level of industrial green development in China’s 30 provinces. Then, an empirical study is conducted to explore the relevant factors influencing China’s industrial green development by using the dynamic panel data model and a panel threshold test. The results show that China’s level of industrial green development has the characteristic of typical regional differentiation with a ladder-like distribution from the east and middle to the west, and the eastern region has the highest level on industrial green output, industrial green efficiency and industrial green innovation. Technological progress and innovation can stimulate industrial green development. The impact of environmental regulation and foreign investment on industrial green development presents a nonlinear “N”-type trend, and the positive effects are mainly observed in eastern China. Capital deepening, heavy chemical industries and an unreasonable energy structure are not effective in industrial green development. There is no direct relation between the enterprise scale and industrial green development.

Ownership unbundling of gas transmission networks. Empirical evidence

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Growitsch, Christian [Koeln Univ. (Germany). Energiewirtschaftliches Inst.; Stronzik, Marcus [Scientific Institute for Infrastructure and Communication Services (WIK), Bad Honnef (Germany)

2011-07-15

The European Commission has intensively discussed the mandatory separation of natural gas transmission from production and services. However, economic theory is ambiguous on the price effects of vertical separation. In this paper, we empirically analyse the effect of ownership unbundling of gas transmission networks as the strongest form of vertical separation on the level of end-user prices. Therefore, we apply different dynamic estimators as system GMM and the bias-corrected least-squares dummy variable or LSDVC estimator on an unbalanced panel out of 18 EU countries over 19 years, allowing us to avoid the endogeneity problem and to estimate the long-run effects of regulation. We introduce a set of regulatory indicators as market entry regulation, ownership structure, vertical separation and market structure and account for structural and economic country specifics. Among these different estimators, we consistently find that ownership unbundling has no impact on natural gas end-user prices, while the more modest legal unbundling reduces them significantly. Furthermore, third-party access, market structure and privatisation show significant influence with the latter leading to higher price levels.

The job demands-resources model of burnout.

Science.gov (United States)

Demerouti, E; Bakker, A B; Nachreiner, F; Schaufeli, W B

2001-06-01

The job demands-resources (JD-R) model proposes that working conditions can be categorized into 2 broad categories, job demands and job resources. that are differentially related to specific outcomes. A series of LISREL analyses using self-reports as well as observer ratings of the working conditions provided strong evidence for the JD-R model: Job demands are primarily related to the exhaustion component of burnout, whereas (lack of) job resources are primarily related to disengagement. Highly similar patterns were observed in each of 3 occupational groups: human services, industry, and transport (total N = 374). In addition, results confirmed the 2-factor structure (exhaustion and disengagement) of a new burnout instrument--the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory--and suggested that this structure is essentially invariant across occupational groups.

Electronic Health Records Prospects in Egypt: A Demand-Side Perspective

OpenAIRE

Badran; Mona Farid

2017-01-01

The present study sheds light on the expected factors that would impact the Electronic Health Records (EHR) service in Egypt from the demand-side perspective, i.e. the health care consumer. This empirical study is motivated by the widespread use of EHR as a method of promoting health services globally, where it is considered as an efficiency enhancing, cost effective technology. Moreover, the healthcare sector in Egypt is gaining momentum, especially that the comprehensive healthcare and soci...

Clustered Pricing in the Corporate Loan Market: Theory and Empirical Evidence

OpenAIRE

Bajoori, Elnaz; Nandeibam, Shasikanta; Chaudhry, Sajid Mukhtar

2016-01-01

Existing theories explaining security price clustering as well as clustering in the retail depositand mortgage markets are incompatible with the clustering in the corporate loan market. Wedevelop a new theoretical argument that the attitude of the lender toward the uncertaintyabout the quality of the borrower leads to the clustering of spreads. Our empirical resultssupport these arguments and we find that clustering increases with the degree of uncertaintybetween the lender and the borrower. ...

Tax-and-Spend or Spend-and-Tax? Empirical Evidence from Malaysia

OpenAIRE

Tan Juat Hong

2009-01-01

The paper investigates the causal relationships between government spending and revenue for Malaysia. The study uses annual data, a Johansen cointegration test and an error-correction model. A preliminary test shows that government revenue and expenditure are cointegrated. Empirical results support the spend-and-tax hypothesis. Furthermore, they underscore the fact that fiscal policy may not be effective enough to curb the rising budget deficits over the long term and may even reduce private ...

Is Malaysia exempted from impossible trinity: empirical evidence from 1991-2009

OpenAIRE

Lim, Ewe Ghee; Goh, SooKhoon

2011-01-01

This paper examines Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) monetary policy autonomy in 1991-2009, a period of volatile capital flows, during which BNM operated under several exchange regimes: managed floating; fixed exchange rates; and fixed exchange rates with selective capital controls. Using a modified version of the Brissimis, Gibson and Tsakalotos (2002) model, the paper’s empirical estimates show that the same-period offset coefficients are significantly less than unity under all regimes, indicat...

Adapting to Changing Memory Retrieval Demands: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

Science.gov (United States)

Benoit, Roland G.; Werkle-Bergner, Markus; Mecklinger, Axel; Kray, Jutta

2009-01-01

This study investigated preparatory processes involved in adapting to changing episodic memory retrieval demands. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants performed a general old/new recognition task and a specific task that also required retrieval of perceptual details. The relevant task remained either constant or changed…

Task Demands in OSCEs Influence Learning Strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Lafleur, Alexandre; Laflamme, Jonathan; Leppink, Jimmie; Côté, Luc

2017-01-01

similar contents but different task demands lead to opposite learning strategies regarding how students manage their study time. Measuring pre-assessment effects from a metacognitive perspective provides empirical evidence to redesign assessments for learning.

THE CONCEPT OF REFLEXIVE MANAGEMENT OF CONSUMER DEMAND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryna Mavrina

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Development of theoretical approaches of demand management is conducted from the moment of awareness of the importance of this concept. Many models of individual consumers were developed. However, to predict the reaction of consumers to the commercial policy of the enterprise, exact methods do not exist yet because the available ones are mostly empirical in nature. Models of behaviour often do not provide the expected result because they use an erroneous approach to the analysis of the mechanism of demand formation. The subject of the research is the theoretical and methodological basis, methods of assessment, and reflexive management of consumer demand of commercial enterprises. The purpose of the paper is developing a concept of reflexive management of consumer demand. To achieve the research goal, the following tasks are set and solved: to substantiate the theoretical and methodological foundations of reflexive consumer management, to analyse existing approaches to the modelling of consumer behaviour; to improve the model of consumer behaviour; to develop a concept of reflexive management of consumer behaviour. Methodology. In the paper, we use such methods and approaches to research as: reflexive approach (phenomenological method, behavioural economic theory, marketing approach, abstract-logical analysis, analysis of theoretical approaches to the modelling of consumer behaviour. Results. Modern approaches to modelling of consumer behaviour are mostly empirical in nature and have shortcomings of general models. In them, there is no description of specific situations of the purchase of goods. They cannot be quantified. Therefore, they cannot be practical models. But they have a weighty advantage in a comprehensive look at motivated purchases, what makes it possible to evaluate the relevance of individual variables and to understand the fundamental processes of consumer behaviour. It makes possible to identify the variables necessary for the

Negotiated forms of worker involvement in the European Company (SE): First empirical evidence and conclusions

OpenAIRE

Keller, Berndt; Werner, Frank

2008-01-01

This article analyses the negotiations on worker involvement in the first almost four years of the European Company SE and their outcomes. First, some basic institutional aspects of the SE itself and its current empirical situation are described and explained. Then, the focus is on questions of employee involvement in this new legal form. Again some main institutional provisions on employee involvement are assessed, before a detailed empirical analysis on specific issues is presented. A final...

Empiric evidence for ceramic sector in Spain; Influencia de los recursos y capacidades territoriales sobre las empresas en un distrito industrial

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hervas Oliver, J. L.; Dalmau Porta, J. I.; Albors Garrigos, J.

2008-07-01

One of the differences on the firms performance is based on the strategic location on a specific geographic place: the territorial effect. Firstly, we develop a theoretical framework which includes the located assets in an industrial district. Thus, in order to measure the influence of territorial assets over located firms, we analyze quantitatively that district effect or territorial effect on a sample of 343 firms from the Spanish ceramic tile industry in 2000, 1999 and 1998, finding empirical evidence of the existence of externalities shown on different financial and economic indicators in the companies located in the industrial district area compared to the outside (or isolated) companies. (Author) 94 refs.

