Consequences of BSE on Consumers' Attitudes, Perceptions and Willingness to Pay for Certified Beef in Spain

The BSE crisis has increased consumers' concerns on beef safety. Product quality systems and controls have been reinforced. Traceability certification and quality labels have been developed to communicate consumers the safety characteristics of the labelled beef and recover consumption. As a consequence, production costs have increased, which have been ultimately transmitted to consumer prices. The objective of this paper is to develop a conceptual model able to analyse main factors influencing consumers' willingness-to-pay for certified beef. A three-equation recursive model is jointly estimated. Results indicate that income, level of beef consumption, the average price consumers paid for beef and beef safety perception are main determinants of Spanish consumers' willingness- to-pay for certified beef.Certified beef, willingness-to-pay, attitudes, food safety, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Spanish Consumers' Attitudes and Acceptability towards GM Food Products

The objective of this paper is to analyse consumers’ attitudes and acceptability of GM food products in Spain. From the methodological point of view, a three-equation model of consumer behaviour is estimated assuming a kind of causal chain among the degree of knowledge, attitudes and buying intentions. Explanatory variables include socioeconomic characteristics of respondents as well as endogenous variables of the previous equations. The model provides a better knowledge of how attitudes and buying intentions towards GM food are formed. Higher educated consumers, more concerned about labelling information and less about price, and regular buyers of organic foods show a higher (not necessarily better) knowledge on GM technology and its consequences. However, those consumers with a lower level of knowledge, together with those who are not concerned about safety, are not used to recycle but to purchase fast food generate more positive attitudes towards GMs, which finally determine future purchasing intention.GM foods, Spain, consumers' attitudes, econometric model,

NUTRIENT EFFECTS ON CONSUMER DEMAND: A PANEL DATA APPROACH

The objective of this paper is to analyze the Spanish demand for food taking into account the consumer's concern about the relationship between food diet and health. This concern is forcing food demand analysts to assume that consumer utility is a function of nutrients instead of simply the food products themselves. A CBS demand model has been considered to model the new demand function obtained, which is estimated with a complete panel data set. Ten broad categories, nine nutrients and the most relevant socio-economic variables have been considered. Finally, after an appropriate model selection strategy, expenditure, price and nutrient elasticities, as well as main sociodemographic effects, have been calculated.Nutrients, demand for food, CBS, panel data, Spain., Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

The Impact of Price Intervention Policies to Improve Dietary Quality in Spain

Many commentators have claimed that farm subsidies have contributed significantly to the “obesity epidemic” by making fattening foods relatively cheap and abundant and, symmetrically, that taxing “unhealthy” commodities or subsidizing “healthy” commodities would contribute to reducing obesity rates. This paper makes three contributions. First, we review evidence from the literature on the impacts on food consumption and obesity resulting from subsidies applied in the past to production or consumption of farm commodities. Second, we develop and present new arguments and preliminary evidence on the impacts of past government investments in agricultural R&D on food consumption and obesity—through research-induced increases in agricultural productivity and the consequences for prices, production, and consumption of farm commodities. Third, we consider and compare the economic efficiency of hypothetical agricultural research policies (changing the orientation of agricultural research investments) versus hypothetical agricultural commodity subsidies and taxes as alternative mechanisms for encouraging consumption of healthy food or discouraging consumption of unhealthy food, or both.Spain, taxes, Food demand, Dietary quality, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

Spanish Demand for Food Away From Home: A Panel Data Approach

In this paper, the Spanish demand for food away from home is analysed. A panel data set is built and appropriate techniques for estimating limited dependent variable models have been applied. Results indicate that where there are zero expenditures, these are largely due to infrequency of purchase rather than to abstention or to economic reasons. Furthermore, important differences appear among households. On the one hand, those households whose head is a highly-educated person, male, young and living on a salary in a large town are more likely to purchase food away from home. On the other hand, increases in income only provokes more than proportional increases in expenditure for those households headed by an unschooled person, a female or a person older than 55 and also for those households with more than half of its members older than 60 years.Demand for food away from home, household production theory, panel data., Consumer/Household Economics, C23, C24, D12,

