An investigation of the increasing prevalence of nonpurchase of meat by British households

The purpose of the analysis has been to investigate the determinants of the household's decisions regarding the purchase of meat in Great Britain. The approach, using a Box-Cox generalization of the ‘double hurdle’ model, has depicted the household making two choices, namely whether or not to purchase the product (the participation decision) and then, for those households which do purchase, how much to buy (the expenditure decision). The determinants considered are socioeconomic variables, such as the total expenditure of the household, market prices, characteristics of the householder (age, gender, education, type of employment) and characteristics of the household (location, presence of children, etc.). By conducting the analysis over several years of survey data (1975–1993) it is possible to investigate whether the influence of these variables has changed over time. The bulk of the empirical analysis has concerned single adult households (with or without children).     

THE RESPONSE OF STATE‐OWNED ENTERPRISES TO IMPORT COMPETITION: EVIDENCE FROM CHINESE MANUFACTURING FIRMS

We examine the wage and employment impact on Chinese firms of an increase in import competition associated with China's WTO accession in December 2001, with an emphasis on state‐owned enterprises (SOEs). We find that both wage and employment are negatively impacted by an increase in import competition, but firms with high state ownership cut employment less and reduce wages more than their private counterparts, suggesting that they prioritize the protection of employment over that of wages. This finding supports the notion that SOEs may have ‘multitask’ responsibilities in terms of protecting employment as well as achieving efficiency. We also find that firms with higher capital intensity reduce their wages less but cut employment more in response to intensified import competition. This provides empirical support for the efficiency wage theory.