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García, Ramírez José Ernesto. "Consumption composites." Thesis, Konstfack, Inredningsarkitektur & Möbeldesign, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:konstfack:diva-3009.
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Consumption composites is a project in which I want to reflect about the concept of recycling, to explore the idea of a society result of recycling, to see if it could be helpful to think in it in another way. I explore the act of recycling as a statement, as a discourse not as a solution for industrial production waste, the relation between the semiotics of the discarded material and the recycled resulting piece but most the interaction between these two and the final user/ spectator[1]. By looking at the soprum[2] is possible to see estrange combinations for instance baby pap packages with liquor bottles, political propaganda together with brochures advertising winter sports, a table with beer cans and a painting it. It is a composition in itself is a sort of collage where all possible come together. I found inspiring how waste could be classified from one criterion but mixed in other criteria like the cultural and semiotic one. Although there are differences between neighborhoods and municipalities, the half-ton of garbage produced by a Swedish citizen per year is classified by if the material could be recycled, composted, burn, landfilled or if it is hazardous for the environment or humans[3]. I put the waste together in order to create structures that further on could be used to build either furniture or spaces. I worked only with materials that were classified in the same category for instance newspapers or uncolored glass, keeping as much as possible the original form of the existing material in order to be able to see their original meaning or purpose. I noticed that the material transform to something new while keeping some of their form and semiotic properties when it is covered with a sort of layer. Something that reminds me the landfill, where the material is buried and then it is a new beginning but there is some transformation in the landscape that never would be the same. This is more an intervention in the materials in their way to their following step either landfill, recycling, burn or compost. The form and statement is the result of consumption from Stockholm where the material was collected and my own aesthetic intentions. [1](Debord, 1994) [2]Soprum: Swedish word for “garbage room” there are several versions of it but it is basically a room where the garbage can be sorted in different bins. [3]Avfall Sverige – Swedish Waste Management, was founded in 1947. It is a stakeholder and trade association in the field of waste management and recycling.The full version contain an image is only for the archive because it contain a picture without copyright
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Pears, Katherine Elizabeth, and katherine pears@student rmit edu au. "Fashion Re-consumption; developing a sustainable fashion consumption practice influenced by sustainability and consumption theory." RMIT University. Architecture and Design, 2007. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20080109.084214.
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This thesis explores the problem of wasteful fashion consumption in light of the current need for individuals to develop a sustainable way of living. The Agenda 21 report from the Rio Earth Summit (1992) determined that sustainable consumption is an issue to be addressed in terms of resource conservation, waste reduction and a reduction of production pollutants. To date, in Australia, there are no policies or strategies in place to reduce wasteful consumption from the consumer's perspective and it is this research and policy deficit that this thesis research addresses. According to a recent national study of wasteful consumption, Australians spent approximately 1.7 billion dollars in 2004 on fashion garments and accessories that they did not wear (Hamilton et al. 2005). However, landfill statistics revealed that only a small proportion of textile waste (of which clothing is a subsidiary category) contributes to landfill (ABS, 1998). This discrepancy between the annual expenditure and the contribution of clothing to landfill informed the research hypothesis; that the greater majority of these inactive fashion garments are hoarded in wardrobes rather than disposed of. This hypothesis was tested through an action research case study in the form of a clothing exchange event and related data collection and analysis (part 2 of the thesis). The additional objectives of the clothing exchange event were to activate
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Tse, Ngo-sheung, and 謝傲霜. "Reading consumption: image, identity and consumption in late-capitalist society." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2002. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31953736.
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Isa, Fatima. "Dietary consumption, fluid consumption and risk of developing bladder cancer." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2015. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/6013/.
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This thesis focuses on three different parts: (1) An analyses of dietary consumption, diet diversity and risk of developing bladder cancer within a case-control study in China. This study showed that higher diet diversity, particularly a diet varied in fruit may reduce the risk of developing bladder cancer. In addition, there was a positive association between the consumption of red meat, organ meat, leafy vegetables, bulb vegetables or preserved vegetables may increase the risk of bladder cancer. The consumption of citrus fruits, stone fruits, vine fruits, flower vegetables, fresh fish, potatoes and dairy products may decrease the risk of developing bladder cancer. (2) A dose-response meta-analysis on the association between total fluid consumption and bladder cancer was conducted. The results of this study suggest a non-linear relationship between total fluid intake and bladder cancer risk in men. Also, the findings indicates that low to moderate fluid consumption was not associated with an increased risk of developing bladder cancer; although fluid consumption exceeding 8 cups per day might increase the risk of developing bladder cancer. (3) A pooled analysis on fluid consumption and risk of developing bladder cancer using individual patient data from the Bladder Cancer Epidemiology and Nutritional Determinant consortium. The results suggest that excess consumption of coffee per day may increase the risk of developing bladder cancer in men.
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Tse, Ngo-sheung. "Reading consumption : image, identity and consumption in late-capitalist society /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 2002. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B25262142.
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Hartmann, Benjamin. "Consumption and Practice : Unfolding Consumptive Moments and the Entanglement with Productive Aspects." Doctoral thesis, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, IHH, Marketing and Logistics, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-22601.
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This thesis investigates consumption through a practice-theoretical perspective. Practices are routinized sets of human activity involving doings, meanings, and objects. Previous work has suggested conceiving of consumption as moments in practices. Yet, empirical and conceptual blind spots exist when it comes to understanding how consumption operates as practice moments. This thesis sets out to develop this conception of consumption by examining how consumption unfolds as practice moments. The study of consumption in relation to practices, however, is complicated by long-standing debates in marketing and business literature that impart the notion of consumption being entangled with production in various ways. These debates infuse the idea that in order to understand consumption one must also pay attention to its links with productive aspects. By treating practices as the empirical and theoretical sites for consumption and its entanglement with productive aspects, this thesis offers an alternative way of researching and theorizing consumption in relation to practice, and in relation to productive aspects. It presents four papers that draw on qualitative and quantitative empirical data collected in the contexts of online community practices, discursive re-enchantment practices, electric guitar playing, and gardening. The collective findings and analysis of the four papers reveal how consumption unfolds as practice moments in terms of ingredient, momentum, transformation, and consequence. Unfolding consumption in this way offers conceptual specification of its operation in relation to practices. Moreover, it allows theorization of how consumptive moments are linked to productive aspects in two ways: first, by specifying how consumptive moments are inherently productive; and second, by giving insight into the dyadic relation between consumptive and productive practice moments. Rather than collapsing consumption and production into one and the same or treating them as inherent in roles of consumers, producers, and prosumers, as advocated by previous works, this thesis suggests that consumption and production are useful analytical categories if framed as moments inherent in the practices that comprise our marketplaces and cultures. Several relevant implications emerge from this understanding regarding the concept of prosumption, the development of practice theory, understanding the operation of consumption in consumer culture, theorizing value creation, and the shaping of a practice-oriented marketing approach.
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López, González Hibai 1983. "On Mediasport consumption." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/350570.
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This thesis dissertation reflects on the way fans consume mediated sport today. The work is comprised of four articles. In Manufacturing conflict narratives in Real Madrid versus Barcelona football matches we challenged the identity-based generation of conflict and proposed a celebrity-based framework to understand fans’ sport consumption of narratives. In Community building in the digital age. Dynamics of online sports discussion and Discussion moderation in online media. The case of Marca newspaper the authors examined the comments section under the news in sports journalism. We explored users’ participation and interaction behaviour in a Spanish online sports community to conclude that fans’ engagement was based on liquid connections. Finally, in Quantifying the immeasurable: A reflection on sport, time and media I built on the previous research to comprehensively inquire the nature of mediasport consumption. Following the standardization of modern sports by means of quantification, I argue that mediated sport has become a globally consumable and simplified commodity.Esta tesis reflexiona sobre el consumo contemporáneo del deporte mediado. El trabajo se compone de cuatro artículos. En Manufacturing conflict narratives in Real Madrid versus Barcelona football matches cuestionamos la generación del conflicto basada en características identitarias y proponemos un marco teórico centrado en la cultura de celebridades para entender el consumo de narraciones de los aficionados. En Community building in the digital age. Dynamics of online sports discussion y Discussion moderation in online media. The case of Marca newspaper los autores analizamos los comentarios de los lectores en las noticias de periodismo deportivo. Exploramos la participación e interacción de los usuarios en una comunidad online deportiva y concluimos que el comportamiento de los fans se caracterizaba por la liquidez de sus lazos. Por último, en Quantifying the immeasurable: A reflection on sport, time and media se retoma la investigación anterior para ofrecer una reflexión integral sobre la esencia del consumo de mediasport. A través de la standarización del deporte moderno llevada a cabo mediante su cuantificación, justifico que el deporte mediado se ha convertido en un producto global y simplificado.
