Does carbon pricing reduce air travel? Evidence from the Australian 'Clean Energy Future' policy, July 2012 to June 2014

Aviation emissions are an important contributor to global climatic change. As growth in travel demand continues to outstrip improvements in the fuel efficiency of air travel, the aviation contribution to climate change is likely to grow substantially. Consequently, measures that effectively reduce travel demand are required if atmospheric carbon concentrations are to be limited. The efficacy of the Australian Clean Energy Future policy which placed a $23.00AUD (FY 2012) to$24.15 AUD (FY 2013) per tonne levy on carbon-dioxide equivalent emissions from July 2012 to June 2014 is tested. Specifically, time-series regression is used to estimate the effect of this carbon price policy on the level of domestic passenger kilometres flown in Australia, while adjusting for costs of production (i.e. fuel and labour costs), economic activity (i.e. gross domestic product), competitive effects (i.e. airline capacity), and exogenous shocks. There was no evidence that the carbon price reduced the level of domestic aviation in Australia. Carbon pricing measures may have to be levied at a greater rate to affect behavioural change, particularly given the limited potential for future aviation efficiency gains.The authors are grateful to Paul Peeters, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, for his suggestion of several relevant papers

The long-term outcomes of mental health first aid training for university students

This study aimed to address current gaps in the literature on the impacts of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training by comparing long-term outcomes on diferent cohorts. University students studying health and non-health degrees, university staf and community members who had completed MHFA within the past three years completed a survey to assess their mental health literacy, and their use of knowledge and skills acquired through the training. The study found few signifcant diferences between the diferent group outcomes and between diferent time points post-completion of MHFA. This study found that although participant-reported measures show positive outcomes from MHFA, further research on the common tools used to rate mental health literacy and how mental health literacy impacts behaviours and help-seeking would provide greater insight into the outcomes of running MHFA as a mental health prevention and early intervention program at universities

Assessing logistic regression applied to respondent-driven sampling studies : a simulation study with an application to empirical data

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of different logistic regression estimators applied to RDS studies via simulation and the analysis of empirical data. Four simulated populations were created with different connectivity characteristics. Each simulated individual received two attributes, one of them associated to the infection process. RDS samples with different sizes were obtained. The observed coverage of three logistic regression estimators were applied to assess the association between the attributes and the infection status. In simulated datasets, unweighted logistic regression estimators emerged as the best option, although all estimators showed a fairly good performance. In the empirical dataset, the performance of weighted estimators presented an unexpected behavior, making them a risky option. The unweighted logistic regression estimator is a reliable option to be applied to RDS samples, with a performance roughly similar to random samples and, therefore, should be the preferred option

Denying bogus skepticism in climate change and tourism research

This final response to the two climate change denial papers by Shani and Arad further highlights the inaccuracies, misinformation and errors in their commentaries. The obfuscation of scientific research and the consensus on anthropogenic climate change may have significant long-term negative consequences for better understanding the implications of climate change and climate policy for tourism and create confusion and delay in developing and implementing tourism sector responses

Epistemología del Turismo: Estudios críticos

Book review of: Epistemología del turismo : estudios críticos, edited by Marcelino Castillo Nechar and Alexandre Panosso Netto. Trillas 2010, iv + 216 pp (figures, tables, bibliography, index) 40.00 Rs$ Hbk. ISBN 978-607-17-0384-

Children, families and leisure

Book review of Children, families and leisure, edited by Heike Schänzel and Neil Carr, London, Routledge, 2016, 250 pp., ISBN 13: 978-1-138-64385-7

(Feeling on the skin : moving bodies in the tourist experience in nature)

As discussed throughout this work, tourism involves different experiences that allow the construction of the act of travel and be a tourist. The experience of the other, of itself, the exotic, consumption, risk, nature, among others, are all particularly unique and meaningful experiences when lived in not everyday spaces, away from the comforts of the place you know well, where one lives daily. Such experiences have been increasingly discussed by social scientists in the constant search for better understanding of the human being in society, in its various manifestations