Multiple Payments Research Articles

Simplify and Deter: Nudging waste collection fee debtors

A field quasi-experiment was conducted in cooperation with the local public administration on the waste collection agenda, testing two versions of a standard notice were tested against a control notice targeted at debtors. Both simplified versions, which included a deterrence message, were more effective than the control notice in promoting compliance. However, the version that emphasized the negative consequences of nonpayment, specifically the risk of high interest rates, was more effective in increasing tax compliance than the version that included a descriptive social norm to soften the communication toward fee debtors. The study suggests that adding a social norm to a simplified notice with deterrence does not further increase tax compliance. In addition, the notice had a greater positive effect on fee debtors who had missed only one payment than on those who had missed multiple payments of waste collection fee.

Maximizing Net Present Value for Resource Constraint Project Scheduling Problems with Payments at Event Occurrences Using Approximate Dynamic Programming

Resource Constraint Project Scheduling Problems with Discounted Cash Flows (RCPSPDC) focuses on maximizing the net present value by summing the discounted cash flows of project activities. An extension of this problem is the Payment at Event Occurrences (PEO) scheme, where the client makes multiple payments to the contractor upon completion of predefined activities, with additional final settlement at project completion. Numerous approximation methods such as metaheuristics have been proposed to solve this NP-hard problem. However, these methods suffer from parameter control and/or the computational cost of correcting infeasible solutions. Alternatively, approximate dynamic programming (ADP) sequentially generates a schedule based on strategies computed via Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. This saves the computations required for solution corrections, but its performance is highly dependent on its strategy. In this study, we propose the hybridization of ADP with three different metaheuristics to take advantage of their combined strengths, resulting in six different models. The Estimation of Distribution Algorithm (EDA) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) were used to recommend policies for ADP. A Discrete cCuckoo Search (DCS) further improved the schedules generated by ADP. Our experimental analysis performed on the j30, j60, and j90 datasets of PSPLIB has shown that ADP–DCS is better than ADP alone. Implementing the EDA and ACO as prioritization strategies for Monte Carlo simulations greatly improved the solutions with high statistical significance. In addition, models with the EDA showed better performance than those with ACO and random priority, especially when the number of events increased.

Integrating prepayment installment, pricing and replenishment decisions for growing items with power demand pattern and non-linear holding cost under carbon regulations

Increasingly strict carbon regulations enforced by regulators are encouraging companies to seek better ways to manage inventories with a desire to reduce carbon emissions from their operations. This work investigates joint prepayment installment, pricing and replenishment decisions for a growing item under cap-and-price, cap-and-trade and carbon tax regulations with the goal of maximizing a livestock farming company's profit while simultaneously reducing total carbon emissions. To investigate the work in a more general perspective, the consumption structure of the slaughtered growing items is considered as a power pattern in both price and storage time, while the cumulative holding cost to hold a weight unit up to any time is a non-linear function of storage time under an imposed prepayment mechanism. This study examines, for the first time, the best prepayment installment decision for a growing item after characterizing its properties theoretically under carbon regulations. Integrating all possible cases of the optimal solutions from theoretical outcomes, an algorithm is suggested to achieve joint optimal decisions for the farm. Five different numerical examples are solved to examine the working performance of the algorithm and finally, several management insights are provided by investigating the changing pattern of the optimal strategies for variation of the system parameters. The derived outcomes highlight that the cap-and-price policy performs well both economically and environmentally for the livestock farming company when the penalty is less than or equal to the reward for each unit of carbon emissions. Furthermore, increased customer demand in the early stages of the cycle compels the farm to purchase a higher number of growing items amid a higher number of prepayment installments and set a lower selling price for the slaughtered growing items for increasing profit. The farming company should try to finish the prepayment using multiple payments in small amounts when the prepayment portion, the rate of interest charged and the authorized time period for prepayment are all high.

