Individual Economic Status Research Articles

Where was my cup of honey made? PDO honey and sub-regional ethnocentric consumer segments

PurposeThe goal of this study is to understand if ethnocentrism exists at the sub-regional level among honey consumers living in the same production area as a protected designation of origin (PDO). Moreover, this analysis explores if ethnocentrism is influenced by individual economic conditions, among other socio-demographic characteristics.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 725 consumers was collected through the use of a questionnaire that was circulated in the province of Varese, one of the few honey PDO areas in Italy. The authors performed a principal component analysis and a two-step cluster analysis to identify different PDO honey consumer segments, focusing on their interest for PDO attributes.FindingsThe authors identified four consumer segments, depending on socio-demographic, consumption habits, frequencies, preferred attributes and preferences for the PDO product. One cluster exhibited strong preferences for the PDO honey, in the spirit of ethnocentrism, and was characterised by low-income levels; ethnocentric preferences were also observed in another cluster that had a different socio-economic profile.Research limitations/implicationsHoney is a niche product and not universally diffused among consumers: further analyses should investigate sub-national ethnocentrism for more universal food products. Yet, through the inspection of the different profiles found, it was possible to devise marketing strategies to boost PDO honey purchasing and to bring consumers closer to PDO products.Originality/valueThis analysis considers ethnocentrism as a segmentation criterion for PDO honey consumers that live in the very same PDO honey production area and enriches the existing literature on the relationship between ethnocentrism and individual economic status.

The Efficacy of Anterior Cervical Corpectomy and Fusion and Posterior Total Laminectomy on Cervical Spinal Cord Injury and Quality of Life.

This study is aimed at investigating the efficacy of anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion and posterior total laminectomy in the treatment of cervical spinal cord injury and assessing the impact of the two approaches on cervical spine function and patient quality of life. Retrospectively analyze the clinical data from 180 patients with cervical spinal cord injury who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Hebei North University from June 2019 to June 2021. The patients were divided into an anterior approach group (n = 89, treated with anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion) and a posterior approach group (n = 91, treated with posterior total laminectomy). The amount of blood loss in the posterior approach group was larger compared to the anterior approach group. Patients in the posterior approach group had higher wound diameters and operation times compared to the anterior approach group, as well as the operation cost. The visual analogue scale (VAS) scores of patients in the posterior approach group were significantly higher than in the anterior approach group one month after operation. The Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA), neck disability index (NDI), and American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) scores of patients in both groups at 1, 6, and 9 months after surgery were higher compared to those before surgery, yet no significant differences were observed between the two groups. Also, no significant difference was observed in the incidence of complication and the quality of life between the two groups before and after treatment. Anterior cervical corpectomy and fusion and posterior total laminectomy can effectively restore the cervical nerve function in the treatment of cervical spinal cord injury. However, anterior subtotal vertebral resection is associated with improved perioperative indicators compared to posterior total laminectomy. Clinically, surgical methods can be selected according to imaging findings, the general condition of patients, and individual economic status.

COVID-19, Economic Impact, Mental Health, and Coping Behaviors: A Conceptual Framework and Future Research Directions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused serious economic and social consequences. Recent research shows that the pandemic has not only caused a physical health crisis but also caused many psychological and mental crises. Based on the contemporary cognitive-behavioral models, this article offers a conceptual analysis of how the pandemic affects individual mental health and coping behaviors from the perspective of individual economic status, individual context, and social context. The analysis shows that (1) the pandemic has led to increased economic uncertainty, increased unemployment and underemployment pressure, increased income uncertainty, and different degrees of employment pressure and economic difficulties; (2) these difficulties have stimulated different levels of mental health problems, ranging from perceived insecurity (environmental, food safety, etc.), worry, fear, to stress, anxiety, depression, etc., and the mental health deterioration varies across different groups, with the symptoms of psychological distress are more obvious among disadvantageous groups; and (3) mental health problems have caused behavior changes, and various stress behaviors such as protective behaviors and resistive behaviors. Future research directions are suggested.

