The economics of escalation

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-140
Author(s):  
Fabio D’Orlando ◽  
Sharon Ricciotti
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Budget Constraint ◽  
Theoretical Treatment ◽  
Jel Codes ◽  
Innate Behavior ◽  
Hedonic Adaptation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Subjective Scale ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Positional Effects

Escalation is a key characteristic of many consumption behaviors that has not received theoretical attention. This paper aims to propose both a definition and a theoretical treatment of escalation in consumption. We define escalation as a subject’s attempt to obtain “more” or engage in consumption behaviors that are “more intense” on a measurable, quantitative or qualitative, objective or subjective, scale (more difficult ski slopes, stronger drugs, harder sex, better restaurants etc.), even if the subject preferred less intense consumption behaviors in the past. Further, this evolution in behavior also occurs if the budget constraint does not change. We will find endogenous and exogenous theoretical microfoundations for escalation in models of hedonic adaptation, desire for novelty, acquisition of consumption skills, rising aspirations, positional effects, and envy. However, we will also discuss the possibility that the tendency to escalate is a specific innate behavior inherent to human nature. Finally, we will propose a preliminary theoretical formalization of such behavior and indicate the possible implications of taking escalation into adequate consideration. JEL codes: B52, D11, D90, D91, I31

scholarly journals Political and Historical Determinants of the Differentiation of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems of Agritourism in Poland and Kazakhstan

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10487
Author(s):  
Jan A. Wendt ◽  
Sergey V. Pashkov ◽  
Elżbieta Mydłowska ◽  
Agnieszka Bógdał-Brzezińska
Keyword(s):  
Swot Analysis ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Theoretical Treatment ◽  
Short History ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Entrepreneurship Ecosystems ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
Former Ussr

(1) Background: In the context of differences among countries developing pre-entrepreneurship ecosystems in relation to agritourism, the need to define the specific challenges and facilitators in the group of post-communist countries is recognised. Given that, we aim to examine the differences between the countries belonging to the former USSR and the satellite countries of the former USSR. (2) Methods: For the realisation of the intended objective, we analysed studies of the literature on the subject, in terms of the theoretical treatment of the entrepreneurial eco-system in the field of agritourism, and current legal acts. Our own observations from stays in the regions in question were also used, along with statistical methods concerning the density of the transport network, comparative analysis of historical and political conditions, and SWOT analysis. (3) Results: Substantial differences were found between the components of the agritourism entrepreneurship ecosystem in Poland and Kazakhstan, primarily related to the level of transport infrastructure density (satisfactory in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, insufficient in North Kazakhstan), tradition of individual farming (well established in Poland, poorly present in Kazakhstan), support for agritourism development by central and local authorities (relatively high in Poland, incidental and with a short history in Kazakhstan), and finally, differences in the target group of agritourism service recipients (stable in Poland, undefined in Kazakhstan). (4) Conclusions: The research leads to the conclusion of the heterogeneity of the determinants of the development of the agritourism entrepreneurship ecosystem in countries collectively defined as post-communist. There are clearly different challenges and facilitations resulting not so much from the past political system as from the ethnic-historical considerations, the position of agriculture in the economy, and the degree and effectiveness of the involvement of administrative authorities in the development of agritourism. The study leads to a recommendation on the need for more efficient targeting of agritourism consumers abroad.

Xunzi

2020 ◽  
pp. 169-200
Author(s):  
Paul R. Goldin
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Chinese Word ◽  
Chinese Philosopher ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Subject

This chapter turns to Xunzi, one of the most popular philosophers throughout East Asia. He has been the subject of more books published in English over the past two decades than any other Chinese philosopher, vastly outstripping Mencius. His body of work has always been one of the best preserved, and with the commonplace scholastic objection to his philosophy—namely, that he was wrong to say human nature is evil (xing e)—having lost most of its cogency, it is only to be expected that philosophical readers should be attracted to his creative but rigorous arguments. In practice, Xunzi's claim that xing is evil means that following the impulses of one's xing, without reflecting on them and moderating them, will lead one to evil acts. It should be emphasized that e, the Chinese word translated here as “evil,” is not to be understood in the Christian sense of “diabolical” or “antithetical to God.”

Economic Theory and Human Nature: Is the Mystery Revealed?

