ERI Bulletin - Spring Term 2012

New Research by University of Warwick Economists

Spring Term 2012  

Why does the price of a trolley of groceries seem to cost more even as supermarkets say they are cutting prices? What can professional basketball coaches in America reveal about business leadership? Why do Protestants have suicide rates three times that of Catholics? Research featured in the new issue of the Bulletin of the Economics Research Institute addresses these questions.

In the current issue:

Mike Waterson and colleagues reveal supermarkets’ pricing strategy, which relies on thousands of heavily advertised price cuts of just 1p, coupled with price increases of 10p or more that go unmentioned.

Amanda Goodall, Lawrence Kahn and Andrew Oswald find that the most successful coaches in the U.S. National Basketball League were formerly the league’s best players. The results have implications for the role experience plays in the creation of business leaders.

Sascha O. Becker and Ludger Woessmann explore the underlying reasons that lead to much higher suicide rates among Protestants than among Catholics.

Abhinay Muthoo, head of the University of Warwick Department of Economics and director of the Economics Research Institute, writes in his column about a little-explored aspect of the tuition policies that take effect in the fall. Warwick students’ tuition payments will triple, but the university budget will not.

Karen Brandon edits the Bulletin.

Romesh Vaitilingam serves as editorial consultant.

The Bulletin is available free of charge from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/eri/.