Sustainable and equitable pensions with means testing in aging economies

A means-tested pension system has a distinct feature that tailors the level of pension benefits according to individual economic status. In the context of population aging with widening gaps in life expectancies, we show that this feature generates an automatic mechanism that (i) mitigates the pressing fiscal cost of an old-age public pension program (fiscal stabilization device) and (ii) redistributes pension benefits to those in need with shorter life expectancies (redistributive device). To evaluate this automatic mechanism, we employ an overlapping generations model with population aging. Our results indicate that this novel mechanism plays an important role in containing the adverse effects of population aging on the fiscal costs and enhancing the progressivity of a pension system. More pronounced aging scenarios further strengthen the role of this mechanism. A well-designed means test rule can create a sufficiently strong automatic mechanism to keep public pensions sustainable and progressive under population aging.

Errors of Indices in Household Surveys of Punjab Urban through Principal Components

In this research article, household wealth indices are calculated to estimate the sampling errors, which gave us complete information on the quality and reliability of published data upon the household surveys. Estimates are calculated based on simple random sampling, which contains sampling errors. Here principal components analysis (PCA) estimate standard errors of wealth indices as orthogonal transformation to develop solid measures of individual economic status. These measures evaluate the significance and explain the living status and economic dissimilarity of Punjab urban. Instrumental variables are used here to the enlightened social status of the Punjab urban area of Pakistan by using PCA of household surveys. Twenty-five variables are included in this study. Total variance analysis explains the variation of total components. A comparison study (PCA) approaches to estimating the standard error of indices of the household survey are presented in this paper. We conclude that errors of indices in household surveys through PCA, when compared to direct measures of estimating household wealth indices, are an efficient and reliable method.

Early-life exposure to parental mental distress and adulthood depression among middle-aged and elderly Chinese

Although mental illness among the middle-aged and the elderly has become a global public health issue and there is a burgeoning interest in the intergenerational transmission of mental health concerns in recent years, the long-term impact of parental mental health problems on child mental health conditions in developing countries remains unknown. Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), which provides both contemporaneous and retrospective data collected from a nationally representative sample of Chinese residents aged 45 years and above, this study employed a multilevel modeling approach to investigate the association between early-life exposure to parental mental distress and adulthood depression among the middle-aged and elderly Chinese. Our study showed that childhood parental mental health problems predicted mid- and late-life depression in Chinese contexts and the result remained robust to a suite of robustness checks. Our exploration of potential pathways of the relationship found the following adversities that were associated with the exposure to parental mental distress in early life and may have contributed to the depression among the middle-aged and elderly: higher rates of childhood physical abuse by parents, poor childhood health, lower levels of educational attainment, poor physical health and individual economic status in adulthood. Further, our heterogeneity analysis indicated that the transmission effect was stronger for the elderly than the middle-aged and that the improvement of childhood SES mitigated the intergenerational transmission. We also found that childhood parental mental distress was potentially a moderator, which inhibited the recovery from depression. The findings will inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of relevant public health policies. It highlights the need for more efforts to prevent and mitigate the profound impacts of childhood parental mental distress on the late-life well-being of child generations.

Migration and development: A sociological study

This paper explores the possible linkage between the migration and development with special focus to Lucknow city of Uttar Pradesh, where I have done my field work on migrants of HAL (Hindustan Aeroneutics Linited) of Lucknow city. The significance of the paper lies in its methodological objectivity to evaluate the extent to which inter-district or inter-state migration benefits migrants when compared with their past life when they were not migrants of the city like Lucknow. It brings out a proposition that migration is not only improving the individual economic status but also the remittances sent by the migrants also open the road for the rural development. And the duration of migration serves positively in terms of all round development.

