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The high uncertainty around the COVID‐19 pandemic elicited an unprecedented level of panic buying during the early months. Using the framework of stress and coping, the current study conceptualized and tested a theoretical model that predicts individuals' panic buying in two countries. A survey of US (n = 311) and Korean consumers (n = 347) revealed that negative emotions (loneliness and anxiety) contributed to panic buying, yet two important coping resources, resilience and social support, were effective in protecting consumers from engaging in a maladaptive coping strategy. The hypothesis that collectivism (vs. individualism) would make consumers rely on social (vs. personal) coping resources was partially supported. The results highlight the unique circumstance of the global pandemic in which social support works as both a resource for healthy coping and a source to increase negative emotions, and call for future investigation of the complex role of social support in the context of stress and coping theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the origins and development of the concept of ‘market transformation’, from its beginnings as a part of energy policy in the USA, to its subsequent development in the UK. It discusses whether it could become a strategic option for British business in pursuit of sustainable growth. Drawing together themes from the academic literature on marketing, consumer behaviour, business, and energy policy, together with data from national programmes, and British government sources, the paper argues that such an approach would be based on a twin false premise – that selling energy efficiency to consumers is in accordance with modern marketing thinking, and that it has much to do with achieving sustainable development. It concludes that while achieving sustainable development will certainly encompass the transformation of markets for many products, ‘market transformation’ itself cannot be seen as a key driver for change. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated demand response (IDR) is deemed as an effective tool to balance energy supply and demand. User's uncertain information containing prior uncertain information and posterior uncertain information is a key factor affecting the implementation effectiveness of IDR, but existing studies fail to consider the two types of uncertain information, response risk caused by the uncertain information, and risk appetite comprehensively. Based on the principal‐agent theory of optimal incentive contract under uncertain information and Markowitz's mean‐variance portfolio theory, a new IDR model is established in this paper, and an IDR optimization strategy considering risk appetite under uncertain information is proposed. By proposing the user model considering multi‐dimensional uncertain information and the risk appetite‐based integrated energy service providers (IESP) model based on the principal‐agent theory and Markowitz's mean‐variance portfolio theory, we have achieved effective modelling of the user's uncertain information and the risk borne by IESP. The arithmetic examples have verified advantages of the model in enhancing the accuracy of user's actual response prediction and the superiority of incentive strategies, which is beneficial to reduce the cost of IESPs and enhance the benefit of users participating in IDR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how banning the use of plastic carryout bags at grocery stores affects where and what people purchase to eat. Using quasi‐random variation in local bag ban adoption across California and two data sources (retail scanner data and consumer survey data), I show that banning plastic carryout bags shifted some food sales away from regulated grocery stores toward unregulated grocery stores and restaurants. Specifically, I find that bag bans cause a 1.8% decline in food‐at‐home sales and a 1.9 percentage point increase in consumers' food‐away‐from‐home expenditure share. The decline in food‐at‐home sales is larger in jurisdictions more likely to experience cross‐border shopping, whereas the increase in food‐away‐from‐home expenditures is larger farther from jurisdiction borders. Together these results suggest that a small share of consumers find a way to bypass the bag bans—either by cross‐border shopping if near a border or by shifting to restaurants if not near a border. Heterogeneity analyses reveal the policy effects are strongest for those with higher incomes, those under 65 years, and those with young children, suggesting both income effects and time constraints as mechanisms behind the behavioral change. By quantifying consumer avoidance behaviors, these results enable policymakers to more accurately measure the impacts of their regulations and to understand the potential trade‐offs between their environmental and public health objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper ‘innovation’ is discussed as a strategy to change consumer behaviour to reduce the environmental impact of consumption. Innovation aims to improve the ‘production process’ of certain end results or ‘units of service’ for the consumer, which is defined as the ‘consumption technology’. This concept includes the entire organization of how these units of service are produced. ‘Eco-efficient services’ are introduced as an innovation strategy, based on theoretical considerations through which more eco-efficient consumption technologies and less environmentally damaging consumption behaviour could be realized. This strategy is explored through an empirical consumer behaviour study on commercial car sharing services in the Netherlands. Based on an inventory of the environmental effects of this approach, as exemplified by the car sharing schemes, it can tentatively be concluded that the eco-efficient services concept offers an interesting framework for reconsidering the current consumption practice and for generating innovative activities in industry. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of the COVID‐19 pandemic has brought radical changes in consumer spending patterns. One aspect of this change is food stockpiling detected in several countries. Using a univariate probit model, this paper relies on the COVID‐19 Impact Survey (2020) for American households to assess the likelihood of consumers stockpiling food in response to the stringent lockdown measures imposed by the government's pandemic regulations. Our findings reveal a set of significant correlations between marital status, age, race, occupation, household structure, and the propensity of stockpiling food during the pandemic. Furthermore, the results show that residents in urban areas are more likely to engage in food stockpiling compared with residents in rural and suburban areas. The paper also examines the nexus between residence areas, lockdown measures, and the probability of stockpiling food. This research reveals a significant association between psychological factors and the likelihood of stockpiling food in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic [EconLit Citations: D12, H12, I18, P25]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although suggesting that both our paper (Yu and Jaenicke 2020a) and Smith and Landry's paper (this issue) provide a novel methodological pathway for studying food waste, Brian Roe's comment elaborates on several important advantages (and disadvantages) of both empirical papers. In other words, high-income households may pay their food-management costs simply by buying for extra food; on the other hand, low-income households may pay their food-management costs by buying less healthy, more shelf-stable food. For example, a food-waste tax is unlikely to be a strong deterrent for high-income households who waste food at higher levels. They provide a theoretical model that shows the effects of food policies on food purchase and food waste depend crucially on both demand elasticity and the curvature of the waste-reduction cost function. [Extracted from the article]

