Linking foresight and sustainability: An integral approach

This paper looks at the growing confluence between sustainability thinking and futures thinking. Drawing on developments based on Integral Theory, it then looks at how an emerging Integral Sustainability (IS) promises to enhance theory and practice in the sustainability field. In particular, the paper looks at how IS makes sense of sustainability challenges from an ontological position based on perspectives in place of objects (and their systems). A framework is outlined for understanding how various sustainability perspectives are constructed. This framework is then used to analyse a range of general perspectives the authors have identified that relate to nuclear power as a response to climate change. The strength of the IS approach is considered in the context of ongoing debate in Australia over the appropriateness of developing a local nuclear power industry as a response to climate change.     

Revisiting asset pricing under habit formation in an overlapping-generations economy

By incorporating habit formation into an overlapping-generations economy, we show that the middle-aged consumers’ savings decision has a substantial impact on the equity premium. The higher incentive for savings for the middle-aged, resulting from the habit formation preference, causes an even higher demand for bonds and a lower demand for equity, which eventually generates a lower risk-free rate and a higher required return for holding equity than does the framework of non-habit forming models. Calibration results verify that the habit formation setting, together with an OLG framework is capable of yielding lower bond returns and higher equity returns than the standard CRRA utility models, and the borrowing constraint imposed on the young-aged consumers amplifies the positive effect of habit formation on the equity premium. The findings imply that habit formation preferences within the overlapping-generations framework under the borrowing-constrained economy can provide a more improved explanation of the equity premium puzzle.     

Corporate Reorganizations: Changes in the Intensity of Labor and Capital Expenditures

Using a new measure that indirectly captures a firm's restructuring efforts on the basis of changes in its labor and capital expenditure patterns, this study examines the link between restructuring and financial performance for an international sample of firms during the years 1989–1997. Results show that firms that curbed the growth in labor expense intensity (labor expense relative to sales), regardless of the accompanying changes in sales or in capital expenditure intensity, had significantly higher annual returns (despite having lower profitability) than firms that expanded their labor intensity. Financial market's response to a reduction in labor expense intensity appears to be more favorable if this reduction is accompanied by a reduction in capital expenditure growth when firms face declining sales, and an increase in capital expenditure growth when firm sales are growing.     

Developing human resources for the technical workforce: a comparative study of Korea and Thailand

Asian countries face significant and growing shortages of technically skilled workers. Vocational‐technical systems are key components of national human resource development. Using labor market data from Thailand and Korea, this paper analyzes the economic payoff for individual investment in vocational‐technical education, and subsequent employment in a related occupation. The results are mixed, showing that relatively few men or women end up working in areas that they are trained for, but that for men in Korea and women in Thailand, employment in a related field pays off in terms of higher monthly earnings. As governments move toward workforce policy created in conjunction with firms and education, the results of this study reinforce the need for national development plans that address the relatively weak relationship between initial training and employment in Asian countries.     

Military expenditure,threats, and growth

In this study we test whether catching up, the hypothesis that there is technological spillover from leaders to followers, is still important among industrialized countries. Since the USA is no longer the technological leader in many industries and since catching up, if it still exists, may not operate uniformly across different industries, a disaggregated study is more appropriate. A testable model is developed and a number of tests for the existence of catching up are performed. A major improvement on previous tests is that the level of technology is measured in terms of total factor productivity. The two major conclusions, which are quite robust, are that after 1970 there is no catching-up effect left in the tradables sector, while catching up is found for industries in the nontradables sector.     

Monetary Policy and Financial Inclusion in Sub-Sahara Africa: A Panel VAR Approach

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the dynamic and bi-causal link between monetary policy and financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa using a panel VAR framework. The researcher obtained data from World Development Indicators (WDI) spanning from 1990 to 2014 for 48 sub-Saharan African economies. The findings suggest that a bi-causal relationship exists between monetary policy and financial inclusion. Specifically, it is evident that monetary policy affects financial inclusion, and financial inclusion is also influenced by monetary policy. The policy implication of this study is that the effectiveness of monetary policy depends on financial inclusion. Hence, the efforts of governments in sub-Saharan African countries should aim at policies that enhance financial inclusion for effective implementation of monetary policy. Also, promoting financial inclusion will require governments in sub-Saharan Africa to reduce their monetary policy rates.     

