Spatial behaviour of rural consumer households in highly developed economies. Survey results for Western Germany

This contribution attempts to identify effects of residential location of rural family households on their economic behaviour. Economic behaviour is understood to be reflected in the total spectrum of income and allocation of household resources. A holistic approach must go beyond activity on the labour and consumer markets and include non-market (‘informal’) activities of household members, taking into account domestic production of goods and services, interaction within social networks, the use of public commercial infrastructure, etc. The cost of living depends, among other things, on patterns of consumption, on regional price levels for consumer breadbaskets, as well as on costs involved in reaching public and commercial points of distribution. These factors result themselves from the interplay of economic forces giving rise to identifiable ‘economic territories’ and ‘market areas’ and ultimately to observable consumptive behaviour and ‘activity spaces’ of individual private households. Since data was available only for our rural survey households, comparative analysis of locational aspects was limited to consumption expenditures for which data could be found in administrative statistics for households in urban and periurban areas. The rural survey sample was found to have a higher average level and a different structure of expenditures when compared with their non-rural counterparts. At the same time, a preliminary effort was made in our own rural survey sample to determine the importance of non-market consumption for rural households. This included household consumption of domestic self-services (‘housework’), the utility value of owner-occupied dwellings, do-it-yourself production of substitutes for commercial goods and services, and exchanges within social networks. Results of this initial investigation of non-market elements of the household economy indicated that they were very important for the household's level-of-living and that they had a potential for compensating inequalities due to different degrees of access to market resources. Household strategies for optimizing their resource allocation to both market and non-market consumption were also examined. In general, ‘objective’ criteria and ‘subjective’ assessments by the survey households with respect to living conditions in rural Western Germany were found to give a positive image of rural life; however, differences in resource allocation strategies for market consumption between urban and rural households having been confirmed above, the question remains for future research about possible locational differences in household acquisition and use of non-market resources.     

COOPERATIVES: PARTICULARLY THEIR RELEVANCE TO WOMEN IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

‘Cooperatives give us the opportunity to demonstrate with our own lives that giving ourselves away in service to others is a way of creating ourselves anew.’¹ The purpose of this article is to give an over-all picture of cooperatives and their relevance in developing countries especially with regard to women.     

Beneficiaries or policyholders? The role of women in Swedish life insurance 1900–1950

In the second half of the nineteenth century, women were depicted as dependents and beneficiaries and men as breadwinners and policyholders in Swedish life insurance sales promotions. Furthermore, life insurance was assumed to be a middle-class concern. The notion of the life insurance policyholder as ‘middle class’ and ‘male’ was first contested with the introduction of industrial life insurance, i.e. life insurance for the working classes and also, to a large extent, the rural population in Sweden. The industrial life insurance business contributed to the growth of a large proportion of female life insurance policyholders from the rural and working classes. This article illuminates the contrast between ideological representations of women as the opponents of life insurance in sales promotions and the real actions and roles of women in business history.     

Monetary Policy Independence under Flexible Exchange Rates: An Illusion?

I analyse whether countries with flexible exchange rates are able to pursue an independent monetary policy, as suggested by traditional theory. I use data for three Latin American countries with flexible exchange rates, inflation targeting and capital mobility – Chile, Colombia and Mexico – to investigate the extent to which Federal Reserve actions are translated into local central banks' policy rates. The results indicate that there is significant ‘policy contagion’ and that these countries tend to ‘import’ Fed policies. The degree of monetary policy independence is lower than what traditional models suggest.     

