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We investigate experimentally the impact on prosocial behavior of the religious observance of Ramadan. Our sample consists of male factory workers in a manufacturing facility in a Muslim country. In our between-subjects' design, each worker is asked to allocate an amount of money between himself and a stranger. Specifically, we examine behavior of observants and nonobservants before and after the daily break of the Ramadan fast. We also examine behavior outside of Ramadan, where we treat alimentary abstention as akin to a long fasting period. We hypothesize and confirm that outside Ramadan, decision makers who abstain from any alimentary intake transfer less money to recipients relative to decision makers who do not abstain. Strikingly, this effect is reversed during the month of Ramadan. Specifically, observant workers who are in the midst of their Ramadan fast are far more generous to recipients than workers who have had their evening meal. Interestingly, observant and nonobservant workers after the daily break of the Ramadan fast and workers outside Ramadan that consumed aliments make statistically similar transfers. Our findings suggest that it is the interaction between alimentary abstention and religious observance that amplifies prosocial behavior during Ramadan, where fasting is part of the ritual. (JEL C91, C93, C72), I. INTRODUCTION Does alimentary (henceforth, aliments refer to food and fluids) intake amplify prosocial behavior? Recent physiological research indicates that self-control, which is necessary for prosocial acts, requires glucose intake [...]

We investigate an incumbent's optimal sequential introduction of new products over two periods in a competitive duopoly setting. The firm would like to preempt and counter competition from a future entrant. Alternatively, the firm should consider that one of its products might decrease sales for another of their products, a threat commonly known as cannibalization. In this paper, we examine three sequential introduction strategies. We find that a firm's optimal introduction sequence is governed by pressures from competition and cannibalization in the market. In general, competition has greater impact on firms' profits than cannibalization. Introducing a high-end product before a low-end product can alleviate cannibalization for a weak entrant. In particular, the profit loss caused by competition is greater than that caused by cannibalization. When competition is intense, firms should consider alleviating the profit loss from competition over cannibalization by introducing a low-end product before a high-end product. In that case, the incumbent's high-end product's quality must be no lower than the entrant's quality but the profit is derived mostly from the mark-up on the low-end product. Much of the high-end product's profit is sacrificed in order to maximize profit from the entire product line. When cannibalization is intense and competition is mild (due to a weak entrant), the incumbent's profit gap between the high-end and low-end products is high. In that case, the firm can no longer afford to sacrifice its high-end products' profit and the order of introduction reverses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]