Showing papers on "Quality (business) published in 1973"

Free Competition and the Optimal Amount of Fraud

Abstract: THIS paper explores the reasons for and determinants of the provision by a firm of false information to a consumer so as to induce purchases which would not be made if the consumer possessed full information about the qualities of his purchase. Market responses to potential for fraud are analyzed in detail. It is shown that fraud and related practices follow from significant costs both in the determination of quality of a particular good or service and in the effective vertical integration of seller and buyer through some exchange of property rights. Much of our discussion focuses on the key problem of the joint provision of diagnosis and services-such as the choice and execution of an automobile repair or taxicab route--but the model developed will be seen to have general applicability whenever the seller provides information which influences purchases, as through advertising or salesmen's promises. In the context of the repair problem, we explore the reasons for and the determinants of the provision of repair services in amounts greater than would be economically efficient, given the price of the services and their marginal product in terms of the service flow from the repaired commodity.' The possibility of this situation is suggested by the observation that in a considerable number of cases involving medical, automotive, and other repair services, contrary to the basic assumption of conventional demand theory, the consumer is unaware of the ability of the repair service to satisfy a given want.2

Child Quality and the Demand for Children.

Abstract: The past decade has brought a substantial increase in economic analyses of phenomena outside the traditional realm of economics An already sizable portion of such effort has been directed toward the determinants of desired fertility and family size' In this paper, I will first consider the degree to which pure economic theory can, or cannot, predict changes in completed fertility The second, and the major emphasis of the study, is the way in which households produce the household commodity "child services"2 I argue that households can increase their production of child services either by increasing numbers of children (quantity) or by increasing the resource investment (quality) in existing children Further, quantity and quality are postulated to be substitutes in the household's production function for child services After presenting an economic model of desired family size, emphasizing the substitutability of numbers of children and child quality, I will discuss several of the model's important parameters and then offer an empirical formulation based on data from US counties

Quality of the environment in Japan

Abstract: １ Ｒｉｃｈ Ｈｕｍａｎ Ｌｉｆｅ Ｄｅｐｅｎｄｅｎｔ ｏｎ ｔｈｅ Ｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔ ２ Ｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌ Ｃｏｎｓｅｒｖａｔｉｏｎ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ Ｖｉｅｗｐｏｉｎｔｓ ｏｆ Ｂｉｏｄｉｖｅｒｓｉｔｙ ａｎｄ Ｅｃｏ‐Ｅｆｆｉｃｉｅｎｃｙ ３ Ａ Ｓｕｓｔａｉｎａｂｌｅ Ｆｕｔｕｒｅ Ｂｕｉｌｔ ｂｙ Ｐａｒｔｎｅｒｓｈｉｐｓ ４ Ｓｔａｔｅ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ Ｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔ ５ Ｔｈｅ Ｒｅａｌｉｚａｔｉｏｎ ｏｆ ａ Ｓｏｃｉｏｅｃｏｎｏｍｉｃ Ｓｙｓｔｅｍ Ｂａｓｅｄ ｏｎ ａ Ｃｙｃｌｃｅ ｔｈａｔ Ｉｍｐｏｓｅｓ ａ Ｓｍａｌｌ Ｂｕｒｄｅｎ ｏｎ ｔｈｅ Ｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔ ６ Ｈａｒｍｏｎｉｏｕｓ Ｃｏｅｘｉｓｔｅｎｃｅ ｂｅｔｗｅｅｎ Ｎａｔｕｒｅ ａｎｄ Ｈｕｍａｎｋｉｎｄ ７ Ｐａｒｔｉｃｉｐａｔｉｏｎ ｂｙ Ａｌｌ Ｓｅｃｔｏｒｓ ｏｆ Ｓｏｃｉｅｔｙ Ｓｈａｒｉｎｇ Ｆａｉｒ Ａｌｌｏｔｍｅｎｔ ｏｆ Ｒｏｌｅｓ ８ Ｐｒｏｍｏｔｉｏｎ ｏｆ Ｃｏｍｍｏｎ Ｂａｓｉｃ Ｐｏｌｉｃｉｅｓ Ｒｅｌａｔｅｄ ｔｏ Ｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌ Ｃｏｎｓｅｒｖａｔｉｏｎ ９ Ｐｒｏｍｏｔｉｎｇ Ｉｎｔｅｒｎａｔｉｏｎａｌ Ｅｆｆｏｒｔｓ １０ Ｅｆｆｅｃｔｉｖｅ Ｉｍｐｌｅｍｅｎｔａｔｉｏｎ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ Ｂａｓｉｃ Ｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔ Ｐｌａｎ

Price Reliance: Existence and Sources

Abstract: It has been widely believed that price communicates quality to consumers. Examples of products for which pricing strategies reflect this belief include perfume [25], coffee [25], stockings [19], and whiskey [31]. Many studies [2, 14, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27, 34] have provided empirical support for the proposition that price communicates quality. These studies, however, were of limited scope and generally presented the subjects with an unrealistic experimental situation. This study had two purposes: to determine whether price would act as a communicator of quality in a shopping situation more realistic than the experimental situations previously used, and to attempt to shed light on the reasons con

Market Structure, Quality and Durability

Abstract: This paper analyzes the effects of market structure -- monopoly versus competition -- on the quality and durability of goods. Also, it tries to find the impact of government regulation on these variables. The types of quality improvements discussed are: quality as pure substitute for quantity; quality which increases the demand for the good; and quality improvement which increases the durability of the good. In general, it is impossible to deduce that quality is independent of market structure. It depends on the cost structure. The paper shows that when quality is a substitute for quantity, both quality and quantity of the monopoly might fall short of those in the competitive market. Regulating only quality, or only quantity, may increase the monopoly misallocations of resources. In other types of quality improvements discussed, it may turn out that quality and durability may be better or worse in the monopolized industry than in the competitive one. Regulating only quality may improve the resource allocation but not eliminate the bias. Quantity regulation by itself may be sufficient for producing the optimal flow of services.

