Determinants of Inflation Expectations in the Euro Area

Euro area inflation has been rising strongly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, giving rise to concerns that there could be second-round effects, with higher inflation leading to higher inflation expectations, which in turn lead to higher inflation. This could result in more persistent rises in inflation.

     

Consumer Law and the Environment: From Consumer to Citizen

This paper addresses the question of the relationship between consumer law and the protection of the environment. In contradiction to those who see the goals of consumer protection and environmental protection as being close to each other, this paper presents the relationship as one of conflict rather than one of harmony. Consumer law as an expression of the consumer society promotes goals which sometimes run counter to the environmental interest. This clearly comes to the fore when analysing the main consumer rights and their relationship to environmental issues. However, despite this basic incompatibility, the book of consumer law also contains some small stories of environmentally constructive behaviour. The telling of these good stories would require us to transcend the boundaries of traditional consumer law and to replace "the consumer" by "the citizen" who is interested not only in his own consumption but in all aspects of social life. In support of this development certain consumer law measures can be used to raise the awareness of consumers regarding environmental issues.     

Cooling-Off Periods in the Consumer Laws of the EC Member States. A Comparative Law and Economics Approach

Lawyers tend to see cooling-off periods in consumer laws as a remedy for the problems caused by unequal bargaining power between sellers of goods and consumers. This article takes a different approach and argues that cooling-off periods can be seen as efficiency-enhancing devices. From an economic point of view, cooling-off periods provide a remedy for irrational behaviour on the part of consumers and may cure market failures, in particular problems caused by situational monopolies and asymmetric information. In spite of these important benefits, the economic approach also warns against possible disadvantages. The latter range from a moral hazard problem on the side of the consumer to the adverse counter-productive effects of cooling-off periods. A legislator who is informed by economic analysis may design cooling-off periods in ways that maximise their ability to cure inefficiencies and at the same time minimise their potential detrimental effects. Unfortunately, the relevant EC Directives and the current consumer laws of the Member States are not in perfect harmony with an efficiency enhancing-approach.     

Annex: Report by the Euro Working Group of the Consumer Committee

Journal of Consumer Policy -     

Consumer Bankruptcy in the United States: A Study of Alleged Abuse and of Local Legal Culture

This paper describes certain central aspects of the operation of the consumer bankruptcy system in the United States. It combines government data with the investigators' empirical data from two large studies done over a decade to explore two types of questions. The first area of investigation relates specifically to bankruptcy policy. The object is to identify the categories of persons principally served by the consumer bankruptcy system and to determine if suggestions of widespread abuse of that system by debtors are well-founded. The paper reports that the system is used primarily by the middle-class. It also reports that there is no evidence of widespread abuse. The second area of investigation is explanation of differences in the operation of the system in different regions of the country, differences that have persisted over twenty years despite major changes in legal rules and economic conditions. The paper argues that these differences are not explicable in terms of formal legal rules or a simple economic model and that a better explanation of the data is that the differences are the product of a "local legal culture" in each region.     

Consumer Religiosity: Consequences for Consumer Activism in the United States

In recent times, organizations have experienced consumer backlash as a result of decisions to support controversial causes. To date, little research has attempted to explain consumers’ negative response as a function of religion. This study addresses that gap in the literature and examines consumer religious commitment and Christian consumers’ conservative beliefs in the United States as motivating factors for consumer activist behavior and boycott participation. Findings from a national sample of 531 consumers suggest that consumers evaluate seller’s actions and form ethical judgments. These judgments are a major explanatory variable in consumers’ voice complaints, third-party complaint intentions, and boycott intentions.     

Riding the Wave: Consumer Economics and the Consumer Movement in the United States

The development and current state of the scholarly field of Consumer Economics in the United States is discussed in relation to the Consumer Movement and other forces that have impinged upon it. Membership in the American Council on Consumer Interests, the scholarly organization for consumer economists, is used as one measure of the size and health of the field. Other forces impinging on the field that are discussed include: the baby boom induced increase in the demand for college education; the subsequent decline in the support for higher education as higher education costs rose throughout the 1980s and 1990s; the decline in the Federal Government's support for consumer research and consumer education; and the development of competing organizations.     

Consumer Insolvency in the European Legal Context

Consumer credit, as an important aspect of the free movement of capital, has for a long time now been subject to European Union regulations. However, one important aspect of consumer credit, over-indebtedness, has not been acknowledged in the Consumer Credit directives of 1978 and 2009, nor is there any other European Union law instrument that addresses over-indebtedness or insolvency of consumers. The only European-level document addressing the problem of over-indebtedness of ordinary people is the Council of Europe Recommendation of 2007. In European Union law, over-indebtedness can and should be approached from several angles. The Insolvency Regulation (2000) does not directly address situations facing the consumer debtor and leaves it up to the discretion of the Member States to include or exclude insolvency proceedings for consumer debtors regarding the scope of the Regulation. There can be little doubt that the European Union has a legal basis for action in this field, and it has also used its competence in a number of related issues, such as general insolvency law and enforcement of judgments. Case C-461/11, in which Advocate General delivered her opinion on Sept 13^th, 2012 shows that national insolvency procedures for natural persons may constitute a restriction on the freedom of movement. This article argues that, even in the absence of a European Union law instrument, the Member States should recognize debt adjustment judgments made in another Member State and that there is a need for a regulation in the European Union law in this field.     

Russian Companies in the Forthcoming EU Member States

SUMMARY

If serious problems of business ethics plague and continue to plague the way business is conducted within Russia, the internationalization of Russian companies puts forward the problem of what business culture they bring along and what impact it may have on the recipient country. This article focuses on the case of Lukoil investments and operations in Bulgaria. It describes the main factors forming the contemporary Russian business culture and highlights the negative features that could be feared from the point of view of the country receiving Russian investments. Later the paper tries to analyze the operations of Lukoil in Bulgaria and investigate if there is reason to suspect a negative business culture spillover.     

Expectations and Satisfaction in Channel Member Relationships in the Victorian (Australia) Fruit Industry

Abstract

The paper reports findings of research into the dynamics of customer satisfaction formation amongst fruit producers and their distribution channel(s), within the economically important northern Victorian (Australia) fruit industry. The paper suggests reasons why previous approaches to the issue of satisfaction in channel member relationships, which typically utilize constructs of ‘economic’ and ‘non-economic’ satisfaction, may usefully be supplemented by application of the ‘disconfirmation of expectations’ model. The research actually tests a modification of the traditional disconfirmation model that incorporates dimensions of ‘outcome’ and ‘process’ at the levels of expectations, performance and disconfirmation—a ‘dualistic’ model. This had previously been tested only in a radically different business-to business-context, that of advertising creative services. The findings suggest that satisfactory measurement of growers' expectations can be achieved. They also suggest that the disconfirmation model does appear to apply in this previously untested service context, whether unitary measures of expectations and performance, or the dualistic interpretation of expectations/performance, are utilized.     

个人感知、创新扩散与消费者参与网络团购行为的关系研究

本文对创新扩散理论（ IDT）和技术接受模型（ TAM2）进行拓展,分别引入扩散过程中的传播渠道和时间变量、感知风险与感知价格变量,并将两个模型进行整合,构建消费者参与网络团购行为影响因素的概念模型,进行实证研究。研究结果表明：影响消费者参与网络团购意愿的因素可以归纳为个人感知因素与创新扩散因素两大类。网络团购的传播渠道（大众传媒和人际关系）、时间（成交订单数）相容性、感知有用性对消费者参与网络团购的意愿有显著的正向影响;感知风险与感知价格对消费者参与网络团购的意愿有显著的负向影响;感知易用性对消费者的参与意愿无显著的影响。其中,相容性对消费者参与网络团购意愿的影响最大,感知有用性和人际关系传播的影响次之。     

Understanding the Pro-plaintiff Bias in Consumer Protection Legal Processes

Using information from the Peruvian administrative consumer system from 1998 to 2010, the paper assesses hypotheses taken from selection theory in the context of legal disputes (Priest and Klein, The Journal of Legal Studies 13(1):1, 1984) and political science. Hypotheses from selection theory regarding the influence of plaintiff stakes, informational asymmetry and, to a lesser extent, litigation costs on both selection decisions and trial outcomes were confirmed. In addition, the results corroborate other implications of selection theory, such as the non-random nature of selection processes. However, no evidence has been found regarding the theory’s prediction that the share of plaintiff victories at trial will converge to 50%. The results also show that in the Peruvian consumer protection system, plaintiffs win more often than do defendants, suggesting the pre-eminence of pro-consumer trial standards over other factors. Moreover, the evidence confirms the hypotheses taken from “party capability theory” (Galanter, Law & Society Review 9(1):95–160, 1974) regarding the influence of litigant characteristics on consumer protection legal outcomes. Finally, the results also demonstrate the relevance of ideological and attitudinal factors as determinants of consumer administrative trial decisions.     

