Issue 4, 2021

The study aims to empirically assess the dimensionality, reliability and validity of the consumer ethnocentrism tendency scale (CETSCALE) in the liberalised economy, India. Data are collected using a structured questionnaire from urban and rural regions to evaluate the CETSCALE. A total of 900 valid responses were collected. The dimensionality, reliability and validity have been assessed for the urban sample of 455 and the rural sample of 445 separately, as well as for the collective sample of 900. It was established that CETSCALE is not unidimensional in India. It comprises two dimensions, termed as, protective ethnocentrism and patriotic ethnocentrism, in all three samples. The bi-dimensional CETSCALE is also found reliable and valid. The study advances the existing pool of information in the field of international economics, consumer psychology and global marketing. It also assists domestic producers to get an improved understanding of consumers’ ethnocentric tendencies, which in turn would benefit them to choose superior marketing strategies and boost their sales. Progress of inland manufacturers will help the nation to grow and the overall quality of life of people will improve. The study will not only deliver certain social and policymaking insights to the domestic firms and Government but also to the foreign firms functioning or planning to operate in India.
JEL: M31; F1; F10

The current market reality is strongly influenced by the development of the concepts of "sustainable development" and "Experience economy". The latter forms a new business model – B2H (Business to human) – a human-centered business. Together with the increasing percentage of sophisticated customers, this is becoming a serious challenge for the businesses. In this context, socially responsible branding is positioned as a relevant tool that serves, on the one hand, to satisfy the pursuit of social, economic and environmental justice, and on the other hand, makes the relationship "company-client" to be a form of experience beyond the rational framework of market exchange. The study presents an author's model of the marketing projections of the application of socially responsible branding. In a mirror perspective – in terms of end-users and business, the relationships between the individual constructs of the model have been empirically tested with an emphasis on exploring the possibilities of socially responsible branding to influence the level of consumer loyalty, which is often considered a priority goal for companies. In conclusion, specific arguments are formulated for the practical applicability and significance of such a study.
JEL: M31

In this scientific article, the performance of retail investors trading contracts for differences offered by EU regulated investment firms has been analysed. The aim of the study is to identify common patterns of behaviour and the determinants of holding period returns and risk aversion in general and in a post-MiFID II environment. More than 80% of clients in this sample are losing money and a panel econometric examination reveals that low equity and high used margin-to-equity ratios are among the biggest contributors for negative holding period returns. Used margin-to-equity ratios are affected by equity size and by the holding period returns. Regulatory changes due to MiFID II implementation and due to the introduction of a restriction on the sale of contracts for differences are affecting holding period returns and used margin-to-equity ratios, perhaps not as intended and expected.
JEL: F31; G11; G15; G41

Food price spikes increase the vulnerability of poor, marginalized people to food insecurity and are often associated with landless rural or urban poor. Nevertheless, high food prices are commonly understood as instrumental in increasing farm incomes. For this reason, agriculture price policies are used to provide higher incomes to farmers. Income gains could be real for farmers with large landholdings but often attributed to all farmers without regard to their holding-size. Farmers with small holdings are typically net food buyers of essential food commodities and thus vulnerable to rising food prices. Fluctuations in food prices globally have increased the significance and the probable policy response to such price rise in recent years. Studies in different countries have revealed that household responses depend upon the region's market structure where the household is situated. However, the extent of vulnerability is rarely accessed in any such analysis.
In this context, the present study uses India as a case study to understand the distributional impact of food prices on farm households and their vulnerability position. Many of these farm households are net food buyers such that the effect of high food prices is counterproductive for them. Results show that about sixty-four percent of producer households in India are net buyers of food, and nearly two-thirds of these lie in the lowest quintile. Around one-third of these agriculture households are significant food buyers, further increasing their vulnerability to high food prices. Short-term policy interventions like income transfers and, in the long run, better livelihood opportunities in other sectors would be required to shield such farmers from the detrimental effect of increased crop prices. Results also suggest the need for reexamining the role of price policy instruments as a tool to increase the incomes of all farmers in India.
JEL: D31; H23; Q12; Q18

In this article, the definition and concept of the term “creative industry” have been considered.The definition of creative clusters from the point of view of domestic and foreign scientists has been given. A number of creative clusters features have been identified and the own definition of this term has been formed. The experience of developed countries in the formation of creative clusters has been analyzed. The analysis of the population of Ukraine by the indicators of employment, employment by type of economic activity has been conducted. Examples of creative hubs organization in Ukraine have been considered and their economic activity has been analyzed. The main types of creative clusters have been identified and the principles of their formation have been outlined.
JEL: C38; O15; О24