This paper analyzes panic buying of storable consumer products accompanied by disasters, using a novel consumer‐search theoretic equilibrium model where consumers follow (S,s) inventory policies. We show that, even if consumers are fully rational, an anticipated temporary increase in consumer shopping costs (as well as conventional demand and supply shocks) can trigger an upward spiral of hoarding demand and result in serious shortages. Due to congestion externalities, panic buying leads to the misallocation of storable products and substantial welfare loss. The model is calibrated using survey data and reveals that the timing of recognizing the shopping‐cost rise is crucial for the severity of panic buying. Some policy options, such as purchase quotas and future sales‐tax reductions, are suggested to mitigate panic buying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worldwide increased consumption of goods and services squeezes natural resources, thus causing severe damage to the environment. In the backdrop of the growing affirmative reaction of people, the inclination to buy green products is on the rise. Therefore, we explore the extant literature to identify the factors established for their role in determining the purchase of products having a less damaging impact on the environment. A systematic literature review was conducted following the Theory‐Context‐Characteristics‐Methodology framework covering 151 empirical studies on green purchase intention and green purchase behavior, published between years 2000 and 2021. This paper identifies factors influencing consumers' green purchase intention and green purchase behavior and provides strategic insights to marketers to create better marketing opportunities for green products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid‐19 has changed consumer behaviour, probably forever. Initial consumer stockpiling led to stockouts, threat and uncertainty for consumers. To overcome shortages, consumers expanded their use of channels and many consumers started buying online for the first time. In this paper, we aim to address important research gaps related to consumer behaviour during the pandemic and especially stockpiling. Our paper starts by presenting the findings of our pre‐study, which used social media to elicit or confirm potential constructs for our quantitative models. These constructs complemented the protection motivations theory to explain stockpiling behaviour, forming the basis for study 1, the stockpiling preparation stage and study 2, the effects of the Covid‐19 pandemic disruptor on customer service logistics and lockdown shopping channel preferences. For studies 1 and 2 we gathered data via a UK online panel‐structured questionnaire survey (n = 603). Results confirm that consumer‐driven changes to supply chains emanate largely from consumer uncertainty. Lockdown restrictions led to consumers feeling socially excluded, but enhanced consumers' positive attitudes towards shopping online and increased consumers' altruism. In response, consumers stockpiled by visiting physical stores and/or ordering online. Lockdown restrictions led to feelings of social exclusion but, importantly, stockpiling helped to minimize consumer anxiety and fear and even increase wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food production is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. China, as a rapidly developing economy, contributes to an unsustainable food system as its consumption of animal products and meat has continued to grow in recent decades. Using the extended theory of planned behavior as the conceptual framework, this paper examines factors influencing consumers' intention to purchase sustainable food in China. To this end, a population‐based face‐to‐face survey was conducted with 2422 respondents in five provinces spanning the north and south of China. The results showed that the traditional constructs of behavioral attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and the additional construct of perceived quality are significant in inducing such intentions. This paper suggests that to enhance consumers' willingness to shift to sustainable food consumption, appropriate regulation and monitoring framework is needed to increase consumers' trust toward sustainable food. The government can also cooperate with the media, experts, and social media opinion leaders to ensure that messages on sustainable development are promoted in effective ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate how supporters perceive and react to environmental messages that call for reducing the environmental impact of sporting events. Based on prospect theory, we randomly provided 1423 supporters attending football events in Europe with (1) a negative (perceived loss for supporters), (2) a neutral (no perceived gain or loss) or a (3) a positive (perceived gain for supporters) environmental message and measured their attitudes towards the message, pro‐environmental behavioural intentions and perceived consumer effectiveness. Our results reveal that supporters show traits of collective behaviour during sports events that may lower the in‐stadium effectiveness of environmental messages. The environmental commitment of the favoured sports club increases the influence of green marketing on supporters with higher levels of environmental values and knowledge, but only when they depart from a collective identity. This paper contributes to green marketing literature revealing that modelling collective behaviours of members of groups exposed to highly emotional situations should be coordinated with information and awareness‐raising campaigns in everyday life. We also contribute to the prospect theory showing that loss aversion prevails in risk‐free conditions even though it does not directly shape supporters' behavioural intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the relationship between consumer well-being and anti-consumption, the levels of consumption, and the sustainability roots of anti-consumption lifestyles (SRAC) concept.

