Risk perceptions,preferences and management strategies: evidence from a case study using German livestock farmers

We analyze the factors affecting farmers’ choice accounting for farm, farmer, and household characteristics as well as elicited risk perception and risk preferences. We consider three alternative hypothetical methods for assessing risk preferences to test the stability and behavioral validity of them. Our case study focuses on livestock farmers in the German region North Rhine-Westphalia. We find that risk preferences are context depending, i.e. differ across different fields of farm-level decision-making. Furthermore, our analysis shows that risk-averse farmers are more likely to prioritize on-farm risk management strategies over off-farm strategies. Moreover, higher risk perception, age, subjective numeracy, farm succession, farm size, and the proportion of rented land show a significant impact on farmers’ risk behavior     

Arrow’s theorem as a corollary

Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem is derived from a general result on social aggregation in ‘property spaces’ (S3 convex structures) obtained in prior work. In the derivation, the specific structure of Arrowian aggregation as an aggregation of weak orders plays a purely combinatorial role.     

财政分权和西部地区的发展

西部地区明显落后于东部地区，形成了比较严重的区域发展不平衡，解决西部地区发展问题，不但需要国家在资金上给予扶持，更为重要的是国家政策的倾斜，其中一项政策就是财政税收政策。财税政策倾斜的重点不仅仅是转移支付，还应该包括给予西部地区以财税政策的制度权，使西部各省能够根据自身情况制定优惠政策，以达到吸收外部资金和民间资金的目的，只有增强西部地区自我发展能力，才能真正实现西部地区的发展。     

非现金支付的发展及其规律性的分析

本文分析了2013年至2017年我国非现金支付发展情况及其规律性,建立了关于非现金支付工具选择偏好的模型。数据分析发现,在这段时间传统的非现金支付业务出现了较大幅度的下降,而新型的电子化支付工具迅速发展,特别是网上支付和移动支付业务规模出现爆发性增长。理论研究表明,非现金支付工具的选择主要决定于安全性、便利性和使用成本,而这三项因素又受到交易规模的影响。交易规模越大,人们对支付工具的安全性要求越高,对便利性要求越低,也可以接受付费和较高的使用成本;交易规模越小,人们对支付工具的便利性要求越高,对安全性要求降低,也不可以接受付费和较高的使用成本;在交易规模一定的情况下,越安全、越便利、使用成本越低的支付工具越能得到使用。本文建议,应将非银行支付机构的账户余额纳入M1范围,加强对非现金支付工具的统计分析,加快开发中央银行主导的新型非现金支付工具。     

An application of the repertory grid method and generalised Procrustes analysis to investigate the motivational factors of tourist food consumption

This study explores the motivational factors and dimensions underlying tourists’ food consumption through a combined repertory grid method (RGM) and generalised Procrustes analysis (GPA) approach. By employing the RGM triadic elicitation technique, a total of 14 motivational factors was yielded (i.e., authentic experience, prestige, cultural knowledge, health concern, assurance, convenience, price and value, novelty, variety, familiarity, eating habit, sensory pleasure, social pleasure, and contextual pleasure). Content analysis and GPA results further categorised the factors into five dimensions (i.e., symbolic, obligatory, contrast, extension, and pleasure). Based on the findings, a conceptual framework was developed to illustrate how tourist food consumption can be differentiated into supporting consumer experience, peak touristic experience (contrast), peak touristic experience (symbolic) and “attractionised” experience.     

Understanding beliefs and concerns towards palm oil: Empirical evidence and policy implications

Over the last years palm oil has become a controversial product, due to its alleged harmful environmental and health effects. As a consequence, many food companies have taken concrete actions for meeting growing concerns. In this respect, a field survey was carried out amongst a sample of 607 Italian respondents, in order to highlight the potential effect of consumers’ attitudes towards health, social and environmental worries referred to palm oil consumption. Individual responses were statistically processed by means of a mixture model which allows for the detection of agreement and heterogeneity among respondents with respect to a given item. The results of this study suggest that respondents are worried for the current discussion on palm oil issues. This preoccupation affects both decision of purchasing and interest in further accurate knowledge. Overall, the consumer envisioned by the present study gives some hope on the effectiveness of consumer social responsibility in helping tackle food system sustainability concerns.     

