Academic literature on the topic 'Consumer spaces'

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between consumer motivations, their interactions with hospitality spaces and experiential outcomes. Enhancing consumer experience is of clear interest to industry professionals. This quantitative study explores the impact of escapism and entitlement to leisure upon involvement in liminoid consumptions spaces, thereby contributing a theory of liminoid motivators within commercial hospitality. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a quantitative methodology, using a survey of a sample of student nightclubbers in the UK. Data are analysed through Partial Least Squares. Findings Hospitality consumers are positively affected by the feelings of increased involvement experienced in consumption spaces that exhibit liminoid characteristics. Research limitations/implications Surveys involve potential for error regarding respondents’ ability to agree with questionnaire statements. Data collection was conducted in Scotland, and so, results may not be generalised to other commercial hospitality spaces outside of Scotland. Practical implications Hospitality consumers become more involved, and thereby more satisfied, in liminoid consumption spaces when motivated by escapism and entitlement to leisure. Attending to the liminoid motivators that drive consumers away from work and domesticity, and towards commercial hospitality spaces, will go some way towards creating the desired consumer experience. Originality/value This is the first quantitative study to investigate consumer motivations to escape and entitlement to leisure as antecedents of involvement in a commercial hospitality context. It develops a theory of hospitality consumption using the liminoid anthropological concept.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how Muslim men in Kuwait negotiate their luxury fashion consumption (considered a feminized practice in Kuwait) without compromising their masculine identity. Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected through 108 qualitative questionnaires and two unstructured in-depth interviews. Non-participant observations and informal conversations took place as part of an ongoing ethnographic study on luxury fashion consumption in Kuwait. Findings – Within the feminized space of fashion, accessories (such as shoes, wallets, watches, sunglasses, etc.) seem to allow Muslim men an androgynous space (consumer constructions of gendered spaces to be equally masculine and feminine) to be fashionable yet maintain a masculine identity. Research limitations/implications – Further research may explore the negotiation of androgyny among men who consume luxury fashion clothing or conspicuously feminized fashion (such as jewellery and handbags) in highly gendered societies. Limitations include reliance on questionnaire data (lacks depth insights) and narrow consumer (Muslim men in Kuwait). Practical implications – Marketers of luxury fashion brands in Kuwait should focus on fashion accessories when targeting males. Advertising needs to shift gender perceptions of traditionally feminine fashion (such as handbags or jewellery) towards androgyny to attract male consumers. Religiosity of consumers is an important segmentation basis, and Muslim men who are less religious may be more open towards fashion consumption. Originality/value – This research proposes the notion of androgynous spaces, contributing to gender within marketing theory and practice.

Within this article, I explore how consumer activists use the petition site Change.org to successfully resist and challenge corporate business practices. Bringing together literature from communication, political science and consumer behaviour, and using case studies of two successful campaigns, I trace a process of online consumer activism where the comments of individuals pursuing personal publicity aggregate to attract negative media attention to a brand, leading to subsequent corporate behaviour change. This process of online consumer activism illustrates a dynamic interplay between online spaces of participation, personal publicizations and the formation of identities for both consumers and companies, furthering our understanding of how online spaces are being used for digital anti-corporate activism.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to comment on the conceptual framework highlighting the reinforcing nature of global consumer culture. Design/methodology/approach The approach is conceptual with illustrative examples. Findings The authors integrate the conceptual framework that highlights the reinforcing nature of global consumer culture with recent findings about the psychology of globalization. Specifically, the authors bring attention to the perceptual, cognitive and motivational consequences of globalization, as well as its effects on consumer identification. The authors illustrate how this integration provides insights for better predicting consumer behavior in a globalized world. Research limitations/implications One key aspect of globalization is the creation of multicultural spaces in contemporary societies. Taking a psychological approach, the authors discuss how consumers respond to the process of culture mixing at the heart of globalization. This has consequences for marketers’ global endeavors and provides a nuanced understanding of consumer behavior in a globalized world. Originality/value The paper integrates a novel framework with recent findings about the psychology of globalization, opening avenues for future research on global consumer cultures.

This paper examines recent transformations in consumer landscapes and leisure spaces in inner-city LGBT neighbourhoods in Sydney, Australia and Toronto, Canada. In doing so, we rethink orthodox positions on neoliberalism and homonormativity by considering practices of sociability and commensality. We contend that closer attention to interactions between mainstream and LGBT consumers is key to understanding these urban changes. Mainstream-LGBT interactions encompass both congruent and competing practices, actualised in both physical encounters in consumer landscapes and discursive reputations of those spaces. These relations are increasingly important owing to the progressive integration of LGBT neighbourhoods into urban cultures and economies. Simultaneously, the materialisation of diverse LGBT landscapes in Sydney and Toronto has generated a relational geography of ‘traditional’ gay villages and ‘emergent’ queer-friendly neighbourhoods. We argue that practices and spaces of leisure-based consumption are emerging in different forms across these neighbourhoods and between Sydney and Toronto. To illustrate this, we deploy a discourse analysis of mainstream newspaper articles on LGBT neighbourhoods over 2004–2014, supplemented by relevant LGBT press releases in Toronto, focusing on the use, meaning and social significance of leisure-based consumption sites – clubs, bars, cafés, restaurants. We find the balance of daytime/night-time leisure spaces, which have both social and material affordances, is a key discriminator across the neighbourhoods, both within and between the cities. Daytime consumer landscapes are more often framed as sociable and inclusive within the media, while night-time landscapes are perceived as divisive.