MNE SPECIFIC FACTORS OF CORPORATE CAPITAL STRUCTURE: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS IN TERMS OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES DEMAND AND SUPPLY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergiy Tsyganov

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates corporate capital structure of multinational enterprises. Its core subject is focused on corporate capital structure defining factors that are specific for MNE rather than for domestic corporations. Substantial part of scientific literature concentrates on country specific and firm specific factors of corporate capital structure with most research devoted to domestic corporations. The main goal of our paper is to discover among plenty of corporate capital structure factors those that are specific for MNE and to develop a new approach for analyzing these factors in terms of financial resources demand and supply. There are some corporate capital structure factors that influence directly and some that have indirect influence while there is also another set of factors having both direct and indirect influence on indebtedness. Different theoretical and empirical research confirm different directions. Methodology of our study is based on analysis of two fundamental market driving forces that are demand and supply. Their influence on corporate capital structure is of a primary origin and that is why the suggested approach is to our mind theoretically significant and practically important. Demand factors imply that a corporation creates demand for financial resources and its capital structure is defined internally. Supply factors imply an external capital structure since it is created by external investors’ supply of financial resources. On empirical level, we use the primary data of corporate financial statements to analyze the leverage of MNE based in different countries and representing different industries. The key results of our study show that the main MNE specific factors of capital structure include such demand factors as multinationality level, assets tangibility and political risk. The first two are firm specific factors that can influence corporate capital structure either directly or indirectly according to

The global food crisis : supply and demand revisited

OpenAIRE

Sammut, Vince

2015-01-01

This study aims to show that the volatility in food prices between 2008 and 2011 cannot be explained merely by the market fundamentals of demand and supply. While global changes in demand and supply are bringing about radical changes to the food equation, evidence shows that market failure in the world grain market aggravated the problem. Excess liquidity, brought about by monetary growth policies after the subprime crises and financial meltdown in 2008, has stimulated speculation and hoar...

Identifying electricity-saving potential in rural China: Empirical evidence from a household survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Yihua; Guo, Jin

2016-01-01

In recent years, there has been a fast-growing body of literature examining energy-saving potential in relation to electricity. However, empirical studies focusing on non-Western nations are limited. To fill this gap, this study intends to examine the electricity-saving potential of rural households in China using a unique data set from the China Residential Electricity Consumption Survey (CRECS) in collaboration with the China General Social Survey (CGSS), conducted nationwide at the household level in rural China. We use a stochastic frontier model, which allows us to decompose residential electricity consumption into the minimum necessary amount of consumption based on physical characteristics (e.g. house size, house age, number of televisions or refrigerators) and estimate the consumption slack (i.e. the amount of electricity consumption that could be saved), which depends on various factors. We find that rural households in China are generally efficient in electricity saving and the saving potential is affected by (fast) information feedback and social-demographic characteristics, instead of by the (averaged) electricity price, or energy efficiency labelling signals. In addition, we find no evidence of regional heterogeneity on electricity saving potential for rural households. Policy implications are derived. - Highlights: •Electricity saving potential of rural households in China is examined. •Unique survey data from the CRECS in collaboration with the CGSS are used. •A stochastic frontier model is applied. •Information feedback and social-demographic characteristics matter. •Electricity price or energy efficiency tier rating does not matter.

The Job Demands-Job Control Model and absence behaviour : results of a 3-year longitudinal study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smulders, P.G.W.; Nijhuis, F.J.N.

1999-01-01

Empirical results of earlier studies only marginally supported the relevance of Karasek's Job Demands-Job Control Model for absence behaviour. Since longitudinal studies with respect to these relations were largely lacking, a four-wave panel study was carried out using data from 1755 male employees

The demand for electricity in Israel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beenstock, M.; Goldin, E.; Nabot, D.

1999-01-01

Quarterly data for Israel are used to compare and contrast three dynamic econometric methodologies for estimating the demand for electricity by households and industrial companies. These are the Dynamic Regression Model and two approaches to cointegration (OLS and Maximum Likelihood). Since we find evidence of seasonal unit roots in the data we also test for seasonal cointegration. We find that the scale elasticities are similar in all three approaches but the OLS price elasticities are considerably lower. Moreover, OLS suggests non-cointegration. The paper concludes by stochastically simulating the DRMs to calculate upside-risk in electricity demand. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

The demand for electricity in Israel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beenstock, M. [Department of Economics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, 91905 Jerusalem (Israel); Goldin, E.; Nabot, D. [EG Consulting, Hameasef 11, Jerusalem (Israel)

1999-04-01

Quarterly data for Israel are used to compare and contrast three dynamic econometric methodologies for estimating the demand for electricity by households and industrial companies. These are the Dynamic Regression Model and two approaches to cointegration (OLS and Maximum Likelihood). Since we find evidence of seasonal unit roots in the data we also test for seasonal cointegration. We find that the scale elasticities are similar in all three approaches but the OLS price elasticities are considerably lower. Moreover, OLS suggests non-cointegration. The paper concludes by stochastically simulating the DRMs to calculate upside-risk in electricity demand. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

Whither voluntary communities of co-located patients in Vietnam? Empirical evidence from a 2016 medical survey dataset

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Quan-Hoang Vuong

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Empirical evidence on quality of life of poor patients falls short for policy-making in Vietnam. Financial burdens and isolation give rise to Vietnamese voluntary co-location clusters where patients seek to rely on each other. These communities, although important, have been under-researched. Increasingly, there are questions about their sustainability. Aim & Objectives: This study aims to identify factors that affect sustainability of such co-location clusters, seeking to measure the community prospect through critical determinants as seen by member patients. An in-depth analysis is expected to yield insights that help shape future policies contributing to improvement of healthcare systems.  Material & Method: A dataset containing responses from 336 patients living in four clusters in Hanoi was obtained from a survey during 2015Q4-2016Q1. The processing of data is performed using R 3.2.3, employing baseline category logit models (BCL. Coefficients are estimated to compute empirical probabilities. Results: 1 There is a 50% probability that a patient seeing his/her benefits as unsatisfactory views the community prospect as dim; 2 The more a patient contributes time/effort, the less he/she believes in future growth; 3 There is a 80.8% probability that a patient who makes a significant financial contribution and receives back in-kind benefits predicts no growth. Conclusion: Patients predict community growth when receiving what they need/expect. There exists a kind of “liquidity preference”. Only 14% and 32% make significant financial and labor contributions, respectively. There exists a “risk aversion” attitude, viewing contribution as certain while future benefits to be uncertain.

The rebound effect for heavy industry: Empirical evidence from China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, Boqiang; Li, Jianglong

2014-01-01

Energy efficiency improvement will reduce the effective price of energy services, and hence at least partially mitigate original expected energy conservation. Therefore, the magnitude of rebound effect is important for the design and timing of an effective energy conservation policy. Under the framework of translog cost share equations, we estimates the direct rebound effect for heavy industry in China for the first time by conducting an empirical research on the relationship between the direct rebound effect and the ease with which energy services can substitute for other inputs. Additionally, asymmetric price responses are specified in the model for the rebound effect estimation. Empirical results in our paper indicate that the rebound effect for heavy industry in China is about 74.3%. This reveals that energy efficiency improvement can save energy to a certain degree since the rebound effect is less than 100% (“back-fire”), but most of the expected reduction in heavy industry energy consumption is mitigated. These findings prove that energy pricing reforms and energy taxes should be further implemented to achieve effective energy conservation in China’s 12th Five Years Plan. - Highlights: • Heavy industry is energy intensive and accounts for over 60% of China’s energy consumption. • Direct rebound effect for heavy industry in China is estimated for the first time. • Asymmetric price responses are specified in the model for the direct rebound effect estimation. • Finding the existence of direct rebound effect in China’s heavy industry with a magnitude of 74.3%. • Proving that energy pricing reforms and energy taxes should be further implemented

Evidências empirícas sobre a relação entre EVA e Retorno Acionário nas empresas brasileiras - Empirical evidence on the relationship beween EVA and Stock Returns in brazilian firms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Otavio Ribeiro de Medeiros

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Este artigo fornece evidências empíricas sobre a relação entre Valor Econômico Adicionado (EVA e retornos acionários de empresas brasileiras. A relação entre essas variáveis têm sido motivo de controvérsia nos últimos anos, com alguns autores encontrando associações significativas entre elas, enquanto outros não encontrando nenhuma. A hipótese de que o EVA afeta os retornos acionários é testada através de regressão linear, utilizando-se modelos alternativos. A amostra é composta de empresas negociadas na mais importante bolsa de valores brasileira. Uma comparação entre os resultados deste estudo com os de estudos anteriores mostram que resultados significativos dependem da determinação das variáveis apropriadas (retornos acionários versus preços das ações, bem como da correta relação dinâmica entre a variável dependente e a independente. This paper provides empirical evidence on the relationship between Economic Value Added (EVA and stock returns in Brazilian firms. This relationship between these variables has been subject to controversy in recent years, with some authors finding significant associations between them while others find none. The hypothesis that EVA affects stock returns is tested through linear regression, using alternative models. The sample is comprised of companies that are traded on the most important Brazilian stock exchange. A comparison of the outcomes of our study with those of previous studies shows that significant results depend on determination of the appropriate variables (stock returns versus stock prices, as well as of the correct dynamic structure between the dependent and the explanatory variable.