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Evers, David Victor Harmen. "Building for consumption." [S.l. : Amsterdam : s.n.] ; Universiteit van Amsterdam [Host], 2004. http://dare.uva.nl/document/72751.
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Proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam.Ondertitel op omslag: An institutional analysis of peripheral shopping center development in Northwest Europe. Met lit. opg. - Met samenvatting in het Nederlands.
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Woodward, Michael Norman. "Beyond consumption experiences." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/6462.
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The term ‘consumption experience’ has become ubiquitous in marketing and consumer research circles. In this thesis I question the appropriateness of this canonical term. In its stead I employ the non-dualistic term ‘experiaction’, coined by an ecological psychologist, which points to the functional inseparability of experiencing and actions. I adopt a field-theoretical, phenomenologically-informed, perspective, whilst participating in, analysing, and writing about ten video-recorded research conversations. Likewise I address the various spin-off texts deriving from the initial conversations, such as transcripts and viewing-logs. I show that ‘field’-embedded individuals notice and act on many aspects of their immediate micro-environments, including their own intra-personal goings-on and expressive outputs. Through data analysis I identify five categories of regulable variables that an individual can act on as s/he seeks to regulate his/her sensing, relative to his/her reference value(s). Seen through this cybernetic lens, momentary human being comprises of a cyclical, ongoing process of self-regulation, in which individuals expediently employ and/or modify accessible resources and goings-on, in the service of seeking to actualise their currently-preferred, or expected, states-of-being, and to minimise unwelcome deviations therefrom. This thesis challenges the prevalent notion that when people consume particular products/services these offerings sponsor offering-dedicated experiences - what some people describe as ‘consumption experiences’. The concept of experiaction, in contrast, comprises of an ongoing interaction between a person and his/her micro-environment, in which the individual attends to, and acts on, whichever aspect(s) of his/her 360°-‘inner’-‘outer’-‘field’ become(s) momentarily salient to him/her, within the parameters imposed by his/her currently-sustained reference value(s).
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Fernandez-Corugedo, Emilio. "Essays in consumption." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1983/60107bad-7b0d-4ad3-96aa-8b975325dc4c.
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Minty, Rishot John Harvey. "Indexability with consumption." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.547937.
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Woodward, Michael N. "Beyond consumption experiences." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/6462.
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The term ‘consumption experience’ has become ubiquitous in
marketing and consumer research circles. In this thesis I question
the appropriateness of this canonical term. In its stead I employ the
non-dualistic term ‘experiaction’, coined by an ecological
psychologist, which points to the functional inseparability of
experiencing and actions.
I adopt a field-theoretical, phenomenologically-informed,
perspective, whilst participating in, analysing, and writing about ten
video-recorded research conversations. Likewise I address the
various spin-off texts deriving from the initial conversations, such as
transcripts and viewing-logs. I show that ‘field’-embedded
individuals notice and act on many aspects of their immediate
micro-environments, including their own intra-personal goings-on
and expressive outputs.
Through data analysis I identify five categories of regulable
variables that an individual can act on as s/he seeks to regulate
his/her sensing, relative to his/her reference value(s). Seen through
this cybernetic lens, momentary human being comprises of a
cyclical, ongoing process of self-regulation, in which individuals expediently employ and/or modify accessible resources and goings-on, in the service of seeking to actualise their currently-preferred, or expected, states-of-being, and to minimise unwelcome deviations therefrom.
This thesis challenges the prevalent notion that when people consume particular products/services these offerings sponsor offering-dedicated experiences - what some people describe as ‘consumption experiences’. The concept of experiaction, in contrast, comprises of an ongoing interaction between a person and his/her micro-environment, in which the individual attends to, and acts on, whichever aspect(s) of his/her 360°-‘inner’-‘outer’-‘field’ become(s) momentarily salient to him/her, within the parameters imposed by his/her currently-sustained reference value(s).
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Guillen-Royo, Monica. "Consumption and wellbeing : motives for consumption and needs satisfiers in Peru." Thesis, University of Bath, 2007. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.532752.
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This thesis explores how consumption impacts on people’s wellbeing in seven Peruvian communities. It draws on social science literature on consumption and incorporates the key factors highlighted by the research on wellbeing determinants. Generally, it is accepted that consumption increases wellbeing by lifting people out of poverty and that it has a negative impact if it fails to place them at a higher social position. Other aspects defining consumption such as the symbolic meaning of goods, its pleasurable dimension, the role of goods and services as basic needs satisfiers, etc. have not been systematically approached from the perspective of their effect on wellbeing. The thesis takes on this challenge by incorporating the most salient features of consumption studied by social scientists through the concepts of motives and satisfiers. It draws on psychologists’ claim that motives are important in understanding the linkages between wellbeing and people’s behaviour. It also integrates the work of human needs theorists stressing the importance of analysing the effectiveness of goods and services as basic needs satisfiers. The research follows a multi-methods approach that takes into account the local specificities of consumption, whilst aiming for a global understanding of the key factors mediating its relationship with human wellbeing; accounting for its objective and subjective dimensions. It uses regression analysis to study how consumption affects happiness through total expenditure and motives, and qualitative methods to explore the efficiency of satisfiers in meeting basic needs. The research finds, as expected, that in the Peruvian communities consumption enhances happiness when it improves basic needs levels and places people at a higher social position. People consuming because of hedonic reasons are also happier, but those consuming for social acceptance and higher status are not. Moreover, being motivated by basic needs is negatively associated with happiness. One of the reasons might be the type of satisfiers used. The exploratory study of needs satisfiers in a Peruvian slum points at their potential inefficiency, which might be contributing to people’s frustration through consumption.
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Jensen, Kajsa, and Marija Brico. "Sustainable Consumption : Measuring sustainable consumption behaviour on the Swedish fashion market." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Akademin för textil, teknik och ekonomi, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-10197.
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The purpose of this study is to define what data could be used to describe consumers’ actual behaviour when it comes to consumption of sustainable fashion. The perspective is both in terms of finding variables that describe the actual behaviour of sustainable consumption, and to create an appropriate measuring tool that can be used to measure those behaviours. This study has a qualitative research strategy with an inductive approach. The topic was examined by an extensive literature review in the fields connected to the topic. From the literature and the problem raised by the Swedish Consumer Agency, a questionnaire emerged. The questionnaire was also revised into a second version based on the feedback gathered during the focus group session. A questionnaire is suitable to get the consumer perspective, as well as cover all three stages of the consumption cycle and measuring over time. Additionally, this paper focuses on the environmental aspect of sustainability, but the importance of the social and economical aspects are acknowledged. The conclusions drawn in this paper were that it is important to measure the sustainable consumption behaviours of fashion consumers throughout the whole consumption span. When talking about consumption it is a common misconception to focus only on the purchase stage, when it really refers to the purchase, usages and end of use stage as a whole. The variables that were detected were presented in form of a questionnaire. The value of this paper is grounded in the developed questionnaire, which aims are to measure sustainable fashion consumption from a consumer perspective. This is interesting for the Swedish Consumer Agency, who requested a measuring tool, but it may also be of interest for other fashion companies to measure their consumer’s behaviour to detect a demand for sustainable products.
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Minina, Alisa. "Consumption of financial services in global mobility : A Cephalopodic consumption mode?" Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-139402.
