nep-dcm New Economics Papers
on Discrete Choice Models
Issue of 2006‒07‒15
four papers chosen by
Philip Yu
Hong Kong University

  1. Intergenerational Transmission of ‘Religious Capital’: Evidence from Spain By Pablo Brañas-Garza; Shoshana Neuman
  2. Analysing Website Choice and Consumer Loyalty: the Case of Book and CD Markets By Asmaa Khariji
  3. Willingness to pay for a reduction in the mortality risk after a myocardial infarction: an aplication of the contingent valuation method to the case of eplerenone By Jose Luis Pinto-Prades; Veronica Farreras; Jaime Fernández de Bobadilla
  4. A New Type of Preference Reversal By Han Bleichrodt; Jose Luis Pinto-Prades

  1. By: Pablo Brañas-Garza (Universidad de Granada); Shoshana Neuman (Bar-Ilan University, CEPR and IZA Bonn)
    Abstract: The paper examines intergenerational transmission of 'religious capital' from parents to their offspring, within an economic framework of a production function of 'religiosity' where parental inputs serve as factors of production. A sample of Catholic Spaniards who grew up in Catholic households is used for the empirical study. A rich unique data base is employed with data on several aspects of religiosity: two dimensions of the individual's religiosity - mass attendance (6 levels) and prayer (11 levels); information on the mother's and father's church attendance when the respondent was a child (9 levels) as well as the respondent's mass participation at the age of 12. The use of detailed religiosity measures (rather than one dichotomous variable, e.g. goes to church-yes/no; practicing Catholic - yes/no), facilitates a more sophisticated analysis with robust conclusions. A theoretical framework is followed by stylized facts on household composition. Then the effect of the parents' input on respondent's religiosity is examined - first using cross-tabulation and then using Ordered Logit regression. The inputs of the parents are proxied by the mother's and father's intensity of church attendance when the respondent was a child. The output (respondent's religiosity) is measured using detailed data on mass attendance and prayer. Exposure to mass services during childhood and socio-economic variables are also considered. All in all we find that parental religious inputs significantly affect individuals' religiosity BUT the route of intergenerational transmission is from mother to daughter and from father to son. Women are not affected by paternal religiosity and men are unaffected by maternal religiosity. Current religiosity is also affected by own exposure to mass services during childhood - own experience has a more pronounced effect on the private/intimate activity of prayer than on the social/public activity of church attendance. Current mass participation is more affected by parental than by own mass attendance during childhood.
    Keywords: religious capital, Catholic, church attendance, prayer, intergenerational transmission, production, Spain
    JEL: Z12 J12 J13 D13
    Date: 2006–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2183&r=dcm
  2. By: Asmaa Khariji (Economics Department CEPN University of Paris-Nord)
    Keywords: discrete choice, online behavior, consumer loyalty
    JEL: C81 D12 L81
    Date: 2006–07–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sce:scecfa:319&r=dcm
  3. By: Jose Luis Pinto-Prades (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Veronica Farreras (Department of Applied Economics. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona); Jaime Fernández de Bobadilla (Pfizer)
    Abstract: Background: In order to allocate health care resources more efficiently it is necessary to relate health improvements provided by new medicines with their cost. It is necessary to ascertain when the additional cost of introducing a new health technology is justified by the additional health gain produced. Eplerenone is a new medicine that reduces the risk of death after myocardial infarction (MI) but produces additional cost to the health system. The contingent valuation approach can be used to measure the monetary value of this risk reduction. Objective: to estimate society’s willingness to pay (WTP) for a new medicine that reduces by 2% the risk of death after MI. Methods: We used a contingent valuation approach to evaluate WTP amongst members of the general population. We used the ex-ante and the ex-post approach. In the ex-ante approach subjects are asked if they would accept an increase in their taxes in order to have access to Eplerenone should they need it in the future. In the ex-post approach subjects are asked if they would pay a certain amount of money as co-payment per month during five years if they suffered a MI. We used the Dichotomous Choice method, using five bids in each approach. The WTP was estimated using both single-bound and double-bound dichotomous choice (SBDC, DBDC). Extensive piloting (n=187) preceded the final survey (n=350). Results: The WTP in the ex-ante case was €58 per year under both SBDC and DBDC. In the ex-post case monthly WTP was €144 for the SBDC and €85 for the DBDC. Subjects with higher income and subjects with a higher perception of risk showed a higher WTP (p<0.05). Conclusions: Society is willing to pay an additional amount of money in order to give Eplerenone to present and future patients. We estimate that €85 per month is a conservative estimate of the monetary value of a 2% risk reduction in mortality after MI and to spend this additional amount of money in Eplerenone can be considered an efficient policy.
    Keywords: contingent valuation, myocardial infarction, mortality, cost-benefit.
    JEL: I10
    Date: 2006–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:06.17&r=dcm
  4. By: Han Bleichrodt (Erasmus University, Rotterdam); Jose Luis Pinto-Prades (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide)
    Abstract: The classic preference reversal phenomenon arises in a comparison between a choice and a matching task. We present a new type of preference reversal which is entirely choice-based. Because choice is the basic primitive of economics, the preference reversal we observe is more troubling for economics. The preference reversal was observed in two experiments, both involving large representative samples from the Spanish population. The data were collected by professional interviewers in face-to-face interviews. Possible explanations for the preference reversal are the anticipation of disappointment and elation in risky choice and the impact of ethical considerations.
    Keywords: Preference reversal, Choice behavior, Stochastic dominance, Disappointment and elation, Health
    JEL: I10
    Date: 2006–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:06.18&r=dcm

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