The growth of business firms: theoretical framework and empirical evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Dongfeng; Pammolli, Fabio; Buldyrev, S V; Riccaboni, Massimo; Matia, Kaushik; Yamasaki, Kazuko; Stanley, H Eugene

2005-12-27

We introduce a model of proportional growth to explain the distribution P(g)(g) of business-firm growth rates. The model predicts that P(g)(g) is exponential in the central part and depicts an asymptotic power-law behavior in the tails with an exponent zeta = 3. Because of data limitations, previous studies in this field have been focusing exclusively on the Laplace shape of the body of the distribution. In this article, we test the model at different levels of aggregation in the economy, from products to firms to countries, and we find that the predictions of the model agree with empirical growth distributions and size-variance relationships.

Cost overruns and demand shortfalls in urban rail and other infrastructure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Flyvbjerg, Bent

2007-01-01

Risk, including economic risk, is increasingly a concern for public policy and management. The possibility of dealing effectively with risk is hampered, however, by lack of a sound empirical basis for risk assessment and management. This article demonstrates the general point for cost and demand ...... is proposed as a model for other types of policies and projects in order to improve economic and financial risk assessment and management in policy and planning....

The Job Demands-Resources model: Further evidence for the buffering effect of personal resources

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Maxime A. Tremblay

2011-05-01

Research purpose: Using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R model as a theoretical framework, the present study examined the role of compassion satisfaction, conceptualised as a personal resource, in buffering the relationship between job demands and job strain. Motivation for the study: Accordingly, four demanding aspects of the job (i.e. role overload, insufficiency, ambiguity and conflict and one personal resource (i.e. compassion satisfaction were used to test the central hypothesis that the interaction between (high job demands and (low personal resources produces the highest levels of anxiety and depression as indicators of job strain. Research design, approach and method: Hypotheses were tested amongst 122 military chaplains. Main findings: Results showed that compassion satisfaction partially moderated the relationship between job demands and job strain. More specifically, when compassion satisfaction was high, the effect of role overload on job strain was significantly reduced. However, the relationships between the other three role stressors and job strain were not offset by compassion satisfaction. Practical/managerial implications: The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for the JD-R model are discussed. Contribution/value-add: Despite the limitations of this study, the present findings still have important implications for future research and practice. Our findings highlight the fact that the empowerment of employees’ personal resources, as outlined in the JD-R model, may not only be of value for employees to thrive, but may also be particularly beneficial in terms of compassion satisfaction being viewed as a protective factor to adverse working conditions.

How Intense Policy Demanders Shape Postreform Politics: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act.

Science.gov (United States)

Rocco, Philip; Haeder, Simon F

2018-04-01

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a politically volatile process. The ACA's institutional design and delayed feedback effects created a window of opportunity for its partisan opponents to launch challenges at both the federal and state level. Yet as recent research suggests, postreform politics depends on more than policy feedback alone; rather, it is shaped by the partisan and interest-group environment. We argue that "intense policy demanders" played an important role in defining the policy alternatives that comprised congressional Republicans' efforts to repeal and replace the ACA. To test this argument, we drew on an original data set of bill introductions in the House of Representatives between 2011 and 2016. Our analysis suggests that business contributions and political ideology affected the likelihood that House Republicans would introduce measures repealing significant portions of the ACA. A secondary analysis shows that intense policy demanders also shaped the vote on House Republicans' initial ACA replacement plan. These findings highlight the role intense policy demanders can play in shaping the postreform political agenda. Copyright © 2018 by Duke University Press.

Economic growth, regional disparities and energy demand in China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheng, Yu; Shi, Xunpeng; Zhang, Dandan

2014-01-01

Using the panel data of 27 provinces between 1978 and 2008, we employed a instrumental regression technique to examine the relationship between economic growth, energy demand/production and the related policies in China. The empirical results show that forming a cross-province integrated energy market will in general reduce the response of equilibrium user costs of energy products to their local demand and production, through cross-regional energy transfer (including both energy trade and cross-regional reallocation). In particular, reducing transportation costs and improving marketization level are identified as two important policy instruments to enhance the role of energy market integration. The findings support the argument for a more competitive cross-province energy transfer policies and calls for more developed energy connectivity and associate institutional arrangements within China. These policy implications may also be extended to the East Asia Summit region where energy market integration is being actively promoted. - Highlights: • Development driving energy demand has different impacts on energy prices than others. • EMI will reduce the response of equilibrium energy prices to local demand and production. • Reducing transportation costs and improving marketization level enhance the role of EMI. • More market competition and better physical and institutional connectivity are better. • Policy implications to China may be extended to the East Asia Summit region

Grasping intentions: from thought experiments to empirical evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina eBecchio

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Skepticism has been expressed concerning the possibility to understand others’ intentions by simply observing their movements: Since a number of different intentions may have produced a particular action, motor information – it has been argued - might be sufficient to understand what an agent is doing, but not her remote goal in performing that action. Here we challenge this conclusion by showing that in the absence of contextual information, intentions can be inferred from body movement. Based on recent empirical findings, we shall contend that: i intentions translate into differential kinematic patterns; ii observers are especially attuned to kinematic information and can use early differences in visual kinematics to anticipate the intention of an agent in performing a given action; iii during interacting activities, predictions about the future course of others’ actions tune online action planning; iv motor activation during action observation subtends a complementary understanding of what the other is doing. These findings demonstrate that intention understanding is deeply rooted in social interaction: by simply observing others’ movements, we might know what they have in mind to do and how we should act in response.

Dynamics of Electricity Demand in Lesotho: A Kalman Filter Approach

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Thamae Retselisitsoe Isaiah

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This study provides an empirical analysis of the time-varying price and income elasticities of electricity demand in Lesotho for the period 1995-2012 using the Kalman filter approach. The results reveal that economic growth has been one of the main drivers of electricity consumption in Lesotho while electricity prices are found to play a less significant role since they are monopoly-driven and relatively low when compared to international standards. These findings imply that increases in electricity prices in Lesotho might not have a significant impact on consumption in the short-run. However, if the real electricity prices become too high over time, consumers might change their behavior and sensitivity to price and hence, energy policymakers will need to reconsider their impact in the long-run. Furthermore, several exogenous shocks seem to have affected the sensitivity of electricity demand during the period prior to regulation, which made individuals, businesses and agencies to be more sensitive to electricity costs. On the other hand, the period after regulation has been characterized by more stable and declining sensitivity of electricity demand. Therefore, factors such as regulation and changes in the country’s economic activities appear to have affected both price and income elasticities of electricity demand in Lesotho.

Empirical Studies of Exchange Rates: Price Behavior, Rate Determinationand Market Efficiency

OpenAIRE

Richard M. Levich

1983-01-01

Theoretical and empirical research completed over the last decade has dramatically increased our understanding of exchange rate behavior. The major insight to come from this decade of research is that foreign exchange is a financial asset. In an asset pricing framework, current exchange rates reflect the expected values of future exogenous variables. The purpose of this paper is to survay the empirical evidence on exchange rate behavior, market efficiency and related topics. Section 2 present...

