The search for authenticity in the pilgrim experience

The present study enriches the theoretical debate on the concept of authenticity by examining its relevance to the experiences of pilgrims. Overall, the study argues that the recent conceptual shift in the tourism literature, which tends to view authenticity in a subjective sense, should be rethought due to its lack of consideration of ideological and spatial dimensions. Employing data from fieldwork on fundamentalist Christian pilgrimages, the study integrates previous approaches to authenticity through a conceptual framework referred to as theoplacity.     

Hotel workers’ substance use and abuse

This study investigates the usage of tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis among hotel employees in the resort city of Eilat. Data obtained from a sample of 458 respondents, drawn from three hotel chains, provides evidence of workers’ substance consumption in light of their socio-demographic backgrounds and specific job characteristics. The results indicate a higher rate of substance use among study participants in comparison to the average in Israeli society. Substance use was found to be the most prevalent among young, single male employees with relatively low levels of education. In terms of job characteristics, front-of-the-house employees were more prone to binge drinking than back-of-the house employees. It is suggested that work-related programs and policies, such as sensible drinking workshops and smoking cessation programs, may help prevent alcohol misuse and reduce extensive substance use among hotel staff.     

Moving up in taste: Enhanced projected taste and freshness of moving food products

Can implied motion enhance consumer judgment of food freshness and taste? Freshness plays an important role in determining anticipated taste. Different perceptual cues may influence judgments of freshness. While some cues such as coloring and bruising play an obvious role, the authors argue that cues that on face value appear unrelated to freshness may also influence judgments of freshness. Specifically, the authors argue that humans have learned to relate movement to food freshness, and that this leads perceived motion to generate enhanced judgments of freshness, and, consequently, projected taste. This proposition is demonstrated in four studies. The studies show that the inclusion of implied motion in food pictures leads to elevated judgments of freshness and projected taste.     

Unemployment insurance benefits and the supply of labor of an employed worker

The unemployment insurance program is believed to adversely affect the supply of labor of the unemployed. Yet, it generates favorable incentives for the employed. Since unemployment benefits are aimed to compensate the unemployed for earnings loss, of which past earnings serve as a practical measure, a worker might choose to increase his efforts when employed, insuring himself partially against future unemployment. However, this possible impact on labor supply has escaped any attention until very recently. Incorporating an earnings-related benefits scheme into a multi-period decision model, the present paper investigates the labor supply behavior of an insured worker over time.     

Revenge, Tax Informing, and the Optimal Bounty

A common belief is that the IRS pays tax informants 10% of whatever their tips produce in revenue. Actually, the bounty rate is even lower, averaging, in recent years, less than 2% of the amount of taxes and fines recovered. Why is it that the IRS is so tightfisted in rewarding informants who help recover taxes that otherwise would not have been recovered? The present paper approaches this question from an economic perspective, introducing a simple model of the informing decision, the implications of which are incorporated into the tax administration's problem of selecting a bounty rate, as well as a probability of convicting informed‐upon evaders, that maximize its expected net revenues from tax informing. The paper shows that a revenue‐maximizing tax administration would set its bounty rate lower and its prosecution efforts higher, the stronger, at the margin, informants' desire to get revenge on former parties with whom they have quarreled. While the IRS may be guided by ethical and moral considerations in designing its bounty scheme, it nevertheless behaves as if it were cynically exploiting informants' emotional drives, cutting down on their fair share in the recovered amounts to help finance its efforts in prosecuting informed‐upon evaders.     

Junk-food,home cooking,physical activity and obesity: The effect of the fat tax and the thin subsidy

In an effort to reduce the growing prevalence of obesity, a tax on junk-foods, known as ‘fat tax’, has been proposed, the revenue from which could be used to finance a ‘thin subsidy’ for healthy foods or exercising equipment. The present paper addresses the fat tax and thin subsidy within a food-intake rational-choice model. Assuming that healthy meals are cooked at home with purchased ingredients and time input, the paper examines the effects on obesity of a tax on junk-food meals and a subsidy to cooking ingredients, distinguishing between a weight-conscious and a non-weight conscious individual, and between a weight-conscious individual who is physically active and physically inactive. The results show that for a non-weight conscious individual a fat tax will unambiguously reduce obesity, whereas a thin subsidy may increase obesity. However, for a weight-conscious individual, particularly one who is physically active, even a fat tax may increase obesity, as it may reduce not just the consumption of junk-food, but also the time devoted to physical activity. The paper explores conditions under which obesity will rise, fall, or remain intact following the introduction of a fat tax or a thin subsidy.     

Trademark infringement and optimal monitoring policy

The paper addresses a trademark infringer who seeks to capitalize on the reputation of a trademark owner, sells an identical product under a trademark which is confusingly similar to that of the owner, charges the same price and competes with him in the same market. We show that the welfare-maximizing monitoring intensity is zero, hence the government is not likely to engage in monitoring infringement. Recognizing this, the trademark owner may consider monitoring the market himself, discovering, however, that this is worth his while only if the penalty for infringement, which he fully collects, is sufficiently high. Given the entry condition, an increase in the penalty may either raise or lower the optimal monitoring intensity. In the former case it will counter-intuitively increase the infringer's expected profit, apparently because a higher penalty will also lead to a raise in price. While monitoring enables the trademark owner to maintain a positive profit level, it reduces social welfare. The government may intervene to eliminate the private incentive for monitoring through taxing the collected penalty.     

Group diversity and decision quality: Amplification and attenuation of the framing effect

Do groups make better judgments and decisions than individuals? We tested the hypothesis that the advantage of groups over individuals in decision-making depends on the group composition. Our study used susceptibility to the framing effect as a measure of decision quality. Individuals were assigned to one of two perspectives on a choice problem. The individuals were asked to indicate their individual preference between a risky option and a risk-free option. Next, they were asked to consider the same (or a related) choice problem as a group. Homogeneous groups were composed of similarly framed individuals, while the heterogeneous ones were composed of differently framed individuals. In comparison to individual preferences, the homogeneous groups’ preferences were polarized, and thus the framing effect was amplified; in contrast, the heterogeneous groups’ preferences converged, and thus the framing effect was reduced to zero. The findings are discussed with regard to group polarization, the effects of heterogeneity on group performance, and the Delphi forecasting method.     

Tourism,faith and politics in the Holy Land: an ideological analysis of evangelical pilgrimage

This article aims to enhance the discussion of the role of ideology in the development of tourism practices through a closer examination of the case of Christian pilgrimage. The analysis focuses on the theo-political ideology of Christian Zionism and its roles and manifestations in the context of evangelical pilgrimages to Israel. Findings suggest that ideological dynamics within the development of these tours can be discussed by distinguishing between four tourism actors, namely, ideological organizations, tour organizers, Israeli officials, and the tourists. We suggest that these actors can be differentiated from each other in accordance with their ideological roles and orientations. Additionally, by demonstrating the similar utilization of pilgrimage by theo-political opponents of Christian Zionism, such as Sabeel and FOSNA, this article illustrates how pilgrimage to the Holy Land has become an arena for competition between these two rival ideologies within the Evangelical movement. The article concludes with a discussion on the role of pilgrimages to Israel as a platform through which theo-political ideologies are manifested, distributed, utilized, and consumed.