Multi-Party Payment Channel Network Based on Smart Contract

Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies are severely limited in transaction throughput and latency. A promising solution to this issue is a payment channel, which allows trust-free payments between two peers without exhausting the resources of the blockchain. A linked payment channel network (PCN) enables payments between two peers through a series of intermediate nodes that forward and charge for the payments. However, most of existing proposals only use the shortest path as the path of the transaction, which causes the frequently reused channels to be exhausted quickly. In addition, most of existing PCNs are almost only designed for payments between two parties, which leads to limited application scenarios. When multiple payments use the same intermediate channel, the two-party PCNs cannot achieve simultaneous payments. In this paper, we propose a multi-party payment channel (MPC) network, a payment channel proposal that supports multiple payments using the same intermediate channel simultaneously, thereby greatly expanding the application scenarios of payment channels. In addition, our channel selection and transaction conversion strategies can also increase the success rate of transactions. We implement MPC network in the simulated blockchain network and lightning network based on Truffle, and a large number of experiments verify the effectiveness of our solution.

Taxation Practices and the Survival of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) serve as vital economic stimulators in developing and developed economies. However, several factors including high energy costs and taxing practices hamper these businesses growth and expansion. Essentially, taxation or taxing practices are those multiple payments obligations placed on SMEs by the state. This study examined the effect of taxation/taxing practices on the growth of SMEs with a specific focus on whether ‘multiple payment obligations placed on SMEs have significant implications on their profitability, investment decisions, and cash flows. The study adopted survey research design. The chi-square and regression analysis were used in testing hypotheses. Results from the chi-square and regression analysis indicated that tax practices significantly affect SMEs profitability and investment decisions. However, on the effect of taxation on the cash flow of SMEs, the chi-square test showed a non-significant effect of taxation on cash flow while the regression analysis revealed a significant relationship between taxation and cash flow of SMEs. This contradiction may be ascribed to bias exhibited by some respondents in answering some questions asked during the survey. Therefore, the study recommended that the government improves on tax incentive already provided, improve infrastructure, and implement tax policies based on the ability to pay and eschew multiplicity of payment by SME owners; these will eventually encourage growth and expansion of SMEs and the economy at large.

A proposed cloud-based billers hub using secured e-payments system

Automation of several payment processes from start to end is a challenging task, particularly when multiple payments from online and offline billers are involved. In this paper, we introduced a new aggregator system to combine all billing system types, in which it is possible to pay invoices electronically. The proposed aggregator system was designed to be employed in a cloud-based Billers Hub (CBBH) developed by the central banks. Furthermore, many applications can be realized such as; deposit e-money, withdrawal e-money, and other applications. A Gateway translator is used to apply authentication rules, security, and privacy. The proposed system was employed in the Jordanian payment gateway and successfully fulfills its purpose.

Incentivizing the Reduction of Pollution at U.S. Dairies: Addressing Additionality When Multiple Environmental Credit Payments Are Combined

This article examines the intricacies of environmental credit generation from concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) farm systems. Livestock production generates large amounts of manure (solid and liquid waste) and consumes a high volume of water that producers must manage to control odors and reduce pollution. To mitigate environmental impacts such as nutrient releases and greenhouse gas emissions, anaerobic digesters (ADs) can be used in CAFOs to avoid certain nutrient releases and capture the methane (CH4) produced when manure is broken down anaero­bically. Policy incentives have increased the use of ADs to reduce waste volumes and produce biogas for energy or bioelectricity, but the overall digester adoption rate is still very low (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [U.S. EPA], 2010; 2014). To cover the higher cost of AD adoption relative to other forms of waste management, farmers may supplement the revenues they generate from the conventional outputs of a livestock operation (e.g., milk or meat) by selling credits into environmental markets. One question that arises is whether a single operation can sell into multiple credit mar­kets by “stacking” credits—that is, receiving multiple separate environmental payments to finance the conversion to AD technology. The issue is that the use of stacked credits introduces the possibility that some of the stacked credits might be for benefits that are “non-additional” in that they do not produce incremental pollution reductions and thus are suspect for use in off­setting a buyer’s pollution. This article describes the stacking problem and explores possible solu­tions, such as temporal constraints on credit issuance and discounting credits to account for additionality problems. See the press release for this article.

Political trust, risk preferences, and policy support: A study of land-dispossessed villagers in China

Abstract This paper examines how political trust across local government levels and risk preferences impact individual support to land-taking compensation policies in China. Land expropriation becomes a touchstone for protests and conflict during China’s urbanization, driving local governments to diversify land-taking compensation from the traditional one-time lump-sum cash payment to multiple payments, notably, in the form of monthly pension payments and yearly dividends. We found that political trust in the county-level government positively correlates with individual support to pension payments; political distrust in the village collective induces villagers to favor the one-time payment to yearly dividends. Both risk-averse and risk-seeking individuals prefer the one-time cash payment to yearly dividends. The findings are developed using two choice experiments embedded in an original survey: we elicit individual policy support by asking villagers to state their preferences over hypothetical alternative compensation policies; we elicit risk preferences using a lottery-choice experiment with varying probability of winning real monetary rewards. The findings highlight the multi-level local government structure under decentralization and offer insight into to what extent the government efforts in innovative compensation policies are effective at quelling rural anger.

The “Commitment Projection” Effect: When Multiple Payments for a Product Affect Defection from a Service

Many service providers offer supplementary products related to their ongoing services (e.g., fitness centers offer fitness smartwatches). In seven studies, the authors show that the payment method for such supplementary products (multiple payments vs. a single lump sum) affects customers’ tendency to defect from the provider’s core service over time. Specifically, when customers pay for add-ons in multiple payments—provided that (1) they perceive the add-on as being bundled with the core service and (2) the payment period has an end point—they are initially less likely to defect from the service provider than when they pay in a single payment. Over time, however, as payments are made, this gap closes, such that defection intentions under the two payment methods eventually become similar. The authors propose that this phenomenon reflects “commitment projection,” wherein a decrease in customers’ commitment to the add-on product over time is projected onto their commitment to the service provider. These findings carry important managerial implications, given that many service providers offer add-on products in multiple-payment plans and that customers’ defection decisions substantially affect firms’ profitability.

Details matter: Physician responses to multiple payments for the same activity

The UK Quality and Outcomes Framework rewards general practices for achieving quality indicators for chronic disease management. Some indicators are multi-rewarded. For example, there are indicators for controlling blood pressure for patients with diabetes and for patients with chronic heart disease. Thus if a patient has diabetes and heart disease the practice is rewarded twice for controlling her blood pressure. Other indicators are singly rewarded: the incentivised activity is only for patients with single specific condition. We compare general practice performance on single and multi-reward indicators. We use a 2005/6–2012/13 panel of over 800 Scottish general practices, control for practice characteristics, practice fixed effects, indicator characteristics (whether the indicator was for measurement, treatment, or intermediate outcome, maximum payment, upper thresholds), condition, and year and cluster on indicators. We find that the proportion of patients with a given condition for whom a quality indicator was achieved was higher, and the proportion who were exception reported was lower, for multi-reward indicators than for single reward indicators. We also exploit the replacement of multi-reward smoking indicators by single reward indicators in 2006/7. Compared to indicators which were always single or always multi-reward, the proportion of the relevant patients for whom the smoking indicators were achieved fell when the smoking indicators were no longer multi-reward. Fine details of pay for performance schemes matter: they affect physician behaviour and patient outcomes.

