摘要:

The EPA fuel economy estimates for automobiles are an important instrument of public policy and are widely publicized. However, the accuracy of these figures, for use by consumers as an estimate of actual on‐the‐road mileage, has come under increasing challenge. Consumers Union provides alternative fuel efficiency estimates for the cars it tests, based on actual on‐the‐road driving. This study calculates the costs of in‐accuracies in the EPA's Estimated Mileage, assuming consumers use those figures in making their automobile purchase decisions, but in actual driving achieve mileage equivalent to the Consumers Union's figures. The economic impact includes potentially large unanticipated additional expenditures on gasoline by consumers and in a few cases unexpected gasoline savings; also included is a net social welfare loss due to allocative error. This loss provides a measure of the gains to society obtainable from improvements in the reliability of the EPA estimates as a source of mileage information for

ISSN:0022-0078    

DOI:10.1111/j.1745-6606.1984.tb00328.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

While previous surveys of bankrupts and cross‐sectional analyses of state data have provided a profile of “typical” bankrupts and the various constraints under which they operate, little in the economic and legal literature on personal financial failure explains the postwar growth in consumer bankruptcies in the United States. This paper constitutes a first attempt to model the theoretically appropriate determinants of aggregate failure rates and to test them empirically for the period 1945 to 1981. The data indicate that the incidence of financial failure has been exacerbated by rising divorce rates, unemployment and credit use, which increased through the mid‐1970's. These trends were largely mitigated by increasing consumer wealth held in the form of real estate. However, there is tentative evidence that during its first two years, the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 may have encouraged consumers to petition for ban

ISSN:0022-0078    

DOI:10.1111/j.1745-6606.1984.tb00329.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

A socially efficient bankruptcy law is one that would have the effect of minimizing the present value of social costs stemming from bankruptcy while permitting debtors to make a “fresh start.” Analysis of a sample of petitions for personal nonbusiness bankruptcy filed under the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 shows that about 30 percent of petitions for Chapter 7 and about 25 percent of petitions for Chapter 13 were cases where social costs were not minimized as would be required under socially efficient bankruptcy legislation. The social costs of Chapter 7 may be reduced under proposed reform [S. 445 and H. R. 1800] as the judge would be provided with information concerning estimates of debts repayable under both chapters and would disallow those Chapter 7 cases which represented a substantial abuse of bankruptcy law. The study data suggest that guidelines for acceptance of Chapter 13 cases should also be scrutinized. In particular, petitioners should be discouraged from providing “token” debt repayment plans while maintaining ownership of large accumulations of

ISSN:0022-0078    

DOI:10.1111/j.1745-6606.1984.tb00330.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study tested the consumer's rule of thumb, price indicates quality, in the Japanese market. The data source was theMonthly Consumersproduct testing magazine published by the Japanese Consumer Association. Spearman's rho correlations of price and quality ranged from +.87 to −.80, with a mean of −.06. The slightly negative, near zero mean correlation indicated that, on the average, price was a very poor indicator of quality. Among product categories, bicycles had the highest mean correlation, +.54; mean correlations for other product categories exhibited considerable variation. Comparisons of correlations within a product category, such as television sets or microwave ovens, revealed that a significant positive correlation at one point in time was not a reliable guide to the level of price‐quality correlation for that product category at later points in time. Comparing results from this study with results from previous studies ofConsumer ReportsandConsumers Researchreveals a smaller percentage of positive correlations and a lower mean correlation for the present

ISSN:0022-0078    

DOI:10.1111/j.1745-6606.1984.tb00331.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

While issues relating to the advertising of legal services have received much attention in the scholarly literature, this has not been the case for solicitation by lawyers, even though it appears that lawyers are more interested in being able to solicit than to advertise. In this article the legal issues surrounding solicitation are identified and tied to a basic communications model; then research propositions are presented along with the results of a survey of attitudes held toward solicitation by 125 lawyers practicing in two Rocky Mountain states. The survey results suggest that solicitation is not going to be easily accepted and that many lawyers may have trouble evaluating differences among solicitation, direct mail and advertising. The survey results also suggest that attitudes toward solicitation may be changing in that younger, less experienced respondents expressed more liberal attitudes toward solicitation than their older and more experienced colleagues.Taken together the findings of this article strongly suggest that solicitation is likely to offer a complex and challenging development for consumer affairs professionals in the years ahead.

