A cost-benefit analysis of restoring the Em River in Sweden: valuation of angling site characteristics and visitation frequency

This article uses Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) to evaluate restoration scenarios aimed at improving angling on the Em River in Sweden. We find that none of the proposed projects are socially profitable when considering only values associated with angling. We rely on a Choice Experiment (CE) to derive utilities and estimate the monetary value of angling site characteristics and then also use the utilities derived in a visitation frequency using a two-stage budgeting approach. The visitation frequency is then used to extract values for fishing license sales and business-related income. The case study illustrates how CBA can provide useful insights into the potential economic returns of environmental restoration projects. Our case study also indicates that the results in terms of Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) and visitation frequency are general findings – i.e. they appear similar across angling sites – which is particularly useful from a policy point of view because it supports the use of benefit transfer for more cost-effective river management.     

COOPERATIVE GAMES WITH GENERAL DEVIATION MEASURES

Cooperative games with players using different law‐invariant deviation measures as numerical representations for their attitudes towards risk in investing to a financial market are formulated and studied. As a central result, it is shown that players (investors) form a coalition (cooperative portfolio) that behaves similar to a single player (investor) with a certain deviation measure. An explicit formula for that deviation measure is obtained. An approach to optimal risk sharing among investors is developed, and a “fair” division of the cooperative portfolio expected gain, belonging to the core of a corresponding cooperative game, is suggested.     

Multilateral alliances and innovation output: The importance of equity and technological scope

The formation of R&D alliances has become an increasingly popular way to achieve improved innovation outcomes. However, R&D alliances face high failure rates due to the dual nature, cooperation and competition, of what can be a very challenging inter-firm relationship, a problem that is compounded when an alliance involves more than two partners. As such, it is important to understand the mechanisms that encourage cooperation in multilateral alliances to help firms achieve desired innovation outcomes. In this study, we hypothesize two such mechanisms: equity governance structure and multi-technology scope. We test our hypotheses using panel data from the pharmaceutical industry spanning 15 years. Our results support the idea that equity governance and having a multiple technology scope are positively related to innovation outcomes in multilateral alliances.     

Political consensus, uncertain preferences, and central bank independence

Models where monetary policy is delegated to an independentcentral bank using contracts or targets usually assume thatthe preferences of the principal and the agent are known withcertainty. However, if there is no consensus in society aboutthe relative costs of inflation and output stabilisation, thedelegation solution may not produce a better outcome for themedian voter than discretion This paper examines the robustnessof the institutional solutions to the credibility problem withuncertain preferences We also examine the related issue of whetherpolitical parties have an interest in moving towards centralbank independence     

XII. Recht

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Wholesale market definition in telecommunications: The issue of wholesale broadband access

The scope of a wholesale market may, in addition to demand- and supply-side substitution at the wholesale level, also be determined by substitution patterns at the retail level. Considering wholesale broadband access markets, it is argued that each of these forces can be strong enough to render a 5–10% price increase by a hypothetical monopolist at the wholesale level unprofitable and thus may lead to a wider wholesale market definition including, for example, cable networks in addition to DSL. Based on the theory of derived demand elasticities the paper discusses under which circumstances this could be the case. The position of the European Commission and the practice of national regulatory authorities are then reviewed in light of these arguments.     

Auszeichnung für einen Pionier des controllings

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

On the choice of measures of reliability and validity in the content-analysis of texts

The paper discusses several reliability measures: Scott’s pi, Krippendorff’s alpha, free marginal adjustment (Bennett, Alpert and Goldstein’s \(S\) ), Cohen’s kappa, and Perreault and Leigh’s \(I\) and the assumptions on which they are based. It is suggested that correlation coefficients between, on one hand, the distribution of qualitative codes and, on the other hand, word co-occurrences and the distribution of the categories identified with the help of the dictionary based on substitution complement the other reliability measures. The paper shows that the choice of the reliability measure depends on the format of the text (stylistic versus rhetorical) and the type of reading (comprehension versus interpretation). Namely, Cohen’s kappa and Bennett, Alpert and Goldstein’s \(S\) emerge as reliability measures particularly suited for perspectival reading of rhetorical texts. Outcomes of the content analysis of 57 texts performed by four coders with the help of computer program QDA Miner inform the analysis.     

FIRM SIZE AND STOCK RETURNS: A QUANTITATIVE SURVEY

Firm size is commonly used in numerous empirical asset pricing models as a determinant of expected stock returns. Yet there is little consensus over the magnitude and stability of the size premium. In fact, some researchers even question whether firm size should be used as a pricing factor. We collect 1746 estimates of the slope coefficients capturing the association between firm size and stock returns reported in 102 published studies and conduct the first meta‐analysis on the size premium. We find evidence of a strong bias toward publishing statistically significant negative slope coefficients. After correcting for the bias, we find that the literature implies a difference in annual stock returns on the smallest and the largest New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) market capitalization quintiles of 1.72%. For the time periods covered in the sampled articles, we find that the size premium was larger in earlier years and that the intensity of publication bias has been decreasing over time.