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In the interconnected world of today more and more people get on the move. We go abroad for vacations, visits or business trips and we change countries of residence as we pursue new opportunities. Cross-border mobility is becoming part of our life. In recent years consumer researchers have been showing an increasing interest in particularities of consumption in condition of global mobility. Although previous studies have acknowledged the importance of economic capital in enabling global consumer mobility, existing research could be enriched by a deeper understanding of how globally mobile consumers manage their financial consumption across borders. The aim of this dissertation is to is to contribute to the uncovering of the particularities of consumption of financial services in global mobility by documenting globally mobile consumers’ financial consumption patterns, the ways they build and maintain relationships with their financial service providers and the ways in which they navigate cultural norms of service consumption and financial consumption across borders. The study is based on four research articles that develop an understanding of the dimensions of financial consumption and uncover purchasing, relational and acculturative aspects of consumption of financial services in mobility. The overarching chapter further develops the insights from the articles, bringing forward the concept of the cephalopodic consumption mode – a particular way in which globally mobile consumers organize their financial consumption. This work contributes to the domain of research on serially relocating consumers by showing how globally mobile professionals engage in cephalopodic consumption mode (CCM), using their economic capital in order to navigate their international movement. The multipresence, multi-acculturation, instrumentality and camouflage of CCM emerge as an answer to challenges of mobility – the need to reacquaint with new countries every time upon relocation, the future need to leave again and the necessity to organize consumption across borders.At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.
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Šáchová, Lucie. "Analýza trhu ryb a mořských produktů v ČR." Master's thesis, Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze, 2009. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-16802.
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Diploma thesis describes the composition of fish meat and its inventions in the diet, shows the development of global fish consumption and the development of fish consumption in the country. Examines the current product portfolio and provides an overview of entities operating in the CR market. Based on the questionnaire provides a forecast likely future trends and anticipated developments.
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Xiao, Ge Kim J. O. "The Chinese consumers' changing value system, consumption values and modern consumption behavior." Auburn, Ala., 2005. http://repo.lib.auburn.edu/2005%20Summer/doctoral/XIAO_GE_36.pdf.
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McGrath, Alanna Jayne. "Novel biomarkers of fruit and vegetable consumption and effects of increased consumption." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2015. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.680438.
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Nutritional biomarkers may more accurately assess FV intake than traditional assessment methods. Combining potential biomarkers of intake to better predict overall FV intake has not been tested. Furthermore, urinary biomarkers as novel non-invasive alternatives to predict FV intake are underexplored. Few interventions have examined novel biological effects of increased FV that could potentially be used to encourage increased intake. Examining the effects of increased exposure to FV on liking, and whether increased FV intake impacts indirectly on disease risk via weight loss, also remain unexamined. Thus, this thesis aimed to develop and assess novel biomarkers of FV intake. Secondly, it aimed to assess biological effects of increased FV consumption and, thirdly, to determine the effect of incorporation of increased FV into the diet on liking, and success of weight loss. Findings from a supervised and other less intensive RCTs showed that a combined biomarker approach may more accurately predict overall FV intake than a single biomarker. An observational study showed that an adjusted combined biomarker model did not perform better at predicting FV intake than single biomarker models. No effect of increasing FV consumption on urinary pH or potassium was demonstrated. However, urinary vitamin C increased linearly with increasing FV consumption. Increased FV intake had no effect on oxidised LDL or appearance. Finally, a web-based program, providing no specific advice on dietary weight loss strategies, indicated that individuals trying to lose weight consumed more FV and that eating more FV may aid successful weight loss. This thesis indicates improved methods of accurately measuring FV intake that will aid the study of biological and health effects of increased intake, the measurement of compliance with interventions and allow better evaluation of the effects of public health campaigns to increase intake, which is still low in the UK.
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Lai, Yi-Peng. "EcoUlysses : nature, nation, consumption." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2016. https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/ecoulysses-nature-nation-consumption(5f957f07-9797-4ff7-9bea-73b49b413626).html.
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This study focuses on the relationship between environment, history, politics, and rhetorical discourses in James Joyce’s Ulysses. Delving into different aspects of Joyce’s use of nature and linguistic discourses in orchestrating a specific dynamic of eco-politics, this thesis adopts an interdisciplinary approach that includes cultural politics, historiographical poetics, genetic criticism along with close reading of the text. The project is thematically divided into two main sections. The first section addresses the environmental questions of land and consumption through discussions on co-operative politics, garden city movement, and the eco-politics of waste. The second section of the thesis moves to examine the diverse ways in which nature and nation are (re)imagined exemplarily in Joyce’s composition of the tree wedding ceremony (in Chapter 12 of Ulysses) and the marketplace. I argue that, composed intertextually with a wide range of literary, historical, and contemporary resources, Joyce’s writing of nature deserves an interdisciplinary eco- political reading to be more appropriately comprehended in ecocriticism and Joycean studies. By looking closely into several thematic environmental issues addressed in Ulysses with the evidence of historical and archival resources, this study has demonstrated that Joyce is after all a writer with the environment in mind, and that the imagination of nature in Ulysses is inseparable from that of the emergent nation of fin-de-siecle Ireland.
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Norman, Moss Edward. "Youth and sports consumption." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp03/MQ57150.pdf.
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Scott, Andrew. "Essays in aggregate consumption." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.260660.
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Fisher, Tom. "Plastics in contemporary consumption." Thesis, University of York, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.542812.
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Silva, Díaz Pamela Cristina. "Factors of material consumption." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/75679.
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Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 32-34).
Historic consumption trends for materials have been studied by many researchers, and, in order to identify the main drivers of consumption, special attention has been given to material intensity, which is the consumption of materials (in mass quantities) per GDP per capita. For our analysis, a new factor, material price, has been taken into account when analyzing the consumption of materials. Rather than focusing only in material intensity, material consumption has been studied in comparison to GDP per capita divided by price, which denotes purchasing capability. Furthermore, material consumption is decomposed into different factors and their contribution is determined for five different materials (aluminum, steel, copper, zinc and cement), for the USA, India, China and at the global level, beginning from 1900 until 2005. For the United States it can be seen that while the consumption per capita vs. purchasing capability shows an initially linearly increasing trend, a drastic slope change occurs posthumously. Similarly, on the global scale, a positive linear trend is observed initially, but is followed by a leveling of the consumption per capita, demonstrating saturation with respect to purchasing capability. On the other hand, the graphs for China and India show an increasing trend throughout the full studied period. Additionally, it has been found that on the second half of the 20th century, the US industry share of the GDP has decreased, as well as the material use within industry, balancing out the increase in population and GDP per capita. China and India on the other hand, show an increase in all factors, hence inducing consumption growth and avoiding saturation. By identifying the factors that influence material consumption, and to what extent, this work contributes to the understanding of human consumption patterns and enables a better approach to problems associated with resource utilization.
by Pamela Cristina Silva Díaz.
S.B.
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Laibson, David I. "Hyperbolic discounting and consumption." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11966.
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Akkoyunlu, Sule. "Turkish consumption and saving." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2000. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:0ba100a8-0a19-40f5-a7c6-c18aa010c130.