ISSN:0022-0078    

DOI:10.1111/j.1745-6606.1984.tb00332.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Instead of making value‐price comparisons for all members of a product set, consumers may decide to adopt simple purchase decision rules such as larger sizes are better buys. When the unit price of a larger size is greater than the unit price of a smaller size, a quantity surcharge exists. Previous research has established that consumers do frequently encounter quantity surcharges in purchasing grocery products. However, estimates of the amount of the surcharge, the goal of this research, have not previously been reported. In this study the expected return from using the larger‐size rule was estimated. The estimation procedure made use of price and size information gathered for all available packages of 23 products sold in 15 grocery stores in one rural Illinois community in October 1981.Nineteen of the 23 grocery products were found to have surcharges, with the mean amount ranging from less than one cent to 65 cents. Tuna fish was the only product for which the expected value of the return from buying a larger size rather than a smaller size was negative. Implications for consumers' choice of shopping strategies are discus

ISSN:0022-0078    

DOI:10.1111/j.1745-6606.1984.tb00333.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper compares the benefits of investing funds in an IRA account to the benefits of investing funds in a long‐term capital gains investment. The comparison is motivated because IRA funds, although they can be placed in a long‐term capital gains account, are ultimately taxed at ordinary income tax rates. IRA funds cannot receive the favorable long‐term capital gains tax treatment.Following previous work by Collins, gain factors are computed for IRA accounts vs. long‐term capital gains accounts. In most cases the gain factors are larger than one, although much smaller than when the alternative investment is a typical savings account. Gains factors are, however, universally less than one for premature withdrawal of

ISSN:0022-0078    

DOI:10.1111/j.1745-6606.1984.tb00334.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper reports a study of consumer choices of alternative products, based on trade‐offs among various product attributes. The methodology is a conjoint analysis of product preference rankings based on evaluations by 197 consumers of nine blanket specimens mailed to them as part of a survey. The specimens, which varied according to price, hand, care instructions and flame retardance, provided a much more realistic representation of a choice situation than either verbal or pictorial product descriptions.Results of the conjoint analysis suggest that this is an appropriate tool for examining consumer preferences. Flame retardance was found to be important to consumers in their choice of textile products, and they appeared willing to make trade‐offs among other product attributes to acquire this special property. For some consumers this might mean a willingness to pay more, to sacrifice some softness or to follow more specific care instructions. The implications of these results for public policy are discus

ISSN:0022-0078    

DOI:10.1111/j.1745-6606.1984.tb00335.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Faced with a sharp decline in sales in the early 1980's, the music industry looked for an explanation which could be converted into windfall gains for itself. The explanation proposed by the industry was increased home taping of prerecorded music. Through the introduction of federal legislation, the industry hoped to realize gains at the expense of the consumer of home taping equipment and media. The analysis presented here indicates that the independent effect of taping on prerecorded music sales may not have been as high as the recording industry has claimed, so that consumers may end up paying more than their fair share toward the windfall.

ISSN:0022-0078    

DOI:10.1111/j.1745-6606.1984.tb00336.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The current movement toward market deregulation in the United States is perhaps no better illustrated than by the proposals put forth by the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), James C. Miller, III. His far reaching suggestions would alter considerably the approach taken by the FTC toward the regulation of advertising. This paper reviews the current standards of deception in advertising regulation and compares them with Miller's proposals for new standards. Two recent cases settled under the current guidelines are presented. The probable outcome of these cases under the proposed guidelines is examined by employing a framework proposed by Miller and Hutt for analyzing the effects of regulatory policy. Based on that examination, the authors conclude that the current standards have allowed federal and state agencies to bring about elimination of false advertising claims that would not be possible to prove under the proposed guidelines. While the proposed changes may bring certain benefits to government, business, and consumers, their most significant effect could be to reintroduce the rule ofcaveat emptor.

ISSN:0022-0078    

DOI:10.1111/j.1745-6606.1984.tb00337.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY