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Outlines the principle of the Dutch auction, whereby the price begins at a high level and decreases by steps until a bid is made. Describes an integrated hardware and software system which uses Internet communications to enable remotely created bidders to participate in real‐time Dutch auctions and which meets the stringent requirement that synchrony be maintained among bidders’ terminals to ensure that each bidder has a fair chance to bid at the current offer price. Defines the principal functions of the system and characterizes its available resources. Illustrates implementation using a prototype design. Pays particular attention to bidder terminal synchronization, bidder authentication, and auction client security. Includes the possibility of a system variant using ISDN interconnect and PC‐based bidders’ terminals.

This chapter analyzes a geographic quasi-experiment embedded in a cluster-randomized experiment in Honduras. In the experiment, average treatment effects of conditional cash transfers on school enrollment and child labor were large – especially in the poorest experimental blocks – and could be generalized to a policy-relevant population given the original sample selection criteria. In contrast, the geographic quasi-experiment yielded point estimates that, for two of three dependent variables, were attenuated. A judicious policy analyst without access to the experimental results might have provided misleading advice based on the magnitude of point estimates. We assessed two main explanations for the difference in point estimates, related to external and internal validity.

The increasing importance of electronic health (e-health) has raised the significance of exploring the factors influencing the users’ acceptance of e-health applications. There has been an extensive usage of the technology acceptance model (TAM) in e-health applications acceptance research. However, not all TAM relationships are borne out in all the studies. There is a variation in predicted effects in several studies with different user type and application type. The purpose of this paper is to bridge a research gap by providing a holistic view of the e-health applications acceptance research by integrating the findings of existing relevant literature.

A statistical meta-analysis of the effect size of causal relationships between common TAM constructs was conducted on 111 peer-reviewed academic studies published in various journals.

The results confirm the validity and robustness of the TAM in e-health applications acceptance research. Further, a moderator analysis based on user type and e-health application type demonstrated that the effect size of causal relationships between TAM constructs majorly depends on the user type, but not on e-health application type.

This research provides a ready reference of the existing studies on e-health applications acceptance to the researchers. Further, if researchers or practitioners want to learn more about the particular user or application type, they may find the results valuable.

This research suggests that the general public can be used as the surrogates for patients in e-health applications acceptance research. The implementation strategy found successful for medical staff may not work for general public and patients. This research also suggests ways to enhance acceptance of e-health applications among different user groups.

The research is original and is based on the existing literature and its interpretation.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a viewpoint about the role of cost transparency in consumer markets and whether or not consumers should request cost transparency from sellers, in light of the article by Antonis et al. (2015).

Research in the area of cost transparency, pricing and related theoretical domains is analysed to understand the potential role for buyers and sellers in consumer markets.

Although there are an increasing number of examples of greater operational transparency in supply chains, cost transparency in consumer markets is not widespread. Increased cost transparency represents an important product attribute for consumers, enhancing fairness perceptions and affective evaluations. For sellers, it is a potentially powerful complement to price moves and, through enhancing trust among consumers, can positively influence brand value(s).

Operational and cost transparency holds much promise as an emerging area in marketing but research into cost transparency in consumer markets is in its early stages and the limited number of field examples reduces the scope for empirical work. However, using carefully controlled lab experiments, much can be done to understand the generalisability and boundary conditions to its effect.

This paper takes a balanced view about value to consumers and the implementation of cost transparency in consumer markets, highlighting key mechanisms through which greater transparency may influence consumer product evaluations and concluding with some caveats in relation to its practice.