Women, assets, and formal savings: A comparative analysis of Ecuador, Ghana and India

AbstractMotivationSavings are an important but often overlooked component of financial inclusion. While women are less active than men in the formal financial sector there is little understanding about their ability to accumulate savings.PurposeWe hypothesize that a woman’s individual economic status, measured by her property ownership, is an important driver of her ability to save.Approach and MethodsWomen are considered as savers in the formal sector only if they have savings above a minimum threshold. Three measures of women’s asset ownership are used: two capture their absolute property status and one their relative status in the household. The data are obtained from three large‐scale surveys that collected individual‐level asset data in Ecuador, Ghana and the Indian state of Karnataka. Logistic regression models are employed to examine the relationship between women’s property ownership and accumulation of savings.FindingsThe absolute value of a woman’s physical assets and her share of household physical wealth are correlated with being able to accumulate formal savings. Women’s relative wealth status is more strongly related to their savings, along with education, paid employment and group membership.ConclusionsWomen’s intrahousehold status, defined by their relative wealth, is critical to determining their ability to save in formal accounts.Policy ImplicationsInterventions that boost women’s bargaining power, by increasing their property ownership, should be encouraged, along with greater efforts to improve girls’ access to quality education. Functional literacy training for older women can both reduce barriers to accessing financial institutions and create awareness of their benefits. Constraints to women’s participation in the labour force should be removed in tandem with interventions to reduce gender earnings gaps.

Assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices about sun exposure and sunscreen usage in outpatients attending a Dermatology Clinic in North India

Objective To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices about sun exposure and sunscreen usage in outpatients attending a dermatology clinic. Methods Three hundred consecutive patients attending a dermatology clinic were enrolled for this questionnaire-based cross-sectional, descriptive study. Results A total of 300 patients, comprising of 112 (37.33%) men and 188 (62.67%) women, aged between 14 and 78 (mean 47.13) years, were included in the study. Majority of the patients, 216 (72%) were in the 20-60 year age group and 226 (75.33%) belonged to an urban background. Assessment of the sun exposure revealed that 224 (74.67) respondents reported daily sun exposure whereas 76 (25.33%) had occasional sun exposure. Assessment of the knowledge revealed that 241 (80.33%) patients were aware of the adverse effects of excessive sun exposure but only 139 (46.33%) were aware of the carcinogenic effect of sunlight. A total of 212 (70.67%) respondents were aware of the benefits of sunscreens but only 156 (73.58%) were using the sunscreens. Sixty-one respondents (39.1%) reported that they used sunscreens on a daily basis while 95 (60.89%) used it occasionally. Lack of awareness was the most common reason (44.67%). Newspapers (47%) and television (39%) were the most common source of information in our respondents. Conclusion Information, education, and communication activities are imperative to educate people regarding the risks of excessive sun exposure and significance of preventive measures like sunscreens to bridge the gaps in their knowledge. While improvement in individual economic status and education remains highly desirable, mass media can play a pivotal role in creating awareness among masses.

Changes in Individual Economic Activities and Regional Market Structures Caused by Rural Road Improvements in Cambodia

In rural areas of developing countries, most individuals engage in farming of staple foods and trading them in their local markets for daily earnings. If a road is improved, what would happen to those markets and the local populations’ economic activities? This study aimed to examine the effects of rural road improvements on local economic activities and market structures in rural areas of Cambodia using quantitative and qualitative data collected from face-to-face interviews. The data included both individual economic status and households’ travel behavior around their markets. This study showed that improving road conditions helps low-income individuals visit a market frequently and releases rice farmers from the time and cost burdens of transporting their rice to markets or enables customers to now approach them directly for trades. The enhancement of economic activities was also confirmed among local populations on the roadsides, particularly groups with economic capacities, and this effect was distributed to markets even beyond the roadsides. Our findings suggest that rural road improvements enhance the economic status of individuals who engage in dominant economic activities along the improved roads and that these benefits extend beyond roadside markets themselves. However, such positive impacts were not realized by households that did not own any land for rice farming and whose economic status remained poor. Instruments should be integrated into future rural road improvement projects to include households of small economic capacities in the local economic development process.

