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The use of public procurement as a vehicle for implementing various socioeconomic preference policies has a long history. This article reviews the current state of affairs of procurement preference programs with regard to U.S. state and local governments and analyzes their impact on both the recipients and on the public procurement process. Opportunities for further research are noted, and the authors conclude that the ability to navigate the difficult waters of socioeconomic preferences should be a core competency of state and local public procurement officials.

By implementing various forms of preference policies, countries around the world intervene in their economies for their own political and economic purposes. Likewise, twenty-five states in the U.S. have implemented in-state preference policies (NASPO, 2012) to protect and support their own vendors from out-of-state competition to achieve similar purposes. The purpose of this paper is to show the connection between protectionist public policy instruments noted in the international trade literature and the in-state preference policies within the United States. This paper argues that the reasons and the rationales for adopting these preference policies in international trade and the states' contexts are similar. Given the similarity in policy outcomes, the paper further argues that the international trade literature provides an overarching explanation to help understand what states could expect in applying in-state preference policies.

This paper aims to answer the question: What are the impacts of implementing in-state procurement preference policies on the economy of the state of South Carolina?

Toevaluate the impacts, the following six economic indicators were analyzed: jobs, personal income, real disposable income, output (sales), gross state product and value added. The data were collected from the South Carolina Procurement Services Office and were then analyzed using the Regional Economic Model Policy Insight (REMI PI+) for economic forecasting and policy analysis. The results from the REMI PI+ showed that implementing in-state preference policies benefitted the state and its communities economically.

Specifically, from 2010 until 2017, the total economic impact of implementing preference policies generated $17m in total output, 135 total job-years, $10.22m in gross state product (GSP), $10.27m in value added, $7.52m in income and $5.14m in real disposable personal income. The impact on the wholesale trade industry was over $5m in total industry output and approximately 27 jobs-years. In the manufacturing sector, the total impact was over $4m in output and approximately 17 jobs-years. The impact on the construction industry was approximately $3m in output and approximately 30 jobs-years. Although the values of these economic indicators were very small compared to the size of the state economy, they did outweigh the direct cost of implementing preference policies, thus demonstrating that overall the in-state preference policies contributed to South Carolina’s economy. However, further research is warranted to identify more precisely the benefits and costs of implementing preference policies.

The purpose of this paper is to verify the consumer preference and choice behavior; also determine the speculative low loyalty behavior of consumers belonging to generation Y sub segment – adults (age 19‐28) and their perceptions regarding various brands.

Data were collected from 100 university students in Pakistan belonging to the age group 19‐28 years old. The research was concentrated in the mobile phone service sector. Data analysis was conducted using statistical analysis software SPSS.

The results indicate that stated preference set and actual choice behavior are dissimilar. The generation Y adults sub group contra‐indicates loyalty characteristics as high in a developing market context against the established wisdom of low loyalty found in developed countries. The perceptual maps of brands indicate no distinct personality characteristics necessitating marketers to rethink their strategies in this service industry. Finally, this research reconciles the gap between loyalty, stated preference and distinctiveness of brand personalities.

One limitation pertains to the target segment of 19‐28 years old. Future research could be expanded to other demographic segments and use other products and brands.

The major contribution of this paper is that it will advance theory regarding generation‐based characteristics to a less developed economy context by verifying theoretical proposition with regard to brand preferences and revealed brand choices. Second, marketers would be able to focus their promotions keeping in mind the perception and loyalty factors.

This paper aims to understand the motivations behind married men preferring sons and to quantify the association between a couple’s stated son preferences. Son preference is an endemic problem in India. With half a million female foetuses aborted each year, the root causes of son preference in India have been widely studied. Little is known, however, on how couples mutually decide on their desired child sex-ratio.

Using data from the third National Family and Health Survey, the authors apply three-stage least square and optimal general method of moment methods to demonstrate association. Robustness checks are performed on plausibly exogenous instrumental variables and selection issues in the marriage market.

The authors show that their spouse's son preference is by far the most significant factor associated with a person's own stated son preference. The association between spouse's stated son preference is observed only for couples being married for three to five years. It is postulated that this is the critical period when sex-selective abortion decisions are being made.

