The Distribution of U.S. Income and Food Expenditures

Food expenditure and income distributions over 1980–1985 are examined using two welfare criteria: less inequality and more available resources. Intertemporal changes in the distributions are studied from the perspectives of inequality, relative economic affluence, society's satisfaction with the distributions, asymmetries, and average propensities to spend. Major conclusions are that inequality has increased over time in both the income and food spending distributions, relative economic affluence has generally risen, society is less satisfied with the food spending distribution, and average propensities to spend on food have been constant.     

The elderly food consumer: disadvantaged?

Older consumers are an important subgroup of the population whose numbers are rising. Intense competition between retailers and changes in patterns of food shopping among consumers in general have led to research that focuses on factors that contribute to older people being disadvantaged. Research in Scotland has investigated the impact of the food retail sector on elderly people and results indicate that elderly people shop frequently and spend a considerable proportion of their income on food. Income, location, transport and the supermarket environment are all potential factors that can contribute to the disadvantage of older people.     

Hear nothing,do nothing: The role of word of mouth in the decision-making of older consumers

Abstract

In some product categories, older consumers (aged 65+) tend to be more brand loyal, have smaller consideration sets and defer purchase more than younger consumers. This conservative behaviour may arise, in part, because older people are more socially isolated and thus receive less social influence relating to product options. In this multi-study research, the volume of word of mouth (WOM) is used as an indicator of social influence. The WOM received by men and women falls substantially beyond age 65, indicating that a deficit in advice may be part of the explanation for conservative decision-making. To test this proposition, the duration of customer tenure of the current brand (how long the respondent has been a customer) is used as a measure of purchase deferral and, as predicted, tenure is longer when less WOM is received. This evidence indicates that some older consumers experience a degree of social isolation, which affects their decision-making. In marketing and social policy, there is a need to promote procedures, technologies and institutions that help older people to connect with others.     

Mobile shopping intensity: Consumer demographics and motivations

PurposeTo investigate how consumer demographics and motivations may influence their mobile shopping intensity.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was developed to collect data using SurveyMonkey's online shopper panel. The final sample consisted of 937 mobile shoppers. Linear regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses.FindingsConsumers' education and income levels significantly increase their number of mobile purchases, their frequency of purchases, and the amount of money spent on mobile purchases. Males have been found to spend more on mobile shopping than females, while younger people made more mobile purchases than older people. This study also identifies six types of motivations that drive consumers’ mobile shopping intensity, including convenience seeking, bargain hunting, enjoyment seeking, perceived usefulness, ease of use, and innovativeness.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research may examine additional motivational measures and situational factors and conduct cross-cultural studies.Practical implicationsFindings from this study can help businesses develop their mobile shopping strategies.Originality/valueThis is the first study to investigate how consumer demographics and motivations may influence their mobile shopping intensity.     

THE EFFECT OF THE TRANSFER IN A TWO-CLASS MODEL

Hamada showed that the income transfer from capitalists to workers does not increase the income of workers in the long run. His result is based on the nonlinearity of the saving functions. If the saving function of capitalists is concave (or convex), the maximum of workers' income is attained by the positive (or the negative) transfer. There exists a case where the after-tax income of capitalists increases by a positive transfer. The global maximum of capitalists' income is attained when workers' income is all transferred to capitalists, while the global maximum of workers' is attained when capitalists enjoy positive income.     

The medical expense deduction and income levels: Progressive or regressive?

The medical expense deduction (MED) allows taxpayers to deduct from taxable income a proportion of their out-of-pocket medical insurance and health care expenses. Because the rate of subsidy is equal to the marginal tax rate previous studies have found MED to be a regressive tax mechanism biased toward benefiting higher-income taxpayers. The authors demonstrate, using GINI coefficients, that MED makes the tax structure more progressive than it would otherwise be and increases equality of after-tax incomes.     

