Individual fishing quotas and fishing capacity in the US Gulf of Mexico red snapper fishery

Overcapacity (OC) and excess capacity (EC) are serious obstacles affecting the sound management of commercial fisheries around the world. The use of individual fishing quotas (IFQs) has been proposed as a promising management tool to cope with these challenges. However, the empirical evidence on the efficacy of this instrument is scarce. Drawing on a stochastic distance frontier analysis, we investigate the impact of the US Gulf of Mexico red snapper IFQ program on fishing capacity, capacity utilisation (CU) and OC. The paper also offers an alternative approach to compute species‐specific capacity measurements for multispecies fisheries. Our findings show that following the introduction of the IFQ program, fishing capacity decreased, primarily due to the exit of a large number of fishing vessels. CU increased marginally indicating modest decreases in EC. Conversely, we find that OC remains high. Our estimates suggest that about one‐fifth of the actual fleet could harvest the entire quota.     

Domestic or Imported Beer Brands? Analysis and Assessment of Brand Equity in the Spanish Market

The Spanish brewing industry is a main economic sector and a major activity in the agrifood area; however, there are few studies regarding the analysis of brand equity in this product. This study aims to analyze brand equity for both a domestic beer brand—Estrella Galicia—and an imported beer brand—Carlsberg. For this purpose a quantitative study is carried out among consumers in order to assess the sources or dimensions of brand equity and its consequences, comparing the 2 brands present in the Spanish market. Results obtained suggest a better evaluation of the domestic brand and reveal that brand loyalty and perceived quality are the dimensions with a higher relevance in beer brand equity.     

Ownership structure and forecast accuracy in Spain

This article examines how analysts respond to specific ownership structure characteristics by studying the accuracy of their forecasts after the release of the first Spanish corporate governance code and before IFRS were adopted. Specifically, we analyse the influence of ownership concentration, bank ownership and insider ownership on analyst forecast errors. Overall the results show a positive and significant influence of bank ownership on analyst forecast accuracy, which suggests that bank ownership leads to closer monitoring of management and a reduction in analyst forecast errors. However, the presence of large shareholders and insiders in the ownership structure of the firm does not significantly affect the accuracy of financial analysts. This research provides investors with a more refined sense of how analyst forecasts might be affected through the composition of the ownership structure in a context of high concentration of ownership, relevant presence of banks in firms as creditors and shareholders, and local GAAP.     

Asymmetric rivalry within and between strategic groups

Our study examines asymmetric rivalry within and between strategic groups defined according to the size of their members. We hypothesize that, owing to several forms of group‐level effects, including switching costs and efficiency, strategic groups comprising large firms expect to experience a large amount of retaliation from firms within their group and accommodation from the group comprising smaller firms. Small firms, on the other hand, expect to experience a small amount of retaliation from the group comprising large firms and no reaction from the other firms in their group. We estimate the effect of group‐level strategic interactions on firm performance. Our analysis reveals that the rivalry behavior within and between groups is asymmetric, which supports the dominant‐fringe relation between firms, as described in our hypothesis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Knowledge management practices and absorptive capacity in small and medium‐sized enterprises: is there really a linkage?

Small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) are more vulnerable to globalization and rapid technological change due to their scarcity of resources. SMEs' absorptive capacity allows them to access knowledge and plays a key role in their ability to explore and exploit opportunities in their environment. Therefore, this study aims to identify and categorize knowledge management practices which SMEs can adopt to develop absorptive capacity. From a population of 4,534 Portuguese SMEs, 260 usable completed questionnaires were returned. We concluded that Portuguese SMEs are engaged in knowledge management practices, through collaboration with business partners, favoring learning processes based on experience, knowledge transfer to employees and knowledge absorption by employees, reflecting the importance given by SMEs to the tacit nature of knowledge which helps them in efficiency improvements, strategic adaptation, and the launch of new products and services. Our study contributes to advancing theory in the fields of knowledge management and absorptive capacity. We combine and extend previous research which allows us to reconcile the sometimes contradictory findings concerning knowledge management practices which SMEs can adopt to reinforce absorptive capacity. Some theoretical and practical implications are also presented.     

