Habit Formation: Deep and Uncertain

We extend the Ravn, Schmitt-Grohe and Uribe (Review of Economic Studies, 2006) model of external deep-habits with the idea that some product varieties are more prone to habit formation than others. This s uncertainty in habit formation which affects firm's pricing. Provided that uncertainty is strong, a profound implication is that role of market frictions, such as habit formation, and its consequences for the dynamic variations in the markups can be reversed.

Lessons in Adopting OER in a Biology Course

In a demanding and high-stakes biology course, a small flaw of the course materials could have a big impact on the satisfaction of students and the course evaluation as a result. An instructor who created a no/low-cost science course discusses his experience and lessons from it.Young Bae Kim is an Associate Professor at North Shore Community College, and also serves as the coordinator for the Biotechnology Program. He is a molecular cell biologist by training and teaches many courses in biological science areas. He has been an OER advocate and generated many his own no/low-cost educational materials over the last several years. He has also switched a science major’s biology course to a no/low-cost course using his own materials and other available OER materials

Migration, skill composition and growth

The UK, with its relatively liberal immigration policies following recent enlargements, has been one of the main recipients of migrants from new EU member states. This paper poses the questions: what is the effect of immigration on a receiving economy such as the UK? Is the effect beneficial or adverse for growth? How differently would skilled (or unskilled) migration affect both receiving and sending economies? What factors would contribute to immigration/emigration benefits/costs and economic growth driven by migration? Who are the winners and losers in both the sending and host regions? We utilize an endogenous growth two-bloc model with labour mobility of different skill compositions to address these questions. We show that migration, in general, is beneficial to the receiving country and increases the world growth rate. With remittances, the sending country in aggregate can also benefit. The only exception is in the case of unskilled migration, which can actually have a detrimental impact on the world growth rate. Winners are migrants, and the skill group in the region that sees its relative size decrease.

Migration, Skill Composition and Growth

The UK, with its relatively liberal immigration policies following recent enlarge- ments, has been one of the main recipients of migrants from new EU member states. This paper poses the questions: what is the effect of immigration on a receiving econ- omy such as the UK? Is the effect beneficial or adverse for growth? Does emigration have brain drain effects on sending economies? How differently would skilled (or un- skilled) migration affect both receiving and sending economies? What factors would contribute to immigration/emigration benefits/costs and economic growth driven by migration? Who are the winners and losers in both the sending and host regions? We utilize an endogenous growth two-bloc model with labour mobility of different skill compositions to address these questions. We show that migration, in general, is beneficial to the receiving country and increases the world growth rate. With remit- tances, the sending country in aggregate can also benefit. The only exception is in the case of unskilled migration, which can actually have a detrimental impact on the world growth rate. This possibility however seems to be unlikely by our examination of migration trends. Winners are migrants, and the skill group in the region that sees its relative size decrease.Migration, Labour mobility, Skill composition, Economic growth

Informal Labour and Credit Markets: A Survey.

This paper reviews the literature on the informal economy, focusing first on empirical findings and then on existing approaches to modelling informality within both partial and general equilibrium environments. We concentrate on labour and credit markets, since these tend to be most affected by informality. The phenomenon is particularly important in emerging and other developing economies, given their high degrees of informal labour and financial services and the implications these have for the effectiveness of macroeconomic policy. We emphasize the need for dynamic general equilibrium (DGE) and ultimately dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models for a full understanding of the costs, benefits and policy implications of informality. The survey shows that the literature on informality is quite patchy, and that there are several unexplored areas left for research.Informal economy ; Labour market ; Search-matching models

The Effects of Offering Menu Information on Perceived Waiting Time and Customer Satisfaction: The Case of a Casual Dining Restaurant in Korea

With the assumption that waiting time is an important factor that directly influences customer satisfaction, this study employs an experimental design in a real restaurant setting to measure the effect of directs stimuli (i.e., offering menu information) on perceived waiting time. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to examine the effects of menu information as a method of distracting customers and reducing perceived waiting time. The test was conducted for three weeks under three manipulated conditions (i.e., music, no distraction, and offering menu information). The result of this study shows that there are significant mean differences between the conditions in terms of the gap score between perceived and actual waiting time. The research findings are anticipated to provide restaurant managers with some meaningful operational marketing strategies

Informal Labour and Credit Markets: A Survey

This paper reviews the literature on the informal economy, focusing first on empirical findings and then on existing approaches to modelling informality within both partial and general equilibrium environments. We concentrate on labour and credit markets, since these tend to be most affected by informality. The phenomenon is particularly important in emerging and other developing economies, given their high degrees of informal labour and financial services and the implications these have for the effectiveness of macroeconomic policy. We emphasize the need for dynamic general equilibrium (DGE) and ultimately dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models for a full understanding of the costs, benefits and policy implications of informality. The survey shows that the literature on informality is quite patchy, and that there are several unexplored areas left for research. JEL Classification: J65, E24, E26, E32Informal economy, labour market, search-matching models