Drivers,adoption, and evaluation of sustainability practices in Italian wine SMEs

Based on a survey with 64 small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in two Italian wine regions, this study aims to (a) identify key drivers and barriers of the adoption of sustainability and (b) compare the adoption and evaluation (use, financial/labor investments, and satisfaction) of sustainability practices in four management domains (marketing, chain, operational, and innovation). Results show that internal drivers were considered to be more important than external drivers. Economic sustainability‐oriented drivers scored significantly lower than drivers related to other dimensions, such as environmental sustainability and heritage. Key barriers refer to labor and investments costs, as well as concerns about greenwashing. Although there are substantial differences in adoption and evaluation of sustainability practices within and between management domains, this study confirms their widespread adoption in wineries. Among users, satisfaction levels outweigh the perceived investments. Except for innovation management practices, financial investments are considered to be lower than labor investments. Positive correlations between use‐satisfaction (within each management domain) and between investments or satisfaction levels (between management domains) further lend support for producers' adoption of multiple practices. At sustainability dimension level, heritage is negatively correlated with the evaluation indicators, indicating that it may act as a potential barrier to some sustainability practices. Segmentation analysis identified a low (30%) and high sustainability clusters (70%), which differ significantly in terms of sustainability perceptions and drivers, adoption, and evaluation of practices, as well as company characteristics. Future research needs to validate the findings on SMEs, compare our measures with more objective evaluation indicators, future adoption rates, and multidimensional sustainability practices.     

协约型环境模式的有效性及其对中国环境管理的启示

本文通过描述和分析协约型环境政策的基本演进过程,对协约型环境政策模式的效果及其实施背景进行了深入的评析,指出中国环境政策与环境实践仍处于欧洲环境管理演进历程的初级阶段的现实,对协约型环境政策模式作为“第三策略选择”在中国的环境政策中应用的可行性展开了讨论。     

Validation and measurement invariance of the multidimensional qualitative job insecurity scale

This contribution introduces the Multidimensional Qualitative Job Insecurity Scale (MQJIS). Drawing from the qualitative job insecurity literature and addressing some of other scales’ limitations, a multidimensional model is proposed and investigated by means of confirmatory factor analysis and multilevel confirmatory factor analysis. Study 1 aims to explore the psychometric properties and factorial structure of MQJIS in an Italian sample of blue-collar workers (N?=?583), showing that a model with one higher-order factor (i.e., qualitative job insecurity) and four dimensions (i.e., social relationships, employment conditions, working conditions, and work content) shows a good fit to the data and good reliability indices. Study 2 aims to investigate MQJIS measurement invariance across several groups, based on country of origin, age, and gender. Results on a sample of Belgian and Italian workers (N?=?710) show that MQJIS met the criteria for uniqueness invariance across genders and scalar invariance across countries and age groups. Significance, implications, and future directions stemming from the initial validation and the confirmed measurement invariance of this scale are discussed.

     

Environmental aspects of water price formation. An empirical investigation of the cost of ground water protection

This paper tries to develop a scarcity price for groundwater resources in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The present legal framework in the FRG is based on quantity regulation. This framework, as well as the quantitative structure of demand and supply, is analysed. In the absence of market values, a model calculation for water protection is carried out to estimate the scarcity price of water. According to this model calculation, the average water price should be twice as high as it is. The implications of such a price development for the demand side are being analysed.     

The impact of immigration on the human capital of natives

"Implications of the quantity (number) and quality (skill) of immigration on the destination economy are analyzed, including impacts on value added, wages, quasi rents, rates of return, and the skill distribution of the native labor force. Quantity-quality trade-offs are considered for both immigrant and native workers. Medium- and long-run labor-supply responses by natives to immigrant-induced changes in wage rates are shown to have second-order effects which subtantively affect the impacts of immigrants. The impact of immigration policy depends on the quality as well as quantity of immigrants, the time horizon, and the speed of factor market adjustment."     

On the Private Provision of Intertemporal Public Goods with Stock Effects

The provision of public goods is often hindered by a lack of powerful institutions that can sanction free riders or otherwise enforce private contributions to the public good. The simple deposit based solution introduced by Gerber and Wichardt (J Public Econ 93:429–439, 2009) solves this problem, but may require prohibitively large deposits, in particular in the context of intertemporal public goods. In this paper, we propose a modification of the deposit solution that relies only on comparably small deposits. The proposed modification improves the applicability of the procedure, most notably as it also allows to reduce deposits in static public goods problem by transforming them into dynamic ones with small per period contributions.     

Fiscal Constitutions

In this paper we examine how taxes, subsidies and the design of constitutional agendas should be regulated in order to allow for an efficient allocation of public goods and a limitation of tax distortions. We show that if public goods are socially desirable, the simple majority rule, combined with taxation constrained to majority winners or a ban on subsidies, can achieve several desirable objectives. Equal treatment regarding taxes and subsidies is undesirable. Super majority rules and equal treatment of all citizens with respect to taxes and subsidies, however, are first-best provided public goods are socially undesirable. Finally, we suggest that constitutions with amendments eliminate excessive taxation and allow treatment rules to universally improve welfare.     

Basic research, openness, and convergence

We study a model where economic growth is fueled by public basic-research investment and the importation of leading technology from foreign countries. In each period, the government chooses the amount of basic research, balancing the costs and benefits of stimulating growth through both channels. We establish the existence of steady states and the long-run share of technologically advanced sectors in the economy. Then we explore how different degrees of openness affect long-term incentives to invest in basic research. Our main insight is that higher openness tends to encourage more investment in basic research, which, in turn, yields a larger share of leading sectors. If, however, there are prospects of importing major technology advances, highly open countries will reduce basic research as such imports become particularly valuable.