“文化适应”对消费者购买行为的影响

文化是影响消费者购买行为的重要因素。本文从“文化适应”的角度研究消费者购买行为，选取语言、民族认同、文化认同以及新环境中居住时间为指标，通过Logit模型对美国西班牙裔和亚裔的四个少数民族购买民族蔬菜的行为进行了验证。结果表明，“文化适应”的语言、民族认同和文化认同指标均显著影响少数民族消费者的购买行为，其中民族认同对购买行为具有显著正影响，语言和文化认同对购买行为具有显著负影响，而在新环境中居住时间指标的影响并不显著。在此基础上，针对如何理解多民族消费者的购买行为并满足其购买需求，本文从语言、居住环境、民族认同和消费习惯等方面给出了相应的对策建议。     

Consumer Analysis in Ethnic Live Seafood Markets in the Northeast Region of the United States

During September through November of 2006, in-store intercept surveys of consumers who buy live seafood in retail markets in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania revealed that the average live seafood consumer makes 6.2 visits per month, spends $14.80 per visit on live seafood, travels 7.8 miles mainly by car, and is purchasing for 3.7 people in his or her household. Consumers value physical appearance of the product over price, generally have no preference for either “Product of the USA” or imported, and generally have no preference for either wild-caught or farm-raised. Many had no preference whether their fish was alive or dead before leaving the store, but if the fish is to be slaughtered in-store, preferred to have their fish gutted or filleted. Consumers generally prefer to purchase live seafood during the winter months and on either a Friday or Saturday.     

Implications of alternative environmental policies on phosphorus loading from poultry litter

Degraded groundwater, impaired swimming, fishing, algae and weed problem are often associated with eutrophication from phosphorus (P) loadings in surface and groundwater. The concentrated growth of poultry industry and over application of litter on pasture lands may lead to excessive nutrient loadings in surface and groundwater. The Cooperative Extension Service recommendation suggests that no poultry litter should be applied if the soil test P exceeds 300 pounds per acre, irrespective of the marginal costs and benefits associated with one more unit of litter application on that piece of land. The objective of this paper is to model the economics of P loadings from poultry litter and analyze the policy implications of Cooperative Extension Service's recommendation on quantity restriction on litter applications with empirical evidence. The results indicate that there exists significant difference in the marginal values of soil between different soil series, indicating that the permit system can achieve the target at a lesser cost. In particular, the society as a whole can gain $2.7 per acre by allocating the litter to soil series 16 instead of soil series 20, provided that the contribution towards groundwater contamination from these two acres are the same.     

Can India meet the increasing food demand by 2020?

India's Green Revolution has evolved at an environmental cost, which is perhaps irreversible. The economic growth has become increasingly dependant upon the use of non-renewable resources such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides, oil and coal. India now follows a rapid development path, which is similar to the past growth patterns of most western nations. Whether or not such a growth blueprint would be environmentally sustainable under Indian conditions is questionable since rapid economic growth tends to positively influence environmental degradation. India is a land of villages with 700 million people living in over 600,000 villages, many in the enormous drylands. As the Tata Visiting Chair, I had the opportunity to study the rural development projects implemented by a non-profit agency (Sadguru Foundation) that harvests rainwater to improve irrigation and livelihood of rural people using check dams and lift irrigation systems in western India. This paper has examined how India's remote drylands can be transformed to achieve a ‘Sustainable Green Revolution’ to meet India's future food demands without creating serious negative consequences to natural environment. If the model highlighted in this paper is adopted all across the vast drylands of India and other parts of Asia, Africa and South America, it would certainly increase agricultural output, guarantee future food security, protect natural resources, and above all exterminate the greatest insult to human dignity—poverty!     

Direct Market Retailer Perceptions of State-Sponsored Marketing Programs

Direct market retailers were surveyed to evaluate their participation and opinions of the Jersey Fresh state marketing program. Other states interested in establishing a similar marketing program could target retailers who are most likely to participate in such a program. Specifically, the study results suggest that retailers with outlets in urban areas or with retail outlets open for more than eight months during the year would be more likely to participate. Retailers who used other logos to identify their fresh produce were more likely to intend to use state promotional logos in the future. A successful approach to recruiting these retailers might be to form partnerships with local cooperative organizations which label and market produce from many growers collectively.     

Efficiency of U.S. conservation-compliance program

Under the conservation-compliance program, most of the individual producers are forced to cut their soil erosion to 7 t per acre annually irrespective of the marginal cost of controlling soil erosion. In a system where coupons to a ton of soil loss were issued to producers and traded, the marginal cost of controlling soil loss within each soil type and across different soil types would be equalized. An instrumental variable procedure was used to determine the effect of soil erosion on net profits. The results for Iowa show that there is considerable difference in the marginal opportunity cost of controlling soil erosion between soil types. By assigning one ton of erosion to Iowa soil type Downs (5-10% slope) instead of Clarion (2-5% slope), there is a savings of $5.00 per acre for the society as a whole. The tradable coupon system is not only efficient, but will also bring in more land under soil conservation.     

Aromatic and Medicinal Plants of Tunisia: A Market Study

World demand for aromatic and medicinal plants (AMP), as well as the essential oils and extracts from these plants have been expanding because of their diversified and extensive usage. Demand for essential oils and plant extracts is driven by food flavoring industries, cosmetic and fragrance industries, and demand for industrial solvents. The principal consumers of all market classes of essential oils are the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. There are ten essential oil crops that account for 80% of the world market for essential oils. Based on the global AMP market demand, this article mainly addresses the “constraints on” and “opportunities for” expansion of this sector, which were ascertained through meetings with Tunisian AMP exporters and processors, literature reviews, and by collating responses to the Tunisian Exporter Marketing Survey. Based on these inputs, recommendations have been formulated to help capitalize Tunisia's comparative advantages to overcome the constraints and maximize opportunities.