Union growth in The Netherlands 1961–1989

An empirical analysis is presented of union growth in The Netherlands over the past decades. The analysis shows that the effect of changes in the industrial structure is very small. It appears that union growth is influenced by wage growth and by unemployment. If real wages increase more than labour productivity or if unemployment declines union membership increases.     

Valuation effects of mergers and acquisitions in freight transportation

This study investigates valuation effects of mergers and acquisitions in the freight transportation industry. It is found that mergers and acquisitions create synergistic gains, especially tender offers, consistent with the view that freight transportation mergers and acquisitions occur for synergistic reasons rather than management’s desire for empire building or perk consumption. Both target’s and bidder’s shareholders are better-off, but most of the synergistic gains accrue to the target’s shareholders. Targets’ valuation effects are greater for vertical rather than horizontal mergers, indicating a positive valuation for firms that control and manage a more extensive supply chain. The bidders’ wealth effects are greater for friendly mergers. Overall, the findings have important implications for professional practice and the development of the theoretical literature.     

Parental preferences and choice of school

This paper provides a UK high resolution microeconometric study of parental preferences and the choice process for secondary schools. Given the particular geographical features of the region, first preference almost entirely related to one of two state schools, which is a situation that perhaps better reflects the real nature of the options faced by most parents in the UK. In contrast to earlier work, distance and access considerations were explicitly incorporated in the preference and choice models estimated and found to be a significant influence on parental decisions. Further significant factors were found, dependent upon the parents' actual choice of school.     

Attitudes toward the use of designated versus non‐designated urban recreation space

Interviews were conducted in Kitchener‐Waterloo, Ontario, at eight different recreation areas. These were classified as either designated or nondesignated recreation areas. The interview was designed to obtain information regarding demographic characteristics of the user, attitudes toward the use of urban recreation areas (both playgrounds and areas that are not designated as recreational in character), reasons for choosing a particular recreation site and what users considered to be part of an ideal recreation area. Information gathered by the interview method was supplemented by a series of observations. Results indicated a significant difference between age and reasons for nonattendance at designated play areas. Differences in use by sex were, however, not significant.     

Economic polarization,leisure practices and policies,and the quality of life: a study in post-communist Moscow

Since the 1980s Russia has been transformed from one of the world's most equal into one of its most unequal countries, certainly in terms of income levels. This paper, based on survey research in Moscow in 1997, explores the implications of this economic polarization for the population's uses of leisure and the quality of their lives. The analysis juxtaposes and compares alternative, Russian and Western, approaches to measuring the quality of leisure. The Moscow evidence confirms that leisure is an important, independent contributor to the quality of life, and the analysis identifies the types of leisure policies and provisions that will maximize wellbeing within all socio-demographic groups, not just in Moscow but also, we believe, in other modern cities as well.     

Book Review

Tourism and Postcolonialism: Contested Discourses, Identities and Representations. C. Michael Hall and Hazel Tucker (eds). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2004. 0-415-33102-1     

Sustaining urban place-making

Educational travel, a neglected area of study in sustainable tourism, has grown substantially over the last 20 years in part as a response to institutional missions to promote international education, but also as a result of the USA's national security concerns to nurture a global citizenry. Considerable future growth is predicted following the bipartisan Lincoln Commission report and under the pending new legislation in the USA. Our pre-test/post-test study of almost 5% (n = 651 US students) of the entire short-term, US educational travel market to Australia and New Zealand between 2008 and 2009 revealed significant differences between the cohorts of the two programs, both of which focused on sustainable development. The Australia program not only produced significant increases in global citizenship (as measured by scores on consumer behaviors, support for environmental policies, and environmental citizenship) beyond that of the New Zealand program, but any initial differences between the programs were erased following participation. Reasons for the differences in attitude change are discussed. Analysis also noted key differences between students with different political orientations, but no gender differences. Implications for managing educational travel, marketing Australia's and New Zealand's tourism, sustainable tourism planning, and theory advancements are discussed.