Does economic freedom increase income inequality? Evidence from the EU countries

Over the past decades there have been considerable changes in policies and institutions in favor of economic freedom in the EU countries. This trend coincides with widespread increases in income inequality in numerous member states. To what extent does economic freedom encourage inequality? This paper examines the relationship between economic freedom and income inequality in the EU countries using panel data for the 2000s. The empirical evidence suggests that economic freedom seems to entail greater income inequality. However, not all areas of economic freedom affect income distribution similarly. While government size and regulation appear to be robustly associated with income inequality, legal system and property rights, sound money, and freedom to trade internationally seem not to be significantly related with income distribution in the European context.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Disparities in entrepreneurship indicators across EU countries

The levels and characteristics of entrepreneurship differ widely across EU member countries due to diverse cultural, educational, economic-financial and institutional reasons. Taking as reference data provided by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), this paper analyzes the disparities in entrepreneurship indicators among the EU member countries in 2007 and 2013, highlighting the most significant changes occurred during the Great Recession. For this purpose, some of the major indices of inequality have been calculated, namely the Gini, Theil and Atkinson indices. In addition, the change in the Gini coefficient between these two years is additively decomposed into mobility and progressivity components, and growth incidence curves of some key indicators of entrepreneurial activity are estimated. Overall, we find that inequality among countries in most entrepreneurial attitude and aspiration indicators tends to diminish over the period 2007-2013. For all indicators the reduction is more generalized across the efficiency-driven economies than across the innovation-driven economies.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Entrepreneurship and Economic Liberalization in the OECD Countries

Entrepreneurship displays remarkable differences across countries because of diverse factors. In this sense, it is frequently argued that economic liberalization encourages entrepreneurship. In this paper we address the extent to which economic freedom, understood as market economy oriented institutions and policies, matters for entrepreneurial activity through a panel data analysis for 78 countries during the period 2001-2012. We examine the relationship between the Fraser Institute’s economic freedom index and its five areas, and three entrepreneurial activity indicators from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, namely total entrepreneurial activity, necessity entrepreneurship and opportunity entrepreneurship. Economic freedom seems to increase opportunity entrepreneurship and decrease necessity entrepreneurship. Focusing on the OECD countries, we highlight that economic freedom is positively associated with entrepreneurship. In terms of entrepreneurship motivation, we find that a more flexible regulation of credit, labor and business, as well as entrepreneurial attitudes, may contribute to enhance opportunity entrepreneurshipUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Examinig the roloe of economic liberalization in entrepeneurship: a cross-country study

In the last few decades some authors have underlined the role of institutions and policies for entrepreneurship. North (1990) underlines that entrepreneurs are the main agents of change and that organizations, such as firms set up by entrepreneurs, adapt their activities and strategies to fit the opportunities and limitations provided through formal and informal institutional frameworks. Baumol (1990) hypothesizes that entrepreneurial individuals channel their efforts in different directions depending on the quality of prevailing economic, political, and legal institutions. Sobel (2008) asserts that better institutions have both more productive entrepreneurship and also less unproductive entrepreneurship. He stresses that the best path to foster entrepreneurship is through institutional reforms that constrain or minimize the role of government. In this context, economic freedom may be seen as a significant aspect for entrepreneurial activity and it is frequently argued that economic liberalization encourages entrepreneurship. In this paper we address the extent to which economic freedom, understood as market economy oriented institutions and policies, matters for entrepreneurial activityUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Space Journey: Encouraging astronomy education and space exploration through an interactive experiential design installation of an astronaut training program

Space journey is an interactive experiential design installation that explores the field of Astronomy and astronaut training programs, to encourage younger generations to follow scientific and astronomy education. This project explored, the boundaries of the interactive user experience along with projection design to learn, discover and experience using a gesture-based interface creating an immersive experience. Astronomy as a scientific field, has always had a significant impact on the worldview, it explores the wonders of the universe and its countless celestial objects, through its multiples researches, it has been used to solve unknown questions about the evolution and it has been the propeller of the development of technologies that we know and used today. But while there are a lot of advance in technology, there are still many unanswered questions in the field of astronomy. Before going into space, astronauts must endure many hours of training and preparation, where they learn about space, science and technology. Encouraging astronomy education in the younger generation could not only improve the skills, motivation and knowledge to train like an astronaut, but could impact positively in the world by inspiring new scientist and amateurs to keep exploring and researching the universe and through them, science and technology could inevitably evolve. This project presents different mind and body challenges that teach and entertain the users on how to train like an astronaut. By playing these challenges, the users gain different skills that are useful for astronauts in space. While playing, the users explore the wonders of the universe, learning not only about astronauts but space in general