Consumer education and empowerment in Europe: recent developments in policy and practice

This article develops the findings of an evaluation of European Commission consumer education, information and capacity building actions conducted in 2011, with an examination of action taken by 2016 to address the recommendations. Based on empirical research of documents, in‐depth interviews, focus groups and semi‐structured surveys of Directorate General for Health and Consumers and Directorate General for Education and Culture policy networks, it discusses the journey taken to improve consumer education and empowerment throughout Europe. Implementation of the recommendations aims to transform consumer education and empowerment in Europe, with integrated and updated resources for the maximum number of teachers across the European Union, where teachers can focus the resources on consumer education activities relevant for their learners. A key focus of the new developments is to deliver higher European Union (pan‐European) added‐value, better coordination and synergies with national activities.     

Identity Drift: The Multivocality of Ethical Identity in Islamic Financial Institution

Journal of Business Ethics - In today’s neo-liberalist world, Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) face many difficulties combining contemporary financial thinking with Islamic, faith-based...     

A Theory of Dividends Based on Tax Clienteles

This paper explains why some firms prefer to pay dividends rather than repurchase shares. When institutional investors are relatively less taxed than individual investors, dividends induce "ownership clientele" effects. Firms paying dividends attract relatively more institutions, which have a relative advantage in detecting high firm quality and in ensuring firms are well managed. The theory is consistent with some documented regularities, specifically both the presence and stickiness of dividends, and offers novel empirical implications, e.g., a prediction that it is the tax difference between institutions and retail investors that determines dividend payments, not the absolute tax payments.     

Trade-offs between consumer concerns: An application for pork supply chains

This paper studies, by means of customized conjoint analysis, the trade-offs that Dutch consumers make between multiple pork-production attributes, and their relation to consumer concerns. Results show that attributes that deal with animal welfare and food safety are on average perceived as the most important pork-production attributes. Not surprisingly, they are less important than the product attributes taste and price. Still, a number of market segments can be identified in which taste and price are relatively less important. Results support the implementation of differentiated chain designs with distinct and innovative decisions on trade-offs to be made, such as with respect to the housing of pigs and the use of genetic modification.     

External causes of Euro zone inflation differentials

Whether the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) satisfies the criteria of an optimum currency area (OCA) has been the subject of much debate. Probably the greatest consensus exists on the trade criterion. In general authors conclude from the high levels of intra-EU trade that the European countries are closely interlinked. In that sense, they would constitute an optimal currency area. In this light, recent empirical evidence that external factors such as exchange rates and oil prices are able to explain inflation differentials between EMU countries is surprising. This paper re-examines the evidence using new and revised data and comes to the opposite conclusion.     

Author-itative interpretation in understanding accounting practice through case research

The way interviews are used in accounting research, and the way this research is written up, suggests that there is only one way to interpret these interviews. This invests the author(s) with great perceptive power and storytelling ability. What if different assumptions are used about how to interpret research, and how to present the ensuing findings? We give an illustration of what this might imply, using the notion of ‘reflexivity’. The setting for our illustration concerns a series of interviews with management accountants on the dilemmas they face in their daily work. We apply Alvesson's ideas on how to use metaphors to open up the interpretation of interview accounts. The aim of the paper is to shed a different light on the way interviews can be used and interpreted in accounting research. We assert that allowing for reflexive accounts is likely to require substantially differently written research papers, in which the process of discovery is emphasized.     

Das Restglied der Taylorschen Reihe des Rentenbarwertes und einige Formeln des Zinsfussproblems für grosse Zinsspannungen

Abstract

Im Zinsfussproblem spielen eine wichtige Rolle drei Hilfsfunktionen der Summen der diskontierten Zahlen, die wir vorweg kurz erwahnen wollen. Unter der nten Summe der diskontierten Zahlen D_x verstehen wir SpezieU haben wir:      

The myth of a stable European money demand

Recent empirical studies suggest that an aggregate EC-wide money demand function is more stable than national money demand functions in the European Community. If true, this would facilitate monetary policy after Economic and Monetary Union. The evidence presented in this paper, however, shows that in general there is no relationship between the size of a currency area and the stability of its demand for money. I conclude that the stability of European money demand is a statistical artifact and has nothing to say about money demand stability in a future larger European currency area.     

IS-LM: The Hicksian journey

Summary In the economics profession John Hicks is mainly known for his work during the 1930s. This paper is aimed at tracing the further development of Hicks' thinking, focussing on his IS-LM apparatus. During the 1950s Hicks used IS-LM to elucidate several issues, as in his Trade Cycle book and his review of Don Patinkin's Money, Interest and Prices. In the ensuing exchange Patinkin showed several weaknesses of IS-LM and pointed to new directions for research: the development of more elaborate models of the transmission mechanism and disequilibrium theory. But Hicks did not really participate in these developments, since, owing to methodological considerations, his thinking diverged more and more from mainstream economics.I would like to thank Jürgen Backhaus, Peter de Gijsel, Jan Snippe, Vic Van Rompuy, Arjen van Witteloostuijn and an anonymous referee for their comments on a former draft. Naturally, only the author is responsible for the opinions here expressed, as well as for any remaining shortcomings.