PRICE MATCHING AND THE DOMINO EFFECT IN A RETAIL GASOLINE MARKET

Using gasoline station price data collected eight times per day for 103 d for 27 stations in Guelph, Ontario, it is found that, consistent with an informal theory of competitive gasoline pricing, stations set prices to match a small number of other stations. However, these matched stations are not necessarily the closest. While retailers frequently respond to price changes within 2 h, many take considerably longer. Finally, while price decreases do ripple across the market like falling dominos, increases propagate across the city based more on geographic location and source of price control than on proximity to leaders of these increases. ( JEL L13, L40, L81)     

Stratification in a Small Town

A 5 PER CENT sample of a small town in Illinois (population 1,100) was stratified by using the subjective, reputational, and objective approaches. A rank order correlation test was made on the rankings resulting from these approaches. On the basis of the three concordances found, a fourth ranking was evolved which is offered as a model of procedure for ranking communities of this type. It was found that in using the subjective approach, respondents need to be given categories to choose from in ranking themselves.     

FISCAL ILLUSION AND THE GRANTOR GOVERNMENT IN CANADA

Recent work on the U.S. concludes that one or more illusions are responsible for the empirically observed "flypaper effect." Using annual Canadian data for the period 1962–84, we test the "single-illusion" and "dual-illusion" specifications currently in the literature. While the empirical results support the dual-illusion specification, it is not the unambiguous choice over single-illusion specifications as previously found. Further, the nature of the grant system in Canada raises questions about whether illusions or real factors produce the empirical results.     

VIETNAM RECONSIDERED: AN ATTITUDINAL SURVEY OF U.S. ARMY GENERAL OFFICERS

The 173 individuals who held U.S. Army general officer commandpositions in Vietnam during the period 1965–1972 weresurveyed in September 1974 about various aspects of that conflict.Their responses reflected a general dissatisfaction with Washingtonmanagement of the war. Perceptions of media coverage of thewar were very negative. A striking absence of consensus wasapparent in many areas of the survey     

Education and support for dominant ideology*

Utilisant les résultats du sondage national sur la qualité de la vie de 1977, nous avons examiné les quatre hypothèses qui expliquent l'influence de l'instruction sur l'opinion publique au sujet de l'inégalitééconomique. Les hypothèses sont l'instruction, la socialisation, la reproduction, et l'investissement.
L'élément français-anglais et les différences d'âge sont examinés également. Les résultats des analyses multivariées favorisent la socialisation ainsi qu'une des versions de l'hypothèse d'investissement. Les problèmes rencontrés au cours de l'étude du concept d'une idéologie dominante et son utilité dans l'analyse du processus de légitimation au Canada, sont discutés également.
Using the Quality of Life (1977) national survey, we tested four hypotheses explaining the effects of education on people's beliefs about economic inequality. The hypotheses are enlightenment, socialization, reproduction, and investment. French-English and age differences are also examined. Results of the multivariate analyses favour the socialization and one version of the investment hypotheses. Problems in thinking about the concept of dominant ideology and its utility in analyzing legitimation processes in Canada are discussed.     

PIECING TOGETHER SERVICE QUALITY: A FRAMEWORK FOR ROBUST SERVICE*

This paper addresses the issue of service design, specifically that of designing the service encounter for improved quality. We introduce a framework based on the three T's of task, treatment, and tangibles as a means of organizing the application of the diverse and growing body of service quality literature to encounter design. The framework is consistent with how successful service managers disaggregate the design problem. More importantly, we show that mutually supportive interrelationships between the three T's produce an opportunity for designing in a robustness to service failure. The framework is supported by case based evidence.     

A FINANCE APPROACH TO ESTIMATING CONSUMPTION PARAMETERS

This paper relates consumption economics more closely to an aggregate financial variable than in any previous research. We compile the net real rate of return on a synthetic mutual fund (SMF) encompassing all major classes of financial assets and residential real estate. Return on the SMF better represents the market return of financial portfolio theory than any measure in use today and we demonstrate its merit in an expected utility model to estimate consumption parameters, the coefficient of relative risk aversion (CRRA), and intertemporal elasticity of substitution (IES). The estimates are stable across varying time periods and alternative measures of consumption. (JEL E21, D91, G11, C13)     

A group, a network and the winning of church union in Canada: a case study in leadership

Au cours du premier quart du xxe siècle, un mouvement oecuménique au sein des Eglises protestantes canadiennes a menéà leur fusion, et à la création de ľEglise Unie du Canada. Au moyen de documents ďarchives, j'étudie dans cet article le leadership du mouvement social qui a produit cette fusion. J'analyse ďabord comment la structure du leadership a évolué, du groupe fondateur à un réseau étendu et de faible densité. Les actions du leadership à divers niveaux de ľEglise et de la société sont ensuite examinées, ainsi que les activités dissidentes de plusieurs membres du groupe fondateur.
This paper, based on archival data, is a study of pro-change leadership in a social movement: namely, the ecumenical movement within the Canadian Protestant churches during the first quarter of this century which succeeded in merging several denominations into the United Church of Canada. First, the structure of the leadership is traced from a founding group to a dispersed and enlarged network, then the leadership is displayed in action at various levels of the church and society. Finally, the dissident activity of several of the original group members is investigated.     

Class,property, and structural endogamy: Visualizing networked histories

Theory and Society -     

ADVANCE PRODUCTION,INVENTORIES, AND MARKET POWER: AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION

We report an experiment that assesses the effects of alterations in production conditions and product durability on market power in Bertrand‐Edgeworth duopolies. Static equilibrium analysis predicts that advance (rather than “to demand”) production raises prices, but does not affect profits. The further addition of a simple inventory option causes prices to fall and seller earnings to increase. Contrary to these predictions, we observe similar prices in baseline and advance production treatments, but lower profits given advance production. An inventory option reduces both prices and earnings. Results are driven by the treatments' effects on sellers' capacities to tacitly collude. (JEL C9, D4, L4)