Customer Satisfaction of Mobile-Internet-Users: An Empirical Approximation for the Case of Spain
Pages 442-454
Teresa Garín-Muñoz, Covadonga Gijón, Teodosio Pérez-Amaral and Rafael López

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1929-7092.2013.02.31

Published: 13 December 2013

Abstract: This paper studies the mobile Internet services in Spain. It deals mostly with overall consumer satisfaction as well as with some of its attributes. The study is based on Micro data from a survey conducted by the Spanish Center for Sociological Research (CIS, 2009). The analysis shows that communication quality and cost are the main attributes of the service involved in the overall satisfaction of the individual.

The main model allows us to analyze to what extent different service providers generate different levels of satisfaction of individuals when controlling for other relevant variables. In this regard, statistically significant differences have been found for both overall satisfaction and for satisfaction with any other of its attributes. Taking into account that the dependent variable is somewhat ordinal, the model is estimated by three alternative methods: ordinary least squares (OLS), ordered probit and ordered logit. The three techniques produce fairly similar results.

Herding, Heterogeneity, and Momentum Trading of Institutional Investors Across Asset Classes
Pages 455-466
Moshe Ben-Horin, Haim Kedar-Levy and Ben Z. Schreiber

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1929-7092.2013.02.32

Published: 19 December 2013

Abstract: This paper examines herding, heterogeneity, and momentum trading of institutional investors in Israel across a broad variety of financial assets. While previous studies typically focus on stocks only, we examine herding patterns, heterogeneity, and momentum trading of institutional investors in five asset classes. We find that during the sample period (1/2002 – 12/2011) large investors tended to herd more than medium and small-size investors. In contrast, small investors used momentum trading patterns more than medium and large-size investors. Homogeneity was found among large investors, especially pension funds, and during the first half of the 2000s, when investors purchased corporate bonds at the expense of government bonds. This phenomenon ended upon the beginning of the subprime crisis and against the backdrop of the financial difficulties of the bond issuers. In those years, panicked investors withdrew funds from the most liquid institutions (study funds), while infusing funds to pension and provident funds due to legally binding arrangements. We attribute some of the heterogeneous trading of the institutional investors, to those factors.

Fighting for Rents: Agricultural Windfall Gains and Social Change in Land-Abundant Developing Countries
Pages 375-389
Anna K. Hvid

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1929-7092.2013.02.26

Published: 28 October 2013

Abstract: In recent years, a global increase in demand for agricultural commodities and land has contributed to increasing agricultural prices. This trend can be expected to continue in the future, and may result in significantly higher land rents. This paper investigates the potential distributional effects of increasing land rents in land-abundant developing countries from a theoretical viewpoint, and provides historical case examples to support the theoretical propositions. It is proposed that the specific characteristics of a rent-generating natural resource have implications for the concentration of economic and political power and hence the distribution of rents. Specifically, when it comes to agricultural land, the characteristics of land imply that the organizational capacity of farmers is a crucial determinant of the distribution of agricultural rents. The historical case examples indicate that the extent of organizational capacity may be determined by land inequality, the heterogeneity of farmers and the political environment.

How Should Journal Quality be Ranked?An Application to Agricultural, Energy, Environmental and Resource Economics
Pages 33-47

Chia-Lin Chang and Michael McAleer

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1929-7092.2014.03.05

Published: 20 March 2014

Abstract: The Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Science citations database (hereafter ISI) category of Economics has one of the largest numbers of journals, at 304 (as of 2011) and 333 (as of 2013), of any ISI discipline, and hence has wide coverage. The paper analyses the leading international journals in the Economics sub-disciplines of Agricultural, Energy, Environmental and Resource Economics using quantifiable Research Assessment Measures (RAMs),and highlights the similarities and differences in alternative RAMs.The RAMs are based on alternative transformations of citations and influence taken from the ISI database. Alternative RAMs may be calculated annually or updated daily to answer the perennial questions as to When, Where and How (frequently) published papers are cited. The RAMs include the most widely used RAM, namely the classic 2-year impact factor including journal self citations (2YIF), 2-year impact factor excluding journal self citations (2YIF*), 5-year impact factor including journal self citations (5YIF), Immediacy (or zero-year impact factor (0YIF)), Eigenfactor, Article Influence, C3PO (Citation Performance Per Paper Online), h-index, PI-BETA (Papers Ignored - By Even The Authors), 2-year Self-citation Threshold Approval Ratings (2Y-STAR),HistoricalSelf-citation Threshold Approval Ratings (H-STAR), Impact Factor Inflation (IFI), and Cited Article Influence (CAI). As data are not available for 5YIF, Article Influence and CAI for one of the 20 journals considered, 13 RAMsare analysed for 19 highly-cited journals in Agricultural, Energy, Environmental and Resource Economics in the ISI category of Economics. The harmonic mean of the ranksof the 13 RAMs for the 19 highly-cited journals are also presented. It is shown that emphasizing the 2-year impact factor of a journal, which partly answers the question as to When published papers are cited, to the exclusion of other informative RAMs, which answer Where and How (frequently) published papers are cited, can lead to a distorted evaluation of journal impact and influence relative to the harmonic mean of the ranks. The “age” effect of journals, that is, the number of years for which the journals have been included in ISI, on the RAMs is also examined to check whether the RAMs are being compared fairly.