Capital adjustment costs : implications for domestic and export sales dynamics

Theoretical and empirical work on export dynamics has generally assumed constant marginal production cost and therefore ignored domestic product market conditions. However, recent studies have documented a negative contemporaneous correlation between firms´domestic and export sales growth, suggesting that firms can be capacity constrained in the short run and face increasing marginal production cost. This paper develops and estimates a dynamic model of export behavior incorporating short-term capacity constraints and endogenous capital investment. Consistent with the empirical evidence, the model features firms´sales substitutions across markets in the short term, and generates time-varying transition paths of firm responses through firms´ capital adjustments over time. The model is fit to a panel of plant-level data for Colombian manufacturing industries and used to simulate how firm-responses transition following an exchange-rate devaluation. The results indicate that incorporating capital adjustment costs is quantitatively important. First, it takes more than five years for firms to fully adjust to a permanent change of the exchange-rate process. Second, the long-run exchange rate elasticity of exports is substantially higher than that in the short run. Firms´expectation on the permanence of the policy changes also matters. The failure to accurately anticipate the duration of the devaluation results in reduction in firms`profits due to over- or under-investment in capital

Thermal storage/management system with phase change materials for building

Peer reviewe

El efecto del apoyo docente percibido por los alumnos de inglés online sobre la autorregulación mediada por su autoeficiencia

This study explored the relationships among online English learners’ perceived teacher support, self-efficacy, and self-regulation in online learning based on social cognitive theory. Structural equation modeling (SEM) with bootstrapping estimation was conducted using data from 220 online English learners engaged in blended learning on the Chinese University MOOC platform. The results showed that online English learners’ perceived teacher support positively influenced their self-efficacy and self-regulation. Moreover, self-efficacy was found to mediate the relationship between their perceived teacher support and self-regulation. On the whole, the findings detailed the effect of English learners’ perceived teacher support on their self-efficacy and self-regulation, as well as empirically identifying the mediation effect of self-efficacy in the relationship between perceived teacher support and self-regulation in an online learning environment. Related pedagogical implications for teacher online teaching, students online learning, and the Chinese University MOOC platform, and limitations were discussed.En el presente estudio, basado en la teoría social cognitiva, se explora la relación entre el apoyo docente percibido por los alumnos de inglés online, la autoeficiencia y la autorregulación en el aprendizaje online. Se realizó un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales (MES), con la estimación Bootstrap utilizando los datos de 220 alumnos de inglés online de una universidad politécnica que participan en el aprendizaje combinado en la plataforma MOOC de las Universidades Chinas. Los resultados mostraron que el apoyo docente percibido por los alumnos de inglés online influenció positivamente su autoeficacia y autorregulación. Además, se descubrió que la autoeficacia de ellos podía mediar la relación entre el apoyo docente percibida y la autorregulación. En general, los resultados describieron con detalle el efecto del apoyo docente percibido por los alumnos de inglés online sobre su autoeficacia y autorregulación, e identificaron empíricamente el efecto mediador de la autoeficacia en la relación entre el apoyo docente percibido y la autorregulación en un entorno de aprendizaje online. Por último, se discutieron las implicaciones pedagógicas para la enseñanza online de los profesores, el aprendizaje online de los alumnos y la plataforma MOOC de las Universidades Chinas, así como las limitaciones del estudio

Can longer gaze duration determine risky investment decisions? An interactive perspective

Can longer gaze duration determine risky investment decisions? Recent studies have tested how gaze influences people’s decisions and the boundary of the gaze effect. The current experiment used adaptive gaze-contingent manipulation by adding a self-determined option to test whether longer gaze duration can determine risky investment decisions. The results showed that both the expected value of each option and the gaze duration influenced people’s decisions. This result was consistent with the attentional diffusion model (aDDM) proposed by Krajbich et al. (2010), which suggests that gaze can influence the choice process by amplify the value of the choice. Therefore, the gaze duration would influence the decision when people do not have clear preference.The result also showed that the similarity between options and the computational difficulty would also influence the gaze effect. This result was inconsistent with prior research that used option similarities to represent difficulty, suggesting that both similarity between options and computational difficulty induce different underlying mechanisms of decision difficulty

The effect of online English learners’ perceived teacher support on self-regulation mediated by their self-efficacy

This study explored the relationships among online English learners’ perceived teacher support, self-efficacy, and self-regulation in online learning based on social cognitive theory. Structural equation modeling (SEM) with bootstrapping estimation was conducted using data from 220 online English learners engaged in blended learning on the Chinese University MOOC platform. The results showed that online English learners’ perceived teacher support positively influenced their self-efficacy and self-regulation. Moreover, self-efficacy was found to mediate the relationship between their perceived teacher support and self-regulation. On the whole, the findings detailed the effect of English learners’ perceived teacher support on their self-efficacy and self-regulation, as well as empirically identifying the mediation effect of self-efficacy in the relationship between perceived teacher support and self-regulation in an online learning environment. Related pedagogical implications for teacher online teaching, student online learning, and the Chinese University MOOC platform, and limitations were discussed.En el presente estudio, basado en la teoría social cognitiva, se explora la relación entre el apoyo docente percibido por los alumnos de inglés online, la autoeficacia y la autorregulación en el aprendizaje online. Se realizó un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales (MES), con la estimación Bootstrap utilizando los datos de 220 alumnos de inglés online de una universidad politécnica que participan en el aprendizaje combinado en la plataforma MOOC de las Universidades Chinas. Los resultados mostraron que el apoyo docente percibido por los alumnos de inglés online influenció positivamente su autoeficacia y autorregulación. Además, se descubrió que la autoeficacia podía mediar la relación entre el apoyo docente percibido y la autorregulación. En general, los resultados describieron con detalle el efecto del apoyo docente percibido por los alumnos de inglés online sobre su autoeficacia y autorregulación, e identificaron empíricamente el efecto mediador de la autoeficacia en la relación entre el apoyo docente percibido y la autorregulación en un entorno de aprendizaje online. Por último, se discutieron las implicaciones pedagógicas para la enseñanza online de los profesores, el aprendizaje online de los alumnos y la plataforma MOOC de las Universidades Chinas, así como las limitaciones del estudio.North University of China and a provincial research grant (No. J2020180) in Chin

SMEs' Use Of Financial Statements For Decision Making: Evidence From Pakistan

Financial statements comprise of insightful statistics about likely risk and the return associations of many decisions and have significant role in firms’ success, particularly for SMEs. Thus, through a sample of 94 Pakistani small and medium enterprises (SMEs), this study inspects the influences that could have impact on firms’ practice of the financial statements in making significant financial decisions. Principle component analysis finds key factors which define use of financial statements containing; experience, knowledge and ability. Logit analysis then discloses that these variables have significant association with whether Pakistani SME owners use financial statements while making business decisions. Findings indicates that the owners of Pakistani SMEs practice financial statements in decision making rendering to their knowledge about financial statements, experience and finally their ability to interpret figures confined in financial statements. Outcomes should be valuable for SME owners, educators, and the service providers