Why are Some Engaged and Not Others? Explaining Environmental Engagement among Small Firms in Tourism

This paper examines the reasons for different levels of environmental engagement among small firms in tourism. Drawing on theories of motivation, notably Social Cognitive Theory, Motivation Systems Theory and Goal Orientation Theory, as well as the literature on environmental sensitivity, it proposes a novel conceptual framework that is subsequently used to inform an empirical study. The findings of the research suggest that varying levels of environmental engagement may be explained by differences in worldviews, self‐efficacy beliefs, context beliefs and goal orientation. The paper concludes by considering the policy implications of the results. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pollution and life expectancy: How environmental policy can promote growth

This article investigates the influence of environmental policy (EP) on growth in an AK-type growth model, when finite lifetime is introduced and the link between pollution and life expectancy (through the detrimental impact of pollution on health) is taken into account.Using an overlapping generations model à la Blanchard [Blanchard, O. (1985). Debt, deficits and finite horizon. Journal of Political Economy, 93:223-247], we demonstrate that finite lifetime introduces a “generational turnover effect” which modifies the influence of the EP on growth. Thus, when lifetime is finite and independent from pollution, we show that the “generational turnover effect” limits the detrimental impact of the EP on growth, if agents smooth their consumption over time. When pollution negatively influences life expectancy through health, we demonstrate that the “generational turnover effect” is magnified and that the EP and growth have an inverted U-shaped relationship in the steady-state. In this case, we show that the environmental policy is more likely to promote growth (i.e. it stimulates growth for a wider range of environmental taxes) when the impact of pollution on health is important and/or public expenditures in health are low. Finally, using numerical simulations, we find that for the value of parameters that we have chosen, the EP will be more likely to promote growth when agents smooth consumption over time.     

Farmland for tomorrow in densely populated areas

The paper describes the results of a research that aimed to come up with a well structured method to estimate future farmland requirements in densely populated areas. By using in depth interviews, scenario analysis and strategic orientation rounds, a method is developed to support policy optimization and to explore alternative future developments. The method is applied to the case of agriculture in the Flemish part of Belgium to show the feasibility of the model and to provide input for the discussion among policy makers in Flanders. The research results can be used by policy makers to build a new Spatial Plan Flanders for the period 2007–2013.     

World Health Organization Dietary Norms: A Quantitative Evaluation of Potential Consumption Impacts in the United States, United Kingdom, and France

The member countries of the World Health Organization have endorsed its Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity, and Health. We assess the potential consumption impacts of these norms in the United States, France, and the United Kingdom using a mathematical programming approach. We find that adherence would involve large reductions in the consumption of fats and oils accompanying large rises in the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and cereal. Further, in the United Kingdom and the United States, but not France, sugar intakes would have to shrink considerably. Focusing on sub-populations within each country, we find that the least educated, not necessarily the poorest, would have to bear the highest burden of adjustment.     

Conflicts of interest,information provision,and competition in the financial services industry

In some markets sellers have better information than buyers over which products best serve a buyer's needs. Depending on the market structure, this may lead to conflicts of interest in the provision of information by sellers. This paper studies this issue in the market for financial services. The analysis presents a new model of competition between banks, where price competition influences the ensuing incentives for truthful information revelation. We also compare conflicts of interest in two different firm structures, specialized banking and one-stop banking.     

The Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) translated into French: internal structure and predictive validity

The Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI, Holton et al., 2000 ) considers 16 factors likely to influence the transfer of training to the workplace. The purpose of this study is to translate the Learning Transfer System Inventory into French and to examine (1) the internal structure of the translated instrument; and (2) its predictive validity. The Learning Transfer System Inventory was administered to 328 participants from six companies during the week following the end of a training program. The transfer questionnaire was filled in by 106 of those participants 1–3 months later. The results showed that a principal component analysis reveals a factor structure very similar to the original structure: the 16 original factors are replicated. Second, seven factors display statistically significant correlations with transfer: learner readiness, motivation to transfer, transfer design, opportunity to use, transfer‐performance expectations, performance‐outcomes expectations and performance self‐efficacy. Comparisons with four similar previous studies allow us to draw directions for future research on the instrument.     

Recent Developments at DG Competition: 2013–2014

The Directorate General for Competition at the European Commission enforces competition law in the areas of antitrust, merger control, and state aids. In 2013–2014 important antitrust decisions (Samsung and Motorola) were in the area of standard essential patents. In merger control the European Commission carried out an ex-post evaluation of past mergers in the INEOS/Solvay case in order to obtain valuable insights for the merger under review. In state aid, as a part of the State Aid Modernisation programme, guidelines were prepared to help EU member states to design and carry out ex post assessments of state aid schemes.     

Measuring Aggregate Human Capital

Weconstruct a set of human capital indexes for the states of theUnited States for each census year starting in 1940. To do so,we propose a new methodology for the construction of index numbersin panel data sets. Our method is based on an optimal approachby which we choose the ``best' set of index numbers by minimizingthe expected estimation error subject to some research constraints.Some of the empirical findings are that the stock of human capitalin the United States grew twice as rapidly as the average yearsof schooling and that human capital inequality across stateswent up during the 1980s (while the dispersion of schooling actuallyfell). We conclude that using the average years of schoolingfor the empirical study of existing growth models may be misleading.     

Global indeterminacy in an endogenous-growth model with public capital

This paper studies the patterns of growth in an endogenous-growth model where the labor supply is endogenous and sustained growth arises because the services derived from public capital increase the economic productivity. It is assumed that these services are congested by the number of households in the economy but they are not congested by the units of time that each household devotes to work. With this assumption, the dynamic equilibrium exhibits multiple balanced-growth paths, local and global indeterminacy, and limit cycles under some plausible fiscal policies. Our analysis points out that a large lump-sum tax is a necessary condition to obtain this complex equilibrium dynamic behavior.