Problems of Modern Technology

This essay identifies a contradiction between the flourishing interest in the environmental economics of the classical period and a lack of critical parsing of the works of its leading representatives. Its focus is the work of Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus. It offers a critical analysis of their contribution to environmental thought and surveys the work of their contemporary devotees. It scrutinizes Smith's contribution to what Karl Polanyi termed the "economistic fallacy," as well as his defenses of class hierarchy, the "growth imperative" and consumerism. It subjects to critical appraisal Malthus's enthusiasm for private property and the market system, and his opposition to market regulation. While Malthus's principal attraction to ecological economists lies in his having allegedly broadened the scope of economics, and in his narrative of scarcity, this article shows that he, in fact, narrowed the scope of the discipline and conceptualized scarcity in a reified and pseudo-scientific way.     

Institutionalist Labor Market Theory and the Veblenian Dichotomy

This paper contributes to an institutional theory of crime. More specifically, it focuses on the problem of the mafia and the infiltration of legitimate businesses. In legal markets, the mafia resorts to artificial scarcity as a functioning principle. Although scarcity and its consequences for market economies are key aspects of mainstream economics, they have been insufficiently analyzed because the emphasis is only on "natural" scarcity. The mafia phenomenon reveals that scarcity can also be institutionally created. This type of scarcity encourages the process of market collectivization and empowers those generating it. The mafia's legal activities establish a system of "waiting lines" and monitored access to goods. Instead of being merely coercive and openly violent, the mafia builds a new lasting order, producing its own rules, and even breeding social legitimacy.     

基于广义虚拟经济的国际不平等交换案例研究

本文从广义虚拟经济的视角揭示了在北京高档酒吧2001年相同容量的一瓶百威啤酒售价是青岛啤酒的4倍,而到2011年差价变为1.4倍现象的深层原因是国人对百威啤酒的心理需求产生变化,即两者虚拟价值变化必然带来价格差距的缩小,这也使中国在啤酒行业的国际交换中不平等的程度减弱。     

The antecedents of in-store hoarding: measurement and application in the fast fashion retail environment

This study raised scholarly inquiry about the construct of in-store hoarding and investigated the antecedents of in-store hoarding in the fast fashion retail environment. As the market becomes dynamic and volatile, more retailers are moving toward fast fashion by constantly delivering new products throughout the season. As a result, a product life span is dramatically reduced, thereby accelerating perishability of fashion items. Moreover, in order to make constant room for new products and minimize markdowns, fast fashion retailers deliberately limit product availability, creating a sense of scarcity on the part of consumers. Based on the literature review and one-to-one interviews, perceived perishability, scarcity and low price were identified as primary drivers of in-store hoarding. Overall, results from a field study supported the proposed model. However, the findings indicated that perceived perishability and scarcity were central to understanding in-store hoarding, whereas low-price perception was least important with a marginally significant effect on in-store hoarding. This study made a significant contribution to the consumer and retailing literature by introducing, defining, and operationalizing new constructs and new measurements, including scales for perceived perishability, perceived scarcity, and in-store hoarding. This study also provided many implications for practitioners in developing and implementing marketing and merchandising management strategies.     

Scarcity effects on sales volume in retail

Prior research provides controversial findings as to whether products become more or less desirable when accompanied by product scarcity. As there are many options relevant for retailing to generate product scarcity, it seems beneficial to identify the conditions under which scarcity should be applied as an instrument for sales promotion. We differentiate our considerations by the type of scarcity, the product category and by the existence of other purchase arguments for the scarce product. The main result of our empirical investigations is that these three conditions are relevant factors which influence the direction of scarcity's effect on product desirability.     