Do Individual Preferences Affect the Environmental Decision‐Making Process in Teams? The Role of Participation

Literature on organizations and the natural environment has focused on the importance of individual managers and leaders. However, this literature has scarcely ever focused on individuals in the team context, even when teams have been considered to be key for a firms’ environmental progress. Although teams’ environmental decisions can be enriched by the different contributions of team members, it is necessary that team members actually participate and contribute their preferences during the decision‐making process. We used an adaptation of the legislative dilemma task with 84 students to contribute to environmental management literature by analyzing members’ participation during the team decision‐making process. The results of this paper show how those members with environmentally proactive preferences have a higher participation during the decision‐making process, and as a consequence they have a greater influence on the team decision. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The stability and breakup of nations: a quantitative analysis

This paper quantitatively analyzes the stability and breakup of nations. The tradeoff between increasing returns in the provision of public goods and the costs of greater cultural heterogeneity mediates agents’ preferences over different geographical configurations, thus determining the likelihood of secessions and unions. After calibrating the model to Europe, we identify the regions prone to secession and the countries most likely to merge. We then estimate the implied monetary gains from EU membership. As a test of the theory, we show that the model can account for the breakup of Yugoslavia and the dynamics of its disintegration. We find that economic differences between the Yugoslav republics determined the order of disintegration, but cultural differences, though small, were key to the country’s instability. The paper also provides empirical support for the use of genetic distances as a proxy for cultural heterogeneity.     

FROM DISCRETE TO CONTINUOUS‐TIME TRANSITION MATRICES IN INTRA‐DISTRIBUTION DYNAMICS ANALYSIS: AN APPLICATION TO PER CAPITA WEALTH IN EUROPE

Previous studies focusing on the intra‐distribution dynamics analysis have usually computed, in a Markov chain framework, discrete‐time transition matrices. Such an approach, however, can involve some limitations, especially when using stock variables. In order to illustrate the importance of the time‐scale issue when estimating transition matrices, this paper applies both discrete and continuous‐time approaches to a set of cross‐national European data on per capita wealth for the period 2000–10. The results reveal, on the one hand, that the continuous‐time estimation provides a most accurate estimation of transition probabilities and, on the other, that the differences between both approaches are especially remarkable in the long‐term equilibrium distribution.     

Efficiency and Equity in Natural Resources Pricing: A Proposal for Urban Water Distribution Service

This paper focuses on the design of optimal prices for urban water distribution service. In this context, pricing should be aimed at achieving efficiency, equity, financial aspects, and/or public acceptability and transparency. The proposed tariffs are based on the theoretical frameworks suggested by Ramsey (1927) and Feldstein (1972). As a prior step, estimations of urban water demands and water costs are carried out for the Spanish municipality of Seville. Finally, an empirical comparison, in welfare terms, is conducted between the proposed tariffs and those applicable in the year 2000.     

Monetary,fiscal, and structural drivers of inflation in Ethiopia: new empirical evidence from time series analysis

This study empirically investigates the drivers of inflation in Ethiopia using monthly data over the period July 1998 to September 2020. It explores short-run and long-run effects of domestic and external determinants of inflation—including demand-side, supply-side, and structural factors—using the cointegration and vector error-correction methodology. Four measures of inflation are considered: cereals, food, nonfood, and all-items Consummer Price Index (CPI) inflation. A key contribution to the existing literature is the investigation of the role of the fiscal sector in modeling inflation, a topic that has been neglected in the existing studies on inflation in Ethiopia. The empirical results show that disequilibria in the monetary sector, grains sector, and food markets have long-run effects on inflation. In the short run, inflation is driven by structural factors (notably, cereal output gaps and imported inflation) as well as demand-side factors (notably, money growth and public sector borrowing). The results hold when analysis is limited to the high growth period from 2005 onward, following the end of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program in the country. The evidence provides valuable insights in the context of ongoing macroeconomic policy reforms in Ethiopia.