Regulatory Choices and Commitment: Challenges for Electricity Market Regulation in Kosovo

Since 1990 the Cuban economy has faced a crisis comparable with those in Eastern Europe. However, since 1995 approximately, the Cuban reform has been showing significant results in terms of economic recovery and financial adjustment. As is the case with the Chinese reform, the stabilising, privatising and liberalising measures taken in Cuba point to a reform strategy essentially different from that followed in Eastern Europe. This article shows two relevant aspects of the Cuban case: first, the Cuban reform is a transition process toward the market although forced by external circumstances and still at an early developmental stage; second, the Cuban transition is in line with the evolutionary conception of a transition.     

Readings in Public and Nonprofit Marketing. Lovelock,Christopher H., and Charles B. Weinberg. Palo Alto,Calif.: The Scientific Press,the Stanford Barn, 1978

Abstract

In a recent paper, Johar and Sirgy have proposed a hypothesis that value-expressive advertising appeals are persuasive when the product is value-expressive, whereas utilitarian appeals are persuasive when the product is utilitarian. Johar and Sirgy suggested that future research be directed at testing these hypotheses. This comment points out that direct support for these hypotheses already exists. The experimental evidence in support of these and related predictions is discussed. Suggestions for future research on the effectiveness of utilitarian versus value-expressive appeals are offered.     

Risk-based decision analysis in support of precautionary policies

A decision-analytic model for avoiding a risky activity is presented. The model considers the benefit and cost of avoiding the activity, the probability that the activity is unsafe, and scientific tests or studies that could be conducted to revise the probability that the activity is unsafe. For a single decision maker, thresholds are identified for his or her current subjective probability that the activity is unsafe. These thresholds indicate whether the preferred course of action is avoiding the activity without further study, engaging in the activity without further study, or conducting a test or research programme to obtain additional information and following the result. When these thresholds are low, precautionary action is more likely to be warranted. When there are multiple stakeholders, differences in their perceptions of the benefit and cost of avoidance and differences in their perceptions of the accuracy of the additional information provided by the test or research programme combine to create differences in their decision thresholds. Thus, the model allows for the rational expression of differences among parties in a way that highlights disagreements and possible paths to conflict resolution. The model is illustrated with an application to phytosanitary standards in international trade and examined in terms of recent empirical research on lay perceptions of risks, benefits, and trust. Further research is suggested to improve the elicitation of model components, as a way of fostering the legitimate application of risk-based decision analysis in precautionary policy making.     

Characteristics and Behaviour of Tourists Who Use Trails

This article documents the popularity of five types of trail-based recreation relative to other forms of recreation that tourists frequently participate in on their trips; identifies these trail users’ cross-participation in other outdoor recreation activities; and profiles the travel behaviour, media habits, trip planning behaviour, and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of day hikers and snowmobilers as two particularly large trail user segments. Findings are based on data from a household telephone survey conducted in Michigan, surrounding states, and Ontario, Canada. Hiking/backpacking was found to be the most popular natural resource-based recreation activity that respondents participated in on pleasure trips taken during the past 12 months; other forms of trail-based recreation were significantly less popular; mountain bikers participated in nature-oriented recreation activities in Michigan at levels that were similar to those of hikers/backpackers; and snowmobiling appeared to be the focus of most pleasure trips on which this activity occurred, in contrast to day hiking, which appeared to be more of an ancillary pursuit.     

Environmental practices in the wine industry: An empirical application of the theory of reasoned action and stakeholder theory in the United States and New Zealand

Industry transformation related to environmental stewardship has received significant scholarly attention over the past decade. However, limited theoretical and empirical work examines the motivations for improving environmental performance in an industry in different countries. In this paper, we develop a set of hypotheses, based in the theory of reasoned action and stakeholder theory, regarding drivers of the adoption of environmental practices in the wine industries of New Zealand and the United States. We test our hypotheses using data from survey questionnaires collected in each country. Our findings suggest that subjective norms and internal stakeholder pressures are common drivers of the adoption of environmental practices in these two countries. However, managerial attitudes and external stakeholder pressures are not significant drivers. We also find that managerial attitudes and export dependence are stronger determinants of environmental practice adoption in New Zealand compared to the U.S.     

The repeat travel market for Taiwan: A multi-stage segmentation approach

Despite the importance of market segmentation, the growth of the travel and tourism industry in Taiwan, and the repeat travel phenomenon in tourism, relatively few studies have examined the behavior of repeat travelers in the East Asia region. The present study was designed to fill this gap. This exploratory study applied multistage segmentation in the context of repeat travel behavior to Taiwan. It examined the socio-demographic profile, trip characteristics and expenditures of Taiwan inbound repeat travelers. The results indicated that nationality, income, type of travel arrangements and information search behavior significantly affected repeat travel behavior. In terms of travel expenditures, males spent significantly more than females. Those travelers between 40 and 60 years old tended to spend the most when they visited Taiwan compared to other groups. Chinese travelers were most likely to have traveled to Taiwan more than once among all nationalities compared in this study. Those from Korea and Japan spent the most money among all nationality groups. This study provided several significant implications for the marketers of tourism in Taiwan.     

Changing Contours of Income Stratification and Decomposition of Income Inequality: Evidence from Recent Longitudinal Survey in India

The paper, based on India Human Development Survey (IHDS) data, tries to address the question- how unequal is India in terms of income distribution? Accordingly, the paper examines the trends, levels, sources and factors of income inequality in India between 2005 and 2012. Three important results stemmed from our analysis. First, in this paper we use Gini as a measure of inequality and find that income inequality in rural India has increased from 0.50 to 0.54 between 2005 and 2012, whereas, in urban India income inequality has increased from 0.48 to 0.49 during the same period. Next and most importantly, we decompose income inequality by income sources and find that amongst different sources of income inequality; the contribution of farm income in total inequality has decreased from 35 percent in 2005 to 21 percent in 2012 in rural India. On the other hand, the contribution of salaried income in total inequality has plummeted drastically from 65 percent in 2005 to 16 percent in 2012 in urban India. Finally, we use Theil’s T index from the class of Generalized Entropy (GE) inequality measures, while decomposing income by four most important factors; namely, place of residence, social, educational and occupational groups. It is irrespective of these factors; the relative share of within-group inequality is not only much higher than that of between-group inequality, also its share has increased between these two periods. Thus, our paper suggests that these mutually reinforcing inequalities, in the long run, if not addressed effectively, will create a hard-hitting division between the privileged and the rest in Indian society.