Economic underpinnings of violent extremism: A cross country exploration of repeated survey data

Abstract This paper attempts to identify the economic underpinnings of the support for acts of violent extremism (VE). We explore some demographic and economic characteristics of individuals who express support for acts of violent extremism (VE) by using an extensive cross-country multi-year survey dataset ranging from 2007 to 2014. A growing body of empirical research has focused on examining the various socio-economic underpinnings of violent extremism. The results have been inconclusive, at times contradictory and often based on limited set of case studies or smaller single time period cross-section datasets. In this study we use information on a little over forty-eight thousand individuals in 12 countries to evaluate the connections between socio-economic status and support for extremism. While the impact of the socio-economic characteristics on support for violence remains inconclusive in this analysis, we do find interesting and significant results when we interact individual economic status variables with the overall economic growth of the country. Unemployment status and having lower levels of education have significant impacts on the likelihood of support for VE when interacted with country level growth rate. We conclude that inequality or a feeling of being left out-being unemployed, in higher growth countries might be the key to understanding the economic underpinnings of violent extremism.

Simultaneous social causation and social drift: Longitudinal analysis of depression and poverty in South Africa

BackgroundTwo theories have been proposed to explain the observed association between depression and poverty, namely social causation and social drift. Little is known regarding the relative importance of social causation and social drift in low and middle-income countries, where poverty is more severe and where most of the world's depressed individuals live. MethodsWe analysed nationally representative longitudinal data from the National Income Dynamics Study in South Africa and simultaneously tested social causation and social drift hypotheses using structural equation modelling across three waves. ResultsWorse individual economic status at time 1 and 2 was independently associated with worse depression two years later at time 2 (standardised linear regression coefficient β = −0.110, Standard Error (SE): 0.024) and four years later at time 3 (β = −0.113, SE: 0.025) respectively. Conversely worse depression at time 1 and time 2 was independently associated with worse economic status at time 2 (β = −0.037, SE: 0.016) and time 3 (β = −0.028, SE: 0.012) respectively. In addition, the "effect" of depression on future assets was stronger among people with less baseline assets. LimitationsThe time span between data rounds is relatively short (four years); response rates are unequal across ethnic, age and sex groups; and the measure of depression is based on self-report. ConclusionsSocial causation and social drift act simultaneously in this population, reinforcing poverty/depression cycles. Multi-sectoral policies are required that both prevent depression by addressing its economic determinants, and provide evidence-based treatment to mitigate the economic impact of depression.

Examining Measures of Income and Poverty in Medicare Administrative Data.

Disparities by economic status are observed in the health status and health outcomes of Medicare beneficiaries. For health services and health policy researchers, one barrier to addressing these disparities is the ability to use Medicare data to ascertain information about an individual's income level or poverty, because Medicare administrative data contains limited information about individual economic status. Information gleaned from other sources-such as the Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income programs-can be used in some cases to approximate the income of Medicare beneficiaries. However, such information is limited in its availability and applicability to all beneficiaries. Neighborhood-level measures of income can be used to infer individual-level income, but level of neighborhood aggregation impacts accuracy and usability of the data. Community-level composite measures of economic status have been shown to be associated with health and health outcomes of Medicare beneficiaries and may capture neighborhood effects that are separate from individual effects, but are not readily available in Medicare data and do not serve to replace information about individual economic status. There is no single best method of obtaining income data from Medicare files, but understanding strengths and limitations of different approaches to identifying economic status will help researchers choose the best method for their particular purpose, and help policymakers interpret studies using measures of income.

Race, Neighborhood Economic Status, Income Inequality and Mortality.

