EFTPOS: The Perils of a Cost-Driven Venture

The ‘EFTPOS explosion’ in New Zealand is shown to be something of a ‘damp squib’. While awareness is very high, usage is around 30 per cent. The future usage rates were likely to increase to no more than 50 per cent, which meant a usage rate of 50 transactions per person per annum. Fear and ethical considerations stopped many people from using the system. The continuous introduction of new delivery mechanisms, combined with a hard-sell approach, has met great customer resistance: a resistance intensified by the banks' failure to ensure customer satisfaction with conventional delivery mechanisms.     

The concept of freedom and its relation to economic development--a critical appreciation of the work of Amartya Sen

Following a brief review of the conception of freedom as employedin economic discourse, this paper focuses on the evolution ofthe concept of freedom in the work of Amartya Sen. It tracesthe development of Sen's thought from the capability analysisof the late 1970s to his more recent separation of freedom intoits opportunity and process aspects. While broadly appreciativeof Sen's development of the concept of positive freedom, thepaper identifies some difficulties arising from his definitionof capability as a set of options as well as from his separationof the opportunity and process aspects of freedom. Aspects ofthe relationship between Sen's conception of freedom and thatof Marx are discussed briefly in the context of Sen's recentdiscussion of the market as a source of freedom.     

The economics of wild goose chases

Empirical evidence consistently finds that incentive pay is more frequent when authority is delegated to workers than when their superiors hold authority. We provide a model where incentive pay results in the abuse of authority by their superiors, and (under reasonable conditions) implies that (i) incentive pay is higher when an agent holds control rights than when her principal has authority, (ii) effort is less responsive on the margin to incentive pay when the principal holds authority, and (iii) more incentive pay can reduce effort under authority, even on tasks that can be easily measured.     

Sales promotion strategies and belief in luck

The effect of buyer belief in good luck on the propensity to select a sales promotion strategy involving a lucky draw (e.g., sweepstakes) is investigated using a sample of 699 individuals in Hong Kong. Using subscales from Darke and Freedman's (1997b) Belief in Good Luck Scale, it is found that a belief in being personally lucky is associated with selecting a lucky draw over other sales promotions options, but that a general belief in the phenomenon of luck is not. Moreover, it is found that perceived utility of the lucky‐draw prize is consistently associated with the option to select a lucky draw over other sales promotion strategies. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Role portrayal in advertising and editorial content,and eating disorders: an Asian perspective

Researchers have postulated that exposure to images of thin ‘ideal body’ women portrayed in advertising and editorial content on television and in magazines contributes to eating disorders among female college students in Western countries. The central aim of this study is to examine the relationship between such advertising and editorial, and self- reports of eating disorder and body image dissatisfaction among Hong Kong females. The Eating Attitude Test (EAT) and Body Dissatisfaction subscale in the Eating Disorder Inventory are employed in a survey of females in Hong Kong. The analysis indicates that overall media consumption is a positive predictor of eating disorder and body image dissatisfaction. Several policy recommendations and suggestions for future research are made.     

Some aspects of technology choice in the iron foundry industry

This article examines technological choice for developing countries in the iron founding industry. Three key sub-processes are investigated and the effect of wage rates, discount rates, scale and quality standards are examined. In general, low wage rates, low scale and high discount rates favour the selection of techniques that are high or intermediate in their labour-intensity. The effect of increasing quality standards is to favour the more capital-intensive (and less labour-intensive) techniques.