Dynamics of money, output and price interaction — some Indian evidence

The present study is an attempt to model the dynamic interactions between money, output and prices in a structural vector autoregression framework. The primary concern of the paper is to examine the sources of variations and response of one variable to changes in others in a system of economic variables in the Indian context. Using quarterly data from 1970Q1 to 1990Q4, we find that structural factors, in addition to monetary factors, play an important role in generating and sustaining the process of inflation and fluctuations in economic activity. An increase in money/credit supply is found to increase output and prices in the short-run and prices in the long-run, while a non-accommodating monetary policy is ineffective in controlling inflation even at the cost of substantial output losses, thereby indicating relative rigidities in price movements. Another interesting finding is that the monetary authority responds differently to different price shocks, exercising its leverage in altering the quantity as well as the composition of aggregate money supply. Our findings also indicate that the economy is characterized by relatively large and infrequent shocks to ‘price/cost’-related factors. Finally, our analysis suggests that a simple monetary targeting without adequate ‘supply side’ measures may not be able to serve the objective of maintaining growth with price stability.     

Estimating the recreational value of Pakistan's largest freshwater lake to support sustainable tourism management using a travel cost model

Keenjhar Lake, Pakistan's largest freshwater lake and an important Ramsar site, provides habitat for internationally important water birds. Annually, 385,000 people visit the lake. The lake is threatened by a variety of causes, including industrial and agricultural pollution. To support its sustainable management and conservation, the lake's recreational value is estimated using an individual travel cost model. Randomly selected visitors are interviewed during peak season about their recreational travel behavior and perception of lake conditions. Key issues in travel cost modeling are addressed, including the opportunity cost of time, group travel, substitution and income effects, and endogenous stratification and truncation due to on-site sampling. Poisson and negative binomial regression models produce similar results. We find significant over-dispersion, and therefore, use the more conservative truncated negative binomial model results to estimate consumer surplus. The value of this assessment method for resource managers is illustrated by comparing the consumer surplus with existing pricing and budgeting mechanisms. The annual flow of benefits from lake recreation appears to be almost 50 times higher than the average entrance fee paid by the predominantly higher-income segments visiting the lake, suggesting scope for increasing fees and reallocating government budgets to finance the necessary lake protection measures.     

Politics, policy and regional tourism administration: a case examination of Scottish area tourist board funding

The issue of Area Tourist Board (ATB) funding in Scotland has been of growing importance since 1996, when the Government empowered a reduction in the number of such Boards from 32 to 14. While much of the controversy surrounding this reduction in the number of Boards has centred on issues of the discharge of responsibilities, questions of ATB funding have recently been brought to the fore because of financial difficulties faced by several ATBs. This paper explores questions of ATB funding, beginning with an overview of Scotland's tourism administrative structure before proceeding to examine perceived difficulties with the role, structure and funding arrangements for the ATBs in the context of current debates to resolve these. With the ultimate objective of evaluating the most commonly propounded resolutions to the ATB funding problem, the paper describes and analyses opportunities for, and obstacles to long-term change, conluding that a possible palliative is a centralized funding mechanism tempered by safeguards to local accountability and the delivery of tourism services.     

The Value of Human and Social Capital Investments for the Business Performance of Startups

Small Business Economics - We investigate the manifold posed question: “To what extent does investment in human and social capital, besides the effect of ‘talent’, enhance...     

A cross-country study of service productivity

This study empirically examines service productivity and complements prior studies by framing service productivity as consisting of a number of key constituents. Adopting a bottom-up approach we present an integrative model proposing that resource commitment is the core from which employee readiness and customer readiness flow. These inform service productivity, which, in turn, informs job security. Our empirical examination reveals that service productivity has an impact on perceptions of job security, while resource commitment has the greatest impact on both employee readiness and customer readiness. In developing our integrative model we provide a framework that other researchers can apply, particularly where the service is highly intangible or in the public sector where service providers are being increasingly challenged to demonstrate value for money.     

Staged Development of Dynamic Capabilities: A Study of International Joint Ventures in India

This article investigates the microfoundations of different stages of development of dynamic capabilities (DCs) in international joint ventures (IJVs). We conducted case‐based research for three heterogeneous IJVs in the Indian life insurance space. Data collection involved detailed interviews and access to other archival data. Results offer interesting insights on (1) the process of the development of dynamic capabilities and (2) the relative importance of different stages in the development of dynamic capabilities. Sensing and seizing are the two stages in which dynamic capabilities are built, and reconfiguration/transformation is inherently subsumed within the stage of seizing. We also found that broad‐spectrum parental contribution across different functions impedes the development of dynamic capability. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Success and Risk Factors in the Pre-Startup Phase

Why does one person actually succeed in starting a business, while a second person gives up? In order to answer this question, a sample of 517 nascent entrepreneurs (people in the process of setting up a business) was followed over a three-year period. After this period, it was established that 195 efforts were successful and that 115 startup efforts were abandoned. Our research focuses on estimating the relative importance of a variety of approaches and variables in explaining pre-startup success. These influences are organized in terms of Gartner’s (Academy of Management Review 10(4), 696–706 [1985]) framework of new venture creation. This framework suggests that start-up efforts differ in terms of the characteristics of the individual(s) who start the venture, the organization that they create, the environment surrounding the new venture, and the process by which the new venture is started. Logistic regression analyses are run for the sample as a whole as well as for subgroups within the sample, namely for those with high ambition vs. low ambition and for those with substantial vs. limited experience. The results point to the importance of perceived risk of the market as a predictor of getting started vs. abandoning the startup effort.     

The Effect of Entrepreneurial Activity on National Economic Growth

Entrepreneurial activity is generally assumed to be an important aspect of the organization of industries most conducive to innovative activity and unrestrained competition. This paper investigates whether total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) influences GDP growth for a sample of 36 countries. We test whether this influence depends on the level of economic development measured as GDP per capita. Adjustment is made for a range of alternative explanations for achieving economic growth by incorporating the Growth Competitiveness Index (GCI). We find that entrepreneurial activity by nascent entrepreneurs and owner/managers of young businesses affects economic growth, but that this effect depends upon the level of per capita income. This suggests that entrepreneurship plays a different role in countries in different stages of economic development.     

The link between diet and health: an exploratory study of adolescents in Northern Ireland using foodmaps

A significant proportion of consumers in the UK continue to adopt a diet consisting largely of nutritionally unbalanced foods. The adolescent period has been identified as being formative in the development of long‐term eating habits as the individual achieves greater control over their food choice. By examining the current eating behaviour of a sample of adolescents, the aim of this study was to establish why they are not utilizing their knowledge to choose nutritionally balanced foods. A two‐stage data collecting procedure was adopted. In stage 1, respondents (n = 136) completed a questionnaire that measured demographic and social factors, knowledge, attitudes, pre‐existing behaviour with respect to food and the influence of family, peers, the media and government campaigns on their eating behaviour. In stage 2, a subsection of the respondents (n = 20) completed a foodmap, which revealed the network of relationships involved in the adolescents' decision‐making process by identifying the links among the foods consumed, the people they eat with and the places they eat in. Results emphasized the importance of the home environment and the continuing influence of parents on adolescents' eating behaviour despite the greater independence related to this stage of the life cycle. A proportion of the sample was found to have recognized the need to change their eating behaviour in order to lose weight, because of their sporting commitments or to improve their health. Recommendations from this study include the need for the various agencies involved in the promotion of balanced dietary behaviour to attend to the link among adult, family and adolescent, and the need for greater progress in enabling consumers to translate the theory of nutritional education into practice.