Low-value Goods Research Articles

Successful failure: what Foucault can teach us about privacy self-management in a world of Facebook and big data

The "privacy paradox" refers to the discrepancy between the concern individuals express for their privacy and the apparently low value they actually assign to it when they readily trade personal information for low-value goods online. In this paper, I argue that the privacy paradox masks a more important paradox: the self-management model of privacy embedded in notice-and-consent pages on websites and other, analogous practices can be readily shown to underprotect privacy, even in the economic terms favored by its advocates. The real question, then, is why privacy self-management occupies such a prominent position in privacy law and regulation. Borrowing from Foucault's late writings, I argue that this failure to protect privacy is also a success in ethical subject formation, as it actively pushes privacy norms and practices in a neoliberal direction. In other words, privacy self-management isn't about protecting people's privacy; it's about inculcating the idea that privacy is an individual, commodified good that can be traded for other market goods. Along the way, the self-management regime forces privacy into the market, obstructs the functioning of other, more social, understandings of privacy, and occludes the various ways that individuals attempt to resist adopting the market-based view of themselves and their privacy. Throughout, I use the analytics practices of Facebook and social networking sites as a sustained case study of the point.

Of Pennies and Prospects: Understanding Behaviour in Penny Auctions

Penny auctions are a novel selling mechanism, which combines an auction with elements of a lottery. Using a large dataset gathered online, I show that penny auction profitability - while high on average - is negative for low-value goods. Early bids have lower expected return and low bid increments are associated with greater profits. I develop a prospect theory model of penny auction bidding and show that it replicates all these stylised facts; parameter estimates are in line with the literature. This adds further evidence on the usefulness of prospect theory in providing a descriptive theory of behaviour under risk. Moreover, I show that prospect theory outperforms the rationalistic alternative hypothesis of risk-loving bidders.

Planning the Regeneration Processes of Complex Capital Goods

The condition of complex capital goods deteriorates during their operation. In light of scarce resources and the high residual value of used goods at the end of a life cycle, the primary goal is to restore or “regenerate” as many parts of the goods as possible so that their functional characteristics can be maintained or even improved. The characteristics of this regeneration—e.g., different repair paths or a high variance concerning the functionality of goods—create difficult challenges when planning regeneration processes. Due to the characteristics, planning approaches known for the remanufacturing of often low-value goods are not applicable for the regeneration. In this article we present the primary problems of the corresponding planning tasks and solution-targeted approaches to solve these problems. More precisely, we develop an embracing capacity and load-adjustment method for these regeneration processes, considering different planning horizons. In addition, we present a framework that demonstrates how to identify the most profitable regeneration requests. Furthermore, we concentrate on the selection of different regeneration modes that can be applied to regenerate capital goods. Finally, we address design options for capacity and load adjustment in the regeneration processes and the pool management. All planning and control approaches together represent a holistic planning approach for regeneration processes.

Successful Failure: What Foucault Can Teach Us About Privacy Self-Management in a World of Facebook and Big Data

The “privacy paradox” refers to the discrepancy between the concern individuals express for their privacy and the apparently low value they actually assign to it when they readily trade personal information for low-value goods online. In this paper, I argue that the privacy paradox masks a more important paradox: the self-management model of privacy embedded in notice-and-consent pages on websites and other, analogous practices can be readily shown to underprotect privacy, even in the economic terms favored by its advocates. The real question, then, is why privacy self-management occupies such a prominent position in privacy law and regulation. Borrowing from Foucault’s late writings, I argue that this failure to protect privacy is also a success in ethical subject formation, as it actively pushes privacy norms and practices in a neoliberal direction. In other words, privacy self-management isn’t about protecting people’s privacy; it’s about inculcating the idea that privacy is an individual, commodified good that can be traded for other market goods. Along the way, the self-management regime forces privacy into the market, obstructs the functioning of other, more social, understandings of privacy, and occludes the various ways that individuals attempt to resist adopting the market-based view of themselves and their privacy. Throughout, I use the analytics practices of Facebook and social networking sites as a sustained case study of the point.

