Consuming Country Research Articles

Immigrant Consumption Behaviors: A Systematic Integrative Review and Future Research Agenda

This article explores the concept of “immigrant consumption behavior (ICB)” in the context of its holistic surroundings. The study investigated the current dynamics and scientometrics of the research field regarding immigrant consumption behaviors. Using an integrative approach employing bibliometric and content analysis, it scrutinized a collection of 224 studies from the Web of Science and Scopus databases to detect the field evolution, disciplinary distribution thematic map, and emerging trends in the ICB literature, as well as to forecast research directions. The results showed that ICB is a multi- and inter-disciplinary research area that experienced three phases of growth between 1989 and 2023: initiation (1989–2006), development (2007–2012), and consolidation (2013–now). The thematic analysis revealed five current trends, i.e., (1) the immigrant consumption behavior domain, (2) the demographic sub-groups of immigrants and related consuming products, (3) country-, region-, and cultural-focused studies, (4) the effects of culture and the acculturation process, and (5) the impact of urbanization. Each theme contains a number of sub-themes. Based on the current thematic evolution and keyword burst analysis, this paper suggests a number of critical research directions, comprising (1) observatory studies including remittances, China, ethnic minorities, lifestyle, inequality, urbanization, and food consumption; (2) context-based studies focused on socioeconomic, cultural, legal, and environmental factors; (3) studies based on compensatory and compromissory consumption behavior; (4) studies focused on sustainable and green consumption behaviors; and (5) studies regarding the behavior of specific demographic co-ethnic communities. The results have great implications for developing interventions and programs that can support immigrant populations in making appropriate consumption patterns and adapting to new cultural environments. The paper pushes forward the ICB investigation from individual empirical studies to synthesis-based research, which (1) provides an ample overview of the ICB literature, (2) identifies research priorities, emerging trends, and gaps, (3) proposes new research avenues for investigation, and (4) outlines expected contributions. The research contributes to a variety of disciplines through the provision of new knowledge, since ICB studies are multidisciplinary in nature. It also has numerous implications for policymakers and practitioners.

China's provincial-level sustainable energy transition requires accelerating renewable energy technological innovation

In energy economics, little attention has been paid to the impact of renewable energy technological innovation (RETI) on sustainable energy transition in a large energy-producing and consuming country such as China. Using the Chinese provincial panel dataset from 2000 to 2018, we examine the impact of RETI on sustainable energy transition. We find that RETI positively drives sustainable energy transition in Chinese provinces, but the driving effect gradually diminishes with the increase in per capita income. In the energy-poor regions, RETI has a significant driving impact on sustainable energy transition, but not in the energy-rich regions; moreover, this driving effect in the western region is significantly more potent than that in the eastern region. The mechanism identification results reveal that RETI significantly improves energy system performance and energy structure optimization. In contrast, RETI has a more significant effect on the former. In this study, we provide a novel perspective to identify the driving path of sustainable energy transition in Chinese provinces.

The Biodiversity Footprint of German Soy-Imports in Brazil

By importing agricultural commodities, Germany causes ecological impacts in other countries. One of these impacts is the loss of biodiversity in the producing regions. This paper presents a new method that combines agricultural trade data with land cover and biodiversity data to assess these effects within an agricultural supply chain, in a spatially explicit manner. It considers the current state of biodiversity expressed by the biodiversity intactness index (BII) of the producing region as well as changes over time. As an example, the impacts of German soy imports from Brazil were assessed for the time steps 2004, 2011 and 2018. In the first step, the soybean cultivation area used for exports to Germany was assigned to the respective municipalities by using the TRASE database. In the second step, a GIS-based analysis was conducted to determine the resulting impacts on biodiversity. In 2018, 70% of German soy imports from Brazil originated from municipalities with ecosystems that are not intact anymore (50%) or even severely disturbed (20%). Total German soy imports from Brazil in 2018 reduced the BII by 0.03 percent points compared to 1997. The main advantage of the presented method is that the biodiversity impact is quantifiable for both a commodity and the consuming country.