Sociality and money1

This is a translation of ‘Socialité et argent’, a text by Emmanuel Levinas originally published in 1987. Levinas describes the emergence of money out of interhuman relations of exchange and the social relations – sociality – that result. While elsewhere he has presented sociality as ‘nonindifference to alterity’ it appears here as ‘proximity of the stranger’ and points to the tension between an economic system based on money and the basic human disposition to respond to the face of the other person. Money both encodes and effaces sociality, both designates and disguises social relations. It arises from the way that needs and interests are manifested in exchange relations, in what he calls the ‘interestedness’ of economic life. But interests are always already cut through by the fact that being is always ‘being with others’. Being is always ‘interbeing’. Interestedness is always confronted by disinterestedness, that is, by a sociality marked by the ‘goodness of giving’, attachment to and concern for the poverty of the other person. Levinas concludes with a discussion of sociality and justice, posing questions about the tension between the demand to respond to an Other immediately before me and at the same time to respond to the demands of an other Other (the third person) who also invites a response.     

Regulatory valuation of public utilities: A case study of the twentieth century

This paper analyses the regulatory attitudes to asset valuation in the twentieth century. It focuses in particular on the US experience from Smith v Ames 169 US 466 (1898) to Federal Power Commission v Hope Natural Gas 320 US 591 (1944 Federal Power Commission v. Hope Natural Gas Co. 320 U.S. 591 (1944). [Google Scholar]) and on the experience in the UK in last two decades of the century. It is shown that movements in capital goods prices in the US had a significant impact on regulatory decisions, e.g., regulators were more likely to choose original cost as the regulatory valuation when replacement cost was high. In the UK regulatory agencies moved through valuations increasingly less favourable to the companies from a traditional historic cost model to an ‘original cost’ model based on flotation value. Far from displaying regulatory capture, the evidence is consistent with robust regulation against ‘monopoly’ incumbents.     

Shelf Life Date Extension of Fresh-Cut Salad: A Consumer Perspective

ABSTRACT

During the past decades, various technological applications relating to an extension of the shelf life of food products have been introduced. The adoption of such technologies in the fresh-cut salad sector is a key issue for the sustainable management of the supply chain. The aim of the study is to analyse consumers’ attitude towards fresh-cut salad with an extended shelf life date. The analysis was based on face-to-face interviews with 351 consumers living in Lombardy, one of the Italian provinces where the consumption of fresh-cut salad is high and characterized by good margins of development. Principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation was used as preliminary data preparation for market segmentation. Cluster analysis revealed the presence of three different consumers groups. Only the cluster of ‘favorable’ shows a positive attitude towards the extended shelf life date. Consumers grouped in the cluster of ‘skeptical’ associate such innovation to a low level of product freshness. The cluster of ‘mistrust’ reveals the presence of consumers with safety concerns towards the prolongation of the shelf life date. Such consumers do not reveal a high level of trust in processing firms and their related brands.     

Germany’s enduring current account surplus

The Federal Republic of Germany’s balance of payments has been in the black for years, a record unparallelled by any other major country since the Second World War. Proceeding from status quo assumptions, the surpluses are unlikely to decline in the medium term, either.¹ Can they be endured? Do they really pose no serious problem, as current debate on national economic policy suggests?     

FROM THE ECONOMIC WRITINGS OF ARISTOTLE TO HOME ECONOMICS IN THE GERMAN FEDERAL REPUBLIC TODAY *

The paper is concerned with the contemporary development of the science of running a household which was called by the ancient Greeks ‘Oikonomiké’ up to the present time in the University of Justus Liebig at Giessen. After the second world war this university was the first in the German Federal Republic to start courses for home economics and dietetics. The paper is also concerned with different aspects of research in home economics.     

License trade with COMECON states

The present article, which is based on some chapters of the author’s doctorate thesis¹, investigates why the trade in licenses between the Federal Republic of Germany and state-trading countries is at present still negligible. For this purpose the policy of the state-trading countries in regard to licenses is explained, the causes which impede this trade are pointed out and suggestions made for their removal.     