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Encouraging the food industry to reformulate their products is a possible public intervention to improve diet quality. In this paper, we assess the impact of food reformulation on per capita salt and saturated fatty acids (SFAs) intake, in France, for four product categories, namely, potato chips, fresh pizzas, frozen pizzas, and frozen meals, taking into account the changes in products' nutritional quality and consumer choices. Nutrient intake is calculated by matching data on food purchases and nutritional data, collected at the same date. An algorithm is run to disentangle the specific effect of food reformulation. We find that food reformulation, which is based on voluntary individual firm choices or voluntary industry‐wide agreement in our case studies, contributes to decrease SFAs and salt intake in seven out of eight cases. However, the magnitude of the impact is moderate, except in the case of potato chips for which a much stronger impact is observed. Product renewal has an ambiguous effect, depending on the nutrient considered. By contrast, changes in consumer behavior increase the intake of SFAs and salt in all cases. Finally, food reformulation generally benefits all consumers equally, regardless of income or age. For food categories with consumption disparities, product reformulation can reduce heterogeneity in nutrient intake across socioeconomic groups, provided that recipes are greatly and widely improved [EconLit Citations: D12, D22, I1]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable packaging is a pivotal aspect of sustainable development, involving multi‐faceted issues such as stakeholder management and environmental policy compliance. Despite the efforts to find packaging solutions, the extant literature is largely fragmented, featuring a high level of heterogeneity among studies that spread across different disciplines, with the majority examining important packaging issues in isolation. A study that systematically consolidates findings of different important areas of sustainable packaging implementation is lacking. This challenges companies' adoption of research findings in business strategy development. Thus, this paper conducts a systematic literature review combining keyword co‐occurrence analysis, thematic analysis and qualitative content analysis to uncover major research domains, consolidate important findings and reveal unsolved research gaps, which are crucial to advancing sustainable packaging management. The findings reveal four major research domains: (1) sustainable packaging materials and properties, (2) management practices of sustainable packaging, (3) consumer behaviours towards sustainable packaging and (4) packaging waste management. Drawing on the natural‐resource‐based view (NRBV) theory and the review findings, this study proposes four future research directions: (1) identifying ways to enhance the commercialisation of sustainable packaging technological innovations, (2) uncovering reasons for insufficient social aspect investigation in sustainable packaging research, (3) exploring strategies to enhance stakeholder integration in sustainable packaging management and (4) examining contingency factors of packaging waste management effectiveness. The research agenda is important to provide practical and managerial insights for business strategy development in sustainable packaging to achieve pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainable development capabilities to gain future growth and competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambiguous product cues—cues with multiple interpretation options—may impact consumer decision making. One such ambiguous cue is the designation of a product as "regional" without specifying the exact origin of the product. Here, consumers typically equate "regional" with spatial proximity, yet legally the use of regional labels does not necessarily reflect such proximity. A potential mismatch can occur between consumers' interpretation of regionality and firms' use of regional communication claims, leading to potential consumer deception and harmed consumer welfare. Drawing upon the accessibility‐diagnosticity‐framework and Elaboration‐Likelihood‐Model, this paper examines consumers' responses to different regionality cues. Across two studies, we find that communicated regionality cues heighten consumers' product evaluations resulting from (mis)perceived spatial proximity. Informing consumers about the true product results in unfavorable evaluations if that origin is spatially distant. Our findings call for regulation of regional product labels and highlight the need for communication standards in consumer markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brexit has caused a seismic shift in the British socio‐economic and political landscapes, creating widespread uncertainties, while simultaneously giving hope and national pride to millions. The decision by a number of organizations to reshore their production has opened a new era for business management that challenges the axiomatic assumption of the benefits of offshored production. Although reshoring predates Brexit, the link between the two in the British context is not just serendipitous and they are argued to have reasonable interlinkages. However, there is inadequate empirical evidence to suggest that British consumers' attitude towards Brexit has any effect on their intention to purchase reshored brands. Through a mixed‐methods study comprising a survey of 415 respondents and 20 in‐depth interviews, this paper addresses this research gap. Findings suggest that corporate social responsibility (CSR) and consumer reshoring sentiment (CRS) have positive effects on consumers' attitude towards reshored brands. Despite CRS's positive influence on attitude towards Brexit, the latter does not have any significant effects on the intention to purchase a reshored brand, which is positively influenced by the attitude towards the same brand. As such, companies should enhance the image of their brands and CSR in order to harness the benefits of reshoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic has spread worldwide, resulting in crises in public health and sustainable development. Aimed at understanding the determinants of conscious green purchasing behavior (GPB), this paper developed a comprehensive framework linking the moderating effect of negative environmental affective reactions (NEAR) to COVID‐19 based on the S–O–R paradigm. Using randomly selected urban residents from China's Yangtze River Delta and Bohai Rim regions, the empirical study was conducted