The origins of terrorism: Cross-country estimates of socio-economic determinants of terrorism

Prior research has concluded that socio-economic development does not significantly affect terrorism. We take an alternative view. First, we note that a country's socio-economic circumstances affect terrorists' behavior through terrorism's opportunity costs. We argue that this reasoning also holds for the case of supreme value terrorism. Then, we run a series of negative binomial regressions for 110 countries between 1971 and 2007 to test the hypothesis that poor socio-economic development is conducive to terrorism. We find that socio-economic variables indeed matter to terrorism, contrary to other results. Our findings imply that countries can benefit from economic development and growth in terms of a reduction in terrorism.     

Environmental evaluation of agri-environment schemes using participatory approaches: Experiences of testing the Agri-Environmental Footprint Index

The Agri-Environment Footprint Index (AFI) has been developed as a generic methodology to assess changes in the overall environmental impacts from agriculture at the farm level and to assist in the evaluation of European agri-environmental schemes (AES). The methodology is based on multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and involves stakeholder participation to provide a locally customised evaluation based on weighted environmental indicators. The methodology was subjected to a feasibility assessment in a series of case studies across the EU. The AFI approach was able to measure significant differences in environmental status between farms that participated in an AES and non-participants. Wider environmental concerns, beyond the scheme objectives, were also considered in some case studies and the benefits for identification of unintentional (and often beneficial) impacts of AESs are presented. The participatory approach to AES evaluation proved efficient in different environments and administrative contexts. The approach proved to be appropriate for environmental evaluation of complex agri-environment systems and can complement any evaluation conducted under the Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. The applicability of the AFI in routine monitoring of AES impacts and in providing feedback to improve policy design is discussed.     

Trade liberalisation and inequalities in Nepal: A CGE analysis

In this paper we examine the effects of trade liberalisation on inequality in the small developing country of Nepal. We use a Computable General Equilibrium approach applied to a newly developed social accounting matrix, simulating three liberalisation scenarios: (i) import liberalisation; (ii) export liberalisation; and (iii) import and export liberalisations implemented together under different exchange rate regimes. Outcomes reveal that industry reallocation following liberalisation does not respond to classical trade theory expectations about factor intensity and abundance. On the distributive side, liberalisation seems to increase the high-skilled/low-skilled gap and favour rich households relatively more. However, since under fixed exchange rate also the two poorest household groups increase their income levels, liberalisation may also expected to be beneficial for poverty alleviation.     

The value of extended delegation in dynamic agency

One of the main advantages of delegation is that specific department level information is used. Its main disadvantage is probably that central management looses direct control over certain actions. In this paper we challenge this widely accepted trade-off. We show that delegation might be favorable even if specific knowledge is completely absent. We consider a firm that lives for two periods. Due to its organizational structure part of the tasks and decision rights is inevitably delegated to a subordinate (agent). The agent performs the tasks assigned to him, tantamount to personal effort, in each of the two periods. Besides this effort the decision to implement a particular project has to be made at the beginning of period two. With regard to the project choice, central management can decide to delegate it to the agent (decentralization). Alternatively it can make it personally (centralization). If the project choice is decentralized it remains unobservable for central management. Along with second period effort it must be motivated via an incentive contract written on period output.We analyze two different contracting regimes: long-term commitment and long-term renegotiation-proof contracts. With full commitment we find that centralization is indeed favorable as compared to delegation if no informational advantage exists. This confirms conventional wisdom. However, the result does not necessarily hold with renegotiation-proof contracts. Renegotiation-proofness may force central management to set too low second-period incentives. Delegation counteracts this effect as it allows central management to implicitly commit to a higher second-period incentive rate. This arises as both, personal effort and the project choice, rather than effort alone need to be motivated. A necessary condition for too low second-period incentives, and thus for delegation to be favorable, is a negative intertemporal correlation of output.     

