For the last 50 years the idea of consumer rights has formed an essential element in the formulation of policy to guide the workings of the marketplace. The extent and coverage of these rights has evolved and changed over time, yet there has been no comprehensive analysis as to the purpose and...

Surprisingly, the field of leisure economics is not, thus far, a particularly integrated or coherent one. In this Handbook a wide ranging body of international scholars get to grips with the core issues, taking in the traditional income/leisure choice model of textbook microeconomics and...

We contrast two measures of fuel poverty in New Zealand. The first is based on estimated expenditure of over 10% of household income on fuel. The second is self-reported deprivation of fuel because of an inability to afford it. Households denoted as fuel poor on the two measures are mostly...

We report new experimental evidence of the household response to weekday differentials in peak and off-peak electricity prices. The data come from Auckland, New Zealand, where peak residential electricity consumption occurs in winter for heating. Peak/off-peak price differentials ranged over...

This article provides background to measuring local government service performance in New Zealand and charts the practice of measuring service levels developed for a large city council. Projects were completed in 2007, 2008, and 2009 for the purpose of informing the city council's strategy...

This paper describes the research carried out into small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and corporate responsibility (CR) in the Northwest of England during Phase I of Responsibility Northwest, a partnership programme designed to significantly increase the CR of the region. By engaging with...

We report new experimental evidence of the household response to weekday differentials in peak and off-peak electricity prices. The data come from Auckland, New Zealand, where peak residential electricity consumption occurs in winter for heating. Peak/off-peak price differentials ranged over...

The speed at which many energy efficient technologies have been adopted has been very slow and the reasons why this is the case are often not well understood. An important area for New Zealand is domestic hot water which typically accounts for one-third of a household's electricity usage. We use...

Achieving a 'step-change' in energy efficiency behaviours will require enhanced knowledge of behavioural drivers, and translation of this knowledge into successful intervention programmes. The 'Energy Cultures' conceptual framework aims to assist in understanding the factors that influence...