This thesis sets out to evaluate the role of consumer spaces in twentieth-century daily life. It is not concerned with the act of consumption but rather with the ways in which the social, cultural and educative role of the retail spaces is used as a marketing tool. The links that have been established between civic and commercial space over the last three hundred years are charted in order to locate the reasoning behind the growing tendency to design shopping malls as social and cultural spaces in the twentieth century. Three principal benefits to developers of the retails spaces from the promotion of consumer spaces as public spaces are identified in the thesis. First, links between the public and commercial developed to encourage potential customers into a particular retail space as opposed to its competition. Second, consumer spaces are developed as social and leisure spaces to encourage consumer loyalty. That is, they are developed as a means of encouraging repeat visits. Third, they are developed as a tactic to keep potential shoppers in the retail space for a longer duration. The logic behind this strategy being the more time spent in a consumer space the more goods purchased. The origins of this merchandising practice are traced back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries well before the advent of the department store form. The thesis located a number of strategies developed in the seventeenth century by tradesmen and merchants to sell their wares. At this time, it is evident that the consumer space was opened up to the public who were encouraged to enter without the obligation to purchase. Further, it is evident that, by the eighteenth century, shopkeepers and manufacturers' workshops included showrooms where potential customers could sit and take tea. Public spaces were also designed within the retail space so that potential customers could see and be seen. British shopkeepers often linked the retail space with the social practice of promenading by strategically situating their premises in an already established thoroughfare or site used for promenading. By the late eighteenth century, consumer spaces housed entertainment facilities such as art galleries, exhibitions and lounging rooms. After tracing the development of this merchandising strategy to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the links that can be made between twentieth-century consumer spaces is examined. In addition, the early developments of shopping centres in the 1940s and 1950s are surveyed and their developmental logic and merchandising strategies are compared with more recent forms of shopping malls developed from the 1970s and 1980s.

This thesis sets out to evaluate the role of consumer spaces in twentieth-century daily life. It is not concerned with the act of consumption but rather with the ways in which the social, cultural and educative role of the retail spaces is used as a marketing tool. The links that have been established between civic and commercial space over the last three hundred years are charted in order to locate the reasoning behind the growing tendency to design shopping malls as social and cultural spaces in the twentieth century. Three principal benefits to developers of the retails spaces from the promotion of consumer spaces as public spaces are identified in the thesis. First, links between the public and commercial developed to encourage potential customers into a particular retail space as opposed to its competition. Second, consumer spaces are developed as social and leisure spaces to encourage consumer loyalty. That is, they are developed as a means of encouraging repeat visits. Third, they are developed as a tactic to keep potential shoppers in the retail space for a longer duration. The logic behind this strategy being the more time spent in a consumer space the more goods purchased. The origins of this merchandising practice are traced back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries well before the advent of the department store form. The thesis located a number of strategies developed in the seventeenth century by tradesmen and merchants to sell their wares. At this time, it is evident that the consumer space was opened up to the public who were encouraged to enter without the obligation to purchase. Further, it is evident that, by the eighteenth century, shopkeepers and manufacturers' workshops included showrooms where potential customers could sit and take tea. Public spaces were also designed within the retail space so that potential customers could see and be seen. British shopkeepers often linked the retail space with the social practice of promenading by strategically situating their premises in an already established thoroughfare or site used for promenading. By the late eighteenth century, consumer spaces housed entertainment facilities such as art galleries, exhibitions and lounging rooms. After tracing the development of this merchandising strategy to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the links that can be made between twentieth-century consumer spaces is examined. In addition, the early developments of shopping centres in the 1940s and 1950s are surveyed and their developmental logic and merchandising strategies are compared with more recent forms of shopping malls developed from the 1970s and 1980s.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Film, Media and Cultural Studies
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To significantly reduce the volumes of food currently wasted in industrialized countries, tackling food waste on the household level is paramount. While awareness campaigns and economic incentives are important measures, it is crucial to look beyond individual decision making and scrutinize how contextual factors frame consumer lifestyles in ways that intensify the issue of food going to waste. This paper addresses the role of material contexts-in particular, infrastructures and Technologies- in the shaping of food shopping and storing practices and thus consumer food waste. It presents an in-depth, qualitative study with 24 Austrian households, conducted from November 2016 to February 2017. Data were collected through food waste diaries, semi-structured interviews and a total of 16 focus group discussions. In line with other studies, we find that food waste is a largely unintended outcome of entangled daily routines revolving around food, such as meal planning, grocery shopping and food storing. The characteristics of food retail infrastructures-in terms of accessibility, density and type-shape these routines and thus potentially influence excess food purchases. Food storing practices as well depend on the characteristics of domestic infrastructures and co-evolve with technologies used for storing food. Unraveling the interconnectivity between material contexts and household food practices can inform policy, product design and food retail development and thus has implications for reducing consumer food waste.

