Post‐socialist trade unions: China and Russia

This paper identifies the constraints and opportunities facing trade unions in post‐socialist societies through a comparison of the Russian and Chinese cases. The paper charts the changing role of trade unions in the integration of state‐socialist economies into global capitalism and argues that this presents the trade unions with a dilemma: whether to reconstitute their traditional role through collaboration with management and the state apparatus, or whether to develop their ability to defend the rights and interests of workers. While the former offers the line of least resistance, there are progressive elements pushing for change in both trade union movements.     

Ökonomische Aspekte der Energiepolitik

Die in der ersten Jahresh?lfte 2006 sprunghaft gestiegenen Energiepreise haben die Abh?ngigkeit der Weltwirtschaft vom Roh?lpreis in Erinnerung gerufen. Die Weltwirtschaft kann aber auch von den Auswirkungen des Klimawandels betroffen werden. Wie sieht es mit der Energieversorgung und der Energiesicherheit in Deutschland aus? Wodurch steigen die Energiepreise? Welche ?konomischen Auswirkungen hat der Klimawandel? Ist der Emissionshandel in der EU und die F?rderung der erneuerbaren Energien in Deutschland auch unter ?konomischen Aspekten zu rechtfertigen? Prof. Dr. Karl Heinz Hausner, 37, lehrt Volkswirtschaftslehre an der Fachhochschule des Bundes für ?ffentliche Verwaltung in Mannheim und ist Lehrbeauftragter an der Hochschule für Bankwirtschaft, Frankfurt am Main; Prof. Dr. Silvia Simon, 35, lehrt Volkswirtschaftslehre an der Hochschule M?nchengladbach und ist Forschungsbeauftragte am Liechtenstein Institut, Fürstentum Liechtenstein.     

A typology of small- and medium-sized supplier approaches to social responsibility

Research on socially responsible supply chains has tended to define suppliers over-simplistically as either responsible or irresponsible. This paper illuminates the varied roles of broadly socially responsible small and medium sized enterprises by seeking to discern the differences and highlight the heterogeneity of the approaches taken. Distinguishing our approach from extant corporate social responsibility categorisations, a typology is outlined, drawing on Jungian Theory of Extraversion and the strategic capability of smaller firms. The analysis suggests four groupings of socially responsible small and medium enterprise supplier: strategic engager; strategic contemplator; active connector and active reflector. Overall, the paper seeks to inject nuance into discussions regarding supplier social responsibility practices, adding to the small business social responsibility literature, as well as unifying a number of strands of research relating to supply chain responsibility. The proposed typology offers firm foundations for further empirical and conceptual research in the area.     

The Relationship between Family Firms and Corporate Governance*

This paper contributes to the agency theory literature by identifying relations between family control and corporate governance structure. Emerging literature supports the notion that family control creates strong incentives that have potentially competing influences on the manner in, and extent to, which internal corporate governance mechanisms are utilized. A sample of 100 listed companies (evenly divided between family and nonfamily firms) is used to test the hypotheses that corporate governance structures are different between family and nonfamily firms; and that family firms adopt optimal corporate governance structures. This research finds evidence that suggests that family firms utilize substantially different corporate governance structures from nonfamily firms and that these differences lead to performance differentials. Indeed, results suggest that family control creates, rather than negates, agency costs and future research may be well rewarded by pursuing this latter notion further.     

Patents,foreign direct investment and economic growth in Australia, 1860–2010

We examine the long run relationship between innovation and economic development in Australia, using 150 years of data on patenting activity, and aggregate and sectoral economic indicators. Our initial results point to several important causal relationships, particularly the effects of patents on real GDP and of private capital formation on patents. We delve deeper at the sector level and find important causal relationships of patents with real foreign direct investment (FDI) since World War II. Australia's dependence on FDI for private capital formation served as an important stimulus for knowledge creation in key sectors including manufacturing, agriculture and mining.     