Input–Output Analysis,Labour Scarcity and Relative Price Endogeneity: Aggregate Demand Disturbances in a ‘Flex-price’ Leontief System

In this paper, we introduce scarcity into a conventional demand-driven input–output system to produce a ‘flex-price’ Leontief model. We retain the fixed technical coefficients but allow changes in relative prices to reflect variations in the real wage. Because the consumption coefficients increase with the real wage, the aggregate labour demand curve is found to be upward sloping. This produces conventional results, as long as the labour supply curve is perfectly elastic (horizontal). However, once we introduce labour scarcity, in the form of an upward sloping labour supply function, we derive the seemingly paradoxical result that the output and employment effects of a demand expansion are greater here than in conventional input–output. Through simulation, this result is found to be strongly dependent on the assumption of export exogeneity.     

从“民工潮”到“民工荒”的经济学分析

我国在农村劳动力转移过程中出现的从“民工潮”到“民工荒”现象是由多方面原因造成的,其中,经济利益的变化是引发转变的主要原因。要解决这一问题必须从建立劳动力供求预警机制、完善劳动力市场制度、强化劳动者中长期培训等多方面入手。     

The external water footprint of the Netherlands: Geographically-explicit quantification and impact assessment

This study quantifies the external water footprint of the Netherlands by partner country and import product and assesses the impact of this footprint by contrasting the geographically-explicit water footprint with water scarcity in the different parts of the world. The total water footprint of the Netherlands is estimated to be about 2300 m³/year/cap, of which 67% relates to the consumption of agricultural goods, 31% to the consumption of industrial goods, and 2% to domestic water use. The Dutch water footprint related to the consumption of agricultural goods, is composed as follows: 46% related to livestock products; 17% oil crops and oil from oil crops; 12% coffee, tea, cocoa and tobacco; 8% cereals and beer; 6% cotton products; 5% fruits; and 6% other agricultural products. About 11% of the water footprint of the Netherlands is internal and 89% is external. Only 44% of virtual-water import relates to products consumed in the Netherlands, thus constituting the external water footprint. For agricultural products this is 40% and for industrial products this is 60%. The remaining 56% of the virtual-water import to the Netherlands is re-exported. The impact of the external water footprint of Dutch consumers is highest in countries that experience serious water scarcity. Based on indicators for water scarcity the following eight countries have been identified as most seriously affected: China; India; Spain; Turkey; Pakistan; Sudan; South Africa; and Mexico. This study shows that Dutch consumption implies the use of water resources throughout the world, with significant impacts in water-scarce regions.     

NFT marketing: How marketers can use nonfungible tokens in their campaigns

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are a record of ownership of primarily digital media, where the NFT is stored on a blockchain. According to the 2021 Gartner Hype Cycle for Key Technologies, NFTs may significantly transform marketing functions. Marketing managers wishing to adopt NFTs therefore need to know something about the marketing implications. This article explains NFTs in broad terms and discusses the marketing implications using a modified AIDA hierarchy. These implications can give marketing managers and executives guidelines on how to persuade consumers to purchase NFTs owing to their unique characteristics, such as scarcity, nonfungibility, proven authenticity, proof of ownership, royalties, and direct distribution infrastructure.     

长三角城市土地稀缺与土地利用效率的交互影响

研究目的:揭示长三角地区城市土地利用效率与土地稀缺的交互影响。研究方法:数据包络分析法(DEA)、方向性环境距离函数和经济计量分析方法。研究结果:(1)研究时段内,长三角地区城市土地利用效率对土地稀缺具有负向冲击累积作用,但土地利用效率对土地稀缺的预测方差贡献度较小,表明城市土地利用效率提升尚未明显缓解土地稀缺;(2)长三角地区城市土地稀缺对考虑非期望产出的土地利用效率带来长期显著负向冲击,土地稀缺对土地利用效率的预测方差贡献度超过50%,表明城市土地稀缺增加对于考虑非期望产出的土地利用效率具有负向作用,但土地稀缺对传统土地利用效率的影响并不明显。研究结论:长三角地区城市土地稀缺的缓解,既要强化建设用地面积管控,提高土地利用强度,盘活闲置用地,也要重视土地利用过程中环境污染"副产品"的管制。