The aim of this study is to investigate the interrelationships between place and taste through a multi-sited ethnography of music consumption. Place and taste are important theoretical constructs that have been studied extensively across the humanities and social sciences. Yet, there is a scarcity of research that attempts to bring together these constructs in the fields of marketing and consumer research and beyond. In particular, prior consumer culture theory (CCT) research has not taken into account the spatial processes through which consumers enact, perform and further develop their tastes in the market place. More significantly, little empirical research illustrates how different consumption spaces tend to orchestrate and shape consumers’ tastes. As such, this study focuses on the context of music consumption and aims to explore spatial taste formation processes via consumers’ aesthetic experiences in popular (festival) and classical (concert hall) music places within the fields of indie and classical music consumption respectively. The emergent findings are structured upon four chapters (papers) and develop specific research objectives which revolve around the overarching aim of the study, namely the exploration of the interrelationships between place and taste. This study brings together both structural and experiential dimensions of taste and highlights the ontological significance of phenomenological understandings of space and place for marketing and consumer research.

Consumption forms and is formed by the city. How, when and where commodities are transacted is essential in this urban drama of mutual relationships. This thesis explores how consumption and everyday life in cities are interrelated. The specific objective is to analyse how commodity transaction situations are configured and constrained in time and space, and, how consumer service spaces are formed in and are part of city formation. Transactions are conceptualised as economically and socially situated material projects constituted by consumers, commodities and producers. Commodities and values are transferred and created through transaction spaces. The theoretical perspective is framed around consumption and production of spaces, and particularly informed by Hägerstrand’s time-geographical thinking and Lefebvre’s work on urban space. Methodologically different examples of consumption projects and spaces are used to discuss configurations and formations for commodity transactions. The thesis stresses material and time-spatial constraints for commodity transaction and it discusses the blurring of boundaries between what conventionally has been separate social and economic activities and places. Changing transaction configurations and the formation of consumer service spaces in the city are explored through analysis of different consumption places and commodities such as books, coffee and clothes and property development projects in Stockholm city centre. Transaction configurations display geographical and historical continuities and changes as well as time-spatial flexibility and spatial fixity. Transactions spaces are continuously formed and reformed through processes embedded in the global cultural economy, urban development and politics, as well as through people’s everyday life. Producers’ strategic production and consumers’ tactical appropriation of transactions spaces are accentuated as crucial in the spatial practice of transactions, places and city formation.

This research examines why and how brand owners in China adopt and use mobile media in marketing campaigns to deliver co-creation brand experiences and build consumer relationships. China represents an interesting case to study as it has leapfrogged into the age of consumer society and mobile media adoption. As the largest mobile market globally, it has experienced the intensity of mobile technology diffusion; and with it the rise of mobile consumer culture and participatory culture. Further, the rising individualism and the socio-cultural heritage in collectivism serve as a structuring tension in how mobile media is leveraged in marketing to cater to consumers' desires for individuality and social interaction. First, through expert interviews guided by the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework (Tornatzky & Fleischer, 1990) as well as integrating innovation diffusion theory (E. Rogers, 2003), this research attempts to fill the gap of theoretical application in mobile marketing adoption at the firm level in China, and unravel the adoption factors of mobile marketing by brand owners in China. In total, 27 semi-structured interviews were conducted with key industry informants from mobile agencies, traditional agencies, venture capital firms, mobile content and service providers, mobile portals, and marketing management at brand owners. Second, based on case studies in China, this research investigates the use of mobile marketing to facilitate innovative co-creation of brand experience to cater to both individualistic as well as collective tendencies and desires amongst Chinese consumers. Through multiple case studies of the campaigns conducted by Nokia, Clean & Clear, and The North Face, and informed by in-depth interviews and document analysis, this research analyses the role of mobile media in marketing campaigns along three dimensions: the role of mobile media in content generation and consumption, the centrality of mobile media as text, tools or platforms; and the interactive environment. Specifically, the cases are organized along the spectrum from user-generated content to corporate-generated content, mobile media's role from being supplementary to it being central, and from a virtual environment to a hybrid environment. Overall, these cases demonstrate how brand owners adapt mobile media as text, tools, platforms, and environments to deliver co-creation brand experiences exploiting both individualistic as well as collective tendencies and desires amongst Chinese consumers. This research contributes to the literature on firm adoption of mobile marketing, and the role of the mobile media in facilitating co-creation experiences for Chinese consumers. It develops a model of the technological, organizational and environmental factors influencing mobile marketing adoption by firms, and provides a model explaining the role of mobile media in facilitating brand experience co-creation. The findings also demonstrate that mobile media can be leveraged to facilitate co-creation brand experience to generate added value; and meanwhile cater to both the rising individualism and the deep-seated collectivism of Chinese consumers. Empirically, it assists industry practitioners in understanding the adoption of mobile marketing in China, especially those on the supply side in order to improve their offerings and propositions. It also assists brand owners and agencies in designing their mobile marketing strategies to build consumer relationships in China.