The collective reserving model

This paper sets out a model for analysing claims development data, which we call the collective reserving model (CRM). The model is defined on the individual claim level and it produces separate IBNR and RBNS reserve estimators at the collective level without using any approximations. The CRM is based on ideas from a paper by Verrall, Nielsen and Jessen (VNJ) from 2010 in which a model is proposed that relies on a claim giving rise to a single payment. This is generalised by the CRM to the case of multiple payments per claim. All predictors of outstanding claims payments for the VNJ model are shown to hold for this new model. Moreover, the quasi-Poisson GLM estimation framework will be applicable as well, but without using an approximation. Furthermore, analytical expressions for the variance of the total outstanding claims payments are given, with a subdivision on IBNR and RBNS claims. To quantify the effect of allowing only one payment per claim, the model is related and compared to the VNJ model, in particular by looking at variance inequalities. The double chain ladder (DCL) method is discussed as an estimation method for this new model and it is shown that both the GLM- and DCL-based estimators are consistent in terms of an exposure measure. Lastly, both of these methods are shown to asymptotically reproduce the regular chain ladder reserve estimator when restricting predictions to the lower right triangle without the tail, motivating the chain ladder technique as a large-exposure approximation of this model.

Corruption in Public Procurement in Ghana: societal norm or deviant behaviour?

The paper probes corruption in public procurement in Ghana. The research, which focused on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country, revealed widespread corruption in the public service of Ghana. Notable procurement related corrupt practices unraveled included influence peddling, inflating contract sums, payment for non-existing contracts, deliberate contract splitting, multiple payments for contracts, use of phantom vendors and misapplication of public funds. The study further noted that some principal officers such as Coordinating Directors, Finance Officers, Budget and Planning officers, Engineers, Internal Auditors, Stores and Procurement officers, as well as government representatives misappropriate funds meant for development projects in their catchment areas, while staff looked on unconcerned. The research also discovered how Internal and external auditors ostensibly “train” principal officers on how to conceal corrupt practices in return for money and other rewards. The study is significant because the concept of decentralization was introduced to enable MMDAs to effectively and efficiently manage resources for the development of their communities. The concept has been defeated as some public servants connive with external auditors and other stakeholders to amass wealth at the expense of the generality of the people. A worrying phenomenon is the culture of silence by employees who are witnesses to most of these corrupt practices. Indeed, our findings show that most public servants are nonchalant about the act of corruption perpetuated by colleague workers. Essentially, some employees see nothing wrong with their principal officers and other colleagues indulging in acts of corruption, their reason being that they might do same when they assume similar positions in future. With this revelation, the onus is on government not to only adopt a combative strategy in dealing with the incidence of corruption. Rather, it is recommended that a blend of combative and the moral suasion strategies be adopted if the fight against corruption is to achieve desired results.

Truthful Incentive Mechanisms for Geographical Position Conflicting Mobile Crowdsensing Systems

Sensor-embedded smartphones have become ubiquitous nowadays, further leveraging the popularity of mobile crowdsensing. A mobile crowdsensing platform gathers sensory data from smartphone users and makes payments to them in return. Due to the spatial correlation of sensory data in various applications, users close to each other in geographical positions usually provide similar sensory data, and it is quite an economic waste for a mobile sensing platform to buy duplicated sensory data with multiple payments to geographically close users. Unfortunately, the existing works do not take this matter into consideration. To prevent waste, our paper considers geographical position conflicting mobile crowdsensing systems in which any two users within a limited geographical distance cannot obtain payments simultaneously while participating in crowdsensing tasks. Two algorithms are proposed to select appropriate mobile crowdsensing participants and calculate the payments to them. Solid theoretical proofs are presented to demonstrate the beneficial properties of our proposed algorithms. The extensive experiment results based on real-world datasets indicate that our proposed algorithms are efficient while providing beneficial properties.

