Does International Harmonization of Environmental Policy Instruments Make Economic Sense?

Harmonization of the instruments used in environmental policy has beenconsidered necessary to guarantee fair competition in internationalmarkets. We examine the economic costs of harmonizing paper recyclingstandards in countries where the urgency of the waste disposal problemsdiffer. Using data of seven European countries we estimate thetechnologically feasible input combinations of pulp and waste paper forpaper production. Short-term effects of two environmental policy measures,minimum content requirement and utilization rate target, are analyzed. Bytranslating the two administrative instruments into taxes and subsidies, weshow that the shadow costs of the harmonization vary considerably betweencountries. The difference in the domestic availability of waste may explainthe variation, and a modification of the policy measures to incorporate thisaspect is suggested.     

Valuing Mangrove-Fishery Linkages – A Case Study of Campeche, Mexico

This paper explores the value of mangrove systems as a breeding and nursery habitat for off-shore fisheries, focusing on mangrove-shrimp production linkages in Campeche State, Mexico. We develop an open access fishery model to account explicitly for the effect of mangrove area on carrying capacity and thus production. From the long-run equilibrium conditions of the model we are able to establish the key parameters determining the comparative static effects of a change in mangrove area on this equilibrium. We then estimate empirically the effects of changes in mangrove area in the Laguna de Terminos on the production and value of shrimp harvests in Campeche over 1980–90. Our findings suggest that mangroves are an important and essential input into the Campeche shrimp fishery, but that the low levels of deforestation between 1980 and 1990 mean that the resulting losses to the shrimp fishery are still comparatively small. Over-exploitation of the fishery due to open access conditions remains the more pervasive threat, and without better management any long-run benefits of protecting mangrove habitat are likely to be dissipated.     

School-to-Work Transition in Saudi Arabia： A Case Study of Youth Cohorts

The paper addresses the youth＇s perception towards jobs and career opportunities in Saudi Arabia, based on the school-to-work transition model. The study is based on a sample survey covering 600 youth cohorts in Yanbu and Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study reveals that school-to-work transition is not a smooth one and is influenced by the perception of youth towards employment and its various dimensions along with the ambitions towards career improvement. The 14 indicators framed in the paper reveal that essentiality, confidence to get a job that satisfies the needs, job availability, and qualifications are found to be important determinants of youth＇s attitude towards work; whereas, willingness to do any job did not get much acclaim. Job selection of youth is determined by location （especially hometown job）, sectoral preferences, training options, and work environment.     

Why Has the Fraction of Nonstandard Workers Increased? A Case Study of Japan

This paper explains the secular increase of nonstandard workers in Japan, whose share of employment increased from 17 to 34% between 1986 and 2008. Changes in labor force and industrial compositions account for one quarter of the increase of nonstandard workers. Product‐demand fluctuation and the introduction of information and communication technologies increased firms' usage of nonstandard workers, but its quantitative effects are limited. The increase of nonstandard workers was concentrated among new entrants to the labor market, male workers of younger cohorts, and female workers of all cohorts, suggesting that the declining importance of the long‐term employment relationship is a major cause for the increase of nonstandard workers.     

Are Uniform Solutions Focal? – The Case of International Environmental Agreements

The application of uniform solutions has several drawbacks, notably their lack of cost efficiency and their inability to guarantee individual rationality. A proper specification of uniform solutions, however, reveals that uniform solutions that satisfy individual rationality always exist. When all countries hold private information about their own reduction costs, there only exists one solution that always satisfies individually rationality without use of side payments and the requirement of dominant strategy implementation: The solution that selects the smallest individually preferred uniform reduction which also give a theoretical explanation of the lowest common denominator effect.     

Accounting Framework to Measure the Environmental Costs and Disclosed in Industrials Companies Case Study of Societe Cement Hamma Bouziane （SCHB） in Constantine

Accounting, being an integrated information system, is not merely influenced by its environment, but also affects environment as well, due to its crucial role in generating the necessary information to decision-makers. It has two main pillars： measuring and declaring the costs that result from the activities of companies, especially industrial companies because they affect the environment. Therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate how well industrial companies are committed to measuring their environmental duties and declaring them in their balance sheets. This topic will be developed over two parts： scientific basis of environmental costs and accounting; environmental measuring and disclosure.     