PENGARUH PRODUKSI KEDELAI, HARGA KEDELAI IMPOR, DAN NILAI TUKAR TERHADAP IMPOR KEDELAI INDONESIA TAHUN 2011-2020

Indonesia is the 11th largest soybean consuming country in the world at 3 million tons after China, America, Argentina, and Brazil. The increasing demand for soybeans in the country is due to the increasing population and demand for soybeans. However, it is not balanced with soybean reserves that farmers are capable of producing, so imports are the way out. In addition to low soybean production, the price of imported soybeans and the exchange rate of the USD against the Rupiah also affected Indonesia's soybean imports. This study aims to determine the effect of soybean production, imported soybean prices, and exchange rates on soybean imports in 2011-2020. This type of research is a quantitative study with a sample of 40 quarterly data from 2011-2020. The research method used is multiple linear regression with the ordinary least square model. The results of this study show that soybean production, imported soybean prices, and exchange rates simultaneously have a significant effect on soybean imports. Partially soybean production and imported soybean prices each had a significant negative effect on soybean imports, while the exchange rate did not have a significant effect on Indonesia's soybean imports in 2011-2020.

Global Diffusion of Technologies from China and the United States of America

International trade helps facilitate the diffusion of technologies across boundaries. Through exports, a technology from an innovation country is transmitted to a consuming country which translates to economic growth. To improve exports, governments resort to trade protectionism, trade agreements, and currency devaluation. When a country employs a combination of the methods beyond moderation, it will lead to a trade war, as with the case of China and the United States of America. This study used the Bass Model to estimate the rate of technology diffusion and the saturation level between the two countries to get a picture of which country would ultimately dominate global trade. The results show that while the U.S. initially dominated international trade, China’s high imitation parameter and shorter time to saturation point will allow it to dominate in the long run.

Pitfalls in international benchmarking of energy intensity across wastewater treatment utilities

The collection, treatment and disposal of wastewater is estimated to consume more than 2% of the world's electrical energy, whilst some wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) can account for over 20% of electrical consumption within municipalities. To investigate areas to improve wastewater treatment, international benchmarking on energy (electrical) intensity was conducted with the indicator kWh/m3 and a quality control of secondary treatment or better for ≥95% of treated volume. The core sample included 321 companies from 31 countries, however, to analyse regional differences, 11 countries from an external sample made up of various studies of WWTPs was also used in places. The sample displayed a weak-negative size effect with energy intensity, although Kruskal-Wallace analyses showed there was a significant difference between the size of groups (p-value of 0.015), suggesting that as companies get larger; they consume less electricity per cubic metre of wastewater treated. This relationship was not completely linear, as mid to large companies (10,001–100,000 customers) had the largest average consumption of 0.99 kWh/m3. In the regional analysis, EU states had the largest average kWh/m3 with 1.18, which appeared a result of the higher wastewater effluent standards of the region. This was supported by Denmark being the second largest average consuming country (1.35 kWh/m3), since it has some of strictest effluent standards in the world. Along with energy intensity, the associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were calculated enabling the targeting of regions for improvement in response to climate change. Poland had the highest carbon footprint (0.91 kgCO2e/m3) arising from an energy intensity of 0.89 kWh/m3; conversely, a clean electricity grid can affectively mitigate wastewater treatment inefficiencies, exemplified by Norway who emit just 0.013 kgCO2e per cubic meter treated, despite consuming 0.60 kWh/m3. Finally, limitations to available data and the analysis were highlighted from which, it is advised that influent vs. effluent and net energy, as opposed to gross, data be used in future analyses. The large international sample size, energy data with a quality control, GHG analysis, and specific benchmarking recommendations give this study a novelty which could be of use to water industry operators, benchmarking organisations, and regulators.

Grey prediction model based on carbon emission optimization

In the context of developing low-carbon economy to cope with climate change, China, as an economic power and energy consuming country, undertakes an important task of emission reduction. However, many factors, such as unreasonable industrial structure and energy consumption structure, have brought great challenges to the successful completion of China's carbon emission reduction task. In this paper, the entropy weight method is used to quantitatively analyze the relationship between the driving factors of carbon emission of energy structure and industrial structure and the result factors of carbon emission of energy consumption, and then the grey prediction model based on carbon emission optimization is established. According to the relationship between the driving factors and the result factors, the evolution law is summarized. At last, the advantages and disadvantages of the model are evaluated and summarized objectively. At the same time, the model can also provide reliable conclusions for the pollution of other polluting gases.

FEATURES OF THE IRAQI ECONOMY: COMPARTIVE STUDY TO SOME ECONOMIC ELEMENTS FOR THE YEARS (1990-1995-2000-2005-2010-2015-2019)

Iraq is considered as a rich country with multiple natural resources, but wars and financial and political crises led to the destruction of the country's infrastructure and prevented the investment and distribution of those recourses in a fair and just ways, as Iraq is still suffering from unemployment, poverty and lack of essential services which have stopped the wheel of industry and agricultural lands receded significantly, so the country transformed into a consuming country depends only on neighboring countries and industrialized countries to secure its agricultural and industrial needs. The results of the study were shocking as the Iraqi government depends mainly on exporting of oil to cover its operational and investment expenses in more than (85%), and neglected the rest of the economic sectors. As for poverty, the percentage of those who fall below the poverty line (23%) as well as the unemployment rate that exceeded (23%). The country's debt has recently reached ($133) billion, and the latest reports by Transparency International organization considered Iraq as one of the worst (20) countries in terms of administrative and financial corruption. Keywords: Iraqi economy, unemployment, poverty, investment, industry, oil exporting.

