Fissures in the marketing strategies of South Asian restaurants in Edinburgh

This exploratory study sought to investigate South Asian restaurants in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK in order to obtain a preliminary identification of marketing gaps compromising their future profitability. The aims of the study were to expose and understand the relative importance attached by owners and managers of South Asian restaurants in Edinburgh to the different elements of the marketing mix. South Asian restaurants form a small but important sector of the restaurant in market in towns throughout the UK and are characteristically of disproportionate financial and social importance to the communities who run them. South Asian restaurants in Edinburgh, as in most towns in the UK, are run primarily by the Bangladeshi community and are under increasing pressure as the variety of restaurants operating in the sector increases. The results of the study make evident that any initiatives taken to support South Asian restaurants should include awareness‐raising actions. Building awareness, which is perceived to be currently partially understood, of the importance of studying markets, customers and competitors is essential before any advice is given on how to accomplish these monitoring tasks. Equally, a fundamental priority is to encourage self‐critical and proactive approaches to business, thus increasing the capacity to identify possible problems and implement correcting measures.     

Poverty dynamics: empirical evidence for Canada

Abstract. Poverty (low income) dynamics are explored using tax filer data covering the period 1992 to 1996. The distributions of short‐ and long‐term episodes are identified and reveal substantial differences by sex and family type. Entry and exit models explore the relationships between poverty transitions and sex, family status and other personal and situational attributes. Duration effects on exiting and re‐entering poverty are found to be important, and models including past poverty experiences point to strong ‘occurrence dependence’ for poverty entry and incidence. Fixed‐effect panel data models confirm the above and reveal asymmetries in the impacts of household transitions on poverty. JEL Classification: I3 La dynamique de la pauvreté : résultats empiriques pour le Canada. Les auteurs examinent la dynamique de la pauvreté(bas revenus)à l’aide des données disponibles pour les citoyens qui ont soumis leurs rapports d’impôt entre 1992 et 1996. On identifie les distributions d’épisodes (courts et longs) de pauvreté, et celles‐ci révèlent des différences significatives selon le sexe et les attributs familiaux. Les modèles d’entrée et sortie identifient les relations entre le statut de pauvreté, le sexe, le statut familial, et d’autres attributs personnels et situationnels. Il appert que les effets de durée sur les périodes de sortie et de ré‐entrée dans un statut de pauvreté sont importants; les modèles qui prennent en compte les épisodes de pauvreté antérieurs montrent qu’il y a une forte corrélation (occurrence dependence) tant pour le passage au statut de pauvreté que pour l’incidence de tels épisodes. Les résultats des études transversales confirment ces résultats et révèlent des asymétries dans les impacts des transitions dans les ménages sur la pauvreté.     

North American college and university uses of micro computers in teaching accounting - 1983 survey

This paper reports the results of a survey of North American college and university accounting departments' uses of micro computer hardware and software.     

A Comparison of the Reinvestment Risk of the Price Level Adjusted Mortgage and the Standard Fixed Payment Mortgage

The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of the risk of the indexed mortgage, commonly referred to as the price level adjusted mortgage (PLAM). This is accomplished by comparing, analytically, the reinvestment risk of the PLAM and the standard fixed-payment mortgage (FPM) under conditions of stochastic inflation and real interest rates. The conclusion is that the PLAM has less reinvestment risk. From the viewpoint of an investor concerned with periodically reinvesting payment streams, the PLAM is the superior mortgage.     

Linear Input Aggregation Bias in Nonparametric Technical Efficiency Measurement

An attraction of the nonparametric approach to measuring technical efficiency is that no a priori structure is placed on the production process of the firm. However, inputs are typically linearly aggregated, either explicitly or implicitly. It is shown that this introduces bias in the technical efficiency measurement. The computed technical efficiency measure becomes an economic efficiency measure comprised of both technical and allocative efficiency. An empirical application demonstrates the bias.     

The efficiency of competitive equilibria in insurance markets with asymmetric information

This paper addresses the relationship between competitive equilibria and efficient allocations in an insurance market with asymmetric information. Using the definition of second-best efficiency proposed by Harris and Townsend (1981) for environments characterized by informational assmmetry, the efficiency properties of several proposed market equilibria are examined. We find an analogue to the First Optimality Theorem: A Miyazaki-Wilson equilibrium always results in a second best allocation.