Should I say it in English? Exploring language effects on print advertising among Latin American bilinguals

ABSTRACT

Despite the extensive research conducted on language standardization in advertising across several countries, little attention has been given to the use of English versus Spanish and code-switching when advertising to Latin American bilingual consumers. We propose that stereotypes about English speakers and code-switching have potential to help determine which language is most effective in print advertising. The results of experiments conducted in Chile, Ecuador, and Mexico show that the effects of language-related stereotypes on the persuasiveness of English ads vary across different countries. In the case of Chile, English may be persuasively superior, depending on the favourableness of the stereotype of individuals that code-switch. Differently, print ads in English are functionally equivalent, in terms of ad attitudes, to Spanish and code-switching ads in Mexico, and superior in Ecuador, regardless of the favourability of the language-related stereotypes. Suggestions for advertising practice and future research are offered.     

Sources of growth in Indonesian agriculture

Indonesia sustained an average increase in agricultural output of 3.6% per year between 1961 and 2006, resulting in a more than fivefold increase in real output. This paper constructs Tornqvist-Thiel indices of agricultural outputs, inputs and total factor productivity (TFP) to examine the sources of growth in Indonesian agriculture over this period. The paper extends previous work on measuring productivity change in Indonesian agriculture by assembling more complete data on cropland and expanding the commodity coverage to include cultured fisheries in addition to crops and livestock. It also accounts for the contribution of the spread of rural education and literacy to agricultural growth. Results show that Indonesia pursued both agricultural intensification to raise yield, especially for food crops, and extensification to expand crop area and absorb more labor. Productivity growth accelerated in the 1970s and 1980s but stagnated in the 1990s once “Green Revolution” food crop varieties had become widely adopted. TFP growth resumed in the early 2000s led by diversification into non-staple commodities such as tropical perennials, horticulture, livestock and aquaculture. Agricultural extensification continued to be an important source of growth in many of parts of the archipelago where previously forested areas were converted to cropland. Human capital deepening, in the form of the spread of literacy and education in the farm labor force, made a modest but sustained contribution to agricultural productivity growth.     

Demand and Supply Shocks in the Caribbean Economies: Implications for Monetary Union

This paper uses the method of structural vector autoregressions to decompose movements of real output and prices into demand and supply innovations for four Caribbean economies: Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana. The aim of the analysis is to assess if these economies could feasibly form part of a Caribbean monetary union. Correlations between the demand and supply innovations are, however, typically low, indicating that monetary union may lead to greater stabilisation problems for these economies.