Economic development, institutional change, and the political economy of agricultural protection An econometric study of Belgium since the 19th century

This empirical study uses 100 years of annual data on 11 agricultural commodities from Belgium to measure the impact of structural changes coinciding with economic development and changes in political institutions on agricultural protection. The analysis shows that changes in agricultural protection are caused by a combination of factors. Governments have increased protection and support to farmers when world market prices for their commodities fell, and vice versa, offsetting market effects on producer incomes. Other economic determinants were the share of the commodities in total consumer expenditures (negative effect) and in total output of the economy (positive effect). With Belgium a small economy, there was no impact of the trade position. Changes in political institutions have affected agricultural protection. Democratic reforms which induced a significant shift in the political balance towards agricultural interests, such as the introduction of the one‐man‐one‐vote system, led to an increase in agricultural protection. The integration of Belgian agricultural policies in the Common Agricultural Policy in 1968 coincided with an increase in protection, ceteris paribus. Both institutional factors, related to changes in access to and information about the decision‐making at the EU level, and structural changes in the agricultural and food economy may explain this effect.     

Union commitment and participation among Hong Kong firefighters: a development of an integrative model

This paper examines the factors influencing members' intent to participate in their union, drawing on a study of Hong Kong firefighters. As in Western studies, the main direct predictor of intent to participate is affective union commitment, but instrumentality is a relatively more important antecedent of affective union commitment and participation than in the Western studies. We found some evidence of frustration-aggression effects on intent to participate in ‘militant’ and ‘general’ union activities, although the latter was significant only among individuals who perceive management–employee relations as co-operative and trusting.     

Book reviews

MARKETING BUDGETING by Nigel Piercy (Croom Helm, 1986) 522 pages, £27.50 hb. ISBN 0–7099–2092‐X.

STATISTICS FOR MARKETING by Leslie W. Rodger (McGraw‐Hill, London, 1984), 280 pages, £10.95. ISBN 0–07–084728–2.

ANALYSIS FOR STRATEGIC MARKET DECISIONS by George S. Day (West Publishing Co., St. Paul, Minnesota, 1986), ISBN 0–314–85227–1.

MARKETING FOR THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY by Norman Fisher (Longman, Harlow, Essex, 1986), 270 pages, £19.95 HB. ISBN 0–582–503302.

SOURCES OF UNOFFICIAL UK STATISTICS by David A. Mort and Leona Siddall (Gower Publishing Co., 1985), 457 pages, £45.00. ISBN 0–566–02620–1.

HOTEL & FOOD SERVICE MARKETING by Francis Buttle (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, London, 1986) 406 pages, £9.95. ISBN 0–03–910682–9.

POSITIONING: THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND by Al Ries and Jack Trout, first edition revised (McGraw‐Hill, New York, 1986), 213 pages, £17.95 hardcover. ISBN 0–07–065264–3.

BUSINESS WARGAMES by Barrie G. James (Abacus Press, Tunbridge Wells, 1984), 254 pp., £14.95. ISBN 0–85626–441–5.     

Fixed-step anonymous overtaking and catching-up

We investigate criteria for evaluating infinite utility streams that satisfy fixed-step anonymity and include some notion of overtaking or catching-up. We do so in a generalized setting that does not require us to specify the underlying finite-dimensional criterion (e.g. utilitarianism or leximin). We present axiomatizations that rely on weaker axioms than those in the literature, and which in one case is new. We also provide a complete analysis of the relationships between the symmetric parts of these criteria and likewise for the asymmetric parts.     

Book reviews

The Internationalization of the Firm edited by Peter J. Buckley and Pervez Ghauri (Academic Press, London, 1993). 371 pages. £16.95. ISBN 0 566 02516 7.

Practical Marketing Research by Neil B. Holbert and Mark W. Speece (Prentice‐Hall, Í993). 302 pages. Paperback £16.95. ISBN 0 13 145954 6.     

Implied volatility and future portfolio returns

Prior studies find that the CBOE volatility index (VIX) predicts returns on stock market indices, suggesting implied volatilities measured by VIX are a risk factor affecting security returns or an indicator of market inefficiency. We extend prior work in three important ways. First, we investigate the relationship between future returns and current implied volatility levels and innovations. Second, we examine portfolios sorted on book-to-market equity, size, and beta. Third, we control for the four Fama and French [Fama, E., French, K., 1993. Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds. Journal of Financial Economics 33, 3–56.] and Carhart [Carhart, M., 1997. On persistence in mutual fund performance. Journal of Finance, 52, 57–82.] factors. We find that VIX-related variables have strong predictive ability.     

Cultural practices and life insurance consumption: An international analysis using GLOBE scores

This cross-disciplinary study examines how national culture practice affects cross-country variations in life insurance consumption. To proxy for national culture dimensions, we use the refined measure of the GLOBE project which includes several additional cultural dimensions not included in Hofstede's analysis. Using 1966–2004 data across thirty-eight countries, our analysis reveals a strong relationship between life insurance consumption and the practice scores of in-group collectivism as well as power distance. These relationships continue to hold, even after controlling for other country-level variables such as national income, expected inflation rate, banking sector development, investor protection index, dependency ratio, life expectancy, and religion.     

Influence of cultural divergence on consumers' perception towards reconstructed products: A qualitative enquiry

The purpose of this study is to understand whether consumers from different cultures have varied perception towards reconstructed products. Cultural divergence concept provides the theoretical support for the study. Data are collected from consumers of two culturally diverse societies (India and the United States). We use grounded theory for interview and data analysis. From the data, 23 open codes and 8 axial codes for Indian consumers and 28 open codes and 8 axial codes for the American consumers are generated. The key finding of our study suggests that culture plays a decisive role in shaping consumers' perception towards reconstructed products. The other findings of our study indicate that consumers of both societies are influenced by other factors that include product‐ or process‐related factors, brand‐ or store‐related factors, and individual factors. We discuss policy level, firm level, and nonprofit or charity level implications. Finally, limitation and scope for future research are outlined.