ABSTRACT This paper presents an empirically based taxonomy of independent traders in the field of online financial markets. This taxonomy is the first to include socio-demographic, operational, informational, educational, motivational, and behavioural factors in a unique analytical framework. Given the extreme data shortage, the recent literature has failed to gather insightful data on retail traders' operations and their psychosocial and economic backgrounds. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, no existing studies have exhaustively considered the substantial heterogeneity of this population. To achieve our research goals, we collected original data through an online survey of the population of Italian retail investors (N = 474). Then, we conducted a cluster analysis and detected six groups of traders. This paper elaborates on the key differences and similarities between the identified classes of investors, via a multidimensional approach. By allowing a better understanding of traders' features, needs and behaviour, we believe that our work provides useful insights for market actors, scholars, and regulatory institutions.

Children's exposure to outlets selling, and outdoor advertisements marketing, unhealthy foods is an important risk factor for obesity. Yet few policies address the food retail and/or outdoor advertising environment, and research about children's perceptions is limited, especially in low- and middle-income countries. We used a participatory, multimodal visual/verbal approach to explore urban-dwelling South African primary school students' perceptions of unhealthy food outlets and outdoor advertisements they encountered on their journeys to school. Forty-one grade 7 students aged 11-14 years participated in drawing and/or photography activities and elicitation discussions. A mixed-methods, triangulated analysis involving the content analysis and extraction of data from research artefacts (33 journey to school drawings and 10 food advertisement photo collages) and thematic analysis of discussion transcripts was conducted. Drawings depicted 175 food outlets, two-thirds (64%) of which sold only unhealthy foods and 125 advertisements, most of which marketed unhealthy food. Unbranded, deep-fried foods prepared and sold by informal traders and independent shops were prominent. Informal and independent traders also sold unhealthy branded foods. Advertisements were primarily for unhealthy foods, especially branded, sugar-sweetened beverages. Participants thought extensive advertising bans, regulation of the sale of unhealthy food to children and other measures were needed to promote children's health in urban contexts. The results point to the need for food system-wide approaches that address multiple commercial determinants of health, including 'big food' advertising, unhealthy food sales by informal and independent traders and programs to address socio-economic influences such as poverty, unemployment and parents' poor work conditions.

Derived is an analytic dynamic model of the price distribution of consumer goods in retail markets. The stationary price distribution is established from the conservation equation of offered units and two simplifying assumptions. Under the condition that independent traders make small random price variations around a nearly constant supply price, the stationary price distribution of a good must have the form of a fat-tailed Laplace distribution. The standard deviation of the distribution is determined by the price volatility of the goods. Also, the price distribution of an ensemble of goods is established and applied to empirical data with good quantitative agreement.

ABSTRACT Electricity prices are determined in wholesale markets. A major issue in determining prices is the distortive effect of high volatility of supply. This paper investigates the volatility of electricity supply in the Turkish energy exchange for the period between 2017 and 2020, by using hourly data. We find that volatility increased substantially during this period and uncertainty became a major issue. High volatility brings non-price variables such as institutional and political preferences to the forefront in terms of the decision-making of suppliers. We also discuss the dominance of bilateral contracts, the design of the renewable support mechanism, and the disappearance of independent traders in the wholesale market as some of the major issues that correlate with high volatility.