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The principle aim of this thesis is to construct a consumption function for Turkey for policy analysis using the annual State Planning Organisation (SPO) time-series data. This study commences from 1962 and extends until the end of 1994, when a financial crisis occurred in Turkey. It attempts to analyse not only the decline in the private savings rate during the first half of the 1980s, but also the significant rise from 1986 onwards. The thesis starts with an introduction which explodes the main research objectives, considers the existing consumption theories and extentions, records the main data features to be explained, briefly overviews the modelling strategy and discusses the basic considerations of the research and gives the structure of thesis. A literature survey on the theory of consumption is given in Chapter 2. The LifeCycle/ Permanent-Income hypothesis is considered as central to the two mainstream approach. : the Euler approach and the solved-out approach. These approaches are further extended by considering uncertainty and precautionary saving, credit restrictions, saving and leisure. habit or costs of adjustments and the durability of goods, the role of assets and asset prices. financial liberalisation and demographic factors. Finally, comparisons between the two approaches arc made in the conclusion of that chapter. Theory can deliver concepts with permanent relationships in economics, but it should be supported by empirical findings, since theory alone is insufficient to determine the actual economic relationship. Hence, Chapter 3 focuses on theoretical and appl ied modelling issues to construct a theory-consistent, congruent and encompassing consumption function. Congruency implies that the empirical model matches the available evidence in al l measured attributes (i.e., it is consistent with the theory from which it was derived, has unexplained components that arc innovations against available information, has basic parameters that are constant, is data admissible, and where any conditioning variables are weakly exogenous for the parameters of interest). Encompassing denotes that the model of interest can account for the result of rival models of the same phenomena. I also define structure as the set of invariant features of the economic mechanism. A parameter can be structural only if it is invariant for an extension of the sample period (constant), is invariant with respect to changes elsewhere in the economy (regime shifts), and is invariant over extensions of the information set (adding more variables). Chapter 4 examines the small-sample properties of the statistical methods used by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The informativeness of the data is investigated in an unrestricted Vector Auto-regression (VAR) with small-samples of noisy data combined with a high real growth rate and nominal inflation. This is to see how the relative drift dominates in explaining the informativeness of the data. The Monte results are summarised by using response surfaces to relate the biases to sample size. The ratio of standard deviations to standard errors in each equation is also analysed. The strong impacts of the system error variances in these response surfaces indicate the importance of high variances in VA Rs. Furthermore, I found noise, and a function of the signal to noise ratio. and cross-equation correlation had a large impact, but less effect from the relative drift. Chapter 5 presents an overview of the Turkish Economy, particularly during the sample period. by pointing out the lessons to be drawn from the stabilisation experiments and their effect on the private sector saving decision in Turkey. The aim of Chapter 6 is to get nominal housing wealth and housing price data from the available data, such as the nominal private disposable income. nominal private investment in the housing sector and the consumer price index, since housing wealth is claimed to be a major determinant of private savings in Turkey. Chapter 7 aims to reveal the problems of Turkish data by analysing the history of the Turkish a1ional Accounts to construct a data-base for estimating a consumption function for Turkey. GDP by expenditure is constructed from five different sources. Turkish accounting residuals are allocated by applying the linear regression approach. The results show that GDP-by-output is more reliable than the GDP-by-expenditure measure for Turkey. Chapter 8 is devoted to the time series modelling and evidence. Previous findings on consumption for Turkey have been formulated using conventional econometric techniques with a static estimation methodology within the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH). I adopted the equilibrium correction model (ECM) solved-out consumption function approach and tried to incorporate the effects of age. precautionary behaviour in the case of uncertainty, credit constraints, habits or costs of adjustments. and the durability of goods for developing belier understanding of private sector savings behaviour in Turkey. The modelling is based on the dynamic econometric methodology that involves the estimation of a general unrestricted model (GUM). a co-integration and long-run analysis, and the simplification of the GUM to a parsimonious dynamic model that is deduced by applying a sequential testing procedure. The final model is congruent: It matches the available evidence in all measured attributes and forecasts well, has white noise errors and constant parameters, and encompasses the VAR model equation as well as other specifications in previous models. Moreover, the model has a structural interpretation. The results of the final model reveal strong positive effects of the real interest rate. inflation and inflation uncertainty, a strong negative effect of population aged 15-44, a positive effect after one lag period of the change in the average propensity to consume. which represents the effects of expectations, habits or adjustment costs, in addition to the significant effect of the inverse of per capita Private Disposable Income and the change in housing wealth to income ra1io on the private average propensity to consume in Turkey. These findings offer an explana1ion for the salient features of the Turkish consumption pattern observed from 1he lime series data. These results also provide some policy implications such that inOation control should be strengthened and improved for consumption stabilisation. Furthermore. interest rate policy also has an important role to play in the savings process in Turkey. The research on small-sample properties of 1hc statistical methods by means of Monte Carlo Simulations strengthens the results of the empirical model. These. confirm the poor determination of intercepts in I(I) VARs, and the corresponding advantages of an equilibrium correction model formulation. Furthermore. the insignificance the of irrelevant dynamics should encourage model builders to use a dynamic econometric methodology to develop parsimonious models, such as used for building a consumption model for Turkey in this thesis.
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Chagas, José Bernardo Fonseca Pólvora Trindade. "University student gambling consumption." Master's thesis, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/12142.
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Mestrado em MarketingThe present research analysed gambling activity of college students from a consumer behaviour perspective in order assess their gambling behaviour. A questionnaire was administered to 216 college students from several courses in different universities in the city of Lisbon (Portugal). No significant differences were found between men and women in gambling activity , both for players and non-players in all the types of games analysed (lottery, bingo and casino). Even tough most students were infrequent gamblers, lottery playing was found to the most played form of gambling (79.6%). Lottery playing was found to be related to parental gambling. This research also examined peer influence and addictive behaviours as gambling influential factors. No significant relationship between peer influence, addictive activities (alcohol drinking and smoking) and university student gambling was found.
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Lourenço, Sandra Cristina de Loureiro. "Alcohol consumption and obesity." Master's thesis, Porto : edição de autor, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10216/62567.
Full textAbstract:
Dissertação de Mestrado em Nutrição Clínica apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências da Nutrição e Alimentação da Universidade do PortoResumo da tese: Enquadramento: O facto de o álcool ser o segundo componente alimentar com maior densidade energética sustenta a ideia de que consumos elevados ou mesmo moderados, a longo prazo, possam contribuir para o aumento da ingestão energética, e consequentemente conduzir a um aumento do índice de massa corporal dos indivíduos. A variabilidade da ingestão de álcool existente na população Portuguesa permite observar amplitudes de exposição suficientes para melhor estudar esta relação. Objectivo: Quantificação da associação entre a prevalência de obesidade e a ingestão de etanol, numa amostra urbana de adultos portugueses. Métodos: A amostra seleccionada aleatoriamente, era constituída por 2372 indivíduos adultos (mulheres e homens), na avaliação de obesidade total e por 2383 (mulheres e homens), na avaliação de obesidade central. Estes indivíduos faziam parte da coorte do estudo EPIPorto. Inquiridores treinados procederam à aplicação de um questionário estruturado e avaliação de parâmetros sócio-demográficos e antropométricos. Foi definida obesidade total como o Indice de massa corporal (IMC) peso (kg) /altura (m)2) igual ou superior a 30 kg.m2 e central valores de perímetro da cintura (PC) superior a 88 cm ou 102 cm, para mulheres e homens, respectivamente. A ingestão de etanol foi estimada através de um questionário semi-quantitativo de frequência de alimentos, previamente validado, referente ao ano anterior à entrevista, e ao longo da vida. Os indivíduos foram classificados em 4 classes de ingestão de etanol (g/dia): 0; 0, 1-15,0; 15,0; 30,0 nas mulheres e 0; 0,1-30,0; 30,1-60,0; 60,0 nos homens.
Thesis abstract: Background: The high alcohol consumption in Portugal, and the high energy content of alcoholic beverages, makes alcohol a potential contributor to the obesity. Objective: To evaluate the association between ethanol consumption and overall and central obesity in adults of an urban Portuguese population. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis included 2372 for evaluate overall obesity and 2383 for central obesity. The participants were randomly selected from Porto in-habitants (age: 18 years) enrolled in EPIPorto Study (1999-2003). Trained interviewers applied a questionnaire comprising information on social, demographic, behavioural characteristics, and anthropometrical measures were recorded. Data on ethanol intake were obtained by using a validated semi- quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Subjects were classified in to 4 classes of ethanol intake (g/day):0; 0.1-15.0; 15.1-30.0 ;: 30.0 in women and 0; 0.1-30.0; 30.1-60.0 ;: 60.0 in men. Overall obesity was considered when the body mass index (BMI) was: 30.0 kg/m2 , central obesity, if Waist Circumference (WC) was higher than 88 cm or 102 cm, for women and men respectively. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using unconditional logistic regression with separate models fitted for sex. Results: Prevalence of ethanol intake higher than 30g/day for women and 60g/day for men, was 5.3% in obese women vs. 3.3% in non obese, and 28.4% in obese men vs. 15.8% in non obese. After adjustment for age, education, BMI, smoking, energy intake and sports practice, men who consumed more than 60g/day were more frequently obese (overall) comparing with non drinkers (OR=1.64, 95% CI: 1.33-5.22).
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Sprouse, Warren. "Production, Consumption, and Consciousness." Oberlin College Honors Theses / OhioLINK, 1991. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=oberlin1503923437479061.
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Öberg, Erik. "On Money and Consumption." Doctoral thesis, Stockholms universitet, Nationalekonomiska institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-142164.
