Estimating social travel demand of senior citizens in the Netherlands

Like many other countries, the Netherlands is experiencing a sharp rise in the ageing population. As age increases, people’s mobility may decrease. However, older people have more leisure time compared to their younger (working) counterparts, and potentially spend more time on social activities. Therefore, this group can possibly increase social travel demand. However, to date, the travel demand for social activities of senior citizens has received only little attention. This paper studies trip-making for social purposes, with a special focus on the demographic ageing factors. Using social activity diary data, models are estimated to predict the number of social trips, the travel distance and mode of transport for social trips. The results indicate that the elderly of today seem to be as mobile as their younger counterparts with respect to the number of social trips. High education and involvement in clubs on average result in more social trips and full time work is found to result in fewer social trips. With regard to trip distance the results show that the average travel distance does not decrease as people get older. Full time work is found to result in longer social trips. Shorter trips were found for people in urban as well as rural areas. Trips for the purpose of visiting or joint activities tend to be longer than average. With regard to transport mode choice the results indicate that older seniors (75+) are less likely to choose the bicycle, relative to driving. No other significant age effects were found. Significant effects were found for gender, household structure, education level, car ownership, having a disability, urban density, distance and the purpose of the social activity.     

Initial endowments and economic reform in 27 post-socialist countries

This study explores how initial endowments at the start of transition have shaped reform outcomes and reform trajectories in 27 former communist countries in Europe and Central Asia. Countries of the former Russian Empire that had a large resources sector at the start of transition underperformed other countries in terms of the speed and the depth of economic reforms. The effect is particularly strong for privatization, enterprise restructuring and competition policy. Within country, Ottoman or Russian provinces that had a large natural resources sector in 1989 have a lower share of entrepreneurs and of small and medium sized enterprises today and also experience endemic corruption. Our results indicate that the propensity, or ability, of special interest groups to capture the reform process that would erode their rents were facilitated by the quality of institutions whose foundations go back centuries; and that the effects on the local economy are real.     

Book review

Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked Organization Lee Sproull & Sara Keisler Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 1991, 212 pp., £1 8.00 Office Automation: Context, Experience and Future Andrew Doswell New York, Wiley, 1990, 300 pp., £24.95.

Managing Technological Development: Strategic and Human Resources Issues Urs E. Gattiker & Laurie Lanvood (Eds) Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 1989, 232 pp., US$35.00.     

The Regulation of Private Schools Serving Low-Income Families in Andhra Pradesh,India

This paper sets out some findings of a research project carried out in private unaided schools in low-income areas of Hyderabad, India. The part of the research project documented here was designed to examine the question: Is the regulatory regime conducive to entrepreneurial action and market discovery with particular reference to the low-income schools in Hyderabad. This paper is narrowly focused, setting out the results of pattern matching empirical data with the Austrian economic concepts of entrepreneurship, rivalry, and market discovery. The research discovered that two regulatory regimes exist, one that is set out on paper in the Education Acts and associated rules, and another that operates in practice. That is, there is a combination of regulations on paper and regulations existing in an extra-legal sector. Generally it was found that the regulations in practice are consistent with market principles. Conversely the regulations set out on paper are not conducive to entrepreneurial innovation and market discovery. Recommendations for potential policy initiatives include the possibility of legitimising the extra-legal sector by introducing self-regulation possibly via self-evaluation systems for the private unaided schools.     

New development: 4P recommendations for implementing change,from research in hospitals

How are hospital staff involved in process improvement initiatives such as Lean? What can we learn from Lean implementation experiences about the sustainability of such initiatives? The authors considered such questions in a study of workplace change in Australia and Canada. They found that Lean is more likely to be sustained when leaders adopted the 4P recommendations presented in this article.     

Virtual Bundling with Quantity Discounts: When Low Purchase Price Does Not Lead to Smart‐Shopper Feelings

Previous research has shown that promotional techniques influence both the smart‐shopper feeling and the consumption level at home through a direct mechanism (lower perceived cost) and an indirect consequence of promotions (larger supply). The development in France of virtual bundles with quantity discounts raises questions regarding a consumer's cognitive and affective appreciation of the deal, and therefore promotional efficiency. Four experiments on French consumers confirm the effect of price and supply on declared consumption, but only for “vice” products. In Experiment 2, virtual bundles with quantity discounts lead to the lowest perceived unit price and consequently to the highest level of consumption. Additionally, when compared with more traditional promotional techniques (e.g., physical bundles), virtual bundles with quantity discounts reduce the evaluation of a “good deal” and the smart‐shopper feeling (Experiments 3 and 4). To summarize, such promotional techniques, which might have seemed appealing at first (“buy more to save more”), are preferred less by consumers than more traditional promotional techniques. These preliminary results could be enriched by field studies that go beyond declared consumption and observe consumers evolving in their natural environment across time.     

Hybrid Cat Bonds

Natural catastrophes attract regularly the media attention and have become a source of public concern. From a financial viewpoint, they represent idiosyncratic risks, diversifiable at the world level. But for various reasons, reinsurance markets are unable to cope with this risk completely. Insurance-linked securities, such as catastrophe (cat) bonds, have been issued to complete the international risk transfer process, but their development is disappointing so far. This article argues that downside risk aversion and ambiguity aversion explain their limited success. Hybrid cat bonds, combining the transfer of cat risk with protection against a stock market crash, are proposed to complete the market. The article shows that replacing simple cat bonds with hybrid cat bonds would lead to an increase in market volume.     

The impact of information and communication technology on international trade in fruit and vegetables in APEC

The global food marketing network is being constantly reshaped, providing opportunities and challenges for information and communication technology (ICT) to develop and improve international trade in food products. A gravity model of international trade is employed to see if ICT positively affects bilateral international trade in fruit and vegetables between member Asia‐Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies. We examine if the use of the Internet, mobile telephones, and fixed telephone lines determine the value of bilateral trade. Empirical results for the importance of ICT differ markedly between importing activities and exporting activities in the international value chain of fruit and vegetables in APEC countries. Changes in ICT levels in the import sector of the value chain have no effect on international trade in fruit and vegetables. However, in the export sector, growth in some ICT products has significant positive effects on trade in fruit and vegetables between APEC countries. Surprisingly, the strongest impact was discerned for the traditional form of ICT, fixed telephone lines, but this impact probably reflects the fact that fixed telephone lines are a proxy variable for the general level of infrastructure development. Of the two digital ICTs, mobile telephony and the Internet, only the Internet had a significant impact on trade levels. The further development of the Internet and its diffusion should make exporters in APEC countries more competitive in the fruit and vegetables value chain, and boost their trade values in these products.     

Understanding,modelling and managing longevity risk: key issues and main challenges

This article investigates the latest developments in longevity-risk modelling, and explores the key risk management challenges for both the financial and insurance industries. The article discusses key definitions that are crucial for the enhancement of the way longevity risk is understood, providing a global view of the practical issues for longevity-linked insurance and pension products that have evolved concurrently with the steady increase in life expectancy since s. In addition, the article frames the recent and forthcoming developments that are expected to action industry-wide changes as more effective regulation, designed to better assess and efficiently manage inherited risks, is adopted. Simultaneously, the evolution of longevity is intensifying the need for capital markets to be used to manage and transfer the risk through what are known as Insurance-Linked Securities (ILS). Thus, the article will examine the emerging scenarios, and will finally highlight some important potential developments for longevity-risk management from a financial perspective with reference to the most relevant modelling and pricing practices in the banking industry.