Harris’ Going the Distance is a conceptually large, engrossing, multilayered book. It is not so much about the Eurasian trade as about the institutions that allowed for the existence of a Eurasian trade. Selling goods from China, East Asia, and India in the Middle East and Western Europe required moving products over long distances, at high cost, to uncertain markets. If markets were favorable and agents were honest, profits were possible; if markets were unfavorable, goods were seized in transit, or agents cheated, merchants faced losses. How then did merchants organize the trade to overcome capital constraints, personnel issues, or information flows? Answering these questions is the focus of Going the Distance.Harris asks a series of descriptive questions. What were the institutions that merchants used to conduct trade? Did these institutions emerge endogenously in all regions, migrate between regions from one or two initial locations, or were they always embedded in one place? Harris answers in a series of methodological chapters mixed with case studies from across the Eurasian continent. His methodological structure is based in institutional economics, laying out the building blocks necessary for trade in conjunction with a knowledge of legal and religious frameworks in the various regions. Consulting sources from antiquity to 1700—such as the Muziris Papyrus, nautical archaeology, Geniza documents, and family-firm records in Europe, India, and China for his micro-studies—the book covers far more than the period from 1400 to 1700. Another overarching, less successful, argument throughout the narrative concerns the notion that the joint-stock company was the best organization to conduct this trade, and that the success of the Vereenidge Oost-Indische Compagnie (voc) and the East India Company (eic) may have contributed to the Great Divergence by promoting higher growth in Western Europe.The greater part of the book focuses on how individual institutions were able to attenuate one or more of the problems inherent in long-distant trade while exacerbating others. For example, independent traders/„peddlers did not worry about information flows or theft but about the volume of business that their individual status and means would allow them to conduct. Family firms could vary in size and scope, depending on the work ethic of the family members and, in most situations, the level of interest and capability that each generation of sons demonstrated. The various types of partnership differed according to whether their investors had capital or whether they, or their agents, traveled to do business. In this context, problems with managing agents loomed large, though mitigated by profit-sharing contracts like the commenda. Harris’ discussions of the public ventures of Chinese emperors or Portuguese kings are an interesting counterpoint to private enterprise. He ends the book with his analysis of joint-stock companies—namely, the voc and the eic.Harris does not ask how well regions/„institutions responded to risk; he asks only how different organizational forms prepared for it, reflecting, say, their religious affiliation. He does not draw a causal connection between the design of a company and its level of success in countering risk nor in how a change revealed in the micro-study of a company reflected that company’s evolving circumstances; his interest lies solely in how particular organizational forms countered some aspects of the risk incurred in the Eurasian trade. Hence, even though the book covers a wide range of institutional forms, each of his micro-studies is essentially static. Furthermore, because the book fails to convey a sense of the Eurasian trade’s scale, it does not reveal that the Eurasian trade constituted only a small part of overall domestic Indian or Chinese trade or the inter-Asian trade. Nor does it provide much information about the goods traded (other than the ubiquitous spices), or how the trade grew with rising incomes and population in Europe. Moreover, the seaborne trade around the Cape of Good Hope did not mark the end of the land-based option or the route through the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Harris missed an opportunity to show how the advent of Portuguese ventures and then the voc and eic changed the types of goods traded and the profit margins for other firms such as the Levant Company.Harris regards the joint-stock company as the pre-eminent organizational form to conduct the Eurasian trade, arguing that it occurred in only Europe where the law allowed institutions to be infinitely lived. Notably, this type of venture did not migrate. The joint-stock companies needed support structures, particularly a credible commitment on the part of active versus passive investors, as well as a government that did not expropriate company capital and a stock market to provide an exit for passive investors. Although the Crown may not have seized all of a company’s capital, it (contra Harris) steadily expropriated capital from the eic and other joint-stock companies for nearly two centuries.Whereas Going the Distance lays out a set of