The great appreciation, the great depreciation, and the purchasing power parity hypothesis

Although there has been much recent work on purchasing power parity (PPP), neither univariate nor panel methods have produced strong rejections of unit roots in US dollar real exchange rates for industrialized countries during the post-1973 period. We investigate the hypothesis that these non-rejections can be explained by one episode, the large appreciation and depreciation of the dollar in the 1980s, by developing unit root tests which account for this event and maintain long-run PPP. Using panel methods, we can strongly reject the unit root null for those countries that adhere to the typical pattern of the dollar’s rise and fall.     

Re-examination of price level differentials using economic freedom index

Findings reported in this paper provide improved explanation as to what factors are correlated with price levels across a large sample of 152 countries. The results are obtained from using a new set of variables called economic freedom indices, covering 19 years. Prior studies used income, trade openness, and productivity, which led to results with much less explanatory power compared to findings reported in this paper. We apply advanced panel data econometrics to obtain robust estimates of parameters, which, in our view, led to results with substantially high coefficient of variations close to 90%. The findings show that all the nine dimensions of economic freedom used in this study significantly account for the variations in national price levels.     

A comparison of online and offline consumer behaviour: An empirical study on a cinema shopping context

The main objective of this study is to analyse online vs. offline differences in consumer behaviour. To this end, through a proposal applied to cinemas in shopping centres, this study considers values and lifestyles as major factors that influence behaviours and intentions. The partial least squares (PLS) approach is used to evaluate the model. A multi-group analysis is conducted to compare consumers who buy tickets online with those who do so at a box office. We consider 391 valid cases. The results obtained show a link between the use of technology and its effects on behaviour. The relationships between values and behaviour as well as between behaviour and future intent are stronger among online consumers than the effects of lifestyles on behaviour. We consider relevant theoretical and empirical perspectives and offer critical recommendations of use to shopping centre managers, movie theatres, and intermediaries of this sector.     

Investigating the gap between citizens' sustainability attitudes and food purchasing behaviour: empirical evidence from Brazilian pork consumers

Consumers worldwide are increasingly concerned with sustainable production and consumption. Recently, a comprehensive study ranked 17 countries in regard to their environmentally friendly behaviour among consumers. Brazil was one of the top countries in the list. Yet, several studies highlight significant differences between consumers' intentions to consume ethically, and their actual purchase behaviour: the so‐called ‘Attitude‐Behaviour Gap’. In developing countries, few studies have been conducted on this issue. The objective of this study is therefore to investigate the gap between citizens' sustainability‐related attitudes and food purchasing behaviour using empirical data from Brazil. To this end, Brazilian citizens' attitudes towards pig production systems were mapped through conjoint analysis and their coexistence with relevant pork product‐related purchasing behaviour of consumers was investigated through cluster analysis. The conjoint experiment was carried out with empirical data collected from 475 respondents surveyed in the South and Center‐West regions of Brazil. The results of the conjoint analysis were used for a subsequent cluster analysis in order to identify clusters of Brazilian citizens with diversified attitudes towards pig production systems, using socio‐demographics, attitudes towards sustainability‐related themes that are expected to influence the way they evaluate pig production systems, and consumption frequency of various pork products as clusters' background information. Three clusters were identified as ‘indifferent’, ‘environmental conscious’ and ‘sustainability‐oriented’ citizens. Although attitudes towards environment and nature had indeed an influence on citizens' specific attitudes towards pig farming at the cluster level, the relationship between ‘citizenship’ and consumption behaviour was found to be weak. This finding is similar to previous research conducted with European consumers: what people (in their role of citizens) think about pig production systems does not appear to significantly influence their pork consumption choices. Improvements in the integrated management of this chain would better meet consumers' sustainability‐related expectations towards pig production systems.     

环境规制、要素禀赋与出口贸易的动态关系——基于我国污染密集产业的动态面板数据

环境规制和要素禀赋均会影响某地区的比较优势,但环境规制对出口贸易的影响存在不确定性,特别是对于污染密集型产业来说。文章建立产业环境污染指数来定义污染密集型产业,同时建立环境规制强度评价体系来计算产业的环境规制强度,并以HOV模型为基础建立动态面板方程,对我国污染最为密集的四个行业的环境规制和出口贸易进行估计。估计的结果表明环境规制对我国污染密集型产业出口贸易的影响是显著的,出口量和环境规制程度之间呈现出"U"型的关系,而且在现有经济水平下大多数制造业处于拐点左侧,环境规制强度的提高仍不利于产业发展和出口贸易。     

A cross‐cultural comparison of consumer vanity in the People's Republic of China,South Korea and Thailand: an exploratory study

