Factors Influencing Corporate Environmental Disclosure

In this paper, we have studied the factors that influence the environmental disclosures of Italian listed companies. We also aimed to verify the effects produced by the introduction of specific legislation (albeit of a voluntary nature) on environmental disclosures. The analysis has the advantage of including all of the informational documents produced by the company. The analysis shows an (excessively) low level of disclosure of environmental information by the companies examined. The econometric analysis then shows, contrary to our hypothesis and the results of previous analyses carried out in other countries, a negative and statistically significant relationship between environmental disclosures, the presences of minority shareholders and large auditors and the listing of the company, including in foreign markets. We lastly observed that the introduction of ad hoc legislation as purely voluntary only affects the contents of quantitative environmental disclosures, which are unsuitable for a highly industrialized developed country. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Getting fourteen for the price of one! Understanding the factors that influence land value and how they affect biodiversity conservation in central Brazil

Biodiversity policies are suffering an implementation crisis; the roots are deeply entrenched in the unfair competition between the public and private interests for suitable versus available land. In this article we propose a value-based equivalence method for compensation for the 20% compulsory reserves in the Taquari River sub-catchments, as legally required for central savannas of Brazil. Using regression techniques we analyzed 106 land deals in the Pantanal's watershed and identified the most significant variables influencing land value. We argue that the commonly used area-for-area, compensation mechanism, where 1 ha of compulsory reserve is missing, requires another hectare protected in the same catchments, instead of counteract habitat loss, is in fact harmful to biodiversity, stimulating progressive habitat destruction. We identified the economic forces behind deforestation and habitat fragmentation in the central savannahs of Brazil and proposed a market-based approach to counteract these forces using tools already available in environmental economics. We suggest that a dollar-for-dollar reference to determine land equivalence and compensation can better counter-balance the incremental losses from habitat destruction, while providing objectivity and transparency for trading alternatives.     

Kosten aufgrund von DRG-Upcoding durch die Einführung der Diagnosis Related Groups in Deutschland

Heilberufe - Der Ausgabenanstieg im stationären Sektor des deutschen Gesundheitswesens wurde durch die Einführung der DRG-basierten Vergütung nicht aufgehalten. Diese...     

Strukturwandel im deutschen Verarbeitenden Gewerbe

Auch wenn die Globalisierung gegenw?rtig aufgrund der Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise an Dynamik verloren hat, wird sie die weltweite wirtschaftliche Entwicklung zukünftig weiterhin ma?geblich pr?gen. Mittel- bis langfristig wird die Internationalisierung der Wirtschaftsbeziehungen über den Handel und den Kapitalverkehr weiter voranschreiten und die Nachfrage nach Produkten des Verarbeitenden Gewerbes weltweit wieder expandieren. Hiervon k?nnen Industriestandorte in Deutschland profitieren, wenn ihnen der Strukturwandel gelingt. Dieser wird getragen von dem zunehmenden Gewicht forschungs- und wissensintensiver Branchen sowie von technologischen Ver?nderungen.     

Controversies over fair value accounting： The case of SMEs

This study analyses IASB＇s stipulations on fair value usage in its standard designed for SMEs and the reactions of national standard setters, preparers and users of financial reporting in this respect. It tries to clarify fair value applications such as market value and value in use and the appropriateness of their usage for the case on hand. This research determines the inconsistencies within IASB ED IFRSfor SMEs （2007） related to the usage of fair value, underlined by the respondents＇ comment letters. The content analysis of all the above, conducted according to the type of economy and nature of respondent, along with the statistical techniques applied, indicates a partial approval of fair value usage under the following conditions： clarification of the concept, details on its usage in relation to market liquidity and the nature of the asset, additional guidance regarding the measurement methods. We advocate for the value in use, an application of the fair value based on internal valuations, which offers an adequate cost-benefit rate. The final version ofIFRSfor SMEs highlights both the preference of market information over the internal valuations and the insufficient information regarding solutions suited for non-liquid markets. It may be appropriate for the IASB, maybe in collaboration with the IVSC, to provide guidance and details regarding the implementation and disclosure of the valuation techniques applicable to this type of entities.     

Measures of the Amending Power of Government and Parliament. The Case of Italy 1988–2002

On the basis of a unique data set consisting of all the amendments to the Italian financial laws from 1988 to 2002, we empirically test whether and how the amending power is an instrument of the parliament or of the government and whether the use of this power was modified by the change of the electoral system in 1994. We show that, in both electoral systems, governments controlled the agenda and parliaments never exploited this power to increase the deficits beyond the planned value. The structural break of the Italian budgetary policy was determined by the Maastricht fiscal rules.     

Tales of fiscal adjustment

This paper examines the evidence on fiscal adjustments in OECD countries from the early 1960s to today. The results shed light on the recently observed phenomenon of fiscal tightening that produces (non-Keynesian) expansionary effects. One interpretation is that a serious fiscal tightening increases demand. Wealth rises when future tax burdens decline, and when interest rates decline credibility is restored and inflation or default risks abate. Both consumption and investment rise. For this effect to produce an expansion, the tightening must be sizeable and occur after a period of stress when the budget is quickly deteriorating and public debt is building up. Another interpretation emphasizes the supply side. Typically, a fiscal consolidation based on tax increases is short-lived. To be long lasting, it must include cuts in public employment, transfers and government wages. To be politically possible, such a policy must be supported by trade unions. These measures result in more efficient labour markets and boost the supply side. Based both on statistical evidence and on a detailed analysis of ten cases of major fiscal adjustment, this article provides cautious support to the supply-side view, without denying a more limited role for the demand-side channel.     

The HR role in corporate social responsibility and sustainability: A boundary‐shifting literature review

Although research on human and social sustainability has flourished in the past decade, the role that human resource management departments play (or should play) in facilitating more socially responsible and sustainable organizations remains unclear. In practice, this lack of clarity is due to the multiple features and dimensions of potential HR contributions to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate sustainability (CS), as well as widespread failure to integrate HR and CSR functions. Theoretically, the absence of a framework that articulates the HR role in CSR and CS and the substantial separation between HRM and CSR/CS studies among academics act as a reinforcing mechanism. The present study contributes to the growing research on this topic, presenting a framework and a typology to classify the potential HR roles in CSR and CS and comprehensively reviewing the literature at the intersection of HR with CSR and CS. The results of the review provide a broader perspective on the role HR might play in CSR and CS as well as its impact beyond organizational boundaries.     

Epistemological foundations of international entrepreneurship

International entrepreneurship emerged in recent years as a promising research stream focusing on how firms explore and exploit opportunities across borders, creating customer value and anticipating competitors’ moves. This study addresses international entrepreneurship literature challenges by analyzing more than seventy studies from the last twenty-four years that deal with the international new venture’s phenomenon. Particularly this study discusses five literature challenges: the increased amount of international entrepreneurship content among different journals; the different types of research conducted in the international entrepreneurship field; international new ventures and high-tech industry; the controversy in the definition and the different labels given to the firms with international presence right from their birth or shortly after; and, the factors that characterize successful firm internationalization. The study findings offer a comprehensive review, synthesis, and organization in the field.     

Don't patronize me! An experiment on preferences for authorship

Do people only reject interference and keep control to affect the outcome? We find that 20% of subjects reject unrequired help and insist on their solution to a problem—although doing so is costly and does not change the result. We tease out the motives by varying the information available to the interfering party (paternalist). Subjects do not resist to show to the paternalist that they were able to find the correct solution. Instead, two motives seem to play a role. First, subjects prefer to have produced or “authored” the solution themselves. Second, subjects desire to signal their authorship and hence their independence to the paternalist.