archetypes for the conduct of long-distance trade, Safley’s Resilience of the Höchstetters of Augsburg focuses exclusively on one family firm. The Höchstetter business, which emanated from Augsburg to surrounding regions and countries (mainly England and Denmark), was typical of the long-distance trade that occurred within Europe. Safley traces the rise and fall of the Höchstetters from their beginning as weavers and cloth traders in the fifteenth century to their establishment of a brass foundry in 1509 and their attempt to corner the market on mercury in the 1520s, while they also moved into banking, even loaning money to Emperor Maximilian I. In 1524, the Höchstetter enterprise was the epitome of the successful, prestigious firm, but by 1528/„9, it had declared bankruptcy. Ambrosius I, the head of the house, died in prison, in chains, five years later. His two sons, Ambrosius II and Joseph, were not released until 1544.Safley’s analysis, which is based on the extensive documentary record created in the wake of the Höchstetter bankruptcy, allows unique insights into the operation and demise of a large family firm in the early modern period. Safley’s previous work with these bankruptcy records affords him a nuanced understanding of both the documents and the period. His use of the bankruptcy to move the discussion “beyond ideal types that can obscure contingency, complexity and change” offers a counterpoint to Harris’ book (19). Indeed, the two volumes illuminate each other’s arguments; both ask how merchants involved in any form of long-distance trade dealt with capital constraints, information flows, and agency issues. But similar as their starting points are, their answers diverge. Safley’s examination of Ambrosius’ efforts to stay apprised of the family business and to manage the vagaries of information and personnel is, in effect, a critique of the traditional economic-history literature with respect to information and agency. In the end, Safley seems to absolve Ambrosius, at least to some extent, of his firm’s collapse.Ambrosius’ firm was not alone in having to reckon with the availability and reliability of information, but the Höchstetters also had to determine how to deploy what it knew to the advantage of a sprawling business that ranged across various branches. Even if information is not knowledge, perhaps the art involves turning information into knowledge and acting upon it. The Höchstetter bankruptcy records reveal that the business faced both bad luck (negative shocks) and poor judgment. In the late 1720s, it lost a ship loaded with herbs and spices to bad weather at sea and lost wagons traveling from the Low Counties to Augsburg to bandits. These sorts of losses could not have been totally unanticipated at the time. Another major setback was the company’s failure to corner the market in mercury, which left it in dire financial straits; attempts to corner a market were risky and seldom accomplished. The company’s series of catastrophes led to rumors about illiquidity and insolvency that spurred creditors to demand payment. Fearing insolvency, Ambrosius I reached out to Anton Fugger, another prominent entrepreneur, for support, transferring his account books and some of his assets, but to no avail. After declaring bankruptcy in 1529 and unable to improve his situation within the allotted eighteen months, Ambrosius and his two sons went to prison.The Höchstetter firm was a succession of partnership agreements involving different members of the family with each new charter. The charter of 1524 saw a reorganization that allowed members to act on their own behalf in addition to working for the family. Such a structure led to conflicts of interest and issues of moral hazard. Ambrosius appears to have done little to curb the well-known gambling habits of partners Joachim, his son, and Joseph, his nephew. Although never explicitly characterized as such, the firm’s acceptance of deposits at 5 percent interest has the flavor of a Ponzi scheme devised to help the Höchstetters cover outstanding debts.Bankruptcies happen, and firms fail. In this context, to talk about firm resilience as Safley does seems odd. Safley is correct that a family firm is not always just a single line; it often includes multiple cadet branches. In the Höchstetter case, several ancillary branches established their own successful businesses in the aftermath of Ambrosius’ death, in all probability with financial assets sequestered from creditors. Ambrosius’ dire fate and the ability of some of his heirs to thrive because of stolen property hardly suggests the resilience of the family firm. In the end, the Höchstetter company reached the top tier of family firms in early modern Europe as much by good luck as by good management, all of which were eventually to desert them.Harris and Safley’s thoughtful books take differing perspectives on the issues that faced firms involved in long-distance trade during the early modern era. Regardless of their individual conclusions, readers will come away from both works with a greater understanding of the complexities involved in doing big business at the time.

