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Using a two-period non-stochastic life-cycle model, Hauenschild and Stahlecker (2001) show that when information about future labor income is ambiguous, individuals may engage in precautionary savings even if their marginal utility is not convex. We extend the methodology of Houenschild and Stahlecker to a model with standard preferences and demonstrate the precautionary savings that consumers accumulate due to ambiguity and fuzzy decision-making possibly explain the "excess consumption growth puzzle". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service attribute prioritization is a key basis for developing service quality improvement strategies. Previous studies prioritize attributes by assigning them into different strategy intervals, which make it difficult to determine the priority of attributes in the same interval. To solve this problem, some studies calculate the satisfaction of each attribute. However, this approach may cause systematic errors in calculating the satisfaction of each attribute. Accordingly, this paper proposes a new method for prioritizing service attributes by constructing an overall satisfaction (utility) function and calculating the marginal utility under current attribute performance. The validation of restaurant review data on TripAdvisor and comparison experiments with other methods show the effectiveness and advantages of this method. • This research prioritizes attributes on the basis of the marginal utility of attribute performance. • It provides an integrated attribute analysis model to measure consumers' perceived quality of service attributes. • It constructs an overall satisfaction function based on the asymmetric effect of attribute performance on satisfaction. • It compares different methods for prioritizing attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decision about spending time on an activity, switching to the next activity and transport mode used to travel to the next activity location depends on money value of time; opportunity cost of time at activity. Optimal condition of transition between two activities occurs when their marginal utility of time is equal. The presented framework in this paper models the marginal utility of activity to express the money benefit earned by spending each unit of time at the given activity. The proposed model is generalized for the schedule with any number of activities as contrast to previous studies, where such models were used for schedules with fixed number of activities. This framework can be used to calculate the loss in value of time due decreased activity participation resulting from travel delays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between mature larval mass of oil tea weevil (Curculio chinensis) and fruit volume of its host plant oil tea (Camellia meiocarpa) was fitted with Logistic equation in order to understand the restriction of host fruit size on large larval growth and development of the weevil. The results showed that the larval mass increased with the increasing host fruit volume, which was in good conformity with the Logistic model. The weevil larval growth followed the principle of diminishing marginal utility, and it could be divided into two periods, the fast-growing period (<3. 216 cm3, one larva per fruit; <4. 747 cm3, two larvae per fruit ) and the asymptotic growing period (>3. 216 cm3, one larva per fruit; >4. 747 cm3, two larvae per fruit). The minimum fruit size threshold was 1. 500 cm3 for one larva per fruit, and 2. 539 cm3 for two larvae per fruit. The tempo-ral pattern that the mature larvae exited from their host fruits was established, the number of larvae escaping from their host fruits decreased daily after the fruit collection, and the larval escaping peak largely appeared from 6:00 to 10:00 AM with 43. 9% of total escaping number, and especially from 7:00 to 8:00 AM with 21. 1% of total escaping number. The bigger the larvae, the earlier exited from their host fruits. The restriction of fruit size on growth and development of oil tea weevil was observed, and it should be a behavioral adaptation strategy to increase the offspring's fitness for the parental weevil adults to oviposit on the bigger fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the application of consumer surplus in assessing breach of contract cases. It mentions that consumer surplus is the monetary gain obtained by consumers due to products they purchase for a price that is less than the highest price that they would be willing to pay. It notes the description of consumer surplus as a subjective value of consumers place on performance above the market value.

