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This article examines the relationship between student perceptions of team learning experience and communication style. Student group learning perceptions were evaluated and team communication style was measured using dyads derived from Myers-Briggs personality profiles. Groups containing similar personalities were classified as compatible, whereas groups that blend individuals with different talents and preferences were deemed complementary. Our sample included two sections of Marketing Strategy and one Principles of Macroeconomics section. Macroeconomics students reported greater satisfaction when the group is compatible, whereas Marketing Strategy students preferred complementary groups. The number of group learning experiences and differences in group homogeneity provides likely explanations. Principles of Macroeconomics students, with little or no prior group experience, preferred the comfort of a compatible group. Alternatively, drawing on their considerable group experience, Marketing Strategy students preferred to blend the diverse talents available in a complementary group. (Contains 4 tables.)

This study uses Bureau of Economic Analysis data on state-level productivity levels and growth rates over the period 1977-2019. We find that states with relatively high productivity tend to experience somewhat lower productivity growth over time, whereas states with relatively lower productivity experience somewhat higher productivity growth over time. We find compelling evidence for significant contributions from education (in the form of a college degree) as well as the role played by higher growth rates in the state-level Hispanic population as factors contributing to increased productivity. Worker/labour productivity constitutes a good indicator of changes to wages and living standards. Empirically examining interstate differences in state-level worker productivity growth across different time intervals helps to identify factors that influence geographical differentials in productivity as well as aids in the identification of the specific factors that determine rates of productivity growth and decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The impact of firm size on firm profit rates has been of interest to economists for several decades. However, this extensive literature deals almost exclusively with manufacturing industries. Empirical [...]

ABSTRACT Traditionally marketing's interest in antitrust legislation and policy has focused on constraints imposed by external legal and political forces on marketing strategy decisions and the effect of noncompetitive markets [...]

The marketing strategy and industrial economics literatures contend that firm level strategies and external market forces, respectively, are explanations for cross-sectional variations in profit rates. A considerable volume of prior literature has analyzed the relative explanatory power of firm strategy and market environment in explaining profitability differences across manufacturing industries. Historically one would argue that service industries were too localized for an analysis of the determinants of profit rates at the national level. However, the past twenty years have seen the emergence of national level firms in a number of service industries that were previously dominated by small locally owned businesses. The purpose of this study is to develop and test a model that evaluates the relative importance of firm strategy and industry fixed effects in explaining cross-sectional variation in profit rates across service industries. The most important findings are that strategic effects and industry effects have roughly equivalent explanatory power for U.S. service industries. Moreover, advertising appears to be the strategic variable that is most closely linked to variation in profit. The findings of the paper are important because they provide insight as to whether firm strategy or choice of market is the most important decision open to firms., INTRODUCTION Recent contributions to industrial economics and marketing strategy concentrate on external market forces and firm level strategies as alternative explanations for cross-sectional variations in profit rates. While the marketing [...]

This paper offers descriptive evidence regarding the trend toward increasing concentration in U.S. retailing industries. The data cover prominent retail industries including general merchandise stores, grocery stores, and drug stores for the years 1977 to 1992. Concentration is measured by conventional four-firm concentration ratios and by the percentage of total industry receipts and total assets contributed by firms from the largest asset size class contained in the Internal Revenue Service: Corporate Statistics of Income data. The descriptive findings presented in this paper are relevant for the teaching of economics and potentially for antitrust policy. From a teaching perspective, a trend toward increasing concentration in retailing suggests that retail examples should be included with examples drawn from manufacturing when presenting oligopoly models. The findings are relevant from an antitrust perspective because increasing retail concentration suggests the need for antitrust enforcement agencies to more carefully scrutinize proposed mergers between large retail firms., INTRODUCTION Coverage of imperfectly competitive output markets in principles of economics texts has traditionally treated retail markets as monopolistically competitive, while confining the discussion of structure measures and oligopoly models [...]

