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Cost Increase (cost + increase)
Selected AbstractsThe Impact of a Marginal Cost Increase on Price and Quality: Theory and Evidence from Airline Market StrikesAUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 3 2002Pamela M. Schmitt This paper examines the impact of a marginal cost increase for one firm on price and quality in a duopoly market. The results are derived theoretically and then tested empirically. The marginal cost increase is interpreted as an increase in the wage one firm pays its workers. The predictions are tested with two United States airline strikes during the 1990's. Quality is proxied in three ways: (1) the number of flights per day, (2) the percentage of flights cancelled, and (3) the percentage of flights arriving late. The results show that the strike coefficients for the effects on quality are most consistent with theoretical predictions when quality is measured as the number of flights per day. These results are encouraging because of the three measures of quality, it seems that number of flights per day is the measure of quality that is most controllable by the .rm. The strike coefficients for the direct effect on price are most consistent with theoretical predictions when quality rankings are determined by the percentage of flights cancelled. The strike coefficients for the total effect on price are most consistent with theoretical predictions when quality rankings are determined by the percentage of flights arriving late. [source] SELECTED ALTERNATIVES TO METHYL BROMIDE IN THE POSTHARVEST AND QUARANTINE TREATMENT OF ALMONDS AND WALNUTS: AN ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVEJOURNAL OF FOOD PROCESSING AND PRESERVATION, Issue 6 2001ANTHONI F. AEGERTER Methyl bromide is a highly effective fumigant used in the postharvest and quarantine treatment of tree nuts. There will be a complete phase out in the United States of America (U.S.) of methyl bromide by 2005 according to The Montreal Protocol of 1991 with the exception of preshipment and quarantine uses as stated in the 1998 Clean Air Act. This study analyzed alternative treatment scenarios. The alternatives considered were phosphine, irradiation, and controlled atmosphere storage. Costs for each scenario were developed. Cost increases with irradiation ranged from two to fourteen times the benchmark costs for methyl bromide. Controlled atmosphere storage for both commodities had cost increases ranging from 174% to 256% over methyl bromide costs. Phosphine was used only to treat almonds. Phosphine application costs were 108% and 117% above the benchmark costs for methyl bromide. [source] A multicriterion classification approach for assessing the impact of environmental policies on the competitiveness of firmsCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2007V. Hontou Abstract The key objective of the European Union's environmental policy is to successfully combine environmental protection with sustainable economic growth in the long term. Nowadays, it is increasingly recognized that environmental policies, besides increasing production cost, may at the same time give incentives to firms for undertaking innovative actions and/or developing and exploiting differentiation opportunities. Both differentiation capacity and cost increase are strongly dependent on a multiplicity of internal and external factors, such as energy intensity, type of technology used, characteristics of the competitive environment etc. The present paper presents a multicriterion approach for classifying firms into discrete categories of possible impact, according to their sensitivity to cost increases and their differentiation potential. The resulting environment,competitiveness matrix can be exploited for establishing sustainability strategies and designing effective policies in the industrial sector. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] IRC § 71 MAY IMPOVERISH CHILDREN, ENDANGER EX-WIVES, AND DISRUPT FEDERALISM1FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 4 2008Michael Waggoner The Internal Revenue Code provides that alimony will be deductible to the payor and taxable to the payee. Although this treatment may seem contrary to the payee's interest, compared to making the payments non-deductible and nontaxable, it can increase the payee's after-tax income. The payor's deduction will allow larger payments at no after-tax cost increase; if the payee is in a lower tax bracket, then even after paying taxes the payee will have more resources. Because this favorable treatment of alimony does not apply to child support, children of divorce are poorer. Nor does the favorable treatment apply to lump-sum payments, making this option less generous, even though many states have phased down the grant of alimony. Because the definition of alimony requires that it end with the payee's death,to protect the treatment provided for lump sums,the tax system is on the wrong side of the issue of violence against ex-spouses (typically the ex-wife). The article proposes extending to other similar payments the favorable tax treatment now provided for alimony. [source] Multiscalet basis in Galerkin's method for solving three-dimensional electromagnetic integral equationsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NUMERICAL MODELLING: ELECTRONIC NETWORKS, DEVICES AND FIELDS, Issue 4 2008M. S. Tong Abstract Multiscalets in the multiwavelet family are used as the basis and testing functions in Galerkin's method. Since the multiscalets are orthogonal to their translations under the Sobolev inner product, the resulting Galerkin's method behaves like a collocation method but possesses the ability of derivative tracking for unknown functions in solving integral equations. The former makes the method simple in implementation and the latter allows to use coarse meshes in discretization. These robust features have been demonstrated in solving two-dimensional (2D) electromagnetic (EM) problems, but have not been exploited in three-dimensional (3D) scenarios. For 3D problems, the unknown functions in the integral equations are dependent on two coordinate variables. In order to preserve the use of coarse meshes for 3D cases, we realize the omnidirectional derivative tracking by tracking the directional derivatives along two orthogonal directions, or equivalently tracking the gradient. This process yields a nonsquare matrix equation and we use the least-squares method (LSM) to solve it. Numerical examples show that the multiscalet-based Galerkin's method is also robust in solving for 3D EM integral equations with a minor cost increase from LSM. