It's all the miners' fault: On the nonlinearity in U.S. unemployment rates

The U.S. unemployment rate is generally regarded as nonlinear. In this study, we show that if there had been no miners' general strike in October of 1949, and if the aggregate unemployment rate had been 0.3% lower during that month, the 1948–2002 U.S. unemployment rate would have been linear. Hence, just a single alteration of past events would have resulted in significantly different findings regarding the linearity in the U.S. unemployment rate. This finding illustrates a need for linearity tests to be developed that are robust against the effects of outliers.     

Is high real interest rate persistence an intrinsic characteristic of industrialized economies?

Recent empirical findings show that post-war real interest rates are quite persistent and that they also contain a large number of structural changes in their means. In this study, we also find concurring results for real interest rates from thirteen industrialized countries. We show, however, that when the presence of various nonstationarities such as changing means is accommodated, some of the real interest rates exhibit substantially lower persistence or even become I(0). Our findings indicate that high real interest rate persistence is not necessarily an intrinsic characteristic of industrialized economies.     

Understanding consumption behaviours for fair trade non‐food products: focusing on self‐transcendence and openness to change values

Using the Schwartz value system, this study explored the personal values of consumers related to fair trade product consumption. This study further investigated how the values determine beliefs, attitudes and purchase intentions associated with fair trade non‐food products. Data were collected using an online survey from a random sample of 1824 nationwide consumers. The results of this study revealed that fair trade purchasers show a higher level of self‐transcendence (universalism, benevolence) and openness to change values (self‐direction, stimulation) than non‐purchasers. These values also have positive effects on the formation of beliefs, attitudes and purchase intentions pertaining to fair trade non‐food products. Fair trade purchasers were also found to possess distinctive socio‐demographic characteristics concerning age, education and income. Findings can offer marketers specific information regarding consumers' motivations to purchase fair trade goods, which can improve targeting of products and ultimately increase the business and benefits of fair trade.     

Crude oil prices and the balance of trade: Asymmetric evidence from selected OPEC member countries

The contribution of this article is to assess whether the effects of crude oil price fluctuations on the trade balance are symmetric or asymmetric in the context of an individual oil-exporting country, specifically four OPEC member countries – Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. To examine this subject thoroughly, we use three different measures of trade balances such as oil trade balance, non-oil trade balance, and total trade balance, and examine whether oil prices are asymmetrically passed on to the trade balances for those OPEC countries in the long- and short-run. After implementation of the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, we find that changes in oil prices indeed have asymmetric effects on the oil trade balance for all four OPEC countries in the long-run, though not in the short-run. In the case of the non-oil and total trade balance, however, the asymmetry of oil price changes is not detected in both the long- and short-run.     

Understanding college students' opinions on a smoking policy

Because of the negative aspects of smoking, the US National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse has recommended that university campuses should be smoke free. The purpose of this research was to learn students' opinions about the effectiveness of a smoking policy on campus. The policy simply stated there should be no smoking within 30 feet of a building. However, no areas were designated as smoking areas. Using phenomenological inquiry, the authors observed and interviewed both smoking and non‐smoking students. Findings suggest that the existing smoking policy was weak and often ignored. Students felt the purpose of the smoking policy should be clearly stated because they were not sure if the policy was intended to make smokers quit or prevent them from smoking in front of doors. This study demonstrates the utility of careful observation as a prelude to the design and implementation of qualitative data collection methods. The results indicate observation is a valuable part of a qualitative research strategy.     

Buchanan on increasing returns and anticommons

This article discusses Buchanan’s work on increasing returns and anticommons. The two topics have externality as a common element. And size matters in both cases. Increasing returns is a case of positive externalities, the anti-commons is a case of negative externalities. Buchanan demonstrated that a work ethic generates economy-wide benefits in a setting of generalized increasing returns. In contrast, unanimity (in anticommons) can make it more difficult to address other externality problems in analyzing work ethic and moral community. This article provides an overview of both these areas of research.     

The New Approach to Assessing the Marketing Effectiveness of Korean Firms

This study attempted to revise Philip Kotler's marketing effectiveness model to diagnose and offer managerial implications for Korean marketing practices. Nineteen Korean firms, divided into ten manufacturing and nine service sectors, were examined to assess their level of marketing effectiveness. By industry, these firms were further divided into five categories; electronics, machinery, chemicals, finance, and service-oriented. The five marketing effectiveness attributes — strategy, organization, operations, personnel, and information system — along with accompanying factor components were incorporated into the measurement of the marketing effectiveness. The findings showed that manufacturing sector firms were less effective in marketing operations than the service sector firms. In both sectors, relative to the predetermined factor importance weights, the Korean firms were found to underperform in planning and controlling functions. Managerial implications regarding the underperforming marketing functions and future recommendations are offered.     

From online via offline to online: how online visibility of tourism information shapes and is shaped by offline visits

This study links online tourism information with offline visits using an empirical data set. While previous studies revealed the role of online information in tourist information searches, few examined how online visibility of tourism information relates to offline visit. This study took a webometric approach to collect search engine result data, match it with the number of offline visits, and link them with post-visit photo-sharing activity. This study, unlike previous studies, used micro-level tourist sites within one city in South Korea. Various methods of analysis confirmed that online tourism information relates to offline visits, which in turn relate to post-tour photo-sharing behavior.     

Strategies affecting Twitter-based networking pattern of South Korean politicians: social network analysis and exponential random graph model

This paper examines the Twitter networking pattern of “following” and “mention” relationships between South Korean politicians. The data were obtained from the Twitter profiles of Korea’s national assemblymen and the most influential political figures. We conducted social network techniques including exponential random graph model and a regression method. The results suggest that these politicians employ two different strategies to establish relationships with other politicians on Twitter. One is “following” other politicians as a social ritual based on dyadic reciprocity, and the other is to “mention” other politicians as asymmetric political support based on the public popularity of their peers on Twitter.     

Characteristics of the Industrial Distributor's Innovation Activities

Recent trends in industrial distribution suggest that distributors may perform an important role in various stages of product innovation from idea generation, through product design, to product launch and subsequent marketing. In this article, Eunsang Yoon and Gary Lilien review the literature and discuss the potential role of the industrial distributor as an innovation participant. An exploratory study with an Australian data base suggests that the industrial distributor performs tasks associated with market-driven product innovation (reformulation and imitative new products in particular) as effectively as the industrial manufacturer.