Hard and Soft Densification Policies in the Paris City‐Region

This essay is concerned with the planning and densification of suburbs, which present a huge challenge insofar as they form a large area of urbanized land that remains underexploited due to low residential density. Drawing on current research in the Paris city‐region, the essay focuses specifically on the difficulty in implementing densification policies in low‐rise suburban areas. It examines the varying degrees of densification fostered by these policies, and builds upon recent urban studies literature on suburban change to trace how suburban areas are being transformed through regulations, instruments and market dynamics associated with densification processes. What kinds of densification policy are being implemented and what are the socio‐economic, political and cultural determinants of each type of regulatory approach? This essay will attempt to answer this question via an analysis of the densification policies being put in place in the municipalities of the Paris city‐region. It will offer in turn a typology of these different policies. It shows that densification is an instrument that can be used to address local political concerns which vary greatly depending on the economic, social and geographical position of municipalities within larger urban areas.     

The impact of conglomeration on the option value of equity

Using contingent claims analysis, I quantify the effect of risk-reducing corporate diversification on the value of equity as a call option on firm assets. The impact of conglomeration on firm risk is heavily conditioned on firm size. In contrast to small firms, the risk of large firms does not decline with increasing conglomeration. Accounting for this effect, the expected equity discount is much lower than commonly assumed and can even turn into a premium if the path dependency of equity is incorporated. My results stand in direct contrast to those of Mansi and Reeb (2002) and caution against using asset substitution as a qualitative argument for explaining economy-wide value phenomena.     

A framework for analyzing flexibility of generic objects

Flexibility is a loosely defined term used in a number of application areas with different and frequently contradicting views. In this paper, adopting as a starting point the use of the term in the manufacturing and information systems domains, we present a framework for the examination of generic objects utilizing cloud diagrams. We first portray the potential flexibility of a designed object and then its actual flexibility expressing its ability to adapt to changes. Examples of its use illustrate the ideas and their application. We believe that this research will be helpful in offering guidelines to designers of new systems where flexibility is important.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">featuring</Emphasis> phenomenon in music: how combining artists of different genres increases a song’s popularity

The appearance of songs including featured artists on Billboard’s Hot 100 music charts has increased exponentially in the past two decades. This particular type of creative collaboration involves one artist integrating another artist’s contribution, either instrumentally or vocally, into their work and publicizing it with a “featuring” credit. According to broad literature in sociology on categorical boundaries, artists who deviate from existing genres are expected to be penalized for violating collective expectations and norms. We find songs featuring other artists actually have a greater likelihood of making it into the top 10 than songs not featuring other artists. Additionally, consistent with theorizing about congruency in the co-branding literature, we observe that the greater the difference (cultural distance) between the genres of the artists involved, the more likely the song is to reach the top of the charts. We argue that by combining the expertise of specialists in each genre, as well as comingling audiences while still maintaining each collaborator’s original positioning, artists who feature artists from other genres are able to produce more successful songs.     

The Effectiveness of Local Government Active Labor Programs: The Case of the Benefits-to-Wages Program in Russia

This paper presents the results of an implementation evaluation of a Benefits-to-Wages (BtW) program operated in Perm, Russia. In part because of the low level of support for Active Labor Market Programs (ALPs) by Russian national and regional governments, municipalities have begun implementing ALPs of their own. Participation in the BtW program is limited to an unemployed adult in very low income family where at least one child is present. The program appears to be highly successful, with 74% of applicants finding jobs while still participating in the program. The assessment found that participation in the program, and job acquisition in particular, were important in raising participant families' incomes. Nevertheless, only about 10% of participants with jobs were lifted out of poverty. Receipt of certain social services and Employment Services, including training, had little impact on which participants succeeded in finding a job. Similarly, person attributes, such as education and prior work experience paid no statistically significant role. This pattern is consistent with a situation in which job requirements are modest and are met by most program participants. Various patterns indicate the program did have a positive effect on job acquisition, although the absence of a control group prevents any stronger statement.     

Cost efficiency of the banking industry in the South Eastern European region

This paper analyses cost efficiency in the banking sector of six South Eastern European countries over the period 1998–2003. A stochastic frontier approach, incorporating firm-specific and country-related variables, indicates a generally low level of cost efficiency, with significant inefficiency differences among countries. Foreign banks and banks with higher foreign bank ownership involvement are associated with lower inefficiency. Furthermore, we observe a negative correlation of cost inefficiency with bank capitalization and firm market share, and a positive one with the fraction of loans in the asset portfolio.     

The Role and Current Status of IFRS in the Completion of National Accounting Rules – Evidence on Cyprus

Abstract

The case of Cyprus with respect to the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is unique given the country’s strong reliance on international business and accounting-related services. As such, Cyprus has required the use of IFRS since 1981 not only for publicly listed firms but also for private companies regardless of their size. Cyprus’ reluctance to fully transpose Directive 2013/34/EU into national law cannot be unrelated to its long-standing requirement of financial statements that are not only prepared under IFRS but are also audited for all types of corporations registered in the Republic. We conclude that transposing the new Accounting Directive in its entirety into national law could have adverse effects on the Government tax revenue, the GDP of the services sector and the credibility of Cyprus as an international business and financial services center.     

Efficiency and productivity growth in the banking industry of Central and Eastern Europe

We employ the directional technology distance function and provide estimates of bank efficiency and productivity change across Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and across banks with different ownership status for the period 1998–2003. Our results demonstrate the strong links of competition and concentration with bank efficiency. They also show that productivity for the whole region initially declined but has improved more recently with further progress on institutional and structural reforms. Input-biased technical change has been consistently positive throughout the entire period suggesting that the reforms have induced favorable changes in relative input prices and input mix. However we find evidence of diverging trends in productivity growth patterns across banking industries and that foreign banks outperform domestic private and state-owned banks both in terms of efficiency and productivity gains. Overall, we find that productivity change in CEE is driven by technological change rather than efficiency change.