Assessing the productivity consequences of agri-environmental practices when adoption is endogenous

Journal of Productivity Analysis - We address the general problem of selection bias, an issue endemic to policy analysis when adoption is voluntary, with an empirical application to environmental...     

A collective,undifferentiated accounting profession: an Australian study

A study of 386 potential and current members of the accounting profession in Australia and South‐East Asia provides evidence of the importance of three attributes – brand/reputation, international recognition of qualifications and career opportunities – in the decision to join a professional accounting body. While these attributes are important, logit regression models indicate that they are not discriminatory in the choice of professional body and suggest a perception of a collective, undifferentiated accounting profession. The marketing of brand/reputation and membership benefits may be a more efficient and effective strategy in attracting members and differentiating the profession if undertaken by a combined or coordinated professional body.     

A Framework for Adopting Collaboration 2.0 Tools for Virtual Group Decision Making

Decision making in virtual teams is gaining momentum due to globalization, mobility of employees, and the need for collective and rapid decision making by members who are in different locations. These factors resulted in a proliferation of virtual team software support tools for decision making, the latest of which is social software (also known as collaboration 2.0), which includes tools such as wikis, blogs, microblogs, discussion forums, and social networking platforms. This paper describes the potential use of collaboration 2.0 software for improving the process and the specific tasks in virtual group decision making. The paper proposes a framework for exploring the fitness between social software and the major activities in the group decision making process and how such tools can be successfully adopted. Specifically, we use a fit-viability model to help assessing whether social software fit a decision task and what organizational factors are important for such tools to be effective. Representative research issues related to the use of such tools are also presented.     

The effects of EU agricultural policy changes on farmers' risk attitudes

This analysis utilises a model of production under risk estimatedon Finnish farm-level data to measure farmers' risk attitudesin a changing policy environment. We find evidence of heterogeneousrisk preferences among farmers, as well as notable changes overtime in farmers' degree of risk aversion. This result is dueto the increase in the non-random part of farm income generatedby the policy change after Finland's European Union accession.The analysis confirms the assertion that agricultural policiesthat are decoupled from production do affect input use and cropmix through their effect on farmers' risk attitudes.     

The Diversification Discount Puzzle: Evidence for a Transaction-Cost Resolution

The literature on the corporate diversification discount and the relative efficiency of internal versus external capital markets provides mixed results. We argue that transaction-cost economics is useful in understanding this puzzle. According to transaction-cost economics, diversified firms should outperform single segment firms in industries with higher external transaction costs (e.g., emergent industries) and under-perform in industries with low external transaction costs and high agency and other internal costs (e.g., some mature industries). This paper provides evidence supporting these contentions.     

A Bioeconomic Analysis of the Northern Baltic Salmon Fishery: Coexistence versus Exclusion of Competing Sequential Fisheries

We develop a bioeconomic model of the northern Balticsalmon fishery that takes into account thesimultaneous harvest of wild and reared salmon. Weassess the optimal harvest allocation between thecommercial offshore, inshore, and estuary fisheries,and the recreational river fishery that sequentiallyharvest the salmon stock. We restrict the solution tospawning stocks sufficient to preserve the wildsalmon. Empirical results suggest closure of theoffshore and inshore fisheries. Optimal managementenhances the wild stock, and results in substantialeconomic gains to the fishery. Current fisheryregulation improves the performance of the fisheryover open access, but fails to utilize the fullproductive potential of the resource.     

Educational gender gaps

Cross-country studies reveal two consistent gender gaps in education—underachievement in school by boys and low rates of participation in STEM studies by girls. Recent economics research has shown the importance of social influences on women's STEM avoidance, but male low achievement has been less-studied and tends to be attributed to behavior problems and deficient non-cognitive skills. I revisit the determinants of the gender gap in U.S. educational attainment with a relatively-advantaged sample of young men and women and find that school behavior and measured skills are not very important drivers of gender differences, particularly in the transition to college. Educational aspirations, on the other hand, are strongly predictive of educational gaps and the gender difference in aspirations cannot be explained, even with rich adolescent data that includes parental expectations and school achievement indicators. These results suggest that gender identity concerns may influence (and damage) the educational prospects of boys as well as girls through norms of masculinity that discourage academic achievement.