The influence of oil price on maritime routing of containerized imports from China

US West Coast ports have long been the principal gateway for container imports originating in Northeast Asia and destined for the Eastern United States. However, West Coast ports are losing market share to US Gulf and East Coast ports (USG&ECP). This study investigates the role oil prices may have played in the observed cargo shift. Logistic regression is used to predict the proportion of containerized imports from China shipped on the all-water route directly to USG&ECP based on trade data published by the US Census Bureau. The model employs three predictor variables: oil price, US West Coast labor strife and railroad rates. The model suggests oil price is positively correlated with the proportion of containerized imports from China shipped to USG&ECP and that oil price has a greater influence on the proportion of low value goods than high value goods shipped on the all-water route. Sensitivity tests based on model parameters are preformed to evaluate how future volatility in oil markets might influence maritime routing of containerized imports from China to the United States.

Inverse Adverse Selection: The Market for Gems

AbstractThis paper studies markets plagued with asymmetric information onthe quality of the goods traded. In Akerlof’s setting, sellers are betterinformed than buyers. In contrast, we examine cases where buyers arebetter informed than sellers. This creates an inverse adverse-selectionproblem: The market tends to disappear from the bottom rather thanfrom the top. In contrast to the traditional model, it is the high-valuegoods (gems) that remain longer on the market, rather than the low-value goods (lemons). We investigate the consequences of this inverseadverse-selection and its potential solutions. The uninformed buyer ina traditional market for lemons experiences the qualities of the good hepurchased; instead, the uninformed seller may never realize the quality ofthe good that he sold. This renders conventional warranties and some ofthe other market and legal solutions to the lemons problem ineffective inthe gems case. We explore the way in which screening, signaling, legalduties, auctions, and keeping experts offthe market may mitigate aninverse adverse-selection problem.JEL codes: D44, D82, D86, K12.Keywords: lemons, gems, adverse selection, asymmetric information,auction

Economic, Environmental and Congestion Impacts of Trucking

In this paper, two different measures of economic linkage are derived for various segments of the trucking industry and compared against the indicators of two types of negative externalities: congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. Overall, the correlation between economic linkages and the negative externality measures is not very strong, indicating there may be many economically inefficient movement (e.g. transport of low value goods over a long distance) of freight.The analysis seems to point out that mixed freight and construction-related material and equipment are some of the most economically important commodities that are moved by trucks. Although those commodities rank high on the list of negative externalities, to a degree, the burden associated with the movements of those goods is justified from the economic point of view. On the other hand, transportation of goods such as miscellaneous manufactured products, paper and paper products, vehicle and parts, and electronic equipment put undue burden on the road network and emit disproportional amount of CO2 that may not be justified in light of the relatively weak economic importance as measured in this study.

Evaluating Economic Reasons for China's Stance on Ship-Based Greenhouse Gas Reduction Negotiations

Greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping are an increasing concern of those interested in mitigating global climate change. Countries have not reached a consensus on ship-based greenhouse gas reduction strategies and on the responsibilities each country should take. In this paper, the economic reasons for China's insistence that the regulatory regime of the International Maritime Organization specifically address the Kyoto axiom of “common but differentiated responsibility” is evaluated, and fundamental equations relating power, speed, energy consumption, and cost to evaluate the impact of emission reduction on a selected set of routes and vessel data are applied. The policy options that are under discussion regarding ship-based carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction and China's viewpoint are reviewed, and economic justifications for China's stance are discussed. Estimates indicate that ships flying the Chinese flag accounted for 3.4% of the approximately 35 million metric tons of CO2 emitted by container ships calling at U.S. ports in 2005, and ships carrying Chinese exports accounted for 17%. Further estimates suggest that China will pay approximately $238 to $298 million more for container ship services and international trade with the United States if all vessels are required to reduce ship-based CO2 emissions. The direct cost is equivalent to about 0.20% of the total value of goods carried by container ships to the United States from China, or an $11 increase per ton of cargo. For some low-value goods, this is about an 8% increase in terms of price per ton, decreasing the already thin profit margins of Chinese exporters. These results, discussed in the context of policy-based actions, may limit or affect the choice of policy instruments.