Emerging adulthood, sharing utilities and intention to use sharing services

PurposeThis study aims to test Lamberton and Rose’s (2012) commercial sharing utility model of access-based consumption use in three different contexts: car-sharing, room-sharing and household goods purchases. More importantly, this research extends the model by examining the effects of emerging adulthood as a life-stage on perceived value of social applications that facilitate and promote transaction utility, called shareaids.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire designed to evaluate the effects of emerging adulthood and sharing utilities on intention to use sharing services was developed and administered to 345 respondents at a Midwestern US university. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.FindingsResults indicate that flexibility utility had the strongest direct impact on intention to use sharing consumption while also having indirect effects in all contexts examined. The emerging adulthood life-stage was found to affect transaction utility and shareaids as predicted, and shareaids positively influenced consumers’ perception of the social utility value of access-based consumption.Research limitations/implicationsThe generalizability of this study is limited by its use of a student sample. Also, the study suffers from inherent limitations linked to self-reported survey research.Practical implicationsSharing services that have a strong social component could use shareaids to gain a competitive advantage. Examples of shareaid application include split bills for multiple payments to split fares among friends and social media transaction tools. Shareaid applications can enhance consumers’ perception of social value and the overall shareability value of the sharing service.Originality/valueThis is the first known study to test the effects of emerging adulthood as a life-stage on perceived value of social applications that facilitate and promote transaction utility, called shareaids.

Accounting for multimorbidity in pay for performance: a modelling study using UK Quality and Outcomes Framework data

The UK Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) offers financial incentives to deliver high-quality care for individual diseases, but the single-disease focus takes no account of multimorbidity. To examine variation in QOF payments for two indicators incentivised in ≥1 disease domain. Modelling study using cross-sectional data from 314 general practices in Scotland. Maximum payments that practices could receive under existing financial incentives were calculated for blood pressure (BP) control and influenza immunisation according to the number of coexisting clinical conditions. Payments were recalculated assuming a single new indicator. Payment varied by condition (£4.71-£11.08 for one BP control and £2.09-£5.78 for one influenza immunisation). Practices earned more for delivering the same action in patients with multimorbidity: in patients with 2, 3, and ≥4 conditions mean payments were £13.95, £21.92, and £29.72 for BP control, and £7.48, £11.21, and £15.14 for influenza immunisation, respectively. Practices in deprived areas had more multiple incentivised patients. When recalculated so that each incentivised action was only paid for once, all practices received less for BP control: affluent practices received more and deprived practices received less for influenza immunisation. For patients with single conditions, existing QOF payment methods have more than twofold variation in payment for delivering the same process. Multiple payments were common in patients with multimorbidity. A payment method is required that ensures fairness of rewards while maintaining adequate funding for practices based on actual workload.

A Protective Method for the Vessel Owners Following the Collapse of O.W. Bunker: The Second Circuit Approval of Interpleader Actions in Hapag-Lloyd Aktiengesellschaft V.U.S. Oil Trading LLC

The collapse of O.W. Bunker has led to a frenzy of actual and threatened vessel arrests and delays, and vessel owners have faced demands for double payment. The split decisions made by the court across the world illustrate the difficulties arising from a bankruptcy in which contractual claims and maritime lien claims interact. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the Southern District of New York’s decision and held that the in person am claims against the vessel owners and the in rem claims against the vessels were merely alternative procedural devices to obtain the same relief and therefore the court has subject matter jurisdiction over the Interpleader Actions. This was the first time the Second Circuit have encountered the issue of whether jurisdictions lies interpleader involving in rem actions. The courts addressed the apparent conflicts among bankruptcy law, maritime law, and interpleader relief. For vessel owners, the decisions in all such cases are notable because it means that vessel owners can utilize interpleader actions to protect themselves from multiple payments and from the risk of ship arrest arising from the O.W. Bunker collapse. Also, this development is important because the court equitably applied the personification doctrine, a choice that remains consistent with precedent and honors the purpose of interpleader actions.