The focus of existing empirical studies is nearly always on the mother's son preference only. The hypothesis is that spouses mutually influence each other’s preferences and models estimating determinants of son preference should include preferences of both spouses. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to understand the motivations of married men towards preferring sons and quantify the association between spouse's stated son preference and respondent's stated son preference.

Spain is typically considered a familialistic country where the family is the main responsible for individuals’ well-being. Recent demographic, socioeconomic and policy changes raise the question to what extent familialism is regarded as the preferred care arrangement in society or whether more state support is considered legitimate. The purpose of this paper is to analyse individual preferences among Spanish residents regarding care responsibility for pre-school children and the frail elderly, and the factors that influence such preferences.

Representative data from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme are used (n=1419). Six patterns of care responsibility that capture preferences regarding who, between the family or the state, should provide and pay for the care of pre-school children and the frail elderly are identified. Logistic regressions are performed on each care responsibility pattern to analyse the factors influencing individuals’ preferences.

Multiple preferences coexist and state responsibility is often preferred over family responsibility, especially for elderly-care. It suggests that the tendency to rely on the family in Spain is due to insufficient support rather than to familialistic values. Individuals who usually bear most care work responsibilities, such as women and individuals in caring ages, or those with a poor health, high care load or low income consider there should be extra-family support. Individuals’ values also matter: the least religious, the most supportive of maternal employment and left-wing voters are most likely to reject traditional care arrangements.

This is the first study to analyse both elderly- and childcare policy preferences in one single study. It shows that childcare is more often seen as a family responsibility than elderly care.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate changes in the commercial real estate market dynamics as a function of and conditional to the shifts in market state-space environment that can influence agent responses.

The analytical design uses a comparative computational experiment to address the performance of property assets in the current market based on comparison with prior structural patterns. The latent variables developed across market sectors are used to test agent behavior contingent on the perspectives of capital asset pricing conditionals (CAPM) and a behavioral momentum/herd construct. The state-space momentum analysis can assist the comparative analysis of current levels and shifts in property asset performance given the issues that have arisen with the financial crisis of 2007-2009.

An analytic approach is employed framed by a situation-dependent model. This frame considers risk profiles characterizing the perspectives and preferences guiding a delineated market state. This perspective is concerned with the possibility of shifts in market momentum and representativeness conditioning investor expectations. It is observed that the current market (post-crisis) has changed significantly from the prior operations (despite the diversity observed in prior market states). The dynamics of initial findings required an additional test anchored to the performance of the general capital market and the real economy across time. This context supports the use of a modified CAPM model allowing the consideration of opportunity cost in a space-time dynamic anchored with the consideration of equity, debt, riskless asset and liquidity options as they varied for the representative agents operating per market state.

This paper integrates neoclassical and behavioral economic constructs. Combines asset pricing with prospect theory and allows the calculation of endogenous time-preferences, risk attitudes and formulation and testing of hyperbolic discounting functions.

The research shows that market structure and agent behavior since the financial crisis has changed from the investment and valuation perspectives operating as observed and measured from 1970 up to 2007. In contradiction to the long-term findings of Reinhart and Rogoff (2008), but in compliance with common perspectives and decision heuristics often employed by investors, this time things have changed! Discounting and expected rates of return are dynamic and are hyperbolic and not constant. Returns and investment for property assets are situational (market state-space specific) and offer a distinct asset class, not appropriately estimated by many of the traditional financial models.

Assist in supporting insights to measure in errors and equations that result in inefficient resource allocation and beta discounting that supports the financial crisis created by assets subject to long-term decision needs (delta function).

The paper offers a combination and comparison of neoclassic asset pricing using a modified CAPM (two-pass) approach within the structural frame of Kahneman and Tversky’s (1979) prospect theory. This technique allows the consideration of the effects of present bias, beta-delta functions and the operation of the Allais Paradox in market states that are characterized by gains and losses and thus risk aversion and risk seeking behavior. This ability for differentiation allows for the development of endogenous time-preferences and hyperbolic discounting factors characteristic of commercial property investment.

