Residents’ attitudes to tourists visiting their mosques: a case study from Istanbul,Turkey

Resident perception of tourism impacts has been one of the most studied areas of tourism. However, there is an extremely limited literature on resident perceptions of religious tourism development, especially in non-Western countries. This study investigated the attitudes of local residents toward tourists visiting four important mosques in Istanbul, Turkey and their perception of religious tourism development. All residents surveyed were practicing Muslims who prayed in a mosque at least once a year. We found that, in general, local residents are supportive of tourists visiting their mosque, but the level of support may differ based on the demographic and cultural background of the residents as well as on the number of tourists visiting the mosque.     

Politics at play: locating human rights,refugees and grassroots humanitarianism in the Calais Jungle

Abstract

This article examines the political footprint of a new wave of grassroots humanitarian organisations in the informal refugee camp, popularly dubbed ‘The Jungle’, in Calais, northern France. Set against the formal humanitarian void created by the French state barring of international aid agencies, and the abject conditions of camp life, we trace the shifting socio-spatial remit and progressive politicisation of these ‘apolitical’ organisations as they encounter a crisis of human rights in the Jungle, prior to its violent demolition by state decree in October 2016. In foregrounding the organisational perspectives of Play4Calais and the Refugee Youth Service, and their unorthodox deployment of play, sport, cinema and art, we reveal a grassroots humanitarian praxis which offers an alternative to the large-scale ‘professionalised’ registers of aid delivery. By virtue of their relative informality, spatial proximity and volunteer activism, these grassroots organisations not only stand in tension with the violent border sovereignties of neoliberal states, but open up the inchoate possibility for political struggle and refugee-centred claims-making over the right to inhabit the ‘exceptional’ space of the camp.     

Religion and Economic Development in History: Institutions and the Role of Religious Networks

I argue that the role of religion on economic performance is mainly through the networks of small religious groups. These groups form social networks that enable individuals to conduct non-formal contract enforcement mechanisms. I analyze the effects of religions on societies, focusing mainly on the institutional aspects that affect the capabilities of creating social capital via networks which enhance cooperation and decrease transaction costs. Since the interaction between institutions and organizations is expected to shape the institutional evolution and economic performance of an economy, religions that have a communal form of organization rather than a vertical (hierarchical) structure, thus allowing many different denominational sub-communities within a society, can be more beneficiary for development and growth. Such institutions may not only provide allocative and production efficiency, but also adaptive efficiency that is a key to long-run growth. However, these effects may turn negative depending on these institutions’ role in causing group hostility and exclusion.     

Welfare calculations in discrete choice settings: An exploratory analysis of error term correlation with finite populations

A difference in logsum terms (also known as inclusive values) is becoming a standard practice for anticipating the welfare impacts of transport policy when choice alternatives are discrete and behavior is (assumed to be) random-utility maximizing. However, this calculation is only an approximation when the population under study is finite. This paper examines the effect of error term correlations in such welfare analyses with finite samples, recognizing that individual preferences and unobserved attributes influencing choice are unlikely to change much, if at all, across scenarios or across alternatives. Such measures appear reasonably robust to deviations in assumptions of correlation. Nevertheless, we identify cases when the synthetic population samples need to be quite large for the average logsum to be realized. Another finding in these results is the substantial variation that emerges across synthetic populations, suggesting that policies that appear welfare-improving (when evaluated with average welfare formulations) may well be welfare-reducing (or vice versa) for a wide variety of actual, finite populations.     

Tourist Word of Mouth and Revisit Intentions to Rural Tourism Destinations: a Case of North Dakota,USA

Destination managers in rural states, like North Dakota, understand the benefits of tourism and, thus, the importance of studying visitors' intentions. This study investigated visitors' perceptions of destination image, value and satisfaction and those variables’ relationship with future behaviors, with a specific focus on their intent to return and make recommendations to others. The results showed that destination image directly affects visitors' perception of value and revisit intentions, and it indirectly affects satisfaction and recommendation intentions. The results also demonstrate how tourism practitioners can apply past models to their destination. The overall findings support the concept that a positive image is important to attracting repeat visitors. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inflation expectations in Turkey: learning to be rational

