An examination of the relative roles played by consumer behaviour settings and levels of involvement in determining environmental behaviour

It is well documented that if environmental degradation is to be halted then pro-environmental activities need to be put in place now. This requires the participation of consumers (C), marketers (M) and policy-makers (in this case, the local council (LC)). An examination of the environmental portfolios of LCs and Ms indicates a noticeable increase in behavioural activity which has led to an improvement in their environmental provision. This includes services ranging from recycling to providing information on environmental issues. However, empirical evidence indicates that consumers may have either inadequate or inappropriate knowledge about environmental issues which may have led to low involvement levels and consequently limited behaviour. It may therefore be necessary to distinguish between cognitions that are affected under high or low involvement situations. The involvement levels, however, may be mediated by the consumer behaviour settings (CBS). Using the Behavioural Perspective Model the study observes the impact of CBS and involvement on environmental behaviour. The results indicate that in the low involvement condition CBS has a crucial role to play whereas in the high involvement situation its role may not be significant.     

Do US macroeconomic conditions affect Asian stock markets?

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of US macroeconomic conditions—namely, exchange rate and short-term interest rate—on the stock markets of seven Asian countries (China, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and South Korea). We use daily data for the period 2000–2010. We divide the sample into a pre-crisis period (pre-August 2007) and a crisis period (post-August 2007). We find that, in the short-run, the interest rate has a statistically insignificant effect on returns for all countries, except for the Philippines in the crisis period. On the other hand, except for China, regardless of the crisis, depreciation has a statistically significant and negative effect on returns. When the long-run relationship among the variables is considered, for five of the seven countries (India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand), while there is cointegration in the pre-crisis period, in the crisis period there is no such relationship, implying that the financial crisis has actually weakened the link between stock prices and economic fundamentals.     

Is there a unit root in the inflation rate? New evidence from panel data models with multiple structural breaks

In this article, we examine whether or not the inflation rate for 17 OECD countries can be modelled as a stationary process. We find that (1) conventional univariate unit root tests without any structural breaks generally reveal that the inflation rate contains a unit root; (2) the KPSS univariate test with multiple structural breaks reveals that for 10 out of 17 countries inflation is stationary; and (3) the KPSS panel unit root test reveals strong evidence for stationarity of the inflation rate for panels consisting of countries which were declared nonstationary by univariate tests.     

Empirical Assessment of Money Demand Stability Under India’s Open Economy: Non-linear ARDL Approach

Journal of Quantitative Economics - This study explores stability issues of money demand in the wake of a new economic policy regime of India’s open economy, particularly since the 1990s. The...     

An ‘Islamic future’ without a name

In this allegory of the search for a name for his grandson, the writer envision alternative themes of Islamic futures. In the conclusion of the quest, more fundamental insights into the nature of the future and our present relations to it are gleaned.     

DO PERMANENT SHOCKS EXPLAIN INCOME LEVELS? A COMMON CYCLE–COMMON TREND ANALYSIS OF REGIONAL INCOME LEVELS FOR CHINA

Abstract. In this paper, we analyse per capita income levels of China's three main regions: the western region, the eastern region and the central region using common cycle and common trend tests. Our main contribution is that we impose the common cycle and common trend restrictions in decomposing shocks into permanent and transitory components. We find that: (i) there is evidence for two cointegrating relationships and one common cycle; and (ii) the variance decomposition analysis of shocks provides evidence that over short horizons, permanent shocks play a large role in explaining variations in regional per capita incomes.     

Why do mothers breastfeed girls less than boys? Evidence and implications for child health in India

Breastfeeding is negatively correlated with future fertility because nursing temporarily reduces fecundity and because mothers usually wean on becoming pregnant again. We model breastfeeding under son-biased fertility preferences and show that breastfeeding duration increases with birth order, especially near target family size; is lowest for daughters and children without older brothers because their parents try again for a son; and exhibits the largest gender gap near target family size, when gender is most predictive of subsequent fertility. Data from India confirm each prediction. Moreover, child survival exhibits similar patterns, especially in settings where the alternatives to breastmilk are unsanitary.     

Understanding the inflation–output nexus for China

In this article we examine several hypotheses relating to output and inflation dynamics in China. The hypotheses tests are based on the exponential generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) model of Nelson [Nelson, D. (1991). Conditional heteroskedasticity in asset return: A new approach, Econometrica, 59, 347–370]. Our findings suggest that Chinese output–inflation behaviour is consistent with the hypothesis that increased inflation uncertainty lowers average inflation; the hypothesis that inflation volatility reduces economic growth and the hypothesis that higher output volatility increases economic growth. However, we find no support for the hypothesis that higher output volatility increases the average inflation rate.     

Do Community Characteristics Influence Environmental Outcomes? Evidence from the Toxics Release Inventory

This research uses neighborhood characteristics (at the zip code level) in 1990 to explain toxic releases in 1993. It combines the Toxics Release Inventory data with demographic data from the 1990 U.S. Census. We first analyze the location of manufacturing facilities in a particular neighborhood using a sample selection model, and then estimate the relationship between releases in 1993 and the demographic characteristics of the neighborhood in 1990. We conduct the analysis for the entire U.S. as well as for different geographic regions to study regional differences in determinants of environmental outcomes. Releases in nonurban areas of the southeastern U.S. exhibit a pattern suggesting that race might be an important determinant of release patterns. Economic characteristics of neighborhoods (such as income levels and unemployment) also affect releases. Our variables that proxy the propensity for communities to engage in political action exert greater influence on environmental outcomes in nonurban areas.