Japanese cuisine in Poland: attitudes and behaviour among Polish consumers

In Poland, in recent years, the number of Japanese cuisine restaurants is still increasing. The aim of this article was to estimate the popularity of Japanese cuisine in Poland and to examine attitudes of Polish consumers towards it. The reasons why this cuisine is chosen by consumers are also studied. The scope of this work includes two anonymous questionnaires. The first study was conducted in Warsaw among 527 random respondents to estimate the level of familiarity with Japanese dishes. The second one was conducted among 115 consumers of a particular Japanese restaurant in Warsaw. Research of the target group was aimed at the characteristics of Japanese dishes consumers. On the basis of the results, it was found that random respondents have relatively little knowledge of Japanese dishes. However, a large percentage of them declared interest in Japanese culture and traditions and was inclined to taste the dishes of this region. Japanese restaurants are mainly popular among young people who follow current culinary trends and fashions and also care about their diet. High prices limit the customer group to well‐off people. Polish consumers visiting Japanese restaurants are usually persons between 31 and 40 years old, with higher education, live in the big cities, as well as with very good or good financial situation. Regular restaurant goers eat out quite often: once a week (38%) or at least once a month (27%). The restaurant studied is mainly visited by people familiar with Japanese cuisine. Sushi is the most popular of the dishes offered.     

A social procedural approach to the Pareto optimization problematique: Part II. Institutionalized procedures and their limitations

In the previous article (Part I) we briefly introduced the Pareto problematique, selective criticism of it, and Generalized Game Theory’s (GGT) approach to the Pareto optimization problematique. GGT stresses the embeddedness and multilevel character of social games; its application to optimization problems leads to a conceptualization of two-phase societal procedures to achieve agreements for change—or, conversely, maintaining—states of the world. In this part two general types of games are distinguished analytically in the 2-phase process: on the one hand, elementary strategic games take place among agents in the first phase in diverse social settings, and, on the other hand, regulative conflict resolution or collective improvement games are organized as procedures in the second phase. Many elementary strategic games end in stalemates, difficult-to-resolve conflicts, and non-optimal outcomes such as occur in collective action or prisoner dilemma type games. This type of situation is the point of departure for the activation of a meta-game regulatory procedure for resolving stalemates, conflicts, and non-optimal states in order to accomplish societal improvements and efficiencies. In a word, the paper identifies and models institutionalized regulatory mechanisms that resolve conflicts, inefficient or non-optimal states, and disequilibria; and lead thereby to solution or resolution of Pareto optimization problems in the face of general non-unanimity or conflict about the outcomes. In addition, the article present more detailed models of the adjudication, negotiation, and democratic procedures introduced in the previous article and discusses their legitimacy bases, the limits of such societal procedures, and the accomplishment of societal efficiencies through the procedures.     

Die Problematik des Verbraucherschutzes in der Volksrepublik Polen

Zusammenfassung In letzter Zeit hat das Problem des Verbraucherschutzes in Polen sehr an Bedeutung gewonnen. Dies hängt damit zusammen, daß eine bessere Befriedigung der aktuellen Bedürfnisse der Bevölkerung in den Vordergrund gerückt worden ist, was auch in politischen und wirtschaftlichen Programmen zum Ausdruck kommt.Der Artikel behandelt die in diesem Bereich herrschenden Tendenzen und informiert über die wichtigsten Lösungen der Grundprobleme des Verbraucherschutzes.Die Autoren heben mit Nachdruck hervor, daß in den sozialistischen Ländern infolge der Vergesellschaftlichung der Wirtschaft der Verbraucherschutz sich auf zweierlei Weise entwickeln kann: und zwar durch entsprechende Stimulierung der Produktion und des Angebotes. Auf diese Weise wird eine Möglichkeit geschaffen, nicht nur die Folgen, sondern vor allem die Ursachen, welche das Verbraucherinteresse bedrohen, zu eliminieren.

