China Trade Policy Review: A Political Economy Approach

Chinese trade policy has experienced ‘great reversal’ in the year of 2008. A series of constraining measures taken previously have been loosened eventually. We investigate this situation using a political economy approach. Unlike in democratic countries, where interest groups play a crucial role in trade policy change, in China, given the political reality, leaders’ will and trade partners’ pressure are the determinant factors. We call this top‐down and outside‐in trade policy. Actually the idea of ‘harmonious society’ and ‘scientific development’ emphasised by top leaders in October 2006 paved the road for the following trade policy adjustment: i.e. reducing tax rebate, limiting processing trade, compressing the catalogue for foreign investment, etc. However, with the shock of a global financial tsunami, these measures get coastal areas relying on foreign trade heavily into trouble. The economic downturn in Pearl River Delta even astonished the decision‐making body, calling on a quick reversal in foreign trade policy. If interest groups had been allowed to express their demand formally and adequately from the very start, the cycle of ‘taking up first but giving up last’ in policy design would have not taken place. In other words, the bottom‐up and inside‐out trade policy should be more stable. Although flexibility is necessary in the face of uncertainty, frequent and discretionary trade policy change usually produces effects of ‘pro‐government’ not ‘pro‐market’. This is unfavourable for the transformation in China. The constraining trade policy in mid‐2007 to mid‐2008 has been a part of the government’s desire to seek healthier development. However, with the inside and outside surroundings getting worse, the structural adjustment (long‐run objective) has had to concede to the economic growth (short‐run objective).     

How Owners Matter? An Examination of Ownership Type in Corporate Disaster Relief Giving

Little research has investigated the effect of ownership identity (or type) and corporate philanthropy experience on giving. In this research, relying on legitimacy theory, we first assess the effect of ownership identity on corporate philanthropy (CP) in the context of the 2008 earthquake in China. Then we explore moderation effects of firms' prior CP experience and size as proxies for perceived legitimacy on owners' efforts at increasing giving and legitimacy. We find that state and CEO ownership are deterrents, while non‐SOE and institutional ownership enhances giving probability and amount. In addition, there is evidence that firm size and prior CP weaken the effects of institutional ownership on CP. This study provides a complete assessment of owner behaviour. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A cross‐cultural and cross‐gender analysis of compulsive buying behaviour's core dimensions

This study seeks to address the disagreement in the literature about compulsive buying behaviour's (CBB) dimensional structure and tests for cross‐cultural and cross‐gender invariance in young British, Chinese, Czech and Spanish consumers using structural equation modelling. The results show that CBB has two compulsive dimensions: Compulsive Purchasing (CP) and Self‐control Impaired Spending (SIS). These dimensions are cross‐culturally invariant, although the influence of SIS on CBB is higher in more developed countries, particularly among females. The confirmation of the SIS dimension and the external validity of the CBB construct established through the cross‐cultural invariance in CBB dimensions indicate that screening tools should be revised accordingly. The SIS dimension has possibly been previously misinterpreted as impulsive and/or as spontaneous buying and may explain the higher incidence of CBB among female consumers.     

In Which Context is the Option Clause Desirable?

The option clause is a contractual device from free banking experiences meant to prevent banknote redemption duels. It has been used within the Diamond and Dybvig (J Pol Econ 91: 401–419, 1983) framework to suggest that very simple contractual solutions can act as an alternative to deposit insurance. This literature has, however, been ambiguous on whether the option clause can replace deposit insurance outside of those two contexts. It will be argued that the theoretical clause does not generally affect the likelihood that a solvent bank goes bankrupt because of a bank run, as empirical evidence suggests it is already near null, and that the exercise of the clause will have the effect of diminishing the size of creditor claims on bank assets because it exacerbates the agency problem of bank debt. It will therefore be argued that the clause is only desirable in (a) free banking systems that are historically devoid of bank runs in the first place and have other means of managing debt-related agency problems and (b) under the unrealistic assumption that bank runs are self-fulfilling prophecies. It will be argued that the agency problem of bank debt makes the option clause undesirable outside of free banking systems.     

Why Does Employment Differ in the Course of Time and Across Nations? An Institutional Answer In The Light of the ‘Regulation’ Theory

The paper argues that contemporary unemployment is related not so much to the short run malfunctioning of the labor market as to the erosion of the growth regime in the post-war period. What most theories attribute to increasing labor market rigidities is in fact closely related to the mismatch between the national institutional forms and the trends associated with a new production paradigm and the transformation of the international regime. Some long run historical analyses inspired by the “regulation” theory are then used in order to interpret the unprecedented pattern of French unemployment. Similarly contemporary international comparisons help to explain why employment performances differ so much in North America, Japan, Continental Europe and Scandinavian countries. Some general objectives for economic policy are then suggested but the general conclusion stresses the obstacles to the transition from one growth regime to another which arise from institutional inertia and complementarity.     