Spending patterns of lone-parent and two-parent Canadian families

Data on 214 lone-parent families and 1,133 two-parent families were drawn from the Canadian 1990 Survey of Family Expenditures to examine their expenditure patterns. Tobit analysis was used to estimate marginal propensities to consume and income elasticities of 14 expenditure categories. Statistically significant differences between lone-parent families and two-parent families were found for the marginal propensities to consume and the income elasticities for expenditures on food at home, household operations and personal care.     

Household expenditure on poultry and seafood in the U.S.A. - a cross-sectional analysis

This study investigates the determinants of household expenditures on poultry and seafood using the 1992 Consumer Expenditure Survey. Higher income and larger households with a better-educated and older household head spend more on poultry, especially during the fourth quarter of the year, than others. Higher income and north-eastern households with a non-white and better-educated household head spend more on seafood than others. Poultry expenditures are more sensitive to changes in household size than to changes in household income. In contrast, seafood expenditures are more sensitive to changes in household income than to changes in household size.     

Throwing It All Away: Exploring Affluent Consumers’ Attitudes Toward Wasting Edible Food

The skewed allocation of food across the world population is a major concern, as the result is that some of us live in abundant supply while others spend their life in constant scarcity. While researchers have studied a variety of issues related to the amounts of food being wasted, or the waste of edible food across consumers with different demographic characteristics, less is known about the drivers of attitudes toward food waste. Based on survey data from a sample of affluent Norwegian consumers, we test how subjective food knowledge, environmental concern, age, and income are related to consumer attitudes toward wasting edible food. We find that all variables except income drive consumer attitudes. Implications for theory and public policy are offered.     

Socio‐demographic determinants of gambling participation and expenditures: evidence from Malaysia

This study examined the socio‐demographic determinants of participation and expenditure decisions on gambling among non‐Muslim households in Malaysia using data from the 2005–2006 Malaysian Household Expenditures Survey. Heckman's sample selection analysis was used to obtain consistent (unbiased) empirical estimates for the regression equation of gambling expenditures in the presence of censoring (observed zeros) in the dependent variable. Marginal effects were also calculated to further explore the effects of socio‐demographic variables on the probability and levels of gambling expenditures. The results indicated that non‐Muslim households in Malaysia who are more likely to participate and spend more in gambling include Chinese, affluent, male‐headed, younger and non‐white collar households. Specifically, households of Chinese descent have higher gambling probabilities and expenditures than Indians and those of other ethnic backgrounds. While education reduces and age increases the likelihood and expenditures of gambling among Chinese households, these effects are non‐extant for Indians and other ethnic groups. Higher income and male‐headed households were more likely to partake and have higher expenditures in gambling among all non‐Muslim ethnic groups. Finally, Chinese and Indian households headed by a white‐collar worker have lower gambling likelihoods and unconditional expenditures than their blue‐collar cohorts. Based on these results, several anti‐gambling policies were suggested to target those more likely to participate and spend more in gambling activities.     

我国收入分配差距及个人所得税调节作用的实证分析

本文通过计算我国城镇居民税前收入、税后收入和税收收入的基尼系数，计算各个收入阶层的平均税率及建立计量经济模型等多角度分析了个人所得税对城镇居民收入分配差距的调节作用。最后得出结论：目前我国收入分配差距仍呈扩大趋势，但没达到两极分化的程度，2002年以来个人所得税逐渐发挥对收入分配差距的调节作用。对高收入阶层课以重税，同时增加低收入阶层的可支配收入，是改善目前收入分配不平等状况行之有效的措施，税收政策和其他社会保障的收入分配政策相结合，可以对缩小收入分配差距，建立社会主义和谐社会起到更大的作用。     

Information sources used by older adults for decision making about tourist and travel destinations

Over the past decade, the older market has emerged as an extremely important one because of its increased purchasing power for most consumer goods and services. The tourism and leisure industry is also targeting people aged 65 years and older, because many possess a relatively large share of discretionary money that they want to spend on travel. This has resulted in increasing attention by the mass media and the advertising industry in particular. This paper discusses the main types of information sources that are used by older adults when they make decisions about tourist and travel destinations, and particularly focuses on the importance of word‐of‐mouth sources and personal experiences. It also explores the influence of the mass media on trip decision making for older adults, and discusses the importance of brochures, magazines and television as information sources for older adults. Finally, it critiques the lack of senior models in advertising campaigns for travel products that are aimed at the older market.     

