Non-food Consumer Goods Research Articles

Потребление непродовольственных промышленных товаров семьями колхозников Молотовской области в первом послевоенном пятилетии (1946–1950)

Non-food consumer goods have always been, are and will remain important attributes of a person’s life. In addition to purely physiological, non-food goods satisfy a number of other needs that shape people as thinking creatures and distinguish them from animals. The article examines the problem of consumption of non-food consumer goods by collective farmers in one of the regions of the Urals, i.e. the former Molotov Region (presently, the Perm Region) during the first years after the Great Patriotic War (1946–1950). The topic of this article is relevant, since the problem of scientifically grounded and balanced consumption of non-food consumer goods by the population remains unresolved. The author turned to materials kept in two archives: Russian State Archives of Economics and State Archives of the Sverdlovsk Region. Some of these documents have never been published, including household budget surveys, which have a long history in Russia. Attention is focused on the fact that the determining factor in the material living conditions of collective farmers during the first post-war years was the permanent shortage of almost all consumer goods. The author demonstrates that in the period under study the consumption level of non-food consumer goods by collective farmers was unsatisfactory. It should be noted that such a low level of consumption by Molotov Region peasants in the first post-war years was no exception. It is concluded that there were no grounds for a rapid growth in the consumption of non-food consumer goods by this “secondary” category of the population (which collective farmers were at the time) during the period under study.

Solvent Absorption and Dissolution Kinetics Modelling for the Chemical Recycling of Waste Plastic Laminates

The Philippines is expected to have an increase in consumption of waste plastic laminates known as sachets, composed of polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and used in various food and non-food consumer goods. The increase in demand of these sachets has led the country to become one of the top ocean polluters worldwide. Chemical recycling- specifically selective dissolution and reprecipitation- is seen as one viable option for the recovery of these polymers. In this study, the absorption and dissolution kinetics of D-limonene, a potential candidate solvent, in the two-layer (2LL) and three-layer (3LL) laminates were modelled and analyzed for the design of separation equipment to recovery PE. The absorption of limonene for both laminates was observed to initially follow Fickian diffusion, but plateaus when the dissolution rate becomes comparable with the solvent diffusion rate. The dissolution of the 3LL almost closely follows Fickian behavior, while 2LL initially follows Fickian behavior. Deviations from Fickian dissolution may be attributed to the difference in swelling behavior between the non-uniform solvent-polymer diffusion layer and the glassy polymer layer.

SUDOQU, a new dose-assessment methodology for radiological surface contamination

A new methodology has been developed for the assessment of the annual effective dose resulting from removable and fixed radiological surface contamination. It is entitled SUDOQU (SUrface DOse QUantification) and it can for instance be used to derive criteria for surface contamination related to the import of non-food consumer goods, containers and conveyances, e.g., limiting values and operational screening levels. SUDOQU imposes mass (activity)-balance equations based on radioactive decay, removal and deposition processes in indoor and outdoor environments. This leads to time-dependent contamination levels that may be of particular importance in exposure scenarios dealing with one or a few contaminated items only (usually public exposure scenarios, therefore referred to as the ‘consumer’ model). Exposure scenarios with a continuous flow of freshly contaminated goods also fall within the scope of the methodology (typically occupational exposure scenarios, thus referred to as the ‘worker model’). In this paper we describe SUDOQU, its applications, and its current limitations. First, we delineate the contamination issue, present the assumptions and explain the concepts. We describe the relevant removal, transfer, and deposition processes, and derive equations for the time evolution of the radiological surface-, air- and skin-contamination levels. These are then input for the subsequent evaluation of the annual effective dose with possible contributions from external gamma radiation, inhalation, secondary ingestion (indirect, from hand to mouth), skin contamination, direct ingestion and skin-contact exposure. The limiting effective surface dose is introduced for issues involving the conservatism of dose calculations. SUDOQU can be used by radiation-protection scientists/experts and policy makers in the field of e.g. emergency preparedness, trade and transport, exemption and clearance, waste management, and nuclear facilities. Several practical examples are worked out demonstrating the potential applications of the methodology.

Risk Assessment of Investment Strategy in the Textile Industry

An important industry, producing non-food consumer goods, is textile industry. From the development of this industry depends the social level of living, therefore it is necessary to increase the role of light industry in the development of domestic market by competitive domestic products of high quality. Light industry includes several sub-sectors: textiles (including cotton, wool, silk, linen, knittеd fabrics, felting), garment, haberdashery, leather, fur and footwear industries. However, under the pressure of imports the light industry of Kazakhstan has practically ceased to exist, providing only 8-10% of the internal demand. The paper evaluated the effectiveness of investment projects in the textile industry on the basis of economic and mathematical risk prediction method, marked types of risks in investment attractiveness, which are inherent in any sector of the economy. The article details the method for calculating the prediction of risk of the investment strategy in the textile industry.