Abstract This chapter analyses recent developments in the area of digital consumer law in the EU while focusing on the ‘data as counter-performance’ quandary and its application to location data. The immense technological and economic significance of location data in smart urban spaces renders them a relevant subject for inquiry in the context of ongoing legal efforts to protect consumers who grant permission to use their location data in exchange for digital goods and services.

AbstractData is becoming increasingly valuable and must be protected. At the same time, data becomes an economic asset and companies can benefit from exchanging data with each other. The International Data Spaces enable companies to share data while ensuring data sovereignty and security.Data providers can keep control over the processing of their data by utilizing usage control policies, including the verification that these usage control policies are enforced by the data consumer. For this, data processing devices, called connectors, must prove their identity and the integrity of their software stack and state.In this chapter, we present the overall security concept for building trust in data spaces enabling data sovereignty and usage control enforcement. The concept builds on a certification process for components and operational environments utilizing the multiple eye principle. This process is technically mapped to a public key infrastructure providing digital certificates for connector identities and software signing. Finally, the third building block is the architecture and system security of the connectors where usage control must be enforced, the identity and integrity of other connectors and their software stack and state must be verified, and the actual data processing happens.

Abstract This chapter explores the diaspora of the Banat Swabian culture, their sense of identity in Germany, and their relation to 'Heimat tourism' through the perception of place in Timisoara in the region of the Banat, Romania. It enables understanding of the impacts of Heimat tourism and the implications for consumer behaviour in the visitor economy and also investigates place-making processes and the (re)creation of destination spaces through experience and narratives. This chapter aims to illustrate how cultural identity, tourist flow, and the perception of place contribute towards the making of heimat, to show how places that are both real and imagined at the same time reinforce a particular tourist gaze and examine how such tourist imaginaries create a 'Heimat tourism' that fosters a hermeneutic cycle perpetuating new meanings of self.

Consideration of aspects of the functioning of mass media in society requires a comprehensive approach based on universal media theory. The article presents an attempt to consider public events in terms of a functional approach to understanding the media, proposed by media theorist Dennis McQuayl in the theory of mass communication. Public events are analyzed, on the one hand, as a complex object of journalistic reflection and, on the other hand, as a situational media that examines the relationship of agents of the social and media fields in the space of communication interaction. Taking into account philosophical approaches to the interpretation of the concept of event, considering its semantic spectrum, specificity of use and synonyms in the Ukrainian language, a working definition of the concept of public event is given. Based on case-analysis of public events, In accordance with the functions of the media the functions of public events are outlined. This is is promising for the development of study on typology of public events in the context of mass communication theory. The realization of the functions of public events as situational media is illustrated with such vivid examples of cultural events as «Gogolfest» and «Book Forum in Lviv». The author shows that a functional approach to understanding public events in society and their place in the space of mass communication, opens prospects for studying the role of media in reflecting the phenomena of social reality, clarifying the presence and quality of communication between media producers and media consumers.

This article has three goals. First, it describes the genesis of fiscal rules in Peru and its degree of compliance. Second, it estimates the effect of fiscal rules adoption on public investment. Last, it analyzes the impact of alternative fiscal rules on public investment and public debt sustainability. Our main results are as follows. First, the implementation of fiscal rules in the year 2000 caused a 60 to 80 percent fall in public investment relative to several counterfactuals. Second, our DSGE model suggests a Structural Fiscal Rule would have increased the consumers welfare in the period 2000-2019 more than other fiscal designs. This rule reduces the procyclicality of public investment under commodity price shocks and macroeconomic volatility under world interest rate shocks. Third, a Structural Fiscal Rule has the lowest probability of exceeding the current public debt limit (30 percent of GDP), although there is a trade-off between investment-friendly rules and fiscal sustainability issues. Nevertheless, our quantitative results are limited to short spans of analysis. With a long-run perspective, we may say that fiscal rulesdespite constant modifications and recurring non-compliancehave fulfilled their original and most important goal of achieving the consolidation of public finances.

The article examines the world and Ukrainian history of corporate periodicals. The main purpose of this study is to reproduce an objective global picture of the emergence and formation of corporate periodicals, taking into account the business and socio-economic context. Accordingly, its tasks are to compare the conditions and features of corporate media genesis in different countries, to determine the main factors of their development, as well as to clarify the transformations of the terminological apparatus. The research is based on mostly foreign secondary scientific works published from 1915 to the present time. The literature was studied using methods such as overview, historical, functional and thematic analysis, description, and generalization. A systematic approach was used to determine the role and place of each element in the system, as well as to comprehensively consider the object in the general historical context and within the current scientific discourse. The method of systematization made it possible to establish internal and external connections, patterns and contradictions in the development of the object of study. The main historical milestones on this path are identified, examples of the first successful corporate publications and their contribution to business development, public relations, and corporate communications are considered. It was found that corporate media emerged in the mid-nineteenth century spontaneously, on the wave of practical business needs in response to industrialization, company increase, staff growth, and consumer market development. Their appearance preceded the formation of the public relations industry and changed the structure of the information space. The scientific significance of this research is that the historical look at the evolution of corporate media provides an understanding of their place, influence, capabilities, and growing communicative role in the digital age.