using 559 valid responses. The results show that media and peers are the major social forces activating altruistic and egoistic motivations, while family influence was not significant. Dual motivations significantly mediated the relationships of unconditional and conditional GPB with media exposure and peer influence. Contrary to expectations, NEAR negatively moderated the formation process of conscious GPB. The findings indicate that the influence of peers on conscious GPB through dual motivations is stronger compared to media. Negative affective reactions to COVID‐19 were also found to inhibit the impact of peer influence on altruistic and egoistic motivations, as well as the path of altruistic motivation on unconditional GPB. The results of this study have important theoretical and practical implications for enterprise marketing and environmental campaigns, and narrowing the green attitude‐behavior gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic assumptions typically made in capital asset pricing theory imply that investors should hold diversified portfolios of assets. In an earlier paper, we developed under these same assumptions theoretical models of investors' behavior at both the micro and macro levels and used these models to assess the form of investors' utility functions. However, new as well as previously unanalyzed data indicate that a large proportion of households do not hold diversified portfolios contrary to the implications of these assumptions. These data consist of (1) a special sample of 1971 Federal individual income tax returns and (2) the Federal Reserve Board's 1962 Survey of the Financial Characteristics of Consumers (SFCC). The purpose of this paper is to document the degree of diversification in individual portfolios, replicate our previous findings about the form of investors' utility function for households which do hold diversified portfolios, and finally develop an equilibrium condition of the aggregate demand for risky assets under heterogeneous expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the problems in implementing DRPs is the lack of sufficient understanding of consumers' behaviour when implementing DRPs. This paper compares consumers' load patterns annually by the improved Weighted Fuzzy Average (WFA) K‐means clustering method. According to the collected data, DRPs are discussed annually using a combined Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Long Short‐Term Memory (LSTM). To make CNN‐LSTM a practical algorithm for executing DRPs, Time Series Prediction (TSP) operations must be performed, and input data must be memorized. Finally, according to the TSP done for the obtained data, the implementation of DRPs in practice is facilitated. Then, the DRPs executed with the Deep Learning (DL) model and the power model will be prioritized by Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method, and decision indicators will be determined and weighted using the Shannon entropy method. The numerical studies section shows that the CNN‐LSTM algorithm is able to simulate DRPs with the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) almost below 1% in the residential cluster and the highest MAPE in the commercial cluster of 15%. Nevertheless, this algorithm could easily give the same answer as the DRPs power model in the optimal selection of programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemp has emerged as a novel crop and ingredient for sustainable products. If innovative hemp‐based products are to succeed in the market, the surge of interest in production must be accompanied by information generation across the supply chain. At present, there is little knowledge on consumer behavior toward hemp and hemp‐based products, and even less on how this behavior has changed since hemp's reintroduction to the production landscape of the United States in 2014. This study compares representative survey data of Vermont residents in 2019 and 2020 on their support for hemp production, and awareness and use of hemp‐based products. Although the influence of demographic variables did not significantly change over time, our findings reveal structural change, with more respondents aware of and using hemp‐based products in 2020 compared to 2019. These findings point to hemp's growing presence and acceptance in the marketplace, where consumers are more informed about or have greater access to hemp products. Despite the state's focus on cannabidiol production, Vermonters appear to be aware of and are purchasing a variety of hemp goods, such as clothing and paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the responses of consumers who submitted answers to a survey instrument focusing on Internet purchasing patterns both electronically and using traditional paper response methods. We present the results of a controlled experiment within a larger data collection effort. The same survey instrument was completed by 416 Internet customers of a major office supplies company, with approximately 60% receiving the survey in paper form and 40% receiving the electronic version. In order to evaluate the efficacy of electronic surveys relative to traditional, printed surveys we conduct two levels of analysis. On a macro-level, we compare the two groups for similarity in terms of fairly aggregate, coarse data characteristics such as response rates, proportion of missing data, scale means and inter-item reliability. On a more fine-grained, micro-level, we compare the two groups for aspects of data integrity such as the presence of data runs and measurement errors. This deeper, finer-grained analysis allows an examination of the potential benefits and flaws of electronic data collection. Our findings suggest that electronic surveys are generally comparable to print surveys in most respects, but that there are a few key advantages and challenges that researchers should evaluate. Notably, our sample indicates that electronic surveys have fewer missing responses and can be coded/presented in a more flexible manner (namely, contingent coding with different respondents receiving different questions depending on the response to earlier questions) that offers researchers new capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflation leads individuals to work harder to spend and not carry their money holdings. Two alternative margins have been used to model this effect: the extensive margin (the frequency of shopping per period) and the intensive margin (the average shopping time per trip). This paper investigates how inflation affects these two margins. It deviates from the previous literature by allowing individuals to vary both margins