scholarly journals Choosing a Price and Cost Combination—The Role of Correlation

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 535
Author(s):  
Avner Bar-Ilan ◽  
Yishay D. Maoz

Often, firms can choose from different combinations of price and cost processes. For example, they can choose between different production locations or technologies, between different products to produce, or between different locations for selling them. To study the choice of the optimal combination, we return to themodel that was developed by Dixit and Pindyck, where both output price and production cost are stochastic processes, and add a novel focus on how the correlation between these processes affects the firm’s decision. We find that, ceteris paribus, the firm prefers the combination with the lowest correlation between the processes, as it seeks a greater profitability variance which maximizes its value.

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 152-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul F. Steinberg

This article considers the role of generalization in comparative case studies, using as exemplars the contributions to this special issue on climate change politics. As a research practice, generalization is a logical argument for extending one’s claims beyond the data, positing a connection between events that were studied and those that were not. No methodological tradition is exempt from the requirement to demonstrate a compelling logic of generalization. The article presents a taxonomy of the logics of generalization underlying diverse research methodologies, which often go unstated and unexamined. I introduce the concept of resonance groups, which provide a causeway for cross-system generalization from single case studies. Overall the results suggest that in the comparative study of complex political systems, case study research is, ceteris paribus, on par with large-N research with respect to generalizability.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing-Lin Chen ◽  
Hang-Wei Hu ◽  
Zhen-Zhen Yan ◽  
Chao-Yu Li ◽  
Bao-Anh Thi Nguyen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Termites are ubiquitous insects in tropical and subtropical habitats, where they construct massive mounds from soil, their saliva and excreta. Termite mounds harbor an enormous amount of microbial inhabitants, which regulate multiple ecosystem functions such as mitigating methane emissions and increasing ecosystem resistance to climate change. However, we lack a mechanistic understanding about the role of termite mounds in modulating the microbial community assembly processes, which are essential to unravel the biological interactions of soil fauna and microorganisms, the major components of soil food webs. We conducted a large-scale survey across a >1500 km transect in northern Australia to investigate biogeographical patterns of bacterial and fungal community in 134 termite mounds and the relative importance of deterministic versus stochastic processes in microbial community assembly. Results: Microbial alpha (number of phylotypes) and beta (changes in bacterial and fungal community composition) significantly differed between termite mounds and surrounding soils. Microbial communities in termite mounds exhibited a significant distance-decay pattern, and fungal communities had a stronger distance-decay relationship (slope = -1.91) than bacteria (slope = -0.21). Based on the neutral community model (fitness < 0.7) and normalized stochasticity ratio index (NST) with a value below the 50% boundary point, deterministic selection, rather than stochastic forces, predominated the microbial community assembly in termite mounds. Deterministic processes exhibited significantly weaker impacts on bacteria (NST = 45.23%) than on fungi (NST = 33.72%), probably due to the wider habitat niche breadth and higher potential migration rate of bacteria. The abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) was negatively correlated with bacterial/fungal biomass ratios, indicating that ARG content might be an important biotic factor that drove the biogeographic pattern of microbial communities in termite mounds. Conclusions: Deterministic processes play a more important role than stochastic processes in shaping the microbial community assembly in termite mounds, an unique habitat ubiquitously distributed in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. An improved understanding of the biogeographic patterns of microorganisms in termite mounds is crucial to decipher the role of soil faunal activities in shaping microbial community assembly, with implications for their mediated ecosystems functions and services.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-65
Author(s):  
Arief Tri Hardiyanto

This study shows how the role of internal audit is adequate can play a role in supporting the effectiveness of internal controls over the production cost of bottled water 240ml at PT. Aqua Golden Mississippi Tbk. (Branch Mekarsari). The method used in this research is descriptive statistic by using Spearman Rank correlation coefficient with n = 15 and a significant level of 0.05. Based on the research that has been described, it can be concluded that the respondents in the role of internal audit is adequately provide answers strongly agree and agree amounting to 96.1% of respondents regarding the effectiveness of internal control over production costs by 97.02% answered strongly agree and agree, The role of internal audit in supporting the effectiveness of internal controls over the production cost of bottled water 240ml including a very strong, which is 89.96%. While the remaining 10.04% influenced by other factors not included in the research conducted by the author. Thus it can be said that adequate internal audit was instrumental in supporting the effectiveness of internal controls over the production cost of bottled water 240ml at PT. Aqua Golden Mississippi Tbk. (Branch Mekarsari).Keywords: Internal Audit, Internal Control, Cost of Production


