Protest responses and community attitudes toward accepting compensation to host waste disposal infrastructure

Despite the use of host community compensation to solve NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) siting difficulties in many industrialised countries, the effectiveness of this policy is still being debated in academic and policy-making arenas. In this paper, we examine attitudes held regarding compensation in communities directly impacted upon by final waste disposal infrastructure projects (landfill and incineration) in Ireland using survey responses to two contingent valuation (CV) scenarios and a question relating to preferences for compensation delivery. We find that communities in the pre-construction planning phase for locally undesirable development are less accepting of compensation offers to host the facility than are communities who have lived with such developments to host an extension to the existing facility in their localities. However, many of our respondents who initially reject compensation offers in the CV question go on to accept at least one compensation package in the later compensation preference question. Using this information allows us to draw a distinction between ‘Hardcore’ and ‘Switcher’ protesters to illustrate a more subtle picture of rejection of locally undesirable facilities and compensation packages than has previously been articulated. Using probit regression analysis, we find that property rights or NIMBY concerns – specifically, the treatment of non-local waste at the facility is a concern for many residents – drive this rejection of compensation. Finally, contrary to previous studies concerning preferences for host compensation, community compensation is not always preferred to individual compensation payments.     

Spatial optimization of nutrient reduction measures on agricultural land to improve water quality: A coupled modeling approach

The objective of this study is to identify the optimal spatial distribution of Best Management Practices (BMPs) to reduce total phosphorus (TP) runoff from agricultural land in the largest Canadian watershed draining into Lake Erie, the Great Lake most vulnerable to eutrophication. BMP measures include reduced fertilizer application, cover crops, buffer strips, and the restoration of wetlands. Environmental SWAT model results feed into a spatial optimization procedure using two separate objective functions to distinguish between public BMP program implementation costs (PIC) on the one hand and farmers’ private pollution abatement costs (PAC) on the other hand. The latter account for the opportunity costs of land retirement and changing land productivity. PAC are initially lower than PIC but exceed the latter after 30% of the annual TP baseline load is eliminated. This suggests that under optimal conditions existing grant and incentive payments cover the economic costs farmers face up to a maximum of 30% of the baseline load reduction. Imposing further reductions of up to 40% results in a cost to farmers of almost $52 million per year. This is 45% higher than the optimal solution based on PIC and therefore not deemed incentive-compatible under the watershed's existing cost-sharing scheme.     

British regional growth and sectoral trends: global and local spatial econometric approaches

This article looks beneath the surface of British sub-regional aggregate Gross Value Added (GVA) growth over the period 1995 to 2007, by examining how the differing growth dynamics of the secondary and services sectors have influenced the overall regional growth process. A spatial econometric analysis is undertaken which tests regional secondary and services real GVA per capita for absolute and conditional convergence at the NUTS 3 level. Both local and global spatial analysis techniques are utilized in order to gain a detailed insight into the growth process over the period 1995 to 2007.     

Floriculture du Suroît inc.*

Floriculture du Suroît inc. is a SME in the horticulture field. It cultivates and sells geraniums, but a new subsidiary, Les Roses de Caroline, recently start the culture of roses. Floriculture has just obtained a governmental subsidy and, for the first time, the company will have to produce audited financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Thus, the two owners will have to choose between two accounting frameworks, that is, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) or Canadian Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises (ASPE). Many differences exist between these two frameworks. More specifically, IFRS provide specific standards related to agricultural activity and investment properties, while ASPE do not. In addition, ASPE permit many choices between accounting treatments, which should be carefully analyzed. The owners are neophytes in accounting matter. Thus, they need help for accounting issues.     

Community social capital and individual disaster preparedness in immigrants and Canadian-born individuals: an ecological perspective

Abstract

Psychological research on the predictors of disaster preparedness has mainly focused on individual-level factors, although the social environment plays an important role. Our goal is to provide a systemic perspective to help improve risk communication and risk management for natural disaster risks. We examined how community-level social capital related to individual-level disaster preparedness in immigrants compared with Canadian-born individuals. We characterised participants’ communities’ social capital by conceptually linking two national surveys using postal codes. We performed sequential linear multiple regression analysis to examine the relationship between community social capital and individual disaster preparedness. Results revealed three components of social capital: societal trust, interaction with friends, and neighbourhood contact. Societal trust positively predicted the extent to which immigrants and Canadian-born individuals knew someone who would search for them post-disaster. Interestingly, results revealed that Canadian-born individuals were more likely to uptake emergency planning when living in a community with strong societal trust, while the reverse was true for immigrants. Results suggest that some components of social capital may have an effect on certain preparedness behaviours. Societal trust could have both positive and negative effects on emergency planning depending on individuals’ immigrant status. Risk communication and risk management should consider social capital as part of the framework for effective disaster preparedness.     

Private equity portfolio company performance during the global recession

We assess the recent economic and financial performance of U.K. private equity (PE) backed buyouts. Our empirical evidence, which is based on thousands of transactions, reveals that PE-backed buyouts achieved superior economic and financial performance in the period before and during the recent global recession, relative to comparable firms that did not experience such transactions. Our regression results imply positive differentials of 5–15% in productivity and approximately 3–5% in profitability for buyout firms, relative to non-buyout firms. Another key finding is that revenue and employment growth for PE- backed firms were positive during the sample period.     

IPSAS,ESA and the fiscal deficit—a question of calibration

The academic literature on IPSAS adoption is not clear whether this would lead to a fiscal deficit measure close to that reported in national accounts. This paper presents a case study which attempts to clarify this dilemma. The authors show that IPSAS compliance would result in yet another deficit measure that is nowhere close to the statistical measure, leading to even more confusion.

IMPACT

IPSAS compliance would neither simplify nor standardize the conversion exercise that EU member countries have to do to change a governmental accounting deficit to the EC’s required statistical deficit. Nor would it directly lead to more reliable statistical data. The authors therefore question the impact of the proposed EPSAS on the quality of macro-surveillance.     

Is There a Local Business Community? Explaining the non-participation of small business in local economic development

This article reports a study of the attitudes of small business owners to the localities in which their businesses are located and local economic development. The views of the owners contrasted strongly with those of representatives of local business bodies and economic agencies. The findings indicate small business owners tend to be detached from the locality and from local economic initiatives. This appears to be due to historical trends that have reduced the role of small business in local political and economic processes and the logic(s) of business practice within the sectors analysed. This has occurred despite trends soliciting more private sector involvement in local economic initiatives.     

The Statistical Interpretation of Forensic Glass Evidence

When examining a sample of glass fragments recovered from a suspect in a forensic case, many questions arise: “Did this man break that window?”, “Are these fragments from the crime scene source?”, “Do the fragments recovered from the suspect come from more than one source?”, “How common is it to find glass on someone unrelated with crime?” etc. Such questions are usually answered with the help of statistical methods. This paper reviews some of the statistical solutions and problems encountered in the interpretation and evaluation of forensic glass evidence.