Evidence on the magnitude of the economic, health and population effects of palm cooking oil consumption: an integrated modelling approach with Thailand as a case study

BackgroundPalm oil’s high yields, consequent low cost and highly versatile properties as a cooking oil and food ingredient have resulted in its thorough infiltration of the food sector in some countries. Longitudinal studies have associated palm oil’s high saturated fatty acid content with non-communicable disease, but neither the economic or disease burdens have been assessed previously.MethodsThis novel palm oil-focussed disease burden assessment employs a fully integrated health, macroeconomic and demographic Computable General Equilibrium Model for Thailand with nine regional (urban/rural) households. Nutritional changes from food consumption are endogenously translated into health (myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke) and population outcomes and are fed back into the macroeconomic model as health and caregiver-related productive labour supply effects and healthcare costs to generate holistic 2016–2035 burden estimates. Model scenarios mirror the replacement of palm cooking oil with other dietary oils and are compared with simulated total Thai health and macroeconomic burdens for MI and stroke.ResultsReplacing consumption of palm cooking oil with other dietary oils could reduce MI/stroke incident cases by 8280/2639 and cumulative deaths by 4683/894 over 20 years, removing approximately 0.5% of the total Thai burden of MI/stroke. This palm cooking oil replacement would reduce consumption shares of saturated/monounsaturated fatty acids in Thai household consumption by 6.5%/3% and increase polyunsaturated fatty acid consumption shares by 14%, yielding a 1.74% decrease in the population-wide total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio after 20 years. The macroeconomic burden that would be removed is US$308mn, approximately 0.44% of the total burden of MI/stroke on Thailand’s economy or 0.003% of cumulative 20-year GDP. Bangkok and Central region households benefit most from removal of disease burdens.ConclusionsSimulations indicate that consumption of palm cooking oil, rather than other dietary oils, imposes a negative health burden (MI and stroke) and associated economic burden on a high consuming country, such as Thailand. Integrated sectoral model frameworks to assess these burdens are possible, and burden estimates from our simulated direct replacement of palm cooking oil indicate that using these frameworks both for broader analyses of dietary palm oil use and total burden analyses of other diseases may also be beneficial.

Talking About the Prevention and Control and Precautions of African Hog in China

African swine fever broke out in China for the first time. China is the world's largest pig breeding country and pork consuming country. Many farmers have insufficient professional knowledge. The traditional feeding mode has unclear understanding of the disease. The measures taken improperly speed up the epidemic. The outbreak has not only caused huge economic losses, but also caused widespread social effects. Many consumers talk about pig color change because they don’t understand it, causing waste of social resources. Pig prices are bound to rise and fall, and high-priced pork will directly affect Residents' consumption and food safety are related to every family. It is extremely important to control and eliminate the epidemic as soon as possible. At the same time, we must also recognize the essence and do all kinds of prevention work, especially in the post-epidemic era, and learn from the experience of shrimp. Strive to control the epidemic as soon as possible.

Uncovering a challenging case of adulterated commercial saffron

The analytical approach presented uncovers the type of adulteration of a commercial product labeled as “saffron”, sold packed in powder form in a major consuming country. Simple colorimetric and spectrometric tests included in the ISO 3632 trade standard indicated only that it was not “pure saffron”. The TLC and HPLC methods recommended in the same standard for the detection of artificial colorants were not applicable due to limited sample amount available. Since it could not be precluded that substances other than artificial colorants have been used, deeper investigation through metabolic fingerprinting was necessary to uncover chemical composition of the sample. The multistep workflow that exploited chromatographic (HPLC) and spectroscopic (UV–Vis, mid-infrared (FT-IR), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)) data from in-house databases uncovered a “tailor-made” case of 100% substitution of saffron by a mixture of exogenous chemical compounds in such a way that the commercial product would approximately mimic not only the appearance of saffron but also its UV–Vis spectrum and specific absorbance values. The findings indicated a sophisticated practice, including total substitution of saffron constituents by tartrazine and sunset yellow along with propane-1,2-diol, propan-2-ol and acylglycerols, probably as emulsifier agents. Interestingly, the perpetrators avoided the use of toxic compounds. To our knowledge such a type of fraud has not been elucidated so far.

