The Evolution of Social Ethics: Using Economic History to Understand Economic Ethics

In the development of Roman Catholic social thought from the teachings of the scholastics to the modern social encyclicals, changes in normative economics reflect the transformation of an economic terrain from its feudal roots to the modern industrial economy. The preeminence accorded by the modern market to the allocative over the distributive function of price broke the convenient convergence of commutative and distributive justice in scholastic just price theory. Furthermore, the loss of custom, law, and usage in defining the boundaries of economic behavior led to a depersonalization of economic relationships that had previously provided effective informal means of protecting individual well-being. Hence, recent economic ethics has had to look for nonprice, nonmarket mechanisms for distributive justice. This is reflected, for example, in the shift in attitude from the medieval antipathy toward unions to the contemporary defense of organized labor on moral grounds.     

Acceptance of a price discount: the role of the semantic relatedness between purchases and the comparative price format

Two studies are reported where people are asked to accept or not a price reduction on a target product. In the high (low) relative saving version, the regular price of the target product is low (high). In both versions, the absolute value of the price reduction is the same as well as the total of regular prices of planned purchases. As first reported by Tversky and Kahneman ( 1981 ), findings show that the majority of people accept the price discount in the high‐relative saving version whereas the minority do it in the low one. In Study 1, findings show that the previous preference reversal disappears when planned purchases are strongly related. Also, a previously unreported preference reversal is found. The majority of people accept the price discount when the products are weakly related whereas the minority accept when the products are strongly related. In Study 2, findings show that the classic preference reversal disappears as a function of the comparative price format. Also, another previously unreported preference reversal is found. When the offered price reduction relates to a low‐priced product, people are more inclined to accept it with a control than a minimal comparative price format. Findings reported in Studies 1 and 2 are interpreted in terms of mental accounting shifts. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

不同促销方式对产品购买决策的影响—— 基于解释水平理论视角的研究

赠品促销与价格促销对消费者购买决策的影响研究结果尚存在分歧。根据解释水平理论, 通过三个实验探究了赠品促销产品组合与价格促销产品组合在不同任务类型、不同时间距离条件下的促销效果差异。结果表明：(1)不同时间距离下, 消费者对促销产品决策存在差异。赠品促销方式在近期将来购物场景下的促销效果比在远期将来购物场景下的促销效果更好; 价格促销方式在远期将来购物场景下的促销效果比在近期将来购物场景下的促销效果更好。价格支付意愿任务下, 消费者对远期将来场景下促销产品的感知价值比近期将来购物场景下促销产品的感知价值高; 购买可行性任务下, 消费者对近期将来购物场景下促销产品的感知价值比远期将来购物场景下促销产品的感知价值高。(2)时间距离对促销方式与任务类型的表征水平匹配关系有增强、扩大作用。购买可行性任务下, 与远期将来时间相比, 消费者更倾向于在近期将来时间条件下选择赠品促销产品组合。价格支付意愿任务下, 与近期将来时间相比, 消费者更倾向于在远期将来时间条件下选择价格促销产品组合。     

时间定价与主观时间流逝速度感对利他行为的影响

采用筛选图片时间任务作为被试利他意愿的指标,考察在两种主观时间流逝速度（时间飞逝和时间缓慢）条件下,被试（时间定价组和非时间定价组）对利他行为的影响。结果发现,非时间定价组在时间飞逝和缓慢条件下利他行为差异不显著,但是时间定价组在时间飞逝条件下比在时间缓慢条件下利他行为时间明显较短。结果表明,时间定价组在时间飞逝条件下充分显现时间的价值,减少利他时间,而在时间缓慢条件下,在可接受的时间成本范围内,被试表现出较为乐于助人,证实了主观时间流逝速度会对个体利他行为产生影响。     

Is Salesperson Attractiveness a Boon or a Bane? The Moderating Role of Perceived Labor Cost‐To‐Price Ratio in Retail Bargaining

This research examines the important but unexamined effects of salesperson attractiveness on consumer bargaining behavior in retail contexts. In line with our theorizing, three studies demonstrate that the effect of salesperson attractiveness on consumer bargaining depends on their general beliefs regarding the impact of labor costs on retail prices. While consumers bargain less with an attractive salesperson when their labor costs‐to‐price (LP) ratio beliefs are relatively low, they bargain harder with an attractive, as opposed to a less attractive, salesperson, when their LP ratio beliefs are relatively high. As well, we provide evidence for the process, based on the salesperson's perceived trustworthiness and consumers' consequent bargaining stance toward her.     

Guess Who Buys Cheap? The Effect of Consumers’ Goal Orientation on Product Preference

The current research examines how goal orientation affects consumer preference among products with different prices. We argue that a less expensive product may have not only lower perceived quality but also greater perceived quality variability. This greater perceived variability provides the opportunity for optimistic, promotion‐oriented consumers to overestimate the quality of the less expensive product. This effect is weaker, however, for a more expensive product that consumers perceive to have less quality variability and which thus provides less room for quality overestimation. As a result, we hypothesize that promotion‐oriented consumers, as compared to prevention‐oriented consumers, will demonstrate a stronger preference for a less expensive product. In a field study and two laboratory experiments, we obtain empirical support both for the hypothesized effect of consumers’ goal orientation on their product preference and for its underlying process. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our results.     

Assessing unit-price related remifentanil choice in rhesus monkeys

Given a commodity available at different prices, a unit-price account of choice predicts preference for the cheaper alternative. This experiment determined if rhesus monkeys preferred remifentanil (an ultra-short-acting micro-opioid agonist) delivered at a lower unit price over a higher-priced remifentanil alternative (Phases 1 and 3). Choice between equal-priced alternatives also was assessed (Phase 2). A discrete-trials procedure was arranged in which three monkeys chose between two remifentanil alternatives by responding on one of two levers. Different prices were arranged by manipulating drug dose (0.3 and 0.1 microg/kg/injection) and/or the ratio requirement. Monkeys usually chose the larger-dose alternative even when it was more expensive. Only when unit prices were relatively high (e.g., large response requirements) did monkeys choose the cheaper (or equally priced) smaller-dose alternative. Employing larger doses (0.9 and 0.3 microg/kg/injection) attenuated the larger-dose preference. The results demonstrate that choice was not determined simply by unit price. An alternative model that employs demand-function analysis to generate choice predictions is proposed.     

How valuable is a well‐crafted design and name brand?: Recognition and willingness to pay

Preferences for similarly designed consumer products, evaluated blind and branded and also with and without prices, were tested in a consumer setting. The consumer's perceptual experience led to preference of the well‐crafted high‐priced option. This preference was enhanced by priming consumers with background information about the brand, perhaps causing the subjects to guess which choice was the well‐known brand before evaluation. Preferences for that choice increased again when brand names were visible during evaluation. When actual prices were added to the evaluations, preferences for the well‐known brand were very robust to high prices, indicating the strength of the brand name. Using the least preferred option and the lowest price as an anchor, the consumers' price threshold to pay for the preferred design and the brand name was computed. Attempts to explain and predict individual differences of choices using measures of inherent design acumen, prior experience, and purchasing behavior were largely unsuccessful. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.