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Problems of consumer protection in the People's Republic of Poland

The problems of consumer protection have come to the fore in Poland as of late. An important reason has been that in recent political and economic programmes, more emphasis has been placed on the necessity of better provision for the population's current needs.The article presents contemporary developments in this respect and informs about different attempts in the doctrine and practice of law to solve the basic problems of consumer protection. The authors emphasize that in socialist countries consumer protection can be achieved not only by strengthening the position of the individual consumer but also, due to the public ownership of the means of production, by adequate stimulation of production and supply. This provides for the opportunity to deal not only with the consequences but also with the determinants of violations of the consumer interest.The following problem areas are treated in the paper together with the solutions attempted in Polish law and in political and administrative practice: (1) problems connected with the creation of large monopolistic production units (more consideration of manufacturer than of consumer interests in decisions concerning content and quality of production; unreasonable pricing; producer-dictated terms of trade between producer and retailer); (2) the treatment of final consumers (terms of contracts favorable to the seller; tendencies of large organizations to bureaucratic and magisterial treatment of their customers); (3) quality deficiencies in products and the preventive and protective measures taken (quality marks and quality control; warranties; producer liability).

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Ewa towska ist Leiterin der Zivilrechtsabteilung des Instituts für Staat und Recht der Polnischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 00330 Warszawa, Nowy Swiat 72. Stanisaw Sotysiski und Jacek Trojanek sind wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter der Adam-Mickiewicz-Universität, Juristische Fakultät, 61–809 Poznan, ul. Czerwonej Armii 90. Czeslawa ulawska ist wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin der ökonomischen Akademie, Institut für Ökonomik und Warenverkehr, 31–510 Kraków, Rakowicka 27.     

Too good to be true: the role of online reviews’ features in probability to buy

Online consumer reviews are broadly believed to be a necessary and powerful marketing tool, and as such they have attracted considerable attention from both marketers and academics. However, previous research has not sufficiently focused on the effects of various review features on sales but rather used proxy measures such as consumers’ purchase intention or perceived helpfulness of reviews. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of review valence and volume on actual sales. We use data from three different e-commerce websites and study light bulbs, women's athletic shoes, natural hair care products, and herbal vitamins. The results show that, contrary to popular belief, more positive ratings do not simply result in higher sales. We find that the effect can be nonlinear, where the probability of purchase increases with rating to about 4.2–4.5 stars, but then decreases. Also, although the majority of extant research suggests that larger numbers of reviews bring more positive outcomes, we show that it is not always the case.     

Empirical Likelihood Approach for Aligning Information from Multiple Surveys

When two surveys carried out separately in the same population have common variables, it might be desirable to adjust each survey's weights so that they give equal estimates for the common variables. This problem has been studied extensively and has often been referred to as alignment or numerical consistency. We develop a design-based empirical likelihood approach for alignment and estimation of complex parameters defined by estimating equations. We focus on a general case when a single set of adjusted weights, which can be applied to both common and non-common variables, is produced for each survey. The main contribution of the paper is to show that the impirical log-likelihood ratio statistic is pivotal in the presence of alignment constraints. This pivotal statistic can be used to test hypotheses and derive confidence regions. Hence, the empirical likelihood approach proposed for alignment possesses the self-normalisation property, under a design-based approach. The proposed approach accommodates large sampling fractions, stratification and population level auxiliary information. It is particularly well suited for inference about small domains, when data are skewed. It includes implicit adjustments when the samples considerably differ in size. The confidence regions are constructed without the need for variance estimates, joint-inclusion probabilities, linearisation and re-sampling.     