Mortality rates in the United States vary based on race, individual economic status and neighborhood. Correlations among these variables in most urban areas have limited what conclusions can be drawn from existing research. Our study employs a unique factorial design of race, sex, age and individual poverty status, measuring time to death as an objective measure of health, and including both neighborhood economic status and income inequality for a sample of middle-aged urban-dwelling adults (N = 3675). At enrollment, African American and White participants lived in 46 unique census tracts in Baltimore, Maryland, which varied in neighborhood economic status and degree of income inequality. A Cox regression model for 9-year mortality identified a three-way interaction among sex, race and individual poverty status (p = 0.03), with African American men living below poverty having the highest mortality. Neighborhood economic status, whether measured by a composite index or simply median household income, was negatively associated with overall mortality (p<0.001). Neighborhood income inequality was associated with mortality through an interaction with individual poverty status (p = 0.04). While racial and economic disparities in mortality are well known, this study suggests that several social conditions associated with health may unequally affect African American men in poverty in the United States. Beyond these individual factors are the influences of neighborhood economic status and income inequality, which may be affected by a history of residential segregation. The significant association of neighborhood economic status and income inequality with mortality beyond the synergistic combination of sex, race and individual poverty status suggests the long-term importance of small area influence on overall mortality.

Knowledge, attitude, and perception of disease among persons living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immuno deficiency syndrome: A study from a tertiary care center in North India

Background:Although modification of behavioral practices among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-affected patients is important in decreasing HIV disease transmission, the knowledge, attitude, and perception studies about HIV infection rarely include persons living with HIV/acquired immuno deficiency syndrome (AIDS).Aims:To assess knowledge, attitude, and perceptions of persons living with HIV/AIDS for the disease and other epidemiological aspects.Materials and Methods:One-hundred and fifty consecutive persons living with HIV/AIDS were enrolled for this questionnaire-based cross-sectional, descriptive study.Results:These 150 patients comprised 93 men and 57 women, aged between 14 and 78 (mean 37.13) years. The majority, 112 (74.67%) patients were between 20 and 50 years of age and 116 (77.3%) patients were either illiterate or high-school dropouts. Drivers, laborers, and self-employed comprised 69 (74.2%) patients among affected males. Only 129 (86%) respondents had heard about HIV/AIDS and knew about its heterosexual transmission. Ninety-eight (65.3%) respondents were aware of disease transmission from infected blood or needle pricks. Interestingly, 106 (70.7%) respondents were aware of the importance of using condom in preventing disease transmission. Television/radio was the most common sources of information for 135 (90%) patients. Nearly, 69% respondents disfavored disclosing their disease to friends/colleagues fearing stigmatization.Conclusions:Information, education, and communication activities are imperative to educate persons living with HIV/AIDS about life-long nature of the disease, modes of its transmission, and significance of preventive measures to bridge the gaps in their knowledge. While improvement in individual economic status, education, and health services remains highly desirable, mass media can play a pivotal role in creating awareness among masses.

Knowledge, attitude, and perception of disease among persons living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immuno deficiency syndrome: A study from a tertiary care center in North India.

Although modification of behavioral practices among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-affected patients is important in decreasing HIV disease transmission, the knowledge, attitude, and perception studies about HIV infection rarely include persons living with HIV/acquired immuno deficiency syndrome (AIDS). To assess knowledge, attitude, and perceptions of persons living with HIV/AIDS for the disease and other epidemiological aspects. One-hundred and fifty consecutive persons living with HIV/AIDS were enrolled for this questionnaire-based cross-sectional, descriptive study. These 150 patients comprised 93 men and 57 women, aged between 14 and 78 (mean 37.13) years. The majority, 112 (74.67%) patients were between 20 and 50 years of age and 116 (77.3%) patients were either illiterate or high-school dropouts. Drivers, laborers, and self-employed comprised 69 (74.2%) patients among affected males. Only 129 (86%) respondents had heard about HIV/AIDS and knew about its heterosexual transmission. Ninety-eight (65.3%) respondents were aware of disease transmission from infected blood or needle pricks. Interestingly, 106 (70.7%) respondents were aware of the importance of using condom in preventing disease transmission. Television/radio was the most common sources of information for 135 (90%) patients. Nearly, 69% respondents disfavored disclosing their disease to friends/colleagues fearing stigmatization. Information, education, and communication activities are imperative to educate persons living with HIV/AIDS about life-long nature of the disease, modes of its transmission, and significance of preventive measures to bridge the gaps in their knowledge. While improvement in individual economic status, education, and health services remains highly desirable, mass media can play a pivotal role in creating awareness among masses.

