Impact of VAT Reform on Swedish Restaurants: A Synthetic Control Group Approach*

In this paper, we investigate the impact on firms of the value added tax (VAT) reform that took effect in Sweden on 1 January 2012 for restaurant and catering services. Unlike previous research, we use a synthetic control group approach to construct our counterfactual. Our analysis shows that the VAT reduction had a positive effect on turnover, total wages, employment, profit margins, and net entry of firms. The effects of the reform tend to decrease over time. In all, the results point to an overall better performance for the restaurant industry compared with what it would have been in absence of the reform.     

Structuration theory and mediating concepts: Pitfalls and implications for management accounting research

Giddens’ way of conceptualizing how structures work as both the medium for and outcome of human action – duality of structure – has been emphasized as a valuable point of departure when studying management accounting in its social context. However, we argue that in the literature there are different ways of using mediating concepts between social structure and action, whereby management accounting systems are conceptualized as both the medium for action, and human action as such. Using the often-cited article by Burns and Scapens [Burns J, Scapens RW. Conceptualizing management accounting change: an institutional framework. Management Accounting Research 2000;11(1):3–25] as an illustrative example, we discuss theoretical and methodological consequences of these different ways of conceptualizing management accounting. A main conclusion is that when management accounting is defined through concurrently referring to both ‘virtual’ structures that generate action and the situated doings of individuals, structure and action risk becoming conflated and there is a risk of drawing erroneous conclusions about structural change or stability. The paper closes with some methodological suggestions as to how these problems can be avoided.     

The electronic trading systems and bid-ask spreads in the foreign exchange market

This paper examines the impact of electronic trading systems on the bid-ask spreads in the foreign exchange market. The paper finds: first, the EBS reduces spreads significantly; second, the EBS is more influential than the Reuters system for the currency pair DEM/USD; third, dealers with information advantage tend to quote relatively wider spreads with the new systems; fourth, geographical differences in market liquidity are reduced through the new systems, and finally, the effects occur immediately and persist in the long-term. Thus, both proposed positive and negative impacts of the electronic systems are found to be true in this paper, but our findings also suggest that positive effects dominate and the electronic systems overall increase FX market liquidity.     

Die Balanced Scorecard als Kennzahlensystem für Krankenkassen

The management options for sickness funds in Germany have been clearly extended over the last few years. However, apart from economic efficiency sickness funds are legally required to provide sufficient and effective health services. This complex system of strategic goals requires a comprehensive controlling system which is not implemented by many sickness funds yet. In this article a controlling system is developed which similar to the Balanced Scorecard concept incorporates quantitative as well as qualitative performance measures. Taking the legally defined system of strategic goals of sickness funds into account four partially interdependent financial goals are derived and further disaggregated into performance measures on three different levels. The article reveals that in spite of the complex system of strategic goals the development of a comprehensive controlling system for sickness funds is possible.     

Euro adoption and Maastricht criteria: Rules or discretion?

In connection with the prospective euro adoption by the new EU members, the issue of how strictly to enforce the Maastricht criteria for joining the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has been discussed for some time. Arguments have been made in favor of a more flexible interpretation of some Maastricht criteria to take into account the specific conditions of the new member states (NMS). This paper makes a case for a more flexible interpretation of the Maastricht inflation criterion and proposes a different specification. Further, it examines the compatibility of inflation and exchange rate Maastricht targets and argues that under the specific circumstances of euro adoption, and taking into account the way these targets are defined, meeting both of them during a limited period of time should not pose a problem. Finally, the paper argues that both for short-term cyclical and long-term sustainability reasons, the NMS may aim at somewhat more ambitious fiscal targets before euro adoption than required by the Maastricht fiscal criteria.     

The environment and the entrepreneurial city: searching for the urban ‘sustainability fix’ in Manchester and Leeds

There is evidence that the politics of economic development in the post‐industrial city is increasingly bound up with the ability of urban elites to manage ecological impacts and environmental demands emanating from within and outside the urban area. More than simply a question of promoting quality of life in cities in response to interurban competition and pressures from local residents, the greening of the urban growth machine reflects changes in state rules and incentives structuring urban governance as part of an evolving geopolitics of nature and the environment. The adoption of principles and practices of ecological modernization potentially represents a dramatic shift in the social regulation of urban governance away from unconstrained neoliberalized modes. In this article we explore how different demands on and for urban environmental policy have played out vis‐à‐vis changing modes and practices of governance in two English post‐industrial cities. We explore differences in the ways that entrepreneurial urban regimes have sought to incorporate the green agenda (Leeds), or insulate themselves from ecological dissent (Manchester). We further attempt to conceptualize evolving urban economy‐environment relations in the UK in terms of an ensemble of governance practices, strategies, alliances and discourses that enables the local state to manage, though not necessarily resolve, seemingly conflicting economic, social and environmental demands at different scales of territoriality. Here we propose the notion of an ‘urban sustainability fix’ to describe the selective incorporation of ecological objectives in local territorial structures during an era of ecological modernization. Dans les villes post‐industrielles, la politique de développement économique semble liée de plus en plus étroitement à l'aptitude des élites urbaines à gérer les impacts écologiques et les exigences environnementales venus de l'intérieur et de l'extérieur. Au‐delà de la simple défense d'une qualité de vie en ville, répondant à la concurrence interurbaine et aux pressions des habitants, l'intégration de la cause Verte dans la machine de croissance urbaine reflète les nouvelles règles et mesures d'encouragement étatiques qui structurent la gouvernance des villes dans le cadre d'une géopolitique évolutive de la nature et de l'environnement. L'adoption de principes et pratiques de modernisation écologique pourrait traduire un revirement dans la régulation sociale de la gouvernance urbaine, en remplaçant la totale latitude des réponses néolibérales. L'article explore comment les demandes variées de et en politique urbaine d'environnement se sont exercées dans le contexte changeant des modalités et pratiques de gouvernance de deux villes post‐industrielles anglaises. Il s'intéresse aux différences de démarches qu'ont adoptées des régimes urbains ayant l'esprit d'entreprise pour incorporer le programme vert (Leeds) ou s'affranchir de la dissidence écologique (Manchester). De plus, il s'efforce de conceptualiser les relations évolutives économie‐environnement dans le cadre urbain britannique en tant qu'ensemble de pratiques de gouvernance, stratégies, alliances et discours permettant à l'État local de gérer (sans toujours les satisfaire) des exigences économiques, sociales et environnementales apparemment contradictoires, et ce aux différents échelons de territorialité. La notion de ‘solution de durabilité urbaine’ est proposée pour décrire l'intégration sélective d'objectifs écologiques dans les structures territoriales locales pendant une phase de modernisation écologique.     

Trade costs and the timing of competition policy adoption

Abstract This paper first presents stylized evidence showing how the date of the adoption of competition policy is correlated with country size. Smaller countries tend to adopt competition policy later. We then present a theoretical model with countries of different size, trade costs, and firms competing à la Cournot. In the model we show that reduced trade costs following from increasing globalization affect countries differently depending on their size. This has implications for the incentives to introduce competition policy. The predictions of the model are consistent with the empirical regularity presented.