Economic vs. Non-Economic Determinants of Diversification and Specialisation in Agriculture

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-28
Author(s):  
Daniel E. May ◽  
Graham J. Tate ◽  
Leslie Worrall
Keyword(s):  
Sugar Beet ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Probit Analysis ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Psychological Variables ◽  
Economic Determinants ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Economic Considerations ◽  
The Eu

Empirical evidence from the sugar sector of the UK has revealed that farmers in this sector adjusted to the EU reform of the Sugar Regime either by diversifying production or by specialising in a small number of crops. This article hypothesises that these strategic choices were influenced by a number of economic and non-economic drivers. A probit analysis conducted with a sample of ex-sugar beet farmers was used to test this hypothesis. The result showed that only non-economic drivers (i.e., social-psychological variables) were significant in explaining the strategic choices made by the farmers. This suggests that traditional analyses based purely on economic considerations have to be considered with caution.

Predicting handbill avoidance in Hong Kong and the UK

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 132-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard P. Prendergast ◽  
Alex S.L. Tsang ◽  
Ranis Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Theoretical Knowledge ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Psychological Variables ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Advertising Avoidance ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – Handbills are an interesting advertising medium since they are distributed by people in a social context. Little, however, is known about why handbills are often avoided. This study was designed with the purpose of extending previous research on advertising avoidance by using social psychological variables to explain consumers' avoidance of handbills in Hong Kong and the UK. Design/methodology/approach – A survey of 337 individuals was conducted (166 in Hong Kong and 171 in the UK). A series of hypotheses relating to perceived handbill clutter, perceived goal impediment, and the perceived manner of the distributer were tested. Findings – Perceived handbill clutter was found to be the strongest predictor of handbill avoidance in both Hong Kong and the UK. The second strongest predictor was perceived goal impediment. The perceived manner of the distributor did not predict handbill avoidance in Hong Kong, but it did predict handbill avoidance in the UK. Research limitations/implications – The study's methodology has a number of limitations. First, the measure of the distributor's perceived manner may not have directly tapped the distributor dimensions of importance to handbill avoidance. Second, no account was taken of non-response bias. The model also did not recognize that there may be other variables capable of explaining handbill avoidance. Practical implications – The results suggest that effort is needed to raise the perceived value of handbills so that their perceived value neutralizes any perceptions of goal impediment. In addition, handbill designers need to find creative ways to stand out from the clutter. In the UK, deportment should be considered when distributors are recruited and trained. Originality/value – Handbills are frequently used as a promotional tool. In two contrasting countries, this study found that perceived handbill clutter, perceived goal impediment, and perceived manner of the distributer influence handbill avoidance. The research has extended theoretical knowledge related to advertising avoidance and generated insights that are likely to be of practical value to marketers.

scholarly journals FIREWORKS, FLAGS AND SIGNS: VOICES FROM THE STREETS OF POST-BREXIT BRITAIN

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 491-506
Author(s):  
Sara Roberts
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Symbolic Violence ◽  
British Society ◽  
Popular Discourse ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Global Trend ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

ABSTRACT In this article, Sara Roberts, a former BBC researcher and journalist - currently teacher and writer, offers her personal impressions of the recent rise of populism in Britain, based on her experiences in Oxford, where she lives. This essay offers empirical evidence that Brexit has had a profoundly divisive effect on British society from the micro to the macro level, and threatens the very union of nations that makes up the United Kingdom. The campaign for the UK to leave the EU (‘Brexit’) in the 2016 referendum exploited xenophobic and racist sentiment, thereby creating linguistic and symbolic violence which has managed to pervade popular discourse and consciousness, and which may foreshadow an increase in actual violence. It is suggested here that violence and fear lie at the heart of populism and that all populist movements rely on them, as well as ignorance, to first gain and then maintain support. Acting against the global trend towards populism, the current younger generation; education; civil society and Art are offered as avenues of hope for the future.

scholarly journals The multiplier effects of the Finnish sugar sector

2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Ellen Huan-Niemi ◽  
Marja Knuuttila
Keyword(s):  
Sugar Beet ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Sugar Chain ◽  
Economic Role ◽  
Employment Effects ◽  
Multiplier Effects ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

