The impact of tourism on the physical environment

Cohen Erik “The Impact of Tourism on the Physical Environment”, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. V, No. 2, April/June 1978, pp. 215–237. While moderate and well-distributed tourism may help to upkeep attractions and preserve the environment, tourism as a mass industry poses new environmental risks. This paper is a first attempt to assess systematically the environmental impact of tourism and to spell out the principal factors on which this impact depends: the intensity of tourist site-use, the resiliency of the eco-system, the time perspective of the developers and the transformational character of touristic developments. The environmental dynamics of the tourist ecological sub-system are shown to consist of a constant expansion at the margins and intensification at the mature core, leading to the creation of “contrived” attractions both at the core (as “natural” attractions decline) and the margins (to supplement meager “natural” attractions as tourism expands into less attractive regions). Two major types of measures for environmental protection are discussed: those protecting the environment for tourism and those protecting it from tourism. The need for the second type of measures is emphasized, particularly in developing countries, which face greater environmental risks from tourism than the developed ones.     

Contagion as a domino effect in global stock markets

This paper shows that stock market contagion occurs as a domino effect, where confined local crashes evolve into more widespread crashes. Using a novel framework based on ordered logit regressions we model the occurrence of local, regional and global crashes as a function of their past occurrences and financial variables. We find significant evidence that global crashes do not occur abruptly but are preceded by local and regional crashes. Besides this form of contagion, interdependence shows up by the effect of interest rates, bond returns and stock market volatility on crash probabilities. When it comes to forecasting global crashes, our model outperforms a binomial model for global crashes only.     

Fully modified estimation with nearly integrated regressors

I show that the test procedure derived by Campbell and Yogo [2006. Journal of Financial Economics 81, 27–60] for regressions with nearly integrated variables can be interpreted as the natural t-test resulting from a fully modified estimation with near-unit-root regressors. This clearly establishes the methods of Campbell and Yogo as an extension of previous unit-root results and shows that the optimality of their test is valid under more general assumptions than those given in the original paper.     

Retailers' Adoption Decision of New Consumer Durables

In today's competitive environment, members of the market chain, such as retailers and suppliers, are becoming increasingly powerful. It has been established in the packaged goods area that the ability to get new products on the shelves' is an essential factor in the success of a new product. However, no research exists to date that relates variables investigated in packaged goods contexts to retailers' adoption decision of new consumer durables. The present study focused on the dimensions that influenced the new product adoption decision by 291 retailers of consumer durables by exploring the relative importance of 26 adoption criteria across seven product categories. The results largely supported previous findings but simultaneously extended that body of knowledge. For example, six dimensions characterized the new product adoption decision in our sample of Dutch retailers. We discuss implications of this study and provide directions for future research in this area.     

Bargaining Credibility and the Limits to Within‐firm Pensions

Abstract ** ** Résumé en fin d’article; Zusammenfassung am Ende des Artikels; resúmen al fin del artículo. : A simple bargaining model highlights the role of commitment to a low‐risk investment policy for firms which offer within‐house pension and health insurance schemes. The roles of this commitment level plus bargaining power, and the ability of a failing firm to misappropriate pensions funds, are studied and their influence on the equilibrium pension determined.     

The establishment of the danish windmill industry—Was it worthwhile?

The paper examines the welfare effects of the Danish subsidies granted for the electricity production from wind power. This policy has induced a remarkable development of the Danish windmill industry resulting in a dominant position on the world market. The article demonstrates a strong learning-by-doing productivity growth in the Danish windmill industry and it analyzes the costs and benefits of this infant industry case. The costs consist of the efficiency loss from diverting electricity production from using fossil fuels to utilizing wind power. Benefits are the reductions in the environmental damage of using fossil fuels, however, the main benefits are related to the emergence of a new export sector. As the value of the windmill firms at the stock exchange by far exceeds that of the accumulated distorted losses in electricity production, this case demonstrates a successful infant industry strategy. JEL no. D2, L5, L6