Consumer Motives and Purchase Preferences for Organic Food Products: Empirical Evidence From a Consumer Survey in Bangalore,South India

ABSTRACT

Consumer organic food choice motives and purchase preferences were studied in a structured quantitative survey (N = 201) in Bangalore, with the aim of identifying consumer segments based on these motives and preferences. Further, sociodemographic differences between the clusters were studied. Face-to-face interviews were used to sample the data, which were analyzed with factor and k-means cluster analysis (SPSS 16.0). Five latent factors were identified based on the motives, representing a set of consumer concerns labeled here as “food phobia” (health),” “environment,” “humanity,” “healthy eaters,” and “control.” Further, three clusters emerged from these motives representing 38%, 37%, and 25% of the sample size. The factors differ in terms of variance. Here, the records of perceived healthiness (food phobia) were the most important element, explaining 18.37% of the total variance. These clusters were differing in terms of the level and order of motivations. The health factor was a most important motive in two clusters, followed by environment. Further, humanity was the most important motive for the third cluster. This may reflect a heterogeneous nature of consumers in study area. Additionally, five clusters were identified based on the preferences, and profiles of these clusters differed in terms of sociodemographic factors and consumption pattern. Segments were identified based on motivating factors and preferences, and linking them with food choice motives and products preference provides the input needed by marketing professionals and policy makers to calibrate more efficient marketing strategies to better focus and position their products and design their communication strategies for target segments.     

Neutrality and Non‐Neutrality of Money In A Classical‐Type Model

Abstract. This paper modifies the simple classical model by introducing capacity utilization that varies across the course of the business cycle. By making the capacity usage a choice variable that turns out to be sensitive to changes in the price level, we show that the classical model loses its fundamental feature, namely the neutrality of money. In our generalized framework, a rise in money supply improves upon all the real variables if the economy suffers from excess capacity, as in recessions and depressions. We demonstrate that our model describes the various economic cross‐currents during the Great Depression extremely well. Thus, monetary policy emerges with an activist role even in a generally classical setting.     

Trade Policy and Poverty In the United States: Theory and Evidence, 1947-1990*

This paper develops a two-sector general equilibrium model to examine the impact of technical progress, factor accumulation, labor growth, unemployment, trade policy, and the government's antipoverty programs on the rate of poverty. the results are then tested empirically using the data regarding the United States. We find that low unemployment, productivity growth, and government transfers have the expected effects of alleviating poverty; but trade liberalization has the unexpected effect of being associated with a major increase in poverty-a result contradicting traditional views.     

UNITARY VERSUS COLLECTIVE MODELS OF THE HOUSEHOLD: IS IT TIME TO SHIFT THE BURDEN OF PROOF?

Most development objectives focus on the well-being of individuals.Policies are targeted to increase the percentage of individualswho avoid poverty, who can read, who are free from hunger andillness, or who can find gainful employment. Individual welfare,however, is based in large part on a complex set of interactionsamong family members. Until recently most policy analyses implicitly viewed the householdas having only one set of preferences. This assumption has beena powerful tool for understanding household behaviour, suchas the distribution of tasks and goods. But a growing body ofevidence suggests that this view is an expedience that comesat considerable, and possibly avoidable, cost. The article arguesthat more effective policy instruments will emerge from analyzingthe processes by which households balance the diverse interestsof their members.      

基于卷筒纸胶印的印品在线缺陷检测系统

本文详细介绍了一种视觉系统,该系统可以实现对卷筒纸胶印过程中产生的印品缺陷进行检测和定位。具体来说,该系统能够对高速卷筒纸印刷进行实时监控,并且可在印刷过程中出现任何影响印品质量的故障（如结构缺陷、色彩偏差、漏字、墨点、墨杠等）时向操作人员发出警报。本文还介绍了机器视觉系统的硬件部分和用于彩色图像扫描及印品缺陷检测定位的图像处理算法。从本质上讲,该系统采用高速扫描算法检测图像的边缘和边界,利用线性和非线性的滤波器对动态大小、阈值和转换信息做进一步的分析。除了在实验室内进行实验以外,还建立了系统模型,系统模型可应用在卷筒纸印刷中,在真实条件下对模型的功能进行评价。将该系统安装在凹印机上进行实验,结果表明该机器视觉系统同样可以成功地对缺陷进行监控和检测。     

Decomposing the contribution of migration to poverty reduction: methodology and application to Tanzania

In an economy with migration, poverty changes are composed of a number of forces, including the income gains and losses realized by the various migration streams. We present a simple but powerful decomposition methodology that uses panel data to measure the contributions of different migration streams to overall poverty change. An application to Tanzania shows the new insights that are provided – in particular on the role of migration to secondary towns in poverty reduction.     

Time is of the Essence!: Retired Independent Directors’ Contributions to Board Effectiveness

Journal of Business Ethics - Institutional investors, policy makers, and researchers have advocated for greater director independence in hopes of improving corporate governance and discouraging...