Poverty Intensity in Australia

Even though poverty indices with axiomatically sound properties have been advocated for several decades, most empirical studies of poverty in Australia and elsewhere continue to use the crude, but easily understood, head-count ratio. The difficulty of interpreting the axiomatically more desirable indices is a major reason why their use has been resisted in applied poverty measurement. This paper demonstrates how the more sophisticated poverty indices can be converted into a form that is readily interpreted as a measure of poverty intensity of a group, relative to the population to which the group belongs. The resulting poverty-intensity index is easy to understand and it retains the axiomatic properties of the poverty index on which it is based. We apply the method to Australian data. Poverty measures reported previously in the literature are converted into measures of poverty intensity and interpreted accordingly. We also calculate and interpret some new measures of poverty and poverty intensity using the 1996–97 Income and Housing Costs Survey, Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1997). It is hoped our procedure will lead to wider use of poverty indices that are theoretically superior to the head-count ratio.     

Eagles and Turkeys: Human Capital Externalities,Departmental Co‐authorship and Research Productivity

Lucas (1988) hypothesised that human capital externalities explain persistent productivity growth and become manifest via interactions between workplace colleagues. Consistent with the first part of this hypothesis, Fox and Milbourne (2006) concluded that an increase in the average level of human capital in Australian economics departments raised the research productivity of departmental members. This paper tests the robustness of this finding by using a direct, rather than a proxy, measure of human capital and confirms the existence of human capital externalities within Australian economics departments. But we extend the analysis in two important dimensions. Firstly, we investigate the second part of Lucas' hypothesis by testing whether the externality becomes manifest via co‐authoring. We find no evidence that this type of interaction is associated with higher research productivity, especially for higher quality outputs. Secondly, we control for the likely endogeneity of one's peer group via instrumental variables estimation. In this case, we find that the peer group effect disappears completely for the highest quality outputs but remains for research output more broadly defined.     

Brand equity of defectors and never boughts in a business financial market

Buyer acquisition is important for any supplier looking to maintain or expand its customer base. This study uses a brand equity perspective to compare the future customer potential of those who used the brand in the past but stopped (defectors), with the potential of those who have never bought the brand. On the surface, both groups possess the same propensity to consider the brand for future purchase. However, the underlying reasons for these propensities differ. Defectors hold both positive and negative information about the former brand. In contrast, those who have never bought the brand possess largely neutral opinions. The results imply that managers should consider treating these two groups separately because they require different acquisition strategies.     

False self‐employment: the case of Ukrainian migrants in London's construction sector

This article, presenting qualitative accounts of Ukrainian business owners, highlights how migrants engage in false self‐employment in the UK. Their experiences problematise notions of legality and binary depictions of migrant workers as ‘victims or villains’, demonstrating that migrants see their illegal status as a transient stage before gaining legal status.     

Do strained bilateral relations affect tourists’ desire to visit a country that is a target of animosity?

ABSTRACT

This study examines the attractiveness of destination tourism offerings when the destination country and the source market country are engaged in ongoing political and economic conflict. The study is set in the Russia–United States (US) context, where Russia is the tourism-generating region and the US are the vacation destination. Specifically, the study investigates how the desire of Russian tourists to vacation in the US is affected by perceptions of the US as a country and as a vacation destination, animosity toward the US, and Russian tourists? level of national attachment and ethnocentric tendencies. The study found that country image, destination image, and general animosity have a direct effect on intention to visit. The effects of consumer ethnocentrism and national situational animosity on intention to visit are mediated by destination image and country image respectively.     

Bicyclist risks and helmet usage patterns: An analysis of compensatory behavior in a risky recreational activity

This article evaluates the risk- and safety-related behavior of adult bicyclists. Probit regression models are applied to national survey data to determine the relationship between accident risks and helmet use. Compensatory behavior, measured in the form of chanes in the likelihood of helmet use, is quantified for discrete changes in risk factors. The results are supportive of the risk compensation hypothesis: changes in the risk of head injury tend to be offset by changes in helmet use. However, the analysis provides no evidence that the magnitude of the compensatory response overwhelms the direct impacts of changes in the risk environment.     

The impact of university brand identification and eWOM behaviour on students’ psychological well-being: a multi-group analysis among active and passive social media users

ABSTRACT

Encouraging students to share positive online reviews should not be regarded only as a marketing tool. This study aims to examine (i) the relationship between positive online reviews behaviour for university and students’ well-being; and (ii) the impact of eWOM behaviour on students’ psychological well-being among active (those who share and read information) and passive (those who only read information) social media users. An online survey was conducted to examine the interplay of university brand identification, positive eWOM behaviour, and university life satisfaction on students’ psychological well-being. Results found that students who share positive reviews about university on social media tend to have better psychological health. This study also revealed that active social media users benefit more in terms of well-being through sharing positive online reviews about their universities. Implications for theory and practice of social media marketing in the higher education context are discussed.     

Demographic determinants of the distribution of income

This paper explores both theoretically and empirically the effects of fertility, mortality, migration, household structure and other demographic factors on income distribution. A conceptual framework for income distribution analysis is developed and the direct and indirect effects of demographic factors on this framework assessed. Both partial and systems approaches to empirical analysis are explored. The conclusion is that relationship are complex and the net outcome of demographic changes on distribution cannot be fully understood outside a systems framework.     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Analyzing of innovations influence on economic growth by fuzzy system

Economic growth may be developed on the basis on combination of different factors. In this investigation was analyzed the economic growth prediction based on the innovations by field of technology. Gross domestic product (GDP) was used as economic growth indicator. The method of adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was applied to the data in order to detect the influential parameters for the GDP prediction. Five inputs are considered: number of granted patents in electrical engineering, number of granted patents as instruments, number of granted patents in chemistry, number of granted patents in mechanical engineering and the number of granted patents in other fields. Results shown that the innovations in electrical engineering has the highest influence on the GDP prediction.

     

Ethnic Fractionalization,Governance and Loan Defaults in Africa

We present a theoretical model of an imperfectly competitive loans market that is suitable for emerging economies in Africa. The model allows for variation in both the level of contract enforcement (the quality of governance) and the degree of market segmentation (the level of ethnic fractionalization). The model predicts a specific form of nonlinearity in the effects of these variables on loan default. Empirical analysis using African panel data for 110 individual banks in 28 countries over 2000–08 provides strong evidence for these predictions. Our results have important implications for the conditions under which policy reform will enhance financial development.