Social and Political Risks: Factors Affecting FDI in China's Mining Sector

Political risk can be defined as the potential for uncertainty and harm to business/economic operations that arise from political (governmental and other) behavior and events. These risks typically stem from factors such as economic structures, government institutions, policies, and societal characteristics, and are becoming more of a concern to prospective investors in a changing global political economy. This article seeks to expand upon the framework of political risk analysis by looking at “softer,” nonquantifiable risk factors. Through the analysis of foreign business experiences in China, we aim to demonstrate, via a qualitative case study of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mining sector, that in addition to typical financial, operational, and geological factors, firms should be better aware of the particular sociopolitical and cultural risks that can harm their investments in a given industry. This study draws on primary fieldwork, focuses on micropolitical risks to the industry, and stresses that multinational corporations (MNCs) could be more cognizant of the many societal factors that can influence an investment success. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

中国上市公司股权结构与总经理变更

研究上市公司股权结构、业绩与总经理的强制性变更和正常性变更的关系。可以发现,总经理的变更,特别是强制性变更作为最极端的约束手段,能够约束业绩差的总经理;国家股比例、流通股比例和大股东比例与总经理的强制性变更和正常性变更都不具有任何显著的相关性,这说明在国有股“所有者缺位”、流通股比例过低,市场投机气氛浓重的情况下,国家股东、流通股东以及大股东无法有效地监管经理人;而经理人持股比例与总经理的强制性变更和正常性变更之间具有非常显著的负相关性,证明了中国上市公司的“内部人控制”现象。     

Scatters and clusters in time and space: implications for delivering integrated and inclusive transport

This paper calls for a refinement in the literature on social exclusion/inclusion, and an alteration in the counterpart policy practices, in order to take account of ‘scatter’ and ‘cluster’ dimensions in the patterning of transport deprivation. Disaggregating social exclusion and inclusion data to enable the identification of scatters and clusters is key to the development of appropriate transport planning strategies. The degree to which lack of mobility is scattered or clustered can have profound implications for the ways in which time and space are treated by policy.     

Assessing the returns to R&D on perennial crops: the costs and benefits of Pierce's disease research in the California winegrape industry

Several complicating issues arise in evaluating the returns to research into varietal improvements for perennial crops compared with annual crops. We elucidate and address these issues in the context of a case study of research aiming to develop varieties that are resistant to Pierce's disease (PD) of grapevines. PD imposes costs of over $100 million per year on the California grape industry, even with public PD control programs in place. Research projects to develop PD resistant varieties of grapevines are at various stages of completion. We describe the economic problems posed by PD, document the research programs undertaken to address the disease and present an economic assessment of the returns to the investment, which are conditional on other policies. Using a simulation model of the market for California winegrapes, we estimate the benefits from research, development and adoption of PD‐resistant vines as ranging from $4 million to $129 million annually over a 50‐year horizon, depending on the length of the R&D lag and the rate of adoption. In addition to these specific quantitative results the paper offers insight into the broader question of economic evaluation of damage‐mitigation technology for perennial crops.     

企业人力资本科技水平与自主创新成果的耦合效应研究

在运用构建的指标体系测评我国大中型工业企业2000-2019年的人力资本科技水平与自主创新成果综合发展水平指数基础上,实证分析企业人力资本科技水平与自主创新成果的耦合效应.结果显示:报告期我国大中型工业企业人力资本科技水平和自主创新成果之间耦合协调度总体上呈增长趋势,实现了从中度失调向高度耦合协调转变;企业人力资本科技水平是促进自主创新成果产生的重要原因,同时,自主创新成果增加能作用于人力资本科技水平提升;企业人力资本科技水平短期内作用于自主创新成果不显著,但长期内显著,而自主创新成果短期、长期均显著作用于人力资本科技水平.     

Enriching Intergenerational Decision-Making with Guided Visualization Exercises

Seriously engaging with the needs, hardships, and aspirations of future generations is an emotional experience as much as an intellectual endeavor. In this essay we describe a guided visualization exercise used to overcome the emotional barriers that often prevent us from dealing effectively with intergenerational decisions. The meditation and dreaming technique was applied to a diverse group of researchers who engaged in a visualized encounter with future generations. Following the exercise, we concluded that a serious analysis of intergenerational conflict requires us to confront our own mortality. Also, somewhat surprisingly to workshop participants, our desire to become stewards of the planet was driven by our fear of death as well as our egoist yearning for immortality. We posit that imagining the unknown with visioning practices might increase our emotional resilience, and hence improve our ability to confront the burdens of intergenerational responsibility.     

Business experience and start-up size: Buying more lottery tickets next time around?

This paper explores the determinants of start-up size by focusing on a cohort of 6,247 businesses that started trading in 2004, using a unique dataset on customer records at Barclays Bank. Quantile regressions show that prior business experience is significantly related with start-up size, as are a number of other variables such as age, education and bank account activity. Quantile treatment effects (QTE) estimates show similar results, with the effect of business experience on (log) start-up size being roughly constant across the quantiles. Prior personal business experience leads to an increase in expected start-up size of about 50 %. Instrumental variable QTE estimates are even higher, although there are concerns about the validity of the instrument.