Productivity paralysis and the complexity problem: Why do centrally planned economies become prematurely gray?

We develop a theory of the Soviet productivity growth slowdown that attributes it to difficulties encountered by systems of central planning as the economy becomes more complex. Shortages become more disruptive as the economy modernizes, forcing the economy to operate at an increasing distance from its production possibility frontier. The model also supports the widely held notion that consumer welfare suffers in Soviet-type economies as consumers' needs become increasingly sophisticated.     

Social media as a destination marketing tool: its use by national tourism organisations

India's protected areas (PAs), especially those designated tiger reserves, are popular tourist destinations, experiencing considerable and growing visitor numbers, but the principles of ecotourism are not well implemented. This paper analyses tourism practice in a sample of popular tiger reserves in India according to four principles of responsible ecotourism: minimisation of environmental impacts, generation of funds for conservation, benefits to local communities, and education of visitors. Evidence demonstrates that few criteria of ecotourism are met in most PAs: tourism imposes significant detrimental impacts, little of the generated revenue is captured, local communities get mostly menial jobs, and visitor education is virtually non-existent with tourism geared mainly towards thrill-seeking. The Indian Forest Service, which manages the PAs, is on the whole unprepared and ill-equipped to plan and implement proper ecotourism practices and faces constant pressure from other actors to increase tourism revenue. Periyar National Park stands out as an exception where innovative approaches involving local communities have brought about a significant positive change. Policy recommendations are offered based on limited, low-impact activities with high participation of local communities which is essential to build local support for conservation that has been historically lacking.     

The Process of Trust Formation in E-Business: Insights from Case Studies of Two Small Firms

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate and theoretically explain the process of trust formation in high risk e-business.

Methodology/approach: The interpretive case-based approach has been used in this study. Inductive analysis of interview data helped to develop the process model of trust formation in the context of business-to-business e-market transactions by two small firms.

Research implications: This research explains how and why trial outcomes influence trust formation. The findings also indicate the importance of the trialing process as a legitimate means of determining trustworthiness of the other party and the e-business platform. These findings add to the existing body of knowledge on trust in e-business and have important implications for further research.

Practical implications: The practical implication is that if sponsors of business-to-business e-markets can support initial trials, it would foster trust and lead to more active usage of e-business methods.

Originality/value/contribution: This research shows that trust formation in high risk e-business is a dynamic process, influenced by changes in risk perceptions from repeated trial outcomes in initial stages, a departure from prior variance studies with assumptions of static perceptions of risk and trust.     

Industry structure and the dynamics of price adjustment

Using annual US data for gross domestic product originating by sector between 1947 and 1997 it is shown that a negative long-run relationship between inflation and the markup is present across the sectors as well as in the aggregate data. A preliminary explanation based on industry structure is explored for the relative sizes of the impact of inflation on the markup in the long-run for the various sectors.     

Caste discrimination in the Indian urban labour market

This, the pioneering quantitative analysis of caste in the Indian urban labour market, examines the age-old problem of caste in the light of discrimination theory and government policy. Using a survey of workers in Delhi, the gross wage difference between ‘scheduled’ (untouchable) and ‘non-scheduled’ caste is decomposed into its ‘explained’ and ‘discrimination’ components and, from a model of occupation choice, into wage- and job-discrimination. Discrimination is found to exist, and to operate at least in part through the traditional mechanism, viz. assignment to jobs, with the scheduled castes entering poorly-paid ‘dead-end’ jobs. It is assisted by methods of recruitment based on contacts, prevalent in the manual occupation, which also cause past discrimination to carry over to the present. Its practice serves the economic interests of those who exercise a taste for discrimination.     

Top Indian Incomes, 1922-2000

This article presents data on the evolution of top incomes andwages for 1922–2000 in India using individual tax returndata. The data show that the shares of the top 0.01 percent,0.1 percent, and 1 percent in total income shrank substantiallyfrom the 1950s to the early to mid-1980s but then rose again,so that today these shares are only slightly below what theywere in the 1920s and 1930s. This U-shaped pattern is broadlyconsistent with the evolution of economic policy in India: Fromthe 1950s to the early to mid-1980s was a period of "socialist"policies in India, whereas the subsequent period, starting withthe rise of Rajiv Gandhi, saw a gradual shift toward more probusinesspolicies. Although the initial share of the top income groupwas small, the fact that the rich were getting richer had anontrivial impact on the overall income distribution. Althoughthe impact is not large enough to fully explain the gap observedduring the 1990s between average consumption growth shown inNational Sample Survey–based data and the national accounts–baseddata, it is sufficiently large to explain a nonnegligible partof it (20–40 percent).     

Exploring the Influence of Celebrity Worship on Brand Attitude,Advertisement Attitude,and Purchase Intention

The celebrity worship considered as an anomalous psychological behavior with major consequences on personality development of an individual is examined with the important constructs of marketing namely, brand attitude, advertisement attitude and purchase intention. The study is carried out with a sample size of 386 respondents. The model is tested using structure equation modeling where celebrity worship is studied by examining its three dimensions individually as well as in aggregate implementing an existing celebrity worship scale. The study reveals some interesting findings with celebrity worship having a direct positive relationship with advertisement attitude and purchase intentions, whereas brand attitude is found to be significantly negatively associated with celebrity worship. The future research scope for the study and its practical implications are discussed based on the findings of the study.