The impact of the bird flu on public willingness to pay for the protection of migratory birds

In this paper, we present the results of a unique time series analysis of contingent values and models for migratory bird protection based on an identical contingent valuation (CV) survey carried out over a three year time period since the first bird flu outbreak in 2003. Although there exists no scientific evidence for a direct relationship, migratory birds are believed to play an important role in spreading the bird flu virus worldwide. The time series analysis allows us to test the temporal stability of stated preferences for migratory bird protection and at the same time examine indirectly the possible impact of increased media attention and public awareness levels regarding the bird flu. We test the impact of the bird flu on public willingness to pay (WTP) for migratory bird protection in the final 2005 survey whilst accounting for procedural variance introduced by sequencing and question ordering-effects, but we are unable to demonstrate a direct negative relationship. A novelty of the study presented here is that respondents in the CV surveys are given the opportunity to pay an annual money amount or a one-time-off lump-sum. Annual WTP values appear to be significantly higher than one-time-off WTP values, suggesting a negative implicit discount rate. Self-selection bias is an important reason for the observed differences. We find that respondents who agree to pay annually differ significantly from respondents who wish to pay a lump-sum in terms of their underlying preferences and motivations towards migratory bird protection.     

Borrower Targeting under Microfinance Competition with Motivated Microfinance Institutions and Strategic Complementarity

We examine how increased competition among motivated microfinance institutions (MFIs) impacts the poorest borrowers' access to microfinance. We find that competition depends on inequality, technology, and the possibility of double‐dipping (borrowing from several sources). Without competition, even a motivated MFI may lend to the not‐so‐poor in preference to poor borrowers. If double‐dipping is feasible, competition may encourage lending to the poor. The presence of double‐dipping is critical for MFI competition to have a positive effect. When double‐dipping is feasible, MFI coordination may worsen borrower targeting whenever inequality is intermediate. We discuss policy implications dealing with double‐dipping, MFI coordination, and competition.     

Improving value transfer through socio‐economic adjustments in a multicountry choice experiment of water conservation alternatives

This study tests the transferability of the nonmarket values of water conservation for domestic and environmental purposes across three south European countries and Australia applying a common choice experiment design. Different approaches are followed to test the transferability of the estimated values, aiming to minimise transfer errors for use in policy analysis, comparing both single‐ and multicountry transfers, with and without socio‐economic adjustments. Within Europe, significant differences are found between implicit prices for environmental water use, but not for domestic water use. In the Australian case study, alleviating restrictions on domestic water use has no significant value. Pooling the three European samples improves the transferability of the environmental flow values between Europe and Australia. Results show that a reduction in transfer error is achieved when controlling for unobserved and observed preference heterogeneity in the single‐ and multicountry transfers, providing additional support for the superiority of socio‐economic adjustment procedures in value transfer.     

On the robustness of the trade-inducing effects of trade agreements and currency unions

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) and currency unions (CUs) are potentially endogenous trade cost proxies in equations estimating their effects on bilateral trade. In case of both, this problem is magnified by the paucity of reliable instruments. Instead of resorting to the oft-employed alternative of panel data to address selection on just the time-invariant unobservables, this paper assesses the extent to which a positive association between CU or RTA membership and bilateral trade can be considered causal. In addition, it attends to recent concerns over the extensive margin of trade (at the country-level) and the issue of zero trade observations in log-linearized gravity models by relying more on a bivariate probit analysis. Despite not identifying point estimates, striking results are obtained. While most cross-sections exhibit a positive association between both RTAs and CUs and trade, the evidence in favor of a robust causal effect is strong mainly for CUs. However, the magnitude of the CU effect is still sensitive to the amount of selection on unobservables. Moreover, selection into RTAs (CUs) is mostly found to be positive (negative). Finally, the presence of spillovers across the policy regimes is also detected.     

IJV Partner Trustworthy Behaviour: The Role of Host Country Governance and Partner Selection Criteria

This study provides new insight into the interplay between partner‐ and institution‐level bases of trustworthy behaviour in international joint ventures (IJVs). The results of the study, based on survey and archival data collected on 144 IJVs across six Asian countries, revealed that host country governance quality directly and positively influences IJV partner trustworthy behaviour. It was also found that weak host country governance undermined the effectiveness of certain partner selection criteria in serving as a tool for establishing an IJV with a trustworthy partner. Furthermore, through distinguishing between two dimensions of trustworthiness (benevolence and competence), it was demonstrated that partner benevolence is facilitated by relationship‐oriented criteria, whereas partner competence is facilitated by task‐oriented criteria. The implications of these results for the establishment and management of IJVs are discussed.     

Did the Recent Housing Boom Signal the Global Financial Crisis?

2005 prediction of the current global crisis followed from two key observations: (i) the recent housing booms in the United States and other advanced countries were not explained by economic fundamentals; and (ii) historically similar financial booms eventually collapsed, leading to recession. This article provides an empirical framework linking 2005 observations and crisis prediction. We utilize vector error correction models and panel probit and logit models to show that tracking a single variable, real house prices, was sufficient to predict the current global crisis.     

The weighted cross-shareholding complex network: a copula approach to concentration and control in financial markets

Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination - In this work, we focus on the cross-shareholding structure in financial markets. Specifically, we build ad hoc indices of concentration and...     

Rhetorical History as Institutional Work

Rhetorical history has emerged as a useful theoretical construct that bridges the long recognized gap between historical and organizational scholarship. Despite its growing popularity, the precise nature of rhetorical history as a construct, its scope conditions, and its utility in resolving critical issues in historical organizational analysis remains unclear. This paper addresses these issues. We define rhetorical history and contextualize the construct by elaborating its relationship to associated concepts like collective memory, rhetoric, and narrative. We ground the construct by reviewing literature that has applied rhetorical history in both theory and empirical research. Our inductive review identifies four recurring themes in which rhetorical history is used to construct perceptions of; (a) continuity and discontinuity, (b) similarity and difference, (c) winners and losers, and (d) morality and immorality. We conclude with a discussion of how rhetorical history is an essential mechanism of institutional work.     

Stop tank abuse

Large volumes of fluids are processed or stored in tanks of all shapes and sizes and occupy a major portion of the landscape within our chemical plants and refineries. These tanks serve the industry very well but occasionally they suffer from improper design or abusive conditions and failures occur.