Sustainable Development and Well-Being: A Philosophical Challenge

This paper aims at gaining a better understanding of the inherent paradoxes within sustainability discourses by investigating its basic assumptions. Drawing on a study of the metaphoric references operative in moral language, we reveal the predominance of the ‘well-being = wealth’ construct, which may explain the dominance of the ‘business case’ cognitive frame in sustainability discourses (Hahn et al. in Acad Manag Rev 4015:18–42, 2015a). We incorporate economic well-being variables within a philosophical model of becoming well (Küpers in Cult Organ 11(3):221–231, 2005), highlighting the way in which these variables consistently articulate a combination of ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ concerns. We then compare this broad understanding of well-being with the metaphors operative in the sustainable development discourse and argue that the sustainability discourse has fallen prey to an overemphasis on the ‘business case’. We proceed to draw on Georges Bataille to challenge the predominance of these value priorities and to explore which mindshifts are required to develop a more comprehensive understanding of what is needed to enable ‘sustainable development’.     

品牌传播：新媒体环境下广告内涵演进的取向

以互动性、自主性为特征的新媒体使得广告主自主传播获得实现,也就使得＂广告＂的＂付费＂、＂可识别＂、＂非个人的传播＂等核心要素遭受致命挑战;广告内涵的演进势在必行。而热极一时的＂整合营销传播＂某种意义上是消灭广告本体,如此,＂品牌传播＂就成为广告内涵演进的必然取向。     

Vulnerable consumers in the ‘fourth age’: theoretical reflections upon the case of Sandra Bem

ABSTRACT

This commentary reflects upon consumer vulnerability in the ‘fourth age’ through a consideration of the case of Sandra Bem. In doing so, we focus on how Alzheimer’s disease affected Bem’s ability to make decisions and navigate the market to commit suicide. Subsequently, this article reflects upon terror management theory, ‘fourth age’ consumption and self-consciousness to suggest that future studies of degenerative illness are likely to breathe further life into the study of vulnerable consumers.     

The Federal Republic in the North-South dialogue

For some time now the Federal Republic of Germany has been the largest exporter in the world, with a slight lead over the USA and some way ahead of Japan and the Soviet Union. It has therefore an important role to play in the North-South dialogue. The increasing mutual dependence of the Federal Republic and the developing countries is described by different scenarios in the following article.

     

‘Joined-Up’ Policy-Making: Group Decision and Negotiation Practice

Creating public value is problematic in a world of austerity. Joint private and public, and public-public, projects are now an established way of creating public value. Establishing joint goals within a context of different ‘own goals’ is important and difficult. A particular issue facing many organisations in seeking to negotiate joint goals in a collaborative project is that of getting all the key managers from both organisations together over enough of a sequence of meetings for agreements to be meaningful and owned by those who will deliver the project. The development of such goals can be significantly enhanced by (1) using a Group Decision Support System (GDSS) and (2) using a powerful conceptualisation of a goals framework comprising: a goals system; ‘core goals’; ‘meta-goals’; ‘negative’ goals; and ‘above and beyond’ goals. In the case of negotiating joint goals the use of a GDSS has increased productivity to such an extent that powerful negotiated agreements can be achieved with all key managers in the room in as little as one meeting. The combination of high productivity, anonymity, and the structuring of the data has also facilitated the uncovering of ‘negative goals’, and the development of ‘meta-goals’ and ‘above and beyond’ goals. This paper uses three real cases to illustrate the significance of a Group Support System’s contribution and to illustrate the different types of goals. In doing so the paper suggests that facilitating such outcomes requires a carefully designed strategic conversation necessarily supported by a GDSS to enable group decision and negotiation in practice. Two of the cases are from public-public collaboration in the health field, and the other from a private-public setting.     

Bags for Life: The Embedding of Ethical Consumerism

The aim of this paper is to understand why some ethical behaviours fail to embed, and importantly what can be done about it. We address this by looking at an example where ethical behaviour has not become the norm, i.e. the widespread, habitual, use of ‘bags for life’. This is an interesting case because whilst a consistent message of ‘saving the environment’ has been the basis of the promotion of ‘bags for life’ in the United Kingdom for many years, their uptake has only recently become more widespread and still remains at low levels. Through an exploratory study, we unpack some of the contextual barriers which may influence ethical consumerism. We do this by examining the attitudes which influenced people to start using ‘bags for life’, and how people persuade others to use ‘bags for life’. We use a case study analysis to try and understand why ethical behaviour change has stalled and not become sustained. We find that both individuals and institutions play a significant interaction role in encouraging a sustained behavioural change towards ethical consumerism.     