simultaneously. The analysis reveals that the impact of inflation on these two margins is determined by the interaction between the opportunity cost of carrying money and direct search costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive model and investigate the relationship between identified factors of green marketing strategies and green consumer behavior, such as green brand positioning (GBP), green brand knowledge (GBK), attitude toward green brands (ATGB), willingness to pay (WTP) a premium, and green purchase intention (GPI). A questionnaire survey was deployed to collect data from the young consumers, from 600 students studying at nine state universities of India by employing stratified random sampling method. The results of the study suggest that a firm's green marketing strategies had an impact on green consumer behavior. The study found that GBP and GBK affect consumers green brand attitudes separately. Similarly, consumers green brand attitudes influence GPI. Meanwhile, WTP premium significantly moderates relationship between attitude toward green brand and GPI. The findings of this study suggest that marketing managers should consider a firm's GBP strategy as an important component in developing promotional messages that generate positive customer responses to the firm's green initiatives. A well‐implemented GBP strategy can lead to a more favorable GBK among consumers. As a result, it would assist in the development and promotion of green brands for businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the active distribution networks (ADNs), the emerging trend of high penetration of sustainable energy sources such as wind turbines, photovoltaics, and the forthcoming integration of energy storage devices and additional dynamic loads like plug‐in‐electric vehicles (PEVs) influences to change the nature of electric distribution networks. Consequently, it deteriorates power quality and reliability in terms of unacceptable voltage rise‐drop, harmonic distortion, voltage unbalance, and excessive power loss. In this context of transition into the active distribution network, the probabilistic optimal power flow (P‐OPF) in the ADN is considered an important tool that helps the distribution grid operators for defining the optimal settings of the system's control variables. However, the optimal solution of P‐OPF becomes highly complex while considering the multiple variables, time‐varying characteristics and operational uncertainties associated with sustainable resources, consumer behaviour and electricity market prices. This review aims at promoting the research and discussion of P‐OPF studies in the context of ADNs characteristics and challenges. First, we perform a data‐driven and visualized scientometric analysis of 1988 quality documents retrieved from the Scopus during the last ten years using VOSviewer software. Second, an in‐depth investigation of the recent and emerging techniques for solving the P‐OPF problem is presented. Third, a set of recommendations and highlights of future challenges for P‐OPF in ADNs are offered. The review findings showed high interest among the scientific community in sustainable energy source integration, given the recent rise in publications and citations. Also, there is still a lack of innovative optimization techniques that can adequately handle the current issues associated with P‐OPF and objectives with fair computational efficiency and accuracy. Finally, this paper offers a guide for P‐OPF researchers to navigate the recent studies considering the sustainable sources, spot the new research frontiers, and identify the most impactful countries and publishers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion is an indelible force in society, yet research examining its influence on consumption, particularly in the context of financial well‐being is lacking. Thus, this paper presents a conceptual framework of factors influencing, and outcomes associated with, the effects of religion on financial well‐being. Specifically, this paper introduces a conceptual framework aimed at understanding how religion influences financial decisions and well‐being, both from a consumer and a business perspective. Focus groups were conducted with consumers and financial practitioners to support the development of the conceptual framework. Most novel to this framework is the identification of potential process mechanisms explaining this relationship, including trust, affect, risk propensity, and perceived personal control. The framework concludes with potential interventions targeted at consumers and businesses to improve financial well‐being. This propositions‐based conceptual framework serves as a research agenda to guide and aid scholars, consumer advocacy groups, policymakers, and marketers in promoting greater financial well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overall, we find preliminary evidence that ranchers display demand sensitivity to changes in CBVs as well as evidence that producers follow expected utility theory in choosing the highest coverage levels, especially when coverage levels have the same subsidy rate. This paper makes important contributions to both the behavioral economics literature and the literature on the cost and effectiveness of demand response programs. These results point to important regional heterogeneity in how temperature increases may affect household energy demand in the coming decades. First, misattribution: Yields are stochastic due to weather and other factors, and when a yield in a particular year is unusually low, farmers misattribute noise as indicative of low-quality fertilizer. [Extracted from the article]

Unemployment is a central policy issue in countries with a 'generous' welfare system that is hard to reform. This paper addresses why these countries tend to adopt high commodity tax rates in the optimal taxation context. We explore the role of commodity taxation in alleviating moral hazard and hence involuntary unemployment and then provide supportive evidence from a quantitative analysis. Unlike the usual full employment models, at the heart of this paper is a new dimension of distortion, the 'between-states' (employment state vs. unemployment state) consumption choice distortion, which can be dealt with by a certain optimal combination of commodity and income taxation. Our results therefore offer an explanation for the widely observed coexistence of direct and indirect taxation. ( JEL D61, D81, H21) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles within the issue of the periodical on topics including consumer behavior, technology development and industrial sectors.