Pipeline Transportation of Solid Materials

The reasons behind the search for alternatives to the currently used transport methods are congestions in communication systems, roads, stations, and transport nodes, which were built years ago and are not able to handle with the current load, the increasing number of motor vehicles, the emergence of congestions in the road network and disruptions reducing smooth traffic flow. The consequence of the phenomena is the transport congestion in urban transport systems. This article describes possibilities to change this state of affairs with the use of alternative transport method, which is the underground pipeline transportation of solid and bulk goods. The main objective of the study is to indicate the possible ways of using alternative transport routes to reduce transport congestion in large urban areas and industrial areas. There are currently implemented at least three research projects aiming to develop the theoretical and practical foundations for the underground transport of solid materials by using pipelines. In 2008, at the University of Oxford, research project Fri. FOODTUBES TM was launched. At the Ruhr University in Bochum, the project Cargo Cap is in realization. A new initiative （2014） is a research project carried out by a group of Captrans universities from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Italy, and Greece. Methodology used in those projects is primarily an analysis of reports on the current and projected traffic on the roads, highways, major hubs ect.; analysis of technical solutions used in pipeline transport of liquids and gas, as well as underground corridors drilling technologies for sewage pipes for various purposes. In the projects, there are also used computer simulations and prototypes are built. Developing parameters for the safe transport of solids in pipes is not an easy task. The solution must take into consideration logistics, economic, ecological, geological, legal, and many other aspects.     

Are children driving the gender wage gap?

We examine how much children and the responsibilities related to them contribute to the divergence of men's and women's wages, and consequently, to the formation of the gender wage gap. To derive the relative contribution of gender‐specific parent gaps to the overall gender wage gap, we provide a modification of the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition and include simultaneous corrections for selection into employment and parenthood. The results show that the fatherhood wage premium contributes most significantly to the gender wage gap, especially in Poland. The motherhood penalty is also significant, while the role of the gender gap among childless individuals is small.     

Will a government find it financially easier to neutralize a looming protest if more groups are involved?

We study a policy response to an increase in post-merger social stress. If a merger of groups of people is viewed as a revision of their social space, then the merger alters people’s comparators and increases social stress: the social stress of a merged population is greater than the sum of the levels of social stress of the constituent populations when apart. We use social stress as a proxy measure for looming social protest. As a response to the post-merger increase in social stress, we consider a policy aimed at reversing the negative effect of the merger by bringing the social stress of the merged population back to the sum of the pre-merger levels of social stress of the constituent populations when apart. We present, in the form of an algorithm, a cost-effective policy response which is publicly financed and does not reduce the incomes of the members of the merged population. We then compare the financial cost of implementing such a policy when the merger involves more or fewer groups. We show that the cost may fall as the number of merging groups rises.     

Fair Division Approach for the European Union’s Structural Policy Budget Allocation: An Application Study

Fairness of resource allocation remains one of the basic criteria of public choice. Taking fairness into account in public resource allocation is critically important when decision-making creates conflicts of interest among potential stakeholders. The European Union’s structural policy budget allocation is especially prone to such conflicts, mainly due to its complexity and lack of commonly accepted indexes to measure its effects. The objective of this paper is to evaluate if a fair-division algorithm can be effectively implemented in practice to diminish conflicts and provide a fair allocation of resources. The practical application involves a problem of the EU’s rural-development policy budget in Poland. The algorithm provides a simple formal framework for budget allocation and utilizes structural program evaluation questionnaires of the key stakeholder groups. The provided example demonstrates that the implementation of a fair division algorithm is feasible in practice. The algorithm is flexible, robust to variation in pre-set budget constraints, and results in a sensible solution that achieves consensus among the stakeholder groups.     

Changes in living conditions in Poland under economic transition

This paper presents changes in living conditions which have taken place in Polish provinces during the transformation period. To define the changes, 31 measures grouped into 12 fields have been established representing some basic aspects of living conditions. They years 1990 and 1994 were taken as the period of comparison. For analysis of changes in the value of living conditions, indicators were made using the statistical measures of dispersion, dynamics, and a graphic method. The average standard of living has decreased by 4.5 of one percentage point. Among 49 administrative provinces in Poland, only seven noted an increase. It is concluded that there are growing regional disparities in the living conditions of Polish people