Conjoint Analysis of Choice Attributes and Market Segmentation of Rural Tourists In Korea

This study aims to analyze the attributes considered in choosing rural sites for tourism purposes by city dwellers and the market segmentation of rural tourism from a rural tourism demand perspective. For this purpose, this study investigates the attributes of rural areas considered in the selection of rural tourism destinations by urban dwellers using a conjoint model as a stated preference model. Based on literature reviews, two questionnaire surveys are conducted. The first questionnaire survey is performed in the 4 cities of Seoul, Daejeon, Suwon and Chuncheon with 408 urban residents. The second questionnaire survey is performed in the 5 cities of Seoul, Chuncheon, Daejeon, Cheonju and Busan with about 1,060 urban residents. The study results suggest that according to part-worth and vector models, the most important attributes in selecting rural areas for tourism are experience programs and facility convenience. The fitness level of the model ranges from 0.917 to 0.986, which is very significant. Among the 5 attribute's levels, the rural residents' obliging service, the traditional and the ecological programs and the facilities about information and accommodation are more critical factors than other levels. Utilities of each level decrease as cost and arrival time increase. Regarding the result of market segmentation, respondents having intention to visit can be divided into 4 groups; (1) facility/program-oriented group, (2) service-oriented group, (3) time-oriented group, and (4) simple participants group. These results can provide insightful information for regional planning strategies, such as selection of market segment type and the key factor of facility and space planning.rural tourism, rural leisure, choice attributes, market segmentation of rural tourism, regional planning, Agribusiness, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Farm Management, Marketing,

Early Warning Systems in the Republic of Korea: Experiences, Lessons, and Future Steps

This paper examines the cases of the Early Warning System (EWS) in the Republic of Korea, which was introduced in the wake of 1997/98 Asian financial crisis in a policy effort to prevent its recurrence. The EWS in the Republic of Korea was expanded into a national system in 2005 incorporating the finance, real estate, commodities, and labor sectors. This paper provides the descriptions of each EWS sector and documents several episodes of their policy contributions. The past experiences suggest that quantitative models tend to have difficulty predicting a crisis due to the changing nature of crises. Hence, it is desirable that quantitative models are supplemented by qualitative analysis reinforcing EWSs with various methodologies. To improve economic surveillance and message delivery to guide proper policy actions, the independence of surveillance unit should be maintained and the scope of monitoring should be expanded to incorporate regions and markets other than domestic ones given the growing influences of the external sector on the domestic economy through trade and financial linkages.EWS; crisis; surveillance; monitoring; quantitative model; qualitative analysis

Phase-field investigation on the non-equilibrium interface dynamics of rapid alloy solidification

The departure from the equilibrium solid concentration at the solid-liquid interface was often observed during rapid solidification. The energetic associated non-equilibrium solute partitioning has been treated in detail, providing possible ranges of interface concentrations for a given growth condition. For analytical description of specific single-phase dendritic and cellular operating point selection, analytical models for solute partitioning under a given set of growth conditions have been developed and widely utilized in most of the theoretical investigations of rapid solidification. However, these solute trapping models are not rigorously verified due to the difficulty in experimentally measuring under rapid growth conditions. Moreover, since these solute trapping models include kinetic parameters which are difficult to directly measure from experiments, application of the solute trapping models or the associated analytic rapid solidification model is limited. These theoretical models for steady state rapid solidification which incorporate the solute trapping models do not describe the interdependency of solute diffusion, interface kinetics, and alloy thermodynamics. This research program is focused on critical issues that represent conspicuous gaps in current understanding of rapid solidification, limiting our ability to predict and control microstructural evolution at high undercooling, where conditions depart significantly from local equilibrium. Through careful application of phase-field modeling, using appropriate thin-interface and anti-trapping corrections and addressing important details such as transient effects and a velocity-dependent numerics, the current analysis provides a reasonable simulation-based picture of non-equilibrium solute partitioning and the corresponding oscillatory dynamics associated with single-phase rapid solidification and show that this method is a suitable means for a self-consistent simulation of transient behavior and operating point selection under rapid growth conditions. Moving beyond the limitations of conventional theoretical/analytical treatments of non-equilibrium solute partitioning, these results serve to substantiate recent experimental findings and analytical treatments for single-phase rapid solidification. In addition, the simulations carried out here predict, for the first time, the full scope of behavior, from the initial transient to the steady-state conditions, where departure from equilibrium partitioning may lead to oscillations in composition, velocity, and interface temperature or may lead to a far-from-equilibrium steady-state. Such predictive capability is a necessary prerequisite to more comprehensive modeling of morphological evolution and, therefore, of significant importance