Entrepreneurs are innovators, job providers and people who perform economic activities while fulfilling responsibility towards the society (Ahmad N & Seymour R, 2006). According to the 6^th Economic Census released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, there are 58.5 million entrepreneurs in India, of which 14 % are women entrepreneurs. The aim of the research paper is to outline empirical research on the competencies required by women entrepreneurs to start a business and to sustain the same successfully. This paper also aims to discuss the problems and challenges encountered by women entrepreneurs in running their business. A survey of women entrepreneurs was conducted in Gujarat using a structured questionnaire and personal interview. The questionnaire was designed with a list of competencies, problems and challenges faced by the women entrepreneurs that were compiled from previous theoretical and empirical research. The entrepreneurs were asked to give their ratings based on their perception and experience on five-point Likert scales. A factor analysis was conducted in order to identify clusters of competencies that loaded onto each group. The most common problems and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs were identified statistically.
The factor analysis identified 9 clusters of competencies from the list of 36 competencies, which are necessary for entrepreneurs to start the business and sustain with it. The results show that the major problems faced by the women are lack of finance, difficulty in work-life balance and high socio-cultural barriers over the life of the business.
The outcome of this paper can be used by researchers, government agencies, non-government organisations and incubation centres to understand and develop policies that help more and more women to become entrepreneurs and run their business successfully.
JEL: L26

This paper examines the link between trade facilitation and extensive margin for 111 countries over the period of 2008 to 2014. The study employs a panel pseudo-maximum likelihood (PPML) method to estimate the model. We measure trade facilitation using more comprehensive measures of enabling trade index (ETI); market access, border administration, transport and communication infrastructure, and business environment. The novelty in using ETI is a comprehensive index that takes into account the effects of factors, policies, and services facilitating the free flow of goods over borders and to the destination. The paper has four major findings. Our results highlight that better trade facilitation leads the countries to export, import more diversified, and a wider range of products. Second, improvement in the business environment and transport and communication infrastructure in trade facilitation yield the highest return in terms of increasing the number of exported products. Third, border administration coming as the second most important factor in affecting extensive margin. Forth and most interestingly, despite economic integration, there is a considerably stronger effect on the side of exporter’s trade facilitation, which shows large unexploited gains, to be reaped on the side of exporter countries trade facilitation.
JEL: F13; O24; C13

In the article, the analyses of existing definitions of the category “professional mobility” has been conducted. The approaches to the study of professional mobility have been analyzed. Statistical data about professional mobility of the youth has been analyzed, peculiarities of the migration of workers abroad by age groups have been determined. Problems in the sphere of youth employment in Ukraine have been defined.
JEL: J62

The article discusses the connection between education and re-migration with a focus on the return to Bulgaria of highly educated migrants, and especially those who have been educated abroad. The underlying hypothesis is that in the absence of specific personal or family reasons or clear economic motives, the return of highly educated migrants, and especially those who received education abroad, back to Bulgaria is due to the inability to find the realisation of their education abroad. Furthermore, the integration of returnees who have graduated abroad on the Bulgarian labour market is not without problems. The hypothesis is tested against qualitative and quantitative data from a 2017 national survey and 100 in-depth interviews with Bulgarian returnees. The analysis of the data reveals that the return of highly educated migrants back to Bulgaria is rather an exception in the overall picture of return, especially when it comes to migrants who have received their education abroad. Upon the return of highly educated remigrants, along with personal and family reasons for return, the rational dichotomy of “push” from the country of immigration (impossibility to find a job there) and “pull” to the homeland (availability of work in Bulgaria) stands out. For the highly educated (including those educated abroad) the “push” and “pull” factors act differently depending on the field of the received education. Moreover, professional realisation and finding a job are to a much greater extent determined by the field of education and not so much by the educational and scientific degree. Understanding the motives behind the return of highly educated Bulgarian emigrants to Bulgaria, as well as their separation into categories according to the specifics of their education and qualification, would help develop adequate incentives to support the return and reintegration into the Bulgarian society and economy.
JEL: A14; F22; J60

The article discusses the relation between the return migration flow and the effects for the sending country, especially for the socio-economic change. An institutional approach has been adopted to analyze the possible changes that returning migrants would bring to their homeland. The main goal is to reveal the possible positive effect of international migration on the Bulgarian society and especially on the social institutions. The assumption that returnees may be agents of change is analyzed within the broad framework of institutionalism and data from a sociological survey of returned migrants. The micro and macro level of the “return-socio-economic change” relation is discussed through the broader view of the human capital and social capital transfer. The article presents the migration experience as helpful for the returnee’s integration at home and as a possible influence on the institutional environment in the country.
JEL: O15; F22; Z1