Trust,Commitment, and Older Women: Exploring Brand Attachment Differences in the Elderly Segment

Understanding older adults’ product consumption behavior is of high importance to consumer and marketing research. Prior studies have mainly focused on older adults’ cognitive decline and compared their behavior to that of younger consumers. A neglected area of research has been older consumers’ brand attachment that is associated with potential differences between consumers in their fifties and in their seventies. In this article, the authors provide insights into the under‐researched field of elderly women's brand attachment. Drawing on socioemotional selectivity theory, a shift toward emotional aspects in brand relationships is proposed. A model involving trust and commitment processes is developed and empirically tested in a survey among 341 older women. Moderator analyses reveal significant differences between the “younger elderly” and the “older elderly” in relationships among self‐concept connection, partner quality, trust, and commitment. For the younger elderly, how a brand is (based on trust judgments) seems to be more important. For the older elderly, what a brand does in its role as relationship partner becomes more relevant.     

The impact of cognitive age on Internet use of the elderly: an introduction to the public policy implications

Despite the growth of the Internet, one area that has not really been discussed is the elderly's use of the Internet. Given the rapid growth of this population as well as the potential the Internet holds for them, it is a subject worth consideration. However, seniors cannot be defined simply by their chronological age, but by their cognitive age. This paper discusses the impact of cognitive age of a national random sample of American elderly consumers on their Internet use. The results suggest that those seniors with a younger cognitive age use the Internet more than those seniors with an older cognitive age. Additionally, seniors with a younger cognitive age have more social contact off‐line (but not online) than those seniors with an older cognitive age. Finally, in terms of demographic variables, chronological age is positively associated with cognitive age and women report a younger cognitive age than men. These results suggest that for policy makers interested in increasing the participation of seniors, they can utilize the Internet to reach those who are younger in terms of cognitive age; however, they will not be able to reach all seniors in this manner and they need to utilize the Internet as a complementing media to their traditional communication sources.     

IPR policies and determinants of membership in Standard Setting Organizations: a social network analysis

Whereas technical standards and Standard Setting Organizations (SSOs) are omnipresent and essential to mass production and communications, relatively little is formally known about the propensity of firms’ decisions to belong to certain SSOs. An understanding of such propensities can explain why some firms join SSOs (and others do not) and have implications for the regulation of SSOs. This paper uses a social network analysis technique to categorize/place firms in SSO communities and then empirically analyzes their propensities to belong to SSOs. We concentrate our study on standard setting organizations’ features and their intellectual property rights (IPR) policies such as licensing rules, disclosure requirements, as well as the features of the decision process of standards. Using data on more than 1060 member firms as participants in 28 SSOs, we are able to uniquely graph the membership of firms in SSOs by highlighting some important characteristics through community detection. The results provide some novel insights into why firms might choose certain SSO communities over others.

     

Doing More with Less: The Disordinal Implications of Firm Age for Leveraging Capabilities for Innovation Activity*

Innovation requires the entrepreneurial capabilities of opportunity recognition and opportunity exploitation. Such capabilities generally accrue over time from a firm's cumulative learning and experience. In this study, we theorize that firm age should therefore moderate the firm's ability to leverage these capabilities for innovation activity, such that older firms can obtain higher outputs from their capabilities than younger firms can. We examine this relationship using a sample of 676 small and medium enterprises. We find that when both younger and older firms have highly developed innovation capabilities, older firms appear to enjoy higher levels of innovation activity than younger firms do. However, younger firms generally appear more likely to have higher levels of innovation activity than older firms do, when neither firm has highly developed innovation capabilities. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings for research and practice.     