The impact of money attitudes and global life satisfaction on the maladaptive pursuit of consumption

The goal of this research was to examine how money attitudes and global life satisfaction relate to and predict compulsive buying among young adults. Using a Prolific Academic sample, 265 adults between the ages 18 and 25 completed the Money Attitudes Scale, Money Ethics Scale, Spendthrift‐Tightwad Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Richmond Compulsive‐Buying Scale. As expected, motives toward saving and spending money as assessed by the Money Attitude Scale and pain of paying as assessed by the Spendthrift‐Tightwad Scale were correlated and predicted compulsive buying. However, these findings are qualified by an interaction effect such that those who held negative attitudes toward saving money and experienced little pain of paying were compulsive buyers. Theoretical and practical implications for maladaptive purchasing behavior among young adults are discussed.     

Endogenous pricing to market and financing costs

This paper explains why relative PPP should hold more tightly in emerging markets, and why pricing to market would be observed more frequently in the OECD countries. It studies the endogenous determination of pricing to market, in a real option model with time-dependent transportation costs, where the future terms of trade are random. Allowing time-dependent transportation costs adds a dimension of investment to the pre-buying of imports, implying that financial considerations determine the frequency of pricing to market, and the deviations from relative PPP. If the expected discounted cost of last minute delivery is higher than pre-buying, one exercises the option of spot market imports if the realized terms of trade are favorable enough. Pricing to market is observed in countries characterized by low terms of trade volatility and low financing costs. In these circumstances, imports are pre-bought, and the spot market for imports is inactive. In countries where the financing costs and the terms of trade volatility are high, few imports are pre-bought, the price of imports is determined by the realized real exchange rate, and a version of relative PPP holds. With an intermediate level of terms of trade volatility and of financing costs, a mixed regime is observed. If the realized real exchange rate is weak, pricing to market would prevail, increasing consumers’ welfare by shielding them from the adverse purchasing power consequences of weak terms of trade. If the realized real exchange rate is favorable enough, more imports are purchased in the spot market, and the relative PPP would hold. Higher financing costs increase the cost of pre-buying imports, reducing thereby the frequency of pricing to market, increasing the expected relative price of imports, reducing the expected deviations from relative PPP, and reducing welfare.     

A dynamic segmentation of U.S. women during the COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a vast, but uneven, influence on consumers. Diversity in consumer reactions, and the extent to which those reactions lead to lasting preference and lifestyle changes, present challenges for implementing effective marketing strategies during a period of societal crisis. To address this, we conducted a dynamic segmentation analysis involving over 14,000 U.S. women by assessing relevant psychological, experiential, and other personal factors at multiple time points during the pandemic. This analysis identified seven unique consumer segments who varied in their current and future degree of change, and who indicated responsiveness to specific forms of brand and advertising content. This seven-segment clustering was highly stable over time, suggesting that certain segmentation approaches hold continuing value for marketers even as widespread events like pandemics evolve.     

In Memory of the Father: Laurence S. Moss

A personal reflection on the life and philosophy of the late Laurence S. Moss (former editor of the AJES) by his son, Joshua Louis Moss. Mixing personal anecdote with a general academic analysis, Moss informally examines his father's intellectual beginnings in the 1960s drawn from the lectures of Ludwig Von Mises, and traces this through his father's development of innovative teaching techniques like the incorporation of stage magic. Moss examines his father's intellectual contrarianism and canonical skepticism as key developmental foundations used to build his father's academic and pedagogical approach. Moss examines his father's interest in expanding economics through a cross‐disciplinary approach utilizing philosophy, history, sociology, and performance studies through his father's innovative examination of points of contact between the principles of stage magic and the principles of economic theory.