Is Non-discrimination Really Dead?

‘The most-favored-nation clause in American commercial treaties, as conditionally interpreted and applied by the United States, has probably been the cause in the last century of more diplomatic controversy, more variations in construction, more international ill-feeling, more conflict between international obligations and municipal law and between judicial interpretation and executive practice. more confusion and uncertainty of operation, than have developed under all the unconditional most-favored-nation pledges of all other countries combined’— Jacob Viner, in the Journal of Political Economy (February 1924)     

On the Existence of Minimax Martingale Measures

Embedding asset pricing in a utility maximization framework leads naturally to the concept of minimax martingale measures. We consider a market model where the price process is assumed to be an ^d‐semimartingale X and the set of trading strategies consists of all predictable, X‐integrable, ^d‐valued processes H for which the stochastic integral (H.X) is uniformly bounded from below. When the market is free of arbitrage, we show that a sufficient condition for the existence of the minimax measure is that the utility function u : → is concave and nondecreasing. We also show the equivalence between the no free lunch with vanishing risk condition, the existence of a separating measure, and a properly defined notion of viability.     

The Importance of Relationship Quality: Maximizing the Impact of Expatriate Contact with a Local Host

Contact between expatriates and a local host‐a specific type of peer mentoring‐has been shown to result in benefits to adjustment, social support, and intercultural competence. This longitudinal study examines the role of the quality of this contact. Expatriates in the Netherlands were randomly divided into an experimental group (N = 33) in which 21 participants had developed high‐quality contact with their host, and a control group (N = 32) that had no host. The results suggest the higher the quality of the contact, the more benefit the expatriate experienced. Moreover, expatriates with low‐quality contact did not experience a detrimental effect. Theoretical and practical implications for mentoring in general, and peer mentoring of expatriates specifically, are discussed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Pilot intervention with adolescents to increase knowledge and consumption of folate‐rich foods based on the Health Belief Model

Folate is important in the prevention of birth defects and in the maintenance of general health. Even after mandatory fortification, many people are still not consuming the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of 400 mcg folate/day. Consuming a diet rich in naturally high‐folate foods, as opposed to supplementation, may offer additional health benefits and promote an overall healthy diet. The purpose of this pilot study was to test the hypothesis that a learner‐centred educational intervention based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) will successfully increase knowledge and consumption of folate‐rich foods, while increasing positive beliefs about folate and health in adolescents. A two‐group parallel control trial was conducted in two schools in Nebraska. Pre‐ and post‐study questionnaires included a folate‐based food frequency questionnaire, a HBM questionnaire and a folate knowledge test. Participants in the intervention group completed a post‐study evaluation. The intervention consisted of three 30‐min lessons followed by participant creation of podcasts. One podcast was viewed each week for 8 weeks following the lessons. Data were analysed using t‐tests to measure simple effects within the intervention and control groups, and analysis of variance to measure within‐subject effects between the groups. Folate consumption decreased in both the intervention and control groups, but these differences were not significant (P > 0.05). Significant increases (P = 0.000) in folate knowledge occurred in the intervention group. This difference remained significant (P = 0.001) when compared to the control group. Average HBM rankings significantly decreased (P < 0.05) towards ‘strongly agree’ (Likert scale of 1–6) in the intervention group (P < 0.05) for all constructs except cues to action. However, when compared to the control group, these differences were only significant for self‐efficacy and perceived susceptibility. Creating and viewing podcasts may be helpful for the retention of knowledge over time, but did not appear to be an effective cue to action for increased folate‐rich foods in this pilot study.     

A Markov regime‐switching ARMA approach for hedging stock indices

This study considers the hedging effectiveness of applying the N‐state Markov regime‐switching autoregressive moving‐average (MRS‐ARMA) model to the S&P‐500 and FTSE‐100 markets. The distinguishingfeature of this study is to incorporate the observations of serially correlated stockreturns into the hedging analysis. To resolve the problem of N^T possible routes induced by the presence of MA parameters associated with the algorithm of Hamilton JD ( 1989 ) and a sample of size T, we propose an algorithm by combining the ideas of Hamilton JD ( 1989 ) and Gray SF ( 1996 ). We find that the hedging performances of the three proposed MRS‐MA(1) strategies herein are superior to their corresponding MRS counterparts considered in Alizadeh A and Nomikos N ( 2004 ) over the out‐of‐sample periods, even when we realistically track the transaction costs generated from rebalancing the hedged portfolios. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 31:165–191, 2011     

