Assessing the Fiscal Costs and Benefits of A8 Migration to the UK*

This paper assesses the fiscal consequences of migration to the UK from the Central and Eastern European countries that joined the European Union in May 2004 (A8 countries). We show that A8 immigrants who arrived after EU enlargement in 2004 and who have at least one year of residence, and are therefore legally eligible to claim benefits, are 59 per cent less likely than natives to receive state benefits or tax credits and 57 per cent less likely to live in social housing. Furthermore, even if A8 immigrants had the same demographic characteristics as natives, they would still be 13 per cent less likely to receive benefits and 29 per cent less likely to live in social housing. We go on to compare the net fiscal contribution of A8 immigrants with that of individuals born in the UK, and find that in each fiscal year since enlargement in 2004, irrespective of the way that the net fiscal contribution is defined, A8 immigrants made a positive contribution to the public finances despite the fact that the UK has been running a budget deficit over the last few years. This is because they have a higher labour force participation rate, pay proportionately more in indirect taxes and make much less use of benefits and public services.     

Communicating Sensory Attributes and Innovation Through Food Product Labeling

This article explores the influence of food product packaging on consumers’ sensory expectations and perceived newness of the product. Two experiments examine to what extent consumers use product typicality, graphical representations, and package typicality in evaluating new food products. Study 1 finds that (1) a typical flavor induces more positive expectations of pleasantness, taste, color, and smell, and (2) the presence of graphic representation on product labels increases perceived pleasantness but does not affect sensory expectations. Study 2 indicates that the product seems newer in the absence of a package (label-only condition), but when the product packaging is presented, an atypical package conveys more newness than a typical package. These results provide practical guidelines for the design and introduction of innovative food products.     

The effects of scent on consumer behaviour

This article presents a systematic review of extant research on the effects of scent on consumer behaviour for readers of the International Journal of Consumer Studies. Although many articles have been published on this topic in recent years, there is a need for a comprehensive summary of up‐to‐date findings in this area of research. A systematic literature review is conducted with selected Chartered Association of Business Schools‐ranked journals in the fields of marketing and psychology, covering the period between 1980 and 2015. Thematic areas include the impact of scent on consumers’ cognitive and affective responses, attitudes and perceptions, as well as memory and behaviours. Relevant mediators and moderators of the effects of scent on these variables include affect, cognition, awareness and individual or environmental stimuli. Gaps for future research are identified and include the role of consumer awareness of scent and its influence on behaviour. Although this article provides a systematic review of the literature within the fields of psychology and marketing, it acknowledges that a large body of research regarding human responses to odours exists within other disciplinary fields such as neuroscience. The potential for, as well as the ethical caveats of, using scent stimuli for marketing purposes are also considered. This article makes a significant contribution to the consumer behaviour literature given its systematic article selection and review process, encompassing the most up‐to‐date research and focusing on all key thematic areas related to scent and consumption.     

Reasoned Ethical Engagement: Ethical Values of Consumers as Primary Antecedents of Instrumental Actions Towards Multinationals

We examine the implications of the US government’s too-big-to-fail (TBTF) policy as it has been applied to banks. Using alternative measures of risk, we compare the risk-taking behavior of 11 TBTF banks, identified by the Comptroller of the Currency in 1984, to a number of non-TBTF banks. We provide both theory and new empirical evidence to support our argument that the TBTF policy leads management to significantly increase risk-taking, with no corresponding increase in performance. While prior studies have considered the effects of the TBTF policy on limited, but risk-related aspects of bank behavior, such as the cost of funds, our study provides direct evidence about the risk-taking behavior associated with the TBTF policy. Our study has important implications for the current political debate regarding the too-big-to-fail policy.     