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Price Level Determination When Tax Payments Are Required in Money. We formalize the idea that the price level can be determined by a requirement that taxes be paid in money. We show that if households have to pay a money tax of a fixed real value and the money supply is constant, there is a unique stationary price level, and a continuum of non-stationary deflationary equilibria. The non-stationary equilibria can be excluded if we introduce an arbitrarily lax borrowing constraint. Thus, in the basic model, tax requirements can uniquely determine the price level. When money has liquidity value, tax requirements can exclude self-fulfilling hyperinflations. The New Keynesian Transmission Mechanism: A Heterogeneous-Agent Perspective. We argue that a two-agent version of the standard New Keynesian model - where a "worker'' receives only labor income and a "capitalist'' only profit income - offers insights about how income inequality affects the monetary transmission mechanism. Under rigid prices, monetary policy has no effect on output as workers choose not to change their hours worked in response to wage movements. In the corresponding representative-agent model, in contrast, hours do rise after a monetary policy loosening due to a wealth effect on labor supply: profits fall, thus reducing the representative worker's income. If wages are rigid too, however, the monetary transmission mechanism is active and resembles that in the corresponding representative-agent model. Consumption Dynamics under Time-varying Unemployment Risk. We argue that adjustment frictions for durable goods generate a powerful amplification channel from fluctuations in unemployment risk to aggregate consumption demand. First, we use survey data to document that durable expenditures react strongly to increased unemployment risk, while the effect on nondurable expenditures is indistinguishable from zero. Second, we propose and calibrate a buffer-stock savings model that includes adjustment frictions for durable goods. Although not targeted in the calibration, we find that the model reproduces the semi-elasticities of expenditures to unemployment risk estimated in the data. Using the model, we find that the inclusion of adjustment frictions raises the aggregate demand response of durable goods to fluctuations in perceived unemployment risk by approximately 200 percent. Moreover, upon experiencing an adverse risk shock, the responsiveness of aggregate demand for durable goods to the interest rate and transitory income shocks is dampened. Consumption Dynamics under Time-varying Unemployment Risk: Evidence from Time Series Data. We investigate the relationship between consumption expenditures and unemployment risk using aggregate time series data for the US and ten EU countries. As a proxy for perceived unemployment risk, we use data on households' subjective expectations over the future unemployment rate. First, we employ a single-equation framework to test whether subjective unemployment expectations predict aggregate consumption growth when controlling for predicted aggregate income growth. Second, we exploit the timing of the survey interviews in relation to the publication of official statistics to isolate exogenous innovations to unemployment expectations in a small-scale vector autoregression. For the US, both methods suggest that there is a large effect of unemployment risk on aggregate consumption. For the ten EU countries, the evidence is mixed.
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Jones, Andrew. "Disinhibition and alcohol consumption." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2012. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/9153/.
Full textAbstract:
The current thesis aimed to explore the relationship between disinhibition and alcohol consumption in non-dependent drinkers. Specifically, whether (dis)inhibition can be considered a ‘state’ variable, which is responsive to motivational biases, cues and training. It was examined whether any fluctuations in (dis)inhibition could influence subsequent ad-libitum alcohol consumption, in sober individuals (de Wit, 2009). Furthermore, the effects of beliefs about disinhibition, exclusively in relation to alcohol-seeking, were also examined with respect to possible effects on alcohol-seeking. These general research questions were examined in a heavy drinking, student population. Chapter One discussed in detail the relationship between disinhibition and alcohol consumption by examining evidence from relevant models of addiction. Chapter Two described the general methods used in the experimental chapters of the thesis. In the first experimental chapter (Chapter Three) individuals were primed with different motivational biases on how to respond on a stop-signal task, before ad-libitum consumption was measured. Different motivational biases led to group differences in inhibition performance, it was demonstrated that a restrained mental set led to a reduction in alcohol consumption in the laboratory. Expanding this finding, Chapter Four examined the effect of these motivational biases on neuropsychophysiological measures (Event Related Potentials and Source dipole analyses) of inhibitory control; associations between inhibition indices and ad-libitum consumption were discussed. Chapter Five set out to examine whether inhibitory control could be trained specifically to alcohol cues, and whether this training could serve to reduce alcohol consumption in the laboratory (Experiment One and Two) and outside the laboratory (Experiment One) in response to emerging research (Houben et al 2011a). Two different types of inhibition training, motor and oculomotor, were compared in this chapter. Results demonstrated some success for motor, but not oculomotor inhibition, in both training behaviour and reductions in alcohol consumption, highlighting the fundamental differences in these constructs. Chapter Six examined whether alcohol cues could cause disinhibition in heavy social drinkers, but found no evidence for cue-related disinhibition. However, some evidence for disinhibition and cue-reactivity was established and possible methodological issues discussed. In the final experimental chapter (Chapter Seven) restraint beliefs were examined in relation to ad-libitum alcohol consumption. It was found that beliefs could influence ad-libitum alcohol-seeking, however results were at first glance paradoxical to behavioural research. The overall results of this thesis offer some of the first experimental support for the causal relationship between state disinhibition and alcohol consumption in sober, non-dependent individuals. Support was offered for the theories of addiction that postulate the association between disinhibition and alcohol consumption, specifically recent models that suggest disinhibition is a state which can influence drinking behaviour. Finally, support for recent theories that suggest targeting controlled processes may serve to reduce alcohol consumption in populations at high risk for alcohol abuse.
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Lourenço, Sandra Cristina de Loureiro. "Alcohol consumption and obesity." Dissertação, Porto : edição de autor, 2009. http://catalogo.up.pt/F?func=find-b&find_code=SYS&request=000133186.
Full textAbstract:
Dissertação de Mestrado em Nutrição Clínica apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências da Nutrição e Alimentação da Universidade do PortoResumo da tese: Enquadramento: O facto de o álcool ser o segundo componente alimentar com maior densidade energética sustenta a ideia de que consumos elevados ou mesmo moderados, a longo prazo, possam contribuir para o aumento da ingestão energética, e consequentemente conduzir a um aumento do índice de massa corporal dos indivíduos. A variabilidade da ingestão de álcool existente na população Portuguesa permite observar amplitudes de exposição suficientes para melhor estudar esta relação. Objectivo: Quantificação da associação entre a prevalência de obesidade e a ingestão de etanol, numa amostra urbana de adultos portugueses. Métodos: A amostra seleccionada aleatoriamente, era constituída por 2372 indivíduos adultos (mulheres e homens), na avaliação de obesidade total e por 2383 (mulheres e homens), na avaliação de obesidade central. Estes indivíduos faziam parte da coorte do estudo EPIPorto. Inquiridores treinados procederam à aplicação de um questionário estruturado e avaliação de parâmetros sócio-demográficos e antropométricos. Foi definida obesidade total como o Indice de massa corporal (IMC) peso (kg) /altura (m)2) igual ou superior a 30 kg.m2 e central valores de perímetro da cintura (PC) superior a 88 cm ou 102 cm, para mulheres e homens, respectivamente. A ingestão de etanol foi estimada através de um questionário semi-quantitativo de frequência de alimentos, previamente validado, referente ao ano anterior à entrevista, e ao longo da vida. Os indivíduos foram classificados em 4 classes de ingestão de etanol (g/dia): 0; 0, 1-15,0; 15,0; 30,0 nas mulheres e 0; 0,1-30,0; 30,1-60,0; 60,0 nos homens.
Thesis abstract: Background: The high alcohol consumption in Portugal, and the high energy content of alcoholic beverages, makes alcohol a potential contributor to the obesity. Objective: To evaluate the association between ethanol consumption and overall and central obesity in adults of an urban Portuguese population. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis included 2372 for evaluate overall obesity and 2383 for central obesity. The participants were randomly selected from Porto in-habitants (age: 18 years) enrolled in EPIPorto Study (1999-2003). Trained interviewers applied a questionnaire comprising information on social, demographic, behavioural characteristics, and anthropometrical measures were recorded. Data on ethanol intake were obtained by using a validated semi- quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Subjects were classified in to 4 classes of ethanol intake (g/day):0; 0.1-15.0; 15.1-30.0 ;: 30.0 in women and 0; 0.1-30.0; 30.1-60.0 ;: 60.0 in men. Overall obesity was considered when the body mass index (BMI) was: 30.0 kg/m2 , central obesity, if Waist Circumference (WC) was higher than 88 cm or 102 cm, for women and men respectively. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using unconditional logistic regression with separate models fitted for sex. Results: Prevalence of ethanol intake higher than 30g/day for women and 60g/day for men, was 5.3% in obese women vs. 3.3% in non obese, and 28.4% in obese men vs. 15.8% in non obese. After adjustment for age, education, BMI, smoking, energy intake and sports practice, men who consumed more than 60g/day were more frequently obese (overall) comparing with non drinkers (OR=1.64, 95% CI: 1.33-5.22).
