TOURISM DEMAND IN INDONESIA: IMPLICATIONS IN A POST-PANDEMIC PERIOD

This study uses an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to investigate the role of incomes, relative price competitiveness, and substitution prices in tourism demand from Indonesia’s six largest countries of origin from 2007Q1 to 2019Q4. Income level, competitive prices, and substitution prices significantly impact the demand for tourism in Indonesia. Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Japan, and India are income elastic, signaling that tourism is a luxury good, but China (normal good). Malaysia and China are price elastic while Japan, India, Singapore, and Australia are less affected by changes in relative prices. Substitute prices may drive tourist to other destinations if the change in prices is large.

Analysis of the Demand for Berries in Mexico: An Application of the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) Model

Objective: To identify the factors affecting the demand for berries in Mexican households, as well as the behavior in face of variations in economic income. Design/Methodology/Approach: In order to analyze the demand, microdata were used from the National Income-Expenditure Survey of Households 2018 (Encuesta Nacional Ingreso Gasto de los Hogares, ENIGH) from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática, INEGI), and for its modelling the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) model was used. Results: Because of their Marshallian elasticity, berries are an elastic good (-1.0316), and because of their expenditure elasticity they are a luxury good (1.0691). In terms of crossed Marshallian elasticities, sweet fruits and sugary beverages were identified as substitute goods with elasticity of 0.0013 and 0.0380, respectively, while semi-acid fruits and melons would be complementary goods, with elasticities of -0.0191 and -0.0184, respectively. Study Limitations/Implications: Given that most of the time series of the berries lack disaggregation and sufficient information, it is difficult to analyze each component of the group separately; therefore, it was decided to analyze the group of berries and its relationship with other goods; in addition, the ENIGH database was selected, which provides more information. Conclusions: There are state differences in the response to changes in prices and income with regard to the demand for berries, so that facing a generalized increase in household income consumption would increase much more in the center of the country than in the south-southeast.

Global Intergovernmental Initiatives to Minimise Alcohol Problems: Some Good Intentions, but Little Action

While, historically, alcohol production and sale were local matters, commercialised and industrialised alcohol has supervened, globalised initially through European empires, transforming alcohol’s place in everyday life. But alcohol was not included in the current international drug control system, initiated in 1912. In the current “UN system” of 35 intergovernmental agencies, alcohol has been a recurrent concern in the work only of the World Health Organization (WHO). Examples are given of the sporadic involvement in alcohol issues of other agencies, and the history of WHO’s involvement between 1950 and early 2020 is briefly described. At WHO, the place of alcohol programming in its structure and which other topics it is linked with have been recurrent issues. Civil society support for alcohol initiatives has been comparatively weak, and alcohol industry counter-pressure has been strong. Alcohol issues have thus received less attention at the intergovernmental level than the harm would justify. Constraining factors have included not only lobbying by industry interests, but also the multi-sectoral nature of alcohol problems and the international cultural position of alcohol as a luxury good served at gatherings of political and media elites.

Mutual Fund Performance and Flows during the COVID-19 Crisis

We present a comprehensive analysis of the performance and flows of U.S. actively managed equity mutual funds during the 2020 COVID-19 crisis. We find that most active funds underperform passive benchmarks during the crisis, contradicting a popular hypothesis. Funds with high sustainability ratings perform well, as do funds with high star ratings. Fund outflows surpass precrisis trends, but not dramatically. Investors favor funds that apply exclusion criteria and funds with high sustainability ratings, especially environmental ones. Our finding that investors remain focused on sustainability during this major crisis suggests they view sustainability as a necessity rather than a luxury good. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.

Feigenhandel im Hanseraum

The fig trade in the Hanseatic AreaFrom the 13th Century onwards, figs were of considerable importance in North European trade. Figs were not only a luxury good, valued as a sweetener at a time when there were few alternatives, they also carved out a prominent place for themselves in the Lenten cuisine. By this time, figs were so common in North European cities that their seeds are found regularly in the archaeobotanical material. But where did these figs come from and how were they traded? This article shows the geographical origins of the figs consumed in the Hanseatic Area, the routes on which they were traded and the units of measure employed as well as the overall extent of the trade in figs. Finally, some aspects of the fig-trade are described, chiefly on the basis of the letters and account books of the Hanseatic merchant Hildebrand Veckinchusen.