A simple theory and evidence on the determinants of firm R&D

This paper derives a simple, but informative, model of firm R&D to figure out key factors that determine firm R&D effort. The model suggests a demand-pull, technology-push theory of R&D by showing that a firm's profit-maximizing R&D expenditure is determined jointly by both demand-side factors and technology-side factors. The former includes demand size (firm sales) and consumer preference over quality and price and the latter includes R&D cost structure or the production-cost effect of product R&D and firm-specific technological competence. In addition, the model shows that other things being equal, the stock of exogenous technological knowledge, including the firm's previously accumulated technological knowledge, relevant to current R&D which is negatively related with current R&D effort. An empirical analysis of firm R&D intensities and technological capabilities of more than 1600 firms in nine industries across six countries provides supportive evidence for the theory. Further, the theory implies that R&D intensity or the R&D-to-sales ratio is independent of firm size unless firm size affects technological competence and that given consumer preference and R&D cost structure facing all firms in the same industry, the distribution of firm-specific technological competence among firms determines the distribution of firm R&D intensities within the industry.     

Combining attitudinal statements with choice experiments to analyze preference heterogeneity for functional dairy products

In this article, we employ a discrete choice experiment to examine preferences for functional dairy product attributes and willingness-to-pay estimates for consumers in Germany. We estimate preference heterogeneity by linking stated preference choice data not only to socioeconomic characteristics but also to attitudinal statements in a latent class framework. The empirical results indicate the existence of class-specific preference heterogeneity based on the consumers’ attitude towards functional foods, emphasizing the importance of attitudinal data in explaining consumers’ choice behavior. Our estimates demonstrate that within a class, consumers’ preferences are in accordance with their responses to attitudinal statements, that is functional food skeptics prefer non-functional dairy products, while functional food advocates have a negative preference for non-functional dairy products. The findings also show that all consumers place high value on dairy products enriched with known functional ingredients such as omega-3 fatty acids.     

A dynamic decision support system for evaluating peer-to-peer rental accommodations in the sharing economy

Accommodation accounts for one of the biggest expenses while traveling, and deciding where to stay is often confusing and time-consuming. Fortunately, travelers have more options than ever before because of the substantial growth of the peer-to-peer (P2P) short-term rentals in the sharing economy. Designing a user-friendly system that considers travelers’ preferences in choosing the right accommodation can enhance customer satisfaction and increase profitability. We propose a dynamic decision support system based on the theory of multi-criteria decision making to assist travelers in personalizing their preferences and finding quality accommodations in the dominant P2P market that aligns with those preferences. We use the fuzzy best-worst method to measure the intensity of the user’s preferences and the fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) to score and evaluate alternative P2P rental properties. We present a case study in the P2P rental accommodations industry to demonstrate the applicability of the method proposed in this study.     

Passengers' airport choice and airports' catchment area analysis in cross-border Upper Adriatic multi-airport region

Although much research has been performed on passengers' origin airport choice, there is little research on airports' catchment area size and even less on airports' catchment areas in cross-border regions. This paper addresses passengers' airport choice and analyzes airports' catchment area size and its homogeneity in the Upper Adriatic region. Using the results of passengers' survey at three regional airports (Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (LJU), Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) and Trieste Pietro Savorgnan di Brazza Airport (TRS)) we have estimated the airports' catchment areas and airports market shares therein using multinomial logit (MNL) model structure. To additionally explore the passengers' airport choice behavior considering the different sensitivity across travellers to regional, demographic and airports attributes and account for preference heterogeneity in airport choice a mixed logit model was used. The results indicated that the three airports have relatively small core catchment areas and that the market share rapidly decreases with the increasing access time to airport. Partially, the results reinforced earlier findings showing that access time to airport is the most important determinant in airport choice for all segments (business/leisure and cross-border/domestic), however the sensitivity to access time is more pronounced in business and domestic group. Additionally, the results indicated pronounced loyalty to domestic airports and generally low importance of ticket prices, and show that in market conditions where all airports in the region have a low-cost carrier (LCC) the effect of LCC on airport choice is limited. Finally, the results indicated that the borders might have an influence on airport choice and that overall, in the cross-border regions the passengers’ airport choice process is even more complex than in non cross-border regions.