Testing the transport-induced environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: The role of air and railway transport

The airline and railway industry contribute immensely to economic development, however, its role in environmental pollution requires attention. Here, this study builds on the theoretical pedigree of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis to explore the contribution of the air and railway transportation sector and urbanization to the emission-growth argument. We utilized annual time-frequency data from 1995 to 2014 for a panel of top 10 air passenger carrier countries using robust panel estimators that control for cross-section dependence. The empirical analysis shows a positive significant relationship between emissions and economic growth, thus, economic growth is emission-embedded with limited green growth. The existence of the EKC phenomenon is affirmed for the investigated blocs — where economic growth is prioritized over environmental quality. Additional, while air transportation drives pollution, railway transportation and urbanization decline emission over the sampled period. The results underscore the need for clean and environmentally friendly energy sources for air sector operations.     

Do Status discrepancy and socioeconomic immobility really drive compensatory consumption?

This research aimed to empirically explore whether impulsive consumption in the hospitality industry could be explained as a form of compensatory behavior that individuals engage in to cope with pessimistic self-evaluations. In this study, these self-evaluations have been operationalized as status discrepancy and perceived socioeconomic immobility. To test the hypotheses, this study used a three-way factorial design in two consumption settings: (1) leisure activities and (2) restaurant visits. Across the two studies, the results indicated that satisfactory self-assessments, rather than status discrepancy or socioeconomic immobility, lead to impulsive consumption. Despite the reversed findings, this study verified that participants jointly reflect status discrepancy and socioeconomic immobility in consumption contexts. Moreover, the findings suggest that millennials are more sensitive towards mobility information than older generations. This study sheds light on generational differences in impulsive consumption in the hospitality industry.     

Dreaming of the West: The power of the brand in Soviet Lithuania, 1960s–1980s

Abstract

The article reveals the interest in foreign trademarks observed in Lithuanian society from the 1960s through the 1980s, when the demand for brand names spread after Western culture reached the Soviet Union. The consumption of Western cultural products, or imitations thereof, became one of the key symbolic expressions of freedom in Soviet society. In Lithuania, the most popular clothes were those bearing fake trademarks, even though Soviet authorities attempted to prevent the desire for and the wearing of these garments through the use of ideological tools.     

Predictive abilities of speculators in energy markets

Using nonparametric methodology, I find that speculators are successful in taking profitable positions in energy futures markets, although the magnitude of this effect is lower than that found previously for agricultural markets. A plausible explanation for this difference is that price forecasting is more difficult for energy commodities. Moreover, I find that the energy speculators’ returns are due to the existence of the risk premiums rather than to speculators’ forecasting abilities. Futures risk premium is highly time-variant; notably, energy investors’ profits have been very limited in the GFC and post-GFC period, which coincided with the financialization of commodity markets.     

Consumption and exchange rate uncertainty: Evidence from selected Asian countries

We set out to assess the effects of exchange rate uncertainty on real consumption in selected Asian countries. Consumption influences business cycles, which in turn shape short-run monetary policy decisions. Hence, understanding factors driving consumption is appealing to policymakers. To date, few studies have analysed the effects of uncertainty on consumption. The available ones generally focus on the long-run effects, in spite of the fact that the short-run persistence and adjustments to equilibrium are equally relevant. Our study takes these limitations seriously by distinguishing the short- and long-run effects of exchange rate uncertainty on consumption. Using a flexible dynamic panel data technique that allows long-run effects to be homogeneous and the short-run effects to be heterogeneous, we find that uncertainty impedes consumption in the long run. In the short run, however, the effects are immaterial. This evidence remains robust to the measure of uncertainty, asymmetric uncertainty, inflation and the global financial crisis of 2008. By decomposing uncertainty into its temporary and permanent components, we find that the latter have a stronger effect on consumption in the long run than the former. Although both components demand policy attention, the evidence suggests that policymakers should be more concerned with permanent uncertainty.     

Appetite for destruction: Counterintuitive effects of attractive faces on people's food choices

Faces in general and attractive faces, in particular, are frequently used in marketing, advertising, and packaging design. However, few studies have examined the effects of attractive faces on people's choice behavior. The present research examines whether attractive (vs. unattractive) faces increase individuals’ inclination to choose either healthy or unhealthy foods. In contrast to the beliefs held by most marketing professors, but consistent with visceral state theories, exposure to attractive (vs. unattractive) opposite-sex faces increased choice likelihood of unhealthy foods. This effect was moderated by self-view-relevant attributes and exerted a particularly powerful influence on individuals who were single (vs. in a relationship) and individuals rating themselves as unattractive (vs. attractive). Furthermore, the effect was mediated by arousal, was stronger for men than for women, but did not generalize after exposure to attractive (vs. unattractive) same-sex faces. As pictorial exposure is sufficient for the effect to occur, these findings have important implications for marketing, advertising, and public health.     