Akquisitionscontrolling in der Praxis – Eine theoriegeleitete Fallstudie

Zusammenfassung  Wie werden Unternehmen in der Praxis bewertet? Welche bewertungstheoretischen Grundlagen liegen der Bewertung zugrunde? Welche Themenstellungen im Rahmen des Akquisitionscontrolling sind von zentraler Bedeutung für den Erfolg von M&A-Transaktionen? Als Gegenstand vieler Diskussionen und Faktoren mit erheblichem Einfluss auf den Unternehmenswert k?nnen beispielhaft folgende Spannungsfelder aufgeführt werden:

DELAYED OVERSHOOTING AND REAL EXCHANGE RATE PERSISTENCE IN AN IMPERFECT INFORMATION MODEL

Recent studies have pointed out that monetary shocks in sticky price models cannot generate real exchange rates that exhibit delayed overshooting and are highly persistent. This paper demonstrates that such exchange rate dynamics can be generated by incorporating incomplete information about the true nature of the monetary shock into a standard New Keynesian model of a small open economy.     

Qualitätserwartungen,Qualitätswahrnehmungen und die Nutzung von Fernsehserien

Ziel des Beitrags ist die Beantwortung der Frage, welche Faktoren die Nutzung von Fernsehserien erkl?ren k?nnen. Kann sie im Wesentlichen auf Habitualisierung und strukturelle Rahmenbedingungen zurückgeführt werden, oder l?sst sie sich dadurch erkl?ren, dass die Erwartungen an die Qualit?t von Fernsehserien und die Wahrnehmung von Qualit?tseigenschaften der verschiedenen Serien zwischen den Rezipienten variieren? Zun?chst werden die theoretisch relevanten Faktoren für ein Modell der subjektiven Qualit?tsauswahl identifiziert und operationalisiert. Anschlie?end wird in einer empirischen Studie geprüft, ob diese Faktoren einen Einfluss auf die Nutzung der Fernsehserien haben. Die Untersuchungsergebnisse zeigen, dass die drei Elemente des theoretischen Ansatzes — Qualit?tserwartungen, Qualit?tswahrnehmungen und Qualit?tsurteile — die Seriennutzung zu einem betr?chtlichen Teil erkl?ren k?nnen. Der Vorteil dieses Ansatzes gegenüber dem Uses and Gratifications Approach besteht darin, dass die Eigenschaften des Angebots im Mittelpunkt stehen. Damit wird es m?glich, Aussagen darüber zu machen, welche wahrgenommenen Merkmale des Angebots für die Nutzungsentscheidungen der Rezipienten relevant sind.     

The long and winding roads: Perceived quality of scenic tourism routes

This study aims to understand self-drive tourists’ satisfaction with and loyalty toward scenic roads. Building on previous studies in the context of tourism destinations, satisfaction is hypothesised to be influenced by leisure and holiday motorists’ motivation for driving the routes and the provision of roadside facilities. In turn, satisfaction is assumed to increase motorists’ loyalty toward the route. The study comprises data from two scenic roads in Norway that differ with respect to landscapes formations, settlements, experiences along the routes, and travel distance. Data are analysed using structural equation modelling. Results show that roadside facilities play a crucial role in achieving overall satisfaction and loyalty among motor tourists, and that route managers should improve the quality of these and related infrastructure facilities and services. Moreover, the study indicates that it is important to take into consideration the motorists’ desire to experience attractive sceneries in order to increase overall route satisfaction. Finally, satisfaction is demonstrated to significantly increase route loyalty, although this relationship appears weaker than in conventional destination studies.     

The real effects of delisting: Evidence from a regression discontinuity design

We study how the delisting of a firm’s stock, and the accompanying drop in liquidity, causally affects a firm’s real economic decisions. Although delisting is endogenous, we identify a causal effect by using regression discontinuity design (RDD). This technique suits the delisting problem because the probability of delisting rises discontinuously when observable variables pass known thresholds. We find that delisting results in a modest decline in investment and cash saving and an important and robust decline in employment.