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McClain, William David Ross. "The Reality of Consumption." Thesis, University of Iowa, 1998. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/5376.
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Pietrini, Filippo. "Three essays on consumption." Doctoral thesis, Università di Siena, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/11365/1213874.
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The common thread running through these three chapters is definitely the issue of consumption.
I think it has always fascinated me first of all because the society I grew up in was strongly characterised by consumption as language. I constantly saw it as a communication system, a way making the meanings circulate in our societies, diachronically comparable to the myths and the circulation of goods in primitive societies; and synchronically to the media and advertising. Ways of making the sense flow and ensuring a certain circulation of the information in a group. Secondly, it fascinated me as empirical challenge and resistance to the rationalisation of society in the Weberian sense. In other words, economic theories of choice are demonstrably poorly explanatory about consumption.
Economic analyses, both heterodox and neoclassical, have always leaked a rationalism that in the best cases is reduced to methodological exigencies, in the worst ones it is blatantly ideological. I mean that, despite loving moral motivations, the heterodoxes expressed with the same code of the orthodoxes, trying to confute the latter’s position through their own language. Thus relying on the same idea of what is objective (and therefore scientific?) and what is not, without discussing the complexity implied by the concept of objectivity is in a social science. If this rationalisation, this operational fiction, can still be implemented at the level of material production (even if a whole theory of economic reproduction is missing), it becomes impossible for consumption; in the sense that it turn into a blatantly forced and not explanatory abstraction scheme. Consumption in fact has, and always had, an existential and anthropological dimension that cannot be ascribed to deterministic natural laws (Weber actually showed that even for the spirit of production such hypotheses can be made). The typical response of economics is that it is interested in the quantitative and not in the qualitative aspect of consumption. One of the aims of this thesis is to argue that such an abstraction is misleading, since the quality (the reasons for choice, the meaning/representation given to goods and services) influences the quantity and vice versa.
So one reason why consumption fascinates me is definitely its ability to question the rationalisation typical of economics. Indeed, in consumerist societies, it tends to become ’an economy of meanings’, where hard work is confined to areas where it is cheap and consumption goes hand in hand with other imaginative/emotional creating activities (such as narratives and images) in generating economic value.
Other general motivations leading me to explore this issue concern the central role of consumption in contemporary societies, now widely recognised by sociology and other social sciences. Indeed, it has been increasingly complementary to production both as a moral and as a means of defining the social identity of individuals: signs of consumption, media, and images are increasingly a place whereby value and identities are produced and through which companies characterise themselves.
Consumption is also interesting in my opinion because of the blurring boundary with production that it has for contemporaries, especially from my generation onwards. The workforce becomes object of marketing, of merchandising. Thinking about social media, an individual unpacking a product (or using a service) in cam, to advertise it or himself, is consuming, but he is also working.
Consumption provides the alibi to work while having fun, where ’having fun’ means consuming and therefore getting excited, proposing emotions, producing feelings. Professional reviewers, food
bloggers, influencers, commercial agents, personal trainers (and other jobs that presuppose body
care), tour operators who give tips on social networks without taking any of the risks typical of the
classic intermediary; there are many examples of the mixing between consumption and production.
Even the predisposition to work, i.e. the display of signs of predisposition (to work, sacrifice and so on) are indicators of the fact that production itself joined the consumption signs system. In other words, in today’s society, one not only works, but also does the act of working, of producing.
Many jobs are to a lesser or greater extent influenced by a logic of consumption as a communicative system. Varying the title of a well-known Goffman’s essay in a performative key, one could say: ’the maximisation of the presentation of the self in every day life’.
On the other hand, there is a parallelism between the moralities of consumption and of produc tion, in the sense that consumption as moral (of enjoyment), as fun morality (and not as desire fulfilment, because there is an ideological aspect in the fun morality, as there was in the Puritan work ethic) also provides the conditions for working, for producing. Put in another way, modern man can, and often prefers, to work by consuming than to work by working; there are many such possibilities in a society where people spend a lot of time on the media and, in general, where the logic of communication tends to invade the whole of social sphere, with its law of variability and its need of innovation to avoid semantic wear and tear. For instance, the attitude (or habitus) of frequently changing jobs and tasks, if not nation, in order to renew oneself and put oneself back into the game, is a sentiment that finds an ethical origin in the same consumption sign system as self-production and that translates into a collective attitude towards job-market mobility, mobility that ultimately serves a globalised production. This is not to say that there are not people who take pleasure in moving around, getting to know new places and changing jobs, but that statistically there is part of the population that undergoes this morality and internalises it ideologically.
The etymology of consumption reveals an ambivalent and interesting nature on its own. The word comes from two Latin verbs that in Italian were confused by assonance: cons`umere which gives the sense of wearing out, reducing to nothing, and consummare (cum-summa) which instead means to finish, to accomplish, but in the sense of giving perfection and fulfilment. This is why consumption has been said to have a paradoxical nature (Silverstone (2000)). Insofar as on the one hand it refers to an individual fulfilling a desire, on the other hand it necessarily links enjoyment to wear, tear and destruction. As Aldridge (2003) writes: ”consumption is experienced by people as something that simultaneously offers possibilities and imposes constraints”. That is, on the one hand it is a mean of expression, but on the other hand we are bounded by the expressive code itself, i.e. goods/services.
The paradox has also been declined by Appadurai (1988), who points out how in our societies we need to transform goods into commodities, to then ’demercify’, personalise them, expressing (or appropriating of) meanings in everyday life.
Another trigger of this thesis is that the way consumption is theorised by economists is important because it has implications in terms of fiscal and environmental policies.
I also agree with Mary Douglas when she writes that ”if we do not know why people need luxuries [i.e. goods beyond the needs of survival] and what use they make of them, we are a long way from taking the problems of inequality seriously.
The first chapter is an essay on consumption and the method used is simply the exegesis of the text. The second is an agent-based application (models mainly used in the financial literature) to a sociological context and in particular to the sociology of consumption. The model shows how con sumption dynamics can be out of equilibrium without assumptions about the primary or secondary nature of goods and needs. The third is an empirical text analysis exercise applied to academic economics papers on consumption. The aim is to understand, mainly through language, which are (if any) the differences between orthodox (neoclassical/behavioral) and heterodox (mainly institu tionalist/behavioral) theories in analysing the topic.
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Zufacchi, Ylenia <1994>. "Face consumption in China." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/14775.
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This research paper will discuss about the role and the influence of face consumption on the Chinese buying decision process. In recent years the rapid growth of the luxury market and the social needs in modern China are a consequence of the important role played by the face and the related concept of face consumption “面子消费”. Many researchers demonstrated that Chinese’s desire for luxury goods is driven by distinctive cultural factors, one of the most important cultural value that emphasizes the social recognition and the need to display the wealth and social status is the face: mianzi. Face is described as a combination of prestige, reputation, social status and dignity that an individual has and shows to the others. As the luxury brand products carry the symbols of status, wealth and success, most Chinese consumers believe that buying a luxury product can enhance their self-image and build social reputation. That’s the reason why many of these purchases are not done for practical needs but merely to show off and increase the social identity. However, it should be underlined that not all Chinese behave in the same way because the young generation, for example, doesn’t need to show off since they cherish uniqueness and quality. On the other hand, the growing middle-class groups pay close attention to brands of luxury goods with popular logos because they believe that the ownership of these products will create an opportunity to become a member of the elite social circles. The overall objective of this research is to explain how mianzi is one of the leading reasons causing differences in luxury consumption between Chinese and the consumers from major developed Western countries. Additionally, the paper seeks to demonstrate that when the Chinese middle class has to choose between an unknown quality product, toward which they are uneducated, and a famous brand, they will always buy the famous one only to show off and declare their wealth. In order to demonstrate it, the final part of the study will analyze, by conducting a questionnaire, how the Chinese consumers which are not well educated to prosecco and champagne, if given the choice, will opt for champagne because of its prestige and not for prosecco which is merely viewed as its “poorer version”.
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FREIRE, LUCIANA DE ABREU. "WINE CONSUMPTION IN POSTMODERNITY: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF CONSUMPTION APPROACH." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2010. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=17112@1.