Employer–employee and buyer–seller relationships among waste pickers at final disposal site in informal recycling: The case of Bantar Gebang in Indonesia

This paper presents an informal recycling system managed by scavengers in Bantar Gebang final disposal site for municipal solid waste generated in Jakarta. Data were obtained through daily conversations with scavengers who deal with recyclables in the site. Seven processing steps of informal recycling were observed at the site. Scavengers at the site were referred to as their managerial names in their community, and then at least 8 types of recycling actors were identified: 1) big boss, 2) small boss, 3) big middleman, 4) small middleman, 5) live-in waste picker, 6) live-out waste picker, 7) independent waste picker, and 8) daily worker. Live-in and live-out waste pickers were continuously employed by their bosses, while independent waste pickers and daily workers depended on temporary employer–employee relationships. The positions of the recycling actors were not always fixed and there were many paths of career tracks and setbacks mainly due to individual economic status. All big bosses and big middlemen have built direct connections with recycling factories, and the community of scavengers in the site recognized them as big bosses and big middlemen due to the connections. A big boss of waste pickers, mainly dealing with plastic recyclables, was intensively investigated to clarify the buyer–seller relationship between the boss and other recycling actors. Common ground between formal and informal sectors should be built for making new waste management policies in the way that the existing informal recycling system is successfully integrated into the formal recycling system.

Dimensions of poverty and inconsistent condom use among youth in urban Kenya

To date, research on the link between poverty and unsafe sexual behaviors has utilized limited measures of socioeconomic status and has overlooked key dimensions of poverty at the individual level. This study explored how various dimensions of socioeconomic status are associated with inconsistent condom use and how these associations vary by gender. We analyzed unique life history survey data from 261 young men and women in Kisumu, Kenya, and conducted analyses based on 959 person-months in which respondents had been sexually active in nonmarital relationships. Dependent variables were inconsistent condom use (not always using a condom) and never use of condoms. Condoms were used inconsistently in 57% of months and were never used in 31%. Corroborating existing literature, lower household wealth and lower educational attainment were associated with inconsistent condom use. Lower individual economic status (lower earned income, food insufficiency, and larger material transfers from partners) were also important determinants of inconsistent condom use. There were no significant differences in these associations by gender, with the exception of food insufficiency, which increased the risk of inconsistent condom use for young women but not for young men. None of these individual measures of socioeconomic status were associated with never use of a condom. The findings suggest that both household- and individual-level measures of socioeconomic status are important correlates of condom use and that individual economic resources play a crucial role in negotiations over the highest level of usage. The results highlight the importance of poverty in shaping sexual behavior, and, in particular, that increasing individual access to resources beyond the household, including ensuring access to food and providing educational and work opportunities, could prove to be effective strategies for decreasing the risk of HIV among youth.

Cross-Cultural Understandings of “Face” and their Influence on Luxury Brand Consumption: A Comparison of British and Korean Attitudes and Practices

