Descriptive methods of data analysis for marketing data – theoretical and practical considerations

Marketing has as main objective the guidance of a firm’s activities according to current and future needs – of consumers’. This necessarily assumes the existence of a suitable information system, and also the knowledge of some modern analysis, processing and interpretation of the so complex information in the field of marketing. The descriptive methods of data analysis represent multidimensional analysis tools that are strong and effective, tools based on which important information can be obtained for market research. The paper comparatively presents some of these methods, respectively: factor analysis, main component analysis, correspondence analysis and canonical analysis.factor analysis, marketing, descriptive methods.

Multidimensional Wealth Inequality: A Hybrid Approach toward Distributional National Accounts in Europe

Distributional National Accounts (DINA) link macroeconomic aggregates with distributional information enabling a better understanding of distributional implications of macroeconomic developments and facilitate cross-country comparisons of inequality. This article proposes a practically feasible framework to allocate components of wealth to different sections of society and serves two functions: a comprehensive measure of net worth and its distribution, and a link to macroeconomic statistics. The article compiles DINA by breaking down twelve components of marketable wealth by wealth and income groups, as well as three major functions of wealth for Austria, Finland, France, Germany and Spain. The three functions of wealth considered are (i) precautionary saving, (ii) own use of housing assets and (iii) income generation via the ownership of businesses or landlordship. The resulting multidimensional wealth distributions reveal large heterogeneity in inequality and help understand (institutional) differences across countries and time. Results are top-tail adjusted using Pareto and Generalized Pareto models, and combining survey data (HFCS) with rich lists, or top wealth shares derived from tax data and leaked information on wealth held in offshore tax havens.Series: INEQ Working Paper Serie

The many dimensions of poverty in Albania: income, wealth and perceptions

This paper aims at assessing poverty in Albania through the use of an asset index whose effectiveness is compared with consumption in explaining differences in results of health and educational outcomes. Firstly, an asset index is constructed by the use of factor analysis and principal component techniques; then, two probit models are estimated assessing enrolment rate for secondary education and chronic disability in Albania using the asset index as an independent variable to compare its effectiveness with expenditures. The World Bank LSMS Survey of 2002 is used in the analysis.asset index; wealth; multidimensional poverty

A note on poverty, inequality and growth

How inequality is generated and how it reproduces over time? This has been a major concern of social scientists for more than a century. The changes in aggregate or average income is a good measure for economic growth but is far from being the only one. There is an increasing “inequality” throughout the world. Over the period 1960-2000, the richest 5 % of the world’s nations averaged a per-capita income that was about twenty-nine times the corresponding figure for the poorest 5 %. Poverty also affects other forms of economic and social functioning. The measurement of poverty is based on the notion of poverty line, which is constructed from monetary estimates of minimum needs. Poverty is highly correlated with the lack of education, and there is an intimate connection between nutrition and poverty. The measurement of inequality is a highly controversial one. It is a field in which there are large differences in social judgments, which translate themselves into differences in social judgments, such as the measure of inequality or the choice of equivalence scale. Social and Economic indicators demonstrate the data for the population based measures on economic, social and health outcomes and answer the question about inequality and well being. This article attempts to examine the relationship between inequality and the process of socio-economic development and also to overview the theories of income inequality and to measure the income distribution and moreover to investigate the role and the effects on socio-economic growth. Keywords: Income distribution, inequality, poverty, convergence, growth.

Location and chemical composition of microbially induced phosphorus precipitates in anaerobic and aerobic granular sludge

This work focuses on combined scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX) applied to granular sludge used for biological treatment of high-strength wastewater effluents. Mineral precipitation is shown to occur in the core of microbial granules under different operating conditions. Three dairy wastewater effluents, from three different upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors and two aerobic granular sequenced batch reactors (GSBR) were evaluated. The relationship between the solid phase precipitation and the chemical composition of the wastewater was investigated with PHREEQC software (calculation of saturation indexes). Results showed that pH, Ca:P ratios and biological reactions played a major role in controlling the biomineralization phenomena. Thermodynamics calculations can be used to foresee the nature of bio-precipitates, but the location of the mineral concretions will need further investigation as it is certainly due to local microbial activity