Environmental Policy in the European Community: Harmonization or National Standards?

This paper explores the claim that the setting of environmental standards needs to be centralized in order to avoid a competitive race to the bottom. Such a claim represents a fundamental challenge to the basic theory of fiscal federalism. But the theory of interjurisdictional competition, although diverse in approach and findings, does not provide a fully compelling basis for this proposition. Moreover, the terminology is itself misleading. The paper suggests that in the absence of environmental spillover effects across jurisdictional boundaries, there remains a strong case for decentralized environmental management.     

What Role Does the Political Environment Play in Economic Development? —A Case Study of Fujian Province

Uncertainty induced by the political environment affects investment risk, and thus affects investment decisions, which have a close relationship with economic development. This paper investigates the economic cost of political instability using the case study of the tense relationship across-Strait in China. We use a synthetic control method to better model the counterfactual analysis of this case study. The intense situation of the relations across-Strait has great influence on the economic development of Fujian province. Fujian province is the closest province in proximity to Taiwan and also possesses the greatest preferential policies for Taiwanese direct investment. The empirical results of this study reveal that during 2001-2008 Fujian province’s average annual loss in GDP per capita was 682.54 yuan. In other words, GDP per capita in Fujian has declined about 12.1 percent annually during this period compared with GDP per capita as calculated by the synthetic control method.     

Bureaucrats or Markets in Innovation Policy? – a critique of the entrepreneurial state

The Review of Austrian Economics - This paper takes stock of recent suggestions that the state apparatus is a central and underappreciated actor in the generation, diffusion and exploitation of...     

Research of E-commerce Application in Small and Medium Enterprises——A Case Study of Wenzhou

The paper analyzes the status quo of E-commerce application in Wenzhou＇s small and medium enterprises. This survey selects the 100 prominent small and medium enterprises covering chemical engineering, shoes, apparel, machinery, furniture, glasses, lighters, pen and pencil, electric and electronics as the investigating targets and issues the questionnaires to them. The result indicates that, the status quo of E-commerce application in Wenzhou＇s small and medium enterprises are worrisome, which is obviously way behind other cities. Based on that, the paper analyzes the reasons in combination with visiting them, and also proposes the corresponding strategies and predicts its prospect in the end.     

A Study of the Basic Economic Concepts Presented in DEEP Curriculum Guides,Grades 7 – 12

Armento examines the sequencing and conceptual content of economic courses in grades 7–12 as this is reflected in the study guides for these courses. She finds that the economic concepts in the guides are primarily definitional in nature and are fairly similar across the grades.     

Study on the Distibution of Migrant Workers＇ Destination -A Case Study of Henan Province

务工目的地选择是农民工空间流动的基础,对其研究有助于在微观层面上了解农民工流动的空间规律。通过对随机分层抽样产生的河南省11个不同类型样本村的实证研究,发现务工目的地大分散、小集中,县内和省外占较大优势。务工者主要集中于东部经济较为发达的省市,中部作为务工源并未形成最核心的务工区域。影响农民工务工距离选择的主要因素是年龄、家庭人口、人均耕地、村经济发展水平、村地形、村交通、离最近城市距离、关系网络等因子。从务工目的地角度观察,在省域尺度上,综合考虑务工目的地经济发展水平和务工距离的务工引力系数在较大程度上解释了农民工对务工目的地的选择,经济较发达、距离较近的目的地是务工者的首选。     

The Political Economy of Mobility Partnerships – Structural Power in the EU's External Migration Policy

The research on European Union (EU) external relations and the EU's own official discourse frequently portray the EU as a soft power that provides its neighbourhood with good governance principles. The European Mobility Partnerships (EU MPs) can be considered the most recent manifestation of this rhetoric. Studies on EU MPs reflect a narrow understanding of power. This paper aims to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the power dimension inherent in the EU's external relations. It develops a neogramscian theoretical framework to challenge the rhetoric of the EU as a soft power and normative hegemon. Drawing on semi-structured expert interviews and textual analysis of documents, it seeks to reveal whether and in what ways socio-economic power dynamics shape the EU MPs. This article argues that while, at the beginning, the design of the EU MPs as a policy tool has been very much influenced by neoliberal ideas such as the market-oriented liberalisation of mobility and the flexibilisation of labour, implementation is marked by the neo-mercantilist approach of restricting immigration and maximising the efficiency of readmission. Applying a critical political economy concept of power is helpful in understanding how market forces influence EU external migration policy, transcending a narrow understanding of power.     

