http://hdl.handle.net/1957/20472 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 09:31:10 GMT 2013-06-20T09:31:10Z http://hdl.handle.net/1957/38724 The behavior of economic agents and market performance Gokhale, Jayendra This dissertation addresses issues concerning the behavior of firms, which has significant effects on performance. In the first study, we empirically investigate the effect of the reduction in number of firms on price competition in the U.S. macro-brewing industry. The number of macro brewing firms decreased from 766 in 1935 to about 20 today. Major national brewers such as Anheuser Busch, Miller and Coors have continually gained market share. In spite of the reduction in number of competitors, market power remains low. There is evidence in the literature that changes in marketing and production technology have favored large brewers. However, an intense war of attrition has historically kept prices low. As this war wound down in the late 1980s, the number of firms diminished unabated. Many theoretical models of oligopoly behavior suggest that a decrease in number of firms reduces competition and increases price. We use two different techniques and find that price competition remains high even though the number of rivals has fallen. In the second study, we estimate the life cycle of movies in theaters. In this market there is no price competition. The primary form of competition is through product differentiation in the form of product quality, advertising and genre. We find evidence that the longer the duration of movies in theaters, the greater is the probability of death. Secondly, we also observe that a movie with either higher advertising expenditures or better product quality has a better probability of survival. Thirdly, we find that a movie which faces stiffer competition from substitutes is more likely to have a greater decay of sales. In the third study, we investigate the effect of product recalls due to an unintended acceleration problem on the market value of Toyota. We investigate four cases related to unintended acceleration problems. We find evidence of a significant negative effect on the market value of Toyota in the major recall in January 2010. Following this recall, there were Congressional hearings and testimony of the CEO of Toyota. Congress requested the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to investigate whether or not the fix recommended by Toyota was sufficient to solve the problem. When the NHTSA study concluded that Toyota had correctly solved the problem, the market value of Toyota substantially increased. Graduation date: 2013 Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1957/38724 2013-05-15T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1957/37265 Testing for structural differences in general commodity motor carriage Tanaka, Hiroshi, 1960- The U.S. trucking industry was deregulated with implementation of the Motor Carrier Act of 1980. After deregulation, increased concentration was observed in the general freight segment of the industry. The purpose of this study was to examine structural differences in general freight commodity carriers and to help explain the increased concentration. Cost functions were estimated for large and small carriers in order to see whether or not size related advantages exist. Although the hypothesis of constant returns to scale could not be rejected, significant structural differences were found between large and small carriers. The results imply that the services provided by large and small carriers are different. Presence of "economies of integration and "economies of route density" for large firms indicate the possibility of oligopoly in the general freight commodity trucking. Graduation date: 1992 Fri, 07 Jun 1991 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1957/37265 1991-06-07T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1957/36456 The Economic effects of trade liberalization under oligopoly Cho, Bong-Jae In modern economies, national governments have a wide range of policies for restricting international trade and protecting domestic industries at their disposal. The most popular form of non-tariff trade policies is probably that of a direct quantitative restriction. This policy takes two principal forms: explicit import quotas and voluntary export restraints (VERs). A VER is a quota imposed by an exporting country upon exports to other countries in response to pressures exercised by the importing countries (i.e., in the form of threats of various types of import restrictions). When these two policies are partially liberalized, subject to a reasonable foreign share in the domestic market, product differentiation between imported goods and domestic goods within an imperfect market can serve to increase welfare levels within the domestic economy. In this situation, the foreign share will not be as high as it would be for the homogeneous assumption. Under a partial VER liberalization policy, if the degree of substitutability between domestic and imported goods is sufficiently small, then domestic welfare will improve as foreign imports are increased. That is, if domestic and imported goods are perfect substitutes, then the most favorable domestic policy will be to close domestic markets to the foreign country since no country can allow foreign market shares as high as 66 percent in the domestic market. In a simulation of U.S. automobile industrial production, when a partial quota liberalization is observed, welfare levels can be increased by reducing the Japanese import market share to a level below 10 percent, that is, to a level which is less than the actual current foreign market share. In real terms, this implies that U.S. auto industry must be further liberalized to acquire additional domestic benefits under a VER policy, whereas the U.S. should restrict foreign market share below 10 percent to maximize domestic welfare levels under a quota policy. This will occur if the net consumer surplus is in excess of producer net excess profits under an imperfect market structure. Graduation date: 1993 Fri, 29 May 1992 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1957/36456 1992-05-29T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1957/36128 Factors related to academic dishonesty among Oregon undergraduates : an application of the randomized response survey technique Sigmund, Charles L. This paper provides logit estimates of the probability that students will cheat in a specific class using randomized response and direct question data in two logit models. The results predict that there are several indicators of the probability of cheating occurring in a class. These factors include both student and instructor characteristics. They suggest several steps that can be taken to reduce the incidence of cheating which are relatively inexpensive yet potentially very successful. Further, this study explores the usefulness of the randomized response survey technique in obtaining information about sensitive behavior. Estimates indicate that there are steps that instructors can take to reduce the amount of cheating that takes place in their classes. This study suggests that using multiple versions of each exam, non-multiple choice exams and reducing the weight of each exam score toward the final course grade are all measures which will lower the incidence of academic dishonesty in a class. By allowing a respondent more anonymity the randomized response method encourages more truthful answers than direct questioning. In both models studied here, randomized response yields higher estimates of cheating. The randomized response estimates also appear to be more consistent with previous estimates of cheating than do the direct question estimates. This lends confidence to the conclusion that when surveying respondents about potentially sensitive or threatening information the direct question method yields inaccurate predictions of actual behavior and randomized response is a more appropriate methodology. Graduation date: 1994 Mon, 28 Mar 1994 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1957/36128 1994-03-28T00:00:00Z