The original objectives are listed below: 1. Design vectors for constitutive expression of endochitinase from Trichoderma harzianum strain P1. Design vectors with signal peptides to target gene expression. 2. Extend transformation/regeneration technology to other cultivars of importance in the U.S. and Israel. 3. Transform cultivars with the endochitinase constructs developed as part of objective 1. A. Characterize foliar powdery mildew resistance in transgenic plants. Background of the topic Conventional breeding of grapevines is a slow and imprecise process. The long generation cycle, large space requirements and poor understanding of grapevine genetics prevent rapid progress. There remains great need to improve existing important cultivars without the loss of identity that follows from hybridization. Powdery mildew (Uncinula necator) is the most important fungal pathogen of grapevines, causing economic losses around the world. Genetic control of powdery mildew would reduce the requirement for chemical or cultural control of the disease. Yet, since the trait is under polygenic control, it is difficult to manipulate through hybridization and breeding. Also, because grapevines are heterozygous and vegetatively propagated cultivar identity is lost in the breeding process. Therefore, there is great need for techniques to produce transgenic versions of established cultivars with heterologous genes conferring disease resistance. Such a gene is now available for control of powdery mildew of grapevines. The protein coded by the Endochitinase gene, derived from Trichoderma harzianum, is very effective in suppressing U. necator growth. The goal of this proposal is to develop transgenic grapevines with this antifungal gene, and to test the effect of this gene on resistance to powdery mildew. Conclusions, achievements and implications Gene transfer technology for grape was developed using commercial cultivars for both wine and table grapes. It paved the way for a new tool in grapevine genetic studies enabling the alteration of specific important traits while maintaining the essential features of existing elite cultivars. Regeneration and transformation technologies were developed and are currently at an advanced stage for USA wine and Israeli seedless cultivars, representing the cutting edge of grape genetic engineering studies worldwide. Transgenic plants produced are tested for powdery mildew resistance in greenhouse and field experiments at both locations. It is our ultimate goal to develop transgenic grapes which will be more efficient and economical for growers to produce, while also providing consumers with familiar products grown with reduced chemical inputs.

The article analyses the peculiarities of the coverage of the covid pandemic in the Ukrainian media, the emphasis placed by the media in news, and how the online mode of modern life and social distancing affects the growth of media influence. Special attention is paid to the view of the famous publicist Heorhii Pocheptsov, who does not exclude the possibility that the coronavirus was invented intentionally to control millions of people around the world. Permanently, the world faces numerous challenges of different scales: economic, military, socio-political, environmental, epidemiological ones. In 2020, the largest and the most unexpected event, undoubtedly, was the deadly coronavirus pandemic, which spread from the small Chinese province of Wuhan to the whole world and already took more than one million people’s lives in less than a year. Thus, the media, that in the post-information society actually have an unprecedented impact on people, form a person’s perception of such challenges. As a result, our understanding of the pandemic is directly related to the information we consume from the media. In fact, from the very start of quarantine, the media space began to be captured by analytical materials in which experts from various fields tried to predict what the world would be like after the end of coronavirus. These experts were of two types: some claimed that irreversible changes would deepen the permanent economic and socio-political crisis, and by claiming that they intensified panic, while others argued that any crisis is a chance to restart and grow. The experts put different emphases covering the covid pandemic in the media, but it is important to pay attention to the analysis of the famous publicist, propaganda researcher – Heorhii Pocheptsov, who sees the coronavirus as a tool to influence millions of people. The pandemic will end sooner or later, but no matter whether the virus was artificially invented or not, the processes that have already been launched around the world cannot stop as if nothing had happened. But Heorhii Pocheptsov’s opinion about the possible artificial nature of the virus should make us more vigilant while consuming information from TVs or from the online media, as it is possible that this information might be a part of a great game that we were not warned about.

Recreational vehicles have a lot of potential consumers in China, especially the type C recreational vehicle is popular among consumers due to its advantages, prompting an increase in the production and sales volumes. The type C vehicle usually has a higher air drag than the common commercial vehicles due to its unique appearance. It can be reduced by optimizing the structural parameters, thus the energy consumed by the vehicle can be decreased. The external flow field of a recreational vehicle is analyzed by establishing its computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model. The characteristic of the RV’s external flow field is identified based on the simulation result. The approximation models of the vehicle roof parameters and air drag and vehicle volume are established by the response surface method (RSM). The vehicle roof parameters are optimized by multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MO-PSO). According to the comparison, the air drag is reduced by 2.89% and the vehicle volume is increased by 0.36%. For the RV, the proper geometry parameters can increase the inner space of the vehicle while reducing the air drag.

