From ecological footprint to ecological rent: An economic indicator for resource constraints

This paper takes as a starting point a combination of an input-output model with a national Ecological Footprint account for Germany in the spirit of Wiedmann et al. [Wiedmann, T., Minx, J., Barrett, J., Wackernagel, M., 2006. Allocating ecological footprints to final consumption categories with input-output analysis. Ecological Economics. 56, 28-48]. Footprint as well as Biocapacity is dealt with at the industry level. Gross output of each industry and final demand for each industry can then be split up into a share that is reconcilable with Biocapacity and another share that corresponds to the ‘Ecological Deficit’. The Ecological Footprint concept is extended in this study by introducing the additional biocapacity necessary for sustaining the given level of economic activity. It is assumed that each industry had to rent the corresponding areas and to apply a given technology in order to make this additional land biophysically productive. That results in an additional technology for each industry leading to an increase in costs and prices. The new price level is directly linked to the share of output that corresponds to Biocapacity overshooting, which is defined by the ‘Ecological Deficit’. Economic indicators can be derived by measuring the income difference brought about by the price increase. This difference corresponds to a Ricardian rent which is due to resource constraints on output growth.     

Efficiency out of disorder: Contested ownership in incomplete contracts

In many situations, irreconcilable disagreements between players lead to costly ownership disputes over assets—for example, in case of joint ownership. This article studies the role of such disputes in a situation where two players have to make a transaction‐specific investment and when contracts are incomplete. I show that potentially contested ownership may mitigate the inefficiency of investments due to the incompleteness of contracts generating an exchange surplus that comes closer to the first‐best surplus as compared to any other ex ante distribution of ownership typically discussed in the literature following the influential work by Grossman, Hart, and Moore. If the contest is an all‐pay auction, each player makes a transaction‐specific investment as if he or she owns the asset. This article can explain why shared ownership—as for example in equity joint ventures, family firms, start‐up partnerships, and so on—is an important part of today's corporate landscape.     

Maximising,Satisficing, Weights and the Evaluation of Macroeconomic Comparisons

The success or failure of macroeconomic policy over time and in comparison to other countries is an important item in political discussions. The present paper discusses the relative advantages and disadvantages of different forms of indices which aim at an aggregated picture for macroeconomic evaluations. Maximising, satisficing, and weights in multi-item indices are discussed on a principal level. In the final section a simple numerical example comparing different countries serves as an illustration of some of the main aspects. It is shown that alternative forms can yield important differences in ranking and offer alternative insights.     

The economic agent as rule maker and rule user: <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Homo Sapiens Oeconomicus</Emphasis>

The paper discusses the micro foundations of evolutionary economics, introducing a unified concept of the economic agent as a rule maker and rule user. Based on recent findings of the neuronal, cognitive and behavioral sciences, Homo Sapiens Oeconomicus emerges as an alternative to Homo Oeconomicus. A taxonomy of rules distinguishing between cognitive, behavioral and blueprint rules and a set of theoretical propositions related to the structure and evolution of those rules are suggested.JEL Classification: A 12, B 41, B 52, B 53, D 00, D 64, D 80, D 83, E 11, L20The present paper had its origin in a research project on The Interdisciplinary Foundations of Economic Decision Making supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation during 1978-1980. The core of that work was a brain model whose architecture also serves as a corner stone for this paper. Since then there have been substantial developments in the respective areas; some of the major findings of the more recent research in the neuronal, cognitive and related sciences are discussed and integrated into the present paper. - I gratefully acknowledge insightful comments and criticisms from Georg D. Blind. Some ideas were discussed during my tenure as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Queensland, in fall 2003, and I wish to record my appreciation of the hospitality during that visit. Particular thanks for the inspiring discussions go to Peter Earl, John Foster, and, as always, Jason Potts. Special thanks are due to Juli Lessmann and Charles R. McCann for their thoughtful corrections of my English prose and their editorial help. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Income segregation and local progressive taxation: Empirical evidence from Switzerland

This study investigates spatial income segregation in fiscally decentralized urban areas. The theoretical part proposes the progressivity of local income taxes as a new theoretical explanation for income segregation. The empirical part studies how income tax differentials across municipalities affect the households' location decisions. I use data from the Swiss metropolitan area of Basel that contains tax information on all moving households in 1997. The location choice of the households is investigated within the framework of the random utility maximization model. Different econometric specifications of the error term structure, such as conditional logit, nested logit and multinomial probit, are compared. The empirical results show that rich households are significantly and substantially more likely to move to low-tax municipalities than poor households. This result holds after controlling for alternative explanations of segregation. Social interactions and distance from the central business district are established as other major factors for income segregation. Households in general tend to choose locations close to other households like themselves.     

