Non‐Recognition of Print Advertising: Emotion Arousal and Gender Effects

Research in the behavioral sciences has found that memory tends to be enhanced by exposure to emotion‐arousing stimuli. While this relationship is not fully understood, the linkage appears to be more pronounced for females than for males. While the majority of prior studies dealing with memory have relied on the use of visual stimuli in a clinical experimental setting, this research examined the impact on memory resulting from exposure to actual print advertisements of varying degrees of arousal‐producing content. Differences in the relationship between arousal and memory were explored for male and female participants. In general, females were found to exhibit higher memory levels than males. As a single combined group, subjects exposed to emotion arousing versus emotion neutral ad. stimuli exhibited no significant difference in memory. For the set of emotion neutral ad. stimuli, no difference in memory was found between sexes. However, retention was significantly higher for females than males for the set of emotion‐arousing stimuli. The study identifies opportunities for further applied memory research.     

Why are Some Engaged and Not Others? Explaining Environmental Engagement among Small Firms in Tourism

This paper examines the reasons for different levels of environmental engagement among small firms in tourism. Drawing on theories of motivation, notably Social Cognitive Theory, Motivation Systems Theory and Goal Orientation Theory, as well as the literature on environmental sensitivity, it proposes a novel conceptual framework that is subsequently used to inform an empirical study. The findings of the research suggest that varying levels of environmental engagement may be explained by differences in worldviews, self‐efficacy beliefs, context beliefs and goal orientation. The paper concludes by considering the policy implications of the results. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

One-step R-estimation in linear models with stable errors

Classical estimation techniques for linear models either are inconsistent, or perform rather poorly, under α$\alpha$-stable error densities; most of them are not even rate-optimal. In this paper, we propose an original one-step R-estimation method and investigate its asymptotic performances under stable densities. Contrary to traditional least squares, the proposed R-estimators remain root-n$n$ consistent (the optimal rate) under the whole family of stable distributions, irrespective of their asymmetry and tail index. While parametric stable-likelihood estimation, due to the absence of a closed form for stable densities, is quite cumbersome, our method allows us to construct estimators reaching the parametric efficiency bounds associated with any prescribed values (_α0,_b0)$({\alpha }_0,b_0)$ of the tail index α$\alpha$ and skewness parameter b$b$, while preserving root-n$n$ consistency under any (α,b)$(\alpha ,b)$ as well as under usual light-tailed densities. The method furthermore avoids all forms of multidimensional argmin computation. Simulations confirm its excellent finite-sample performances.     

PEASANTS AGAINST PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Land is the main – if not the only – asset for a majority of people in developing countries. The definition and allocation of rights over land are thus naturally essential aspects of individuals’ daily lives, as well as critical determinants of social and economic development. The privatization of land rights has long been seen as a necessary process, enhancing both efficiency and equity. However, privatized land rights have not always emerged endogenously, while exogenously driven programs of land privatization have not always been successful nor popular. This has raised questions about the expected benefits of land rights privatization. This paper aims at summarizing the main arguments and studies, both theoretical and empirical, on this issue, with a specific focus on the factors that can make privatization inefficient or detrimental for the most concerned individuals.     

Virtual world experimentation: An exploratory study

We explore the scientific potential of virtual worlds for experimental economics in terms of the subject pools and experimental platforms they present. Our results offer tentative, qualified support for virtual world experimentation. Overall, the behaviour of virtual subjects recruited, incentivised and observed within Second Life across a range of five standard experimental games was not found to differ significantly from established standard results. In addition, we identify certain methodological opportunities and challenges which confront virtual world experimenters.     

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Vom Samariter zum Unternehmer

Zusammenfassung  Was tun, wenn ein ambulanter Pflegedienst zum Patienten wird? — Ein ambulanter Pflegedienst in der Rechtsform einer GbR erzielte im Zweijahresvergleich von 2006 zu 2007 deutlich schlechtere wirtschaftliche Ergebnisse. Es fehlten 42.950 € Umsatz im Vergleich zum Vorjahr. War hier noch etwas zu retten? *Vorstand – AnbieterVerband qualit?tsorientierter Gesundheitspflegeeinrichtungen AVG     

A taxonomy of information technology-enhanced pricing strategies

As a result of evolving technology, opportunities for innovative pricing strategies continuously emerge. The authors provide an updated taxonomy to show how such emerging strategies relate to recent technological advances. Specifically, they cite increased availability of information, enhanced reach, and expanded interactivity as three technological advancements and identify six pricing strategies enhanced by these factors. They also discuss the role of utility, prospect, range, and signaling theories for emerging pricing strategies, along with several applications and managerial implications.     

Poverty in a Wealthy Economy: the Case of Nigeria

This paper describes the nature and evolution of poverty inNigeria between 1985 and 1992. It begins with the potentialwealth of Nigeria's oil economy and examines how the economicpolicies pursued in the 1980s and 1990s impacted economic growthand welfare. It then presents a profile of poverty in both 1985and 1992 according to different socioeconomic characteristicsof the country's population. The headcount measure of povertyin Nigeria declined from 43 to 34% between 1985 and 1992, primarilydue to a 34% increase in mean per capita household expenditures.The benefits of growth were not shared equally throughout thecountry. The bottom 18% of the income distribution had a lowerstandard of living in 1992 compared with 1985 by any measure.However, all other income groups had a higher standard of livingin 1992. Household expenditure growth was fastest in the southernand middle zones of the country, but it was much slower in thenorthern zone. Poverty in Nigeria, in addition to its overwhelminglyrural and regional characteristics, is also strongly influencedby education, age and the nature of employment. Those withoutan education constitute a large fraction of the poor and theextreme poor. Decomposing the factors causing the reductionin poverty shows that the overall decline of 8.9% was the netresult of a 13.6% decline due to the growth factor and a 4.7%increase due to the income distribution factor. Based on thisanalysis, the paper proposes that promoting broad-based growthand targeted interventions in health, education and infrastructureneed to be central strategies in the fight against poverty inNigeria.