On the predictive power of monetary exchange rate model: the case of the Malaysian ringgit/US dollar rate

Despite anecdotal and survey evidence suggesting the presence of discrimination against customers in stores, restaurants and other small-transaction consumer markets, few studies exist that identify or quantify the nature of any unequal treatment. We provide evidence from a field study of wait times in Boston-area coffee shops that suggests that female customers wait an average of 20 seconds longer for their orders than do male customers even when controlling for gender differences in orders. We find that this differential in wait times is inverse to the proportion of employees who are female and directly related to how busy the coffee shop is at the time of the order. This supports the conclusion that the observed differential is driven at least in part by employee animus and/or statistical discrimination rather than unobserved heterogeneity in the purchasing behaviour of female customers.     

A modified production possibility frontier for efficient forestry management under the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme

Carbon sequestered through increased forest biomass provides a low cost means to curb emissions and has become a major focus of New Zealand's Emissions Trading Scheme. We present a forest planning optimisation model where land use is governed by forest owners maximising the returns to both timber harvest and carbon sequestration. By varying carbon prices, we model efficient trade‐offs between the two forest activities along a modified production possibility frontier for four distinct wood supply regions in New Zealand. Results show that while more productive regions such as the Central North Island (CNI) and Northland have a greater capacity as a carbon sink, it is the less productive regions that have a comparative advantage in carbon sequestration in terms of a lower cost of wood production revenue foregone. However, moderate increases in carbon uptake can be achieved in the CNI at low opportunity cost by subtle changes in forestry management. The implication for policy‐makers is that initial increases in carbon sequestration will be achieved at the lowest cost to society by favouring high volume timber production in some productive woodland areas and/or by more carbon farming in less productive areas.     

Currency crises and foreign credit in emerging markets: Credit crunch or demand effect?

Currency crises of the past decade highlighted the importance of balance-sheet effects of large devaluations. Currency crisis literature identified a decline in credit as one of the channels through which such crises affect real economic activity. We find empirical evidence of the existence of this channel and quantify its extent and persistence: controlling for a host of fundamentals, we find a decline in foreign credit to emerging market private firms of about 25 percent in the first year following large depreciations. This decline is especially large in the first five months, is less pronounced in the second year, and disappears entirely by the third year. We show that only about a quarter of the initial decline in credit could be attributed to the “credit crunch,” while the rest of the decline is due to contracting demand. After six months, however, most of the credit decline could be attributed to supply effects.     

The Euro Crisis in the Mirror of the EMS: How Tying Odysseus to the Mast Avoided the Sirens but Led Him to Charybdis

Open Economies Review - Why was recovery from the euro area crisis delayed for a decade? The explanation lies in the absence of credible and timely policies to backstop financial intermediaries and...     

新疆新型城镇化对农村居民消费结构的影响*——基于LA-AIDS拓展模型的实证分析

［目的］从人口、经济、生态、社会城镇化等4个方面选取30个指标研究其对消费结构的影响，为政府在优化产业结构，促进消费结构优化升级方面的政策性引导提供理论依据。［方法］文章基于1994—2016年时间序列数据，利用熵值法对4类城镇化的综合评价指数进行测算，并建立LA-AIDS拓展模型，实证分析4类城镇化对新疆农村居民消费结构的影响作用。［结果］人口城镇化对居住、文教娱乐消费有显著的抑制作用，对食品、家庭设备及服务和医疗保健消费有显著的促进作用； 经济城镇化对医疗保健消费具有显著的正向效应； 生态城镇化对家庭设备消费具有显著的抑制作用，对交通通信、医疗保健消费具有显著的正向作用； 社会城镇化显著促进衣着和家庭设备及用品消费。［结论］不同类型的城镇化对消费结构的影响具有差异性，新疆农村居民的消费类型逐步从生存型趋向于发展型与享受型消费。     

Toward sustainable educational travel

In the past decade, sustainability and global citizenship have emerged as two of the most prominent themes in contemporary higher education. Literature that specifically merges the two themes has, however, lagged behind. This paper integrates the literature from the fields of sustainable tourism and educational travel in order to articulate relevant concepts and to summarize theoretical and empirical approaches for improving the sustainability of educational travel programs. While most of the literature focuses upon carbon-related issues, a more comprehensive assessment and implementation would focus on the three dimensions of sustainability: economic, environmental, and socio-cultural. This paper advocates several practical measures, such as the incorporation of sustainability into program mission statements, the training of travel leaders in all three dimensions of sustainability, and the implementation of sustainability-related assessment measures for educational travel programs. Further, we argue that maintaining critical scholarly engagement with broader theoretical frameworks is necessary to contextualize these practical and empirical approaches, and to reassess the potential benefits and negative impacts associated with educational travel.     

Evaluation of the organizational personalities of the tourism schools in Cyprus: a comparative case study

The aim of this study is to compare the organizational personalities of the tourism schools in two universities in North and South Cyprus. The data were collected by means of an interview schedule and were examined using content analysis. The results showed that the tourism schools of both countries had distinct personalities due to the differences in the higher education systems, management styles, organizational structure and administrative behaviors of their universities. For both parts of the island, the results showed that international accreditations, collaborations, and dual programs with international bodies and different universities will enhance student satisfaction and the success of the current universities. The researchers suggest that both institutions should take into account the needs of the industry and improve their cooperation with the stakeholders of the tourism sector in order to promote their curricula.