The macrodynamics of business cycles: A comparative evaluation Mohammed H.I. Dore Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1993, 242 pp.

In his latest book, Mohammed Dore has provided a much needed exposition of macroeconomic and business cycle theory since the advent of Keynes' General Theory. The book provides under one cover extended derivations of the main models that must be mastered if one is to be proficient in macroeconomic theory. It is, however, much more than just an expository volume; it is also a work of highly structured evaluation and criticism. The theories considered fall into the broad classifications of New Classical, New Keynesian, and endogenous cycle theories. The theories are rated on how well they account for ten stylized facts describing business cycles. The winner of the Dore sweepstakes is Richard M. Goodwin's endogenous cycle theory. While heartily endorsing Dore's criticism of representative agent models, this review expresses reservations about abandoning micro foundations.     

从世界休闲渔业出现的问题看中国休闲渔业的发展

本文认为中国的休闲渔业发展正在兴起,而世界一些国家与地区的休闲渔业已经出现了一些问题,例如与商业捕捞业争夺有限的渔业资源、休闲渔业对渔业资源出现了破坏等.如何趋利避害,笔者提出中国休闲渔业发展应注意的几个问题.     

Watershed management in an urban setting: process, scale and administration

Efforts in post-industrial countries to refine environment and planning administration in the face of unprecedented urban growth have important implications for ecological systems and human quality of life. This paper uses the case of an urban riparian corridor in South East Queensland, Australia to contribute to understandings of interactions between land use planning processes, watershed management initiatives and broader administrative structures in urban and rapidly urbanising settings. In particular it examines the understudied application of watershed management to an urban setting. Analysis of changes to the structure and function of urban riparian corridor management over time show that changes have occurred as a result of broader policy and institutional change in three distinct phases: top-down watershed management policy (1996-2000), regional natural resource and population growth management policy (2001-2005) and the recent re-emergence of local government as the dominant actor in a multilevel networked context (2006-2008). Trends toward regional scale approaches and increased urban planning initiatives have tended to concentrate responsibilities for urban environmental management with local government. This is in contrast to most rural natural resource management experience, and highlights the importance of meta-governance frameworks in ensuring the enduring applicability of the watershed management model to urban and rapidly urbanising catchments.     

The effect of acute pain on risky and intertemporal choice

Pain is a highly salient and attention-demanding experience that motivates people to act. We investigated the effect of pain on decision making by delivering acute thermal pain to participants’ forearm while they made risky and intertemporal choices involving money. Participants (n = 107) were more risk seeking under pain than in a no-pain control condition when decisions involved gains but not when they involved equivalent losses. Pain also resulted in greater preference for immediate (smaller) over future (larger) monetary rewards. We interpret these results as a motivation to offset the aversive, pain-induced state, where monetary rewards become more appealing under pain than under no pain and when delivered sooner rather than later. Our findings add to the long-standing debate regarding the role of intuition and reflection in decision making.     

A model of traveller acceptance of mobile technology

With the growing popularity of mobile technology, mobile communications are becoming an important channel for tourism organisations. This study builds upon a conceptual framework that explains the factors influencing tourist acceptance of mobile devices. To represent the uniqueness of mobile technology acceptance based on an extensive literature review on user technology acceptance, this study proposes two external variables (technology experience and trip experience) and two influential determinants (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use). These factors together determine user attitudes towards using mobile devices and, consequently, influence user intention and willingness to adopt mobile devices in the tourism context. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling showed that trip experience and technology experience positively influenced perceived performance and perceived ease of use, and the factors positively related to travellers' attitudes towards using mobile devices and intention to use them within the tourism context. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural and competitive determinants of a global integration strategy

Both structural determinants and competitive factors can work to define the relevant environment for strategy formulation within an industry. This study examines the effects of each of these two sets of factors on global integration strategies, and finds that their impacts vary considerably from one industry to another. The study also investigates the relationship between a business's global integration strategy and its performance, using an industry'specific perspective. In the aggregate, the businesses studied appear to be under-globalized. However, this relationship varied significantly by industry; four of the industries studied appeared to be under-globalized, while the remaining three industries were at or near an optimal level of globalization.     

A taxonomy of business-level strategies in global industries

This study presents a taxonomy of business-level strategies in global industries. Empirical data suggest there are four broad strategies: domestic product niche, exporting high quality offerings, international product innovation, and quasi-global combination. A discussion of the characteristics and performance differentials of each strategy type is provided as well.     

Changing demographics: what to watch for.

Four broad demographic transformations: 1) the population's reconfiguration into smaller household units, especially those comprised of persons living alone; 2) changing employment patterns, notably the shift of married women into paid employment and the resulting proliferation of dual-earner families; 3) transformations in the population's age composition; and 4) the geography of growth in terms of regions that will gain or lose population--can be expected to have a profound impact on opportunities and challenges facing the business sector. The number of future households is projected to increase from 88.6 million in 1986 to 101.5 million by 1996. The sharpest gains will be among households headed by persons ranging in age from the late 30s to the early 50s. The fastest growth through the year 2000 is expected to occur in the Mountain states of the US. Business economists should be alert to these demographic analyses both to spot emerging growth markets and to identify long-term strategic issues, especially as the labor market changes. It will be increasingly important to differentiate time-sensitive from price-sensitive consumers.