The optimal pollution abatement levels are found by maximizing global social welfare in a permits trade system under the constraint that environmental goods are evaluated equally in rich and poor countries. Evaluating equally environmental goods in poor and rich countries makes possible to build a relation between the income elasticity of marginal utility e and the inequality aversion parameter γ (Fankhauser et al. 1997; Johansson-Stenman 2000), which narrows the variation of e for a particular value of γ. As a result, smaller variation for optimal abatement levels is obtained, which allows to inspect what Post-Kyoto abatement levels for poor and rich countries respect the requirement of evaluating equally the environmental goods in rich and poor countries. One finding is that in a Post-Kyoto world, the optimal abatement levels of poor countries are always different from zero, if we aim to evaluate equally the environmental goods in poor and rich countries. Furthermore, in a permits trade system, if we increase abatement levels continually, it can happen that poor countries have to carry out higher emission reductions than rich ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a variant for synthesis of the essential categories utility and value on the level of society. The labour theory of value and the theory of marginal utility are the starting base. Worth (as distinct from value) is the integrating category. That is why the synthesis can be called common theory of worth. It should be understood as a framework for the explanation of the essence of the functioning of the economy and as a result of the application of a new, organic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between competition and efficiency of banking in China was analyzed according to the relevant data in the period from 1993 to 2008. The Lerner model was used to measure the degree of banking competition through the price of loan, and the result showed that the degree of banking competition fluctuates upwardly. Then, the Stochastic Frontier Analysis(SFA)was used to measure the banking cost efficiency, and the result showed the uprising trend of cost efficiency with diminishing marginal utility. Finally, the Granger causality test was done to estimate the relationship between the degree of competition and cost efficiency, and the result showed that the degree of banking competition improved the cost efficiency, and the relationship presented positive correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary liberal egalitarianism is intent on carrying out a cultural and moral inversion of the social order, an effort not unlike the revolution that Marxism hoped to accomplish in the sphere of economic relations. Indeed, with the failure of economic equalization the egalitarian zeal has largely moved to other spheres of life, so that now Western societies are facing a massive political endeavor on the part of their liberal elites at implementing the equality of races, sexes, sexual orientations, life styles, cultures and religions. The cult of the marginalized Other reigns supreme. The cult requires Western societies to assume the guilt for the marginalization and to bend over backwards towards the Other. The cult is behind what is widely accepted as laudable progress towards an open society. The highest virtue under this dispensation is that of non-discrimination and inclusion, while the lowliest vice is discrimination and exclusion. The liberal fight against discrimination requires demoting anything peculiar to Western civilization and promoting anything alien to it. The implementation of the ideally open society can only culminate in the suicide of the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We study the behavior of market risk, value, small cap, and momentum premia under different macro economic scenarios. If these factors are risk factors, then these factors offer high returns to investors at times when the gain (marginal utility) of additional consumption is low (good economic times) and low returns at times when the gain (marginal utility) of additional consumption is high (bad economics times). Our results show that market risk and small cap premia behave more like risk factors while value premium does not. In fact, our results show that a portfolio with a long position in value and a short position in growth is a hedge in the down market and recessionary periods. Our results also show that a momentum premium exists under different economically distressed scenarios we studied. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Urban heat islands (UHIs) have caused radical changes in urban climates. However, the extreme UHI (E-UHI) formed in factory areas deserves more attention. To mitigate the E-UHI, machine learning is used for simulating and quantifying the marginal utility of the scale, shape, type, stage, and structure of the factory on the land surface temperature (LST), factory LST (LST f), surrounding LST (LST s) and increase value (ΔLST) level. The results show that the scale of all types of factories affects LST f and LST s , and the shape of steel factories affects LST s and ΔLST. The LST in factories that require high-temperature environments (e.g., smelters) is significantly higher than that in other factories (e.g., sales plants). The ΔLST of green space (GS), staff activity ground (SG), material transfer ground (MG), material storage area (MA), factory building (FB), smelting area (SA) and casting building (CB) are 3.95 °C, 4.01 °C, 5.08 °C, 5.15 °C, 5.24 °C, 5.49 °C and 7.32 °C, and their optimal ranges are 8.84%–15.09%, 16.65%–25.52%, 3.91%–35.91%, 0.00%–8.70%, 5.06%–13.60%, 23.33%–48.02%, and 0.00%–5.73%, respectively. Appropriately standardizing the scale and shape, controlling the temperature of the high-temperature generation stage, reducing the proportion of CB, MG and MA, and increasing the proportion of GS and SG are effective ways to alleviate the E-UHI. The findings provide theoretical guidance for resource-based cities to mitigate E-UHIs. • Extreme heat island (E-UHI) is developed in resource-based cities. • E-UHI is simulated based on machine learning. • E-UHI has different sensitivity to different influencing factors. • The optimal range (OR) of each factor is determined. • E-UHI is the weakest when all factors meet OR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]