Body weight is an issue of growing concern in Western societies, as the prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased markedly over the last decades. In many industrialized countries, more than half of the population is now considered too heavy (e.g., Ogden et al., 2006). As overweight and obesity are associated with severe health risks as well as negative social implications, many people try to regulate their weight by dieting. However, although such efforts at weight regulation are often successful initially, most dieters do not maintain their weight loss in the long term, or even regain more weight than they lost in the first place (Jeffery et al., 2000; see Mann et al., 2007, for a review). Apparently, it is very difficult for dieters to resist the temptation of eating attractive, high-calorie foods, even when these interfere with long-term health goals.
A number of theories have been proposed to explain the eating behavior of overweight people and of dieters in order to understand these failures of self-regulation. Most of these theories are based on the assumption that eating behavior is regulated homeostatically in response to signals of hunger and satiety, and that this mechanism is somehow disturbed in individuals withproblems in eating regulation, such as overweight people and dieters (e.g., Bruch, 1961; Herman & Polivy, 1984). The boundary model of eating regulation (Herman & Polivy, 1984), for example, suggests that while non-dieters eat in response to cues of hunger and satiety, dieters regulate their eating behavior by means of consciously controlled processes because they are insensitive to such homeostatic cues for eating.
Various types of hedgers and speculators interact in derivatives markets. Floor brokers for example, may take positions, process information, and discover prices in these markets while serving clients. In addition, arbitrageurs in derivatives markets may also serve to alleviate price discrepancies and to improve the transfer of risk amongst investors. As derivatives markets continue to expand, a natural question is to what extent changes in the magnitude and the composition of trading affect pricing.
The world is becoming ‘flat’says Thomas Friedman, a New York Times columnist, in his new bestseller The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty first Century. Aglobophile (an enthusiast of globalization), Friedman is urging the US to take note of China and India’s ability to compete on a new, Web-enabled global playing field. The US needs to adjust to the new, flat world, one in which its longstanding technological and economic dominance is ending.