East Asians show high interest in luxury brand goods, and Asia is now the world’s largest target market for luxury brand goods. South Korea is no exception to this luxury fever, and some Koreans even fall into debt to participate. Why are Koreans so attracted to luxury brand goods and their cachet? This paper seeks an explanation for this phenomenon by drawing on the concept of “face” and chemyon (the Korean notion of social face) and the idea of “face consumption.” The author investigates the differences between face and chemyon, as well as the differences in the degree of face consumption through luxury brand goods in British and Korean consumers. This study uses the first two terms distinctly when discussing their salient differences but combines them when they are being used more generically. Even though face is a universal phenomenon, it is an especially important concept in a collectivist culture. British consumers are unlikely to relate face to their social worth, and even the concept of (social) face may be unfamiliar to them. However, Korean consumers deal with face-related issues almost every day because chemyon is pervasive in the Korean culture. Furthermore, the specific characteristics of face differ from one culture to another. While the Western notion of face is oriented towards an independent self, chemyon is more closely linked with social status and position. Thus, Korean consumers show their social status and maintain chemyon by wearing or purchasing luxury brand goods. Among British consumers, however, purchasing luxury brand goods has little to do with preserving face. Face consumption is similar to conspicuous consumption as they both involve luxury brand goods. However, face consumption differs from conspicuous consumption in that not all face consumption is intended to show off and that the possession of luxury brand goods feels necessary to keep up with others in the practice of face consumption. Furthermore, face consumption inhibits the consumption of too many luxury brand goods because the Eastern notion of face emphasizes frugality and modesty. The questionnaire containing the face consumption scale was administered to British and Korean undergraduate students. Luxury brand goods were limited to bags, purses, watches, and shoes because brand logos are sufficiently revealed in these items allowing others to recognize their presence. Questions regarding the number of luxury brand goods possessed and the individual economic status were also included in the questionnaire. Data from 100 Korean and 152 British respondents (252 total) were used for data analysis. Principal component analysis using varimax rotation was conducted to figure out the properties of face consumption. The face consumption scale contained two dimensions: “face consumption in pursuit of distinction and acknowledgement” and “conformity face consumption.” Both factors had high internal consistency as Cronbach’s alpha was .851 and .868. The result of the independent samples t-test indicated that Korean consumers show a higher degree of face consumption in pursuit of distinction and acknowledgment. Korean consumers also exhibited a higher degree of conformity face consumption than British consumers. However, there was no statistically significant difference in morality-conscious face consumption between British and Korean consumers. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to illustrate the effect of face consumption and economic status on the number of luxury brand goods one possesses. Conformity face consumption has a significant effect on the number of luxury brand goods for both British and Korean consumers. However, economic status has a significant effect on the number of luxury brand goods for British consumers only. Whereas Koreans purchase luxury brand goods regardless of their economic status, British consumers seem to consider their economic status when purchasing luxury brand goods. This result is consistent with the suggestion that people who cannot afford luxury brand goods purchase them to gain social acknowledgement in Korea. It also explains why regardless of their social and economic status, Koreans show a higher interest in luxury brand goods than British consumers. Based on the research findings, it can be suggested that noticeable brand logos will increase the sales of luxury brand goods in Korean market. In addition, launching or promoting the second line of the luxury brand will further increase sales because the second line greatly appeals to Korean consumers who cannot afford to buy the first line brand yet still aspire to gain social acknowledgement by possessing luxury brand goods.

Regional risk factors for health inequalities in Scotland and England and the “Scottish effect”

This paper uses data from the Scottish Health Survey 2003 and the comparable Health Survey for England 2003 to look at whether Scotland's poor health image and mortality profile is reflected in regional inequalities in prevalence of four risk factors for cardiovascular disease: fruit and vegetable consumption, smoking, obesity and diabetes. It also looks at the "Scottish effect" - how much of any difference between and within Scotland and England remains once socio-demographic factors have been taken in to account. The paper then uses regional analyses to determine the extent to which areas within England and Scotland contribute to their national health advantage and disadvantage. All 2003 strategic health authorities in England and Scottish health boards were compared with Greater Glasgow health board as the reference category. The results showed that significant geographic variation in the risk factors remained once individual economic status was taken into account, but the relationship was complex and varied in strength and direction depending upon risk factor involved and gender of respondent. A small number of areas had significantly lower odds of fruit and vegetable consumption of five portions or more a day in men, compared with Greater Glasgow. In contrast some areas had significantly higher odds of fruit and vegetable consumption for women compared with Greater Glasgow. There was greater geographic variation in the odds of smoking in women than in men. Respondents in the south west and southeast of England (areas which usually show health advantage) did not show significantly lower odds of smoking compared with Greater Glasgow once socio-economic variation, age and urban residence was taken into account. It was respondents from central England that had lower odds of smoking than might be expected. Obesity stood out as the single risk factor that had demonstrated a "Scottish effect" in women only.