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Purpose — In the context of the study of the role of social networks in travel behavior, this chapter adds to that body of knowledge by presenting a new data collection effort, which collects a wide array of information about the social, urban, and temporal context where social activity-travel behavior occurs.

Methodology/approach — The study was developed in Concepción, Chile, involving 240 respondents from four different urban contexts and their personal networks. The analysis concentrates on the challenges and opportunities of different techniques to build personal networks as a way of studying the social dimension of travel behavior. Although most of the current methods to study personal networks rely on emotional closeness, this approach may not be sufficient, since these “elicited” people may not include daily contacts that could be relevant to study social activities. Tackling this issue, the data instrument also collects those daily “revealed” people, on a two-day time use diary and a social activities listing. With this information, the chapter presents a comparative analysis between these “elicited” and “revealed” personal networks.

Findings — Overall, the results illustrate the dependence of the name generator technique on what is observed in terms of social activity-travel behavior, specifically on aspects such as personal network size, average distance, and frequencies of interaction. In addition, the comparison between the different methods to construct the personal networks, illustrates how name generators provide the opportunity to further understand transport related questions, such as the role of income and access to amenities on spatial and temporal patterns of social interactions, and their effect on social capital.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of attitudes towards functional foods (AFF) on university students’ satisfaction with food-related life (SWFL) and to distinguish student typologies, considering that the AFF are not homogeneous among consumers.

A survey was applied to 372 university students (mean age=20.4 years, SD=2.4) in Southern Chile. The questionnaire included the AFF questionnaire and the SWFL scale, questions about consumption and knowledge about functional food (FF) and socio-demographic characteristics.

Using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling, it was found that AFF directly and significantly influence students’ SWFL. A cluster analysis applied to the Z-scores from the factors obtained by the CFA classified three typologies: positive towards FF (36.3 per cent), moderately positive towards FF (43.0 per cent) and negative towards FF (20.7 per cent). The positive towards FF type had a significantly greater SWFL score than the negative towards FF type. The types differ according to consumption and knowledge about FF.

This study was conducted in the context of only one country in South America.

This study is the first that assesses the effect of AFF on SWFL in a sample of university students. Fostering positive attitudes towards FF will allow for a growth in the degree of SWFL of university students with features similar to those of the study sample.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of nutritional warning (NW) labels on the behavior of consumers of processed foods, considering demographic and psychological factors associated with the theory of planned behavior (TPB).

The study had a descriptive and cross-sectional design. A survey was applied to 200 household food decision makers from central Chile. This questionnaire was developed based on the planned behavior theory that evaluates the psychological constructs of human behavior: Attitude (ATT), Subjective Norms (SN), Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC) and Purchase Intention (PI) toward processed foods with NW. Sociodemographic variables were also included. The data were analyzed by using a multinomial logit (MNL) model, where three types of categories are established depending on the choice made by the consumer. Thus, the dependent variable responds to the effect of the following probabilities: Eliminate from Consumption, Do Not Eliminate from Consumption and Do Not Know whether or not to eliminate from consumption when selecting a food processed with NW.

The results show that the implementation of NW has significant effects on the choice of processed foods purchases made by Chilean consumers. Consumers with negative ATT and PBC in the presence of NW on processed foods eliminated this type of food from their consumption. On the other hand, those who did not eliminate processed foods with NW from their consumption made that choice because they had a positive PBC. In addition, consumers who were unsure about eliminating or consuming processed foods with NW also had a positive PBC. In addition, SN and sociodemographic variables did not affect consumer choice.

The results of this study are crucial in informing public policy strategies seeking to alert consumers about the content of processed foods, thus raising awareness for decision making in order to reduce noncommunicable diseases associated with poor eating habits.

The study provides evidence on the effect of NWs for processed foods on consumer decisions based on the TPB.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Chinese indirect trade relations in the global trade network to observe if the objectives identified by Cai (2017) in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are being fulfilled, especially with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries.

Using data from the UNCTAD (2016) for the period 2011–2015, a normalized exports network is built. It is analyzed with the Forgotten Effects Theory and the PageRank algorithm. A Monte Carlo experiment with 10,000 replicates is performed to account for its volatility.

The paper identifies one instance in which China's peripheral countries are importing raw materials and commodities -–oil products – to produce low technological value-added products, which, in turn, are exported to China. LAC countries do not have significant indirect trade relations with China when the former is the origin country, while the latter is the destination in a trade relationship. The trade network has a clear core-periphery structure, with China belonging to its core, although being only the fourth most central node in the network.

This paper contributes with both a new methodology for the analysis of indirect trade relations and the results found for China under the BRI and its trade relationship with LAC economies.