An Economic Model of Youth Smoking: Tax and Welfare Effects

This paper presents a model of smoking choice in which rationality is bounded by limitations in intertemporal computational abilities. The model is applied to the youth decision to initiate smoking. Lifetime smoking paths of representative smokers indicate that youths may experience a reduction in lifetime utility and come to regret their decision to smoke. It is suggested that public policy interventions that raise the near term cost of smoking will be more effective in reducing lifetime smoking than informational campaigns that emphasize future health costs. However, youth taxes would have to be quite high to substantially reduce smoking rates among youths who have already begun to smoke. Also, low youth taxes would not prevent future smoking as an adult, although they would reduce smoking rates and lead to earlier quitting.Cigarettes, smoking, addiction, Behavioral economics

Cultural Effects of Trade Liberalization

We incorporate culture into a standard trade model in two distinct ways. In the ¡°cultural affinity from work¡± model, workers receive a non- pecuniary cultural benefit from work in a particular industry. In the ¡°cultural externality¡± model, consumers of a product receive utility from other consumer¡¯s consumption of a domestic good. We show that resistance to change due to cultural concerns can reduce the national benefits from trade liberalization. Complete movements to free trade will have a positive national welfare impact in the cultural affinity case whereas it may lower national welfare in the cultural externality case. We also show that a loss of cultural benefits is more likely to occur in the externality model.Cigarettes, smoking, addiction, Behavioral economics

A Behavioral Model of Cyclical Dieting

This paper presents a behavioral economics model with bounded rationality to describe an individual¡¯s food consumption choices that lead to weight gain and dieting. Using a physiological relationship determining calories needed to maintain weight, we simulate the food consumption choices of a representative female over a 30 year period. Results show that a diet will reduce weight only temporarily. Recurrence of weight gain leads to cyclical dieting, which reduces the trend rate of weight increase. Dieting frequency is shown to depend on decision period length, dieting costs, and habit persistence.Dieting, Behavioral economics, Weight cycles,

Trade Basics (Web-based course)

This collection includes Steven Suranovic. (1999.). Foreign exchange markets and exchange rates. Introduction to Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) ( Internationalecon.com/v1.0/Finance/ch30/30c010.html) a web page titled PPP as a Theory of Exchange Rate Determination by Suranovic (7/10/99), a web page titled The National Income or Product Identity by Suranovic, a web page titled The Role of Imports in the National Income Identity by Suranovic (5/21/98), a web page titled The US National Income Statistics by Suranovic, a web page titled The Balance of Payments Accounts: Definitions by Suranovic (8/20/98), a web page titled Recording Transactions on the Balance of Payments by Suranovic (8/20/98), a web page titled Some Further Complications by Suranovic (9/13/98), a web page titled US Balance of Payments Statistics - 1997 by Suranovic (8/20/98), and a web page titled US Balances on the Balance of Payments - 1997 by Suranovic (8/20/98)

Can A Rational Choice Framework Make Sense of Anorexia Nervosa?

Can a rational choice modeling framework help broaden our understanding of anorexia nervosa? This question is interesting because anorexia nervosa is a serious health concern, and because of the following issue: could a rational choice approach shed useful light on a condition which appears to involve "choosing" to be ill? We present a model of weight choice and dieting applicable to anorexia nervosa, and the sometimes-associated purging behavior. We also present empirical evidence about factors possibly contributing to anorexia nervosa. We offer this analysis as a consciousness-raising way of thinking about the condition.

Marketing as a means to transformative social conflict resolution: lessons from transitioning war economies and the Colombian coffee marketing system

Social conflicts are ubiquitous to the human condition and occur throughout markets, marketing processes, and marketing systems.When unchecked or unmitigated, social conflict can have devastating consequences for consumers, marketers, and societies, especially when conflict escalates to war. In this article, the authors offer a systemic analysis of the Colombian war economy, with its conflicted shadow and coping markets, to show how a growing network of fair-trade coffee actors has played a key role in transitioning the country’s war economy into a peace economy. They particularly draw attention to the sources of conflict in this market and highlight four transition mechanisms — i.e., empowerment, communication, community building and regulation — through which marketers can contribute to peacemaking and thus produce mutually beneficial outcomes for consumers and society. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for marketing theory, practice, and public policy

Experimental and numerical investigations of nano-additives enhanced paraffin in a shell-and-tube heat exchanger: a comparative study

The impact of metal oxides, metal nitrides and carbon allotropes based nano-additives on thermal conductivity and thermal storage performance of paraffin based latent heat storage (LHS) system is experimentally and numerically investigated. Aluminium oxide (Al2O3), aluminium nitride (AlN) and graphene nano-platelets (GnP) based nano-PCM samples are prepared with ultrasonic emulsification technique. Thermal performance enhancements of nano-PCM samples are investigated by conducting a series of charging and discharging experiments in shell-and-tube heat exchanger at various operating conditions. Moreover, a numerical model is developed to account for an impact of varying operating temperature, nano-additives particle size and volume fraction on the effective thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of nano-PCM. The numerical model is simulated to investigate the influence of effective thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity on heat transfer and temperature distribution, phase transition rate and total enthalpy of the system. It is noticed that the charging rates for Al2O3, AlN and GnP based nano-PCM samples are significantly enhanced by 28.01%, 36.47% and 44.57% as compared to pure paraffin, respectively. Likewise, the discharging rates are augmented by 14.63%, 34.95% and 41.46%, respectively. However, the addition of nano-additives compromises the overall thermal storage capacity and augments the effective dynamic viscosity which has adverse impact on natural convection. Therefore, an optimum volume fraction of nano-additives is determined by conducting experimental examinations on Al2O3 based nano-PCM samples with volume fraction of 1%, 3% and 5%, at varied operating conditions. It is observed that by increasing volume fraction from 1% to 3%, the charging and discharging rates are significantly enhanced. However, an insignificant enhancement is noticed with further increase in volume fraction from 3% to 5%. Therefore, the optimum volume fraction of 3% is established. Furthermore, GnP based nano-PCM samples have demonstrated higher potential for thermal performance enhancement of LHS system and respective utilisation in practical applications