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PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIROA sensação de súbita popularidade do vinho no Rio de Janeiro é comum. De uns tempos para cá, multiplicou-se o número de revistas especializadas, blogs, sites na Internet, colunas em jornais de grande circulação, cursos e grupos de degustações, lojas, livros e guias de compra de vinho. Uma das conseqüências que pode ser notada em números é o aumento do consumo da bebida no Brasil. De acordo com dados da IBRAVIN – Instituto Brasileiro do Vinho – de 2004 para 2009, a importação de vinhos finos aumentou em 58%. O objetivo desse estudo é lançar um olhar para as significações e representações do vinho por meio de uma abordagem baseada na antropologia do consumo para se entender o aumento de interesse por esse produto nas classes altas do Rio de Janeiro. Compreender a atratividade do vinho para esse público é de grande relevância tanto para academia como para as empresas do setor. Foi realizada uma revisão de literatura sobre a sociedade pós-moderna e suas transformações mais recentes, assim como uma pesquisa de campo qualitativa, que contou com entrevistas em profundidade e com observação participante, para se entender o lugar do vinho no imaginário do consumidor. Ao final, se relacionou essas mudanças da dinâmica social e as significações desse produto para o consumidor pós-moderno para decifrar o aumento da atratividade do vinho. Os resultados sugerem que o vinho representa e significa aspirações que, segundo as teorias sociais, o sujeito pós-moderno tem: a imagem do vinho está associada à sofisticação, ao status, à tradição, à experiência, ao prazer, à cultura e à sociabilidade.
The feeling that the wine has gained sudden popularity in Rio de Janeiro is common. For some time, the number of specialized magazines, blogs, websites, articles in major newspapers, courses and groups of tastings, stores, books and guides has multiplied. One of the consequences that can be noticed in figures is the increase of drink consumption in Brazil. According to data from IBRAVIN – Brazilian Wine Institute – from 2004 to 2009 – the import of wine has increased by 58%. The goal of this study is to take a look at the meanings and representations of the wine through an approach based on the anthropology of consumption, to understand the increase of interest in this product by the upper classes in Rio de Janeiro. To understand why this product is so attractive to this public is of great relevance to the academy and to the companies. There has been a literary review on post-modern society and on its most recent transformations, as well as a qualitative field research which included in-depth interviews and participant observation, to understand which place the wine occupies in the consumers imaginary. Ultimately, the changes in the social dynamic were related to the meanings this product has to the post-modern consumer to decipher the increased attractiveness of the wine. The results suggest that the wine represents and means aspirations that, according to social theories, the post-modern individual has: the image of the wine is associated to sophistication, status, tradition, experience, pleasure, culture and sociability.
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Fernandes, Pedro Manuel Simões. "Consumer reaction to sustainable food consumption : motivations shaping meat consumption frequency in semi-vegetarians." Master's thesis, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/19723.
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Mestrado em MarketingA maior consciencialização da população sobre a necessidade de diminuir o consumo de carne é uma realidade dos dias de hoje. A indústria pecuária gera cerca de 14,5% das emissões de gases responsáveis pelo efeito de estufa, sendo atualmente o segundo maior emissor dos gases responsáveis por este fenómeno e, por inerência, um dos principais causadores das alterações climáticas. Adicionalmente, a causa do bem-estar animal e a relação do consumo excessivo de carne a doenças crónico-degenerativas são alguns dos exemplos que têm levado a mudanças no comportamento de alguns consumidores em relação ao consumo de carne. Neste estudo, motivações para o consumo de carne foram investigadas em omnívoros que reduzem significativamente o consumo de carne, mais conhecidos como semi-vegetarianos. Este estudo, que teve lugar em Portugal, utilizou uma abordagem quantitativa, obtendo, através de um questionário online e autoadministrado, uma amostra de 442 semi-vegetarianos com o objetivo de avaliar como as motivações relacionadas com a saúde, o prazer associado ao consumo de carne (hedónico), aspectos sociais, o ambiente e o bem-estar animal, influenciam a frequência do consumo de carne. Os resultados sugerem que a frequência do consumo de carne em semi-vegetarianos é melhor explicada por motivações hedónicas (impacto positivo no consumo de carne) e por motivações relacionadas com a saúde (impacto negativo no consumo de carne). Motivações relacionadas com a causa ambiental e a causa animal não parecem ser relevantes para explicar a frequência de consumo de carne neste estudo.
Increasing public awareness of the need to reduce meat consumption is a reality nowadays. The livestock industry accounts for about 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions, currently being the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases and, inherently, one of the main drivers of climate change. Additionally, the animal welfare cause and the relation between excessive meat consumption and noncommunicable diseases (NCD's) are some of the examples that have led to changes in the behaviour of some consumers regarding meat consumption. In this study, motivations about meat consumption were tested in omnivores that significantly reduce meat consumption, better known as semi-vegetarians. This study, which took place in Portugal, was conducted using a quantitative approach, obtaining, through an online self-administered questionnaire, a sample of 442 semi-vegetarians with the purpose of assessing how motivations related to health, pleasure associated with meat consumption (hedonic), social aspects, environment and animal welfare, influence meat consumption frequency. The results suggest that the frequency of meat consumption in semi-vegetarians is best explained by hedonic motivations (positive impact on meat consumption) and health-related motivations (negative impact on meat consumption). Environmental and animal causes do not seem to be relevant in explaining meat consumption frequency in this study.
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Lansdell, Keith (Ronald Keith) Carleton University Dissertation Economics. "The Hendry approach to the consumption function; interpretation and application to Canada." Ottawa, 1992.
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Castañeda, William G. Larson Harold J. "Shipboard electrical consumption profile analysis /." Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School; Available from the National Technical Information Service, 1991. http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/1991/Sep/91Sep_Castaneda.pdf.
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Campbell, Isaac. "Discourse Analysis of Sustainable Consumption." Thesis, Karlstad University, Faculty of Social and Life Sciences, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-340.
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In the following C-Level Thesis, the geographically isolated consumer society that has evolved in the developed world is examined through discourse analysis. This research frames the issue of material consumption in a historical context and then interrogates the modern task of sustainability. Through review and analysis of current discourse in the sociopolitical field of sustainable consumption, this paper critically analyzes the development of modern consumer culture. The concept of ecological citizenship is presented and inspected as an effective strategy for the realization of sustainability and is viewed as a unifier of the many conflicting discourses on sustainable consumption. The dominant institutional discourse of ecological modernization is presented through a review of UK policy documents, and the opinions as well as alternative solutions touted by critics is noted. This paper finds that ideal of ecological citizenship has not yet been reached, but positive steps have been taken to achieve the goal of sustainability through curbing consumptive habits. In this presentation of sustainable consumption discourse it is important to recognize that there may be no absolute answer or right way to live on this planet, but rather, many ways which can, together, bring about a sustainable society.
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Alghadhi, Mostafa. "Validation of vehicle fuel consumption." Thesis, University of Huddersfield, 2015. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/24697/.
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The state of environmental degradation demands that factors contributing to it be looked into. A chief cause of environmental degradation is exhaust emissions from vehicles, especially passenger cars. This paper attempts to quantify the relationship between vehicle fuel emissions and the various factors that contribute to it such as speed, acceleration, throttle position etc. The central contention was to come up with anempirical correlation that could be used to reliably tabulate the fuel consumption of a passenger vehicle. The derivation of an empirical correlation between vehicle fuel consumption and the factors contributing to it would allow an optimisation of vehicle fuel consumption to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Using a comparison of different driving cycles, the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) was taken as the basic framework for testing. The research was carried out in two different phases i.e. laboratory testing and real life drive tests. Laboratory testing was utilised to generate the major parameters that affected vehicle fuel consumption. This was then used to derive an empirical correlation that was then tested in the field to determine its validity. The proposed empirical correlation was tested against real life driving conditions which proved the reliability of the empirical correlation. A number of different driving conditions were simulated including urban driving, extra urban driving and highway driving. The varied testing scheme ensured that the empirical correlation was valid for various driving situations at the same time. The derivation of such an empirical correlation through this work removed one of the chief defects of different driving cycles which was the lack of standardisation for testing. With the application of this tested model it would be easier and convenient to control pollution considerably through additional research in the future.
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Pham, Hai Chung. "Brand consumption in contemporary Vietnam." Thesis, Bournemouth University, 2015. http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/24523/.
