Virtual consumption, or consumption of virtual goods and property, has become a major economic activity in social virtual worlds such as Second Life. Given that virtual consumption has become an important part of everyday virtual life in social virtual worlds, understanding virtual consumption can be an essential aspect to understanding user behavior in those worlds. Despite its significance, l...

This paper considers a world of two symmetric countries with two factors and two sectors. Outputs of the two sectors are imperfect substitutes and sectors differ in relative factor intensity. Each sector contains a continuum of heterogenous firms that produce differentiated goods within their sector. Trade is costly and there are both variable and fixed costs of exporting. The paper shows that ...

In this study we investigate purchase behavior for virtual goods in three free-to-play game environments. In the modern free games, publishers sell virtual goods in order to generate revenue. However, game publishers face dire negative attitudes toward the business model as it can entice publishers to degrade the enjoyment of the game in order to sell more virtual goods that address the artific...

he Asian currency crisis of 1997-98 was characterized by an abrupt reversal of foreign capital flows. Before the crisis, foreign capital inflows had allowed the crisis countries to attain a higher level of investment spending than could have been supported by domestic saving alone. Domestic and foreign investors suddenly lost confidence, liquidating their local asset holdings, and moving their ...

Rangelands are the main sources of forage for livestock feeding by localpeople. Beside forage production, rangeland ecosystems provide many other goods andservices such as medicinal plants, recreation, soil and water conservation, wildlife habitat,fishing, hunting, hiking, etc. Nevertheless, there are no much information about the waythat local communities think about the rangelands goods and s...

RNA catalysis seems to be considerably more wide spread than originally thought, with the most prominent example being the ribosome, where RNA catalyses the peptidyl-transferase reaction. Among the most and longest studied catalytic RNAs are the small nucleolytic ribozymes, such as the hairpin, VS, HDV and hammerhead ribozymes. They all catalyse the site-specific cleavage of their own phosphodi...

How do we react to the missed appointment? It is a busy clinic (is there any other type?) and the first reaction is likely to be relief. Then there is the realisation that some thought may need to be applied to the child who was not brought. Then there is the remembrance that there is a policy to be followed. Perhaps, it would have been easier if the child had come to the clinic... There are a ...