2020 ◽  
pp. 40-52
Author(s):  
Karen C. Abbott

Most standard theoretical approaches emphasize the role of deterministic density dependence in creating and maintaining equilibrium dynamics. At the same time, it is widely recognized that ecological processes are inherently stochastic, and that disturbances and variation in the environment and in the fates of individuals prevent many ecological systems from resting at their theoretical equilibrium. A developing body of stochastic ecological theory aims to bridge the gap between the deterministic tools of classical theory and the stochastic, non-equilibrial questions that real systems present to us. This chapter provides an overview of this developing theory, with an emphasis on approaches that confront the complex interplay between deterministic density dependence, and perturbations. Although intuition may suggest that stochasticity and transient phenomena should obscure ecological understanding, they can actually strengthen it when viewed through the appropriate lens, as illustrated in this chapter.


Author(s):  
Rosalie Liccardo Pacula ◽  
Beau Kilmer ◽  
Michael Grossman ◽  
Frank J Chaloupka

Abstract User sanctions influence the legal risk for consumers who engage in illegal drug markets. If a reduction in user sanctions leads to an increase in consumption, drug prices will rise unless supply is perfectly elastic. In equilibrium, a change in consumption associated with decreasing user sanctions could be relatively small if supply is upward sloping. Using a novel dataset with rich transaction-level information, this paper evaluates the impact of recent changes in user sanctions for marijuana on marijuana prices. The results suggest that lower legal risks for users are associated with higher marijuana prices in the short-run, which ceteris paribus, implies an upward sloping supply curve, higher consumption, and higher profits for drug dealers. The findings have important implications for the current policy debates regarding decriminalization of marijuana.


1994 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 485-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rigoberto A. Lopez ◽  
Marilyn A. Altobello ◽  
Farhed A. Shah

AbstractThis article develops a conceptual framework for analyzing the role of state-level policies towards the dairy sector in the presence of farmland amenity benefits, and applies it to Connecticut. Milk supply, demand and amenity benefit functions are estimated, and three exogenously determined milk prices are considered. The empirical findings show, under each price scenario, the extent to which land is underallocated to the dairy sector if amenity benefits are ignored. Analysis of policy options reveals that a partial production cost subsidy represents the least-cost alternative for attaining the socially optimal solution for the region.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. e170-e200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Heinisch ◽  
Rolf Scheufele

Abstract In this paper, we investigate whether differences exist among forecasts using real-time or latest-available data to predict gross domestic product (GDP). We employ mixed-frequency models and real-time data to reassess the role of surveys and financial data relative to industrial production and orders in Germany. Although we find evidence that forecast characteristics based on real-time and final data releases differ, we also observe minimal impacts on the relative forecasting performance of indicator models. However, when obtaining the optimal combination of soft and hard data, the use of final release data may understate the role of survey information.


2004 ◽  
Vol 07 (04) ◽  
pp. 525-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward B. Douthett ◽  
Kooyul Jung ◽  
YoungKyu Park

This study examines the association between keiretsu affiliation and corporate equity value in Japan. We hypothesize that, ceteris paribus, keiretsu firm value, measured as Tobin's Q, is higher than non-keiretsu firm value, reflecting the improved or active monitoring role of the keiretsu arrangement. The empirical tests are supportive after controlling for other financial and ownership variables. The results also show that keiretsu firm value is positively related to the strength of the keiretsu. This is additional evidence that the monitoring provided by the keiretsu relationship does indeed increase corporate equity value, and that the source of the increase in value is not merely a result of cross-shareholding, but inherent to the keiretsu arrangement. However, the effect of keiretsu membership and influence on market equity values has apparently diminished since 1990 (the post-market crash period in Japan).


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-183
Author(s):  
Paweł Polak ◽  
Roman Krzanowski

Abstract Social robotics are autonomous robots or Artificial Moral Agents (AMA), that will interact respect and embody human ethical values. However, the conceptual and practical problems of building such systems have not yet been resolved, playing a role of significant challenge for computational modeling. It seems that the lack of success in constructing robots, ceteris paribus, is due to the conceptual and algorithmic limitations of the current design of ethical robots. This paper proposes a new approach for developing ethical capacities in robotic systems, one based on the concept of Aristotelian phronesis. Phronesis in principle reflexes closer human ethics than the ethical paradigms we employ today in ethical robotics. This paper describes the essential features of phronesis and proposes a high-level architecture for implementing phronetic principles in autonomous robots. Phronetic robotics is in its early stages of conceptualization, so many of the presented ideas are speculative and require further research.2


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document