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Estimation and forecasting in first-order vector autoregressions with near to unit roots and conditional heteroscedasticityJOURNAL OF FORECASTING, Issue 7 2009Theologos Pantelidis Abstract This paper investigates the effects of imposing invalid cointegration restrictions or ignoring valid ones on the estimation, testing and forecasting properties of the bivariate, first-order, vector autoregressive (VAR(1)) model. We first consider nearly cointegrated VARs, that is, stable systems whose largest root, lmax, lies in the neighborhood of unity, while the other root, lmin, is safely smaller than unity. In this context, we define the ,forecast cost of type I' to be the deterioration in the forecasting accuracy of the VAR model due to the imposition of invalid cointegration restrictions. However, there are cases where misspecification arises for the opposite reasons, namely from ignoring cointegration when the true process is, in fact, cointegrated. Such cases can arise when lmax equals unity and lmin is less than but near to unity. The effects of this type of misspecification on forecasting will be referred to as ,forecast cost of type II'. By means of Monte Carlo simulations, we measure both types of forecast cost in actual situations, where the researcher is led (or misled) by the usual unit root tests in choosing the unit root structure of the system. We consider VAR(1) processes driven by i.i.d. Gaussian or GARCH innovations. To distinguish between the effects of nonlinear dependence and those of leptokurtosis, we also consider processes driven by i.i.d. t(2) innovations. The simulation results reveal that the forecast cost of imposing invalid cointegration restrictions is substantial, especially for small samples. On the other hand, the forecast cost of ignoring valid cointegration restrictions is small but not negligible. In all the cases considered, both types of forecast cost increase with the intensity of GARCH effects. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Impacts of Alternative Manure Application Rates on Texas Animal Feeding Operations: A Macro Level Analysis,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 3 2008E. Osei Abstract:, An integrated economic and environmental modeling system was developed for evaluating agro-environmental policies and practices implemented on large scales. The modeling system, the Comprehensive Economic and Environmental Optimization Tool-Macro Modeling System (CEEOT-MMS), integrates the Farm-level Economic Model (FEM) and the Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) model, as well as national databases and clustering and aggregation algorithms. Using micro simulations of statistically derived representative farms and subsequent aggregation of farm-level results, a wide range of agricultural best management practices can be investigated within CEEOT-MMS. In the present study, CEEOT-MMS was used to evaluate the economic and water quality impacts of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) based manure application rates when implemented on all animal feeding operations in the State of Texas. Results of the study indicate that edge-of-field total P losses can be reduced by about 0.8 kg/ha/year or 14% when manure applications are calibrated to supply all of the recommended crop P requirements from manure total P sources only, when compared to manure applications at the recommended crop N agronomic rate. Corresponding economic impacts are projected to average a US$4,800 annual cost increase per farm. Results are also presented by ecological subregion, farm type, and farm size categories. [source] Corporate Travel Medicine: Benefit Analysis of On-Site ServicesJOURNAL OF TRAVEL MEDICINE, Issue 4 2001Timothy S. Prince Background: Corporations with employees who travel internationally address their travel-related medical needs in a variety of ways. Options utilized include corporate medical departments, local health departments, and local clinics, both contracted and independent. Methods: A travel clinic at a university medical center routinely provided preventive travel medicine services for many of the local companies. Two of these companies had on-site medical clinics which routinely saw patients for occupational and personal health reasons. At these companies, the university travel clinic assisted in moving employee travel medicine services to the on-site clinic. Direct and indirect costs for new, predeparture employee travel care at each company were compared before, and after, the move on-site. Results: When measured per patient, total cost savings associated with the on-site travel clinic were greater than 15% at both companies (17%, 25%), primarily due to the value of the employees' time saved with decreased travel. Utilization increased at one company by 24% over the first 8 months and lead to higher overall cost, but this cost increase was only 4%. Informal assessments of the value of the on-site service at both companies was uniformly positive. Conclusion: For certain corporate settings, on-site clinics may be effective ways of providing travel medicine services. [source] On the first come,first served rule in multi-echelon inventory controlNAVAL RESEARCH