The changing practice of eating: evidence from UK time diaries, 1975 and 2000

This paper examines some central themes about change in consumption behaviour through an empirical investigation of the practice of eating. It analyses patterns of food consumption in the UK using time diary data from 1975 and 2000. The practice of eating is decomposed into four component activities which are used to explore systematically the inter-relationships between social processes - such as commodification and temporal fragmentation - and ways of providing and consuming food. It charts the expansion of eating out, the degree to which it substitutes for other eating activities, and the implications of its development for social relations and the temporal organization of daily life. Analysis reveals that food consumption continues to be differentiated along established lines of social division, although the content of those divisions has changed and varies across components of the practice. Increasing commodification of the food chain is documented, but without appearing to have a corrosive impact on household organization or social relationships. While tendencies indicative of temporal fragmentation are revealed, counter-tendencies exist which suggest that the practice of eating is resilient to many forms of external pressure. Finally, the application of a practice-based analytical approach permits critical evaluation of theories of social transformation.     

中国居民自有住房虚拟租金的一个估算

居民自有住房服务价值应纳入GDP核算,但各国对自有住房服务虚拟租金的估算方法存在差异,当前主要的核算方法为市场租金法和使用成本法。采用使用成本法对中国居民自有住房虚拟租金重新估算,发现2004—2012年间居民自有住房虚拟租金年均达3.2万亿元,最近三年年均达到4万亿。中国统计部门基于建筑成本估算的虚拟租金大大低估了居民居住支出,2004—2012年间年均低估达2.3万亿元,近三年年均低估达3万亿元。调整后的居住消费占GDP比重达到11%~14%,高于官方6%的统计数据,仅自有住房虚拟租金的重新调整就提高了4%~5%的居民消费率,随着居民收入提高,城市化进程加快,居住消费支出还将增长。     

Combining forecasts of electricity consumption in China with time-varying weights updated by a high-order Markov chain model

Electricity consumption forecasting has been always playing a vital role in power system management and planning. Inaccurate prediction may cause wastes of scarce energy resource or electricity shortages. However, forecasting electricity consumption has proven to be a challenging task due to various unstable factors. Especially, China is undergoing a period of economic transition, which highlights this difficulty. This paper proposes a time-varying-weight combining method, i.e. High-order Markov chain based Time-varying Weighted Average (HM-TWA) method to predict the monthly electricity consumption in China. HM-TWA first calculates the in-sample time-varying combining weights by quadratic programming for the individual forecasts. Then it predicts the out-of-sample time-varying adaptive weights through extrapolating these in-sample weights using a high-order Markov chain model. Finally, the combined forecasts can be obtained. In addition, to ensure that the sample data have the same properties as the required forecasts, a reasonable multi-step-ahead forecasting scheme is designed for HM-TWA. The out-of-sample forecasting performance evaluation shows that HM-TWA outperforms the component models and traditional combining methods, and its effectiveness is further verified by comparing it with some other existing models.     

Electricity consumption and economic growth in Nigeria: Evidence from cointegration and co-feature analysis

The paper investigates the causality relationship between energy consumption and economic growth for Nigeria during the period 1980–2006. The results of our estimation show that real gross domestic product (rGDP) and electricity consumption (ele) are cointegrated and there is only unidirectional Granger causality running from electricity consumption (ele) to (rGDP). Then we applied Hodrick–Prescott (HP) filter to decompose the trend and the fluctuation components of the rGDP and electricity consumption (ele) series. The estimation results show that there is cointegration between the trend and the cyclical components of the two series, which seems to suggest that the Granger causality is possibly related with the business cycle. The paper suggests that investing more and reducing inefficiency in the supply and use of electricity can further stimulate economic growth in Nigeria. The results should, however, be interpreted with caution because of the possibility of loss in power associated with the small sample size and the danger of omitted variable bias that could result from the use of bi-variate analysis.     

