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Until now, traditional western consumption theories have not been able to adequately explain the consumption behavior of Chinese residents in the economic transitional period. Based on annual data from 1986 to 2004, the purpose of this paper is to examine the excess sensitivity of consumption through a variable parameter model.

A regression model was used to analyse annual consumption data from 1986 to 2004 in China.

The analysis demonstrates excess sensitivity characteristic in Chinese residents' consumption in the economic transitional period.

The paper concludes that in order to make the demand stimulation policy in China more effective, it is necessary to take a series of measures to correct the excess sensitivity of consumption, so as to establish a healthy cycle of national economy. The paper has only explained excess sensitivity of Chinese residents' consumption from the point of view of economics. While consumption is an economic problem as well as a social problem, those factors beyond economics should not be excluded from the analysis.

This paper differs from former studies in that previous scholars failed to take into consideration the special economic characteristics in China's transitional economy. The variable parameter model this paper employed takes full consideration of such unique factors as economic expectations and systems changes during the transitional period so as to better explain Chinese people's consumption behavior and provide a new perspective to make government policies stimulate domestic demand more effectively.

This paper aims to conceptually argue that China's trade surplus with the USA is not good.

Net exporters (like China) give up current consumption in order to gain claims against future production. This paper argues that the reasons why China is trading current consumption for claims on future production are not good.

There are strong reasons to believe that China's trade surplus with the USA is not healthy for either China or the USA.

Other scholars have discussed the trading of the present for the future that is involved in trade surpluses, but no one (to the author's knowledge) has discussed when such a trade is good or bad.

The purpose of this study is to propose a decentralized multi-party cross-trading scheme based on a certificate transaction mechanism for the transaction of excess consumption certificates (ECCs) of renewable energy. The aim is to address the problems associated with the existing centralized transaction mode and to promote the development of the green electricity industry.

The proposed scheme involves calculating the quotation difference for the same type of certificate transaction based on the quotations of all users of both buyers and sellers. The transaction volume is then determined based on the order of quotation difference from large to small, and the total interests of cooperation are calculated. The nucleolus method is adopted to allocate the total interests to each member of the alliance and calculate the final transaction price. The blockchain technology is used for the transaction to achieve accurate traceability and efficient supervision, and a corresponding smart contract is designed and simulated in the Ethereum consortium chain.

The results of the simulation show the rationality and effectiveness of the proposed scheme. The decentralized multi-party cross-trading scheme can overcome the problems associated with the existing centralized transaction mode, such as low transaction efficiency, difficulty in obtaining the optimal transaction strategy and efficient supervision. The proposed scheme can promote the development of the green electricity industry by stimulating users' demand potential for green electricity.

The proposed scheme is original in its use of a certificate transaction mechanism to facilitate the trading of ECCs of renewable energy. The scheme adopts a decentralized multi-party cross-trading approach that overcomes the problems associated with the existing centralized transaction mode. The use of the nucleolus method for the allocation of total interests to each member of the alliance is also original. Finally, the use of blockchain technology for accurate traceability and efficient supervision of the transaction is an original contribution to the field.

This paper aims to conceptually argue that China's trade surplus with the USA is good by clarifying its fundamental forces from specific perspective.

China's trade surplus with the USA is simply the result of comparative advantage under the background of international intra‐product specialization. Being the consequence of global resources optimization allocation, China's trade imbalance, including trade surplus with the USA, is certainly a win‐win game in international trade.

There are strong reasons to believe that China's trade surplus with the USA is beneficial to both China and the USA.

The forces causing China's trade surplus with the USA are complex and multiple different conclusions may be reached from different perspectives. This paper argues that one of the fundamental forces driving China's trade surplus with the USA is international intra‐product specialization, and from this perspective, it can help us understand that China's trade surplus with the USA is good for both nations to some extent.

The objective of this paper is to identify dimensions of responsible consumption from consumer perspective and develop a reliable and valid measurement scale.

This paper has employed mixed methodology to develop items for responsible consumption. In first phase, experts' interviews were carried out to unearth the dimensions of responsible consumption. In second phase, quantitative survey was carried out to among consumers to measure their response. This was done using five-point Likert scale. The reliability and validity were ensured through empirical data online. Structural equation modeling was used to test the structural model.

The result showed that consumer perception of responsible consumption consists of five dimensions (Rationality, Sustainable Consumption, Local Consumption, Ethical Consumption and Minimalism). The result also showed strong relationship among satisfaction and responsible consumption dimensions.

It will help policymakers to measure and promote responsible consumption thereby improving environmental performance and reducing carbon footprint.

