Determinants of Urban Vacant Land

It is a planners’ common argument that one of the main sources of vacant land is developers’ speculation. Consequently, in order to reduce vacant land, it is also a common policy to charge extra taxes to this kind of lots as a way to force development. Using a rich data base from Santiago, Chile, this paper investigates on the determinants of urban vacant land. We find that amongst the most important elements driving unused sites in Santiago are public regulations. Hence, practitioners must be aware about this issue before implement a policy to reduce vacant land because it could have the opposite result.     

Zipf’s law—another view

In many scientific disciplines phenomena are observed which are usually described using one of the various versions of the so-called Zipf’s Law. As no single formula could be found so far which would be able to sufficiently fit to all data more and more variants (modifications, ad-hoc formulas, derivations etc.) are created, each of which agrees quite well with some given data sets but fail with others. The present paper proposes a new approach to the problem, based on the assumption that every data set which displays a Zipf-like structure is composed of several system components. A corresponding model is presented and tested on data from 100 texts from 20 languages.     

Why Do Gen Y Students Study Abroad? Individual Growth and the Intent to Study Abroad

We propose that Generation Y college students’ motivations to study abroad are rooted in the desire for individual growth, which, combined with other motivation factors—gender, parents’ educational level, prior international experience, age, and household income—drives the intent to study abroad. The study samples juniors and seniors in business majors, thereby attempting to shorten the temporal distance between study abroad intent and action. A significant number of students declare intent to study abroad as freshmen, yet fail to act on those intentions when the opportunity presents itself a year or two later. Results showed that the desire for individual growth was significantly and positively related to Gen Y business students’ intention to study abroad. Students’ prior experience visiting foreign countries and younger age positively moderated the effect of the desire for individual growth on intent to study abroad. The time lag between intent and action, and the fact that study abroad is a high involvement activity creates promotional challenges on how to best promote study abroad to Gen Y students. The article suggests practical implications and suggests how schools might increase study abroad participation among Gen Y college students.     

An Investigation into the Formal Institutional Constraints that Restrict Entrepreneurship and SME Growth in Russia

The impact of institutions on the ease of doing business in transition economies has attracted considerable interest in recent years. The literature suggests that institutional quality is crucial in determining levels of entrepreneurship and SME development in such countries. Our research explores the perceptions of Russian SME owners regarding the quality of the institutional environment that they face making use of semi-structured interviews for data gathering purposes. We identify the political, economic and regulatory barriers that restrict entrepreneurship and SME growth in contemporary Russia, together with entrepreneurs’ views as to what reforms are needed for greater business growth in future.     

The Effect of Consumer Persuasion Knowledge on Scarcity Appeal Persuasiveness

Past research identifies demand-related scarcity appeals and supply-related scarcity appeals as effective persuasive influences on consumer behavior. The present research uses a persuasion knowledge approach to examine the persuasiveness of demand- versus supply-related scarcity appeals in advertising messages. Study 1 shows that supply-related scarcity appeal ad messages are less likely to activate persuasion knowledge than demand-related scarcity appeal messages. Study 2 demonstrates that message specificity moderates this effect. In line with an elaboration likelihood model perspective, results show that stating the appeal in specific (versus vague) terms decreases the persuasiveness of supply-related scarcity appeal ad messages.     

The Grameen Bank as Progressive Institutional Adjustment

Over the past 25 years, a variety of Neoliberal reforms were introduced. Instead of growth, stability, and the narrowing of income gaps, however, we have seen stagnation, volatility, and increased inequality. The paper examines the theory that justified these policies, describes an alternative approach, and takes a brief look at a small group of Latin American countries in the aftermath of the Mexican Crisis. It is shown that not only does the alternative view raise serious doubts about the efficacy of Neoliberalism, but that those countries that refused to follow suit were better protected against contagion after the December Mistake.     

Economic efficiency of Greek retail SMEs in a period of high fluctuations in economic activity: a DEA approach

This study aims to analyse the economic efficiency of Greek small and medium retail enterprises before and after the crisis that started in 2008. Based on the Accounting Equation, we use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate variable returns of scale efficiency scores and to conclude on specific characteristics that efficient companies have, for example, on capital structure. Our results from the DEA application show a high degree of inefficiency. We found that SMEs on the islands are more efficient than those on the mainland and that SMEs in the cities are the least efficient. Size seems to be important, more so on the islands and on the mainland than in the cities. We conclude that companies should act more conservatively in terms of operating cost when the first signs of a recession appear. In addition, during a recession period, companies that have evidences that their operations will continue positively should strengthen their operations by raising more own capital. Finally, our study clarifies four issues: the efficiency of retail companies in a period of growth and a period of recession, focusing on SMEs that operate in different regions, connecting Accounting Equation and DEA and adding acid ratio as an output in our model.     

Greek domestic air transport–industry and policy developments From post-World War II to post-liberalization

The aim of this paper was to examine the developments in the Greek domestic air transport market which have most recently been affected by the liberalization process in the EU towards the single aviation market. Liberalization of the Greek domestic market was profound, ending 35 years of Olympic Airways complete monopoly on all air transport activities. Developments include new privately owned airlines, inter-regional routes, lower fares in real terms on routes with competition, innovation, improved services and wider consumer choice. Increased competition stimulated demand in the domestic market that reached record levels achieved in the mid-1980s. Market consolidation started in late 1999.