This paper examines optimal hedging behavior in a market where preferences for current consumption are partly determined by the consumer's past consumption history. The model considers an individual exposed to price risk, who allocates wealth between consumption and futures contracts over a (continuous-time) finite planning horizon. The speculative component of the hedge ratio is shown to be smaller and the consumption path smoother than in models where preferences are separable over time. Some comparative-static properties of the hedge ratio are also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has described a new method of estimating one of the terms of credit--the length of contract. Theoretically, it avoids the problem of the systematic bias contained in the average maturity for all outstanding debt. The N[sup *] series is also desirable because it reflects current credit terms, not a weighted average of current and existing loans. We were forced to reintroduce part of the systematic bias in order to obtain estimates of N[sup *]. A lack of information concerning the distribution of expirations resulted in our approximation with the use of a six month average of Rn and N. The new series appears to be a reasonable approximation of the current length of contract. N[sup *] was found to be an important factor in the explanation of consumer expenditure for automobiles and parts. As such it indicates regulation of automobile credit is a feasible method of controlling aggregate demand should traditional policy measures be unable to achieve desired objectives. For example, if N[sup *] is 30 months, and regulation reduces N[sup *] to 20 months, our estimated elasticity suggests that there would be a 13.3 percent reduction in consumer expenditure on automobiles and parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper models optimal release prices of an experience good recurrently issued on markets. Using a sample of Bordeaux wines, we find that using a minimal number of intrinsic and extrinsic attributes is sufficient to explain a large proportion of release prices. We further observe a significant relationship between primary market prices and secondary market prices and general economic conditions. Release prices can deviate from secondary market prices in the short run but remain aligned over the long run. Finally, an out‐of‐sample analysis indicates that short‐run mispricing directly affects the purchase behavior of customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper argues that for sustainable product innovation to make a contribution to addressing sustainability issues, we need to understand not only why consumers adopt sustainable products but also what makes them use these in sustainable way. To explain how specific product features can change the ways in which consumers engage with sustainable products in the adoption and usage phase, we draw on affordance theory. Affordances refer to the potential for agentic action of users in relation to a technological object. We develop a conceptual framework that explains how sustainable product innovation can lead to the design of sustainability affordances that stimulate adoption and sustainable usage. The framework shows how three forms of agency—material, firm, and user agency—interact and together influence a product's sustainability affordances that drive adoption and a change in consumer behavior. The framework explains how trade‐offs between a product's environmental features and consumer expectations regarding desired functionalities and user experience can be overcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the processes by which 100% Pure New Zealand is translated into action by middle managers and employees at the point of contact with consumers at i-SITEs. Within the tourism industry, organizations that differentiate employing 'green' and 'authentic' imagery of the natural environment highlight the importance of the active participation and engagement of middle managers and employees whose actions are observable to consumers. However, there has been little previous research on how employees understand concepts of sustainability and authenticity, or how their own views and values support embedding strategy. These issues were examined with a multiple case study methodology. Thematic analysis identified three barriers to authentic implementation: failure to support bottom-up policy engagement, unclear top-down communication of strategic priorities, and perceived lack of strategic vision and commitment. The paper suggests that organization-wide vision and commitment are required to implement authentic sustainability strategies. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulls account for half of the genetic input when making improvements in cattle herds. Changing bulls is less costly than changing cows; therefore it is often the case bulls account for more rapid improvements in heritable traits. One of the problems that breeders who supply bulls face is that the attributes of bulls come bundled together so that it is difficult to determine what the value of improvements in a bull might be worth. This research estimates what values beef producers implicitly place on particular characteristics when deciding which bull will best fit the needs of their farm. A hedonic pricing model was estimated using ordinary least squares on actual transaction data and reveals the value buyers of bulls implicitly place on specific traits. For example, a ribeye area of 12.8 in2 at the mean sale price reveals a buyer would be willing to pay an additional $80.39 for a bull with an additional square inch. Likewise, a bull with a 1242 lb. 365-day weight at the mean sale price reveals a buyer would be willing to pay an additional $1.83 for an additional pound. Therefore, this research reveals an incentive for producers of bulls to focus on improving the genetic make-up of their bulls they offer for sale. The goal of this study was to help guide development efforts of a current breeding program underway in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, aimed at producing new cold-tolerant cereal varieties. In order to maximize the impact of research dollars and efficiently meet the needs of producers in the realm