Turkey implemented an ambitious restructuring of the economy in the past several years, including the adoption of inflation targeting along with a floating exchange rate regime. Inflation came down from almost triple digits to single digits between 2001 and 2005. This particular episode of the Turkish economy sets a genuine case study for investigating the possible changes in the behaviour of inflation expectations upon a regime shift. Accordingly, this study analyses inflation expectations in Turkey, focusing especially on the post-2001 transition phase. We first conduct classical tests of unbiasedness and efficiency using aggregate survey data between August 2001 and October 2007 to get a statistical benchmark for rationality; we find that classical tests reject full rationality hypothesis for all series except next month's Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation expectations. Then, we carry out Time-Varying Parameter (TVP) estimates based on a Kalman filter to see how the coefficients in the classical test equations evolve over time. This framework allows us to see whether there is convergence to rationality in terms of unbiasedness and efficiency. We find that forecast performance has improved through time, as the coefficients on the test equations shows movement towards values implied by unbiasedness and efficiency hypotheses, supporting the learning hypothesis.     

An Investigation of People's Time Orientation,Attitudes, and Behavior Toward Advertising in an International Context

ABSTRACT

Past studies have indicated that there are cross-cultural/national differences among people's perception of time and how they use time available for them and what factors affect their time-related purchasing and consumption decisions. It is stated that each culture or subculture could have its own dominant construct of time. The present study examines time use and orientation and time attitudes toward different activities, including advertising in an emerging economy of Georgia. Study results indicate that present orientation and consciousness of future, planning orientation, time saving, realization of present in the light of past, and action orientation are salient factors channeling time orientations of Georgian consumers.     

Enforcement,Socioeconomic Diversity,and Tax Filing Compliance in the United States

In this article, we examine the determinants of tax filing compliance in the United States. We use county‐level data on non‐filing rates for the tax year 2000, obtained directly from the Internal Revenue Service. We include explanatory variables identified in the “rational compliance” framework, including an enforcement index against identified non‐filers, the audit rate of filers, and the average penalty rate for both filers and non‐filers. We also examine the role of socioeconomic diversity on tax compliance, testing whether within‐county heterogeneity in household income, language, race, and religion can help explain variation in non‐filing rates. We find that non‐filing is increasing with heterogeneity by race, although not by income or language, and that non‐filing is decreasing with heterogeneity by religious membership. As for enforcement variables, we find that non‐filing rates tend to fall with the enforcement index. Other variables have somewhat mixed results.     

Effectiveness of the Financial Ratios in the Determination of the Fraudulent Financial Statements＂ Turkey Practice

Large-scale accounting scandals which were reflected to the world public opinion particularly in the 2000s （such as Enron, Lucent, Xerox, and Parmalat Bank for Reconstruction） carried the matter of fraudulent financial reporting which was made to deceive the financial statement users （Fraudulent Financial Report （FFR）） to the forefront in the agenda of the academicians, operators, and regulatory authorities. As in every crime action, the most effective measure to be taken in preventing FFR events is to try to prevent the FFR before arising. In order to achieve this, in the most effective manner, FFR events should be determined in the formation process. In this study, fraudulent financial statements are tried to be determined by using financial ratios. For this, financial statements of 22 companies which transact in the textile industry in Istanbul Stock Exchange （ISE） were examined. Twenty-three financial ratios were selected for the purpose of determining the risk of fraudulence in the financial statements of the selected companies. These ratios increased in value by multiple regression analysis. The findings which were obtained in the study indicated that some financial statements had the risk of fraudulence. It was concluded that the ratios of inventory/current asset, total debt ratio, and equity turnover rate were a good indicator in the determination of fraudulent financial statements.     

Uncertainty and Information Search Activities: A Study of Owner–Managers of Small High-Technology Manufacturing Firms

This study examines the relationship among perceived strategic uncertainty (PSU), environmental scanning, and the information sources used by owner–managers of a sample of 153 small high-technology manufacturing firms. The results suggest that increased scanning activities are associated with high levels of PSU. Perhaps most importantly, the results also suggest that owner–managers of younger firms respond to uncertainty differently than their counterparts in more mature firms. Specifically, owner–managers of younger firms appear to respond to higher PSU by relying more heavily on personal and external information sources. Owner–managers of older firms, on the other hand, rely more heavily on internal and impersonal information sources to address environmental uncertainty.