The lending channel and budget balance: empirical evidences from Central and Eastern European economies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogdan-Gabriel MOINESCU

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The study aims to deepen the analysis on the indirect dependence of government budget balance on private sector credit flow in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The added value of this approach consists of two elements. First, the analysis suggests developing the traditional analytical framework of assessing risks to public finance stability by including second round effects of negative fiscal impulses on credit to private sector during recession periods. Second, the study provides empirical evidence on the importance of economic growth transmission channel for the impact of credit accelerator effects on primary deficit. At the same time, nonperforming loans channel proved to be insignificant, especially in relation to the persistency of last year’s budget deficit and the effects of budget allocations pro-cyclicality. However, loan portfolio quality seems to be more relevant in the case of public debt service, through its influence on the evolution of the yield on long-term government securities that is closely related to sovereign risk premium. Nevertheless, strengthening the financial safety net by the introduction of resolution funds will most probably break the link investors saw between credit portfolio quality and the impending increase in budget spending. This expected development across not only CEE countries, but at the EU level also, will facilitate the isolation of sovereign risk premium from non-performing loans’ dynamics.

The effect of expected energy prices on energy demand: implications for energy conservation and carbon taxes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaufmann, R.K.

1994-01-01

This paper describes an empirical method for estimating the effect of expected prices on energy demand. Data for expected oil prices are compiled from forecasts for real oil prices. The effect of expectations on energy demand is simulated with an expectation variable that proxies the return on investment for energy efficient capital. Econometric results indicate that expected prices have a significant effect on energy demand in the US between 1975 and 1989. A model built from the econometric results indicates that the way in which consumers anticipate changes in energy prices that are generated by a carbon tax affects the quantity of emissions abated by the tax. 14 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

Effect of brand and advertising medium on demand for e-cigarettes: Evidence from an experimental auction.

Science.gov (United States)

Rousu, Matthew C; O'Connor, Richard; Corrigan, Jay

2017-09-01

Print and television advertisements for e-cigarettes are currently legal in the United States. Given that e-cigarettes are a lower-risk alternative to cigarettes, these ads could have a positive public health impact if they motivate smokers to switch to e-cigarettes. However, the public health impact of e-cigarette ads could be negative if ads increase demand for both e-cigarettes and cigarettes. We use experimental auctions -in which participants bid in real auctions and winners pay for the items they purchase - to study the effect of print and TV e-cigarettes ads on demand for the brand from the ad, for another e-cigarettes brand, and for cigarettes. We ran experiments with 288 Pennsylvania smokers in November 2014-March 2015 and we found that in cases where an ad affects demand for e-cigarettes, the ad moves demand for cigarettes in the same direction. For example, the Blu print ad increases demand for Blu e-cigarettes and cigarettes among non-white participants. The Vuse TV ad reduces demand for both types of e-cigarettes and for cigarettes. We also find that non-white participants are willing to pay more for e-cigarettes in the absence of advertising, and that smokers who worry most about their health are willing to pay more for e-cigarettes. The results of this study point to the need for greater scrutiny of advertising for e-cigarette products such that they do not also induce demand for tobacco cigarettes.

Extreme daily increases in peak electricity demand: Tail-quantile estimation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sigauke, Caston; Verster, Andréhette; Chikobvu, Delson

2013-01-01

A Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD) is used to model extreme daily increases in peak electricity demand. The model is fitted to years 2000–2011 recorded data for South Africa to make a comparative analysis with the Generalized Pareto-type (GP-type) distribution. Peak electricity demand is influenced by the tails of probability distributions as well as by means or averages. At times there is a need to depart from the average thinking and exploit information provided by the extremes (tails). Empirical results show that both the GP-type and the GPD are a good fit to the data. One of the main advantages of the GP-type is the estimation of only one parameter. Modelling of extreme daily increases in peak electricity demand helps in quantifying the amount of electricity which can be shifted from the grid to off peak periods. One of the policy implications derived from this study is the need for day-time use of electricity billing system similar to the one used in the cellular telephone/and fixed line-billing technology. This will result in the shifting of electricity demand on the grid to off peak time slots as users try to avoid high peak hour charges. - Highlights: ► Policy makers should design demand response strategies to save electricity. ► Peak electricity demand is influenced by tails of probability distributions. ► Both the GSP and the GPD are a good fit to the data. ► Accurate assessment of level and frequency of extreme load forecasts is important.

Is the demand-pull driver equally crucial for product vs process innovation?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dawid, Herbert; Pellegrino, Gabriele; Vivarelli, Marco

2017-01-01

While the extant innovation literature has provided extensive evidence of the so-called "demand-pull" effect, the possible diverse impact of demand evolution on product vs process innovation activities has not been yet investigated. This paper develops a formal model predicting a larger inducing

Macroeconomic and financial market volatilities: an empirical evidence of factor model

OpenAIRE

Wei-Choun Yu

2008-01-01

In this paper, we provide two empirical findings. First, exploring 140 monthly macroeconomic and financial variables and applying the principal components method, we find 12 static factors and 8 dynamic factors from 1959 to 2005 in the US. Second, we find the real factor and interest rate factor have been less volatile since the mid 1980s. The price factor and foreign exchange factor, in contrast, became more volatile in the late 1990s. The rest of the factors show no obvious pattern. We find...

A Place for Sexual Dysfunctions in an Empirical Taxonomy of Psychopathology

Science.gov (United States)

Forbes, Miriam K.; Baillie, Andrew J.; Eaton, Nicholas R.; Krueger, Robert F.

2017-01-01

Sexual dysfunctions commonly co-occur with various depressive and anxiety disorders. An emerging framework for understanding the classification of mental disorders suggests that such comorbidity is a manifestation of underlying dimensions of psychopathology (or “spectra”). In this review, we synthesize the evidence that sexual dysfunctions should be included in the empirical taxonomy of psychopathology as part of the internalizing spectrum, which accounts for comorbidity among the depressive and anxiety disorders. The review has four parts. Part 1 summarizes the empirical basis and utility of the empirical taxonomy of psychopathology. Part 2 reviews the prima facie evidence for the hypothesis that sexual dysfunctions are part of the internalizing spectrum (i.e., high rates of comorbidity; shared cognitive, affective, and temperament characteristics; common neural substrates and biomarkers; shared course and treatment response; and the lack of causal relationships between them). Part 3 critically analyzes and integrates the results of the eight studies that have addressed this hypothesis. Finally, Part 4 examines the implications of reconceptualizing sexual dysfunctions as part of the internalizing spectrum, and explores avenues for future research. PMID:28121167

PERIPHERY/CORE RELATIONS IN THE INCA EMPIRE CARROTS AND STICKS IN AN ANDEAN WORLD SYSTEM

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Lawrence A. Kuznar

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The Inca Empire exhibited labor exploitation and the rational extraction of resources from peripheral polities by a core polity. These characteristics fit the general definition of a world empire, although core/periphery relations were diverse. The nature of core/periphery relations depended on several attributes of the conquered polity including population size, political power, natural resources, and distance from the Inca core at Cuzco. A dynamic picture of core/periphery relations emerges as the outcome of Inca demands for labor and raw materials, and peripheral peoples' desire for control over their autonomy while seeking benefits from the Inca state.

Are CEOs incentivized to avoid Corporate Taxes? - Empirical Evidence on Managerial Bonus Contracts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

H. Schmittdiel (Heiner)

2014-01-01

markdownabstract__Abstract__ In this paper, we test empirically whether there is a relationship between corporate income taxes and CEO bonus payments. Using Compustat and ExecuComp data from 1992 to 2010, we find mixed results. Looking at the whole sample, the average bonus contract rewards

Local perceptions as a guide for the sustainable management of natural resources: empirical evidence from a small-scale society in Bolivian Amazonia

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Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Research on natural resource management suggests that local perceptions form the basis upon which many small-scale societies monitor availability and change in the stock of common-pool natural resources. In contrast, this literature debates whether local perceptions can be effective in guiding the sustainable management of natural resources. With empirical evidence on this matter still highly limited, we explored the role of local perceptions as drivers of harvesting and management behavior in a small-scale society in Bolivian Amazonia. We conducted structured interviews to capture local perceptions of availability and change in the stock of thatch palm (Geonoma deversa among the Tsimane', an indigenous society of foragers-horticulturalists (n = 296 adults in 13 villages. We analyzed whether perceptions of availability match estimates of abundance obtained from ecological data and whether differences in perception help to explain harvesting behavior and local management of thatch palm. Perceptions of availability of G. deversa are highly contingent upon the social, economic, and cultural conditions within which the Tsimane' have experienced changes in the availability of the resource, thus giving a better reflection of the historical, rather than of the ecological, dimensions of the changes undergone. Although local perceptions might fall short in precision when scrutinized from an ecological standpoint, their importance in informing sustainable management should not be underestimated. Our findings show that most of the harvesting and management actions that the Tsimane' undertake are, at least partially, shaped by their local perceptions. This paper contributes to the broader literature on natural resource management by providing empirical evidence of the critical role of local perceptions in promoting collective responses for the sustainable management of natural resources.