The Advantages of Designing Adaptive Business Agents Using Reputation Modeling Compared to the Approach of Recursive Modeling

Adaptive business agents operate in electronic marketplaces, learning from past experiences to make effective decisions on behalf of their users. How best to design these agents is an open question. In this article, we present an approach for the design of adaptive business agents that uses a combination of reinforcement learning and reputation modeling. In particular, we take into account the fact that multiple selling agents may offer the same good with different qualities, and that selling agents may alter the quality of their goods. We also consider the possibility of dishonest agents in the marketplace. Our buying agents exploit the reputation of selling agents to avoid interaction with the disreputable ones, and therefore to reduce the risk of purchasing low value goods. We then experimentally compare the performance of our agents with those designed using a recursive modeling approach. We are able to show that agents designed according to our algorithms achieve better performance in terms of satisfaction and computational time and as such are well suited for the design of electronic marketplaces.

‘The Tortoise and the Economy’

This article examines the fluctuating economic significance of inland waterway transport (IWT) since the beginnings of industrialization in what are now the developed economies of Europe and North America. The author notes that it was mainly during the 18th and 19th centuries that the principal European economies experienced the greatest growth in IWT. Topics covered include the use of rivers and canals; the significance of IWT innovation (primarily canals and channeling of rivers); continuity and independence between IWT and other modes of transport (notably railroads); canals as a proponent of the carriage of high bulk/low dispersion commodities, for example, coal; the British industrial revolution as a regional phenomenon and the rise of canals after the industrial revolution was established; limitations of IWT, including low speed, little security, and vulnerability to weather; the social savings versus private profit gained by IWT; the role of governmental support of IWT; IWT in 19th century Paris and other parts of France; IWT development in Germany and in the United States; the Panama Canal; the construction of non-isthmian ship canals; changes in IWT after the first and second World Wars; modern opinions about the IWT sector, including benefits of low operating costs, high level of safety, and low environmental impact; and recent trends in IWT in the United States and in Europe. The author concludes that in the age of the steam and internal combustion engines, when road and rail had boosted their speed and capacity, IWT seemed condemned to be the tortoise of the transport world. This intensified the original characteristics of the mode and confined it more rigidly to the carriage of non-perishable, low-value goods whose journey time was not critical. However, technology has now been applied from advanced areas of the modern economy, as computers are used in loading, balancing, navigation, and logistical planning. There has also been some upgrading of the types of freight carried. The author cautions that unless public support continues and increases, the IWT sector will receive relatively little of the market share and will not flourish.

The R&D and marketing cooperation across new product development stages: An empirical study of Taiwan's IT industry

This study extends the new product development (NPD) process research to a new environmental context (Taiwan's IT industry) and a new business type (original design manufacturing, ODM). Taiwan's IT industry has achieved a very outstanding performance during the last two decades. The island's experience is quite valuable for those emerging countries that are struggling to transform themselves from producing low-value goods to making high-technology products. After analyzing the data collected from 153 research and development (R&D) and marketing managers in Taiwanese IT firms, this study finds that the higher the perceived importance of R&D–marketing cooperation is, the higher the attained level of R&D–marketing cooperation will be. Consequently, a better NPD performance can be achieved. This study additionally reports that a firm that has adopted a Defender innovation strategy attains a lower level of R&D–marketing cooperation, and has a poorer NPD performance than those firms that adopted either Prospector or Analyzer innovation strategies. Finally, environmental uncertainty has no significant impacts on the perceived importance and the attained level of R&D–marketing cooperation.