Interest rates and the recent weakness in M2: An extension to the P model of inflation

A model of changes in the deflator for nondurables and services consumption expenditures is estimated simultaneously with the error-correction model of M2 growth described in Koenig (1996). The inflation forecasts generated by the joint model have marginal predictive power for changes in the GDP deflator and exhibit none of the systematic bias which has plagued the original formulation in recent years. Output-market slack is of little use in predicting changes in the consumption deflator, but there is evidence of a speed effect.     

Building communities of philanthropy in higher education: contextual influences

In this era of constrained and declining economic resources, institutions of higher education are turning to advancement professionals to identify and cultivate the financial resources that are becoming an increasing and larger portion of the fundamental funding of the institution. In this high stakes arena, advancement professionals have a need for the tools that can assist them in cultivating philanthropic relationships more effectively and efficiently. To that purpose, this research empirically explores ways in which the brand community construct can be adapted to philanthropic intent for non‐profit organizations to aid in the cultivation process. This paper presents the results of a survey of college alumni drawn from a commercially provided online panel, and examines the potential impact that institutional size may have upon the relationships of an alumni brand community and the community's expressed willingness to offer financial donations to the alma mater. From a theoretic perspective, this paper reveals that brand community is a significant contributor to this expression of philanthropic intent across universities of differing size. As a practical consideration, our findings produce additional evidence to affirm the notion that brand community is a robust construct that can be of value to development professionals who seek to build financial support for both small and large universities. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impacts of Climate Change on Winter Tourism in the Swiss Alps

This paper examines the impacts of three consecutive snow-deficient winters at the end of the 1980s on the winter tourism industry in Switzerland. It is shown that ski areas in lower areas suffered severe consequences. Ski areas at higher altitudes (in particular glacier ski resorts) on the other hand increased their transport figures and therefore profited from the lack of snow in lower areas. The snow-reliability of all Swiss ski fields under current climate conditions and under a 2"C warming are investigated. Under current climate conditions 85% of all Swiss ski areas are snow-reliable. This number would drop to 63% if temperatures were to rise by 2"C. This is likely to threaten the regionally balanced economic growth which winter tourism has provided. Possible strategies for the winter tourism industry to adopt if climate change occurs are presented.     

Has China replaced colonial trade?

Review of World Economics - China is often suspected of taking over the extraordinary trade relationships that former colonies had within colonial empires. Besides preferential bilateral...     

The effect of “socially moral” purchases on future financial donations

Many for-profit companies are adopting third sector missions, and conversely, nonprofit agencies are developing profit-generating business ventures. Consequently, there are an increasing number of market-based transactions connected to social good activity. We wondered what the impact of prosocial market-based transactions were on future in charitable giving. On the one hand, moral reinforcement argues that purchasing products with a social good would increase future charitable giving. On the other hand, moral licensing suggests that once people feel or provide evidence that they are a morally good person, their future actions are more selfish, immoral, and/or unethical. Thus, it is possible that purchasing a product with a social good would decrease future charitable giving. Following a protocol for psychological research, we conducted a series of 3 experiments to test the effect of socially moral purchases. We found evidence for moral reinforcement and no evidence for moral licensing. For men in Study 1 and all participants in Studies 2 and 3, participants were likely to donate more after imagining or remembering socially moral purchases. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Millennials and Boomers: increasing alumni affinity and intent to give by target market segmentation

This paper reports on research that seeks to improve our understanding of issues that impact upon the philanthropic gifts of university alumni. Prior research has examined such alumni characteristics as wealth and affinity to the alma mater. Such findings have guided development professionals to conduct different kinds of research that can reveal aspects of affluence (e.g., real estate holdings and professional positions) and institutional engagement (e.g., membership in alumni associations and season tickets to sporting events). This information is housed in databases that can be accessed by the fundraisers. The current research seeks to extend our understanding by examining the potential differences between generations. This article examines survey responses from university alumni in two age cohorts from two large comprehensive universities in the USA. Respondents were asked questions that inquired about their affinity toward their alma mater, intentions to give as well as alumni interest in participating in or attending different events at the university. Significant differences between younger and older alumni were found within each topic. From these results, the importance of market research and applications of alumni segmentation specifically are discussed for administrators and advancement professionals. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do We Really Need a European Agency for Market Regulation?

In November 2007, the European Commission suggested that an EC regulatory agency should be set up for the telecommunications markets. The following paper examines the key tasks and structure of the proposed agency and identifies the limits to the delegation of powers involved by reflecting on the relevant case law and the existing doctrine. It compares the concept with a recently published rapporteur report to the European Parliament and an alternative model of a joint body of national regulatory authorities. The authors wish to thank Martin Busch, Student of Law and Politics at the University of Bonn, for his valuable assistance.     

Local export spillovers in France

This paper investigates the presence of local export spillovers on both the extensive (the decision to start exporting) and the intensive (the export volume) margins of trade, using data on French individual export flows, at the product-level and by destination country, between 1998 and 2003. We investigate whether the individual decision to start exporting and exported volume are influenced by the presence of nearby product and/or destination specific exporters, using a gravity-type equation estimated at the firm-level. Spillovers are considered at a fine geographical level corresponding to employment areas (348 in France). We control for the new economic geography-type selection of firms into agglomerated areas, and for the local price effects of firms agglomeration. Results show evidence of the presence of export spillovers on the export decision but not on the exported volume. We interpret this as a first evidence of export spillovers acting through the fixed rather than the variable cost. Spillovers on the decision to start exporting are stronger when specific, by product and destination, and are not significant when considered on all products-all destinations. Moreover, export spillovers exhibit a spatial decay within France: the effect of other exporting firms on the export decision is stronger within employment areas and declines with distance.     

THE STATE-SOE[1] RELATIONSHIP: SOME PATTERNS

This article focuses on the pattern of relationship that develops over time between a state-owned firm and its owner. the main hypothesis is that there is not a single, permanent pattern of relationship. Instead, it is proposed that there are three possible modes of interaction, which can be combined into a cycle. the state-SOE relationships are thus shown to evolve from mutual dependance and co-operation to autonomy via an adversarial stage. The article first provides detailed examples of the various types of relations that have been revealed by research, then combines them into the idea of cycle, before investigating the forces that lie under the cycle. It finally offers several implications for both practice and research.