Exchange rate and market power in import price

This study consists of three papers in the area of international market analysis, as listed in Chapter 1, 2, and 3. Each paper has its own issue and application, but the main theme behind these papers is to figure out interactions of international firms\u27 real decisions with respect to changes in financial variables or structure attributing to the firms\u27 behaviors. The papers focus especially on a risk-averse international firm\u27s decision model with respect to fluctuations in exchange rates;The first two papers relate the international firm\u27s ex-ante real decision to the portfolio theory in correspondence to recent importance of managing risk. Chapter 1 deals with interactions between diversification strategy and currency hedging by futures contracts when a competitive & risk-averse importing agent chooses optimal import quantities and hedging levels under dual uncertainties of price and exchange rate. The resulting total import level under the scheme depends significantly on the degree of correlation among relevant currencies; that is because the currency hedging virtually determines the covariance effect of portfolio variance. Chapter 2 introduces another risk-diversification model in determining the input mixture within a framework of the capital-asset-price-model. The Chinese wheat import market is empirically analyzed to justify this portfolio approach and to explain potential conflicts between the buyer\u27s risk diversification efforts and suppliers\u27 market power. While concentrating on the risk reduction effect, these papers support hedging roles of currency futures contracts among the advanced markets in Chapter 1 and of diversification strategy in importing non-homogenous products in Chapter 2;As an illustration of the market structure related to demand functions, Chapter 3 deals with the topic of pass-through in terms of the oligopoly pricing conduct in the market. To find out the nature of demand convexity, this study draws several testable implications and also evaluates an empirical example of the import beer pricing in the US. Given the open debate on the stability of the level of pass-through, a Kalman filter estimation is adapted in the empirical application

Let them brew! Reflexivity, and division of labour in deliberation for science and technology governance

This thesis examines the theoretical premises of and ways that macro deliberative approaches to decision making function in application to specific instances of science and technology governance. Macro-level deliberations constitute complex, extended, distributed decision making processes, in contrast to individual micro deliberation exercises undertaken in particular settings. Macro deliberations employ the mechanism of ‘division of labour’ in terms of actors, tasks and methods in order to secure the two essential qualities of ‘inclusiveness’ and ‘deliberativeness’ – thus resolving the inherent tension between number of participants and deep discussion. Accordingly, the thesis focuses on the ways in which this paradoxical mechanism of ‘inclusion by division’ functions in macro deliberations. An interrogation of two UK nationwide public deliberation cases – GM Dialogue (on GM crops) and the CoRWM process (on radioactive waste) – sheds light on the significant role of reflexivity in such macro deliberative approaches to decision making. The thesis adopts a triangulated approach towards both documents and interviews employing contending representations to cross-check the one with the other. In considering the ways in which reflexivity constitutes a critical quality of the process and outcome of division of labour in macro deliberations, the thesis argues that the notion of reflexivity is central to explaining how macro deliberation functions: The reflective and self-contingent feature of reflexivity enables participants to explore diverse rationales on division of labour through continuous generation of new rationales; this recursive self-reconfiguration process of rationales on division of labour entails an evolutionary development of division of labour. As division of labour is played out not in a static, exogenous fashion, but through a dynamic, endogenous construction process, reflexivity in real-world macro deliberations illuminates some significant contrasts in the ways that ‘deliberation’ and ‘inclusion’ take place to those characterised in theory. Indeed, deliberation emerges in practice as more than just open rational dialogue. In order to understand this more fully, it must be seen in terms of diversity of material, social and political interactions, and relationships – referred to here as ‘discursive relations’. In reality, then, inclusion occurs in more emergent ways than intended by design, rather, unfolding as participants engage with each other. In this way, actors’ divergent views are cross-reflected and mutually influence each other, not through theoretically-envisaged top-down aggregation but via a kind of endogenous ‘fermentation’ process. In this way, reflexivity actually makes macro public deliberation a more effectively inclusive and deliberative decision making process. In short, recognition of this inherent reflexivity in macro deliberations offers practically to aid improved understanding of the complex process of engagement in science and technology governance. It suggests that we would benefit from shifting our attention somewhat away from the direct provision of strictly prescriptive design protocols towards the construction of better general environments for facilitating more reflexivity, which should enable actors to shape their own reflexive deliberation. Then let them brew

