Academic tourism demand in Galicia,Spain

The last few decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in the mobility of higher education students. When fulfilling certain conditions, this type of mobility can actually be considered a type of tourist activity. This paper justifies the choice of the term “academic tourism” to describe such a form of tourism. Further to this, its primary purpose is to identify the main determinants that drive the demand of academic tourism in Galicia. An empirical analysis has been carried out using a dynamic panel data model by a generalized method of moments (GMM). Contrary to what can be observed in other types of tourism, the results suggest that academic tourism depends mainly on determinants that are not strictly economic; namely, the relevance of the habits and preferences of students, the potential for differential attractiveness of the University of Santiago de Compostela, and the significant impact of the Erasmus programme. In light of these results, policy implications are then discussed.     

The evolution of a regulation system in agriculture : The Swedish case

When looking at the objectives and means of Swedish agricultural policy, it cannot be fully understood as a rational ends-and-means document. Other explanations should be sought as to the origin and structure of the policy. This paper aims to analyse the evolution of the Swedish agricultural policy since 1932 as an outcome of four major forces: rent-seeking behaviour; the political constellation in parliament; ideology, values and attitudes in society; and the economic situation.     

Evolution of market shares with repeated purchases and heterogeneous network externalities

We investigate how market shares change when a new, superior technology exhibiting network externalities is introduced in a market initially dominated by an old technology. This is done under the assumption that consumers are heterogeneous in their valuation of technology quality and network externalities and that goods are not (perfectly) durable and thus have to be bought repeatedly. When both technologies are unsponsored, the old technology dominates when the quality difference is small, and it disappears when the quality difference is large. When the new technology is sponsored, the relationship between the quality difference and the long-run market share of the new technology is non-monotonic and the old technology always continues to exist.

Triple play: How do we secure future benefits?

Recent technological developments make it possible to provide all telecommunications services (TV, telephony and internet) via the TV cable and fixed telephony network. Moreover, a new infrastructure based on optical fibre (to the home) is emerging in some places, which may in the future replace both existing networks. Making use of the available economic literature, the paper analyzes some of the consequences of the emergence of one electronic communications market. It focuses on two policy issues: the consequences of convergence of technologies and competition between networks for regulation in the short and medium runs, and the role of public investment in the rollout of optical fibre. It concludes that the present state of regulation may have some undesirable effects in the face of convergence and that public investment in a new general purpose infrastructure may have important advantages.     

Design and Communication of Ecological Content on Sustainable Packaging in Young Consumers’ Opinions

Many companies today have noticed the growing sensitivity of consumers to social problems, reflected by their interest in environmental concerns (e.g., the use of sustainable packaging materials that are eco-friendly and safe for consumers and the environment). Producers seek, often based on intuition rather than knowledge, eco-arguments for their packaging to affect the perceptions of buyers and to influence their behavior. Creating an effective design and content for environmental messaging on sustainable packaging may be a significant element in building a competitive advantage for both product and brand. Therefore, the main objective of this article will be to answer the following questions: What content do consumers expect for ecological messages on packaging? Which attributes of sustainable packaging have a positive impact on consumer behavior? In what ways are consumers’ purchasing intentions based on sustainable packaging? To answer these questions, the results of research conducted among Polish and French students will be presented.     

The Significance of Costs Calculation in Evaluation of the Value Added

In the article, a problem of importance of proper costs calculation caused by risk factors which emerge in logistic processes is presented. On the basis of literature analysis, there was shown the costs structure of the value chain. The concept of customer value and the concept of enterprise value were extracted. It presents also dependence between actions in internal value chain and generated cash flows. It signalizes also the meaning of risk management influence on the problem of achieving established value added, understood as net income from operational activity by the main enterprises processes. Basis of theoretical modeling using the Gorbatov＇s principle of characterization was discussed. The research material relates to food businesses. The study was conducted on the basis of questionnaires, surveys, and direct conversations with employees. To build the model, the theory of characterization was used. Its essence is in the mutual interpretability model of the test object to the model structure. Mutual interpretability of models is achieved by selection of the proper functioning of the universal laws （expressed in the functional model） and the structural interpretation of the functional model, the one of representative character is Hasse diagrams. The functioning of the model is illustrated experiment research of the study. The results show the great importance of the correct calculation of the cost of risk factors in logistics processes. Not taking into account the actual cost of risk factors may have a significant influence on errors in decision-making, giving an incorrect picture of the financial situation. A false idea of the creation of value-added may consequently result in the deterioration of the conditions of the enterprise market functioning.     

A social procedurial approach to the Pareto optimization problematique

This article applies a variant of game theory to the Pareto multi-value problematique, that is situations where members of a group, community or society are faced with alternative allocations, institutional arrangements, or states of the world and may collectively choose an allocation, institutional arrangement or state of the world if they can agree on it. This type of multiple value decision situation is increasingly prevalent not only on the level of societal and political issues but on the level of many enterprises, particularly those advocating corporate social responsibility. Because actors hold and apply values from different perspectives, there are potential contradictory value judgments and incompatible equilibria. In a world of contradiction, incommensurability, and disequilibrium, to what extent can conflicts be resolved and social equilibrium accomplished? Force works but it is inherently unstable. Drawing on an extension of classical game theory, generalized game theory (GGT), this article addresses the multi-value problematique in terms of collective “resolution procedures.” These regulative procedures—or social algorithms—are applied to problems of conflict and suboptimality in a multiple value world such as Pareto envisioned. This paper (the first of two) outlines key elements of GGT, defines the Pareto multi-value problematique, pointing out several of the critical weaknesses, theoretical as well as empirical, of the Pareto approach. GGT is then applied in defining and analyzing several major procedures to realize improvements in a multi-value world characterized by conflict and sub-optimality. A second article conceptualizes a complex of societal games making up a social system with 2-phase multi-level game processes; it applies the conceptualization to the different societal procedures for multi-value choice under conditions of conflict. Procedures such as democratic voting, adjudication and administrative decision-making, and multi-lateral negotiation are capable of producing outcomes that in many cases are widely accepted as legitimate and become social equilibria (at least within some range of conditions). These procedures and the conditions for their activation and implementation are modelled and explicated through a generalized game approach.     

A characterization of admissible linear estimators of fixed and random effects in linear models

In the paper the problem of simultaneous linear estimation of fixed and random effects in the mixed linear model is considered. A necessary and sufficient conditions for a linear estimator of a linear function of fixed and random effects in balanced nested and crossed classification models to be admissible are given.