The EU Health Union in Search of a Definition and an Open Discussion

Intereconomics - More than other EU ‘Unions’, the proposed Health Union requires proper definition because the EU’s competences are limited in this domain.     

Mobilizing moral boundaries: the politics of derivatives reform in the US

This paper explains the reform of derivatives markets in the US by stressing the influence of moral distinctions on financial market regulation. The results show that business and consumer groups outside finance activate boundaries between legitimate risk management and illegitimate speculative practices. This categorical distinction delegitimised certain practices within the financial industry and affected both the relative power of interest groups and the political agenda. First, the mobilisation of moral boundaries strengthened the position of legitimate groups and weakened that of the financial industry in negotiations. This forced the latter to alter its lobbying strategies. Second, by highlighting inappropriate speculative practices, groups outside the financial sector changed policy-makers’ perception of problems. Policy-makers adopted a position which is congruent with broader moral understandings. The study is based on data from Congressional hearings, interviews, media articles, letters and interest group publications. The process tracing analysis advances our understanding of the social mechanisms linking moral perceptions and institutional change in financial markets.     

Scenarios and counterfactuals as modal narratives

Scenarios and counterfactuals are two types of modal narrative. Modal narratives concern themselves with contingency and determinism: with questions of possibility and necessity. While scenarios are future-oriented, focused on what might yet be, counterfactuals are narratives of what might have been. Despite this fundamental temporal difference, consideration of the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of modal narratives as a genre enables us to elucidate some critical issues concerning scenarios as a foresight methodology. In particular, the scenario literature has tended to avoid extended discussion of its implicit assumptions concerning causation, necessity, possibility and contingency. By confronting the modal nature of foresight methodologies more explicitly, the futures community may begin to lay more secure philosophical foundations for their deployment.     

你的国家可能是下一个希腊

孕育了民主的古希腊或许让人欣然向往,但现在希腊的财政困境则让人敬而远之。目前,资本市场要希腊为其预算问题付出沉重代价。     

A Cross-cultural comparison of customer complaint behavior in restaurants in hotels

This study documented consumer complaint behavior in hotel restaurants in two diverse cosmopolitan cities, Hong Kong, SAR and Houston, USA. It was found that in the area of food and beverage attributes, the Hong Kong group rated tastiness, temperature and freshness less important to make a complaint about the Houston group. As for service, service efficiency, greetings, attentiveness and helpfulness were rated differently, with the Hong Kong group rated “greetings” higher than the Houston counterparts. Regarding atmospherics, the two groups were most alike, though the Hong Kong group would be more likely to complain about the noise level while the Houston group, temperature and décor of hotel restaurants.     

Characteristics of materialism and its measurement: assessing the Belk's materialism scale in Hungary

In terms of consumer values, the socialist system (altruism, acting for the good of the community, interest in culture, etc.) reflects a post‐materialist orientation. According to data from World Value Surveys, however, there was a strong shift towards materialist values in the former socialist countries after the political changes; this also holds true for Hungary. Most likely, this shift is due partly to the success of the market economy, competition and private enterprise and partly to the disappearance of the obligatory system of values of the socialist regime. The present research study uses the materialism scale developed by Belk to measure possessiveness, non‐generosity and envy in Hungary. The research study focused on the quantitative analysis of a national representative sample (n = 500) in 2002 and 2007 respectively. The results of the study indicate that in both periods surveyed, possessiveness was the most significant dimension within the three examined features of materialism. Changes in the nature of possessiveness, however, corresponded to the changes in consumer behaviour. Based on our findings, we can assume that possessions have a central place in people's life.     

Perceptions of Affirmative Action Based on Socioeconomic Status: A Comparison with Traditional Affirmative Action

Past research has examined reactions to traditional, gender- and ethnicity-based affirmative action programs. However, research has not examined reactions to affirmative action based on socioeconomic status (SES), even though such programs are promoted by the U.S. government (e.g., Work Opportunity Tax Credit) and thus act as a de facto supplement to traditional affirmative action. Based in theories of self-interest, Study 1 compared reactions of men and women to a traditional affirmative action program and a hypothetical, SES-based affirmative action program in terms of general perceptions of such programs and organizational attractiveness. While women had more positive reactions to traditional affirmative action, men had more positive reactions to SES-based affirmative action. Study 2 took a different approach, examining the reactions of potential job applicants to four hypothetical job ads which included different types of diversity statements. We found that job ads that mentioned any type of specific diversity statement - either based on race and gender or based on SES - were perceived as less fair than job ads that did not include specific diversity statements. Results of the studies are discussed in terms of self-interest theories of affirmative action and considerations of SES-based programs as a supplement to traditional affirmative action.     

Understanding rural household behavior: Beyond Boserup and Becker

New data and new methods have provided many new insights into rural households in the past 50 years. We analyze what we have learned from household models since Boserup and Becker, using this to frame more recent findings about household behavior from three types of studies: observational studies, experimental games, and impact evaluations. More sex-disaggregated data, as well as data that are collected at smaller units, such as agricultural plots, have allowed us to better understand agricultural productivity, risk sharing, and spousal cooperation. However, the focus on bargaining within households has often led us to ignore the cooperation that occurs within households. Many resources are owned and managed jointly by household members and many decisions are made jointly, although not all parties necessarily have equal voice in these decisions. Research demonstrating that households often do not reach efficient outcomes suggests that we still have much to learn about rural household behavior. Understanding both individual roles within households and the levels of cooperation, including joint decision making and ownership of resources, is essential to analysis of households, especially in rural areas where households engage in both production and consumption.     

Online Engagement and the Role of Digital Influencers in Product Endorsement on Instagram

Abstract

The article aims to analyze the forms of engagement generated from the endorsement of products by digital influencers on Instagram, considering the characteristics of their online posts. A qualitative approach was used to investigate digital influencers’ posts based on semiotic image analysis and the critical incidents technique. The results reinforced that digital platforms enable distinct forms of engagement by establishing new configurations that affect relationship marketing and promotion strategies. In particular, on Instagram, the development of engagement can involve four participants who play different social roles, expanding the process of value co-creation.