The success and failure of any democratic government is gauged in terms of how effectively it has fulfilled its constitutional obligation of enhancing social and economic well-being, particularly the common man. While developed economies use a set of indices to measure well-being, a systematic...

This paper develops five theses to analyze the distribution of economic, social and environmental effects connected with the system of geographical indications (gis). The authors claim that the distribution of benefits for the agricultural sector largely differentiate among European countries...

The article analyses key issues which have an impact on the development of insurance culture. Trends in insurance regulation and supervision at the European level are identified and the Bulgarian context is discussed during 2007-2013, outlining the main market dynamics indicators. Survey results...

Across Europe, Germany is the most important country in the production and consumption of Christmas trees. Pricing is cyclically asserved and depends mainly on the number of mature trees and on the potential occurrence of calamities caused by hail and late frost in the early summer. Due to the...

The indication of country of origin on food products is of growing importance and offers potentials for product differentiation to, among others, cacao producers from countries in the developing and transition stages. In this study the importance of country-of-origin (CoO) effects on the quality...

Following FCC pressure to end bill shock, cellular carriers now alert customers when they exceed usage allowances. We estimate a model of plan choice, usage, and learning using a 2002-2004 panel of cellular bills. Accounting for firm price adjustment, we predict that implementing alerts in...

We investigate the marketing practice of framing a price as a discount from an earlier price. We discuss two reasons why a discounted price---rather than a merely low price---can make a consumer more willing to purchase. First, a high initial price can indicate the product is high quality....

This paper analyzes the incentives of a seller to provide (un)biased and (im)precise advice about a complex product such as insurance, banking and telecommunication services. Misleading the buyers by biasing the advice upwards increases the revenues but also the expected fine imposed by the...

This paper uses an audit sample and a consumer survey to study the intriguing market of online prescription drugs facing US customers, and assesses the role that certification agencies play in online drug markets. On the supply side, we acquire samples of five popular brand-name prescription...

Financial advice could play an essential role in well-functioning markets for retail financial products, given that many consumers find it difficult to evaluate the complex products on offer. However, conflicts of interest, which are pervasive in some parts of the industry, can turn advice into...