Aggregate modeling of fast-acting demand response and control under real-time pricing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chassin, David P.; Rondeau, Daniel

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Demand elasticity for fast-acting demand response load under real-time pricing. • Validated first-principles logistic demand curve matches random utility model. • Logistic demand curve suitable for diversified aggregate loads market-based transactive control systems. - Abstract: This paper develops and assesses the performance of a short-term demand response (DR) model for utility load control with applications to resource planning and control design. Long term response models tend to underestimate short-term demand response when induced by prices. This has two important consequences. First, planning studies tend to undervalue DR and often overlook its benefits in utility demand management program development. Second, when DR is not overlooked, the open-loop DR control gain estimate may be too low. This can result in overuse of load resources, control instability and excessive price volatility. Our objective is therefore to develop a more accurate and better performing short-term demand response model. We construct the model from first principles about the nature of thermostatic load control and show that the resulting formulation corresponds exactly to the Random Utility Model employed in economics to study consumer choice. The model is tested against empirical data collected from field demonstration projects and is shown to perform better than alternative models commonly used to forecast demand in normal operating conditions. The results suggest that (1) existing utility tariffs appear to be inadequate to incentivize demand response, particularly in the presence of high renewables, and (2) existing load control systems run the risk of becoming unstable if utilities close the loop on real-time prices.

On the Distance Dependence of the Price Elasticity of Telecommunications Demand; Meta-analysis, and Alternative Theoretical Backgrounds

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ouwersloot, Hans; Rietveld, Piet

1997-01-01

The positive correlation between the absolute price elasticity of telecommunications demand and the distance of the calling relation is well known. In this paper we first present a meta-analysis of existing studies to buttress the distance dependence empirically. The analysis confirms the existence

Effect of brand and advertising medium on demand for e-cigarettes: Evidence from an experimental auction

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Matthew C. Rousu

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Print and television advertisements for e-cigarettes are currently legal in the United States. Given that e-cigarettes are a lower-risk alternative to cigarettes, these ads could have a positive public health impact if they motivate smokers to switch to e-cigarettes. However, the public health impact of e-cigarette ads could be negative if ads increase demand for both e-cigarettes and cigarettes. We use experimental auctions –in which participants bid in real auctions and winners pay for the items they purchase – to study the effect of print and TV e-cigarettes ads on demand for the brand from the ad, for another e-cigarettes brand, and for cigarettes. We ran experiments with 288 Pennsylvania smokers in November 2014–March 2015 and we found that in cases where an ad affects demand for e-cigarettes, the ad moves demand for cigarettes in the same direction. For example, the Blu print ad increases demand for Blu e-cigarettes and cigarettes among non-white participants. The Vuse TV ad reduces demand for both types of e-cigarettes and for cigarettes. We also find that non-white participants are willing to pay more for e-cigarettes in the absence of advertising, and that smokers who worry most about their health are willing to pay more for e-cigarettes. The results of this study point to the need for greater scrutiny of advertising for e-cigarette products such that they do not also induce demand for tobacco cigarettes.

The analysis of Taiwan's residential electricity demand under the electricity tariff policy

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Po-Jui

In October 2013, the Taiwan Power Company (Taipower), the monopolized state utility service in Taiwan, implemented an electricity tariff adjustment policy to reduce residential electricity demand. Using bi-monthly billing data from 6,932 electricity consumers, this study examine how consumers respond to an increase in electricity prices. This study employs an empirical approach that takes advantage of quasi-random variation over a period of time when household bills were affected by a change in electricity price. The study found that this price increase caused a 1.78% decline in residential electricity consumption, implying a price elasticity of -0.19 for summer-season months and -0.15 for non-summer-season months. The demand for electricity is therefore relatively inelastic, likely because it is hard for people to change their electricity consumption behavior in the short-term. The results of this study highlight that demand-side management cannot be the only lever used to address Taiwan's forecasted decrease in electricity supply.

An empirical research on the influencing factors of regional CO2 emissions: Evidence from Beijing city, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Zhaohua; Yin, Fangchao; Zhang, Yixiang; Zhang, Xian

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► We adapt STIRPAT model to regional context and conduct PLS regress analysis. ► Energy technology related patent is innovatively used to measure technical factors. ► Urbanization level has the greatest interpretative ability for CO 2 emissions. ► We do not find evidence of Environmental Kuznets Curve in Beijing. ► Beijing should focus more on tertiary industry and residential energy consumption. -- Abstract: In order to further study the realization of carbon intensity target, find the key influencing factors of CO 2 emissions, and explore the path of developing low-carbon economy, this paper empirically studied the influences of urbanization level, economic level, industry proportion, tertiary industry proportion, energy intensity and R and D output on CO 2 emissions in Beijing using improved STIRPAT (stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence and technology) model. The model is examined using partial least square regression. Results show that urbanization level, economic level and industry proportion positively influence the CO 2 emissions, while tertiary industry proportion, energy intensity and R and D output negatively do. Urbanization level is the main driving factor of CO 2 emissions, and tertiary industry proportion is the main inhibiting factor. In addition, along with the growth of per capita GDP, the increase of CO 2 emissions does not follow the Environmental Kuznets Curve model. Based on these empirical findings and the specific circumstances of Beijing, we provide some policy recommendations on how to reduce carbon intensity. Beijing should pay more attention to tertiary industry and residential energy consumption for carbon emission reduction. It is necessary to establish a comprehensive evaluation index of social development. Investing more capital on carbon emission reduction science and technology, and promoting R and D output is also an efficient way to reduce CO 2 emissions.

Income and price elasticities of electricity demand: Aggregate and sector-wise analyses

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jamil, Faisal, E-mail: fsljml@hotmail.com [School of Economics, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad (Pakistan); Ahmad, Eatzaz, E-mail: eatzaz@qau.edu.pk [School of Economics, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad (Pakistan)

2011-09-15

Cointegration and vector error correction modeling approaches are widely used in electricity demand analysis. The study rigorously examines the determinants of electricity demand at aggregate and sectoral levels in Pakistan. In the backdrop of severe electricity shortages, our empirical findings give support to the existence of a stable long-run relationship among the variables and indicate that electricity demand is elastic in the long run to both income and price at aggregate level. At sectoral level, long-run income and price elasticity estimates follow this pattern except in agricultural sector, where electricity demand is found elastic to output but inelastic to electricity price. On the contrary, the coefficients for income and price are rather small and mostly insignificant in the short run. We employed temperature index, price of diesel oil and capital stock at aggregate and sectoral levels as exogenous variables. These variables account for most of the variations in electricity demand in the short run. It shows that mechanization of the economy significantly affect the electricity demand at macro level. Moreover, elastic electricity demand with respect to electricity price in most of the sectors implies that electricity price as a policy tool can be used for efficient use and conservation. - Highlights: > The study conducts analysis for aggregate and four sectors. > Sectoral analyses are for residential, commercial, manufacturing and agricultural sectors. > We obtained higher positive income and negative price elasticity in the long run. > The higher price elasticity implies that price can be used as a policy tool. > Capital stock and temperature variables explain most of the short-run demand fluctuations.