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This study aims to explore the features of a particular transnational consumer culture in Vietnam – the younger generation of urban consumers a consumer culture that is shaped by the recent political history of post-socialist era in Vietnam and the country’s economic transition. The research pays particular attention to ways in which globalizing processes in relation to consumption are negotiated and interpreted at the micro level i.e. the level of the consumer. Focusing, in particular, on the influence of brand consumption upon identity, it seeks to understand how these aspirational consumers within the two largest cities in Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, define and make sense of themselves as a new emerging consumer force. Assuming a qualitative research orientation, the study uses an interpretivist approach and case study methods to offer in-depth insight into the meaning-making practices of consumers within the context of the Vietnamese ' global' city, and the inter-relationships between globalisation and locality. Surveys were carried out among 600 Vietnamese respondents (610 distributed) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, to understand precisely the identity work of urban youth through brand consumption. This data was supported by in-depth interviews with 16 urban middle-class and follow-up participant observation to explore the varied ways in which these consumers use and attach symbolic meanings to the products they consume to affirm their social identity, as well as the influence of local and transnational media on brand choices. The findings presented via thematic analysis relate to the emerging themes of Consumption Practices and Identity work (Self, Face and Conformity). The survey results addressing the choices and opinions of CO (country-of-origin) among urban consumers indicate their attitudes toward Chinese brands, Domestic brands and Western brands, specific to the Vietnamese historical, political, economic and socio-cultural context. The findings also suggest that these urban consumers increasingly attach themselves to products to affirm their social status. They believe in ‘material goods bring happiness’ and willingly pay for the latest ‘must-have’ brands. The 'self' in relation to the group or community is important and ways of consuming might be likened to an act of wearing a ‘mask’ by the consumer, which can be ‘loudly’ or ‘quietly’ displayed to fit in favourably with a particular social circle. The thesis concludes by bringing to the fore a discussion of the potential and existent tension of the traditional values and state doctrine in the formation of new consumer culture in Vietnam. The study bridges the gap between local experience and transnational cultural forces by linking features of consumption-based identity to specific agendas associated with the Vietnamese historical, political, economic and socio-cultural context. The research’s insights about class integrated with consumerism can be of value to marketing and advertising professionals in emerging markets.
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Spash, Clive L., and Karin Dobernig. "Theories of (Un)sustainable Consumption." WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 2017. http://epub.wu.ac.at/5513/1/sre%2Ddisc%2D2017_04.pdf.
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In this discussion paper we review and contrast alternative theories of consumption in terms
of the intellectual basis they provide for understanding sustainable behaviours. A defining
aspect of the modern literature in this field is the emphasis on the individual as a volitional
agent who engages wilfully in the decision to consume. This is in stark contrast to earlier
literature that concentrated on the structural lock-in of individuals to undesirable consumption
patterns and the powers of corporations in creating consumer demand for their products and
services. We argue that, in order to unravel consumption in its full complexity, and as a
matter of utmost importance, understanding must include both the buy-in of individual agents,
whose consumption activities contribute to their self-identity, and the structure imposed by
the institutions of society, that frame the context of actors' decisions. More than this, any
move away from the current unsustainable consumption patterns prevalent in modern
societies requires a richer conceptualisation of consumption that involves an awareness and
examination of the political economy in which humans live.Series: SRE - Discussion Papers
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Mishra, Satchidananda. "Life consumption monitoring for electronics." College Park, Md. : University of Maryland, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1903/51.
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Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2003.Thesis research directed by: Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.
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Wilke, Claas, Sebastian Richly, Christian Piechnick, Sebastian Götz, Georg Püschel, and Uwe Aßmann. "Comparing Mobile Applications' Energy Consumption." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2013. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-101525.
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As mobile devices are nowadays used regularly and everywhere, their energy consumption has become a central concern for their users. However, mobile applications often do not consider energy requirements and users have to install and try them to reveal information on their energy behavior. In this paper, we compare mobile applications from two domains and show that applications reveal different energy consumption while providing similar services. We define microbenchmarks for emailing and web browsing and evaluate applications from these domains. We show that non-functional features such as web page caching can but not have to have a positive influence on applications' energy consumption.
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Murata, Keiko. "The consumption function in Japan." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.410878.
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Lattimore, Ralph G. "Consumption and saving in Australia." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.358515.
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Castaneda, William G. "Shipboard electrical consumption profile analysis." Thesis, Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/30973.
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Approved for public release, distribution unlimitedDepartment of Navy energy consumption reduction goals have been established for afloat commands and shore installations in order to keep pace with the ever increasing demand and high cost of energy resources. This study examines electrical power consumption data for various Pacific Fleet ships berthed at Naval Station, San Diego, CA. during the period 1 Jan. 1990- 19 Jun 1991, in an effort to construct daily ship consumption profiles from averaged data. These daily profiles are compared for ships of the same class by means of graphical and statistical analysis in order to determine how well daily class profiles will be able to accurately estimate consumption and subsequent costs. Utility savings examples are also discussed with use of these profiles. Class and individual ship daily profiles are constructed from the analysis for the purpose of being useful as a budget forecasting tool for the U.S. Pacific Fleet Comptroller and also as means to examine ways to efficiently use electricity in the future.
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Kastanakis, Minas N. "Explaining variation in luxury consumption." Thesis, City University London, 2010. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/8695/.
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This PhD study extends the existing knowledge on the consumption of luxuries, by bringing together the conspicuous consumption and luxury consumption literature with self-concept and trait theory, in order to develop a conceptual framework that explains the phenomenon of luxury consumption from a consumer behaviour perspective. The model developed in this study describes and explains a) the psychological antecedents of luxury consumption in the form of a general – personal or social – selfconcept orientation, as well as in the form of various luxury-specific individual traits, and b) describes and explains a range of different consumption patterns of luxury goods. It is shown how an individual’s self-concept impacts a variety of luxury consumption behaviours via these mediating trait mechanisms. This integrative and parsimonious model helps in understanding the behaviour of these consumers and assists managers a) to better segment their markets, and b) predict consumer reactions to changes in their offering or communications, based on the interaction of multiple controllable drivers of luxury product consumption. This study offers significant theoretical contributions, as well as having important practical implications. It is the first to: a) conceptualize and empirically verify a comprehensive model that explains both the dispositions and the behaviour of the consumers of luxury goods; b) shed more light and detail in an overall proposed personal vs. social orientation to luxury consumption; c) describe and explain in detail the various personality traits of the consumers of luxury goods; and d) delineate and demonstrate empirically the various behavioural patterns of such consumers.
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Gross, Laura Elizabeth. "Changes in UK alcohol consumption." Thesis, University of Hull, 2004. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:6983.
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This project examines longitudinal alcohol data gathered from the Health and Lifestyle Surveys (HALS) of 1984/5 (HALS1) and 199112 (HALS2) and considers different models to suit different types of response variables. We investigate changes in alcohol consumption and habits between the first and second Health and Lifestyle Surveys and concentrate on examining methods for large longitudinal data sets with sizeable amounts of missing data. Using three distinct approaches to suit the response type, we considered population averaged marginal models for binary responses, in particular, the generalized estimating equations (GEE's) of Liang and Zeger. Since missing data is commonplace in the HALS data, the GEE's must be adapted to take account of this. Hence, the idea of weighted general generalized estimating equations (WGEE) arises. Secondly, we modelled the changes in drinking patterns over time for various groups of the population using multi-category response variables. Based on transitional models, multinomial logit models were used which allow a multi-category rather than just a binary response variable to be used. Finally, we considered general linear mixed models that examine changes over time in continuous variables, in our case, the numbers of units of alcohol consumed per week. In addition to this, we applied a goodness-of-fit test for longitudinal data, devised by Horton et al. (1999), to our WGEE models. We found this test to have several drawbacks, which we investigated further using simulations generated in the R programming language. Our results showed several interesting patterns. In particular, although men consume more alcohol than women, the rate at which women were increasing their consumption was steeper than for males between HALS 1 and HALS2. Furthermore, we saw that older females who drink heavily and have a potential addiction to alcohol are more likely to remain this way than younger people. This thesis examines not only changes in alcohol consumption between the HALS but also looks at possible ways of analysing large scale alcohol surveys.
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Ercolani, Marco G. "Price uncertainty, investment and consumption." Thesis, University of Essex, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.265023.
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