Reviews

Who gets access to training? Machin, S. and Wilkinson, D. 1995: EMPLOYEE TRAINING: UNEQUAL ACCESS AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE. London: Institute for Public Policy Research, £3.95 paper.

Spatial planning. Williams, R.H. 1996: EUROPEAN UNION SPATIAL POLICY AND PLANNING. London: Paul Chapman, £16.95 paper.

Small firm growth. Barkham, R., Gudgin, G., Hart, M. and Hanvey, E. 1996:. THE DETERMINANTS OF SMALL FIRM GROWTH: AN INTER-REGIONAL STUDY IN THE UK 1986-90. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, £19.95 paper.

Krakow — transition to capitalism. Hardy, J. and Rainnie, A. 1996:. RESTRUCTURING KRAKOW: DESPERATELY SEEKING CAPITALISM. Mansel, £50.00 cased.     

Financial-market effects of Federal Government budget deficits

Conclusion This paper finds that, for the 30-year period 1955–1984, the federal government budget deficit in the United States had a positive and significant effect on the longer-term nominal interest rate. This finding is at odds with most of the existing literature, which finds federal budget deficits to have no measurable impact upon interest rates in the United States [cf. Evans, 1985; 1987; Hoelscher, 1983; Makin, 1983; Motley, 1983; McMillin, 1986; and Mascaro and Meltzer, 1983]. The difference between the findings here and the findings in these other studies can be traced at least in part to the way in which we specify the deficit variable. That is, we distinguish between thestructural deficit, which approximates theexogenous component of the total deficit, and thecyclical deficit, which represents theendogenous component of the total deficit. By contrast, these other related studies measure the deficit in more aggregated ways, which combine the cyclical deficit with the structural deficit into one variable.     

The Effects of Multiple Health and Nutrition Labels on Consumer Food Choices

Consumers face an increasing availability of information on health and nutritional aspects of foods, especially on food package labels. Previous research has identified that this information is positively valued, but the effect of presenting several items of information simultaneously is not well understood. We conduct a choice experiment to identify the effects of multiple health and nutrition information labels for two products representing a healthy and less healthy food choice. Although our consumers attach positive utility to most of the individual labels evaluated here, the simultaneous presence of more than one label only has positive impact on utility in one of nine possible cases. Therefore, promotion of multiple labels should not be considered beneficial a priori either from a regulatory or business perspective. In addition, results show that consumers show a higher willingness to pay for nutrition and health labels for less healthy products.     

Developing pandemic communication strategies: Preparation without panic

Communication in the media regarding a potential avian influenza epidemic can serve to accurately and effectively inform the public OR misinform and contribute to unnecessary public panic and subsequent undesirable responses. Governments have time to develop communication strategies and specific messages that can effectively convey desired information at different stages of the anticipated pandemic. Effective social marketing incorporates the concepts of formative research, audience segmentation, and consumer focus. Based on the findings from earlier research on public awareness and understanding of bird flu, the collaborators of the project developed evidence-based advertising messages for two primary time-points in pandemic preparation and tested in a series of focus groups; modified them based on the findings; and then re-tested the final campaign. These findings provide important recommendations for the development of future social marketing campaigns in the event of pandemics or other public health crises.     

Do consumers value nutritional labels?

The European Union is contemplating making the provision ofnutritional labels in food products mandatory. Using data collectedfrom food shoppers, we assessed consumers' valuation of nutritionallabels by analysing their willingness to pay a premium for abox of cookies with a nutritional label. On average, the meanwillingness to pay (WTP) for a box of cookies with a nutritionallabel is estimated to be about 11 per cent above the price ofthe box of cookies without a nutritional label. Consistent withprior expectations, our results also indicate a difference betweenthe WTP of individuals suffering from diet-related health problems(estimated mean 13 per cent) and those who do not suffer anydiet-related health problems (estimated mean 9 per cent).     

Persistence,mean reversion and non-linearities in the US housing prices over 1830–2013

The objective of this study is to provide a direct estimate of the degree of persistence of measures of nominal and real house prices for the US economy, covering the longest possible annual sample of data, namely 1830–2013. The estimation of the degree of persistence accommodates for non-linear (deterministic) trends using Chebyshev polynomials in time. In general, the results show a high degree of persistence in the series along with a component of non-linear behaviour. In general, if we assume uncorrelated errors, non-linearities are observed in both nominal and real prices, but this hypothesis is rejected in favour of linear models for the log-transformation of the data. However, if autocorrelated errors are permitted, non-linearities are observed in all cases, and mean reversion is found in the case of logged prices, though given the wide confidence intervals, the unit root null hypothesis cannot be rejected in these cases.     

Leadership Styles and CSR Practice: An Examination of Sensemaking,Institutional Drivers and CSR Leadership

This article examines the explicit and implicit corporate social responsibility (CSR) framework and its implications for leadership style, in a major banking institution. Evidence for existence of the framework’s key concepts in relation to leadership styles was explored through the self-reported sensemaking of leaders charged with CSR programme introduction. Qualitative data analysis indicated that explicit CSR is linked to an autocratic leadership style, whereas implicit CSR is more closely aligned with emergent and authentic styles. Although our results reinforced key aspects of the explicit and implicit CSR framework, they demonstrated conflicting systems of both CSR and leadership within our case organisation and highlighted the difficulty in categorising such a complex concept as CSR according to specific frameworks. Overall, our data suggest that the leadership styles, needed to successfully implement explicit and implicit CSR programmes, are in conflict. Given our finding that these CSR systems can coincide within one organisation, we suggest that the debating style of transformational leadership may be the required linchpin.