RESEARCH AND ADVERTISING DECISIONS IN AN OPEN ECONOMY: THE CASE OF COLOMBIAN MILDS COFFEE

Research and advertising investment both offer the potential to increase producer surplus. A model is developed that includes applied research and generic advertising with the aim of measuring marginal and optimal returns from each. While applicable to specific firm behavior, the model is applied to data from the world coffee market, with particular focus on Kenyan and Colombian producer groups.Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Canadian Consumer Concerns About Food Safety Issues and Confidence in Food Products: Comparison of Beef and Pork

In examining consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for food attributes, one approach is to use economic experiments, sometimes associated with consumers sensory testing. In this particular research project different types of pork chops are examined to identify consumer WTP for pork chop credence attributes such as traditionally raised, Canadian Pork labelled or identified as coming from a farm with on farm food safety accreditation (CQA). However, the results of the research are only useful for the national industry if the participants’ values can be extrapolated to the Canadian population. The participants in the research completed a survey that was similar in many respects to a national on-line survey completed in Canada two months earlier. Comparing the responses from the pork study to the national on line survey can help identify how different the respondents are. The pork study participants self studied to be part of a consumers panel for the Alberta Food Product Testing Centre in Edmonton. Respondents in both groups have less confidence in pork relative to other food products. Respondents in the pork survey were mostly concerned about antibiotics in meat while national survey respondents were mostly concerned about animals genetically modified for meat, egg or dairy production. In terms of human health issues, pork survey respondents were mostly concerned about while national survey respondents were more concerned about unhealthy eating. Respondents in the pork survey had lower risk perception scores for pork and were more willing to accept the risks of eating pork than the national panel assessed either beef or chicken.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

The changing egg demand in Canada: do advertising and health message contents matter?

Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy,

Analysis of Value-Added Meat Product Choice Behaviour by Canadian Households

The competitive landscape in retailing has changed over the past decade. Moreover, the degree of product differentiation has been increasing: households are able to choose between an increasing number of store brands and national brands of similar products. The value added meat market is no different than any other sector of the grocery market – both national brands and private label brands are being developed to appeal to the consumer‘s desire for convenience, health, production and environmental attributes. Understanding the factors that are influencing consumers‘ value added meat product preferences is important for meat manufacturers who wish to add value to their firm‘s performance and increase market share. This knowledge is required in order to predict changes in demand and develop new products and marketing strategies that respond to changing consumer needs. The objective of the paper is to provide information on value added meat consumption patterns in Canada at the household level using household purchase information from a representative sample of the Canadian population collected through Nielsen Homescan™. Specifically the focus is on how meat consumers make their decision to purchase value-added meat products – the impact of value added meat types, store choices and brands preference on meat demand. The study undertakes an empirical investigation of Canadian household value added meat demand for the period 2002 to 2007. A comparison of consumers‘ preferences is performed with respect to store-switching, brand loyalty and meat expenditure. Multivariate regression analysis is employed to explain consumer preferences for the examined stores, products and brands. We find that meat price, advertising, the number of stores visited, household socio-demographic characteristics and regional segments are strongly related to meat expenditure levels. Value added meat product preferences vary widely across meat types - for example, consumer behaviour towards pork is not a good predictor of behaviour towards poultry, in terms of national brand/store brand choice. The data developed in this analysis can highlight6 marketing opportunities that exist for meat producers and processors to increase the value of total sales for their particular products. The results of this study highlight the impact of number of stores regularly shopped at on purchases of national brand versus private label meat products, the impact of expenditure on meat by product form on national brand versus private label and the impact of demographic and regional variables on all meat purchases, by animal species.consumer behaviour, store loyalty, meat demand, value-added meat, national/store brand choice, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, D1, M3,

Comparing Predictors of Diet Quality in Canada Over Time Under Consideration of Altering Food Guides

Latest data on the diet of Canadians from the Canadian Community Health Survey reveals that the diet quality of Canadians needs improvement. Within this paper predictors of diet quality in Canada are identified based on two cross-sectional data sets from the Canadian Food Expenditure Survey. To measure diet quality, the Canadian Healthy Food Diversity (CanHFD)-Index is developed which is based on Food Guide recommendations. Moreover, this paper considers that the Food Guide between survey years has changed when analyzing diet quality. To track changes in demand for diet quality we use “Canada’s Food Guide 1982” to calculate CanHFD-Index for 1984 and 1996. Changes in demand for diet quality according to “Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating 1992” are observed by calculating CanHFD-Index with data from 1984 and 1996. Theoretically, this model is related to Becker’s household production theory and Lancaster’s characteristics approach. Multiple regression results show significant changes in the Canadian demand for food diversity over time. Some of the differences can be traced back to the different versions of the Canada Food Guide. Increasing age, higher income, being female, and high education level are positive predictors of diet quality in 1984 and 1996 among others.diet quality, healthy food diversity, Canada, Food Guides, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, D12, D13, I12, Q18,