European integration and economic methodology and research: Questions and speculations

This paper will discuss the role of methodology in connection with different theoretical approaches. It is shown that a multitude of paradigms is appropriate when dealing with complex developments such as integration. The question is raised whether it makes sense to discuss a special European approach. Divergent views exist, but some differences between a European and an American tradition seem to exist due to a continent-wide competition among U.S. economists and a more fragmented European scene. Closer integration and academic cooperation in Europe could result in a more unified research environment resembling the U.S. picture. However, the role of language differences must not be overlooked and can contribute to a continuing diversification.Distinguished Address presented at the Forty-Seventh International Atlantic Economic Conference, Vienna, Austria, March 16–23, 1999.     

How Do Financial Constraints Relate to Financial Reporting Quality? Evidence from Seasoned Equity Offerings

This paper examines how constraints on firms’ financing capacity relate to managers’ discretionary accounting choices. Three hypotheses of earnings management – the opportunism hypothesis, the rational expectations hypothesis, and the signaling hypothesis – predict that constrained firms engage in greater upward earnings management than unconstrained firms when selling equity. Using a sample of seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) announced between 1983 and 2014, I find support for this prediction. The relation between financial constraints and earnings management is robust to including controls such as offer size, growth opportunities, analyst following, and chief executive officer equity holdings, as well as to using the instrumental variable approach. Investors’ reaction around and following the SEO announcement supports the rational expectations hypothesis. I find that aggressive earnings management by constrained issuers is associated with lower SEO announcement returns but is not followed by negative abnormal returns in the long run. The evidence suggests that constrained issuers’ aggressive use of income-increasing accruals is an outcome of managerial myopia caused by capital market pressure, not managerial opportunism intended to mislead investors.     

Do Forest Products Prices Display Long Memory?

The behavior of forest products prices has large implications for forest management and policy. Decisions such as the timing of harvesting and investment in new plantations depend on future price expectations and policy makers often are concerned about the persistence of price shocks for stabilization purposes. Previous research on the topic has been mixed and focused on the question of whether prices are integrated of order one (i.e., have a unit root) and are nonstationary or if they are integrated of order zero and are stationary and mean‐reverting. In an effort to understand the price process for two key forest products (lumber and pulp), time‐series tests were applied to over 40 years of monthly pricing data. Using a modified Dickey–Fuller test, we rejected the null hypothesis of a unit root on most series. However, a separate test also soundly rejected a stationary null hypothesis. Such a finding led us to test whether forest products prices are fractionally integrated, exhibiting long memory. Estimates of the memory parameter (d) for various lumber price series ranged between 0.68 and 0.81 and for pulp it was 0.64. This implies that prices are both mean‐reverting (in the sense that shocks die out) and nonstationary. Le comportement des prix des produits forestiers a d’importantes répercussions sur la gestion et la politique forestières. Certaines décisions, telles que le choix du moment de la récolte et les investissements dans de nouvelles plantations, dépendent des anticipations quant aux prix futurs et, souvent, les décideurs sont préoccupés par la persistance des chocs de prix pour des raisons de stabilisation. Les travaux de recherche antérieurs ont été variés et visaient à déterminer si les prix étaient intégrés de l’ordre  1 (c.‐à‐d. avec une racine unitaire) et non stationnaires ou s’ils étaient intégrés de l’ordre 0, stationnaires, avec une tendance au retour à la moyenne. Afin de comprendre le processus de prix de deux  produits forestiers clés (bois d’?uvre et pâte), nous avons effectué une analyse de séries chronologiques comprenant des données de prix mensuelles recueillies sur une période de plus de 40  ans. À l’aide d’un test de Dickey‐Fuller modifié, nous avons rejeté l’hypothèse nulle de la présence d’une racine unitaire dans la plupart des séries. Un autre test a également permis de rejeter sans équivoque l’hypothèse nulle de stationnarité. Ces résultats nous ont amenés à vérifier si les prix des produits forestiers étaient fractionnellement intégrés et présentaient une mémoire longue. Les estimations du paramètre de mémoire (d) de diverses séries de prix variaient de 0,68 à 0,81 pour le bois d’?uvre et s’établissaient à 0,64 pour la pâte. Ces résultats autorisent à penser que les prix ont une tendance au retour à la moyenne (dans le sens où les chocs disparaissent) et qu’ils sont non stationnaires.     

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