Schema therapy for borderline personality disorder: a comprehensive review of its empirical foundations, effectiveness and implementation possibilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Sempértegui, Gabriela A; Karreman, Annemiek; Arntz, Arnoud; Bekker, Marrie H J

2013-04-01

Borderline personality disorder is a serious psychiatric disorder for which the effectiveness of the current pharmacotherapeutical and psychotherapeutic approaches has shown to be limited. In the last decades, schema therapy has increased in popularity as a treatment of borderline personality disorder; however, systematic evaluation of both effectiveness and empirical evidence for the theoretical background of the therapy is limited. This literature review comprehensively evaluates the current empirical status of schema therapy for borderline personality disorder. We first described the theoretical framework and reviewed its empirical foundations. Next, we examined the evidence regarding effectiveness and implementability. We found evidence for a considerable number of elements of Young's schema model; however, the strength of the results varies and there are also mixed results and some empirical blanks in the theory. The number of studies on effectiveness is small, but reviewed findings suggest that schema therapy is a promising treatment. In Western-European societies, the therapy could be readily implemented as a cost-effective strategy with positive economic consequences. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

THE LEGAL INDEBTEDNESS CAPACITY OF ROMANIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS - THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCES

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Bilan Irina

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The factual, not only formal capacity of local governments to appeal to borrowed resources is, considering the current conditions, a prerequisite for ensuring economic and social development of local communities. In this paper we intend to position the main theoretical and empirical evidences on local governments indebtedness capacity, mainly focusing on its sizing according to Romanian regulatory framework. With respect to previous research, the issue approached is one of great interest as it has not been, in the Romanian literature on local public finances, subject to a separate analysis of proportions. The undertaken analysis comprises a quantitative dimension, based on processed data from the consolidated general budget of Romanian local governments for 2007-2009, in permanent conjunction with monitoring and analysis of the involved qualitative aspects. To ensure the relevance of the research results, the analysis undertaken refers to the legal framework in function throughout the considered period of time, without involving the legislative changes operated in mid-2010. The main conclusions drawn from our analysis indicate that, considering the current Romanian socio-economic environment, under the impact of specific factors of different nature, the legal indebtedness capacity is far from being well valued, thus bringing its benefits to local communities development. This conclusion is valid from a global perspective as well as for different types of local communities. This appears to be inconsistent with the permanently claimed need to fund important local public investments, mainly in infrastructure, indicating, despite the high legal indebtedness capacity, the lack of factual access to borrowed resources. We suggest, therefore, to introduce the concept of effective indebtedness capacity, the result of a particularized correlation for different local governments between legal indebtedness capacity and the manifestation of several factors

Role of Information Professionals in Knowledge Management Programs: Empirical Evidence from Canada

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la Ajiferuke

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The implementation of a knowledge management program in an organization has the potential of im-proving customer services, quickly bringing new products to market, and reducing cost of business operations. Information technologies are often used in knowledge management programs in informing clients and employees of latest innovation/development in the business sector as well as sharing knowledge among the employees. The key professionals involved in knowledge management programs are information technologists and human resource managers but the information professionals also have a role to play as they are traditionally known as good managers of explicit knowledge. Hence, the aim of this study is to provide empirical evidence of the role of information professionals in knowledge management programs. 386 information professionals working in Canadian organizations were selected from the Special Libraries Association's Who's Who in Special Libraries 2001/2002, and a questionnaire with a stamped self-addressed envelope for its return was sent to each one of them. 63 questionnaires were completed and returned, and 8 in-depth interviews conducted. About 59% of the information professionals surveyed are working in organizations that have knowledge management programs with about 86% of these professionals being involved in the programs. Factors such as gender, age, and educational background (i.e. highest educational qualifications and discipline did not seem to have any relationship with involvement in knowledge management programs. Many of those involved in the programs are playing key roles, such as the design of the information architecture, development of taxonomy, or con-tent management of the organization's intranet. Others play lesser roles, such as providing information for the intranet, gathering competitive intelligence, or providing research services as requested by the knowledge management team.

Consumer Perceived Risk, Attitude and Online Shopping Behaviour; Empirical Evidence from Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Ariff, Mohd Shoki Md; Sylvester, Michele; Zakuan, Norhayati; Ismail, Khalid; Mat Ali, Kamarudin

2014-06-01

The development of e-commerce has increased the popularity of online shopping worldwide. In Malaysia, it was reported that online shopping market size was RM1.8 billion in 2013 and it is estimated to reach RM5 billion by 2015. However, online shopping was rated 11th out of 15 purposes of using internet in 2012. Consumers' perceived risks of online shopping becomes a hot topic to research as it will directly influence users' attitude towards online purchasing, and their attitude will have significant impact to the online purchasing behaviour. The conceptualization of consumers' perceived risk, attitude and online shopping behaviour of this study provides empirical evidence in the study of consumer online behaviour. Four types of risks - product risk, financial, convenience and non-delivery risks - were examined in term of their effect on consumers' online attitude. A web-based survey was employed, and a total of 300 online shoppers of a Malaysia largest online marketplace participated in this study. The findings indicated that product risk, financial and non-delivery risks are hazardous and negatively affect the attitude of online shoppers. Convenience risk was found to have positive effect on consumers' attitude, denoting that online buyers of this site trusted the online seller and they encountered less troublesome with the site. It also implies that consumers did not really concern on non-convenience aspect of online shopping, such as handling of returned products and examine the quality of products featured in the online seller website. The online buyers' attitude was significantly and positively affects their online purchasing behaviour. The findings provide useful model for measuring and managing consumers' perceived risk in internet-based transaction to increase their involvement in online shopping and to reduce their cognitive dissonance in the e-commerce setting.

Evidence-based care and the case for intuition and tacit knowledge in clinical assessment and decision making in mental health nursing practice: an empirical contribution to the debate.

Science.gov (United States)

Welsh, I; Lyons, C M

2001-08-01

This paper provides empirical evidence that challenges the view that methods of clinical assessment and decision making should not rely solely on logical positivist approaches. Whilst the National Health Service (NHS) Executive currently takes a hard positivist line on what constitutes evidence-based practice, data reveal that it is not always appropriate to disregard the tacit knowledge and intuition of experienced practitioners when making assessment decisions in mental health nursing practice. Data support the case for a holistic approach which may draw on intuition and tacit knowledge, as well as traditional approaches, to meet the requirements of clients with complex mental health problems. A model based on Schon's notion of reflection in and reflection on practice is proposed which demonstrates the value of intuition and tacit knowledge. This model allows the generation of insights which may ultimately be demonstrated to be acceptable and empirically testable. It is accepted that an element of risk taking is inevitable, but the inclusion of a formal analytical process into the model reduces the likelihood of inappropriate care interventions. The cognitive processes which experienced nurses use to make clinical decisions and their implications for practice will be explored.

The role of production and teamwork practices in construction safety: a cognitive model and an empirical case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitropoulos, Panagiotis Takis; Cupido, Gerardo

2009-01-01

In construction, the challenge for researchers and practitioners is to develop work systems (production processes and teams) that can achieve high productivity and high safety at the same time. However, construction accident causation models ignore the role of work practices and teamwork. This study investigates the mechanisms by which production and teamwork practices affect the likelihood of accidents. The paper synthesizes a new model for construction safety based on the cognitive perspective (Fuller's Task-Demand-Capability Interface model, 2005) and then presents an exploratory case study. The case study investigates and compares the work practices of two residential framing crews: a 'High Reliability Crew' (HRC)--that is, a crew with exceptional productivity and safety over several years, and an average performing crew from the same company. The model explains how the production and teamwork practices generate the work situations that workers face (the task demands) and affect the workers ability to cope (capabilities). The case study indicates that the work practices of the HRC directly influence the task demands and match them with the applied capabilities. These practices were guided by the 'principle' of avoiding errors and rework and included work planning and preparation, work distribution, managing the production pressures, and quality and behavior monitoring. The Task Demand-Capability model links construction research to a cognitive model of accident causation and provides a new way to conceptualize safety as an emergent property of the production practices and teamwork processes. The empirical evidence indicates that the crews' work practices and team processes strongly affect the task demands, the applied capabilities, and the match between demands and capabilities. The proposed model and the exploratory case study will guide further discovery of work practices and teamwork processes that can increase both productivity and safety in construction

Taxation of Insolvent Companies: Empirical Evidence in Portugal

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Ana Cristina dos Santos Arromba Dinis

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the issue of taxation of insolvent companies in Portugal, particularly regarding the Portuguese tax on revenue of legal entities (IRC. For this purpose, first, some considerations on the legal framework of insolvent companies are woven and, second, their tax regime is analyzed. Then, a brief review of the main studies that, in the international context, analyze and debate major issues derived from the tax regime of insolvent companies is conducted, particularly in Brazil, Spain, United States, and Italy. Finally, there are the results of an empirical study conducted in Portugal, in 2013, which evaluates and compares the opinions of insolvency administrators (IA, the tax and customs authority (TA, and court magistrates (CM, in order to contribute to a better solution concerning business taxation under this regime. Respondents (IA, TA, CM demonstrate objective thinking about the fact they believe it is very important that the Portuguese Code of Insolvency and Business Recovery (CIRE and the Portuguese Code of Tax on Revenue of Legal Entities (CIRC are modified, now to make clear whether the settlement of property ownership of an insolvent estate is liable to the IRC, then to assign a chapter specifically devoted to the subject of taxation on insolvency in Portugal.