Macroeconomic summary Annual inflation continued to rise in the first quarter (8.5%) and again outpaced both market expectations and the technical staff’s projections. Inflation in major consumer price index (CPI) baskets has accelerated year-to-date, rising in March at an annual rate above 3%. Food prices (25.4%) continued to contribute most to rising inflation, mainly affected by a deterioration in external supply and rising costs of agricultural inputs. Increases in transportation prices and in some utility rates (energy and gas) can explain the acceleration in regulated items prices (8.3%). For its part, the increase in inflation excluding food and regulated items (4.5%) would be the result of shocks in supply and external costs that have been more persistent than expected, the effects of indexation, accumulated inflationary pressures from the exchange rate, and a faster-than-anticipated tightening of excess productive capacity. Within the basket excluding food and regulated items, external inflationary pressures have meaningfully impacted on goods prices (6.4%), which have been accelerating since the last quarter of 2021. Annual growth in services prices (3.8%) above the target rate is due primarily to food away from home (14.1%), which was affected by significant increases in food and utilities prices and by a rise in the legal monthly minimum wage. Housing rentals and other services prices also increased, though at rates below 3%. Forecast and expected inflation have increased and remain above the target rate, partly due to external pressures (prices and costs) that have been more persistent than projected in the January report (Graphs 1.1 and 1.2). Russia’s invasion of Ukraine accentuated inflationary pressures, particularly on international prices for certain agricultural goods and inputs, energy, and oil. The current inflation projection assumes international food prices will increase through the middle of this year, then remain high and relatively stable for the remainder of 2022. Recovery in the perishable food supply is forecast to be less dynamic than previously anticipated due to high agricultural input prices. Oil prices should begin to recede starting in the second half of the year, but from higher levels than those presented in the previous report. Given the above, higher forecast inflation could accentuate indexation effects and increase inflation expectations. The reversion of a rebate on value-added tax (VAT) applied to cleaning and hygiene products, alongside the end of Colombia’s COVID-19 health emergency, could increase the prices of those goods. The elimination of excess productive capacity on the forecast horizon, with an output gap close to zero and somewhat higher than projected in January, is another factor to consider. As a consequence, annual inflation is expected to remain at high levels through June. Inflation should then decline, though at a slower pace than projected in the previous report. The adjustment process of the monetary policy rate wouldcontribute to pushing inflation and its expectations toward the target on the forecast horizon. Year-end inflation for 2022 is expected to be around 7.1%, declining to 4.8% in 2023. Economic activity again outperformed expectations. The technical staff’s growth forecast for 2022 has been revised upward from 4.3% to 5% (Graph 1.3). Output increased more than expected in annual terms in the fourth quarter of 2021 (10.7%), driven by domestic demand that came primarily because of private consumption above pre-pandemic levels. Investment also registered a significant recovery without returning to 2019 levels and with mixed performance by component. The trade deficit increased, with significant growth in imports similar to that for exports. The economic tracking indicator (ISE) for January and February suggested that firstquarter output would be higher than previously expected and that the positive demand shock observed at the end of 2021 could be fading slower than anticipated. Imports in consumer goods, retail sales figures, real restaurant and hotel income, and credit card purchases suggest that household spending continues to be dynamic, with levels similar to those registered at the end of 2021. Project launch and housing starts figures and capital goods import data suggest that investment also continues to recover but would remain below pre-pandemic levels. Consumption growth is expected to decelerate over the year from high levels reached over the last two quarters. This would come amid tighter domestic and external financial conditions, the exhaustion of suppressed demand, and a deterioration of available household income due to increased inflation. Investment is expected to continue to recover, while the trade deficit should tighten alongside high oil and other export commodity prices. Given all of the above, first-quarter economic growth is now expected to be 7.2% (previously 5.2%) and 5.0% for 2022 as a whole (previously 4.3%). Output growth would continue to moderate in 2023 (2.9%, previously 3.1%), converging similar to long-term rates. The technical staff’s revised projections suggest that the output gap would remain at levels close to zero on the forecast horizon but be tighter than forecast in January (Graph 1.4). These estimates continue to be affected by significant uncertainty associated with geopolitical tensions, external financial conditions, Colombia’s electoral cycle, and the COVID-19 pandemic. External demand is now projected to grow at a slower pace than previously expected amid increased global inflationary pressures, high oil prices, and tighter international financial conditions than forecast in January. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and its inflationary effects on prices for oil and certain agricultural goods and inputs accentuated existing global inflationary pressures originating in supply restrictions and increased international costs. A decline in the supply of Russian oil, low inventory levels, and continued production limits on behalf of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) can explain increased projected oil prices for 2022 (USD 100.8/barrel, previously USD 75.3) and 2023 (USD 86.8/barrel, previously USD 71.2). The forecast trajectory for the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate has increased for this and next year to reflect higher real and expected inflation and positive performance in the labormarket and economic activity. The normalization of monetary policy in various developed and emerging market economies, more persistent supply and cost shocks, and outbreaks of COVID-19 in some Asian countries contributed to a reduction in the average growth outlook for Colombia’s trade partners for 2022 (2.8%, previously 3.3%) and 2023 (2.4%, previously 2.6%). In this context, the projected path for Colombia’s risk premium increased, partly due to increased geopolitical global tensions, less expansionary monetary policy in the United States, an increase in perceived risk for emerging markets, and domestic factors such as accumulated macroeconomic imbalances and political uncertainty. Given all the above, external financial conditions are tighter than projected in January report. External forecasts and their impact on Colombia’s macroeconomic scenario continue to be affected by considerable uncertainty, given the unpredictability of both the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the pandemic. The current macroeconomic scenario, characterized by high real inflation levels, forecast and expected inflation above 3%, and an output gap close to zero, suggests an increased risk of inflation expectations becoming unanchored. This scenario offers very limited space for expansionary monetary policy. Domestic demand has been more dynamic than projected in the January report and excess productive capacity would have tightened more quickly than anticipated. Headline and core inflation rose above expectations, reflecting more persistent and important external shocks on supply and costs. The Russian invasion of Ukraine accentuated supply restrictions and pressures on international costs. This partly explains the increase in the inflation forecast trajectory to levels above the target in the next two years. Inflation expectations increased again and are above 3%. All of this increased the risk of inflation expectations becoming unanchored and could generate indexation effects that move inflation still further from the target rate. This macroeconomic context also implies reduced space for expansionary monetary policy. 1.2 Monetary policy decision Banco de la República’s board of directors (BDBR) continues to adjust its monetary policy. In its meetings both in March and April of 2022, it decided by majority to increase the monetary policy rate by 100 basis points, bringing it to 6.0% (Graph 1.5).