P.118 Investigating content types and attitudes towards autism spectrum disorder on Turkish Twitter: a descriptive study

Phytochemical screening and pharmacological evaluation of herbal concoctions sold at Ga Maja Limpopo Province

Focusing on the community of York Factory and the surrounding region in northern Manitoba between 1880 and 1925, this article traces the transformation of the Muskego Cree and Metis peoples of the district from independent traders, hunters, and wage labourers to a colonized people with diminished economic opportunities. Through evidence gathered from Hudson’s Bay Company journals, reports, and accounts, as well as from Department of Indian Affairs records, missionary correspondence, and oral history, I describe how the establishment of a fur trade mode of production incorporated the Indigenous economy of western Hudson Bay into an international market of trade and production, making the people of York Factory part of a global economy based upon a capitalist exploitation of resources. I also suggest that, beginning in the late nineteenth century, the Hudson’s Bay Company conspired to mitigate the economic impacts of resource depletion on its profit margin in the York district by pursuing an arrangement with the Canadian government to assume financial responsibility for the Indigenous people of western Hudson Bay. The article will trace the process through which changing capital interests, both local and global, came to manipulate an age-old pattern of subsistence and labour, debt and trade, as well as economic interdependence.

Livestock food systems play key subsistence and income generation roles in low to middle income countries and are important networks for zoonotic disease transmission. The aim of this study was to use a value chain framework to characterize the broiler chicken meat system of Nairobi, its governance and sanitary risks.A total of 4 focus groups and 8 key informant interviews were used to collect cross-sectional data from: small-scale broiler farmers in selected Nairobi peri-urban and informal settlement areas; medium to large integrated broiler production companies; traders and meat inspectors in live chicken and chicken meat markets in Nairobi. Qualitative data were collected on types of people operating in the system, their interactions, sanitary measures in place, sourcing and selling of broiler chickens and products. Framework analysis was used to identify governance themes and risky sanitary practices present in the system.One large company was identified to supply 60% of Nairobi’s day-old chicks to farmers, mainly through agrovet shops. Broiler meat products from integrated companies were sold in high-end retailers whereas their low value products were channelled through independent traders to consumers in informal settlements. Peri-urban small-scale farmers reported to slaughter the broilers on the farm and to sell carcasses to retailers (hotels and butcheries mainly) through brokers (80%), while farmers in the informal settlement reported to sell their broilers live to retailers (butcheries, hotels and hawkers mainly) directly. Broiler heads and legs were sold in informal settlements via roadside vendors.Sanitary risks identified were related to lack of biosecurity, cold chain and access to water, poor hygiene practices, lack of inspection at farm slaughter and limited health inspection in markets. Large companies dominated the governance of the broiler system through the control of day-old chick production. Overall government control was described as relatively weak leading to minimal official regulatory enforcement. Large companies and brokers were identified as dominant groups in market information dissemination and price setting. Lack of farmer association was found to be system-wide and to limit market access. Other system barriers included lack of space and expertise, leading to poor infrastructure and limited ability to implement effective hygienic measures. This study highlights significant structural differences between different broiler chains and inequalities in product quality and market access across the system. It provides a foundation for food safety assessments, disease control programmes and informs policy-making for the inclusive growth of this fast-evolving sector.

ABSTRACTThe goal of the article was to use established theories of individual, organizational, and community learning to hypothesize ways tourism leaders could facilitate their small independent traders that harass visitors’ unlearning of aggressive selling behaviors. Nine hypotheses were posited. For example by tourism leaders: placing greater emphasis on traders’ engagement in the desired nonaggressive selling behaviors than on stopping their engagement in aggressive ones; not supporting traders’ engagement in aggressive selling behaviors but instead openly supporting their engagement in nonaggressive trading; and taking steps to strengthen the traders’ role in their community’s tourism sector. The discussion has implications for how small traders’ selling behaviors are managed at tourist destinations.

Transfer capacity between buses n and m B nmSusceptance between buses

This research investigates the contribution of mindfulness on performance of stock traders. The authors focus on the role of mindfulness in helping individuals lower impulsive behaviours when they trade stocks. Survey data were collected from 120 independent traders and 73 professional traders in Thailand (total N = 193). The analysis from partial least squares regression found that impulse control difficulties mediated the link between mindfulness and stock trading performance. This suggested that individuals with higher mindfulness measure tended to experience lower impulse control difficulties problem, and subsequently exhibited better stock trading performance. However, the analysis of the moderating effect revealed that the positive contribution of mindfulness on stock trading performance is only present for those with high impulse control difficulties. Surprisingly, mindfulness appeared to lower trading performance of traders who did not have impulse control difficulties.

