Finance,energy and the decoupling: an empirical study

This paper investigates the empirical and theoretical basis of the decoupling between energy throughput and economic growth, with a critical view of the use of the decoupling concept as a policy priority. We provide an analysis of the historical trends of the metabolic pattern of European economies over a period of 18 years focusing on the changes in energy throughput and financial assets. The results show that energy consumption per hour of labor has remained constant, suggesting that no significant changes in production processes or technology have taken place in the productive sectors of the economy. The contribution of this paper is to establish a bridge between the economic analysis of financialization and the societal metabolism analysis of the economic process from a biophysical point of view. We argue that this bridge is crucial to draw attention to the biophysical consequences of financialization (a relative decoupling) and critically assess the pertinence of policies aimed at encouraging the decoupling in the context of increasing inequality.     

Accountants’ hybridization and juridification: a critical reflection on the fight against organized crime

Policy-makers and regulators are increasingly focusing on fighting organized crime. Preventing criminal organizations infiltrating an economy involves multiple groups of professionals operating in complex regulatory environments. This paper looks at whether the current regulations for the management of assets seized from organized crime are adequate. The focus is on the Italian setting, and the research included interviews with accountants, judges and police officers involved in the management of seized entities. The results have application worldwide.     

Knowledge,innovation, and control towards accountability: a comparative case study

This paper deepens the countervailing relationship between control and innovation in highly innovative networks. It adopts a middle range theory perspective [Broadbent and Laughlin, 2013. Accounting Control and Controlling Accounting: Interdisciplinary and Critical Perspectives. 1st ed. Bingley: Emerald Group] integrated with the quintuple helix model (Carayannis and Campbell, 2010. “Triple Helix, Quadruple Helix and Quintuple Helix and How Do Knowledge, Innovation and the Environment Relate To Each Other?.” International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development 1 (1): 41–69] to explore how control and innovation interact and shape each other in the contexts of high complexity and intensive knowledge creation, towards the satisfaction of accountability demands by stakeholders. The research relies upon two case studies and reveals what are the factors positively shaping the interaction between innovation and control towards greater accountability. We document that successful changes are facilitated by the implementation of adequate and innovative informal control devices favouring collaborative relationships, reinforcing innovation and shared knowledge and capabilities within the organisation. The findings are relevant to all complex settings involved in multifaceted processes of producing knowledge and innovation.     

What Governance Roles do Municipalities use in Dutch Local Social Support Networks?

Abstract

Until now, there is no consensus about variations in governance roles. This consensus is necessary to enable researchers to examine how network are governed well. In this article, the governance roles are considered to be clusters of consistent choices on a top-down versus bottom-up continuum, regarding nine governance activities. Our results reveal that three governance roles can be discerned: top-down, intermediate and bottom-up governance roles. Furthermore, these roles are applied by municipalities with specific (network) characteristics. Our results open the black box of network governance and might facilitate municipalities to make choices regarding their role in the new network era.     

Public export credit insurance in the Netherlands: An input–output approach

This study assesses the contribution of the Dutch public export credit insurance facility (ECIF) to Dutch GDP and employment. Unlike previous studies concerning export credit insurance, which generally adopt the gravity model of trade, we adopt an input–output approach. The results show that the contribution of economic activity insured by the public ECIF to GDP averages 0.24% annually. This concerns value added generated both by exporters and by their domestic suppliers in the value chain. The contribution to employment shows an average of 0.27%, accumulating to 95,000 jobs (FTE) over 5 years. The estimated contribution of the public ECIF to the Dutch economy should be considered an upper boundary of its true contribution. Therefore, we examine the extent to which the above economic gains would be realised if the facility was unavailable using highly disaggregated trade data. The basic idea is that if certain products are only exported to certain destinations with the aid of the public ECIF, then this indicates a high degree of additionality. The inconclusiveness of our results underlines the difficulties in assessing the degree of additionality.