Bucket Shops and Outside Brokers

In order to finance World War I, the British government sold war bonds to millions of investors and savers, thereby prompting a wider interest in financial securities including stocks and shares during the interwar period. Faced with a large intake of investment newcomers, the City of London was anxious of ‘amateur’ involvement in the market. The largest securities market, the London Stock Exchange, restricted access to small investors where possible, which pushed much of the new retail activity to the market fringes. Here, ‘outside brokers’ and ‘bucket shops’ catered for investment newcomers, the more gullible of which fell prey to fraudulent share pushers. Scholars have entirely overlooked this vibrant grey market for financial securities. But it was here—and not just at the organized exchanges—that ever more people made their first experiences with the ups and the downs of the stock market, most prominently in the great crash of 1929. This new perspective brings a sharper contour on some fundamental challenges that Britain’s financial landscape was facing in the interwar period: a large intake of new investors, a resurgence of financial fraud, and a new struggle over the distinction between speculation and gambling. The City’s response to these challenges can be described as financial paternalism. After a surge in political democratization, there was very little appetite to enfranchise ordinary people in the stock market. Instead, institutions like the Stock Exchange deliberately took a conservative stance on the ‘democratisation of investment’.

Are young people aged 16-19 using or expecting to use the gig economy for their careers?

Amid growing precarity and zero hour contracts, the 'gig economy' represents a new way of working mediated by web technology. Workers can sign up to a work platform – a website or smartphone program that manages the work automatically – and take on work at the tap of a button. Some platforms manage labour, such as driving for Uber or delivering food for Deliveroo, while others manage retail activity, such as Ebay or Etsy.<br/> Recent research has shown that a significant number of people are using platform work to earn money, with over half being young people aged 16-34. While there are some data regarding satisfaction levels and attractors, there is little research examining specific age segments of workers, or the relationship between platform work and career.<br/> Using data from focus group interviews with school and Further Education college students, this paper will discuss findings from research investigating how young people in England aged 16-19 perceive the gig economy and whether they feel that it will be relevant to their careers, with a view to discussing whether it may be necessary to include in careers education programmes or guidance.<br/> The interview data indicate that these participants were occasionally using platforms to make money, and a few were earning regularly, usually on retail platforms. While some interviewees appreciated the autonomy and flexibility promised by gig economy work, the uncertainty, perceived low status, and lack of career progression prevented them from taking it seriously as a career option. Instead, they preferred traditional forms of work that provide more stability and organisational support - an increasingly rare commodity in a labour market that is changing rapidly in the opposite direction. We conclude that while there may be little value in giving detailed individual guidance on the gig economy, it could be valuable to use it as a way of teaching young people about the labour market and different types of employment

The University in a Retail Context

On-campus retailing is a spread practice, but academia has almost underestimated its potential. Nevertheless, not every type of retail activity adds value to customers and society. When the proposed value is society-driven and sensitive to consumers' wellbeing, customers' engagement increases. One business model, through which it is possible to exploit the benefits of on-campus retailing by adding social value, is the Yunus Social Business. This is a case-based study aiming to describe, through the Social Business Model Canvas, the founding of an organic shop within a university that is supplied by administrative staff of the university that are at the same time also local farmers. Further, the shop aims to resell organic food to university staff and students. The case study is theoretically enriched by traditional Porterian frameworks and new service frameworks such as the service-dominant logic by emphasizing the role of value proposition, value co-creation, and value-in-context.

Characterization of the Population Segment Dedicated to the Retail Trade of Religious Souvenirs

The increasing popularity of religious tourism in the last century is undeniable. This type of tourism presents a complex conceptualization process due to the religious, spiritual, and cultural connotations. From this perspective, the main objective of this chapter was to develop a characterization of the population dedicated to the retail trade of religious souvenirs in the parish of El Cisne, where the pilgrimage of the Virgin of “El Cisne” takes place every year, in the canton Loja. The methodology used for this study centered on a socio-economic characterization of the owners of these retail stores. These retailers were classified into two comparative groups, which were used to determine the variables that had the greatest impact on the quality of life for them and for their families. Among the main results, it was highlighted that this retail activity came from a traditional practice, from whom a very large number of them were not affiliated to any social security system. There was also evidence of the high participation of women as owners of these businesses.

The Consumption Space Paradox: Over‑Retailed Areas Next to Dead Malls

We are witnessing a paradox in the consumption space, in relation to retail activity within urban and suburban areas: One can observe over‑retailed areas, featuring retail chains and shopping malls, oftentimes occurring close to other unoccupied, abandoned, dying shopping malls, called dead malls. The phenomenon of dead malls is widespread in the USA, is strongly visible in Canada and China, and is now starting to occur more often in Europe. This paradox can be partially explained using a series of concepts, and in this paper we introduce the main pillars in understanding the socio‑economic reasons and the spatial patterns contributing to this phenomenon. The research method employed here is the ESDA (Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis).

Mexico Evidence on the Regional Retail Impacts of Violent Crime

<p><em>Prior research reports mixed results regarding the economic impacts of crime. This study employs data from all regions of Mexico, including border regions in both the north and the south, to examine the effects of homicides on retail activity across Mexico during a period of escalating violence. The results indicate that one additional homicide within a municipality eliminates one retail establishment and one paid job in the retail sector. Furthermore, the negative consequences of violent crime for retailers are augmented by proximity to an international border. This is consistent with previous research findings that cross-border shopping is a key feature of commerce along the international boundaries of Mexico. It suggests that crime waves may disproportionately impact border city retail activity by partially diverting customer traffic to stores located in neighboring countries. This result is also consistent with the finding of recent research that violent conflict in northern Mexico resulted in increased retail activity in some United States border cities.</em></p>