The popularity of wealth management in Taiwan has unleashed tense competition among financial advisors. Consumers are now more conscious of their financial services purchasing behavior. This paper aims to provide insights into local-specific investors’ characteristics and consumers’ financial product preferences and to introduce a different concept to identify localization-suitable products.

To understand customers’ preferred products, the paper examines consumers’ financial behavior by analyzing preference characteristics using data collected from Taiwanese investors. The study entailed a questionnaire designed for consumers using the stated preferences method and the multinomial and nested logit models to develop preference models for consumers’ financial products. A statistical test using the t-value, likelihood and ρ² to observe investor preference product reactions was also used.

The study finds that investors are sensitive to the rate of return on investments and performance changes in foreign currency, stock and mutual funds. An elasticity analysis and prediction of the market share among interactive products show that stock and mutual funds are strongly related and the rate of return on stock undoubtedly influences the market.

The stated preference method and inclusion of risk appetite improve our understanding of consumer choice and investors’ financial product preferences and characteristics. The results provide suitable localization product suggestions for financial institutions to help them understand their customers’ behaviors better. This paper’s results are also useful in the context of smart financial services such as financial robot technology.

This paper aims to report on homebuyers’ preferences and willingness to pay for installed home photovoltaic systems. Their influence on the market position of a dwelling is relatively unknown. Considering that expected lifespan of photovoltaic systems is at least 25 years, it is likely that many dwellings with a photovoltaic system will enter the housing market.

Few houses with installed photovoltaic systems have been sold in the market to date. Lack of real market data imposes a method based on the stated preference data. Therefore, the general preferences toward photovoltaic systems are determined by a discrete choice model based on responses of 227 homebuyers in the Eindhoven region, The Netherlands. Further, the model estimates were used to assess the indirect willingness to pay for home photovoltaic systems. This initial willingness to pay is further reassessed with the direct willingness to pay collected in an open-ended questionnaire format.

Results of the model show that the homebuyers’ preferences for home photovoltaic systems are large and significant. In addition to general preferences, this article reports on the taste heterogeneity carried out by separating observations based on the respondents’ characteristics. For example, photovoltaic systems are more appealing to homebuyers in more urban or central neighbourhoods. Further, the results of the direct survey lead to the conclusion that people are probably willing to pay close to the replacement value of the system and only 22 per cent of all respondents did not want to pay anything for the installed photovoltaic system.

These findings are exploratory and they raise a number of questions for further investigations, such as those regarding the real estate value of the installed photovoltaic systems. The reported findings must be regarded as local, thus further research is necessary to understand the impact on European housing markets.

Preferences and willingness to pay for home photovoltaic systems can provide a variety of economic, social and political recommendations to different interested parties such as homeowners, buyers, realtors, retailers, energy companies and governments. For instance, a homeowner would like to know what would be the effect of a photovoltaic system on the housing market.

As per the knowledge of authors, this is the first paper to estimate the impact of an installed photovoltaic system on housing choice, measured by stated choice data in the local housing market. It expands the existing body of knowledge for increasingly important issues of valuing and measuring preferences for photovoltaic systems installed on dwellings.

Using a discrete choice experiment (DCE), this study aims to better understand the job preference of postgraduate students studying at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology-Institute of Distance Learning, Ghana and also rank the attributes of a job they deem important.

The research adopted a positivist epistemological design contextualised within a deductive approach and case study strategy. Primary survey data was collected from a stratified random sample of 128 postgraduate students with multi-sectorial career prospects. Sample students were subjected to a DCE in which their stated preferences were collected using closed-ended questionnaires with 28 pairs of hypothetical job profiles. Respondents’ preferences from the DCE data were then modelled using the conditional logit.

The research reveals that: salary in the range GHC 2,800.00 to GHC 3,400.00 ($1 = GHS 5.3); supportive management; very challenging jobs; and jobs located in the city were the top attributes that were significant and had the most impact in increasing the utility of selecting a particular job. Interestingly, jobs with no extra hours workload were not significant hence, had a negative impact upon student preferences.

This novel research is the first to use a DCE to better elicit preference and trade-offs of postgraduate students in a developing country towards varying job characteristics that have an impact on their future employment decisions. Knowledge advancements made provide invaluable insight to employers and policymakers on the key criteria that should be implemented to retain the best candidate.