2007 ◽  
pp. 27-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu. Olsevich
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
The Past ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Modern Knowledge ◽  
Typological Approach

The author claims that contradictions between economists on the subject of human nature are the main hidden source of the modern crisis of economic theory. The article introduces psycho-typological approach to economic issues which is justified with reference to the research made by the prominent social scientists of the past (such as W. Sombart, J. M. Keynes etc.), as well as to the analysis of modern economic institutions and the discovery of types of personality which are the most appropriate for guiding the society to the modern, knowledge-based type of economic development.

Pakistan’s Development: Successes, Failures, and Future Tasks (Presidential Remarks)

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (4I) ◽  
pp. 321-331
Author(s):  
Sarfraz Khan Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
General Meeting ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Golden Jubilee ◽  
Freedom Movement ◽  
Past Half ◽  
Do So

It is an honour for me as President of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists to welcome you to the 13th Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Society. I consider it a great privilege to do so as this Meeting coincides with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the state of Pakistan, a state which emerged on the map of the postwar world as a result of the Muslim freedom movement in the Indian Subcontinent. Fifty years to the date, we have been jubilant about it, and both as citizens of Pakistan and professionals in the social sciences we have also been thoughtful about it. We are trying to see what development has meant in Pakistan in the past half century. As there are so many dimensions that the subject has now come to have since its rather simplistic beginnings, we thought the Golden Jubilee of Pakistan to be an appropriate occasion for such stock-taking.

The Nature of Degrowth: Theorising the Core of Nature for the Degrowth Movement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pasi Heikkurinen
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Culturally Sensitive ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Radical Reduction ◽  
Nature Experience ◽  
Matter Energy

This article investigates human–nature relations in the light of the recent call for degrowth, a radical reduction of matter–energy throughput in over-producing and over-consuming cultures. It outlines a culturally sensitive response to a (conceived) paradox where humans embedded in nature experience alienation and estrangement from it. The article finds that if nature has a core, then the experienced distance makes sense. To describe the core of nature, three temporal lenses are employed: the core of nature as ‘the past’, ‘the future’, and ‘the present’. It is proposed that while the degrowth movement should be inclusive of temporal perspectives, the lens of the present should be emphasised to balance out the prevailing romanticism and futurism in the theory and practice of degrowth.

TARP DVIEJŲ KOLONŲ: XVIII A. PABAIGOS – XIX A. PRADŽIOS VILNIAUS MASONŲ KASDIENYBĖ SIMBOLIKOJE

2018 ◽  
pp. 144-163
Author(s):  
Daiva Milinkevičiūtė
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
The Past ◽  
Secular World ◽  
National Characteristics ◽  
Conservative Christian ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Craft Guilds

The Age of Enlightenment is defined as the period when the universal ideas of progress, deism, humanism, naturalism and others were materialized and became a golden age for freemasons. It is wrong to assume that old and conservative Christian ideas were rejected. Conversely, freemasons put them into new general shapes and expressed them with the help of symbols in their daily routine. Symbols of freemasons had close ties with the past and gave them, on the one hand, a visible instrument, such as rituals and ideas to sense the transcendental, and on the other, intense gnostic aspirations. Freemasons put in a great amount of effort to improve themselves and to create their identity with the help of myths and symbols. It traces its origins to the biblical builders of King Solomon’s Temple, the posterity of the Templar Knights, and associations of the medieval craft guilds, which were also symbolical and became their link not only to each other but also to the secular world. In this work we analysed codified masonic symbols used in their rituals. The subject of our research is the universal Masonic idea and its aspects through the symbols in the daily life of the freemasons in Vilnius. Thanks to freemasons’ signets, we could find continuity, reception, and transformation of universal masonic ideas in the Lithuanian freemasonry and national characteristics of lodges. Taking everything into account, our article shows how the universal idea of freemasonry spread among Lithuanian freemasonry, and which forms and meanings it incorporated in its symbols. The objective of this research is to find a universal Masonic idea throughout their visual and oral symbols and see its impact on the daily life of the masons in Vilnius. Keywords: Freemasonry, Bible, lodge, symbols, rituals, freemasons’ signets.