LOGISTICS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 5 2007Sven Axsäter Abstract A two-echelon distribution inventory system with a central warehouse and a number of retailers is considered. The retailers face stochastic demand and replenish from the warehouse, which, in turn, replenishes from an outside supplier. The system is reviewed continuously and demands that cannot be met directly are backordered. Standard holding and backorder costs are considered. In the literature on multi-echelon inventory control it is standard to assume that backorders at the warehouse are served according to a first come,first served policy (FCFS). This allocation rule simplifies the analysis but is normally not optimal. It is shown that the FCFS rule can, in the worst case, lead to an asymptotically unbounded relative cost increase as the number of retailers approaches infinity. We also provide a new heuristic that will always give a reduction of the expected costs. A numerical study indicates that the average cost reduction when using the heuristic is about two percent. The suggested heuristic is also compared with two existing heuristics. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007 [source] Research and Development, Regional Spillovers and the Location of Economic ActivitiesTHE MANCHESTER SCHOOL, Issue 4 2004Alberto Franco Pozzolo I present an endogenous growth model that studies the effects of local inter-industry and intra-industry knowledge spillovers in R&D on the allocation of economic activities between two regions. The equilibrium is the result of a tension between a centripetal force, the cost of transporting goods from one region to the other, and a centrifugal force, the cost increase associated with life in a more crowded area. The presence of local knowledge spillovers, which determines the concentration of the R&D activities within one region, also introduces a further centripetal force that makes a symmetric allocation of the economic activities impossible. The concentration of R&D fosters the equilibrium rate of growth of the economy with respect to the case of no-integration, by increasing the positive effect of local knowledge spillovers. Contrary to the findings of the majority of models in the new economic geography literature, within this framework a reduction in transport costs may be associated with a more even geographical distribution of economic activities. [source] The Impact of a Marginal Cost Increase on Price and Quality: Theory and Evidence from Airline Market StrikesAUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 3 2002Pamela M. Schmitt This paper examines the impact of a marginal cost increase for one firm on price and quality in a duopoly market. The results are derived theoretically and then tested empirically. The marginal cost increase is interpreted as an increase in the wage one firm pays its workers. The predictions are tested with two United States airline strikes during the 1990's. Quality is proxied in three ways: (1) the number of flights per day, (2) the percentage of flights cancelled, and (3) the percentage of flights arriving late. The results show that the strike coefficients for the effects on quality are most consistent with theoretical predictions when quality is measured as the number of flights per day. These results are encouraging because of the three measures of quality, it seems that number of flights per day is the measure of quality that is most controllable by the .rm. The strike coefficients for the direct effect on price are most consistent with theoretical predictions when quality rankings are determined by the percentage of flights cancelled. The strike coefficients for the total effect on price are most consistent with theoretical predictions when quality rankings are determined by the percentage of flights arriving late. [source] Plesiomorphic Escape Decisions in Cryptic Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma) Having Highly Derived Antipredatory DefensesETHOLOGY, Issue 10 2010William E. Cooper Jr Escape theory predicts that the probability of fleeing and flight initiation distance (predator,prey distance when escape begins) increase as predation risk increases and decrease as escape cost increases. These factors may apply even to highly cryptic species that sometimes must flee. Horned lizards (Phrynosoma) rely on crypsis because of coloration, flattened body form, and lateral fringe scales that reduce detectability. At close range they sometimes squirt blood-containing noxious substances and defend themselves with cranial spines. These antipredatory traits are highly derived, but little is known about the escape behavior of horned lizards. Of particular interest is whether their escape decisions bear the same relationships to predation risk and opportunity costs of escaping as in typical prey lacking such derived defenses. We investigated the effects of repeated attack and direction of predator turning on P. cornutum and of opportunity cost of fleeing during a social encounter in P. modestum. Flight initiation distance was greater for the second of two successive approaches and probability of fleeing decreased as distance between the turning predator and prey increased, but was greater when the predator turned toward than away from a lizard. Flight initiation distance was shorter during social encounters than when lizards were solitary. For all variables studied, risk assessment by horned lizards conforms to the predictions of escape theory and is similar to that in other prey despite their specialized defenses. Our findings show that these specialized, derived defenses coexist with a taxonomically widespread, plesiomorphic method of making escape decisions. They suggest that escape theory based on costs and benefits, as intended, applies very generally, even to highly cryptic prey that have specialized defense mechanisms. [source] Population density of migratory and resident brown trout (Salmo trutta) in relation to altitude: evidence for a migration costJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2001T. Bohlin Abstract 1For anadromous salmonids, the positive relations found in previous studies between adult size/age and stream characteristics suggest that the migration cost increases with stream length, water discharge and the altitude of the spawning site. In this study we hypothesized that the altitude of the spawning site is positively related to the migration effort. 