Political and Institutional Factors in the Convergence of International Equity Markets: Evidence from the Club Convergence and Clustering Procedure

In this study the new panel convergence methodology developed by Phillips and Sul (2007) is employed to explore the convergence dynamics of international equity markets and determine whether political and institutional factors can explain convergence or divergence patterns across international equity markets. The empirical findings suggest that international equity markets do not form a homogeneous convergence club. Seven specific political and institutional factors are used to explain such divergent behavior. The empirical analysis documented specific factors, i.e. democratization, unemployment benefits, and public expenditure on pensions, which seem capable of explaining such a heterogeneous divergent pattern among the equity markets under study.     

动物饲养人责任归责原则探析——中、德法律比较

对饲养动物致人损害的归责处理，中国法在“无过错责任”和“推定过错责任”之间徘徊；德国法则针对不同的饲养目的分别采取不同的归责原则。但中德两国法律有一个相似的地方，即在饲养的动物致人损害的案件中，动物的饲养人和管理人也并非在任何情况下都要承担全部责任。     

房利美、房地美殃及全球？

最近几周，因七年前“9．11”事件造成的独有恐慌情绪重新弥漫在华尔街上空。金融股纷纷下挫伴随着投资者的大规模抛售，一度对股市持乐观态度的人们不得不再次修正自己的预期。     

The impact of perceived brand globalness, brand origin image, and brand origin–extension fit on brand extension success

This research investigates perceived brand globalness, brand origin image, and brand origin–extension fit as drivers of brand extension success that are mediated through parent brand quality and brand–extension fit. The authors present two complementary studies based on consumer samples from a mature and an emerging market respectively. In both studies, out of all drivers examined, the brand origin–extension fit has the strongest effect on brand extension success both in terms of quality evaluations and purchase intentions. The findings further indicate that extension success is more influenced by consumers’ perceptions of the country from which the focal brand originates than by their perceptions of the brand’s global availability and reach. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are considered and future research directions identified.     

The Importance of Fashion: The Chinese and U.S. Gen Y Perspective

ABSTRACT

A cross-cultural study is conducted to examine the perceptions, needs, preferences, influences and fashion buying habits of Generation Y consumers in both China and the United States. Chinese consumers appear to be more fashion-conscious in that the majority of their luxury purchases are fashion products. In this increasingly globalized world, it is important for a fashion marketer to determine if one strategy can be used to reach all Generation Y consumers or if separate strategies are necessary. Specifically, this study examines fashion leadership, need for uniqueness, and attention to social comparison information to determine if there are differences between these two cohorts and how best to reach them.     

The motherhood wage gap: What about job amenities?

Women with children tend to earn lower hourly wages than women without children — a shortfall known as the ‘motherhood wage gap’. While many studies provide evidence for this empirical fact and explore several hypotheses about its causes, the impact of motherhood on job dimensions other than wages has scarcely been investigated. In order to assess changes in women's jobs around motherhood, I use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and employ a first difference analysis. The results reveal that women when having children accommodate at their original employer primarily through adjustments in working hours. Yet, when changing the employer women adjust their jobs in several dimensions, such as different aspects of the work schedule (working hours, work at night or according to a flexible schedule) as well as the level of stress. Further analysis provides some limited support for the motherhood wage gap being explained by adjustments in the work conditions.     

Influence of women’s workload on their nutritional status in selected communities in Ghana

Abstract: A study was undertaken to assess the impact of women’s work on their health and nutritional status in Ghana. Using a combination of purposive sampling and cluster sampling techniques, 80 women were selected from Madina (suburban) and Boi (rural) communities in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Structured questionnaire and 24-h dietary recall methods were used to collect the information on the nature of the women’s work, the amount of time used for the activities, health problems and food intakes. Nutritional anthropometry (weight, height) was used to assess the nutritional status using body mass index (BMI) as an indicator. The results revealed that the women were involved in multiple activities and worked between 12 and 17.5 h daily. In an attempt to fulfil their multiple roles, the women suffered many physiological problems, with general weakness and tiredness, body pains, dizziness, headaches, arthritis and malaria being the most common ailments. For food intake and nutrition, it was observed that 70% of the women had only two meals in a day. The reasons attributed to this include lack of time, the need to leave home early and too much involvement in work. The diet of the rural residents were low in almost all the nutrients calculated, whereas that of the urban residents was slightly deficient in protein, energy, iron and calcium. Using BMI as a measure of nutritional status, 31% of the women were found to be at nutritional risk.     

Place identity and sustainable consumption: implications for social marketing

Place identity is a self-identity dimension related to a physical setting. This study measured place identity relating to residential neighborhood, based on levels of attachment, continuity with personal past, perception of familiarity, cohesion and social acceptance. The study examined the proposition that people with strong place identity are committed to their neighborhoods, in turn leading to positive sustainable consumption attitude and behavior. Structural equation modeling empirically verified a theoretical model developed from the environmental psychology, consumer behavior and marketing literatures. A telephone survey was conducted of 409 residents in two suburbs in the Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area, Malaysia. The finding that place identity and commitment to the residential suburb are strong motivational drivers of sustainable consumption-related attitude and behavior has important implications for social marketing.     

Credit card behavior,financial styles,and heuristics

The paper makes four contributions. First, the paper provides new data and findings about credit card usage segmentation in respect to spending and borrowing behavior. Second, it sets the new findings against the backdrop of the newly emerging literature on financial literacy. A great variability occurs in financial literacy across American consumers. Third, the paper describes fast and frugal heuristics aimed to help consumers make effective, and in some cases better, budgeting decisions when they use credit cards. Fourth, the paper describes the introduction of a new set of online financial tools, offered by a large credit card company, which consumers are now using to make decisions about their spending and borrowing, and links these tools to the heuristics under discussion. Fast and frugal heuristics are likely to be especially valuable to consumers with low confidence in their online skills. Notably, 25% of credit cardholders report that they have low confidence using online technology to manage their finances, with the corresponding figure being 44% for those most at risk.     

Uncovering the Value of Green Advertising for Environmental Management Practices

This paper extends previous environmental management research by building and empirically testing a model of the contingency effects of green advertising on the relationships between environmental management practices in terms of environmentally conscious manufacturing and product stewardship, environmental reputation and financial performance. We examine the value of green advertising in sharing and publicizing information about organizational achievements in environmental preservation in a business‐to business context with the Taiwanese electronics manufacturing industry. The theoretical propositions are largely confirmed by structural path analyses of survey responses collected from 122 Taiwanese electronics manufacturers. Green advertising delivers financial benefits only for those manufacturers that do not have an established environmental reputation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment