What's in a Name? Price Variation in Sport Facility Naming Rights

There are two generally accepted ways of plotting the aggregate demand (AD) and aggregate supply (AS) curves in the goods market. One puts the price level on the vertical axis (the P - y approach); the other plots the real interest rate on the vertical axis (the r - y approach). This paper develops the theoretical connections between these two approaches that permit one to tell a coherent dynamic story with the AD-AS model and also explores the conditions under which one approach or the other yields greater insight into the working of the model.Advertising; Sports

CONSUMERS' WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR ECO-CERTIFIED WOOD PRODUCTS

We use Kriström's simple spike model to assess the factors influencing consumers' willingness to pay a premium for a variety of certified wood products. A survey of over 1600 Pennsylvania and Tennessee residents found that approximately 35% were willing to pay some positive "premium" for environmentally certified wood products. For three types of wood products (a $29 shelf, a$200 chair, and a $800 table) we find the estimated market premiums to be 12.9%, 8.5%, and 2.8%, respectively.Consumer/Household Economics,

An evaluation tool for design quality: PFI sheltered housing

The complex procurement process entailed by the private finance initiative (PFI) means that clients need new capacities to manage their relationships with bidders and to assess project proposals if the desired level of design quality is to be achieved. To assist local authorities in their client role, a new Architectural Design Quality Evaluation Tool was developed. The aim was to improve the quality of design in residential sheltered housing, procured through the PFI. The tool was developed for and applied to a programme that will see the replacement of a local authority's entire sheltered housing stock. The tool has two functions: (1) to inform the client's assessment process and assist with the selection of the preferred bidding consortium through a series of stages in the PFI process; and (2) to improve the quality of all the submitted designs through an iterative process. Although several existing mechanisms are available for evaluating the performance attributes of buildings, few also tackle the less tangible amenity attributes, which are vital to the feeling of home. The new tool emphasizes the amenity attributes without neglecting performance

Patent Examination Decisions and Strategic Trade Behavior

This paper examines whether strategic trade behavior can explain the fact that the US, Japanese and European Patent Offices – the USPTO, the JPO and the EPO – often make different decisions about whether to grant (or reject) a given patent application. We analyse this issue by considering whether examination decisions across the patent offices vary systematically by inventor nationality, patent quality and technology area using a matched sample of 33,305 non-PCT patent applications granted by the USPTO and subjected to examination decisions at the EPO and the JPO.

Long-Run Patterns of Demand: The Expenditure System of the CDES Indirect Utility Function - Theory and Applications

In this paper, we unify and extend the analytical and empirical application of the ”indirect addilog” expenditure system, introduced by Leser (1941), Somermeyer- Wit (1956) and Houthakker (1960). Using the Box-Cox transform, we present a parametric analysis of the Houthakker specification of the fundamental indirect utility function - called the CDES specification (constant differences of Allen elasticities of substitution) by Hanoch (1975). It is shown that the CDES demand system is less restrictive than implied by standard parameter restrictions in the literature, Hanoch (1975), Deaton & Muellbauer (1980), or else neither adequately indicated, Houthakker (1960), Silberberg & Suen (2001). Our parametric examination implies that Marshallian own-price elasticities are no longer restricted to being all larger than one in absolute value; hence CDES can now naturally exhibit both the inelastic and elastic own price elasticities of observable (Marshallian) demands. Furthermore, we argue that in computable general equilibrium models (CGE), the CDES compares favorably with other expenditure systems, e.g. the linear expenditure system (LES), since CDES and LES need the same outside information for calibration of the parameters, but CDES is not confined to constancy of marginal budget shares (linear Engel curves). Moreover, we show that the non-homothetic CDES preferences are a simple and natural extension of the homothetic CES (constant elasticities of substitution) preferences, and, accordingly, CDES can more realistically be used in specifying CGE models with a demand side of non-unitary income elasticities. A succint theoretical briefing of the CDES history with general and concise formulas is offered. We illustrate CDES estimation and the calculation of a comprehensive set of income and price elasticities by applying CDES to Danish budget survey data. With a large number budget items included, coherent numerical values for the income, own, and cross price elasticities, as shown here, seem nowhere calculated and available in the voluminous literature.CDES demand systems, non-homothetic preferences, general price elasticities, CGE modeling, budget data implementation