Efficacy of Risk-Based, Culturally Sensitive Ogaa (Walleye) Consumption Advice for Anishinaabe Tribal Members in the Great Lakes Region

The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) has produced Ogaa (walleye— Sander vitreus ) consumption advisories since 1996 for Anishinaabe from GLIFWC member tribes in the 1837 and 1842 ceded territories of Wisconsin. GLIFWC's advisory maps were revised in 2005 to address cultural sensitivities (to protect tribal lifeways), to utilize recent mercury exposure information, and to incorporate changes in advisory levels for methyl mercury. Lake-specific, risk-based, culturally sensitive consumption advice was provided on color-coded maps for two groups: children under age 15 years and females of childbearing age, and males 15 years and older and females beyond childbearing age. The maps were distributed to, and a behavioral intervention program developed for, the six GLIFWC member tribes in Wisconsin as well as member tribes in Minnesota and the 1842 ceded territory of Michigan. Tribal fish harvesters, tribal health care providers, women of childbearing age or with young children, tribal leaders, elders, and children were targeted specifically for the behavioral intervention. The efficacy of the behavioral intervention was assessed using surveys of 275 tribal fish harvesters from Wisconsin, 139 tribal harvesters from Michigan and Minnesota, and 156 Wisconsin women of childbearing age. Significant increases in the percentage of survey participants who indicated awareness of advisory maps occurred among Wisconsin harvesters (increase from 60% to 77%), Michigan and Minnesota harvesters (29% to 51%), and women of childbearing age in Wisconsin (40% to 87%). A significant increase in preference for smaller Ogaa occurred among tribal harvesters in Wisconsin (41% to 72%) and tribal harvesters in Michigan and Minnesota (49% to 71%), although not among women of childbearing age. The GLIFWC map-based advisory program did not adversely affect tribal harvest of Ogaa, which increased from 63,000 to 88,000 fish in the three states after the intervention.     

基于生态文明观的中西消费文化比较与建设启示

生态文明关系到人类社会发展与资源环境的可持续发展,也是近年国家政策和攸关民生的焦点。从生态文明观的视角来分析中西消费文化的不同,目的就是要通过分析中西方消费思想的保守性和开放性、消费情智的感性与理性、消费对象的物质性与精神性和消费理念的对立性与统一性的区别,对我国的消费文化提出落实顶层设计、加强政府监管、重构企业文化、加强公众生态教育等方面的建设性意见。     

利率下降对我国居民跨期消费选择的影响分析

利率下降对居民跨期消费选择影响存在收入效应和替代效应.由于这两种效应对居民当期消费的作用方向完全相反,因而总效应要取决于这两种效应的强弱.对于我国中低收入居民来说,利率下降对其跨期消费选择的收入效应特别明显,替代效应则趋于零,因而降患反而会减少其当期消费数量.对于我国中高收入居民来说,利率下降对其跨期消费选择的替代效应在很大程度上被收入效应所抵消了,因而降息拉动其当期消费也不明显.为了刺激居民消费,除了实施降息政策以外,还必须采取其他政策与之配合.     

秦皇岛市高中生体育消费行为的调查

通过秦皇岛市5所高中621名学生的调查问卷，对高中生的体育消费行为进行调查。结果表明，秦皇岛市高中生体育消费的年级差异显著，在消费动机方面性别差异显著。高中生的体育消费受到家庭、学校、媒体信息等多种因素的影响。     

从普遍经济到普遍历史——论巴塔耶普遍经济学视野中的世界历史形态

巴塔耶一直试图从自己的普遍经济学的理论出发,建构出一套世界的普遍历史.本文首先对巴塔耶普遍经济学的含义和法则进行了解读,然后对其在此背景下所描述的各种社会形态进行了分析,从而概括了他所建立的普遍历史的形态.     

Organic food and the plural moralities of food provisioning

The aim of this paper is twofold. The first aim is to unfold the moral complexity of organic food consumption as part of household food provisioning. By acknowledging this complexity, and the difficulty of determining what is ‘good’ and ‘right’ in food provisioning, the idea is to allow for a better understanding of how organic food may, or may not, fit in with the various concerns of food provisioning. The second aim is to analyse how food provisioners handle this complexity so that food provisioning can proceed as an ordinary everyday activity.The paper analyses empirical material from a study of household food provisioning in Denmark. Theoretically, it draws on French pragmatic sociology as represented by the work of Boltanski and Thévenot on moral conventions and regimes of engagement. The analysis illustrates that food provisioning involves several competing sets of moral conventions and that the status of organic food in relation to these is often uncertain and contested. However, it also identifies among provisioners different strategies for handling this moral complexity in ordinary everyday life. The paper calls for some modesty in trying to change consumer behaviour in favour of organic products. Providing consumers with more information about organic food may not make it easier to determine what is ‘good’ and ‘right’ when buying food. It may only add to the complexity of food provisioning and thus to the need for compromise and pragmatism.