Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User

Valid measurement scales for predicting user acceptance of computers are in short supply. Most subjective measures used in practice are unvalidated, and their relationship to system usage is unknown. The present research develops and validates new scales for two specific variables, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, which are hypothesized to be fundamental determinants of user acceptance. Definitions of these two variables were used to develop scale items that were pretested for content validity and then tested for reliability and construct validity in two studies involving a total of 152 users and four application programs. The measures were refined and streamlined, resulting in two six-item scales with reliabilities of .98 for usefulness and .94 for ease of use. The scales exhibited hgih convergent, discriminant, and factorial validity. Perceived usefulness was significnatly correlated with both self-reported current usage r = .63, Study 1) and self-predicted future usage r = .85, Study 2). Perceived ease of use was also significantly correlated with current usage r = .45, Study 1) and future usage r = .59, Study 2). In both studies, usefulness had a signficnatly greater correaltion with usage behavior than did ease of use. Regression analyses suggest that perceived ease of use may actually be a causal antecdent to perceived usefulness, as opposed to a parallel, direct determinant of system usage. Implications are drawn for future research on user acceptance.

Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology

This paper considers the relation between the exploration of new possibilities and the exploitation of old certainties in organizational learning. It examines some complications in allocating resources between the two, particularly those introduced by the distribution of costs and benefits across time and space, and the effects of ecological interaction. Two general situations involving the development and use of knowledge in organizations are modeled. The first is the case of mutual learning between members of an organization and an organizational code. The second is the case of learning and competitive advantage in competition for primacy. The paper develops an argument that adaptive processes, by refining exploitation more rapidly than exploration, are likely to become effective in the short run but self-destructive in the long run. The possibility that certain common organizational practices ameliorate that tendency is assessed.

http://strategy.sjsu.edu/www.stable/pdf/March,%20J.%20G.%20%281991%29.%20Organization%20Science%202%281%29%2071-87.pdf

Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning

According to basic economics, if demand exceeds supply, prices will rise, thus decreasing demand or increasing supply until demand and supply are in equilibrium; thus if prices do their job, rationing will not exist. However, credit rationing does exist. This paper demonstrates that even in equilibrium, credit rationing will exist in a loan market. Credit rationing is defined as occurring either (a) among loan applicants who appear identical, and some do and do not receive loans, even though the rejected applicants would pay higher interest rates; or (b) there are groups who, with a given credit supply, cannot obtain loans at any rate, even though with larger credit supply they would. A model is developed to provide the first theoretical justification for true credit rationing. The amount of the loan and the amount of collateral demanded affect the behavior and distribution of borrowers. Consequently, faced with increased credit demand, it may not be profitable to raise interest rates or collateral; instead banks deny loans to borrowers who are observationally indistinguishable from those receiving loans. It is not argued that credit rationing always occurs, but that it occurs under plausible assumptions about lender and borrower behavior. In the model, interest rates serve as screening devices for evaluating risk. Interest rates change the behavior (serve as incentive mechanism) for the borrower, increasing the relative attractiveness of riskier projects; banks ration credit, rather than increase rates when there is excess demand. Banks are shown not to increase collateral as a means of allocating credit; although collateral may have incentivizing effects, it may have adverse selection effects. Equity, nonlinear payment schedules, and contingency contracts may be introduced and yet there still may be rationing. The law of supply and demand is thus a result generated by specific assumptions and is model specific; credit rationing does exist. (TNM)

/pdf/credit-rationing-in-markets-with-imperfect-information-21n5gppfp1.pdf

Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information.

Presented at the American Finance Association Meeting, New York, December 1973.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2978814.pdf

On the pricing of corporate debt: the risk structure of interest rates

Tax and transfer programs transform before-tax income into after-tax income. Income is variable and the tax and transfer system is nonlinear-i.e., marginal tax rates vary. We show that, as a consequence, the tax and transfer system punishes (and rewards) income variability. We calculate the effect of the nonlinearity for several components of the U.S. tax and transfer system, focusing on the low-income population. We find that the system rewards variability for some individuals and penalizes it for others. We conclude that the tax and transfer system punishes and rewards variability in a manner that is both substantial and capricious.