Redistribution in a Neo‐Kaleckian Two‐country Model

We investigate the interaction between demand‐driven growth and income distribution in open economies, by combining expenditure‐switching and demand spillover effects in a neo‐Kaleckian two country model. First, we specify elasticities of wage share and real exchange rate to the money wage relative to labor productivity, in order to precisely describe the distributive pass‐through from money wages to the labor share and the real exchange rate. Second, we analyze the demand effects of an increase in the money wage for given labor productivity (a redistribution towards labor) in both Home and Foreign country, as well as globally. We derive closed form results for two identical countries. These results indicate that redistribution towards labor at Home: (i) always increases growth globally if Home is wage‐led, but can lead to lower growth at Home relative to Foreign; and (ii) will always imply lower growth at Home relative to Foreign if Home is profit‐led, but can still be growth‐enhancing at Home. Thus, to the extent that countries are concerned with their relative economic performance, a fallacy of composition can emerge. Numerical simulations suggest that these fallacies could indeed occur. As a consequence, ‘returns to coordination’ over international labor policies might be substantial.     

AS‐AD REVISITED: OVERSHOOTING ADJUSTMENT DYNAMICS UNDER NAÏVE EXPECTATIONS

We analyse the adjustment dynamics from a short‐term to a medium‐term equilibrium in a standard AS‐AD model à la Blanchard (2006, Macroeconomics, 4th edn, Prentice‐Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ) for an open economy with fixed and flexible exchange rates. An explicit analysis suggests the local stability of the medium‐term equilibrium. However, an overshooting adjustment dynamics is possible for the exchange rate, a result that directly relates to the famous Dornbusch (1976, Journal of Political Economy, 84, pp. 1161–1176) analysis. In contrast to the latter, in the Blanchard framework it is obtained without assuming rational expectations and without relying upon saddle‐path stability.     

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.     

Consumer perception of packaging: An eye‐tracking study of gluten‐free cookies

The growing interest in gluten‐free products makes it crucial to understand the mechanism of consumers' perception of gluten‐free claims. Due to the limited research measuring the influence of the type (verbal/nonverbal), number and location of gluten‐free statements on product labels on visual attention and consumers' purchase decisions, the main aim of this research was to evaluate the perception of gluten‐free claims and the Crossed Grain symbol on cookie packages of both consumers who are on a gluten‐free diet and those who are not. To that end, a questionnaire survey (600 respondents) and an eye‐tracking study (67 respondents) were carried out. The results showed that the respondents are aware of the basic rules of gluten‐free products' labelling, but 32% of those on the diet claimed that the products were not labelled properly. The analysis proved (p < .05) the significant relation between the number of gluten‐free claims and consumers' purchase intention. The respondents paid more attention to verbal gluten‐free claims than to nonverbal ones on packaging (p < .05). In the case of the Crossed Grain symbol, addition of verbal statement strengthened the information and decreased the respondents' level of uncertainty about a given product, which is important, especially for people newly adopting the diet. No difference in the visual attention to gluten‐free statements between the followers and non‐followers of the diet was found (p > .05), which allowed us to conclude that the perception of gluten‐free claims is an automatic process. These results suggest that designing product labels by considering the information architecture concerning gluten may help strengthen consumers' attitudes towards gluten‐free products and impact buying behaviour.     

Feelings and functionality in social networking communities: A regulatory focus perspective

A sense of community is vital to the sustainability of both face‐to‐face and virtual communities. In this study, we use a mixed methods design to study the motivations that lead to satisfaction in a social media network. In Study 1, we semantically analyze the qualitative comments from a survey regarding the reasons for using social networks (n = 237). Consistent with the literature, the results identify two categories of underlying motivations—hedonic (feelings) and utilitarian (functionality). With these results, we apply regulatory focus theory in Study 2 to propose a structural equation model ( n = 622). This model differentiates between the experiences of promotion‐ and prevention‐focused individuals with social networking based on the core elements of feelings versus functionality . Our findings indicate that a sense of belonging and emotional connection are key hedonic elements and are more relevant for promotion‐focused individuals. For prevention‐focused individuals, the utilitarian and functional aspects of interactivity (influence) and innovativeness (risk) are more important in influencing satisfaction with a social network. Overall, positive and innovative user experience with a social media network requires the creation of an emotional connection, the existence of interactivity between members, and the cultivation of a sense of belonging.     

