Mapping community values for natural capital and ecosystem services

Whilst biophysical, and increasingly economic, values are often used to define high priority hotspots in planning for conservation and environmental management, community values are rarely considered. The community values mapping method presented in this paper builds on the concept of natural capital and ecosystem services and the landscape values methodology to link local perception of place to a broader measure of environmental values at the landscape level. Based on in-depth interviews and a mapping task conducted with 56 natural resource management decision-makers and community representatives, we quantified and mapped values and threats to natural capital assets and ecosystem services in the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin region. GIS-based techniques were used to map the spatial distribution of natural capital and ecosystem service values and threats over the region and analyse the proportional differences at the sub-regional scale. Participants assigned the highest natural capital asset value to water and biota assets primarily for the production of cultural, regulating and provisioning services. The most highly valued ecosystem services were recreation and tourism, bequest, intrinsic and existence, fresh water provision, water regulation and food provision. Participants assigned the highest threat to regulating services associated with water and land assets. Natural capital asset and ecosystem service values varied at both sub-regional and place-specific scales. Respondents believed people were integral to the environment but also posed a high threat to natural capital and ecosystem services. The results have implications for the way values toward natural capital and ecosystem services may be integrated into planning for environmental management.     

Realistic Statistical Modelling of Financial Data

The aim of this paper is to present some of the stylized features of financial data which have received a lot of attention both from practitioners and those with more theoretical backgrounds. Some of the models resulting from these efforts are reviewed and discussed. To facilitate the discussion two data sets are used: one of these contains all US trades in IBM stocks in 1995 at NYSE.     

Outsourcing as a cooperative game between the CEO and labor: theory and evidence

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - We develop a model of a cooperative power game between a chief executive officer (CEO) and labor over a proposed corporate outsourcing, and test the...     

Compulsory technology adoption and adaptation in education: A looming student privacy problem

Educational settings worldwide have a significant impact on the early use of digital devices and online media by children. Therefore, schools' educational technology (EdTech) adoption decisions may lead to long-term repercussions for students and society. The authors explore how schools make technology decisions on behalf of their students, focusing on the ways that privacy and data security are considered in technology adoption decisions and use. Adaptation-level theory helps to illustrate the growing dependence on technology in compulsory educational settings, the convenience of adopting digital tools, and the risks to children that result as they use and adapt to technology. Analysis of in-depth interviews and text analysis of public state reports indicate that confusion between information technology and EdTech consequentially leads to a “privacy-security chasm.” Findings highlight privacy-security challenges in K-12 school districts and the growing need to understand student privacy protection as part of children's digital well-being.     

How to examine external validity within an experiment

A fundamental concern for researchers who analyze and design experiments is that the estimate obtained from the experiment might not be externally valid for other policies of interest. Researchers often attempt to assess external validity by comparing data from an experiment to external data. In this paper, I discuss approaches from the treatment effects literature that researchers can use to begin the examination of external validity internally, within the data from a single experiment. I focus on presenting the approaches simply using stylized examples.     

An analysis of website evolution in the pensions sector

Considerable commentary exists on the potential of the internet for transforming the financial services industry but there is limited longitudinal research into changing website configuration. Studies have investigated online banking ignoring more complex financial services such as pensions. This paper proposes a model of financial services website evolution and applies it to a longitudinal content analysis of 30 pension provider websites, spanning eight years of web development from 1996 to 2003. The study finds that pension websites have evolved over time with apparent links between phases of development and external drivers. The findings indicate that websites support new business transactions rather than existing account management and provide more information on company strength and market position than detail on product and services. Marketing opportunities are present for improved online information provision, business-to-business communication and customer servicing.