OBSERVING CHANGES IN CANADIAN DEMAND FOR FOOD DIVERSITY OVER TIME

Research on food diversity is interdisciplinary in nature, and is highly relevant for different research fields. Eating a variety of foods has been linked to the nutritional well-being of the household. From an economic perspective, food diversity can be used to derive important conclusions regarding the economic well-being of a population under study. This paper attempts to fill two main research gaps. The first objective of this paper is to analyze the demand for food diversity in Canada for the first time. This includes observing the extent of food diversity and the identification of respective socio-economic determinants. The second main objective is to compare changes in the cross-sectional demand for food diversity over time using three data sets of the Canadian Food Expenditure Survey (1984, 1996 and 2001). Food diversity is measured twice, with a measure used in nutritional studies and an economic diversity measure to draw conclusions for both research fields. Results show that in all years the demand for diversity (both indices) is positively influenced by income, age, and household size. We observe a significant quadratic influence of income in all models. Over all years, males and singles have a lower demand for food diversity than females and married Canadians. In addition, the region the household lives in is a strong predictor of food diversity. We observe changes in demand for food diversity in Canada. It is shown that the demand for food diversity decreased from 1984 to 1996 and 2001.Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Generalized generalized gradient approximation: An improved density-functional theory for accurate orbital eigenvalues

The generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchange functional in conjunction with accurate expressions for the correlation functional have led to numerous applications in which density-functional theory (DFT) provides structures, bond energies, and reaction activation energies in excellent agreement with the most accurate ab initio calculations and with the experiment. However, the orbital energies that arise from the Kohn-Sham auxiliary equations of DFT may differ by a factor of 2 from the ionization potentials, indicating that excitation energies and properties involving sums over excited states (nonlinear-optical properties, van der Waals attraction) may be in serious error.mWe propose herein a generalization of the GGA in which the changes in the functionals due to virtual changes in the orbitals are allowed to differ from the functional used to map the exact density onto the exact energy. Using the simplest version of this generalized GGA we show that orbital energies are within ∼5% of the correct values and the long-range behavior has the correct form

New Directions in Consumer Behaviour Research

Consumer behaviour remains an evolving and fascinating area of research. In this article we highlight some of the current work by Canadian researchers in the areas of enhancing both the quality and application of consumer analysis. The work described below touches upon areas in which not just economic theory and methods, but also the policy process can be improved. The working papers cited here were all presented as part of the principal paper session, “What’s Going on in Consumer Behaviour?†held at the joint meeting of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society and the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association in Halifax, Nova Scotia in June 2004.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

The electronic structure of pyrazine. Configuration interaction calculations using an extended basis

Extensive ab initio double zeta basis set configuration interaction calculations have been carried out on the nπ^∗ and ππ^∗ states of pyrazine as well as on the low‐lying n and π cations. The calculations corroborate the validity of the valence bond (VB) model for the interaction of lone pair excitations proposed earlier by Wadt and Goddard. Good agreement (errors of ∼0.2 eV) with experiment is obtained (except for the higher‐lying 1ππ∗ states that possess significant ionic character). The calculations indicate that the order of increasing ionization potentials is ^2A_g(n), 2B_(1g)(π), 2B_(1u)(n), and ^2B_(2g)(π). The forbidden 1 ^1B_(2g)(nπ^∗) state is predicted to be 1.30 eV above the allowed 1^ 1B_(3u)(nπ^∗) state. Finally, the calculations indicate that the adiabatic excitation energies to the 1^ 3B_1(nπ^∗) and 1^ 3A_1(ππ^∗) states in pyridine should be nearly degenerate at ∼3.6 eV

Lancifodilactone G : insights about an unusually stable enol

From quantum mechanics calculations we confirm that the naturally occurring enol lancifodilactone G is stable over the keto form (by 2.6 kcal/mol in water), the only known stable aliphatic enol (devoid of conjugated or bulky aromatics and lacking a 1,3-diketone structural motif known to stabilize enols). We determine architectural elements responsible for the enol stabilization and find a mechanism for keto-enol conversion in solution. In addition, we correct previously reported computational results that were performed on the misinterpreted structure demonstrating that the enol form of this natural product is more stable than previously thought