中美消费者消费行为比较研究：以肯德基（KFC）为例

通过对中美两国大学生(n=795)的调查,测量和比较了两国年轻消费者对肯德基(KFC)的消费行为、品牌印象和重购意愿。相对美国被访者而言,中国被访者更愿意呆在肯德基餐厅里就餐,时间也更长;中国被访者对肯德基的正面印象更多;美国被访者对肯德基未来光顾的可能和满意之间的相关度高于中国被访者。     

Affective States of the Consumer and Satisfaction with Services in the Airline Industry

Abstract

While its importance in marketing is never questioned, customer satisfaction has rightly been described as “a complex and elusive phenomenon.” The search continues for factors/variables that determine its presence and magnitude. This paper examines the affective aspect of customer satisfaction in the globally important, but highly competitive airline industry. Two major forms of affective state of the consumer are examined, namely: (i) mood, and (ii) quality of life. Findings show that both tend to have significant influence on the level of satisfaction with services in the airline industry. However, some elementary services tend to be more influenced than others by these affective states of the consumer. Implications, and managerial applications of the findings for augmenting customer satisfaction in the airline industry are discussed.     

Consumer Affairs Departments in the United States and the Netherlands: A Comparative Analysis

Over a decade ago Hansen and Schoenheit (1986), in their Journal of Consumer Policy article, concluded that Consumer Affairs Departments (CADs) offer potential for improving organisational performance in the market place and that their transferability to the European context would be warranted. In this article we trace and analyse the development of Consumer Affairs Departments in the United States and the Netherlands on the basis of fourteen case studies. On the basis of a comparative analysis we conjecture that the application of information technology, the application of communication technology, and personnel management style could be considered as major determinants of differences with regard to CADs in the aforementioned countries. We conclude the article with a number of building blocks that organisations may use in preparing their CADs for the decade to come.     

Consumer Perceptions of the United States and Japan as Countries of Origin

Country of origin cues ofien trigger global evalua- tions by which consumers infer the presence of quality, performance levels or product attributes that they are unable or unwilling to evalu- ate directly. This premise is used as a basis for this study in which the perceptions held by Malaysian, Taiwanese and Australian consumer samples regarding U.S. and Japanese-produced consumer goods were compared and contrasted. Across each market, Japanese imports were perceived as significantly more desirable along a number of perceptual dimensions. Implications for the strategic promotion and competitive repositioning of U.S. consumer goods within each mar- ket are developed.     

论社会主义法治理念与消费者权益保护

法治理念的成立是我国建立法治国家最基础的底蕴,是完善社会主义法治的心理基础!法治理念应当是人们所应当拥有的一种关于法治理想构成与现象的观念和认识,以及在该认识基础上人们对法治所持有的态度和价值取向。我国社会主义法治理念应当是建立我国社会主义法治国家的理想目标和在该目标基础上形成的一系列的法治观念性认识与相关的立场、追求。此外,与社会主义法治目标相吻合的有关社会主义法治诸多问题的回答和认识也都应当属于社会主义法治理念的内容。其中经济领域里的市场经济理念属于法治理念的天然组成部分;而市场经济理念同时也必须是消费者权益受保护的理念。因此,消费者权益保护属于社会主义法治理念的内容之一。     

Financial Consumer Protection Regime in Malaysia: Assessment of the Legal and Regulatory Framework

This paper examines the status of the legal and regulatory framework for consumer protection in Malaysia, an emerging economy. Using leximetrics and notions of incomplete law, the paper explores the financial consumer protection regime in the country by examining two aspects of the legal framework: the legal infrastructure and typology of laws. The Malaysian legal framework for financial consumer protection is assessed in light of the good practices identified in international guidelines issued on the themes by OECD and the World Bank. The results highlight the complementary nature and different roles that laws, regulations, and supporting institutions play in achieving a comprehensive financial consumer protection framework in the country.     

Modelling EU FDI Deflection Between the New EU Member States and Chinese Provinces

The issue of regionalism and how it affects FDI allocation within and between regions has not yet been dealt with satisfactorily by the voluminous literature on FDI. The issue of FDI dispersion, or of how traditional recipients of FDI flows can be affected by rising competitive advantages in countries of the same region as well as in countries of other regions, has received little attention. This article introduces the concept of EU FDI deflection across regions and measures it for 14 chosen locations in the new EU member states and Chinese provinces against the background of the fifth EU enlargement.