Risk aversion and inequity aversion in demand for unemployment benefits

This paper is an empirical study of what motivates net contributors to support redistributive policies. While studies in the area have tended to consider broad measures of inequality and support for redistribution in general, we focus on a single, salient relationship between local unemployment rates and demand for spending on unemployment benefits. Using a particularity of the Spanish labour market, we estimate how workers’ stated preferences for unemployment benefits spending respond to changes in the local unemployment rate. We then decompose this response into the part explained by risk aversion, and thus demand for insurance, and the part explained by inequity aversion. Our results suggest that increases in local unemployment rates lead to increased demand by workers for unemployment benefits spending. Moreover, our results are consistent with an insurance motive driving this relationship but provide little support for inequity aversion. Our results suggest that studies of the relationship between inequality and demand for redistribution might benefit from considering both the source and measure of the inequality and the instrument of redistribution.     

Protein efficiency per unit energy and per unit greenhouse gas emissions: Potential contribution of diet choices to climate change mitigation

The production, transport and processing of food products have significant environmental impacts, some of them related to climate change. This study examined the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production and transport to a port in Sweden (wholesale point) of 84 common food items of animal and vegetable origin. Energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for food items produced in different countries and using various means of production were compared. The results confirmed that animal-based foods are associated with higher energy use and GHG emissions than plant-based foods, with the exception of vegetables produced in heated greenhouses. Analyses of the nutritional value of the foods to assess the amount of protein delivered to the wholesale point per unit energy used or GHG emitted (protein delivery efficiency) showed that the efficiency was much higher for plant-based foods than for animal-based. Remarkably, the efficiency of delivering plant-based protein increased as the amount of protein in the food increased, while the efficiency of delivering animal-based protein decreased. These results have implications for policies encouraging diets with lower environmental impacts for a growing world population.     

Do market oriented firms adopt Web 2.0 technologies? An empirical study in hospitality firms

Market Orientation (MO) has been of paramount importance for business performance, innovation, and marketing. It has called the attention of many researchers. Market orientation involves the generation of market intelligence, intelligence dissemination and responsiveness. Firms have been adopting different information technologies and the internet to generate and disseminate market intelligence. The Web 2.0 and its applications are being used by both customers and firms, and firms are adopting them to support different aspects of the organization. On the other hand, since users are generating enormous quantities of content on the internet it seems that a lot of market intelligence could be captured from the Web. Therefore, it was worth to ask if market oriented firms are adopting Web 2.0. This article studied the relationship between MO and the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in the hospitality industry using a structural equation modeling approach and based on the findings the relation between MO and the adoption of Web 2.0 was confirmed. Finally conclusions and implications of the results are discussed and several lines of future research are suggested.     

The Blocking Lemma for a many-to-one matching model

The Blocking Lemma identifies a particular blocking pair for each non-stable and individually rational matching that is preferred by some agents of one side of the market to their optimal stable matching. Its interest lies in the fact that it has been an instrumental result to prove key results on matching. For instance, the fact that in the college admissions problem the workers-optimal stable mechanism is group strategy-proof for the workers and the strong stability theorem in the marriage model follow directly from the Blocking Lemma. However, it is known that the Blocking Lemma and its consequences do not hold in the general many-to-one matching model in which firms have substitutable preference relations. We show that the Blocking Lemma holds for the many-to-one matching model in which firms’ preference relations are, in addition to substitutable, quota q-separable. We also show that the Blocking Lemma holds on a subset of substitutable preference profiles if and only if the workers-optimal stable mechanism is group strategy-proof for the workers on this subset of profiles.     

Modeling public transport corridors with aggregate and disaggregate demand

Microeconomic public transport models aimed at maximizing social benefits usually consider demand in an aggregate manner. In this paper we examine the effect of this approach on the optimal values of frequency and vehicle size by comparison with models where demand is described in detail as a matrix of flows between every station in a single line service. The theoretical analysis and the numerical examples suggest that the spatially aggregated model underestimates optimal frequency and overestimates vehicle size.     

International Technology Diffusion: Effects of Trade and FDI

There has been little analysis of the effect of inward FDI on international R&D diffusion, especially in LDCs, although FDI has become the core of international production and LDCs have been receiving an increasing share of world FDI over the past few decades. Using data from 57 countries from 1988 to 2001, we find that both FDI and trade serve as important channels of international technology diffusion. However, there exist heterogeneous effects of FDI in DCs and LDCs. For inward FDI to promote technology diffusion in LDCs, a certain threshold of human capital has to be reached.     

