Selling substitute goods to loss-averse consumers: limited availability, bargains, and rip-offs

© 2016, The RAND Corporation. This article derives the optimal pricing and product-availability strategies for a retailer selling two substitute goods to loss-averse consumers and shows that limited-availability sales manipulate consumers into an ex ante unfavorable purchase. The seller maximizes profits by raising the consumers' reference point through a tempting discount on a good available only in limited supply (the bargain), and cashing in with a high price on the other (the rip-off), which consumers buy if the bargain is not available to reduce their disappointment. The seller might prefer to offer a deal on the more valuable product, using it as a bait

Kinetic equations for Stark line shapes

The BBGKY formalism is revisited in the framework of plasma spectroscopy. We address the issue of Stark line shape modeling by using kinetic transport equations. In the most simplified treatment of these equations, triple correlations between an emitter and the perturbing charged particles are neglected and a collisional description of Stark effect is obtained. Here we relax this assumption and retain triple correlations using a generalization of the Kirkwood truncature hypothesis to quantum operator. An application to hydrogen lines is done in the context of plasma diagnostic, and indicates that the neglect of triple correlations can lead to a significant overestimate of the line width.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figur

EXPERIMENTS DURING FLOW BOILING OF A R22 DROP-IN: R422D ADIABATIC PRESSURE GRADIENTS

R22, the HCFC most widely used in refrigeration and air-conditioning systems in the last years, is phasing-out. R422D, a zero ozone-depleting mixture of R125, R134a and R600a (65.1%/31.5%/3.4% by weight, respectively), has been recently proposed as a drop-in substitute. For energy consumption calculations and temperature control, it is of primary importance to estimate operating conditions after substitution. To determine pressure drop in the evaporator and piping line to the compressor, in this paper the experimental adiabatic pressure gradients during flow boiling of R422D are reported for a circular smooth horizontal tube (3.00 mm inner radius) in a range of operating conditions of interest for dry-expansion evaporators. The data are used to establish the best predictive method for calculations and its accuracy: the Moreno-Quibèn and Thome method provided the best predictions for the whole database and also for the segregated data in the annular flow regime. Finally, the experimental data have been compared with the adiabatic pressure gradients of both R22 and its much used alternative R407C available in the literature

Carbon Dioxide Heat Transfer Coefficients And Pressure Drops During Flow Boiling: Assessment Of Predictive Methods

Among the alternatives to the HCFCs and HFCs, carbon dioxide emerged as one of the most promising environmentally friendly refrigerants. In past years many works were carried out about CO2 flow boiling and very different two-phase flow characteristics from conventional fluids were found. In order to assess the best predictive methods for the evaluation of CO2 heat transfer coefficients and pressure gradients in macro-channels, in the current article a literature survey of works and a collection of the results of statistical comparisons available in literature are furnished. In addition the experimental data from University of Naples are used to run a deeper analysis. Both a statistical and a direct comparison against some of the most quoted predictive methods are carried out. Methods implemented both for low–medium pressure refrigerants and specifically developed for R744 are used in the comparison. Some general indications about the choice of the predictive methods dependently on the operating conditions are given

Bait and ditch: Consumer naïveté and salesforce incentives

We analyze a model of price competition between a transparent retailer and a deceptive one in a market where a fraction of consumers is naïve. The transparent retailer is an independent shop managed by its owner. The deceptive retailer belongs to a chain and is operated by a manager. The two retailers sell an identical base product, but the deceptive one also offers an add-on. Rational consumers never consider buying the add-on while naïve ones can be “talked” into buying it. By offering the manager a contract that pushes him to never sell the base good without the add-on, the chain can induce an equilibrium in which both retailers obtain more-than-competitive profits. The equilibrium features price dispersion and market segmentation, with the deceptive retailer targeting only naïve consumers whereas the transparent retailer serves only rational ones

Loss aversion and competition in Vickrey auctions: Money ain't no good

© 2019 Elsevier Inc. A key prediction of expectations-based reference-dependent preferences and loss aversion in second-price auctions with private values is that the number of bidders should affect bids in auctions for real objects but not in auctions with induced monetary values. In order to test this distinctive comparative statics prediction, we develop an experiment where subjects bid in multiple auctions for real objects as well as auctions with induced values, each time facing a different number of rivals. Our results are broadly consistent with expectations-based reference-dependent preferences and loss aversion. We find that in real-object auctions bids decline with the intensity of competition whereas in induced-value auctions, instead, bids do not vary with the intensity of competition. Our results suggest that bidders may behave differently in real-object auctions than in induced-value ones, casting some doubt on the extent to which findings from induced-value laboratory experiments can be transferred to the field

Identification of differentially expressed genes of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri by representational difference analysis of cDNA

Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri is a phytopathogenic bacterium responsible for citrus canker, a serious disease which causes severe losses in citriculture around the world. In this study we report the differential expression of X. axonopodis pv. citri in response to specific treatments by using Representational Difference Analysis of cDNA (cDNA RDA). cDNAs from X. axonopodis pv. citri cultured in the presence of leaf extract of the host plant (Citrus sinensis), in vivo, as well as in the complex medium were hybridized against cDNA of the bacterium grown in the minimal medium. Sequencing of the difference products obtained after the second and third hybridizations revealed a total of 37 distinct genes identified by homology searches in the genome of X. axonopodis pv. citri. These genes were distributed in different functional categories, including genes that encode hypothetical proteins, genes involved in metabolism, cellular processes and pathogenicity, and mobile genetic elements. Most of these genes are likely related to growth and/or acquisition of nutrients in specific treatments whereas others might be important for the bacterium pathogenicity