How exposure to policy tools transforms the mechanisms behind public acceptability and acceptance—The case of the Gothenburg congestion tax

An increasing body of literature suggests that acceptance of environmental policy instruments tends to change along with increased experience of the same. Among the more popular examples of this is the growing number of congestion pricing initiatives emerging around the world. In several cases, the acceptability of these projects among the public has been relatively low before implementation, but then acceptance has increased as experience of the project has grown. The question is just how, and in particular, why? That is, what is it really that experience does to people's propensity to accept initially quite unpopular measures? In this article, we analyze how the relationship between political trust, policy-specific beliefs (PSBs), and public support for policy tools is moderated or affected by people's personal experiences of those policy tools. On the basis of the experience of previous research, we test the way in which PSBs, institutional trust, and the legitimacy of the political decision-making process affect public attitudes toward a policy tool. In addition—and consistent with other studies—we expect these effects to be significantly reduced post-implementation, as people gain first-hand experience of a policy tool. More specifically, we theorize that the often emphasized process legitimacy is only valid as a factor driving support before implementation, and that the effect of general institutional trust is replaced by the level of trust specific to the implementing institutions after the introduction of the policy tool. We tested these hypotheses using a natural experiment; that is, by studying public attitudes toward the introduction of congestion fees in the Swedish city of Gothenburg both before and after their introduction. By doing so, we were able to comprehensively analyze both the drivers behind public sentiments toward congestion charges and how these mechanisms transform as people are exposed to the costs and benefits of the policy tool in practice. Among other things, we found that with regard to fairness and environmental effectiveness, there is a clear symmetry in our results. The level of acceptance increased most noticeably among those who experienced that the environment was improved by the implemented tax, or that the system turned out to be fairer than expected. However, the opposite is also the case. Thus, among those experiencing that the environment was not improved, or that the system appeared to be less fair than expected, the level of acceptance decreased significantly after implementation. These results may have important policy implications.     

Illegal Evictions? Overwriting Possession and Orality with Law's Violence in Cambodia

The unfolding of a juridico‐cadastral system in present‐day Cambodia is at odds with local understandings of landholding, which are entrenched in notions of community consensus and existing occupation. The discrepancy between such orally recognized antecedents and the written word of law have been at the heart of the recent wave of dispossessions that has swept across the country. Contra the standard critique that corruption has set the tone, this paper argues that evictions in Cambodia are often literally underwritten by the articles of law. Whereas ‘possession’ is a well‐understood and accepted concept in Cambodia, a cultural basis rooted in what James C. Scott refers to as ‘orality’, coupled with a long history of subsistence agriculture, semi‐nomadic lifestyles, barter economies and – until recently – widespread land availability have all ensured that notions of ‘property’ are vague among the country's majority rural poor. In drawing a firm distinction between possessions and property, where the former is premised upon actual use and the latter is embedded in exploitation, this paper examines how proprietorship is inextricably bound to the violence of law.     

Economic Analysis of Animal Genetic Resources and the Use of Rural Appraisal Methods: Lessons from Southeast Mexico

Livestock diversity provides genetic alternatives that facilitate sustainable agricultural development. Despite this, animal genetic resources (AnGR) are being depleted at alarming rates. Subsidises available to production systems based on imported breeds are of several orders of magnitude greater than the costs of local breed conservation. Economic arguments for the conservation and sustainable use of threatened AnGR can be an effective means of establishing support for the development of appropriate enabling environments. Despite the importance of the economics of AnGR conservation, the subject has received limited attention. Reasons include: methodological difficulties inherent in valuing genetic resources; limited knowledge about appropriate analytical techniques; and lack of data regarding local breeds. As recent advances in economic valuation have eased methodological/analytical constraints, the issue of data availability has become critical. Data related to livestock keepers' preferences for different genetic resource attributes and the value placed on these across species, breeds and production systems are needed. Based on a study of a local pig breed in Mexico, this paper shows how the use of rural appraisal methods, in conjunction with recently developed analytical techniques, are capable of providing the data required for understanding the type and costs of interventions necessary to promote the conservation and sustainable use of AnGR.