Human Nature from a Comparative Psychological Perspective

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 71-95
Author(s):  
Mustapha Achoui
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Islamic Psychology

This paper seeks to advance an understanding of Human Naturethrough Islamic Sources. The paper also seeks to adopt a self-consciouslycomparative approach to psychology, comparing Islamic perspectivewith Western views. The author explores Islamic views on thethree dimensions of psychology - the spiritual, the physiological andthe behavioral. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need for atheoretical basis to define the psychological vision of human nature andto identify the subject matter of psychology within Islamic framework.Psychology cannot be separated from religious, philosophical andmoral issues, the paper insists, therefore it is important that they be integratedin the efforts to articulate Islamic psychology.

An Islamic Framework for Employer-Employee Relationships

1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ramzan Akhtar
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Wage Structure ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Employee Relationships ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Islamic Institutions

IntroductionIslamic teachings envisage a balanced society achieved through thefunctioning of Islamic institutions. This paper visualizes three main institutions:ukhiwah, ‘adl, and ihsan. Ukhuwah (brotherhood) promotes the bonds ofbrotherhood, and ‘adl (justice) enforces a system of individual and socialobligations. Islam stresses the importance of meeting one’s obligations, becauseeach obligation has its corresponding right. Thus, an individual’s effort to meethidher obligations leads to the fulfillment of everyone’s rights. This does notmean that Islam forbids one from demanding hidher rights, even though thisdemand does pose a problem related to human nature: an individual wants his/herrights and also some part of another person’s rights. Therefore, one group’sdemand for its rights tends to encroach upon the rights of another group, whichcauses social friction and disorder. The institution of ihsan (benevolence) goesone step further: it exhorts individuals to forego their rights for the sake of others,which is considered an act of piety.This paper will study employer-employee relationships in the light of thethree institutions mentioned above. A framework for conducting employer-employeerelationships is formulated and is then used to determine, from theIslamic point of view, the proper wages. The findings of this paper show thatan economically efficient and equitable wage structure can evolve within thisframework and that such a wage structure would promote the parties’ mutualrelationships which, in turn, would lead to industrial peace.The body of the paper is organized as follows: a review of the existingliterature on the subject, the development of an Islamic framework for employer-employeerelationships, a discussion of the Islamic approach to wagecompensation, and some concluding remarks ...

A Scientific Search for Altruism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Daniel Batson
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Empathic Concern ◽  
Altruistic Motivation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Past Half

This book provides an example of how the scientific method can be used to address a fundamental question about human nature. For centuries—indeed for millennia—the egoism–altruism debate has echoed through Western thought. Egoism says that the motivation for everything we do, including all of our seemingly selfless acts of care for others, is to gain one or another self-benefit. Altruism, while not denying the force of self-benefit, says that under certain circumstances we can care for others for their sakes, not our own. Over the past half-century, social psychologists have turned to laboratory experiments to provide a scientific resolution of this human nature debate. The experiments focused on the possibility that empathic concern—other-oriented emotion elicited by and congruent with the perceived welfare of someone in need—produces altruistic motivation to remove that need. With carefully constructed experimental designs, these psychologists have tested the nature of the motivation produced by empathic concern, determining whether it is egoistic or altruistic. This series of experiments has provided an answer to a fundamental question about what makes us tick. Framed as a detective story, the book traces this scientific search for altruism through the numerous twists and turns that led to the conclusion that empathy-induced altruism is indeed part of our nature. It then examines the implications of this conclusion—negative implications as well as positive—both for our understanding of who we are as humans and for how we might create a more humane society.

Performance Management Transformation

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
The Past ◽  
Great Debate ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Research

No other talent process has been the subject of such great debate and emotion as performance management (PM). For decades, different strategies have been tried to improve PM processes, yielding an endless cycle of reform to capture the next “flavor-of-the-day” PM trend. The past 5 years, however, have brought novel thinking that is different from past trends. Companies are reducing their formal processes, driving performance-based cultures, and embedding effective PM behavior into daily work rather than relying on annual reviews to drive these. Through case studies provided from leading organizations, this book illustrates the range of PM processes that companies are using today. These show a shift away from adopting someone else’s best practice; instead, companies are designing bespoke PM processes that fit their specific strategy, climate, and needs. Leading PM thought leaders offer their views about the state of PM today, what we have learned and where we need to focus future efforts, including provocative new research that shows what matters most in driving high performance. This book is a call to action for talent management professionals to go beyond traditional best practice and provide thought leadership in designing PM processes and systems that will enhance both individual and organizational performance.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document