Why Multinational Companies Doing Business in China Fall into the Trap of Making Payments to China's Police

Multinational Companies (MNCs) doing business in China often fall into the trap of making payments to the Public Security Bureau (PSB), China’s Police, in order to enlist the help of the PSB in law enforcement. The MNC might have suffered a theft of intellectual property rights or might be faced with an issue of unfair competitor involving an ex-employee and a competing business operator. The MNC believes that criminal enforcement will send a stiff message and will be a more effective deterrent against future offenses. Under China’s laws, many economic offenses can give rise to criminal liability but in order to initiate a criminal investigation, the MNC is often asked by the PSB for the payment of an administrative fee, often couched as advanced payment for the reimbursement of expenses needed for the investigation. The payment is usually small, several thousand dollars, and seems innocuous to the MNC. Although the initial payment may seem harmless, it might lead to a string of additional demands by the PSB for more and larger payments and the MNC might become enmeshed in entanglements with other PRC authorities, brought in by the PSB, that also demand payments. A string of multiple payments then becomes much more problematic for the MNC and the entanglements might become hostile as the MNC feels increasingly trapped and exploited.

Nonlinear Pricing with Competition: The Market for Settling Payments

The multiple payments settlement systems available in the United States differ on several dimensions. The Fedwire Funds Service, a utility that operates a U.S. large-value payments-settlement service, offers the fastest speed of settlement. Recognizing that payments differ in the urgency with which they need to be settled, Fedwire offers banks a decreasing block-price schedule. This approach allows Fedwire to price discriminate, charging high fees for urgent payments and low fees for less urgent ones. We analyze banks’ demand for Fedwire Funds given this nonlinear scheme, taking into account competing settlement systems. We show that how banks respond to Fedwire’s pricing depends crucially on the need to settle payments quickly. If the urgency for immediate settlement is great enough, banks will respond to marginal price; otherwise, they will respond to average price. We test whether banks respond to marginal or to average price. Our identification comes from exogenous variation in Fedwire’s pricing, which results in differential changes in marginal and average price for comparable banks. We find that banks respond to average price.

Nonlinear Pricing with Competition: The Market for Settling Payments

The multiple payments settlement systems available in the United States differ on several dimensions. The Fedwire Funds Service, a utility that operates a U.S. large-value payments-settlement service, offers the fastest speed of settlement. Recognizing that payments differ in the urgency with which they need to be settled, Fedwire offers banks a decreasing block-price schedule. This approach allows Fedwire to price discriminate, charging high fees for urgent payments and low fees for less urgent ones. We analyze banks? demand for Fedwire Funds given this nonlinear scheme, taking into account competing settlement systems. We show that how banks respond to Fedwire?s pricing depends crucially on the need to settle payments quickly. If the urgency for immediate settlement is great enough, banks will respond to marginal price; otherwise, they will respond to average price. We test whether banks respond to marginal or to average price. Our identification comes from exogenous variation in Fedwire?s pricing, which results in differential changes in marginal and average price for comparable banks. We find that banks respond to average price.

The Impact of Multiple Tax Returns on Tax Compliance Behavior

ABSTRACTTax compliance research has used prospect theory to describe taxpayers' behavior finding that taxpayers with pending payments due (loss frame) report more aggressively than taxpayers with pending refunds (gain frame). Since taxpayers often file multiple returns and prior research has only examined the impact of single returns on compliance behavior, we extend the research by incorporating the element of taxpayers filing multiple returns (state and federal returns). This study compares taxpayers' behavior in a single net refund or single net payment due condition versus a multiple refund (larger refund and smaller payment due) or multiple payments due condition (larger payment due and smaller refund). Using mental accounting theory, the results show that taxpayers' aggressiveness shifts up in a refund position when the refund is presented as multiple returns rather than a single net return. Taxpayers' aggressiveness shifts down when their payment due position is presented as multiple returns rather than a single net return. While the results in the single net return conditions were consistent with prior compliance research, the results in the multiple returns conditions show a shift in taxpayer aggressiveness from prior research where taxpayers were less aggressive in the multiple payment due condition than the multiple refund condition. A path analysis lends insight into these results by finding that taxpayers' compliance behavior in the single net return and multiple returns conditions is driven by their affective reactions to their tax position. These results suggest that prior tax compliance research that has not incorporated multiple returns may be missing an essential element of the decision environment. These results also extend the growing body of accounting research on mental accounting by providing some initial insight into the role of affect on behavior for single versus multiple outcomes.