The economist’s oath: a review Essay

George DeMartino’s 2011 monograph, The Economist’s Oath: On the Need for and Content of Professional Economic Ethics, provides an excellent basis for the development of a discourse on the ethics of economists. This review focuses on the way in which mainstream economists’ arguments against consideration of ethics follow from their presentation of economics as a purely technical subject, and the implication that this pretense itself is unethical. The complexity of ethical issues within a pluralist approach to economics is explored, ranging from the institutional environment within which economists practice to epistemological questions.     

Involvement and opinion leadership in tourism

Nature-based tourism, science tourism, and ecotourism are some of the emerging and growing trends in special-interest tourism. This study utilized a southeastern sample of the United States who had an interest in travel and the environment. A modified Dillman total design method survey was used to collect the data. The study demonstrated that widely used concepts of marketing are applicable for nature-based tourism. Results indicate that highly involved nature-oriented travelers tend to be more receptive to information concerning the travel product or destination and spread that information willingly. Findings of this study suggest that opinion leaders take more trips and use slightly more information sources.     

Strategic investment flexibility for MNE success in Russia: Evolving beyond entry modes

Many American multinational enterprises (MNEs) are currently active in Russia despite the turbulence encountered in that transitional economy. Most seem to have entered as an extension of their global strategies with a long-term horizon. While some entered with considerable involvement and substantial investment, others followed a more cautious or incremental path. This article focuses on how MNE strategies have evolved after entry and describes six strategic approaches. Strategic investment flexibility is found to depend upon a company 's original entry strategy and tolerance for risk, as well as its assessment of the legal and political environment, industry conditions, market readiness for its products or services, competition, and the investment required to establish a sustainable competitive position. Keys to successful strategy development are drawn from the experiences of US MNEs which have established growing businesses in the vast Russian market. The strategies of such successful MNEs, however initiated upon entry, usually evolved to a relatively heavy investment position.     

The dietary and health behaviour of young people aged 18–25 years living independently or in the family home in Liverpool,UK

An individual's dietary habits are largely developed during childhood and adolescence, and are likely to be determined by both nature (the development of sensory perceptions) and nurture (parental influence, and later on the influence of peers). However, diet is likely to evolve throughout the life cycle as circumstances change and new influences are introduced to an individual's lifestyle. An example of this is the changes in diet that occur as a result of the transition young people make away from the family home into independent living. Leaving behind the meals provided and cooked by parents/guardians and learning how to shop on a budget and prepare and cook for themselves may result in the adoption of poor eating habits, which is likely to have a detrimental effect on health. Leaving behind the restrictions of parental control may also result in the adoption of unhealthy lifestyle practices such as smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. This study therefore seeks to investigate the effect of leaving home on a young person's diet and lifestyle. Health behaviour and food intake was assessed by questionnaire. Findings suggest that a young person's diet may change after leaving home, but these changes are not necessarily negative. More negative health behaviour was observed in young people living independently.     

The Impact of Sexual Harassment Policy in the Dutch Police Force

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the outcome of sexual harassment policy in the Dutch Police Force. Using a survey, sexual harassment was measured in 2000 and again in 2006 and we tested whether sexual harassment is associated with the comprehensiveness of policies. To be able to identify divisions with comprehensive policies, we interviewed 29 key persons in semi-structured interviews. It appeared that between 2000 and 2006 sexual harassment did not decrease: neither for women nor for men. Furthermore, the risk of sexual harassment was not lower in divisions that implemented comprehensive policies than in divisions with less comprehensive policies. The results suggest that sexual harassment is a workplace hazard that is very difficult to prevent in male dominated workplaces and implementing a comprehensive policy is not sufficient to prevent this workplace hazard.     

Company employment policies and new technology

Here the author presents case studies from a range of industries which illustrate the connection between new technology, and company personnel and manpower policies. Findings suggest that the form and direction of new technology is more likely to be affected by the company's employment policy rather than the reverse.     

Formalism, logic and reality: a Keynesian analysis

It is the purpose of this paper to elaborate on the argumentthat formalism is non-neutral; analyses which today would bedescribed as informal turn into something quite different whenformalised. The reasons for non-neutrality refer to the choiceof assumptions or axioms, the choice of method, the type oflogic employed and closure. Focusing on the last three of these,the paper addresses the question of how to move from resultsobtained with formal methods under conditions of closure tothe reality one is attempting to model. We explore the needfor provisional closure to analyse open systems and for a rangeof methods to complement formal modelling in the attempt tounderstand the complex reality of an economic system.