Competition and quality indicators in the health care sector: empirical evidence from the Dutch hospital sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Croes, R R; Krabbe-Alkemade, Y J F M; Mikkers, M C

2018-01-01

There is much debate about the effect of competition in healthcare and especially the effect of competition on the quality of healthcare, although empirical evidence on this subject is mixed. The Netherlands provides an interesting case in this debate. The Dutch system could be characterized as a system involving managed competition and mandatory healthcare insurance. Information about the quality of care provided by hospitals has been publicly available since 2008. In this paper, we evaluate the relationship between quality scores for three diagnosis groups and the market power indicators of hospitals. We estimate the impact of competition on quality in an environment of liberalized pricing. For this research, we used unique price and production data relating to three diagnosis groups (cataract, adenoid and tonsils, bladder tumor) produced by Dutch hospitals in the period 2008-2011. We also used the quality indicators relating to these diagnosis groups. We reveal a negative relationship between market share and quality score for two of the three diagnosis groups studied, meaning that hospitals in competitive markets have better quality scores than those in concentrated markets. We therefore conclude that more competition is associated with higher quality scores.

Practice and effectiveness of internal corporate governance mechanisms in Saudi Arabia Stock Market: A review of empirical evidence

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Marai Awidat

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to shed light on the Saudi corporate governance code, its practices and effectiveness. To do so, the paper conducted a detailed review of the articles of the code related to internal corporate governance mechanisms and the previous studies regarding its effectiveness in Saudi stock market context. The main finding is that the provisions of Saudi corporate governance code are adequate. Annual reports (2009-2014 show an increase in the level of the compliance by listed companies, indicating that the code is achieving its aims. However, the empirical evidence seems to suggest that the code has an insignificant impact on company's performance and mitigating earnings management. The main reasons behind that are the following: the code is still in its early stages, there is weak legal enforcement, and there are also some social, cultural, and economic factors. Therefore, the code needs more time for good practice and improvement to achieve its purposes.

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE ON DYNAMICS OF CREDIT GROWTH AND FOREIGN RESERVE

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Satrugan Sinah

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a model for looking into the nature of change in foreign reserve from movements in domestic credit. This model is relevant to foreign reserve targeting, small and open economies. The model denotes that measures undertaken by central banks to constraint domestic credit growth with the view of controlling capital outflows will also be detrimental to foreign reserves level. The empirical studies with application of Fourier Transformation technique have been used to build a model, which shows that growth in domestic credit is more biased towards positive swings in foreign reserves, rather than being unfavorable. The small and open economies, particularly, the Pacific Island nations, have the right set up for application of this model to safeguard foreign reserves level.

Technical Demand of Commercial Paddy Farmers in the Context of Labor Transfer

OpenAIRE

Feng, Liang-xuan; Qi, Zhen-hong; Tian, Yun; Zhou, Hui

2012-01-01

On the basis of document research, we summed up factors of technical demand of commercial paddy farmers to four aspects: individual characteristics of farmers, natural endowment of resources, factors related to risks, and information factor. Then, we put forward relevant hypotheses. From survey results of 241 farmer households in 4 southwestern provinces (regions), by the binary logistic regression analysis method, we empirically studied influences of the above four factors on technical deman...

Demand and welfare effects in recreational travel models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hellström, Jörgen; Nordström, Leif Jonas

2012-01-01

for the households welfare loss. Approximatingthe welfare loss by the change in consumer surplus, accounting for the positiveeffect from longer stays, imposes a lower bound on the households welfare loss. The differencein the estimated loss measures, from the considered CO2 tax reform, is about 20%. Thisemphasizes......In this paper we present a non-linear demand system for households’ joint choice of numberof trips and days to spend at a destination. The approach, which facilitates welfare analysis of exogenous policy and price changes, is used empirically to study the effects of an increased CO2 tax...... the importance of accounting for substitutions toward longer stays in traveldemand policy evaluations....

Short- and long-run elasticities of electricity demand in the Korean service sector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lim, Kyoung-Min; Lim, Seul-Ye; Yoo, Seung-Hoon

2014-01-01

This paper attempts to examine the electricity demand function in the Korean service sector using the annual data covering the period 1970–2011. The short- and long-run elasticities of electricity demand with respect to price and income are empirically estimated using a co-integration and error-correction model. The short- and long-run price elasticities are estimated to be −0.421 and −1.002, respectively. The short- and long-run income elasticities are computed to be 0.855 and 1.090, respectively. Electricity demand in the service sector is inelastic to changes in both price and income in the short-run, but elastic in the long-run. Therefore, it appears that a pricing policy is more effective than the direct regulation of reducing electricity demand in the long-run in order to stabilize the electricity demand in the service sector. Moreover, it is necessary to encourage a more efficient use of electricity to cope with increasing demand for electricity following economic growth because the electricity demand in the service sector is income-elastic in the long-run. - Highlights: • We examine the electricity demand function in the Korean service sector. • We use the annual data covering the period 1970–2011. • The demand function is estimated using a co-integration and error-correction model. • The short- and long-run price elasticities are −0.421 and −1.002, respectively. • The short- and long-run income elasticities are 0.855 and 1.090, respectively

Empirical Evidence for Niss' "Implemented Anticipation" in Mathematising Realistic Situations

Science.gov (United States)

Stillman, Gloria; Brown, Jill P.

2012-01-01

Mathematisation of realistic situations is an on-going focus of research. Classroom data from a Year 9 class participating in a program of structured modelling of real situations was analysed for evidence of Niss's theoretical construct, implemented anticipation, during mathematisation. Evidence was found for two of three proposed aspects. In…

The role of confidence in the evolution of the Spanish economy: empirical evidence from an ARDL model

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Pablo Castellanos García

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to verify the existence and to determine the nature of long-term relationships between economic agents’ confidence, measured by the Economic Sentiment Index (ESI, with some of the "fundamentals" of the Spanish economy. In particular, by modeling this type of relations, we try to determine whether confidence is a dependent (explained or independent (explanatory variable. Along with confidence, in our model we incorporate variables such as risk premium of sovereign debt, financial market volatility, unemployment, inflation, public and private debt and the net lending/net borrowing of the economy. For the purpose of obtaining some empirical evidence on the exogenous or endogenous character of the above mentioned variables an ARDL (Autoregressive-Distributed Lag model is formulated. The model is estimated with quarterly data of the Spanish economy for the period 1990-2012. Our findings suggest that: (a unemployment is the dependent variable, (b there is an inverse relationship between ESI in Spain and unemployment; and (c the Granger causality goes from confidence to unemployment.

Regional electric power demand elasticities of Japan's industrial and commercial sectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hosoe, Nobuhiro; Akiyama, Shu-ichi

2009-01-01

In the assessment and review of regulatory reforms in the electric power market, price elasticity is one of the most important parameters that characterize the market. However, price elasticity has seldom been estimated in Japan; instead, it has been assumed to be as small as 0.1 or 0 without proper examination of the empirical validity of such a priori assumptions. We estimated the regional power demand functions for nine regions, in order to quantify the elasticity, and found the short-run price elasticity to be 0.09-0.30 and the long-run price elasticity to be 0.12-0.56. Inter-regional comparison of our estimation results suggests that price elasticity in rural regions is larger than that in urban regions. Popular assumptions of small elasticity of 0.1, for example, could be suitable for examining Japan's aggregate power demand but not power demand functions that focus on respective regions. Furthermore, assumptions about smaller elasticity values such as 0.01 and 0 could not be supported statistically by this study.

