Strategic travel planning toward future emission targets—A comparative analysis of 20 Swedish municipalities applying the CERO model

Organizations displaying best practices for attaining proactive sustainability targets at local level are of major importance as role models in the transition toward a sustainable transport system. This study summarizes results and conclusions from 20 municipalities in Sweden that have implemented the so called CERO analysis in order to adapt to future emission targets for travel. The overall aim of the study is to identify factors explaining why some municipalities are more successful than others in a benchmarking comparison.

The results indicate that commuting by car is by far the most dominant source of emissions, constituting on average 76% of total annual travel emissions (including both commuting and business travel). In order to reduce these emissions, travel planning programs within organizations must address both commuting conditions and business travel conditions to reduce car dependence for work travel, e.g., employees using private cars for business trips most likely also use their own cars for commuting. To identify potential success factors as regards emissions-efficient travel, three comparative statistical analyses were conducted: grouping municipalities with low emissions in relation to the total average; analysis of car commuters' willingness to change travel mode; and before-and-after analyses of municipalities implementing specific action plans. The results revealed that municipalities conducting follow-up studies 2 years after implementing travel planning programs all lowered their total CO₂ emissions, by on average 10% during a 2-year period. Overall, these municipalities achieved redistribution to alternative travel modes but also reduced total travel mileage.     

Do Mandatory Pensions decrease Household Savings? Evidence for the Netherlands

The Dutch mandatory pension system consists of two parts: a public pay-as-you-go part that provides a minimum income to all Dutch inhabitants over age 64 and an occupation-specific capital-funded part that provides supplementary retirement income. The goal of this paper is to test for the effect of mandatory pensions on discretionary household savings. The data are drawn from the CentER Savings Survey. A result of the empirical analysis is that the impact of the public part of the Dutch pension system is not well identified. The occupational pensions have a significant negative impact on savings motives with respect to old age. The evidence on the effect on household wealth is mixed.     

经济相互依赖、退出成本与国家间冲突升级——基于动态博弈模型的理论分析

经济相互依赖如何影响国家间的政治关系是一个颇受争议的话题。基于马克.克里森兹的退出模型,作者构建了一个五阶段动态博弈模型,从动态视角考察经济相互依赖如何影响不同级别的冲突,并着重对经济相互依赖如何抑制冲突升级的内在机制进行了理论研究,得出如下结论:随着经济相互依赖的加深,国家间发生低级别冲突的概率将会增加,但是低级别冲突升级为战争的概率下降,即经济相互依赖有助于抑制冲突的升级。最后利用1949～2008年中美间政治经济关系的现实对理论分析的结论做了进一步的说明。     

An empirical test of the model on managing the localization of human resources in the People's Republic of China

The localization of human resources has been a major objective for many transnational corporations (TNCs) in the People's Republic of China (PRC). After a review of related literature and in-depth interviews with six TNCs, Wong and Law (1999) developed a model explaining the localization process in the PRC. Based on this localization model, this study empirically tested the antecedents of successful localization results of 139 TNCs in the People's Republic of China. Results showed that, (1) whether or not localization had been identified as an important goal, (2) overall localization planning efforts and (3) actual human resources management practices were important factors leading to successful localization of expatriate positions. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Risk,jumps, and diversification

We test for price discontinuities, or jumps, in a panel of high-frequency intraday stock returns and an equiweighted index constructed from the same stocks. Using a new test for common jumps that explicitly utilizes the cross-covariance structure in the returns to identify non-diversifiable jumps, we find strong evidence for many modest-sized, yet highly significant, cojumps that simply pass through standard jump detection statistics when applied on a stock-by-stock basis. Our results are further corroborated by a striking within-day pattern in the significant cojumps, with a sharp peak at the time of regularly scheduled macroeconomic news announcements.