of technology provision, it is helpful to understand the types of producers who might use the new varieties. A survey was used, in Alberta, Canada, to obtain data on producer attitudes affecting adoption of new technology, particularly in adopting a future cold-tolerant cereal variety. The survey was structured with demographic, attitudinal, and stated choice questions. A conditional logit regression model was used to estimates the probability of adoption based on the survey responses. Principal component analysis was used to limit the number of variables in the regression. Willingness to pay calculations are then made based on the selected logit model. Frost tolerance is found to be the most desired trait over a decrease in degree days for the sample population. Certain producer characteristics (for example, attitudes toward risk) were found to impact on the estimated willingness to pay for frost tolerance and decreased days to maturity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally antitrust law is strongly tied to price theory economics so that prices, costs, profits, and profit sacrifice are typically examined in antitrust cases. This paper proposes broadening traditional antitrust analysis to also explicitly examine the likely effect of allegedly anticompetitive conduct on product options and consumer choice. In order to accomplish this task, this paper proposes that various aspects of marketing strategy should be considered when examining product strategies that are accused of being anticompetitive. This paper further suggests that the current list of inconsistently and poorly defined product strategies used by the courts be augmented by three more straight forward but overlapping categories based on impact on consumer choice: Lock‐Outs, Lock‐Ins, and Hold‐Ups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes how corporate social responsibility (CSR) influences consumer behavior in the case of the Spanish agrifood sector. The originality of the study resides in the proposed model that explains that CSR influences perceptions of food safety and health, and quality, and that this perceived quality influences consumer behavior, that is, satisfaction and loyalty. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data from 295 personal interviews; satisfactory results were obtained for all the proposed relationships. Therefore, we suggest that, to achieve consumer loyalty, agrifood companies should orient their strategies toward creating sustainable relationships based on CSR actions. Other academic and management implications are proposed to complete the paper. [EconLit Citations: M14, M310, Q13]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Business strategies involving sustainable product disposal have focused mostly on technical aspects but neglected to adequately incorporate the nature of consumers' behavior. The current study addresses this void. We study consumer product disposal behavior and subsequently offer insights to businesses on how to incorporate consumer input into their strategic decision making in the light of opportunities to mitigate environmental impacts. Consumers' redistributing of unwanted but still useful products to others by reselling, passing along, or donating, rather than hoarding or throwing away, contributes to product lifetime extension and waste management. We study factors influencing product redistribution and explore profile of consumers who engage in various disposal behaviors. Findings from two online surveys, on mobile phones and sunglasses, reveal that specific waste attitudes, that is, waste minimization and waste aversion, rather than general environmental concern, are key determinants of product redistribution choice. Product cost is positively related to reselling and giving behaviors. Furthermore, product quality and product self‐image congruency significantly reduce the odds of throwing away. The method of product redistribution is also influenced by consumers' demographic characteristics including age, education level, and income. This paper advances extant literature on product disposal from the perspective of the consumer and provides input into development of business strategies that incorporate consumers' sustainable disposal behaviors. We also offer input to policy makers on how to curb or delay waste and pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kitamura and Stoye (2018) recently proposed a nonparametric statistical test for random utility models of consumer behavior. The test is formulated in terms of linear inequality constraints and a quadratic objective function. While the nonparametric test is conceptually appealing, its practical implementation is computationally challenging. In this paper, we develop a column generation approach to operationalize the test. These novel computational tools generate considerable computational gains in practice, which substantially increases the empirical usefulness of Kitamura and Stoye's statistical test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a model that helps to explain the switching behaviour of private consumers towards green electricity suppliers. It is built upon neo‐institutional and neo‐behavioural theories, including a series of antecedents of trust as reputation, perceived environmental impact, the propensity to trust and perceived risk. This model is applied through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to a sample of 787 German electricity consumers. Results demonstrate that trust has a direct influence on switching behaviour towards a green electricity supplier. Furthermore, reputation, perceived environmental impact, propensity to trust and perceived risk influence the switching behaviour of electricity suppliers through trust as mediating variable. It draws a co‐habitation of neo‐institutional and neo‐behavioural theories in the construction of trust and the necessity to work on reducing consumers uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition towards a circular economy is a crucial issue to pursue a more sustainable development. In this transition, consumers' comprehension and engagement are necessary points to guide them towards more environmentally conscious purchases. This study extends the understanding