The goal of the article was to use learning theories to highlight strategies likely to have a significant positive impact on small independent traders' long-term acquisition of nonaggressive selling behaviors. The work of approximately 300 learning scholars was reviewed. The results of an observational study on Jamaican craft markets were also reported. It was hypothesized that for small traders to acquire nonaggressive selling behaviors, over the long term, they must have significant intelligence in both effective microtrade and self-management and such intelligence can be effectively built through the use of special instructional methodologies like cooperative learning, dialoging, and critiquing. Also, their acquisition of critical knowledge on microtrade would likely improve if they are provided with trading spaces that are open, comfortable, safe, and busy, as well as with a knowledge repository that collects and disseminates the latest information on microtrade from and to their communities, respectively. The article has implications for both how governments and their affiliates manage small traders' learning at tourist destinations and the direction of future visitor harassment research.

Arguably the most influential account of South and Southeast Asia published in Britain before the mid-eighteenth century, Alexander Hamilton's New Account of the East-Indies (1727) has been ignored or marginalized by recent historians of the British East India Company. Hamilton spent thirty-five years in the East Indies as an independent trader, spoke several Asian languages, and offers the only eyewitness account in many cases of critical episodes of British interactions with merchants, officials, and rulers from Arabia to China. This essay examines Hamilton's account of the end of the Mughal War (1686–89) in which the East India Company suffered a humiliating defeat—one that is marginalized or unconvincingly explained away in the EIC's official correspondence. In contrasting Hamilton's narrative to the special pleading of Josiah Child, the director of the company during the war, and John Ovington, a company employee, this essay explores the transcultural complexities of trade and civility in South Asia at the end of the seventeenth century.

Sustainably changing small traders' harassment behaviors – A theoretical framework

The consumers of New Age spirituality products have been said to be involved in a form of ‘pick and mix’ religion or to be browsing in a ‘spiritual supermarket’ which emphasises borrowing from a wide variety of cultures. The paper details the different physical and virtual channels through which consumers may access goods and services. Retailers who serve this market are typically independent traders and face many of the challenges that are characteristic of the small business sector. The term ‘New Age' is identified as applying to a broad range of retailers who attempt to occupy different market positions. The research however identifies considerable product overlap between these retailers and suggests that the market displays limited differentiation. As this paper is an exploratory study, it finally sets out a series of research themes for future work.

Rational Information Leakage

Independent Financial Traders: Trends in Ebusiness and Social Business Networking

Understanding agent-based models of financial markets: A bottom–up approach based on order parameters and phase diagrams

This study maps forest owners’ communication relationships in timber sales in Finland. The study applies the concept of structural equivalence from social network analysis. The aim is to recognise the existing communication channels that forest owners have during their timber sales to be better able to reach different forest owners. The egocentric data were collected from Finnish forest owners via a mail questionnaire (n=1244, response rate 59.7%). After a multiple imputation of incomplete network data, 753 respondents were included in the analysis. The most typical network structures were identified through a TwoStep Cluster Analysis, yielding non-committed Forest Management Association (FMA)-members (34%), independent timber traders (27%), relationship builders (24%) and FMA-partners (15%). The FMA-partners have an exclusive connection with the FMA, whereas the connections of independent timber traders are directed towards the timber buyer. It is essential for both the FMAs and timber buying companies to maintain and develop these existing relationships with their committed customers. Relationship builders differ from the others by having the largest networks with both forestry professionals and peer forest owners. The results suggest that these active forest owners could be channels to reach passive forest owners.