2Life-history theory predicts (i) that the equlibrium egg density, which is a fitness measure, thereby will decline more rapidly with altitude in migratory than in stream-resident populations, and therefore (ii) that residency will be selected for at large enough altitudes. 3As the density of juveniles is a function of egg density, we hypothesized that (a) altitude has stronger effect on juvenile density in migratory than in resident populations, and (b) juvenile density is larger in migratory than in resident populations. 4We tested (a) and (b) using multivariate methods for electrofishing data from 164 sea-migratory and 167 stream-resident populations of brown trout Salmotrutta L. in Sweden. Both predictions were supported; the juvenile density was larger and declined more rapidly with altitude in migratory than in resident populations. 5The results are further evidence that migration costs reduce fitness in anadromous salmonids. [source] SELECTED ALTERNATIVES TO METHYL BROMIDE IN THE POSTHARVEST AND QUARANTINE TREATMENT OF ALMONDS AND WALNUTS: AN ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVEJOURNAL OF FOOD PROCESSING AND PRESERVATION, Issue 6 2001ANTHONI F. AEGERTER Methyl bromide is a highly effective fumigant used in the postharvest and quarantine treatment of tree nuts. There will be a complete phase out in the United States of America (U.S.) of methyl bromide by 2005 according to The Montreal Protocol of 1991 with the exception of preshipment and quarantine uses as stated in the 1998 Clean Air Act. This study analyzed alternative treatment scenarios. The alternatives considered were phosphine, irradiation, and controlled atmosphere storage. Costs for each scenario were developed. Cost increases with irradiation ranged from two to fourteen times the benchmark costs for methyl bromide. Controlled atmosphere storage for both commodities had cost increases ranging from 174% to 256% over methyl bromide costs. Phosphine was used only to treat almonds. Phosphine application costs were 108% and 117% above the benchmark costs for methyl bromide. [source] Public Monopoly, Mixed Oligopoly and Productive EfficiencyAUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 2 2002Akira Nishimori In general, the introduction of competition into the public sector seems to lead to higher cost-efficiency in service production. However, there are examples of substantial cost increases in some areas. In this paper, using a mixed oligopoly model, we investigate the effects of deregulation on the cost-reducing incentives of a public firm. Our results show that a firm that is a public monopoly has greater incentive to conduct cost-reducing investment than a public firm within mixed oligopoly market. [source] Effect of frequency of application of inorganic nitrogen fertilizer within a rotational paddock-grazing system on the performance of dairy cows and inputs of labourGRASS & FORAGE SCIENCE, Issue 2 2008C. P. Ferris Abstract As herd sizes and labour costs increase, and the availability of skilled labour decreases, efficient use of available labour becomes more important in dairy cow systems. Two experiments were conducted to examine the effect of reducing the frequency of application of inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilizer on inputs of labour and performance of dairy cows. Experiments 1 (duration of 169 d) and 2 (duration of 179 d) involved fifty-eight and forty multiparous Holstein,Friesian dairy cows, respectively, in mid-lactation. In each experiment, in the ,infrequent' treatment fertilizer was applied to all paddocks on a single occasion at the start of each grazing cycle, while in treatment ,frequent', fertilizer was applied on three occasions each week, within 2 or 3 d of each paddock having been grazed. The experimental treatments were started from 30 March and 29 March in Experiments 1 and 2 respectively. Total N application rates were approximately 360 and 250 kg N ha,1 in Experiments 1 and 2 respectively. Concentrate feed (4·0 kg per cow) was offered daily in both experiments. With the ,infrequent' treatment, highest concentrations of crude protein and nitrate in herbage were observed in swards grazed approximately 10 d after N fertilizer was applied. Treatment had no significant effect on milk yield, milk fat and protein concentrations, and final live weight and body condition score of cows in either experiment. Milk urea and plasma urea concentrations were not significantly affected by treatment. Calculated application times of fertilizer for a herd of 100 dairy cows were 107 and 83 min week,1 for the ,frequent' and ,infrequent' treatments respectively. [source] Secondary Trading Costs in the Municipal Bond MarketTHE JOURNAL OF FINANCE, Issue 3 2006LAWRENCE E. HARRIS ABSTRACT Using new econometric methods, we separately estimate average transaction costs for over 167,000 bonds from a 1-year sample of all U.S. municipal bond trades. Municipal bond transaction costs decrease with trade size and do not depend significantly on trade frequency. Also, municipal bond trades are substantially more expensive than similar-sized equity trades. We attribute these results to the lack of bond market price transparency. Additional cross-sectional analyses show that bond trading costs increase with credit risk, instrument complexity, time to maturity, and time since issuance. Investors, and perhaps ultimately issuers, might benefit if issuers issued simpler bonds. [source] | ||||||||||||||||