Endorser ethnicity impact on advertising effectiveness: effects of the majority vs. minority status of the target audience

Previous research has studied several factors influencing advertising responses. However, this body of work has been mainly conducted in contexts where the target audience is a minority with a perceived lower status in the host country. This current study examines the effect of endorser ethnicity on advertising in the specific context of Qatar. This is a unique context where the target audience is the local empowered numerical minority. We propose to study the moderator effects of product type (utilitarian versus hedonic product) and product ethnic orientation (ethnic oriented versus global product) for both, the minority and mainstream groups to explain some of the previously contradicting findings. Data is collected using a three factor between-subject experimental design. Findings reveal the moderating effects of the audience minority vs. majority status. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

WOULD AUSTRALIA–NEW ZEALAND BE A VIABLE CURRENCY UNION? EVIDENCE FROM INTERSTATE RISK‐SHARING PERFORMANCES

In this article, we first measure the potential welfare gains from perfect risk sharing among Australian states and New Zealand regions under possible unification. We show that New Zealand regions reap moderate gains from perfect risk sharing when they form a union with Australia, whereas for Australian states, the gains are somewhat similar to what they have attained at the intranational level. Second, we measure the extent of interstate risk sharing and intertemporal smoothing between the two countries. We are able to observe a substantial degree of intertemporal smoothing among Australian states and New Zealand regions, either alone or jointly, thus confirming the permanent income hypothesis. Further, unique to the risk‐sharing literature, we decompose the aggregate (nondiversifiable) output shocks into positive and negative components, in order to assess the strength of risk‐sharing mechanisms across business cycles. The study finds a virtual absence of risk sharing when Australia and New Zealand face negative aggregate fluctuations, raising doubts about the feasibility of the union, particularly during economic downturns. (JEL F41, F36)     

Does investor sentiment impact the returns and volatility of Islamic equities?

In this paper, we estimate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) and vector autoregressive (VAR) models to examine whether investor sentiment impacts the returns and volatility of various U.S. Dow Jones Islamic equity indices. The results from GARCH estimations show that changes in investor sentiment are positively correlated with the returns of the Shari’ah-compliant market portfolio. In addition, we find similar results for the three Shari’ah-compliant firm-size portfolios (i.e., large-, medium-, and small-cap). However, this relationship is stronger for harder to arbitrage Shari’ah-compliant stocks; that is, investor sentiment has a greater influence on small-cap equities. Additionally, estimations from the vector autoregressive model confirm the aforementioned results. In terms of volatility, GARCH estimations suggest that bullish shifts in investor sentiment in the current period are accompanied by lower conditional volatility in the ensuing period. In general, our findings suggest that as noise traders create more risk the market seems to reward them with higher expected returns.     

Impact of organizational justice on customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry of Pakistan: The moderating role of uncertainty avoidance

This study investigates the impact of distributive justice, procedural justice, interactional justice, and informational justice on customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry of Pakistan, also the study investigates the moderating role of uncertainty avoidance on all relationships. Data were collected from 309 consumers from all provinces of Pakistan. A significant positive impact of dimensions of organizational justice on customer satisfaction is found; however, contrary to expectations, no moderating role of uncertainty avoidance is proved for any of the relationships. At the end of the article, the results of the study are discussed. This study shows potential implications for service providers.     

Households’ participation in and expenditure on recreation and tourism in Pakistan

We employ Heckman selection models and Probit, OLS techniques to estimate the effect of socio-economic factors on household participation in and expenditure on recreation and tourism in Pakistan. Results show that income, education, region and women’s empowerment increase the probability of households in participation in on recreational and tourism while the number of adults and children in the households decreases probability. Similarly, household income and age of the household head positively but the number of adults and children negatively affect households’ expenditure on tourism. Strategies and policies in favor of low income and large families’ participation in tourism are recommended.     

Ambition, discrimination, and occupational attainment: a study of a British cohort

Examining British cohort data we find significant differencesin the occupational aspirations of boys and girls at age 16that appear to follow a traditional pattern. To isolate theeffect of gender hiring bias on occupational attainment a conditionalhiring model is estimated. This separates the occupational preferencesof workers to join a pool of job applicants from the hiringdecision of employers. Conditional on occupational preferences,we find, in general, no evidence of hiring bias against womenexcept in manual/craft occupations. Failure to control for differencesin career aspirations, in this study, produces an overestimateof the extent of occupational sex discrimination of around 60%.     

Implications of high food prices for poverty in Pakistan

The study estimates the impacts of rising world food prices on poverty in rural and urban areas of Pakistan. Household income and expenditure data for 2004/2005 is used to estimate compensated and uncompensated price and expenditure elasticities using the linear approximation of the almost ideal demand system. Taking the unexpected component of higher domestic food prices in 2007/2008, own and cross price compensated elasticities are used to derive the changes in the quantity consumed, food expenditure and impacts on poverty assuming the food crisis happened in 2004/2005. The results indicate that poverty increased by 34.8%, severely affecting the urban areas where poverty increased by 44.6% as compared to 32.5% in rural areas. The estimates show that 2.3 million people are unable to reach even one‐half of poverty line expenditures while another 13.7 million are just below and 23.9 million are just above the poverty line. In the short run, it is important to ensure food availability to these people. In the long run, the policy environment of subsidizing urban food consumers by keeping wheat prices lower than the international price, needs to be reconsidered to provide the right incentives to increase food availability.     

Beyond the slogan of South-South co-operation

Greater South-South co-operation requires a major political initiative rather than technocratic blueprints. Its ultimate success depends on a fundamental internal restructuring of Third-World societies, including their intellectual emancipation, education of their masses and adoption of alternative development strategies to meet the basic needs of their people. Such co-operation may first emerge between a few Southern nations, rather than on a global basis, and it may follow a period of intensive South-South dialogue through a Third-World Secretariat. The real potential for co-operation is large, both in expanding South-South trade and in organizing meaningful countervailing power to negotiate a new international economic order.     

Queueing problems with arrivals in general stresm and phase type service

This paper deals with the steady state behaviour of a discrete time, single channel, first-come-first-served queueing problem wherein the service phases at two consecutive time-marks are correlated but the arrivals occur in General Stream. Probability Generating functions for the number of phases are obtained under two different models each with assumption that the service phases at two consecutive time marks are (i) correlated and (ii) uncorrelated. For each case the mean queue lengths when the number of phases demanded by an arriving unit is one, are derived. Some particular cases are discussed.     

Trade intensity and business cycle synchronization: East Asia versus Europe

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the relationship between trade intensities and synchronization of business cycles in East Asia and Europe (EU-15). It extends the work of Shin and Wang, 2004, Shin and Wang, 2005 by providing a comparative perspective between East Asia and Europe. The paper finds that intra-industry trade, rather than inter-industry trade, is the major factor in explaining business cycle co-movements in both regions. The paper also supports the hypothesis that the relationship between trade intensity and output co-movement is stronger in East Asia than in Europe. The major policy implication of this finding is that East Asia needs to further strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination within the region.