Toxic release inventories and green consumerism: empirical evidence from Canada

Abstract. Do firms abate pollution in response to actual or anticipated green consumerism? Lacking direct observational data on the extent of green consumerism, we construct an indirect method to elicit its effect on pollution abatement. If environmentally motivated consumers target companies rather than particular facilities of a multi‐product firm, green consumerism can be identified through intra‐firm inter‐plant spillover effects in pollution abatement. We test the prediction that ‘environmentally‐leveraged’ firms with consumer market exposure experience larger emission reductions. We use 1993–99 panel data from Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), with pollutants adjusted for toxicity. Our empirical results find statistically significant evidence of green consumerism, but its economic magnitude is very small. JEL Classification: Q2, R3 Inventaires des émanations toxiques et consumérisme vert : résultats pour le Canada. Est‐ce que les entreprises réduisent la pollution en réponse au consumérisme vert – présent ou anticipé? Comme on n’a pas de façon de le savoir directement, on élabore une méthode indirecte de mesurer son impact sur l réduction de la pollution. Si des consommateurs intéressés à l’environnement ciblent certaines sociétés plutôt que des installations particulières d’une entreprise multi‐produit, le consumérisme vert a un impact détectable via des effets de retombées des politiques de réduction de pollution intra‐firme entre les installations. On met au test l’hypothèse que les entreprises qui sont exposées à des pressions sur le marché effectuent des réductions de pollution plus importantes. Utilisant des données de l’inventaire national des rejets de polluants du Canada pour 1993–99, on trouve que l’effet du consumérisme vert est statistiquement significatif mais économiquement très faible.     

Determination of the research of computer-based technologies for urban traffic systems some experiences in project organisation and management

Research and development activities concerning urban traffic systems are the subject of a long-standing program at the German Federal Ministry of Research and Technology. A fairly recent field of investigation is the deployment of computer-based technologies in urban traffic situations. The German Federal Ministry of Research and Technology has sponsored a study to determine a comprehensive middle-term research-program for these technologies.
The study contained the following steps of investigation:
(1) Determining possible areas of deployment for computer-based technologies.
(2) Selecting deployment areas from those generated.
(3) For the deployment areas selected, deriving the required research activities, coordinating and consolidating them into a research program.
Because of the comprehensive nature of urban traffic the know-how and results from many and diverse scientific disciplines had to be incorporated into the study.
As the study has significant real-life consequences for the direction and funding of urban traffic research by the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology it had to be ensured that its outcomes were operational.
To arrive at an operational research program, the study required inputs from areas, in addition to the scientific disciplines:
(a) politics (traffic policies in general, research and funding strategies etc.)
(b) industries (manufacturers of vehicles, electronic parts etc.) and traffic operating authorities.
Some experiences gained in managing the project are reported in this paper. They pertain to the study described. Hopefully, they can be put to use in some other projects of comparable structure and objectives.     

与投资者沟通，要找准对象

许多企业高管在与那些大可不必理会的投资者的沟通上花费了太多时间。尤其是首席执行官和首席财务官.他们经常在并不清楚哪些投资者真正重要的情况下,投入过多时间与投资者进行--对--会谈,出席投资会议。以及参与其他股东沟通活动—1。     

Fair valuation of cliquet-style return guarantees in (homogeneous and) heterogeneous life insurance portfolios

Participating life insurance contracts allow the policyholder to participate in the annual return of a reference portfolio. Additionally, they are often equipped with an annual (cliquet-style) return guarantee. The current low interest rate environment has again refreshed the discussion on risk management and fair valuation of such embedded options. While this problem is typically discussed from the viewpoint of a single contract or a homogeneous* insurance portfolio, contracts are, in practice, managed within a heterogeneous insurance portfolio. Their valuation must then – unlike the case of asset portfolios – take account of portfolio effects: Their premiums are invested in the same reference portfolio; the contracts interact by a joint reserve, individual surrender options and joint default risk of the policy sponsor. Here, we discuss the impact of portfolio effects on the fair valuation of insurance contracts jointly managed in (homogeneous and) heterogeneous life insurance portfolios. First, in a rather general setting, including stochastic interest rates, we consider the case that otherwise homogeneous contracts interact due to the default risk of the policy sponsor. Second, and more importantly, we then also consider the case when policies are allowed to differ in further aspects like the guaranteed rate or time to maturity. We also provide an extensive numerical example for further analysis.     

Exploring environmental,social, and governance disclosure effects on the S&P 500 financial performance

Much of the literature measuring the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores and firm performance treats the score as a measure of sustainability performance. In this study, we treat a firm's ESG score as a demonstration of strategic choice in the level of transparency that results in increased firm performance as measured by Tobin's Q and return on assets. Performance differences are a result of choice moderated by the size of the firm as measured by employees and sales. We analyze 467 firms in the S&P 500 from 2009 to 2015. Applying legitimacy and stakeholder theory, we find that there is significant difference between groups with respect to disclosure and performance. The results of quartile analysis by sales, capitalization, and Tobin's Q are relevant to understand the influence that the ESG score has on financial performance. ESG influences on Tobin's Q are greatest for large firms as measured by sales, as opposed to the ESG affects on Tobin's Q and return on asset for smallest firms as measured by market capitalization.     

Dynamic adjustment and long-run equilibria: Panel data estimates for the East German states

The economic development in East Germany after unification shows both, success and failure. In the early nineties wages and productivity increased fast; later on catching up faded out. A central question from a policy viewpoint is whether this fading out indicates a reduction of the adjustment speed or an equilibrium gap. This points towards a stationarity analysis of differences between East and West Germany. Our paper presents panel data estimates for the East German states for wages, productivity, competitiveness and unemployment. The results reveal that the adjustment was fast, but the equilibrium gaps are large.     

Religion,social class,and entrepreneurial choice

While considerable concern has emerged about the links between religion and economic growth, little is actually known about how religion and social class impact the decision making of individuals. Using institutional theory and social dominance theory, this paper examines the influence of religion and social class on individuals' occupational choices. Based on a large-scale database from India, this paper finds that while some religions are relatively conducive to self-employment, some others have a negative impact on self-employment choices. Furthermore, individuals belonging to social classes that are lower in the social hierarchy are less likely to be self-employed. The role of both religion and social class in influencing the likelihood of choosing self-employment suggests an important link between religion, social class, and occupational decision-making.