Evolution of indigenous tourism among the Lacandon of Chiapas: an application of Weaver’s model

ABSTRACT

In this paper, Weaver’s six-stage indigenous tourism model is applied to the Lacandon Maya (Hach Winik) of Chiapas, Mexico. Based on a comprehensive review of the anthropological and historical literature on this indigenous group, combined with longitudinal ethnographic and collaborative research performed with tourism entrepreneurs, the Lacandon tourism experience is assessed from the pre-European period until present. By analysing a case study of indigenous tourism in Mexico, a developing country in another geographical region and with a different colonial past, this work supplements Weavers’ perspective. The results show that the fourth and fifth stages of Weaver’s model coincide in this case study, while the sixth stage is still incomplete. Although the Lacandon case has its peculiarities and bearing in mind that several different factors should be considered in the Latin American context, the model proves to be an interesting tool for indigenous tourism analysis in developing countries.     

Testing for cointegration with threshold effect between unemployment and stock prices

Under the dominant role of a belief function, Farmer argues that the stock market is the Granger cause of the unemployment rate, which implies that the natural rate hypothesis is an outdated idea. This article provides some new empirical evidence supporting this view using threshold cointegration and asymmetric error correction models. The results show that these models can assess asymmetric dynamics between unemployment and the stock market. Moreover, regime switches of the momentum threshold autoregressive adjustment specification are highly consistent with recessions in the US economy during the last 60 years.     

The price of fear: Estimating the financial cost of bullying and harassment to the NHS in England

Using a spectrum of measures, this paper estimates some of the financial costs of bullying and harassment to the NHS in England. By means of specific impacts resulting from bullying and harassment to staff health, sickness absence costs to the employer, employee turnover, diminished productivity, sickness presenteeism, compensation, litigation and industrial relations costs, we conservatively estimate bullying and harassment to cost the taxpayer £2.281 billion per annum.     

Distributive cycles and endogenous technical change in a BoPC growth model

Our purpose in this paper is to expand Goodwin's (1967) distributive cycle model to an open economy framework in a way that incorporates the balance-of-payments constraint on growth. We do so by allowing technical change to be endogenous to the cyclical dynamics of the system and by adopting an independent investment function. We show that a Hopf-Bifurcation analysis establishes the possibility of persistent and bounded cyclical paths both for a 3D and a 4D extension of the model. Some numerical simulations are performed based on the analytical models developed. Motivational empirical evidence is also provided for Thirlwall's law using a sample of 16 OECD countries.     

Copper trade and production of copper,brass and bronze goods in the Oldenburg monarchy: copperworks and copper users in the eighteenth century

This paper explores trade connections – or the lack of such – between copperworks and copper processing plants in the Oldenburg Monarchy in the eighteenth century. Domestic customs areas, high tariffs on raw material export and import bans sought to encourage domestic copper and brass goods production of Norwegian copper raw material, however this was only realised halfway. The raw material from Norway was largely exported, and copper and brass materials used to produce copper-, brass and bronze goods were imported from all over the world. The copperworks and processing plants in the Monarchy never became strongly integrated due to several reasons. First, shareholders of copperworks acquired favourable credit deals abroad, and preferred to export the copper, and second, copper materials had different features and processing plants used all sorts of copper inputs in the making of goods, not only copper raw material. Norway produced mostly gar copper, so copper plants and coppersmiths had to turn elsewhere for other types of copper. Production of copper and brass goods increased, but did not meet the domestic demand partly due to a strong foreign competition. The optimal goal of ‘mercantilist theory’ regarding copper and brass import substitution was not reached.     

Inequality and entrepreneurial thresholds

We explore the relationship between inequality and entrepreneurial activity. Drawing on cross-sectional data from a largescale survey of the economic conditions of individuals across India, we develop a number of dimensions of inequality to explore empirically how inequality interacts with entrepreneurship, operationalized as self-employment or as employing other people. We find compelling evidence that there are thresholds to becoming self-employed, and even more so to assembling the combinations of resources and personal attributes required to become an employer. Greater inequality leaves more people unable to make the transition to self-employment, leaving casual laboring as the occupation of necessity. At the same time, inequality increases the number of employers in a society, by concentrating resources - particularly land and finance - enough for significant numbers of people to be able to cross this higher threshold. Lastly, greater differentiation into social or religious groups curtails the ability to cross either entrepreneurial threshold, presumably by limiting the extent and benefits of social networks of value for entrepreneurship.     

Benefits of leisure in overcoming gender violence experiences: a case study

This article is based on a case study carried out at Casa Malva, a shelter for female victims of gender violence in Gijón, Asturias (Spain). The study explores the potential therapeutic value of leisure in the process of personal recovery for women living in sheltered accommodation, and the positive impact leisure may have in overcoming a traumatic life event. The study comprised 16 semi-structured interviews with female victims of gender violence and three discussion groups with shelter staff. The article examines the concept of leisure and the potential benefits of leisure activities as part of the Personal Recovery Project (PRP) run by Casa Malva. PRP is an innovative recovery initiative aimed at helping women to overcome situations of gender violence by focusing on areas of experience, such as family, employment and leisure.     

State Capitalism Revisited: A Review of Emergent Forms and Developments

Even when the neoliberal ideology of the free market was more dominant than it now is, the state was involved in economic activities that could be undertaken by private firms. State capitalism takes increasingly diverse forms, including beyond direct, partial or even indirect ownership. This paper briefly reviews some of these forms without claiming to be exhaustive as the shape state capitalism takes differs widely across the institutionalized contexts of countries. We assess state capitalism using Polanyi’s double movement framework and argue that this framework needs adaptation to novel forms of state capitalism that include, e.g., state-owned multinationals and sovereign wealth funds.     

互联网平台下商业模式创新的路径、经验和启示

互联网经济快速发展,基于互联网平台的企业创新行为具有鲜明的特色。纵向研究了三家企业的创新过程,发现互联网环境下,企业商业模式创新有三个特点:以客户为中心的战略准则,价值创造由企业转向客户;企业打破边界,加强合作伙伴之间的协同和柔性,大幅提高创新效率;企业提高管理不确定的能力,领导者、企业文化、管理模式帮助企业应对不确定性。同时,提出当前创新模式存在核心技术缺乏、生产端缺乏创新的潜在风险,并提出创新发展的建议:加强生产端互联网的建设,提高创新质量;深化完善商业生态系统建设,提高商业系统整体的创新能力。