While U.S. teenage live birth rates remain the highest in the developed world, these rates have consistently fallen since 1991. The period of decline corresponds to significant demographic changes, targeted policies to reduce teenage pregnancy, changes in the income distribution and changes in the prevalence of underage drinking. Reasonable arguments can be made for each of these changes as important in reducing teenage live birth rates. We employ an unbalanced state level panel for the years 1991-2017 to investigate factors responsible for the decline. Our model explains slightly more than 80 percent of the reduction in teenage live birthrate. Among the major factors explaining the decline are reductions in underage drinking, increases in high school graduation rates, and increases in the Hispanic proportion of the population. Increases in median household income are positively associated with increased teenage birthrates, a seemingly counterintuitive result unless analyzed in light of Kearney and Levine (2012) findings regarding economic hopelessness among teenage mothers. Rising overall incomes appear to magnify lower income teenage women's feelings of economic marginalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares censored Tobit and two tier models for estimating both the probability of participation and expenditures on state run lotteries. The two tiered model consists of Probit estimation for probability of participation and OLS regression for estimating expenditures. When modeled separately using the two tiered model, only five of sixteen independent variables are statistically significant in predicting both participation and expenditures. The remaining eleven independent variables are significant for predicting participation or expenditure but not both. Modeling the two decisions separately thus provides information that is useful to lottery administrators and policy makers alike. Detailed variance decomposition for the probability of participation and expenditure reveals interesting findings regarding education effects. Results indicate that for the overall sample, education beyond high school reduces participation and spending, a result that is consistent with previous literature. However, for black survey respondents, only the Tobit model finds a negative impact from increased education. With the two tiered model, there is no evidence that rising education among blacks reduces participation or spending. Decomposition results suggest that black/white differences are due almost entirely to coefficient differences. Attributing black and white behavioral differences to coefficients implies that if blacks and whites were identical in characteristics other than race, blacks would be 2.3 percent less likely to participate in the lottery than whites, but participating blacks would spend 130 percent more than their white counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent trade theory models focus on firm heterogeneity as a pathway to increased aggregate productivity and welfare at the national level. Less emphasis has been placed on how trade liberalization, through reduction in tariffs, affects firm-level total factor productivity (TFP). This paper investigates whether tariff rate reductions impact firm-level TFP in the U.S. manufacturing sector. The empirical research utilizes accounting data obtained from Compustat and nominal industry tariff rates at the six-digit NAICS level. Firm-level TFP is estimated to correct for simultaneity and selection bias that exists within the production process and is subsequently regressed on a set of firm characteristics and lagged tariff rates. The results indicate an inverse relationship between industry tariff rates and firm-level productivity, suggesting that changes in firmlevel TFP that result from tariff reduction are an additional source of welfare gain. These results may be applicable for determining trade policy and calculating welfare effects that would emerge from changes in trade policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper examines the impact of Newsweek's 'The Greenest Big Companies in America' on stock values for large companies. Newsweek ranks the biggest Companies in America from one to 500. An event window of ten days following the rankings release to the public was examined to analyze the impact of relative rankings on stock values. Dummy variables were constructed denoting firms ranked in the highest and lowest quartiles. Control variables included return to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the firm's beta coefficient and total revenue. The main finding of the study is that inclusion in the top quartile of the rankings has a positive and statistically significant impact on firms' stock values, while the coefficient for the lowest quartile was not statistically different from zero. The results provide evidence of a positive impact on stock values from favorable environmental recognition but no effect for low ranked firms. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global markets challenge multinational corporations to harmonize quality of life (QOL) commitments across a broad spectrum of stakeholders with different corporate responsibility perspectives. Few studies have examined strategic planning issues associated with international quality of life (IQOL). This research investigates the importance of slack resources, industry affiliation, and multinational headquarter location (U.S. or non-U.S.) on commitment to societal and individual QOL for Fortune U.S. and global companies. Content analysis of corporate mission statements provides the vehicle for assessing QOL commitment. Models are estimated using logistic regression with instrumental variables included to address potential problems with simultaneity between QOL commitment and return on assets, a proxy for slack resources. Findings include a positive and significant relationship between environmental QOL commitment and slack resources as well as industry and cultural differences in QOL commitment issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]