Implications of Improved Information on Market Performance

The retail food market in Edmonton, Alberta represents an unusual market to study. The basic problem inherent in this metropolitan market area of 500,000 people, is the dominance of a single retail food chain whose food sales represent up to 65 percent of total food sales. Conventional economic theory would normally lead to the conclusion that market performance would be improved by a direct attack on the structure of the market which in turn would involve the absolution of a highly successful retail operation. However, the application of monopoly anti-trust laws was certainly not an alternative available to the research team, even if it was considered to be a feasible solution to the problem. Therefore an attempt was made by the authors to observe the impact of improved consumer market information on corporate performance. The following article documents the research and leads towards a time honored conclusion that additional market information would improve consumer welfare in a meaningful manner.     

The impact of demand management policies on black vs. white employment

This article uses vector autoregression analysis to examine the relative impacts on black and white employment growth of monetary and fiscal actions. It was found that the employment responses to anticipated policy actions, while significant, were generally short-lived, with the exception of the effects of anticipated money growth on white employment. The influences of unanticipated policy changes are of a longer duration. The predominant finding in which black employment growth responded differently from white employment growth was in response to a monetary shock. The black employment response was sharply negative while the white employment response was a gradual increase over nine quarters. The results indicate that this difference occurred only during the 1980s and not in the 1970s and suggests that the effects of bank failures and credit rationing during this period may have significantly hurt minority employment opportunities.     

Changes In Consumer Attitudes Toward Marketing,Consumerism and Government Regulation: 1971–1975

Trends in consumer attitudes toward business philosophy, product quality, advertising, consumer responsibilities, government regulation and price controls are examined. The findings of three national surveys indicate that the level of consumer discontent did not change substantially between 1971 and 1975. Despite expanding efforts to advance the interests of consumers, the basic criticisms and frustrations expressed by respondents in 1971 were echoed again in 1973 and 1975. However there were some notable trends in the kinds and magnitudes of consumer concerns over this period. The need to treat consumer dissatisfaction as a relative concept is emphasized, and it is suggested that comparisons of present levels of consumer unrest to a zero base would probably lead to exaggerated interpretations of current conditions.     

Problems in the creation of an optimal currency zone in the Commonwealth of Independent States

The paper evaluates the features of the Commonwealth of Independent States as a regional economic union of states on the territory of the former Soviet Union. It examines the most noticeable conceptual approaches to the definition of strategy, the directions of CIS development, and the monetary and credit mechanisms of interactions among member states, as well as the feasibility of CIS transformation into an efficient economic union of states.     

Russian enterprises in mid-2010: Slow improvements in the context of a high degree of economic uncertainty

The results of a recent regular survey of opinions among enterprises of the real economy sector, which was conducted by the Laboratory for the Analysis and Forecasting of Microeconomic Processes of the Institute of Economic Forecasting of the RAS (IEF), are analyzed in this paper.     

Russian industries at the beginning of 2011: Current issues and investment climate

The results of a regular survey of companies in the real economic sector conducted by the laboratory of analysis and forecasting of microeconomical processes of the Institute of Economic Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences, are analyzed and commented.     

中国精英对中欧关系现状和前景看法

2010年5月至8月,在欧盟第七框架项目解析中国人对欧盟的看法的资助下,中国社会科学院研究生院联合中国人民大学等机构针对中国精英就中欧关系现状和前景及与此相关的问题看法进行了调查。调查数据显示:第一,精英对欧盟的知晓率比较低。第二,在信息渠道选择上,互联网、电视和报纸是三大主要工具,不同工具对中欧关系看法具有一定的影响。第三,中国精英对欧盟保持较好的印象。第四,精英认为欧盟的国际政治和经济影响力仅次于美国,且均强于中国。第五,精英对中欧关系现状和前景的看法日趋谨慎和保守。第六,通过回归分析可以发现,教育、收入、学习和工作经历等变量对精英的欧洲观有着明显影响。第七,学者和媒体工作者对中欧关系的现状和前景的看法和评价,均比其他群体更为积极和乐观。     

全球气候治理政策工具的比较分析——基于国别间关系的考察角度

目前应对气候变化的国际谈判处于典型的囚徒困境状态,为更有效地开展全球气候治理,作者依据能否保障全球减排目标实现、公平性、排放的静态配置效率和促进减排技术进步的动态效率等四条标准,比较了国际社会提出的三种气候治理政策工具,即行业技术标准、全球排放税和可交易排放许可。分析表明,行业技术标准类政策工具在四个评价标准方面均不如另外两类工具;而全球排放税的政策工具在排放的静态配置效率方面较行业技术标准类有优势,在其他评价方面的优势也不突出。在可交易排放许可政策工具之下,如果把历史排放纳入全球排放许可范畴并在国别间公平划分,且将所有国家都纳入到该治理工具的适用范围内,则该工具既能有效克服国别间的碳泄漏问题,体现国别间公平性原则,又能促进排放的静态配置效率达到最优,有效促进减排技术的进步,其综合优势最为突出。在可交易排放许可框架下,实行碳关税或其他边境调节措施有违世界贸易组织的原则。