Sustainable Palm Oil Supply Chains : Complexity, Custody and Contention

Paper delivered at the 21st Logistics Research Network annual conference 2016, 7th-9th September 2016, Hull. Abstract Purpose: The sustainability of oil palm cultivation is highly contentious. Demand for the product is strong, albeit with the market being largely divided between the bulk sale of oil to Asian markets and premium certified sustainable palm products to Europe. These disparate end-user markets place different production demands on upstream suppliers. This paper will explore the complex and contentious nature of sustainability in the context of the palm oil supply chain. Specifically, this study considers the economic, ethical and environmental aspects emerging from efforts to create sustainable palm oil supply chains with a view to developing supply chain ‘regulation without government’ as a possible solution. Research Approach: Case-based research involved empirical observation of upstream actors, document analysis and consequent theory testing through semi-structured interviews with growers, mills, refiners, certifiers of sustainable palm oil, NGOs, retailers and leading European manufacturers of palm oil containing products. Findings and Originality: Different interpretations of sustainability have created conflict at the point of production with what are perceived to be Western values regularly conflicting with the perceived needs of palm oil producing countries. Traceable supply chain custodies created by large downstream manufacturers may isolate smallholders and reduce their ability to be incorporated into some certification schemes. Though downstream actors can pay a significant value-chain premium for certified products, due to a wider lack of global demand for certified palm oil, sustainable products are ending up in other supply chains with no premium being paid to growers. Research Impact: The presented study is relatively unique in palm oil research for its empirical grounding, bringing together the first-hand insight, thoughts and perceptions of stakeholders throughout the supply chain. Additionally, this paper contributes to the reactive-proactive continuum theory for sustainable supply chain practices by discussing how key stakeholders influence behaviour. Practical Impact: Insights from this research will help raise awareness of the supply chain dynamics of the palm oil industry, the challenges faced by upstream buyers and how well-meaning efforts to support socio-economic development, from various stakeholders, potentially harms efforts to drive sustainable production of oil palm. Alternative routes for developing sustainable supply chains should be initiated from within the supply chains rather than solely through external activism. The implications of this are far-reaching as the consumer base for palm oil continues to grow globally

Architectural Design Quality in Local Authority Private Finance Initiative Projects

Since the 1990s, when the Private Finance Initiative was developed as the primary method for delivering major public capital projects, there has been concern about the quality of many of the products. Initially, it was the architectural community that raised doubts, but it has subsequently been joined by user groups. As the contractual period is over 30 years, there are issues such as ongoing maintenance, facilities management and operational factors, that need to be balanced with design quality. This paper will report on a research project being carried out with a metropolitan local authority in England, which is replacing its entire sheltered housing stock in one Private Finance Initiative project. The principal aim of the local authority is that it should receive these buildings as assets, rather than liabilities at the end of the 30 year period. The research work to date has been based on two stages of a three stage selection of the preferred bidder from the original six consortia. The aims of this paper are to review the Private Finance Initiative management processes in relation to architectural design quality at each of the selection stages, including the generation and application of the design assessment criteria, and the role of user groups; and evaluate the outcomes against the objectives of maximising design quality within workable financial models. The methodology is that the researcher is based in the local authority project team, and has therefore been able to use participant observation techniques in the management processes, which include competitive dialogue and user consultation. The design assessment criteria were developed from the academic literature and refined at each selection stage. A comparative analysis of the design assessment criteria with intermediate and final designs, will assist in identifying the status of design quality in the selection of the preferred bidder

Stellar intensity interferometry: Optimizing air Cherenkov telescope array layouts

Kilometric-scale optical imagers seem feasible to realize by intensity interferometry, using telescopes primarily erected for measuring Cherenkov light induced by gamma rays. Planned arrays envision 50--100 telescopes, distributed over some 1--4 km$^2$. Although array layouts and telescope sizes will primarily be chosen for gamma-ray observations, also their interferometric performance may be optimized. Observations of stellar objects were numerically simulated for different array geometries, yielding signal-to-noise ratios for different Fourier components of the source images in the interferometric $(u,v)$-plane. Simulations were made for layouts actually proposed for future Cherenkov telescope arrays, and for subsets with only a fraction of the telescopes. All large arrays provide dense sampling of the $(u,v)$-plane due to the sheer number of telescopes, irrespective of their geographic orientation or stellar coordinates. However, for improved coverage of the $(u,v)$-plane and a wider variety of baselines (enabling better image reconstruction), an exact east-west grid should be avoided for the numerous smaller telescopes, and repetitive geometric patterns avoided for the few large ones. Sparse arrays become severely limited by a lack of short baselines, and to cover astrophysically relevant dimensions between 0.1--3 milliarcseconds in visible wavelengths, baselines between pairs of telescopes should cover the whole interval 30--2000 m.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures; presented at the SPIE conference "Optical and Infrared Interferometry II", San Diego, CA, USA (June 2010