Modeling Household Income and Consumption Expenditure Multipliers for Uzbekistan Based on SAM

The empirical analysis of current development process impact on welfare and distribution of income and consumption among individuals has been at the centre of economic research over the last three to four decades, since this type of research has largely come to address important issues of inequality and poverty measurement. Post-2015 Development Goals agenda has placed greater focus of economic policy to such the priority areas as sustainable economic development, poverty reduction and employment growth based on activation of new sources related to the increase in the quality of human capital. In this regard, special attention is required to study the effectiveness of mechanisms to promote sustainable growth of welfare and improvement of living standards in Uzbekistan. This article discusses the multiplicative effects of economic shocks on incomes and consumption of household quintiles using data from the SNA accounts on distribution and use of income. Particularly, it analyses the path of quality of life of society and possibility to achieve a significant goal to improve the competitiveness and efficiency of the national economy applying SAM model in order to measure population differentiation in terms of spending on food and non-food consumer goods and services. Results show, that despite the fact that the impact multiplier of food production is the largest for the first quintile (relatively to multiples of non-food industries and services), its impact is small enough to be a tool for poverty reduction in Uzbekistan. Moreover, only the stimulation of production of goods and services may not have a significant impact on the reduction of inequality in income distribution. The preferred tool to protect vulnerable sectors of the population and reduce poverty is targeted support, which forms the basis for the economic policy of Uzbekistan on the way to sustainable and shared growth.

Resource and climate factors for the provision of social protection in Siberia’s northern territories

An analysis is made of the influence from the resource and climate factors on the level of social guarantees in Siberia’s northern territories where the climatic resources differ greatly and are characterized by a different level of discomfort. The low standards of subsistence minimum for these territories are caused by imperfection of the existing zoning used in establishing these standards and by an inadequate monitoring network for prices employed by territorial bodies of the Federal State Statistics Service. There is a difference between the actual severity of climate and the standards for food consumption in the central and southern parts of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic and nonfood consumer goods and services throughout the entire territory of the Extreme North. Furthermore, it is found that the cities used in the observation of prices only poorly reflect the geographical features of the regions, and they are located in the vicinities to the main roads, while the extensive polar regions with an extremely severe level of discomfort and difficult transport accessibility are not included in the monitoring of prices. To achieve substantial improvement in the quality of human life, it is important to make changes in the zoning used in assessing the standards, and in the monitoring network maintained by territorial bodies of the Federal State Statistics Service.

Gatekeepers to consumer markets: the role of retailers in international trade

This study explores how recent developments in the retail sector affect trade in consumer goods. It focuses on three developments in the retail sector: (i) internationalization; (ii) market structure; and (iii) the growing market share of retailers' private labels. Using gravity model estimation techniques it is found that the foreign operations of a retailer are positively related to imports from the host to the home country of the retailer. Imports are negatively related to ownership concentration, while the market share of private labels is negatively related to imports of food and positively related to imports of non-food consumer goods. For both product categories private labels shift sourcing towards poor countries. The trade response to trade liberalization is higher both at the extensive and intensive margin in countries with lower retail concentration.

The Transformation of Ownership Relations in Defense Industries Privatization of defense industry enterprises

The common goals and tasks of state privatization programs have not taken into account the peculiarities of defense industry (DI) enterprises even though they comprise a considerable part of the country's scientific, industrial, and manpower potential. DI enterprises also produce a large relative share of high-tech and technically sophisticated civilian products and non-food consumer goods. In 1994 the defense complex accounted for 80 percent of the nation's total production of these products. The privatization of DI enterprises has therefore pursued the goal not only of preserving but also of further improving their scientific-technical and manpower potential. The principal tasks of privatization in this sphere include: —the minimization of the cost of producing and developing arms and military equipment with due regard to the demands of military doctrine and of ensuring Russia's defensive capability on this basis; —the creation of an optimal structure of production in the DI corresponding to market cond...

State Monopoly: Basic Content and Means of Overcoming it

State monopoly permeates virtually all spheres of our society's economic life and is at once an integral element and substantive feature of state socialism. Given the statization [ogosudarstvlenie] of all social and economic life, state monopoly is the only possible form of the organization of social life, including social production. It is manifested in the economic sphere in the form of the monopoly of the administrative-command system, its organs, and staff that control the means of production and the results of the producers' labor, entrepreneurial activity, the organization of labor and production, as well as the management of production and the distribution of the product both in society as a whole and in every link of the national economy. Planning and its decision-making process, the definition of the short- and long-term goals of developing the national economy and each of its links, the distribution of material and technical resources, food and nonfood consumer goods, the formation of state budg...

Equity and Efficiency in the Distribution of Non-Food Consumer Goods in China: Shanghai as an Example

Every country concerns itself to some extent with the efficient and equitable distribution of goods to its people. But the policy of capitalist or mixed economy countries is to let manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers compete to provide the goods at the time, place, and price desired by the customer. As a rule, neither government policy nor the distribution process is set up to ensure that people will get the particular goods for a set price or at a given location. Prices are a function of the relative power held by consumers, distribution channels, and producers. Location is a function of customer demand. It is assumed that the discipline of the marketplace will keep the system operating with reasonable efficiency. In a planned economy, of course, a central authority assumes much more responsibility and control over the production, delivery, and the price consumers pay for goods. Government determines the rules for interplay among institutions based on its perceptions of what constitutes the greatest economic and social benefit to the country. This is not to say that the world falls neatly into these groups. Among the world's economies, equity and efficiency are assigned different weights depending on internal and external political and social factors. Just as the government and private sector relationship relate differently in Great Britain, the United States, and Japan, so do the planning, production, and distribution mechanisms in the USSR, East Germany, and China. This article describes how China, whose system is heavily dominated by the question of equity, tries to balance its concern for equity with the need

Equity and Efficiency in the Distribution of Non-Food Consumer Goods in China: Shanghai as an Example

Equity and Efficiency in the Distribution of Non-Food Consumer Goods in China: Shanghai as an Example