Traditionally, policymakers and financial markets have regarded the “core” consumer price index (CPI) as a key inflation indicator. The core CPI, a special index published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), excludes the volatile prices of food and energy. In excluding these components, BLS recognizes that prices that swing dramatically in response to unusual shifts in weather and other un...

Modified BG Prasad socioeconomic scale is widely used to determine the socioeconomic status of study subjects in health studies in India. It is an income-based scale and, therefore, has to be constantly updated to take inflation and depreciation of rupee into account. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for industrial workers (IW) is used to calculate updated income categories for January 2014. Deta...

This paper suggests that the interaction between consumers has an impact on market structure, in addition to each consumer’s own behavior. In this paper, we replicate the artificial market model proposed by Onozaki and Yanagita, and extend it by adding the network of consumers in order to show that the interaction between consumers in the market affects emerging and changing the market structur...

It is well-known that switching costs may facilitate monopoly pricing in a market with price competition between two suppliers of a homogenous good, provided the switching cost is above some critical level. We show that introducing consumer heterogeneity tends to increase the critical switching cost and thereby reduce the stability of the collusive outcome. A testable implication is that widesp...

We explore the implications of heterogeneous consumer response to advertising for distribution channel firms. We solve a game theoretic model using a consumer-based utility model for a decentralized and a coordinated channel. We show that heterogeneity considerably affects the value of channel coordination.

Our target article proposed an alternative perspective for studying consumer judgment and decision making, focusing on the types and weights of comparisons consumers select. In this response we consider the major points made by each of the commentators and examine their implications for future work addressing our comparison-focused approach. © 2012 Society for Consumer Psychology. Published by ...

with the development of restructured power systems and increase of prices in some hours of day and increase fuel price, demand response programs were noticed more by customers. demand response consists of a series of activities that governments or utilities design to change the amount or time of electric energy consumption, to achieve better social welfare or some times for maximizing the benef...

It is a great honor to have this opportunity to speak to you today about Japan's current monetary policy. With the aim of achieving its 2 percent price stability target, the Bank of Japan (hereafter the Bank) adopted quantitative and qualitative monetary easing (QQE) in April 2013. QQE was expanded further in October 2014. This was because of the potential risk that a decline in the consumer pr...

innovation has attracted considerable interest in recent years in improving competitive advantage for both profit and nonprofit organizations. service innovation offers the potential for substantially improving the performance, but performance gains are often obstructed by users’ unwillingness to accept and use available systems. this research aims to use the concept of reasoned action theory t...

Many foods and beverages are developed specifically for children, and must be tested with children. Sensory or consumer tests for children must take into account the range of sensory and cognitive abilities of children from infancy to teen age. This review examines what type of sensory or consumer test may be conducted with children, at what age and for what purpose. The many factors that must ...