Exploring private consumers’ willingness to adopt Smart Grid technology

The goal of radically increasing the proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources puts the current electrical grid under pressure and one of the solutions is to turn the grid into a ‘Smart Grid’. One of the key elements of the Smart Grid is that electricity consumers make some of their consumption available as flexible capacity to balance the grid. Consumers’ flexible capacity is only available to the grid if the consumers adopt Smart Grid technology (SGT) that establishes the link between the electric system and the consumer. This technology is new to private consumers and using it involves behavioural changes. There is a need to get more insight into who are willing to adopt SGT and why. This study draws on innovation adoption theory as a framework for understanding consumer adoption of this new technology. We explore whether consumers who have already adopted other types of new energy technology, such as a geothermal heat pump, are more favourably disposed towards SGT than other consumers. Also, we explore how consumers who have signed up to let their heat pump be used as flexible capacity in a test trial differ from other heat pump owners, if at all. We used semi‐structured interviews with household members as well as a questionnaire to explore differences between three groups: households with (1) a heat pump with SGT (n = 11), (2) a heat pump‐only (n = 7), or (3) an oil‐fired boiler (n = 6). We find that the families in the three groups perceive the technology characteristics differently and those who have trial experience with SGT are most in favour of the technology.     

An Investigation of Decision‐Making Styles of Consumers in China

This study investigates Chinese consumers' decision‐making styles. The Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) is administered to 387 adult consumers in China. Both an exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis are adopted to validate the CSI inventory. This results in an eighteen‐item and seven‐factor solution. Findings indicate that five decision‐making styles are valid and reliable in Chinese culture: perfectionistic, novelty‐fashion conscious, recreational, price conscious, and confused by overchoice. Cluster analysis is employed to identify prominent market segments. Based on the findings, three segments are formed: trendy and perfectionistic consumer, traditional and pragmatic consumer, as well as confused by overchoice consumer. Marketing and management implications are discussed.     

The acceptability of different types of soymilks available in Cape Town in consumers from high and low socio‐economic areas

The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and acceptability of soymilk (defined as consumption pattern/usage and taste) by adult consumers, residing in different socio‐economic areas (low vs. high) in Cape Town. The study population of 214 participants were selected using convenience sampling. A questionnaire was developed in order to obtain demographic data (four items); basic general knowledge of soymilk (four items); and acceptability of the tested products (consumption patterns and taste) (eight items). There was a significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.000) regarding basic knowledge of soymilk, with significantly more in the high socio‐economic area (HSEA) having a score of at least 75%. Gender (P = 0.082) and age (P = 0.122) did not have a significant impact on the consumption patterns of soymilk. There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to current usage (P = 0.228) and frequency of use (P = 0.213) of soymilk. However, a significantly smaller group (P = 0.000) of participants in the low socio‐economic area had previously tasted soymilk compared with those in the HSEA (16.7% vs. 41.5%; P = 0.000). In conclusion, socio‐economic status appeared to be associated with knowledge of soymilk. No significant differences with regard to gender, age or current usage in the two groups studied were noted.     

Modified oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies: evaluation of the partial replacement of sugar and/or fat to reduce calories

Oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies were prepared using a non‐sucrose sweetener blend (dextrose/acesulfame‐K) and/or prune puree to replace 50% of the sugar and/or fat, respectively, following manufacturers’ recommendations. Similar effects of modification were found for both cookie types. Specific gravity (P < 0.05) and water activity (P < 0.05) increased with modification; cookie spread (P < 0.05) decreased. Probing (P < 0.05) revealed that the increase in hardness and chewiness associated with fat reduction was moderated to some extent when coupled with sugar reduction. Sensory assessments of texture using the Consumer Profile Ballot reflected the instrumental textural assessment. There were few significant sensory differences between the full‐fat/full‐sugar control oatmeal cookie and either modified oatmeal cookie. In chocolate chip cookies, sensory results (P < 0.05) suggest an increase in off‐flavours and bitterness, and a decrease in sweet and buttery attributes with modification. Panelists indicated that all formulations of each cookie type were acceptable with ratings above mid‐point on the scale for flavour and texture acceptability. Total fat reduction was 32% and 45% in the oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies respectively. Caloric reductions were 14–15% in the modified oatmeal cookies, and 12–13% in the modified chocolate chip cookies.     

Consumer Participation: The Case of Home Meal Preparation

Consumer participation (CP) has become an important topic in marketing literature with the emergence of service‐dominant logic (SD logic), where consumers are viewed as co‐creators or coproducers of value. However, most studies of CP have largely focused on its economic implications for the supplying firm and thus not much attention has been paid to the factors explaining this phenomenon. This study explains the CP process in the context of home meal preparation by proposing and testing a model of how convenience orientation and knowledge influence both a motivational (involvement) and a behavioral component (time use) of a CP process. The results show that high involvement is a main driver of CP behavior. Convenience‐oriented people are less involved and spend less time on CP activities. Knowledge is suggested to have a positive influence on involvement with CP, but it may not necessarily positively impact the time people use in CP because skills may bring about efficient performance.