Has the productivity of retail food stores really declined?

Despite the fact that other factors of production have been substituted for labor, and that scanner technology has come into widespread use, the BLS index of labor productivity for retail food stores has been declining for sometime. The purpose of this paper is to study this puzzling decline in measured productivity. The results indicate that the decline in the BLS index is due to changes in services offered by retail food stores that are not incorporated into the index, and that productivity increased if these services are accounted for.     

Exploring Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) in The Consumer Purchase Decision-Making Process: The Case of Online Holidays – Evidence from United Kingdom (UK) Consumers

This study explores the role of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in the consumer decision-making process when purchasing a holiday. Using an ethnographic approach, it explores the role of eWOM on consumers’ attitudes toward online reviews (eReviews) and their subsequent behavior. Across the consumer decision-making processes – information search, evaluation, and purchase – the study develops a conceptual framework with three eWOM dimensions: (1) motivation, (2) source, and (3) content. Findings explore the variations of eWOM’s influence across the decision-making stages with implications for theory and practice. The study further highlights implications for segmentation practices in the tourism industry.     

美国对华反补贴政策的演变与内在动因分析

2006年11月21日,美国对我国的出口产品发起了首例反补贴调查,2007年2月2日,美国商务部又就我国的补贴问题向世界贸易组织提起了申诉。本文从考察美国对华反补贴政策立场的演变入手,着重分析了美国对华实施反补贴调查的内在动因,并就我国应采取的相关对策与措施,提出了一些建议。     

对开放数据新态势的观察与思考

数据已被视为一种重要的战略资源,是全球经济中新的资本要素。开放数据可给世界各国带来巨大的经济效益,催生大量新企业的诞生,并有助于新产品和新服务的创造,推动一些科技领域飞速发展。美国在开放数据方面走在世界最前列,奥巴马政府出重拳推动开放数据以促进创新创业和经济增长,并将科研数据开放视为数据政策和重要组成部分。我国应进一步控掘开放数据对于创新创业及经济增长的推动作用,充分认识开放数据有助于进一步推动企业成为创新主体,同时要注重开放数据的制度化。     

Comparative analysis of health care costs in Japan and the United States: a simulation of productivity and savings behavior

Japan and the United States, though contrastive in terms of the percentage of the elderly in their population and the ratio of their health care costs to GDP, both face soaring medical expenditures. Sato et al. [Health Care Systems in Japan and the United States: A Simulation Studies and Policy Analysis. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Hingham, MA] developed a model to solve this problem by increasing the productivity of the non-health care sector. This study has applied that model to estimate national savings, and compared these savings with estimated health care costs. The results show that in order for savings to exceed expenditures the US needs to have a higher savings rate and a higher interest rate than Japan.     

Book Review

Following review of definitions of New Public Management (NPM), the paper assesses whether Canada has adopted the NPM, organized by Kernaghan and Charih's (1997) categories and using Loeffler's (1997) definition. Canada has reorganized the machinery of government, changed management methods and reduced the federal public sector substantially. Despite high debt, Canada's federal government reduced its expenditures and/or public service as much or more than the UK and New Zealand. Its expenditures as a proportion of GDP are now similar to those of the UK and New Zealand, the major proponents of NPM.     

A successful British MNE in the backyard of American big business: Explaining the performance of the American and Canadian subsidiaries of Lever Brothers 1888–1914

After 1888, Lever Brothers expanded into the United States and Canada. The surviving archival evidence suggests that the Canadian subsidiary was more successful than the American one. This article considers a number of factors that help to explain why this was the case. Some of the factors considered, such as differences between the Canadian and American tariffs, Canada's more robust system of trademark protection, and the absence of an anti-trust law in Canada before 1908, are related to themes very familiar to business historians. This article also applies concepts that are not part of the normal toolkit of business historians. The article draws on the literature on identity economics and argues that the greater success enjoyed by Lever Brothers in Canada was, in part, rooted in Canada's strongly British identity. The impact of identities on the policymakers, managers, and consumers who collectively shaped the two North American subsidiaries is assessed.     

美国金融风暴的特征、原因及对策分析——马克思金融理论的现代解读

由2007年美国次贷危机引发的全球性金融风暴影响范围之广、破坏之严重百年一遇.这场风暴是由于美国虚拟经济的虚假繁荣、严重偏离实体经济和信用的恶性膨胀而引发:资本主义内部矛盾引发的经济周期性衰退和劳动人民消费能力不足是爆发危机的基础.危机已经引起国际金融市场的动荡,正在向实体经济迅速蔓延.为了保持实体经济稳定发展,国际社会要摒弃歧见,协力合作,积极采取务实而有效的政策措施防止金融危机的蔓延和扩散,维护世界金融的稳定和有效运转,恢复市场的信心和信用关系,促进实体经济健康、持续的发展.     

Communication about a communication technology

As genetically modified (GM) products approach the market stage, the UK government and agro-food industry have faced a suspicious or hostile public. Since 1998 many retail chains have undertaken to exclude any GM-derived ingredients from their own-brand lines. This commercial blockage has intensified pressures for greater precaution, even for a moratorium on cultivating GM crops. Political protest has led to strategies for precautionary commercialization. Government and industry have cooperated to plan a ‘managed development’ of GM crops. Across the agricultural supply chain, industry has devised voluntary guidelines to ensure segregation of GM crops and to limit the spread of GM herbicide-tolerance. In particular UK regulators seek to test the risk that broad-spectrum herbicide sprays could damage wildlife habitats; they have broadened the advisory expertise accordingly. These measures open up the precautionary content to further debate, at both national and EU levels. Market-stage precautions establish a means to test claims that GM crops are environmentally-friendly products. By translating public concerns into broader risk-assessment criteria, the UK procedure involves critics in potentially influencing standards of scientific evidence and environmental harm. This social process has become a prerequisite for legitimizing commercial use.     

Meaningful Measures: Indicators on Progress, Progress on Indicators

This article reviews the international debate on statistical indicators. It describes historical backgrounds, as well as the present chaotic situation. It discusses what statistical indicators are and what they are for, as well as criteria for the choice of indicators, designed to monitor the achievement of economic, social, demographic, environmental and other goals set by United Nations conferences. Some suggestions for future work are made.