Analysis of diisononyl phthalate in PVC consumer products used by children

Diisononyl phthalate (DINP) is widely added as a plasticizer in the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) used in children’s products. Forty-two plastic products intended for mouthing, or with a high potential for mouthing, by children of age group 0.5-3 years were analyzed for total and leachable phthalate contents. DINP was found in 64% of products tested and its concentration ranged from 3.9 to 44%. Migration of DINP from PVC products into saliva simulant was studied using simulated chewing activity and an Instron Universal Testing Machine. Under the conditions used in this study, the DINP migration rates from teethers and squeeze toys were found to vary from 0.04 to 1.29 µg/10 cm 2 /h. The migration rates show a 40-fold variation within the plastic products tested. However, 83% of the products showed a migration rate of <0.32 µg/10 cm2/h. The mean value was found to be 0.3 µg/10 cm2/h with a distribution median of 0.23 µg/10 cm2/h.     

Profiling mass affluent luxury goods consumers in China: A psychographic approach

This article focuses on the main group of luxury goods consumers in China, the Chinese elite, who are of critical importance for marketing luxury goods. First, after defining the Chinese elite, we identify the relevant dimensions to segment this mass affluent group: conspicuous/functional, individualist/collectivist, impulsive/rational, and propensity to innovate. Second, we show the emergence of four clusters along these psychographic dimensions but also sociodemographic and geographic characteristics: luxury lovers, luxury followers, luxury intellectuals, and luxury laggards. Third, we present examples of consumers' profiles in each cluster and illustrate these examples with excerpts from in‐depth interviews. Finally, we show how this approach can help managers to identify Chinese elite luxury segments and efficiently target them. We propose segmented or crossover marketing strategies and conclude with recommendations for a better understanding of innovativeness, enhancing brand loyalty, and reducing postpurchase guilt, with respect to these segments. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Myopia, redistribution and pensions

This paper reviews a number of recent contributions that study pension design with myopic individuals. Its objective is to explore how the presence of more or less myopic individuals affects pension design when individuals differ also in productivity. This double heterogeneity gives rise to an interesting interplay between paternalistic and redistributive considerations, which is at the heart of most of the results that are presented. The main part of the paper is devoted to the issue of pension design when myopic individual do not save “enough” for their retirement because their “myopic self” (with a high discount rate) emerges when labor supply and savings decisions are made. Some extensions and variations are considered in the second part. In particular we deal with situations where labor disutility or preferences for consumption are subject to “habit formation” and where sin goods have a detrimental effect on second period health. Myopic individuals tend to underestimate the effects of both habit formation and sinful consumption, which complicates public policy.     

Food crisis and export taxation: the cost of non-cooperative trade policies

This paper aims to assess the rationales for export taxes in the context of a food crisis. First, we summarize the effects of export taxes using both partial and general equilibrium theoretical models. When large countries aim to maintain constant domestic food prices, in the event of an increase in world agricultural prices, the optimal response is to decrease import tariffs in net food-importing countries and to increase export tariffs in net food-exporting countries. The latter decision improves national welfare, while the former reduces national welfare: this is the price that must be paid to keep domestic food prices constant. Small net food-importing countries are harmed by both decisions, while small net food-exporting countries gain from both. Second, we illustrate the costs of a lack of regulation and cooperation surrounding such policies in a time of crisis using a global computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, mimicking the mechanisms that appeared during the recent food price surge (2006–2008). This model illustrates the interdependence of trade policies, as well as how a process of retaliation and counter-retaliation (increased export taxes in large net food-exporting countries and reduced import tariffs in large net food-importing countries) can contribute to successive augmentations of world agricultural prices and harm small net food-importing countries. We conclude with a call for international regulation, in particular because small net food-importing countries may be substantially harmed by those policies that amplify the already negative impact of a food crisis.     

School Responsiveness to Quality Rankings: An Empirical Analysis of Secondary Education in the Netherlands

This paper assesses the response of Dutch secondary schools to the publication of relative quality ratings in a national newspaper (Trouw). Our research design exploits the discontinuities in the ranking formula that was used to generate five consecutive levels for the overall quality of schools.We find previous Trouw quality scores to have an offsetting effect on school quality performance, i.e. both average grades and the number of diplomas go up after receiving a negative score. These effects are confined to the lower support of the performance distribution.     

EQUILIBRIUM FARM GATE PRICE IN THE CASE OF TWO SUCCESSIVE MARKETS WITH FIXED SUPPLY

This study aims to describe the evolution of the organisational structure of raw agricultural product markets in West African countries (the supply may be regarded as fixed) using microeconomic models to assess the evolution of the farm gate price; and focusing on the impact of the vertical integration of some firms on the producer price. This paper shows that the evolution of the commercial organisational structure of agricultural products has led to a gradual improvement in the producer price. It also shows that whatever the degree of vertical integration on these markets, it has a positive impact on the farm gate price. However, even if vertical integration also improves the price of agricultural input on the intermediary market, the intermediary firms undergo a deteriorating situation.