This is the first study to develop valid and reliable instrument for responsible consumption. The findings will have several implications both theoretical and practical for policymakers and society.

The purpose of this paper is to apply the Becker‐Murphy theory of rational addiction to the case of carbonated soft drinks. The research aims to reveal the rational addiction evidence of carbonated soft drinks and derive policy implications under this evidence. Consumers' rational addictive evidence for carbonated soft drinks provides a warning for the Chinese government to regulate the industry, due to its bad health consequences.

The authors empirically apply a time‐varying parameter model and scanner data set from 46 US cities.

Empirical results provide strong evidence that carbonated soft drinks are rationally addictive, thus opening the door to taxation and regulation. Taking rational addition into account, estimated demand elasticities are much lower than previous estimates using scanner data, which implies a limited role for taxes to curb consumption but a strong role to raise revenue to fund health promotion programs.

This is the first study to test the rational addiction nature of carbonated soft drinks, thus adding to the scarce economic literature on food addiction. Although the empirical results derived are based on soft drink consumption in the USA, China is experiencing a similar consumption increase in carbonated soft drinks as in the USA, in the examined period. Therefore, the lessons from the USA are also valuable for the public policy makers in China.

The paper aims to examine asymmetry in the cyclical behavior of private consumption in a sample of nine developing countries in the Middle East.

The empirical model includes three policy variables: government spending, the money supply, and the exchange rate. Anticipated movements in these variables are likely to vary with agents' forecasts of macroeconomic fundamentals and, therefore, determine planned consumption. Unanticipated policy changes, in contrast, determine cyclical consumption.

The results indicate that fluctuations in private consumption are mostly cyclical. The stabilizing function of policy shocks varies across countries and appears to be asymmetric within countries.

Asymmetry necessitates a thorough evaluation of the positive and negative effects attributed to changes in policy variables and the necessary reforms to relax binding constraints.

Consumption of muscadine grapes and their by‐products (e.g. skins, seeds, wine and juice) is often discussed in terms of their alleged health‐ related properties (e.g. high content of resveratrol, phenolics and antioxidants). Almost no information, however, is available from an academic perspective on consumers' association with this food, including their knowledge, actual consumption of muscadines or by‐products they associate with muscadine grapes. This study seeks to add to the limited existing knowledge on muscadine grapes and their by‐products exploring these areas.

A sample of consumers from a Southern US town, where muscadine grapes are native, was chosen. A total of 189 participated completing a questionnaire.

Overall, respondents indicated familiarity with muscadine grapes and by‐products (e.g. wine, jams, juice), but predominantly the more mature respondents related much more to those by‐products than the younger consumer groups. Concerning muscadine wines, while 56.6 per cent of respondents were familiar with this product, and 45.5 per cent considered their consumption experience satisfying to very satisfying, 67.7 per cent either never buy them or seldom do so, suggesting very limited attachment with muscadine grapes.

Choosing one single geographic location (a Southern US town) and the number of participants are two limitations of this study.

Given the importance of muscadine grapes and their by‐products for the Southern region, particularly culturally, traditionally and for consumers in general in terms of beneficial health‐related properties, an argument is made concerning the need to promote this ancient food. The role of the hospitality and tourism sector, government, agricultural and consumer groups is therefore suggested in promoting, marketing and other forms conducive to raising the profile of muscadine by‐products.

The study focuses on a food (muscadines) and environment (the Southern US region) that despite their cultural importance continue to be under‐researched – even ignored – by much of the contemporary consumer behaviour, hospitality and other literature.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to assess the role of the wealth-to-income ratio in forecasting housing risk premium.

Methodology/approach – To investigate this issue, the chapter uses the residuals of the trend relationship among asset wealth and labor income to predict future real housing returns. It shows that deviations of asset wealth from its cointegrating relationship with labor income, wy, track time-variation in expected housing returns.

Findings – Using data for a set of industrialized countries, this chapter finds that if agents are hit by a shock that generates a fall in the wealth-to-income ratio, they will demand (i) a higher housing risk premium when housing assets are complements of financial assets and (ii) a lower housing risk premium when housing assets are substitutes of financial assets.

Originality/value of chapter – The findings of this chapter are novel in the field of alternative finance and, in particular, durable (housing) finance. Indeed, they build on a representative agent's theoretical model to infer about the degree of substitution or complementarity between financial and housing assets, which, in turn, can be useful at developing investment strategies for hedging against the risk of unfavorable housing fluctuations. Additionally, they open a new research avenue for understanding the determinants of housing risk premium by linking the dynamics of asset wealth and labor income with the behavior of future housing returns.