Pesticide Residues and Wheat Farmer’s Cognition: A China Scenario

China is the largest wheat-producing and consuming country in the world, and pesticide residues that exceed the standard to different extent have a severe impact on wheat quality and consumer health. This research investigated the main factors affecting wheat farmers’ perception of pesticide residues in the samples of 464 wheat farmers in 12 counties of six districts in China based on the theory of planned behavior and structural equation model. According to the research, factors of individual characteristics, perceived behavior control, attitude toward the behavior and subjective norm all had significant impact on wheat farmers’ perception of pesticide residues. Moreover, significant interactions were observed between these factors.

The Drug Scene in Mexico and the Road Ahead

Mexico is a country affected by drugs in every aspect: it is a drug producing country of heroin, marihuana and methamphetamines, mainly for external markets but also for the growing internal demand; it is a transit country for cocaine that has found its way through the Central American and Mexican corridor on its way to external markets and for the internal supply. As a result of the increasing availability of substances and a favorable social environment, it has become a consuming country; drug experimentation use and dependence of illegal drugs, although still low, have increased. The abuse/dependence of legal substances such as alcohol and tobacco are the main substance abuse problems; only the abuse of pharmaceuticals remains low and relatively stable, mainly as a result of low availability for medical purposes and therefore limited scope for deviation. Social costs are considerable, as happens in other countries in the region, violence being the most prevailing characteristic of the drug scene, increasing from 2008 onwards. Within these important challenges for health and security, it is also true that significant, continuous efforts have been made by demand reduction programs at the national level since 1972 and adapted to the changing circumstances. This editorial seeks to tell the story of drug transitions in Mexico and the programs that have been implemented and discusses areas of opportunity for a new approach.

Comments: Global Demand Surge

Editor's column Energy statistics continue to confirm oil and gas industry conventional wisdom of the past several years—that global consumption shows no sign of stopping, which will put additional burdens on the industry and its people to pro-duce more energy amid challenging conditions. Last year, world energy consumption grew 5.6%, the largest percentage increase year over year since 1973, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2011, a well-known annual report on energy data and trends. Demand grew for all forms of energy in all regions. This reflects a sharp reversal of what happened in 2009, when countries across the globe were feeling the effects of recession. That year, global energy consumption decreased for the first time in 30 years, but that appears to be just a temporary dip in a longterm trajectory of rising demand in both industrialized and developing countries. Total consumption of energy surpassed the pre-recession peak of 2008, according to the BP report, and energy consumption is now growing faster than the world economy. China and India, whose demand did not slow during 2009, are showing an even stronger thirst for all types of energy. China’s share of global energy consumption now stands at 20%, making it the largest consuming country in the world, ahead of the US. Average oil prices in 2010 were the second highest on record, but that did not deter demand growth. Prices for natural gas, though, which is a much less fungible commodity, varied from region to region. Gas prices remained weak in North America because of the enormous growth in shale production. The outlook for gas appears bright. The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently offered the idea that the world could be entering a “golden age of gas” led by the growth in unconventional production. It predicts that over the next 25 years, 40% of global gas production will be from unconventional sources. Again, China is the leader. The IEA believes that China’s gas consumption could rise where it would equal total European Union demand by 2035. An interesting phenomenon is the growth in shale oil in North America. The IEA recently revised its expectations for US oil production, and now predicts that US oil output will rise 1 million b/d by 2016 because of the increase in unconventional oil production, an offshoot of the shale gas surge. That figure could climb to 2 million or 3 million b/d by 2020, the IEA said. The suggestion is that the technology that has unleashed the shale boom could offer the same benefit for the oil side. The US Geological Survey estimates that the largest shale oil deposit in the US, the Bakken in North Dakota, could contain as much as 4 billion bbl of recoverable oil, and the Three Forks formation nearby could contain 2 billion bbl in recoverable reserves.