Background information on the economic role of industries is crucial to policy and decision makers due to the involvement of public financing. At the provincial and municipal level, the economic role of industries is crucial for employment and tax revenues that sustain the livelihood of the provinces and municipalities in Finland. This study employed an input-output model (IO model) to answer the question on the linkages between the sugar sector with the different industries in the economy and how much production, value-added and employment would be lost if the sugar sector in Finland would disappear totally. The IO-model would produce the direct, indirect and induced economic effects usually referred to as the multiplier effects of the sugar sector. The gross output of sugar beet production is approximated at about € 33million, and the value-added sugar beet production is estimated at € 17.2 million. The output of the sugar factories is approximated to be € 165.7 million, and the value-added is estimated at € 39.6 million. Even though the effects of primary sugar beet production and sugar factory production including multiplier effects seem rather small compared to the total effects at the regional level, the actual effects are felt at the municipalities level in the form of decreasing tax revenues and unemployment if the sugar sector in Finland disappears and is not substituted for by other forms of production and industry. The output effects of the sugar chain production including sugar beet production, sugar factories and sugar utilizing industries totals € 14 371.0 million when indirect multiplier effects € 8 258.3 million in addition to direct effects € 6 112.7 million are taken into account. The value-added effects of the sugar chain production totals € 4 451.5 million when indirect value-added effects € 2 857.7 million in addition to direct value-added effects € 1 593.8 are taken into account. The employment effects of the sugar chain production totals 58 733 persons as the indirect employment effects 37 979 persons in addition to direct effects 20 754 persons are taken into account. As far as employment effects are concerned, the number of employees does not refer to full-time employees, but included also all those who are involved at any stages of the sugar chain production. The indirect effects include multiplier effects due to both household spending and intermediate input purchases. Hence, if the sugar utilizing industries are included in the production chain, the multiplier effects are considerable. There is data to prove that without domestic production, the sugar price is higher for Ireland compared to the other EU member states due to imperfections in the EU sugar market after the reform of the EU sugar regime in 2006. The sugar price for consumers in Ireland is the highest compared to the United Kingdom (UK), Finland and Germany. The UK and Finland are not self-sufficient in producing sugar for the domestic market, but Germany has been always producing over its self-sufficiency limit. Therefore, the consumers in Germany enjoy the lowest price for sugar compared to Ireland, Finland and the UK. Due to the existing domestic sugar production in Finland and the UK, the price of sugar is lower in these countries compared to Ireland.

Narrative Exchange as Knowledge Transfer: The Rhetorical Construction of Opposition to GM Crops in SW England

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Downing
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Food Chain ◽  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Culturally Appropriate ◽  
Rhetorical Construction ◽  
Risks And Benefits ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
The Uk

The release of genetically modified organisms into the environment and food chain in the UK has produced one of the most visible and enduring controversies of recent times. Amid ongoing claim and counter-claim by actors on either side of the GM ‘debate’ over the salient ‘facts’ or balance of risks and benefits associated with the technology, this controversy can be fruitfully seen as a struggle between contested networks of knowledge. Drawing on ethnographic data collected during recent PhD fieldwork, I focus on those, loosely defined as members of ‘local food networks’ in SW England, who perceive their values and cultural projects to be at risk from the deployment of this technology. In scrutinizing how distinctly ‘oppositional’ knowledge is created, exchanged and transformed particularly in relation to the construction and maintenance of cultural and historical boundaries, I suggest that in this arena a key vehicle of knowledge transfer is the narrative or story. A successfully deployed narrative can resolve uncertainties, or equally, dissolve undesirable certainties. Knowledge transfer thus becomes a matter of rhetoric, of persuasion, whereby skilfully deployed narratives can be viewed as analogical networks of associations - enrolling culturally appropriate characters, values and concepts - to move the targeted audience in the desired manner. I argue that such transfers must be seen not only as exchanges of networks of knowledge but also of networks of ignorance, for as the ethnographic data reveals, when the stakes are perceived to be so high, ideological coherence often outweighs empirical evidence and logical consistency. This raises a critical dilemma for the ethnographer. What should he/she do when confronted in the field by exaggerated claims or misinformation?

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