Redditi turchi et potentiarum nobis. New Evidence Concerning on the Crusade against the Ottoman Empire in the Mid Fifteenth Century

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Mercedes López-Mayán

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The examination of liturgical codex 56-23 in Toledo Cathedral Library has revealed the existence of an exceptionally rich text, hitherto overlooked by researchers. This document contains an exhaustive assessment of the economic and military capabilities of the Turks and the Christian powers, as well as a description of their strengths and weaknesses in combat. Through the analysis of its contents and its materiality, on the one hand this article associates the circumstances of its origin and use with the preparations for the crusading project that Pius II organized against the Ottoman Empire in 1458. On the other it contextualizes and interprets this new evidence as one of the numerous crusading treatises that proliferated in humanist Europe after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

Analysis of consumption behaviour concerning current income and lags consumption: Empirical evidence from Pakistan

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Abdul Qayyum Khan

2014-10-01

Full Text Available As in other economies, consumption expenditure is the largest component of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP of Pakistan economy. The figure has been estimated around 80 percent of the GDP and demonstrates that historically, Pakistan’s economic growth is characterized as consumption-led growth. The present paper aims to explore the relationship between income and consumption using annual time series data for the period: 1975 to 2012 in Pakistan. For empirical investigation the linear regression model and the method of Least Squares is used as analytical techniques. Empirical results support the existence of a significant positive relationship between income and consumption. The finding suggests that long term committed planning is indispensable to enhance the productive capacity of the economy, employment opportunities and reduce poverty levels more effectively.

Empirically Derived and Simulated Sensitivity of Vegetation to Climate Across Global Gradients of Temperature and Precipitation

Science.gov (United States)

Quetin, G. R.; Swann, A. L. S.

2017-12-01

Successfully predicting the state of vegetation in a novel environment is dependent on our process level understanding of the ecosystem and its interactions with the environment. We derive a global empirical map of the sensitivity of vegetation to climate using the response of satellite-observed greenness and leaf area to interannual variations in temperature and precipitation. Our analysis provides observations of ecosystem functioning; the vegetation interactions with the physical environment, across a wide range of climates and provide a functional constraint for hypotheses engendered in process-based models. We infer mechanisms constraining ecosystem functioning by contrasting how the observed and simulated sensitivity of vegetation to climate varies across climate space. Our analysis yields empirical evidence for multiple physical and biological mediators of the sensitivity of vegetation to climate as a systematic change across climate space. Our comparison of remote sensing-based vegetation sensitivity with modeled estimates provides evidence for which physiological mechanisms - photosynthetic efficiency, respiration, water supply, atmospheric water demand, and sunlight availability - dominate the ecosystem functioning in places with different climates. Earth system models are generally successful in reproducing the broad sign and shape of ecosystem functioning across climate space. However, this general agreement breaks down in hot wet climates where models simulate less leaf area during a warmer year, while observations show a mixed response but overall more leaf area during warmer years. In addition, simulated ecosystem interaction with temperature is generally larger and changes more rapidly across a gradient of temperature than is observed. We hypothesize that the amplified interaction and change are both due to a lack of adaptation and acclimation in simulations. This discrepancy with observations suggests that simulated responses of vegetation to

A high-resolution stochastic model of domestic activity patterns and electricity demand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Widen, Joakim; Waeckelgard, Ewa

2010-01-01

Realistic time-resolved data on occupant behaviour, presence and energy use are important inputs to various types of simulations, including performance of small-scale energy systems and buildings' indoor climate, use of lighting and energy demand. This paper presents a modelling framework for stochastic generation of high-resolution series of such data. The model generates both synthetic activity sequences of individual household members, including occupancy states, and domestic electricity demand based on these patterns. The activity-generating model, based on non-homogeneous Markov chains that are tuned to an extensive empirical time-use data set, creates a realistic spread of activities over time, down to a 1-min resolution. A detailed validation against measurements shows that modelled power demand data for individual households as well as aggregate demand for an arbitrary number of households are highly realistic in terms of end-use composition, annual and diurnal variations, diversity between households, short time-scale fluctuations and load coincidence. An important aim with the model development has been to maintain a sound balance between complexity and output quality. Although the model yields a high-quality output, the proposed model structure is uncomplicated in comparison to other available domestic load models.

Effects of external debt burden on LDC's investments: empirical ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Effects of external debt burden on LDC's investments: empirical evidence from Nigeria. Michael I Moughalu, Chinedu B Ezirim. Abstract. No Abstract. African Journal of Finance and Management Vol. 14(2) 2006: 3-18. Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT.

Hybrid Forecasting Approach Based on GRNN Neural Network and SVR Machine for Electricity Demand Forecasting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weide Li

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Accurate electric power demand forecasting plays a key role in electricity markets and power systems. The electric power demand is usually a non-linear problem due to various unknown reasons, which make it difficult to get accurate prediction by traditional methods. The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel hybrid forecasting method for managing and scheduling the electricity power. EEMD-SCGRNN-PSVR, the proposed new method, combines ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD, seasonal adjustment (S, cross validation (C, general regression neural network (GRNN and support vector regression machine optimized by the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSVR. The main idea of EEMD-SCGRNN-PSVR is respectively to forecast waveform and trend component that hidden in demand series to substitute directly forecasting original electric demand. EEMD-SCGRNN-PSVR is used to predict the one week ahead half-hour’s electricity demand in two data sets (New South Wales (NSW and Victorian State (VIC in Australia. Experimental results show that the new hybrid model outperforms the other three models in terms of forecasting accuracy and model robustness.

Local fluctuations of the signed traded volumes and the dependencies of demands: a copula analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shanshan; Guhr, Thomas

2018-03-01

We investigate how the local fluctuations of the signed traded volumes affect the dependence of demands between stocks. We analyze the empirical dependence of demands using copulas and show that they are well described by a bivariate K copula density function. We find that large local fluctuations strongly increase the positive dependence but lower slightly the negative one in the copula density. This interesting feature is due to cross-correlations of volume imbalances between stocks. Also, we explore the asymmetries of tail dependencies of the copula density, which are moderate for the negative dependencies but strong for the positive ones. For the latter, we reveal that large local fluctuations of the signed traded volumes trigger stronger dependencies of demands than of supplies, probably indicating a bull market with persistent raising of prices.

Consumer Health Information and the Demand for Physician Visits.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmid, Christian

2015-12-01

The present study empirically investigates the effect of consumer health information on the demand for physician visits. Using a direct information measure based on questions from the Swiss Health Survey, we estimate a Poisson hurdle model for office visits. We find that information has a negative effect on health care utilization, contradicting previous findings in the literature. We consider differences in the used information measures to be the most likely explanation for the different findings. However, our results suggest that increasing consumer health information has the potential to reduce health care expenditures. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Trust in automation: integrating empirical evidence on factors that influence trust.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoff, Kevin Anthony; Bashir, Masooda

2015-05-01

We systematically review recent empirical research on factors that influence trust in automation to present a three-layered trust model that synthesizes existing knowledge. Much of the existing research on factors that guide human-automation interaction is centered around trust, a variable that often determines the willingness of human operators to rely on automation. Studies have utilized a variety of different automated systems in diverse experimental paradigms to identify factors that impact operators' trust. We performed a systematic review of empirical research on trust in automation from January 2002 to June 2013. Papers were deemed eligible only if they reported the results of a human-subjects experiment in which humans interacted with an automated system in order to achieve a goal. Additionally, a relationship between trust (or a trust-related behavior) and another variable had to be measured. All together, 101 total papers, containing 127 eligible studies, were included in the review. Our analysis revealed three layers of variability in human-automation trust (dispositional trust, situational trust, and learned trust), which we organize into a model. We propose design recommendations for creating trustworthy automation and identify environmental conditions that can affect the strength of the relationship between trust and reliance. Future research directions are also discussed for each layer of trust. Our three-layered trust model provides a new lens for conceptualizing the variability of trust in automation. Its structure can be applied to help guide future research and develop training interventions and design procedures that encourage appropriate trust. © 2014, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Coal consumption, CO2 emission and economic growth in China: Empirical evidence and policy responses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bloch, Harry; Rafiq, Shuddhasattwa; Salim, Ruhul

2012-01-01

This article investigates the relationship between coal consumption and income in China using both supply-side and demand-side frameworks. Cointegration and vector error correction modeling show that there is a unidirectional causality running from coal consumption to output in both the short and long run under the supply-side analysis, while there is also a unidirectional causality running from income to coal consumption in the short and long run under the demand-side analysis. The results also reveal that there is bi-directional causality between coal consumption and pollutant emission both in the short and long run. Hence, it is very difficult for China to pursue a greenhouse gas abatement policy through reducing coal consumption. Switching to greener energy sources might be a possible alternative in the long run. - Highlights: ► Both supply-side and demand-side frameworks are used. ► Unidirectional causality from coal consumption to output in supply-side analysis. ► Unidirectional causality from income to coal consumption in demand-side analysis. ► Bi-directional causality between coal consumption and pollutant emission.