On the road to the Golden Age

Summary To find a pattern leading to the Golden Age it is necessary to introduce a principle for the division of consumption between generations.The Golden Rule result gives the fraction of G. N. P. that each generation saves on behalf of future generations but since this fraction is constant, previous generations have made an identical sacrifice on behalf of the present one.In a similar fashion it is postulated here that every generation chooses the proportion of G. N. P. which it wishes to save while requiring previous generations to save in exactly the same way. This means that although very generations would like to increase its consumption, it does not wish earlier generations to do so since that would leave less total G. N. P. in the present.The part of G. N. P. to be invested is assumed to be a certain, to be determined, function of time. The production function is taken to be Cobb-Douglas with constant returns to scale. The optimal growth path is determined under various assumptions about labour supply. It is shown that the Golden Age results are obtained as time approaches infinity.With 1 FigureThis research has been financed by a grant from the Tri-Centennial Fund of the Bank of Sweden.     

农民合作组织认识误区辨析

对农民合作组织的发展与效率问题，人们一直存在不同认识。农民合作组织与家庭经营组织能否共存？农民合作组织是否会演变为低效率的集体经济组织？农民合作组织与现代市场经济制度能否协调？等等。本文就有关农民合作组织的七个认识误区进行了分析。     

Conceptualizing dysfunctional consequences of performance measurement in the public sector

ABSTRACT

Performance measurement (PM) has become increasingly popular in the management of public sector organizations (PSOs). This is somewhat paradoxical considering that PM has been criticized for having dysfunctional consequences. Although there are reasons to believe that PM may have dysfunctional consequences, when they occur has not been clarified. The aim of this research is to conceptualize the dysfunctional consequences of PM in PSOs. Based on complementarity theory and contingency theory we conclude that dysfunctional consequences of PM are a matter of interactions between PM design and PM use, between control practices in the control system and between PM and context.     

Tracing business and environmental effects of environmental management systems—a study of networking small and medium‐sized enterprises using a joint environmental management system

In Hackefors Industrial District in Sweden, 26 small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) have formed an environmental network and implemented a joint environmental management system (EMS) according to ISO 14001. Based on interviews with the environmental co‐ordinators at these enterprises, the effects on business and environmental efforts and impacts are analysed. It can be concluded that the joint EMS has resulted in better relations with important stakeholders, such as existing and potential customers. For example, three‐fifths said that their EMS had made it easier to receive a contract for the sale of products and services. Several environmental improvements have been observed and are presented in the paper, many of which are considered as consequences of the EMSs. Moreover, based on observations during the study, this paper discusses how boundaries and screening affect the connection between EMSs and environmental performance. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment     

Corporate Governance and Strategic Change in SMEs: The Effects of Ownership,Board Composition and Top Management Teams

This paper investigates how governance mechanisms affect the ability of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to introduce strategic change. Previous research typically assumes that governance mechanisms operate independently of each other. Building on agency theory and insights from the literature on small firm governance, we hypothesize that governance variables related to ownership, the board of directors and the top management team all affect strategic change and that it is important to examine the interaction effects of these governance mechanisms. Using a longitudinal sample of over 800 SMEs, our general logic and hypotheses are supported by the analyses. We find that closely held firms exhibit less strategic change than do SMEs relying on more widespread ownership structures. However, to some extent, closely held firms can overcome these weaknesses and achieve strategic change by utilizing outside directors on the board and/or extending the size of the top management teams. Implications for theory and management practice in SMEs are discussed. All three authors have contributed equally to the paper. Their names are listed alphabetically.     

Estimating individual driving distance by car and public transport use in Sweden

How much to drive, and how much to use public transport, are modelled as three and two level decisions, respectively, based on micro–data for Sweden. The choices whether to have a car, whether to drive given access to a car, and how much to drive given that the individual drives at all are then estimated using a three equation model. Also after correcting for other variables, such as income, men are driving much more, and using less public transport, compared to women. People living in big cities are less likely to drive, but those who do are on average driving about as much as others. Age and access to company cars are also important determinants for travel behaviour, but being a member of an environmental organization is not. Driving increases with income, but to a lower degree compared to most aggregated studies on national level. The difference is explained in a model with income dependent structural changes, implying that it becomes more difficult to live without a car when average income increases. This indirect effect is found to be of a similar size as the ordinary income elasticity typically found in cross–section analysis within a country or region.     

Recreational Conflict Is Affective: The Case of Cross-Country Skiers and Snowmobiles

The authors conducted a field experiment to test the assumption that subjective feelings are important in recreation conflict. During a weekend, cross-country skiers in a popular recreation area were assigned randomly to an experimental group who were exposed to an operating snowmobile, and a control group who were not exposed. Both groups completed a self-report questionnaire to provide information on their subjective experiences during their outing. The experimental group answered the questions five to ten minutes after encountering a snowmobile. Participants were not informed about the connection between the snowmobile and the investigation, and the questions regarding effects were answered before any clues were given about snowmobiles being an issue. Results showed that relative to the control group, skiers who encountered a snowmobile had their affective quality significantly reduced. Moreover, encountering a single snowmobile had an effect on participants' beliefs about the extent to which noise from snowmobiles disturbed the quality of ski-touring in general.     

The Shape of the Income Distribution and Economic Growth – Evidence from Swedish Labor Market Regions

We analyze the association between income inequality and economic growth using 72 labor market regions in Sweden during the period of 1990–2006. Compared with studies of cross‐country data, the regional set‐up reduces problems with omitted variable bias and endogeneity as regions within a country share the same redistributive policies and institutions. Using population register data, highly accurate measures of growth and inequality (gini, Q3, p9075, p5010) are derived. OLS cross‐section and panel estimates imply that inequality between the 90 and 75th percentiles enhances regional growth and that the share of income falling to the third quintile reduces growth. These results no longer hold when we apply regions specific fixed effects and/or system GMM.