In response to calls regarding the applicability of marketing scales in other cultures, the current study re‐examined the psychometric properties and measurement equivalence of the consumer vanity scale. The sample consisted of 723 undergraduate participants from China, South Korea and Thailand. Results revealed that the 21‐item, four‐factor (physical concern, physical view, achievement concern and achievement view) model of consumer vanity exhibited a satisfactory condition of psychometric properties across three samples. Multigroup analysis also revealed that the consumer vanity scales have partial factorial invariance. More specifically, the results as related to latent means comparison revealed that there are differences and similarities between the four dimensions of consumer vanity among Chinese, South Korean and Thai participants. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Duration of price promotion and product profit: An in-depth study based on point-of-sale data

Anecdotal evidence has shown that retail price promotions can help small and medium-sized retailers enhance their sales, and thus profits. However, most marketing managers usually stop a promotion after a certain duration. This study aims to explain why these retailers discontinue their price promotion. Our approach posits that overall contributions of a price promotion to the product profit progressively diminish with time. In this study, we present a theoretical framework to explain the relationship between duration and profit effects of price promotion and propose statistical models to empirically examine this framework using point-of-sale (POS) data. Our findings provide empirical support that the effect of price promotion on the product profit has a downward trend with elapsed time. The results are helpful for marketers to understand how price promotions dynamically influence product profit and when the promotion should be terminated.     

The consumer stuck between a rock of victimhood and a hard place called responsibility: political discourses on the ‘consumer’ in Finnish and German governmental policy documents

Executive governmental authorities contribute a discourse, making‐up, outlining and configuring the consumer. The objective of this paper is to elaborate on the discursive construction of the consumer provided by governmental institutions. Exemplified by Finnish and German policy documents, this paper tries to provide an insight on the consumer as the subject that is governed by politics. Thus, a discourse analytic approach reveals according to what rationale the consumer is discursively constructed on a dichotomous sovereignty‐vulnerability‐continuum. Hence, this paper provides actors and institutions that are involved in consumer policy deliberate basic principles for the understanding of consumers.     

An empirical assessment of the Consumer Agency Model: Evidence from India and China

Abstract

This research empirically validates the Consumer Agency Model which illustrates consumer reactions to the introduction of new Western products to emerging markets. This study represents the first quantitative effort to test the framework in a comparative field study of consumer attitudes towards a franchised business in the two largest emerging markets globally, China and India. It builds on the original model with McDonald’s as the prototypical representative of the Western franchise industry. The analysis confirms existence of the Consumer Agency Model with remarkable similarity in both countries. Implications for franchise companies as they target the two investigated markets are provided.     

Resource Structure and Imports: An Analysis of the Relationship between Skill-Intensive Imports and Skill Endowment

Countries generally import those goods which they do not produce, and there is a possibility that this might be due to unavailability of resources needed to produce the goods which the countries import. Hence, countries with lower levels of total skill endowment are supposed to import more skill-intensive goods than countries with higher levels of total skill endowment. However, the presence of vertical and horizontal intra-industry trade makes this picture complex. Using a theoretical model derived on the basis of earlier theories and some empirical investigation on data of 72 countries of 3 years, this article tries to find out whether there is any relation between total skill endowment and imports of a country. The results show that there is indeed a relationship, but the nature of this relationship depends on the effect of total skill endowment on the country's skill-intensive exports as well.     

产业集聚与对外贸易国际竞争力的相关性研究——基于中国15个制造业变系数面板数据的实证分析

文章以中国15个制造业1999-2008年的数据为对象,以反映制造行业国际竞争力的RCA指数为模型的被解释变量,以衡量行业地理集聚度的C4指数为模型的解释变量,利用固定影响的变系数模型对C4指数与RCA指数的相关性进行实证分析。实证结果表明:对于近90%的制造行业而言,两者存在着显著的正相关关系。最后根据实证结论,文章提出了如何通过发展产业集聚提升制造业对外贸易国际竞争力的对策建议。     

Exchange rate effects: A case study of the export performance of the Swiss agriculture and food sector

The Swiss franc appreciated strongly against the currencies of Switzerland's most important trading partners after the global financial crisis in 2008. This has raised the question of how sensitive Swiss exports are with respect to exchange rate movements. We analyse this question for exports of the Swiss agriculture and food sector, using both time series and dynamic panel data models based on data from 1999 to 2012. We find that in the long run a one per cent appreciation of the Swiss franc leads on average to a decrease in exports of agricultural and food products between 0.8 and 0.9 per cent. Our results suggest that on average, producers in the Swiss agriculture and food sector are able to successfully avoid price competition by differentiating their products, producing high‐quality products for niche markets.     

The link between product diversification and performance among Spanish manufacturing firms: Analyzing the role of firm size

This study sheds additional light on the product diversification‐performance relationship for firms in a country having recently attained an advanced economy status in our period of analysis. We assume there will be an inverted U‐shaped relationship and use a sample of small, medium, and large Spanish manufacturing firms between 1994 and 2008. Our findings provide solid support for this assumption, and are identical when the sample consists of small, medium, and large firms and of large firms alone. Our results also suggest that the larger the firm, the higher the optimal level of diversification. Panel data models are used to control for unobservable heterogeneity and potential endogeneity problems. Copyright © 2015 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.