Russian Oil Pipeline Strategy

The purpose of this paper is to describe the Russian pipeline policy and the counter-measures conducted by consuming countries, which provides a worthwhile lesson for Japan as a permanent energy importer. The nature of pipelines is to form a “natural monopoly” because of the huge investments required and superiority taking precedence against late comers. Russia, the second largest oil producer in the world, has constructed oil exporting networks to ports on the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea as well as an inland pipeline system to Eastern Europe, named “Druzhba”. The latter system has worked to keep Eastern Europe as an isolated economic realm separated from the western world, because this region can not afford to purchase crude oil from the international market due to a lack of hard currency. Russia also has plans to construct several new pipelines to not only cope with future oil demands but to expand transport capacities and access future oil markets. These new pipelines will make use of Russia's geographical characteristics to face the lucrative market of Europe and also the emerging market of Northeast Asia by expanding pipeline infrastructure. Among Russia's planned new pipelines there is a new oil supply system from East Siberia to the Pacific Ocean (ESPO) planned to access new markets in Northeast Asia. Construction has started from Taishet to Skovorodino, however China has been facing a difficulty to agree with Russia in constructing a cross-border oil pipeline from Skovorodino to Daqing because of a precaution by Russia over a so-called “hold-up problem” (making a pipeline to a single country makes the consuming country stronger aginst the supplying country). It is necessary for Russia to construct a dual supply system, i.e. one for the Pacific Ocean and the other for China (the Daqing Spur). Meanwhile, China finally reached agreement with Russia to construct a cross-border oil pipeline from Skovorodino to Daqing with a contribution of a $25B soft loan to Rosneft and Transneft, an example of the success of a difficult project through financial participation by the consuming country. Any pipeline eventually creates a political effect on production, transit and consuming countries, but pipelines are capital intensive infrastructures for which the decisions are made based on the economics and stabilities of operations, not on political effects. On the other hand, politics or consistent engagement by governments is a unique driving force to establish large scale infrastructures such as cross-border pipelines that will contribute to regional stability and prosperity.JFL Classification: N54, N74, N75

Export–Oriented Foreign Direct Investment and Local Content Requirement

We develop a model in which foreign firms locate in a host country and export their produce to another (consuming) country. We consider both exogenous and endogenous numbers of foreign firms. These firms compete with domestic firms in the consuming country under oligopoly. Unemployment exists in both countries. We analyse the conflict of interest between the two countries on the level of local content for the foreign firms. Under free entry of foreign firms, the consuming country may want a less severe restriction on local contents than the host country, but not so when the number of foreign firms is exogenous.

Long-Term Bilateral Monopoly: The Case of an Exhaustible Resource

We construct a model of long-term bilateral competition between the supplier of an exhaustible resource and a consuming country capable of producing a perfect substitute for the resource. The technology for producing the substitute is known, and the strategy of the consuming country is to choose an investment program for installing the substitute. We derive equilibrium configurations of investment and extraction for the case of linear demand under three scenarios: (1) the resource supplier is a von Stackelberg leader; (2) the consuming country is a von Stackelberg leader; and (3) buyers and sellers of the resource engage each other period by period. A comparison of these cases reveals incentives for long-term commitment on the part of one or both parties and also suggests that there may be gains from strategic intervention into resource markets by governments of consuming nations.

Malayan Rubber Policy: Development and Anti-Development during the 1950s

The decade of the 1950s constituted a turning-point in the history of Malayan rubber. This was marked by a changed world rubber market, along with incipient changes in Malayan economic aspirations and policies. Internationally, the creation of a large synthetic rubber industry in the main consuming country, the United States, posed a challenge to the competitive position and long-run prospects of Malayan plantation rubber. While coping with this challenge, the rubber industry, as the mainstay of the Malayan economy, had to simultaneously satisfy emergent claims for domestic development. Indeed, Malayan rubber was itself confronted with two coterminous developmental issues: its own internal development towards more efficient forms of production; and the provision of a resource base for the development of other economic and social sectors. By way of response to these cumulative challenges, a transformation occurred with respect to the government's role in Malaya's rubber economy, with rubber emerging as the lynchpin of an evolving development strategy. In the process, the Malayan rubber plantation industry was to undergo a fundamental and wide-ranging structural transfiguration.

Small LNG Project

It is generally accepted that a minimum economic level for LNG import/export project is in the neighbourhood of one million tons per annum.Since a first small scale LNG plant was developed in the U.S.A., about sixty of such plants have been built in the world. These small plants are all for peak shaving purposes and not for base load plants.Drastic changes of the energy situation in the past few years have so far influenced the basis of evaluating the value of energy from political and economical stand points.Further careful study of a total system involving liquefaction, storage and transportation will bring about a possibility that the erection of a small base load plant, not regarded as economical prior to the advent of the energy crisis, will become economical and viable.The application of a mobile plant will become further advantageous in solving construction problems arising from unknown local conditions, and its mobility will be useful for the utilization of small gas sources which are rather short-lived.The utilization of a mobile plant for a small scale LNG project will not only contribute greatly to a producing country but also meet the ever-increasing need of a clean pollution-free energy in a consuming country.