Wages and Wage-Bargaining Institutions in the EMU – A Survey of the Issues

The paper distinguishes between the impact of the EMU on nominal wage flexibility and on equilibrium real wage and unemployment levels. A perceived need to increase nominal wage flexibility as a substitute for domestic monetary policy and a tendency to less real wage moderation in the EMU are likely to promote informal bargaining coordination and social pacts in the medium run. But such coordination is not likely to be sustainable in the long run, as it conflicts with other forces working in the direction of decentralization and deunionization. This could lead to more government intervention in wage setting during a transitional period. Although monetary unification will strengthen the incentives for higher-level transnational coordination of wage bargaining, such a development is improbable in view of the coordination costs involved. If transnational coordination develops, it is most likely to occur within multinational firms.     

Environmental Economics and Policy： Two Way Learning between China and the Rest of the World

Environmental degradation poses perhaps the greatest challenge to present day China as it continues to improve the living standard and general welfare of its citizens. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey （Pew Research Center, 2013）, air pollution and water pollution are among the top five public concems in China, coming after inflation, inequality and corruption. Water pollution is also among the top five issues for which the public concern has increased the most during the past five years, coming after food safety, medicine and manufactured goods, and old age insurance. Yet, despite public concerns and increased abatement expenditures, major pollution levels have been increasing rather than decreasing. For many days during 2013, large parts of eastern China have suffered from blanketing thick smog caused by PM2.5 pollution, with airports and freeways shut down and schools closed.     

Study on Effective Measures of Environmental Protection for Sustainable Development of Tourism Industry in the World Natural Heritage Wulingyuan

In the course of exploiting its tourist resources and developing tourism industry in the early days in Wulingyuan, the government did not pay enough attention and no forceful measures were taken to control the environment. As a result, a series of problems are produced. By analyzing the relationship between the tourism development in Wulingyuan scenic area and its environmental evolution, the paper exposes the basic reason why these environmental problems are produced, and according to the requirement of developing tourism, the paper puts forward some effective measures to reasonably control the distribution of the tourists flow and to protect tourist resources as well as the environment, so as to achieve the sustainable development of the area.     

International Cooperation Behind the Veil of Uncertainty – The Case of Transboundary Acidification

The complexities of international environmental problems are only poorly understood. Hence, decision makers have to negotiate about abatement measures even though they do not know the 'true' model of the ecological system and have only a rough idea about the costs and benefits of their action. It will be analysed to what extent this kind of 'model uncertainty' – where players do not only have incomplete information about the payoff functions of the other players, but also about their own payoff function – affects the prospects of international cooperation. Using a simple game-theoretic model, it is shown how countries can use the veil of uncertainty to hide their distributional interests. The arguments are based on a deviation from the common prior assumption, which seems particularly questionable in a setting comprising various countries with different cultural and scientific backgrounds. Finally the model will prove useful to quantitatively and qualitatively illustrate the central role of model uncertainty in the negotiations of the first Sulphur Protocol signed to combat transboundary acidification.     

An Institutional Innovation about Guarantee Alliance in the Guaranty Industry for SMEs＇ Financing： A Case Study

To mitigate SMEs＇ financial distress, related innovation is encouraged. In recent years an institutional innovation called Guarantee Alliance （GA） appears in Southwestern Sichuan Province of China which comes to change the original guaranty market structure and benefit SMEs＇ getting bank loan. Utilizing a case study approach and taking GA as a case, this paper aims to contribute to entrepreneurial finance literature by describing the GA and examining the process of innovation of GA. Through a detailed examination of the process, we identify a number of factors which contribute to its success.