Finnish young people's narrative construction of consumer identity

This article examines how young Finns represent their consumer identity through narratives. Young consumers are easily seen as careless spenders and selfish hedonists in the contemporary consumer society. However, an empirical approach is required in order to find out whether this generation of young Finnish consumers is one of ‘raving hedonists’ or ‘ultimate materialists’, as their peers are often presented in public discussion in many western societies. The empirical data was collected in five upper secondary schools between the end of November 2001 and the beginning of January 2002. These schools are located in five different districts in Finland, varying from metropolitan to rural areas. The study focused on students aged 16–19 years and used essay writing as the method for collecting qualitative data. The data thus consists of 159 life stories as a consumer written by young Finnish people. Qualitative research methods, such as narrative analysis, were used in this study. It is argued that Finnish young people are representing their identities as consumers through a combination of various levels of consumer discourses besides hedonism and squandering: rationality and economizing are an essential part of their consumer identities. Some youngsters also present themselves as responsible consumers including ecological and ethical choices as part of their narrative. The way these youngsters combine discourses gives evidence of the various features of the present‐day young consumer. It is also suggested that their consumer identity develops and changes with age. Young people describe their identity changing through a hedonist/squanderer discourse to a rational and economical one or vice versa. They also combine hedonist, rational, economical and responsible discourses simultaneously.     

Children as vulnerable consumers: a first conceptualisation

ABSTRACT

Understandings of consumer vulnerability remain contentious and despite recent developments, models remain unsuitable when applied to children. Taxonomic models, and those favouring a ‘state’- or ‘class’-based approach have been replaced by those attempting to tackle both individual and structural antecedents. However, these are still overly individualistic and fail to progress from an artificial view that these dimensions work separately and independently. In contrast, the new sociology of childhood conceptualises childhood as a hybridised, fluid combination of structure and agency. This paper introduces this approach, new to the consumer vulnerability field, and proposes that it has considerable implications for the way that children’s consumer vulnerability is theorised and researched, and for the formulation of policy.     

Does consumption determine social class? On the changing pattern of consumption determination

When the connection between social class (and other socio-economic variables) and personal consumption expenditure is analysed, three basic approaches may be identified: (i) social class has an impact upon personal consumption expenditure; (ii) personal consumption is determined more by the person's way of life or consumption style, i.e. by a known consumption ‘enclave’ (iii) both socio-economic and consumption style variables do not have an impact on personal consumption, or rather, consumption is based on utilitarian considerations and individual matters of taste. This study seeks to show that whichever point of view is correct in any given situation depends upon the consumption item in question. The dependent variable chosen was ‘eating out’ in restaurants. This activity was found to involve different types of selection process. The results of the study, based upon the 1985 Finnish Household Survey of economically active households indicate. as expected, that the degree of relationship between given variables and consumption items depends upon the consumption item in question.     

The moderating effect of individual differences on the relationship between the framing of training and interest in training

The moderating effect of individual differences on the relationship between framing training as ‘basic’ or ‘advanced’ and interest in training was examined for technical and nontechnical content areas. Participants were 109 working‐age adults (mean age = 38.14 years, SD = 12.20 years). Self‐efficacy and goal orientation were examined as moderators. Results showed a three‐way interaction between performance orientation (a dimension of goal orientation reflecting the desire to demonstrate competence in an achievement setting), age, and frame for technical training and a three‐way interaction between performance orientation, self‐efficacy, and frame for nontechnical training. Implications for future research as well as framing training to enhance interest are discussed.