Operation Rates, Mortality Statistics and the Quality of Life

Abstract: The quality of surgical care remains unmeasured. We are not yet even certain how to define the quality of care, let alone how to measure it. But we do know that there are large quantitative differe...

What is food quality

Abstract: Definitions of quality include the precise: “Thedistinctivet rait, characteristic, capacity or virtue of a product that sets it apart from all others.” “Quality”, according to the 1970 Yearbook of Agriculture, “is the measure or expression of goodness.” When I asked one homemaker what quality meant to her she said, “Ask my neighbor she really knows quality food.” A definition of quality I picked up while attending an industry meeting is “Quality is what you think the competition thinks the standard is.” Put still another way quality turns out to be the standard the consumer will accept.

Correlates of member satisfaction in group decision‐making discussions

Abstract: The relationship of six variables to member satisfaction in decision‐making discussions was explored in this study. Two, including perception of the quality of others’ contributions and perception of the quality of one's own contributions, were consistently related to the dependent variable in the two samples studied. The results of the investigation add appreciably to our knowledge of the correlates of satisfaction in decision‐making discussions.

Quantitative borrower characteristics associated with defaults on municipal general obligations

Abstract: THE MEASUREMENT of the quality of municipal general obligation debt has been the subject of considerable discussion in recent years. Various economic groups are interested in obtaining better measurement of the quality of such issues. Actual and potential owners of municipal general obligations are obviously interested in being able to do a better job of assessing and comparing the quality of these obligations. Agencies regulating institutional owners of municipal general obligations are interested in objectively measuring the quality of the general obligations these institutional owners hold as a basis for possible regulatory decisions. Municipalities who have issued or plan to issue such obligations are interested in receiving the highest possible quality rating in order to reduce their interest costs to the lowest possible level. Finally, persons formulating public policy are concerned that the quality of these debt obligations might affect the level and quality of municipal services and growth patterns and cyclical movements within the economy.1 The limited number of completed studies on this subject may be dichotomized into two types. First, movements in the aggregative quality of state and local debt over specified time periods have been measured by looking at aggregative economic measures.2 The second type of study has attempted to develop models using quantitative measures for a cross section of rated municipal general obligations to predict what quality rating the existing proprietary rating services would have given issues which they did not in fact rate.3 While both of these approaches contribute toward understanding the quality of municipal general obligations, neither approach seems to directly measure the quality of individual general obligation issues or to meaningfully identify the measures determining the quality of municipal general obligations. If the quality of general obligations is defined in terms of the probability of payment of all debt service charges on time, a more direct approach seems feasible. This approach would attempt to identify those quantitative borrower characteristics which determine the payment or non-payment of general obligation debt service charges through an analysis of the relationship between such characteristics and the past payment performance of municipal general obligations. Several multivariate statistical techniques are useful in examining this relationship.

Assessing Quality in Doctoral Programs: Criteria and Correlates of Excellence.

Abstract: This study, commissioned by the New York Board of Regents, concerns the evaluation of doctoral programs. Part one discusses critical problems in the assessment of excellence. Part two reviews a catalog of criteria and assessment techniques. Emphasis is placed on reputational studies, objective indicators of excellence, efficiency as an index of quality, client satisfaction ratings, intra-institutional evaluation, and evaluation of alumni. Part three indicates necessary conditions for adequate doctoral programs, and part four suggests a model for the evaluation of doctoral education. An extensive bibliography and appendices of related research material are included. (Mm)

Measuring the quality of general practice.

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Perceived Price and Product Perceptual Variables

Abstract: Recently, Lambert [4] studied the relationships between the price paid by the consumer and his perceptions of product variables for several product types. Using fictitious product brands priced at high, medium, or low levels, persons who chose the high-priced item perceived more quality variation within the product type and perceived more undesirable consequences from a bad choice than those who chose the low-priced item. Contrary to his original hypotheses, the high price group also tended to have more buying experience and to be more confident about their ability to judge quality. The study reported here examines similar phenomena in order to assess the generality of Lambert's findings. For each subject, measures were obtained for perceived price paid for actual purchases of several product types and other product perceptual variables such as risk and information usefulness. The relationships between perceived price and these variables were then examined by using multiple regression. This study differs from Lambert's in that he used artificial brands and choices, while this study uses the price the subject recalls she actually paid when making her normal brand choice for a product type. This is an unusual variable, and may express the amount a subject feels is justified for a product type when she cannot recall a price, although the subject would not necessarily always choose a brand with that price when confronted with alternatives at varying prices. Thus, if the same results Lambert found occur with perceived price for actual brands, confidence in the findings can be increased.

Needless retesting of quality-assured, commercially prepared culture media.

Abstract: Current revival of interest in quality control of bacteriological culture media prompted this laboratory to develop and implement a system of quality control testing of media purchased from commercial manufacturers. During 8 months we tested more than 900 lots of 46 different media representing 350,000 units of culture media purchased from two major and one minor supplier(s). Only 17 lots were found to be unsatisfactory. This experience raised a question about the real necessity for extensive retesting by users of commercially prepared, quality-assured media. It is suggested that primary responsibility for quality control be placed on the relatively few manufacturer-vendors rather than on the multiple purchaser-users, who may not possess either the expertise or the resources for quality control programs.