of green consumer behaviour by testing an integrated conceptual model that explores the influence of personal concern, other pro‐environmental behaviours, greenwashing beliefs, consumer innovativeness, and personal predisposition to seeking information on the purchasing of circular packaging. We explored both the stand‐alone and the mediating effects of information seeking. Data were collected from a questionnaire‐based survey administered to a large and representative sample of Italian families, using 1,643 valid responses. We used structural equation modelling to test the proposed hypotheses. The results highlight the fundamental importance of seeking information in order to guide consumption choices that are more consistent with the circular economy. For managers, our paper suggests that packaging counts in purchasing decisions and that information is used by consumers to search for consistency between personal attitudes, other pro‐environmental behaviours, and the circular attributes of packaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pay what you want (PWYW) is an increasingly popular sales strategy in which consumers voluntarily decide how much to pay for a product or service. PWYW has often been described as an exercise in the "empathy economy," where consumers' payment choices might be seen as empowered expressions of their tastes and preferences, and sellers have a stronger incentive for empathizing with them. Beyond their economic interest, PWYW experiences also deserve significant attention in the social sciences given that they challenge several key assumptions of rational choice and neoclassical economic theory, as well as conventional consumer behavior and pricing theories. This paper analyzes three plays performed at the Beckett Theater in Barcelona using PWYW with very profitable outcomes. Our analysis shows that socio‐psychological factors, such as payments attributed to others and satisfaction with the play, are the best predictors of customer payments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on consumer perceptions of an in-school strategic giving initiative as a form of Corporate Social Responsibility ( CSR) to consider its social implications and to understand the complexity of children's vulnerability in this context. Results suggest that corporate benefits are not balanced by welfare gains to the children and this creates a tension between positive perceptions of the initiative and negative concerns with its targeting of children. This raises a number of ethical issues related to corporate marketing in schools and provides empirical support for earlier theoretical work in this area. The paper contributes to CSR literature by suggesting that opinions towards corporate giving are determined both by perceptions of their underlying motives and in relation to the benefits they provide to stakeholders. Finally, we provide support for the need for policy and regulatory revision with regard to children's vulnerability to in-school marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to examine the origins of the use of the line-in-the-sand approach in utility pricing in the Australian context. In Australia, this method has only been used in the water and wastewater industry and only to government-owned water companies in a regulatory context. The object of using the line-in-the-sand method by regulators has been to help create a smooth, but longer, transition, from political to commercially established prices, and to do so with the least community opposition. This has meant consumers initially enjoyed lower prices than may otherwise have been the case; however, prices rose as water and wastewater companies undertook extensive capital expenditure programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops an estimation technique for analyzing the impact of technological change on the dynamics of consumer demand in a differentiated durable products industry. The paper presents a dynamic model of consumer demand for differentiated durable products that explicitly accounts for consumers' expectations of future product quality and consumers' outflow from the market that arises endogenously from their purchase decisions. The timing of consumers' purchases is formalized as an optimal stopping problem. A solution to that problem defines the hazard rate of product adoptions, while the nested discrete choice model determines the alternative-specific purchase probabilities. Integrating individual decisions over the population distribution generates rich dynamics of aggregate and product-level sales. The empirical part of the paper applies the model to data on the U.S. computer printer market for 1998-1999. The estimates support the hypothesis of consumers' forward-looking behavior, allowing for better demand forecasts and improved measures of welfare gains from introducing new products. ( JEL L11, C35, D91) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spurred by rapid development of computers and Internet technology, online shopping is gradually overtaking in-store shopping, because of advantages such as convenience, more choice of products or services etc. Online stores must devote a great deal of time and resources to locating and attracting new customers. Growing a customer base requires first understanding customers and then providing the products or services they need, thus encouraging customers to purchase more. This paper develops a system to analyse customers' purchasing behaviour and track shifts in their interests. Customers' purchasing behaviour is measured using proposed standard product loyalty status and standard brand loyalty status. Using these metrics, together with the preference map established for each customer, a marketing specialist can easily locate potential customers to target when a company launches a new product. The new-product-launch strategy proposed in this paper can be used to create a list of potential customers for a product being launched under a variety of conditions. A prototype system has been built to test the feasibility of the proposed new-product-launch strategy. The result shows almost 40% of potential customers respond to the recommendation positively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]