Perceived risks and choices in entrepreneurs' new venture decisions

Though risk plays a central role in most entrepreneurial decision making, little empirical research has explicitly examined how the elements of risk, risk perceptions, and entrepreneurs' propensities to take risks influence choices among potentially risky entrepreneurial ventures. This experimental study asked a sample of entrepreneurs leading America's fastest growing firms to make choices among a series of hypothetical new ventures. The results indicate that such choices are influenced by the risks inherent in the new ventures, as evidenced by the pattern of outcomes anticipated in each venture, the entrepreneurs' differing perceptions of those risks, and differences in their personal propensities to take risks.The subjects in our sample of entrepreneurs tended not to choose ventures having a high degree of variability in their pattern of anticipated outcomes. This avoidance of outcome variability suggests that the sensitivity analyses commonly prescribed for examining new venture attractiveness may inhibit risk taking, and may deter potential investors from investing in their firms. New approaches to assessing and presenting new venture risk, other than the traditional best case/expected case/worst case approach, may be advisable, as well as sufficiently through market research to provide evidence of the degree to which market acceptance is likely for the venture's products or services.We also found an effect of differences in risk propensities among entrepreneurs on their new venture choices. This effect suggests not only that entrepreneurs should be wary of any biases they bring to their new venture decisions, but that prospective investors should consider the degree to which entrepreneurs in whom they choose to invest are well-matched to the investors' own risk-taking propensities.Finally, while our sample of entrepreneurs tended to shun high levels of variability in their new venture choices, they appeared willing to accept a considerable degree of hazard, or possible downside, in their new venture choices, presumably in pursuit of potentially significant gains. Entrepreneurs are advised to seek a clear understanding of the downside entailed in their proposed ventures, and develop strategies to mitigate the likelihood of adverse outcomes. Thus they will not jeopardize chances for near term success and attracting support of investors and others in later stages of the venture or in subsequent ventures.Our research did not attempt to examine how our subjects' choices would have played out in terms of performance, but the apparent biases which entrepreneurs' risk propensities bring to their assessment of proposed new ventures is a potentially important issue that merits further scrutiny. On one hand, such biases may lead to patterns of suboptimal decisions. On the other hand, our results suggest that investors should entrust their new venture investments to entrepreneurs whose risk propensities (and perhaps other personal characteristics) best match the needs of both the opportunity at hand and the investor's objectives. As many venture capitalists attest, the management of a proposed new venture should lie at the heart of their investment decision.     

CEO Power,CEO Age and the Policy Instrument Property of State-Owned-Enterprises

In this paper, we examine the relationship between CEO power, CEO age and the efficiency of policy implementation in listed corporations controlled by each province’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) in China. We find that CEOs with more power implement policy are more efficiently. We also find that younger powerful CEOs will act more effectively than their older competitors. The reason for the difference is that younger powerful CEOs in state-owned companies are incentivized to implement their policy tasks to gain promotions or political capital. Our results are important to future SOE reform and to understanding the characteristics of SOEs as policy instruments.     

Targeting the over Sixty-Five Vote in Political Campaigns

Abstract

Older voters are demonstrated to be more Republican and more interested in politics than younger voters. In Arizona, they are also more likely to contribute to political campaigns, particularly when candidate-oriented direct mail appeals are used. Campaign strategies that assume people over 65 are dramatically different in the way they react to persuasive messages may dilute their effectiveness. Age is seen to be an important factor in processing campaign communications when the candidates or issues are clearly perceived as having relevance for older people.     

Families' use of the 1982 tax cut income

The likely allocation of extra income from the 1982 U.S. income lax rate reduction by a group of consumers was investigated. Eighty-five percent of the sample indicated they were likely to spend the additional income and 75% that they would save or invest it. Saving was related to income and age. Those indicating they were likely to save said they would require a larger sum of money as a result of the tax cut in order to make a decision about its use than did those who were most likely to spend it.