Understanding consumers’ perception of clothing quality: a multidimensional approach

The purpose of this study was to explore how consumers evaluate clothing quality. The researchers used a questionnaire based on responses from previous clothing quality research. It included statements to assess consumers’ use of informational cues to evaluate clothing quality and their expectations of high‐quality garments. A total of 146 students completed the questionnaire. An analysis of the data indicated that 75% of the informational cues and 36% of the expectations of a high‐quality garment were used by the respondents when considering the quality of a garment. The results of this study support the multidimensional nature of consumers’ perception of clothing quality using both informational cues and consumers’ expectations of high‐quality garments.     

Fair Value Accounting Compared to Other Accounting Systems

Abstract

It is well known that the total profit generated from an insurance product is fixed (unless the accounting system affects the product management), but the incidence of reported profit varies depending on the accounting system used and the way that assumptions are set and reset. The purpose of this paper is to take a very simple product (a single-premium deferred annuity (SPDA) with no special features) and follow its earnings over a 15-year period. We will examine the volatility of earnings under Fair Value (FV) accounting as proposed by the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), as we understand it, and U.S. GAAP and U.S. Statutory accounting. Additionally, we will examine how each of the accounting systems is impacted by the choice of a lapse assumption. We have the additional objective of simplicity, to produce a model that the reader can relate to and whose calculations can be reproduced with nominal effort.     

The Globalization of Business Schools: Curriculum and Pedagogical Issues

In this article we explore the connection between learning goals, cognitive skill development, and pedagogical strategies. We identify cognitive skills that are important to students of international business, and link them to the pedagogical strategies that support them. The characteristics that impact the effectiveness of international business pedagogy are described. Finally, three university programs are used to illustrate the connection between explicit learning goals, pedagogy, and cognitive skill development.     

Assessment of the clothing and textile component in fashion merchandising programmes

Abstract The purpose of the study was to examine the importance of the educational criteria to graduates of fashion merchandising programmes. A 74-item questionnaire based on the core curricular competencies identified by the International Textiles and Apparel Association (ITAA) and course objectives of two fashion merchandising programmes was developed. The questionnaires were mailed to 296 alumni of two universities. The response rate was 37%. Twenty-four (32%) of the criteria were rated as most important or very important. Of these, 42% were based on the ITAA core competencies and 58% on course objectives. An additional analysis was conducted to determine whether managers rated the criteria differently from merchandisers. t-Tests determined that there was a significant difference in only 10 of the criteria. The results of this study provided a means to assess two fashion merchandising programmes. It also provided an initial validation of the ITAA core competencies from a fashion merchandising perspective and a preliminary examination of the educational criteria for a fashion merchandising core.     

Migration,remittances and human capital investment in Kenya

This paper investigates the relationship between international migration, remittances, and human capital investment in Kenya. We use household‐level data from the 2009 Kenya Migration Household Survey (which was part of the Africa Migration Project) to test our hypothesis and uncover a positive and significant relationship between the amount of international remittances a household receives and the amount of expenditures allocated to education (for all levels of education). We consider various robustness checks and find that our results hold up to various specifications, including an instrumental variable approach.     

A rum deal: The purser’s measure and accounting control of materials in the Royal Navy, 1665–1832

We draw on archival resources and maritime and accounting history literature to explore the role of Royal Navy (RN) pursers between 1665 and 1832. Through an agency theory lens, we investigate accounting-related practices pursers used to control consumable rations, including the ‘purser’s (short) measure.’ The records pursers were required to keep suggest that the RN was at the forefront of the development of cost and materials accounting, and in the keeping of detailed accounting records. We provide fresh insights in to the purser’s role and his association with the gestation of materials waste controls, standard costing, and audit and accountability processes.     

Will Social Welfare Expenditures Survive Tax Competition?

Increasing economic openness creates demands for social welfareprogrammes designed to cushion the impact of economic changes,but may also encourage governments to reduce tax rates to attractmobile economic resources. Competitive tax reductions couldthen prevent governments from being able to finance significantwelfare spending. Alternatively, economic globalization mightimprove the ability of governments to afford social welfareprogrammes—and several considerations point in this direction.First, taxes on internationally mobile activity represent onlysmall fractions of total revenue collections; personal incometaxes, value-added taxes, and social insurance contributionsfinance most social welfare spending. Second, internationalcompetition need not reduce taxes, and indeed, over the past25 years, corporate tax collections have remained high as fractionsof GDP and total taxes. Third, the vitality of a country's economylargely determines its level of social spending. To the extentthat incomes rise as a result, greater economic openness shouldstrengthen provision of social welfare. Footnotes ¹ E-mail address: jrhines{at}umich.edu     

The dynamic effects of shocks to labour markets: evidence from OECD countries

This paper uses a set of plausible long-run identifying restrictionson a three-variable system, including output growth, real wagegrowth, and the unemployment rate, to isolate three independentstructural shocks which drive fluctuations in those variablesin a sample of 16 OECD countries during 1950-96. These shocksare interpreted as aggregate demand, productivity, and laboursupply disturbances. As a by-product of the previous analysis,the cyclical behaviour of real wages in response to a demandshock is re-examined and two indices of real wage rigidity arederived.