Murakami-ego : collective culpability and selective retention.

The purpose of this thesis is to argue that Murakami’s art expresses the Japanese’s psychological suffering by showing their struggle between remembering themselves as victims but forgetting themselves as aggressors. I apply the Mitscherlichs’ psychoanalisys of the Germans’s psyche to the Japanese because their people have had similar experiences. The first section examines the history of Japan surrounding WWII in order to demonstrate its effects on the Japanese people’s psyche. The second section introduces Otaku to better understand Murakami’s art. The third section examines how selective retention works on the Japanese’s psyche. The fourth section analyzes how Murakami’s art represents depersonalization and derealization to demonstrate selective retention. After a discussion of Buddhism related to Murakami’s art, I draw conclusion

"Suicide and Life Insurance"

In this paper, we investigate the nexus between life insurance and suicide behavior using OECD cross-country data from 1980 to 2002. Through semiparametric instrumental variable regressions with fixed effects, we find that for the majority of observations, there exists a positive relationship between suicide rate and life insurance density (premium per capita). Since life insurance policies pay death benefits even in suicide cases after the suicide exemption period, the presence of adverse selection and moral hazard suggests an incentive effect that leads to this positive relationship. The novelty of our analysis lies in the use of cross-country variations in the length of the suicide exemption period in life insurance policies as the identifying instrument for life insurance density. Our results provide compelling evidence suggesting the existence of adverse selection and moral hazards in life insurance markets in OECD countries.

"Joint Liability Borrowing and Suicide"

This paper shows that joint liability borrowing may put too much pressure on the borrower, mainly through the stigma in case of repayment failure, and leads to a vexing outcome|the suicide of the borrower. We provide a model of joint liability borrowing which facilitates credit market transaction ex ante but may induce suicides ex post in the bad state. We introduce some supportive evidence from a suicide survey in Japan.

"How Is Suicide Different in Japan?"

In this study, we analyze suicide rates among OECD countries with a particular effort made to gain insight into how suicide in Japan is different from suicides in other OECD countries. Several findings emerged from fixed effect panel regressions with country specific time-trend. First, the impacts of socioeconomic variables vary across different age-gender groups. Second, in general, better economic conditions such as high level of income and higher economic growth reduce suicide rate while income inequality increases suicide rate. Third, suicide rate is more sensitive to the economic factors captured by real GDP per capita, growth rate of real GDP per capita, and Gini index than to the social factors represented by divorce rate, birth rate, female labor participation rate, and alcohol consumption. Fourth, female and elderly generation suicides are more difficult to be accounted for. Finally, in accordance to the general belief, the suicide problem in Japan is very different from those of the other OECD countries. The impact of socioeconomic variables is greater in Japan than in other OECD countries. Moreover, the empirical result of significant Gini index in Japan is consistent with individuals' aversion to inequality and relative deprivation discussed in the recent literature.