/pdf/variable-earnings-and-nonlinear-taxation-43dreq6w5r.pdf

Variable Earnings and Nonlinear Taxation

This paper examines the effects of a proportional capital gains tax in an economy with an Austrian sector (with wine and trees) and an ordinary sector. We analyze the effect of capital gains taxation (on both an accrual and a realization basis) on the efficiency with which resources are used within the Austrian sector. Since time is the only input which can be varied in the Austrian sector this amounts to looking at the effect of capital gains taxation on the harvesting time or selling time of assets. Accrual taxation decreases the selling time of Austrian assets. Realization taxation decreases the selling time of some Austrian assets and leaves it unchanged for others. Inflation further reduces the selling time of assets taxed on an accrual basis; often, but not always, inflation increases .the selling time of Austrian assets taxed on a realization basis. These results suggest that the capital gains tax can reduce the holding period of an asset. However, there is a sense in which such taxes (at least when levied on a realization basis) discourage transactions and increase holding periods. It is never profitable to change the ownership of an Austrian asset between the time of the original investment and the ultimate harvesting of the asset for final use. We examine the effect of capital gains taxation on the efficiency of the allocation of investment between sectors. No neutrality principles emerge when ordinary investment income is taxed at the same rate as capital gains income. We also analyze the effect of the special tax treatment of capital gains at death and find that the current U.S. tax system, under which capital gains taxes are waived at death, encourages investors to hold assets longer than they otherwise would.

/pdf/capital-gains-taxation-in-an-economy-with-an-4t6yhid8dw.pdf

Capital Gains Taxation in an Economy with an

We examine the implications of arbitrage in a market with many assets. The absence of arbitrage opportunities implies that the linear functionals that give the mean and cost of a portfolio are continuous; hence there exist unique portfolios that represent these functionals. The mean variance efficient set is a cone generated by these portfolios. Ross [16, 18J showed that if there is a factor structure, then the distance between the vector or mean returns and the space spanned by the factor loadings is bounded as the number of assets increases. We show that if the covariance matrix of asset returns has only K unbounded eigenvalues, then the corresponding K eigenvectors converge and play the role of factor loadings in Ross' result. Hence only a principal components analysis is needed to test the arbitrage pricing theory. Our eigenvalue conditional can hold even though conventional measures of the approximation error in a K factor model are unbounded. We also resolve the question of when a market with many assets permits so much diversification that risk-free investment opportunities are available.

Arbitrage and Mean-Variance Analysis on Large Asset Markets

This paper is an attempt to assess the effect of capital gains taxation on non-Austrian assets, such as claims to profits of continuing enterprises As compared to taxation on an accrual basis, the capital gains tax discourages sales of appreciated assets This is the "lock-in" effect Because assets subject to capital gains taxation are generally held a long time, conventional estimates suggest that the effective rate of capital gains taxation is low We contend that conventional estimates could seriously underestimate the effective rate of capital gains taxation because they ignore uncertainty We construct a model which allows us to calculate the value of being able to actively manage a portfolio and use this model to calculate the effective rate of capital gains taxation For several plausible parameter values the effective rate is significantly higher than estimates under certainty We also discuss some of the ways in which the lock-in effect may distort the allocation of investment funds and the efficient workings of the capital market

Notes on the Effect of Capital Gains Taxation on Non-Austrian Assets

We examine the implications of arbitrage in a market with many assets. The absence of arbitrage opportunities implies that the linear functionals that give the mean and cost of a portfolio are continuous; hence there exist unique portfolios that represent these functionals. These portfolios span the mean-variance efficient set. We resolve the question of when a market with many assets permits so much diversification that risk-free investment opportunities are available. Ross 112, 141 showed that if there is a factor structure, then the mean returns are approximately linear functions of factor loadings. We define an approximate factor structure and show that this weaker restriction is sufficient for Ross' result. If the covariance matrix of the asset returns has only K unbounded eigenvalues, then there is an approximate factor structure and it is unique. The corresponding K eigenvectors converge and play the role of factor loadings. Hence only a principal component analysis is needed in empirical work.

Michael Rothschild

Papers

Variable Earnings and Nonlinear Taxation

Capital Gains Taxation in an Economy with an

Arbitrage and Mean-Variance Analysis on Large Asset Markets

Notes on the Effect of Capital Gains Taxation on Non-Austrian Assets

Arbitrage, Factor Structure, and Mean-Variance Analysis on Large Asset Markets