Macroeconomic summary Several factors contributed to an increase in projected inflation on the forecast horizon, keeping it above the target rate. These included inflation in December that surpassed expectations (5.62%), indexation to higher inflation rates for various baskets in the consumer price index (CPI), a significant real increase in the legal minimum wage, persistent external and domestic inflationary supply shocks, and heightened exchange rate pressures. The CPI for foods was affected by the persistence of external and domestic supply shocks and was the most significant contributor to unexpectedly high inflation in the fourth quarter. Price adjustments for fuels and certain utilities can explain the acceleration in inflation for regulated items, which was more significant than anticipated. Prices in the CPI for goods excluding food and regulated items also rose more than expected. This was partly due to a smaller effect on prices from the national government’s VAT-free day than anticipated by the technical staff and more persistent external pressures, including via peso depreciation. By contrast, the CPI for services excluding food and regulated items accelerated less than expected, partly reflecting strong competition in the communications sector. This was the only major CPI basket for which prices increased below the target inflation rate. The technical staff revised its inflation forecast upward in response to certain external shocks (prices, costs, and depreciation) and domestic shocks (e.g., on meat products) that were stronger and more persistent than anticipated in the previous report. Observed inflation and a real increase in the legal minimum wage also exceeded expectations, which would boost inflation by affecting price indexation, labor costs, and inflation expectations. The technical staff now expects year-end headline inflation of 4.3% in 2022 and 3.4% in 2023; core inflation is projected to be 4.5% and 3.6%, respectively. These forecasts consider the lapse of certain price relief measures associated with the COVID-19 health emergency, which would contribute to temporarily keeping inflation above the target on the forecast horizon. It is important to note that these estimates continue to contain a significant degree of uncertainty, mainly related to the development of external and domestic supply shocks and their ultimate effects on prices. Other contributing factors include high price volatility and measurement uncertainty related to the extension of Colombia’s health emergency and tax relief measures (such as the VAT-free days) associated with the Social Investment Law (Ley de Inversión Social). The as-yet uncertain magnitude of the effects of a recent real increase in the legal minimum wage (that was high by historical standards) and high observed and expected inflation, are additional factors weighing on the overall uncertainty of the estimates in this report. The size of excess productive capacity remaining in the economy and the degree to which it is closing are also uncertain, as the evolution of the pandemic continues to represent a significant forecast risk. margin, could be less dynamic than expected. And the normalization of monetary policy in the United States could come more quickly than projected in this report, which could negatively affect international financing costs. Finally, there remains a significant degree of uncertainty related to the duration of supply chocks and the degree to which macroeconomic and political conditions could negatively affect the recovery in investment. The technical staff revised its GDP growth projection for 2022 from 4.7% to 4.3% (Graph 1.3). This revision accounts for the likelihood that a larger portion of the recent positive dynamic in private consumption would be transitory than previously expected. This estimate also contemplates less dynamic investment behavior than forecast in the previous report amid less favorable financial conditions and a highly uncertain investment environment. Third-quarter GDP growth (12.9%), which was similar to projections from the October report, and the fourth-quarter growth forecast (8.7%) reflect a positive consumption trend, which has been revised upward. This dynamic has been driven by both public and private spending. Investment growth, meanwhile, has been weaker than forecast. Available fourth-quarter data suggest that consumption spending for the period would have exceeded estimates from October, thanks to three consecutive months that included VAT-free days, a relatively low COVID-19 caseload, and mobility indicators similar to their pre-pandemic levels. By contrast, the most recently available figures on new housing developments and machinery and equipment imports suggest that investment, while continuing to rise, is growing at a slower rate than anticipated in the previous report. The trade deficit is expected to have widened, as imports would have grown at a high level and outpaced exports. Given the above, the technical staff now expects fourth-quarter economic growth of 8.7%, with overall growth for 2021 of 9.9%. Several factors should continue to contribute to output recovery in 2022, though some of these may be less significant than previously forecast. International financial conditions are expected to be less favorable, though external demand should continue to recover and terms of trade continue to increase amid higher projected oil prices. Lower unemployment rates and subsequent positive effects on household income, despite increased inflation, would also boost output recovery, as would progress in the national vaccination campaign. The technical staff expects that the conditions that have favored recent high levels of consumption would be, in large part, transitory. Consumption spending is expected to grow at a slower rate in 2022. Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) would continue to recover, approaching its pre-pandemic level, though at a slower rate than anticipated in the previous report. This would be due to lower observed GFCF levels and the potential impact of political and fiscal uncertainty. Meanwhile, the policy interest rate would be less expansionary as the process of monetary policy normalization continues. Given the above, growth in 2022 is forecast to decelerate to 4.3% (previously 4.7%). In 2023, that figure (3.1%) is projected to converge to levels closer to the potential growth rate. In this case, excess productive capacity would be expected to tighten at a similar rate as projected in the previous report. The trade deficit would tighten more than previously projected on the forecast horizon, due to expectations of an improved export dynamic and moderation in imports. The growth forecast for 2022 considers a low basis of comparison from the first half of 2021. However, there remain significant downside risks to this forecast. The current projection does not, for example, account for any additional effects on economic activity resulting from further waves of COVID-19. High private consumption levels, which have already surpassed pre-pandemic levels by a large margin, could be less dynamic than expected. And the normalization of monetary policy in the United States could come more quickly than projected in this report, which could negatively affect international financing costs. Finally, there remains a significant degree of uncertainty related to the duration of supply chocks and the degree to which macroeconomic and political conditions could negatively affect the recovery in investment. External demand for Colombian goods and services should continue to recover amid significant global inflation pressures, high oil prices, and less favorable international financial conditions than those estimated in October. Economic activity among Colombia’s major trade partners recovered in 2021 amid countries reopening and ample international liquidity. However, that growth has been somewhat restricted by global supply chain disruptions and new outbreaks of COVID-19. The technical staff has revised its growth forecast for Colombia’s main trade partners from 6.3% to 6.9% for 2021, and from 3.4% to 3.3% for 2022; trade partner economies are expected to grow 2.6% in 2023. Colombia’s annual terms of trade increased in 2021, largely on higher oil, coffee, and coal prices. This improvement came despite increased prices for goods and services imports. The expected oil price trajectory has been revised upward, partly to supply restrictions and lagging investment in the sector that would offset reduced growth forecasts in some major economies. Elevated freight and raw materials costs and supply chain disruptions continue to affect global goods production, and have led to increases in global prices. Coupled with the recovery in global demand, this has put upward pressure on external inflation. Several emerging market economies have continued to normalize monetary policy in this context. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Federal Reserve has anticipated an end to its asset buying program. U.S. inflation in December (7.0%) was again surprisingly high and market average inflation forecasts for 2022 have increased. The Fed is expected to increase its policy rate during the first quarter of 2022, with quarterly increases anticipated over the rest of the year. For its part, Colombia’s sovereign risk premium has increased and is forecast to remain on a higher path, to levels above the 15-year-average, on the forecast horizon. This would be partly due to the effects of a less expansionary monetary policy in the United States and the accumulation of macroeconomic imbalances in Colombia. Given the above, international financial conditions are projected to be less favorable than anticipated in the October report. The increase in Colombia’s external financing costs could be more significant if upward pressures on inflation in the United States persist and monetary policy is normalized more quickly than contemplated in this report. As detailed in Section 2.3, uncertainty surrounding international financial conditions continues to be unusually high. Along with other considerations, recent concerns over the potential effects of new COVID-19 variants, the persistence of global supply chain disruptions, energy crises in certain countries, growing geopolitical tensions, and a more significant deceleration in China are all factors underlying this uncertainty. The changing macroeconomic environment toward greater inflation and unanchoring risks on inflation expectations imply a reduction in the space available for monetary policy stimulus. Recovery in domestic demand and a reduction in excess productive capacity have come in line with the technical staff’s expectations from the October report. Some upside risks to inflation have materialized, while medium-term inflation expectations have increased and are above the 3% target. Monetary policy remains expansionary. Significant global inflationary pressures and the unexpected increase in the CPI in December point to more persistent effects from recent supply shocks. Core inflation is trending upward, but remains below the 3% target. Headline and core inflation projections have increased on the forecast horizon and are above the target rate through the end of 2023. Meanwhile, the expected dynamism of domestic demand would be in line with low levels of excess productive capacity. An accumulation of macroeconomic imbalances in Colombia and the increased likelihood of a faster normalization of monetary policy in the United States would put upward pressure on sovereign risk perceptions in a more persistent manner, with implications for the exchange rate and the natural rate of interest. Persistent disruptions to international supply chains, a high real increase in the legal minimum wage, and the indexation of various baskets in the CPI to higher inflation rates could affect price expectations and push inflation above the target more persistently. These factors suggest that the space to maintain monetary stimulus has continued to diminish, though monetary policy remains expansionary. 1.2 Monetary policy decision Banco de la República’s board of directors (BDBR) in its meetings in December 2021 and January 2022 voted to continue normalizing monetary policy. The BDBR voted by a majority in these two meetings to increase the benchmark interest rate by 50 and 100 basis points, respectively, bringing the policy rate to 4.0%.