Early Experiences of the Enforcement of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive in Scotland

This exploratory study examines the early impact of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC on enforcers in Scotland within the context of current policy developments regarding the use of civil and criminal enforcement mechanisms within the UK. The Directive has been implemented in the UK by means of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 SI 1277 and the duty to enforce the Regulations falls primarily to local authority trading standards services. Twenty-one in-depth interviews were conducted with a range of officers employed within the trading standards service based in eight local authorities in Scotland on their perceptions of the new Regulations. The main findings were that officers’ views of the new Regulations and the civil and criminal enforcement routes available to them was affected by structural, operational, and cultural issues which varied from one authority to another. A number of officers were finding the Regulations a challenge to old ways and there was evidence that many felt unprepared for the Regulations. A number of positive views were expressed regarding the flexibility of the new Regulations and the advantages of the provisions relating to misleading omissions. Overall officers’ experiences of the Regulations were heavily influenced by the complaints received by their particular local authority service.     

The shrine of remembrance Melbourne: a short study of visitors' experiences

The Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia opened in 1934 to articulate the social memory of the Great War of 1914–1918. The site has developed to incorporate other memorials and a Visitor Centre. An exploratory study of visitors indicated that the traditional and new memorials continue to evoke a number of responses to war. People expressed a sense of sadness and gratitude for sacrifices made by all those who have fought in war. Many people had poor knowledge of the battles which had initiated the creation of the Shrine. The study indicates the Shrine's complexity which now commemorates multiple conflicts. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Innovation and the precautionary principle

Recent environmental policies favour the polluter pays principle. This principle points out the pollutant financial liability for the eventual incidents induced by his activities. In this context, we analyse the decision of an agent to invest in new industrial activities, the consequences of which on human health and the environment are initially unknown. It is not possible for him to delay investing, but the agent has the opportunity to acquire information and to reduce the cost of an accident. This allows the agent to reduce uncertainty regarding dangers associated with the project and to limit potential damages that it might cause. However, the agent's chosen level of these actions may be considered as insufficient and not acceptable by society as response in the face of a possible danger. Precautionary state regulation may then be introduced. We appreciate that this regulation may slow down innovation and may favour innovation in countries with less safety requirements. We find that the agent may get around the goal of the regulation by ignoring the information on the dangerousness of its project. We then propose some policy tools which stimulate innovation and impose a certain level of risk considered as acceptable for society to the agent. Finally, we use a numerical analysis based on the Monsanto Company for studying the agent's behaviour with different regulatory frameworks.     

Main Currents of Marxism

We present a three-fold test for sustainability on policies addressing environmental and natural resource management. The first — ecological holism — requires that management of natural systems not only ensure the long term viability of ecosystem functions and enhanced diversity of wildlife within that ecosystem, but also facilitate the provision of renewable energy and material resources. The second — community centeredness — is an assessment of the improvement (or reduction) in economic wellbeing of local populations measured by employment and income and in quality of life for the larger community resulting from that policy. The third — institutional legitimacy — evaluates the level of justice that a policy and its outcome(s) bring to the entire community (here, just policies will satisfy Rawls's "veil of ignorance" test). Three policies for National Forest management on Washington's Olympic Peninsula are examined and results are compared: the Northwest Forest Plan, the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Scenic Rivers Act of 2012 (Wild Olympics), and The Third Way (an alternative forest management option). Each policy satisfies the first test of ecological holism, but not in equal measures. Success in this regard can be differentially ranked because the relative impacts are not neutral. Both the Northwest Forest Plan and Wild Olympics fail the test of community centeredness. In contrast, The Third Way promotes community centeredness and ecological holism. We assert that, as a result, it would satisfy John Rawls's test for justice, and it is institutionally legitimate.     

Modeling Technological and Institutional Change in Karl Marx’s Theory of Capitalism

Health policy in the United States struggles with apparently conflicting purposes: (1) access to health care and (2) cost-containment. The failures of policy to resolve this apparent conflict have produced inequities in the health system and the perverse outcomes of high costs and poor access. The failures of policy are associated with the third-party payment system that has become a "rationing transaction" in John R. Commons' hierarchy of transactions. The dominion of private interests over the payment system elevates the financial interests of insurers over the interests of patients. Commons' approach to "reasonable value" as a means of resolving conflicts of interest through a process that engages all participants in the going concern suggests a strengthened role for the public sector in the payment system to achieve the public purposes of the health system.