You say you want a (Rose) Revolution? The effects of Georgia's 2004 market reforms

After Georgia declared its independence from the Soviet Union, it experienced civil war and strife for more than a decade. In late 2003, the peaceful Rose Revolution installed a new government that began a series of radical market‐liberal reforms. However, the effectiveness of these reforms was controversial. We offer a rigorous evaluation of these reforms via the synthetic control method which creates a credible counterfactual. Compared to the synthetic controls, we find that the reforms enacted after the Rose Revolution led to significant improvements in Georgia's social and economic development, albeit with temporary side effects and argue that this case provides some support for the effectiveness of rapid, multidimensional reform.     

Factors affecting brainstorming: towards the development of diagnostic tools for assessment of creative performance

To test a model of creative behaviour in teams, twenty five problem-solving groups were assembled from a Business School graduate programme, trained in creative problem-solving techniques and given a realistic product development task. Self-assessment ratings were collected for factors perceived as influencing performance. Three experienced trainers rated the ideas produced. Four major factors were identified from the self-assessed statements, each mentioned as positive and negative influences. The study provides a foundation for developing diagnostic tools for assessing creative performance in problem-solving teams, and gives pointers to factors which are important for improving performance.     

MUTUAL FUND MORTALITY, 12B‐1 FEES,AND THE NET EXPENSE RATIO

The Securities and Exchange Commission is currently reviewing Rule 12b‐1, which governs how fund advisors may pay for the distribution of fund shares. We provide evidence that even after adjusting for economies of scale, funds with 12b‐1 fees have higher expense ratios net of the 12b‐1 fees than do funds without such fees. This finding suggests that 12b‐1 fees are more than just a deadweight cost. We also demonstrate that 12b‐1 fees are highest for funds that ultimately fail, that the proportion of funds with 12b‐1 fees is increasing over time, and that the level of those fees is also increasing over time.     

Privatisation: Let the Market Decide

Is the Government privatising efficiently? Is it floating the shares in nationalised industry economically? Will British Telecom be under-priced? Professor Davis and Roger Buckland have studied the privatisation issues of shares over five years and found large but avoidable losses. They argue that the Government's marketing technique could be improved by making less use of the large financial institutions and more use of competitive tenders.     

An application of computer mapping: collecting,displaying and using student location data

A practical methodology is presented for collecting data on the location of students and for recording this data in such a form that it is easily converted into computer input. This computer input may be used to construct graphical displays of student locations and/or to determine school bus routes automatically.     

Food transfers to Asia: A Delphi forecast of required levels

The authors obtained the views of a number of agricultural economists on the desirability and feasibility of future food transfers from rich to poor countries. The consensus view which emerged was that food aid will still be needed in the 1980s but that practical institutional arrangements for it are more likely to come from the political than the economic arena.     

工作上的伙伴：汇丰和交行

2006年9月30日至10月21日,交通银行有关部门负责人和分行行长共10人在汇丰集团的伦敦总部参加了"交通银行高管人员领导能力培训班"。这是交行和汇丰首次举办的针对交行高管人员的领导能力培训项目,得到了双方高层的高度重视,汇丰对培训内容作了专门策划、精心安排,交行高管对学习主动积极、全心投入,培训获得了良好效果。20天的培训紧张而充实,培训内容涵盖三大板块--汇丰集团经营管理概览、领导能力和战略思维、零售银行业务与分行经营,总计36项课程。让我们走近汇丰,近距离地感受这个全球金融业翘楚的理念、战略和思维；让我们走近汇丰,无障碍地体会西方优秀银行的文化、品牌和精神。本栏目撷取了组织此次培训的汇丰集团学习与发展部高级经理Kevin Dolling,以及参加此次培训的几位交行高管人员的学习体会,希冀读者能从他们的心得感受中收获对中国金融业改革有益的借鉴和帮助。     

An integrated fares policy for transport in London

A common but disputed justification for public transport subsidy is that lower fares will encourage transfer from private vehicles, alleviating the congestion externality. A quantitative method is developed to judge the validity of this ‘second best pricing’ argument and it is applied to the best available evidence on peak and off-peak bus, rail and private car models in Greater London. A total operating subsidy not exceeding £150m per annum may be justified despite low private traveller response to public transport fares. Substantial reallocation of public traffic between times and modes would also be desirable, but current car traffic and subsidy levels seem broadly correct.     

Tourism and the Precautionary Principle

The precautionary principle is an emerging norm of international environmental policy affirmed in many treaties and laws. The principle, congruent to the ideal of sustainable development, is a controversial future-focused planning and regulatory mechanism which mandates that to protect against threats of serious and irreversible damage, precaution should be exercised even before harm can be scientifically demonstrated. The intent of this paper is to provide a literature review of the precautionary principle, examine the fundamental concepts underlying the principle and present an introductory discussion regarding its applicability to the tourism industry. Time and again numerous direct and indirect impacts are produced by the tourism industry, yet the potential for integrating precaution into tourism planning has not been examined. The authors consider the critical elements of the principle (uncertainty, risk, costbenefit analysis and science) in relation to the tourism industry, and provide examples of reference to the principle in the policy documents of non-governmental tourism organisations. An adapted framework is proposed for incorporating the precautionary principle into better tourism-industry decision-making. The precautionary principle is predicated as a viable tourism development tool and planning mechanism that safeguards environmental and human health by anticipating and controlling for future impacts of tourism.