Impacts of meat product recalls on consumer demand in the USA

The impact of meat product recall events on consumer demand (beef, pork, poultry, and other consumption goods) in the USA is tested empirically. Beef, pork, and poultry recall indices are constructed from both the Food Safety Inspection Service's meat recall events and from newspaper reports over the period 1982–1998. Following previous product recall studies, recall indices are incorporated as shift variables in consumers’ demand functions. Estimating an absolute price version of the Rotterdam demand model, findings indicate that Food Safety Inspection Service's meat recall events significantly impact demand, and newspaper reports do not. Moreover, although elasticities related to recall events are significant they are small in magnitude relative to price and income effects. Any favourable effects on the demands of meat substitutes for a recall are offset by a more general negative effect on meat demand. The general negative effect indicates a shift out of meat to non-meat consumption goods.     

Wealth Affirming Policies for Women of Color

There are a range of solutions that address asset building challenges for low-wealth women. Here we highlight some solutions that focus on basic needs (child care, child support) and creating economic stability with disposable income (income available after basic needs are met); solutions that address predatory lending and the housing crisis; and solutions that focus on joint ownership of assets and community-based asset building.     

Consumption-leisure nonseparabilities in asset market participants’ preferences

We use panel data to estimate nonlinear Euler equations for preferences that are nonseparable in consumption and leisure. This approach departs from existing panel data studies that investigate linearizations and/or separable preferences. Intuitively plausible estimates are obtained only when excluding nonassetholders from the sample, which indicates the importance of asset market participation. For market participants, estimated parameter values are intuitively appealing, but differ from existing estimates. They also differ from parameter values commonly used in computational experiments. These findings have implications for the extensive literature in macroeconomics and finance that studies models of intertemporal decision-making, and they confirm the importance of market incompleteness.     

UK trust fundraising - Learning to say thank you

In the United Kingdom, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) data suggest that grant-making trusts are currently responsible for supplying over 13 per cent of an ‘average’ charity's income (approximately four times the amount committed by corporate donors). Remarkably however, very little is known about the behaviour of such organisations and the contact strategies that are used by charities to solicit their support. This paper reviews the findings of a postal survey of 350 grant-making trusts and identifies the criteria most commonly used to perform an initial sift of proposals and to develop a final short list to appraise for support or rejection. The findings clearly show that charity applications to trusts have increased dramatically over the past three years. Regrettably however, trusts perceive that there has been an accompanying decline in the standards of application being made. Trusts report that they are now frequently subjected to ill-considered ‘blanket’ mailings from charities that often take no account of the specific aims and objectives of the trust. In general, the research also identified that applicants appeared to have undertaken very little research prior to submission of their application and if successful, would be unlikely to thank the trustees, nor to indicate what had been achieved as a result of their generosity.     

Urban Mega-Events,Evictions and Housing Rights: The Canadian Case

This article examines how community-based groups have dealt with the potential housing impacts of urban mega-events (also known as 'hallmark events') in the city. Three Canadian case studies are used- Expo '86 in Vancouver, the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, and the rejected proposal for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Toronto- to discuss a range of issues including the nature and impact of community action in forcing the organisers of mega-events to address the potential of event-related housing impacts. The research findings suggest that mega-eventrelated forced evictions should be viewed as an expected result of this form of urban restructuring as these events are used to bring new people, new facilities, and new money to cities ata rapid pace,and this goalis rarely evaluated in an open democratic manner. Further, the critical prerequisite for any effective community action to occur is the presence of an organised, strategic and resourceful coalition of community-based groups which have the capacity to analyse complex situations, act forcefully at a variety of levels, and use diverse strategies in order to take advantage of key 'openings' when seeking to achieve their goals.     

Creating barriers for foreign competitors: a study of the impact of anti-dumping actions on the performance of U.S. firms

This study investigates whether anti-dumping statutes are effective at improving the performance of U.S. firms. As international trade grows and competitors increasingly cross national borders to enter new markets, U.S. trade law becomes a potentially important tool for managers as they consider how to create barriers for foreign competitors. The results of this study suggest that the anti-dumping laws significantly increase returns of U.S. firms that pursue anti-dumping protection. The average petitioner between 1980 and 1992 received a $46 million increase in market value as a result of filing an anti-dumping petition. However, no significant change in market value was associated with preliminary or final determinations of the International Trade Commission, except when petitions received a negative determination at the final stage of the process. A negative determination at the final stage of the process resulted in a loss of market value. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.