Service quality aspects and sports scientific conventions: An experience from Iran

This study investigates the role of service quality aspects in a Sport Scientific Convention held in Mashhad, Iran in 2015. A sample of 175 conference attendees were targeted to investigate the quality of services offered, their satisfaction, and intention to return. However, the findings show that the quality of access to destination and venue affect service accessibility quality. The hotel value and hotel staff interaction affect accommodation quality, but the atmosphere of the hotel does not. The internal environment of the venue and its staff interaction affect venue quality in a direct and meaningful way, but venue value does not. In addition, convention process and product affect convention quality in a direct and meaningful way. There is also a direct and meaningful relationship between accommodation quality, venue, and convention quality, and service quality in the sports scientific convention. Access quality, however, is not a part of this relationship. On the other hand, there is a relationship between access quality and satisfaction, and satisfaction affects participants' intent to return to the convention.     

Fusion of science and culture key to the 21st century

This essay takes as its premise that long-term human survival requires development of a new alliance between science and culture to the point of fusion. Geopolitical rupture with the past and cultural diversity will shape the norms and values underlying future development of science and technology, with a shift occuring from previous science and technology development models. Science will thus require new models of cultural communication, based on reciprocal relations among all humanity without the hegemony of western values, in order that humanity can live peacefully with itself and the environment.     

Against the Wind: Labor Force Participation of Women and Economic Instability in Iran

In the last three decades, Iranian women's educational attainment has continuously increased while their fertility rate has fallen rapidly. Yet in spite of these developments, which in many countries have a positive effect on women's labor force participation, female labor force participation (FLFP) rates have remained at low levels. This paper argues that despite its overall static trend, FLFP of some Iranian women responded to economic pressures induced by macroeconomic instabilities. Looking at the Iranian economic crisis of 1994–5, the study shows that, controlling for individual fixed effects, married women in rural areas and never-married women in urban areas increased their participation rate by as much as 38 percent. No change in hours worked was found for any group of women. The differences in responses and their underlying reasons have policy implications for many developing countries.     

Oil,Laws, and Female Labor Force Participation

Despite the rapid rise of women’s education and the fall of their fertility rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), female labor force participation (FLFP) rates remain low. This paper argues that oil and gas rents and Islamic family law jointly matter. Controlling for country and year fixed-effects in a long panel dataset, it shows that per capita oil and gas rents reduce FLFP rates in countries with Islamic family law more than others. The results are robust to econometric methodology and to controlling for the interaction of rents and all other time-constant factors that are common across the MENA region, such as culture, social norms, and institutions. Moreover, the results cannot be replicated by substituting historical plough use, a strong predictor of gender discrimination, in place of Islamic family law. Policy implications are discussed.     

A study on the mean past lifetime of the components of (n − k + 1)-out-of-n system at the system level

In the present paper, we consider a (n − k + 1)-out-of-n system with identical components where it is assumed that the lifetimes of the components are independent and have a common distribution function F. We assume that the system fails at time t or sometime before t, t > 0. Under these conditions, we are interested in the study of the mean time elapsed since the failure of the components. We call this as the mean past lifetime (MPL) of the components at the system level. Several properties of the MPL are studied. It is proved that the relation between the proposed MPL and the underlying distribution is one-to-one. We have shown that when the components of the system have decreasing reversed hazard then the MPL of the system is increasing with respect to time. Some examples are also provided.     

Income mobility and the Arab spring: the case of Egypt and Jordan

Arab Spring has swept Middle East and North Africa. Although the reasons behind this revolutionary albeit mostly unfruitful social phenomenon is unknown, economic reasons such as income inequality and lack of income mobility have been mentioned. Using an approach that is free of measurement error and attrition biases, this study estimates income mobility in a country that went through Arab Spring, Egypt, and compares that with a similar country that did not experience it, Jordan. The results show that unconditional and conditional income mobility were substantially smaller in Egypt than Jordan. This has implications for the policy-makers not just in the Middle East but the world.     

Multiproduct firm behaviour in a differentiated market

Abstract In this paper we offer a generalization of the circular model of product differentiation by introducing a multiproduct firm facing monoproduct competitors. We prove existence and explicitly characterize equilibrium when transportation costs are quadratic. We exhibit interesting equilibrium features for price policy, market shares, and profits. In equilibrium, the multiproduct firm uses its connected market shares to build asymmetric pricing schemes that allow a fraction of its product line (brands, stores or firms) to be shielded from outside competition and hence extracts maximum consumer surplus. Our results shed some light on the link between product differentiation and mergers and acquisitions activity (M&As). JEL Classification: D21, L11, L13
Le comportement de l'entreprise multi‐produits dans un marché différencié Cet article propose une généralisation du modèle circulaire de différenciation des produits en considérant le cas d'une firme multi‐produits en concurrence avec des firmes mono‐produit. Nous montrons l'existence d'un équilibre en prix, que nous caractérisons dans le cas de coûts de transports quadratiques. Nous exposons les propriétés de cet équilibre en terme de parts de marchés et de profits obtenus par les entreprises. A l'équilibre, la firme multi‐produits utilise ses niches de marché pour mettre en place une tarification asymétrique permettant à une partie de sa ligne de produits d'être protégée de la concurrence et d'extraire le maximum de surplus aux consommateurs. Nous proposons ensuite une discussion sur le lien entre différenciation des produits et activité de fusion et acquisition.