Determinants of website traffic: the case of European fashion apparel retailers

The globalization process together with the extraordinary growth in the use of Internet offer firms new growth opportunities. Retail firms are using a multichannel approach, involving the Internet, in their internationalization strategies. Website traffic as measured by unique users and online awareness is among the measures for assessing the success of the online channel. There is little evidence, however, linking website traffic and the characteristics of the retail multichannel internationalization process. In order to fill this gap, this paper analyses the factors explaining the retailer's international website traffic. Website traffic data for a sample of European fashion apparel retailers are modelled as dependent on characteristics of the organization and of its physical and virtual internationalization strategy. Following the results of several linear regression models, we infer the complementarity of online and offline channels in the international operation, as well as the contribution of social networks as traffic generators.     

Consumer receptiveness to international retail expansion: a cross-cultural study of perceptions of social and economic influence of foreign retailers

Guided by the work of Samiee (1993 Samiee, S.1993. “Retailing and Channel Considerations in Developing Countries: A Review and Research Propositions.” Journal of Business Research27 (2): 103–129. doi:10.1016/0148-2963(93)90018-K.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. Journal of Business Research, 27 (2): 103–129), Sakarya, Eckman, and Hyllegard (2007 Sakarya, S., M.Eckman, and K.Hyllegard. 2007. “Market Selection for International Expansion.” International Marketing Review24 (2): 208–238. doi:10.1108/02651330710741820.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. International Marketing Review, 24 (2): 208–238), and Alexander et al. (2010 Alexander, N., A. M.Doherty, J. M.Carpenter, and M.Moore. 2010. “Consumer Receptiveness to International Retail Market Entry.” International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management38 (3): 160–172. doi:10.1108/09590551011027104.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 38 (3): 160–172), a cross-cultural analysis was undertaken to examine consumer receptiveness to domestic market entry by foreign apparel specialty retailers. More specifically, this study explored differences in consumers' perceptions of the influence of foreign apparel specialty retailers on social, cultural, and economic development across three countries: Spain, Turkey, and the USA. Consumer receptiveness was measured as beliefs about the social and economic influence of foreign retailers and perceptions of retailers' brand characteristics and offerings. An intercept survey of 1233 apparel shoppers was conducted in major metropolitan shopping areas in all three countries. MANOVA revealed that Spanish consumers were least concerned about urban growth associated with foreign retailers and least likely to perceive positive employment/business opportunities and socio-cultural well-being from the presence of foreign retailers. Turkish consumers held the strongest perceptions regarding the influence of foreign retailers on urban growth. Paired sample t-tests revealed that Turkish consumers, when compared with Spanish consumers, evaluated U.S. retailers' offerings more positively and were more receptive to the entry of U.S. retailers into their domestic markets. Results of regression analyses indicated that Spanish and Turkish consumers' beliefs about retail brand characteristics and the socio-cultural and economic influence of foreign retailers positively predicted consumers' receptiveness, whereas age negatively influenced receptiveness. Differences in perceptions among Spanish, Turkish, and U.S. consumers may be attributed to the varying levels of economic development among the three countries as well as to the countries' differing policies concerning foreign retailers. Findings provide a basis for the development of a measure of consumer receptiveness to international retail expansion.     

Entrepreneurial processes in social contexts: how are they different, if at all?

Scholars have compared and contrasted commercial and social entrepreneurship along a variety of dimensions, suggesting that entrepreneurial antecedents and outcomes differ within a social context. However, little is known about whether entrepreneurial processes differ within social contexts. In this paper, we ask to what extent the antecedents and outcomes that make social entrepreneurship unique influence entrepreneurial processes. Using an inputs–throughputs–outputs framework, we assess the relationship between four antecedents (social mission/motivation, opportunity identification, access to resources/funding, and multiple stakeholders) and three outcomes (social value creation, sustainable solutions, and satisfying multiple stakeholders) to the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (innovativeness, proactiveness, risk-taking, competitive aggressiveness, and autonomy) (Lumpkin and Dess, Acad Manag Rev 21(1):135–172, 1996). Our analysis suggests that many entrepreneurial processes remain essentially the same or are affected only slightly. However, autonomy, competitive aggressiveness, and risk-taking are influenced to some extent by the presence of multiple stakeholders and access to resources/funding. Entrepreneurial processes may also differ when applied to efforts to satisfy multiple stakeholders and achieve sustainable solutions. We subsequently discuss the implications of our analysis for future social entrepreneurship research and practice.