The Cinderella moment: Exploring consumers' motivations to engage with renting as collaborative luxury consumption mode

Past literature argued that the purchase of luxury goods is driven by people's motivation to conform or fit into our economic and social system. In this study, the authors focus on a new aspect of consumption, that is, renting instead of purchasing luxury goods, backed by the emerging opportunities of sharing economy platforms. Drawing upon the analysis of spontaneous consumers' online communications (in the form of tweets), this study aims to investigate the motivations to engage with luxury garment renting within a collaborative consumption context. To this end, a series of automatic content analyses, via two studies, were conducted using the tweets posted with respect to the Run the Runway collaborative consumption platform. Results demonstrate consumers' increased willingness to show their social status through renting rather than owning luxurious apparel based on five main motivators (need to wear new clothes for a special event, inspirations created by the products/brands, possibility to explore a new way of consuming luxury goods, need to make more sustainable choices, and to increase the life cycle of each luxury product). The implications of these findings are discussed, while they pave the way for future research in collaborative consumption of luxury retailing.     

长江经济带能源基础设施建设对区域经济增长的影响分析

基于修正的柯布道格拉斯生产函数，利用2001—2018年长江经济带的面板数据探究能源基础设施与区域经济增长的内在关系，并使用随机前沿分析（SFA）评估长江经济带11个省市的电力消费效率。结果表明，能源基础设施的改善对长江经济带的经济增长产生了积极的促进作用，且存在显著的滞后效应。此外，各省市的能源消费效率介于0.61～0.98，区域间差异不断缩小，长江经济带各省市的能源利用效率得到了显著改善，促进了社会经济涌流。     

提振消费要关注政策偏好的社会结构效应

新冠肺炎疫情爆发之后,人们非常关注通过提振消费来防止经济出现大幅度下滑。事实上,提振消费政策同时也具有社会政策属性。调查表明,在双循环背景下,通过社会政策维持一定的生计方式,并保持人们的消费水平具有重要意义。从对企业家FR、小手工业者BF与房屋中介LC的访谈资料以及在麓村、唐村的调查情况来看,人们在理解提振消费政策时具有共同的叙事特征。叙事本身具有鲜明的政策偏好,其核心是一定空间背景下结构与利益的分配正义问题。而风险社会与低欲望社会特征的并存深刻地影响着提振消费政策的制定,是行动者要面对的情境。为此,需要从规则与制度、空间与代际等长期性和持续性的角度系统思考提振消费政策的受益对象与受益群体,防止政策偏好所带来的结构性挑战。     

Impacts of COVID-19 on aircraft usage and fuel consumption: A case study on four Chinese international airports

COVID-19 pandemic starting in early 2020 has greatly impacted human and industrial activities. Air transport in China shrank abruptly in February 2020, following a year-long gradual recovery. The airline companies reacted to this unprecedented event by dramatically reducing the flight volume and rearranging the aircraft types. As the first major economy that successfully controls the spread of COVID-19, China can provide a unique opportunity to quantify the medium-long impacts on the air transport industry. To quantify the corresponding changes and to elucidate the effects of COVID-19 in the wake of two major outbreaks centered in Wuhan and Beijing, we analyze twelve flight routes formed by four selected airports, using the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data in 2019 and 2020. Our results show that the total flight volume in 2020 reduced to 67.8% of 2019 in China. The recovering time of flight volume was about 2–6 months, dependent on the severity. In order to unwind the severe challenge, airlines mainly relied on aircraft B738 and A321 between February and June in 2020 because the fuel consumption per seat of these two aircraft types is the lowest. Besides, fuel consumption and aircraft emissions are calculated according to the Base of Aircraft Data (BADA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization's Engine Emissions Databank (ICAO's EEDB). At the end of 2020, the ratios of daily fuel consumption and aircraft emissions of 2020 to 2019 rebounded to about 0.875, suggesting the domestic commercial flights were nearly fully recovered. Our results may provide practical guidance and meaningful expectation for commercial aircraft management for other countries.