Limits to creative destruction and technologies in practice: the case of ham radio

Drawing on the structurationist notion of ‘technologies-in-practice’, this article analyses the different types of technological actions that users perform, after technological change, in order to keep a declining technology alive over time. The research question of the article is: How do technologies-in-practice based on the application of new technology hamper the creative destruction of old technology? The case study of ham radio technology and amateur radio operators is explored. The results of the investigation support the development of a technology-in-practice ‘experimentation’ and four inductive research propositions.     

Do technology externalities justify restrictions on emission permit trading?

International emission trading is an important flexibility mechanism, but its use has been often restricted on the ground that access to international carbon credits can undermine the domestic abatement effort reducing the incentive to innovate and, eventually, lowering the pace of climate policy-induced technological change. This paper examines the economics that is behind these concerns by studying how a cap to the trade of carbon offsets influences innovation, technological change, and welfare. By using a standard game of abatement and R&D, we investigate the main mechanisms that shape these relationships. We also use a numerical integrated assessment model that features environmental and technology externalities to quantify how limits to the volume, the timing, and the regional allocation of carbon offsets affect climate policy costs and the incentive to invest in innovation and low-carbon technologies.Results indicate that, for moderate caps on the amount tradable emissions permits and sufficiently high technology spillovers, global innovation and technical change would increase and that this additional innovative effort could lead to economic efficiency gains. The numerical analysis confirms that when constraints are close to 15% of domestic abatement, efficiency losses are small because they are partly compensated by more technological spillovers and lower energy prices. Under a broad range of parameters, restrictions are costly for the constrained countries, but always beneficial for unconstrained ones.     

CSR in SMEs: do SMEs matter for the CSR agenda?

In this paper we argue that the collective grandness of small business is often underestimated in CSR research and policy-making. We emphasize the importance of understanding the contexts and the ways in which small- and medium-sized companies engage in CSR and how they differ from multinational companies. We suggest that it might be that researchers and practitioners are asking the wrong questions in their ambitions to prove 'the business case for CSR'. Perhaps we should rather focus on the 'how' and the 'with what impact' questions to understand better the SME engagement in CSR.     

Competition and political organization: Together or alone in lobbying for trade policy?

This paper employs a novel data set on lobbying expenditures to measure the degree of within-sector political organization and to explore the determinants of the mode of lobbying and political organization across U.S. industries. The data show that sectors characterized by a higher degree of competition tend to lobby more together (through a sector-wide trade association), while sectors with higher concentration and more differentiated products lobby more individually. The paper proposes a theoretical model to interpret the empirical evidence. In an oligopolistic market, firms can benefit from an increase in their product-specific protection measure, if they can raise prices and profits. They find it less profitable to do so in a competitive market where attempts to raise prices are more likely to reduce profits. In competitive markets firms are therefore more likely to lobby together, thereby simultaneously raising tariffs on all products in the sector.     

基于MATLAB的基金最优投资计划

根据组合投资中"存款期长者优先"的投资准则。应用线性代数的知识建立了基金投资的最优化模型,给出了求解此类问题的MATLAB通用程序,利用该程序可以准确快捷地制订出基金存取计划。     

洗钱罪刑事立法之完善——以《联合国反腐败公约》为视角

《联合国反腐败公约》对洗钱犯罪作了规定,我国现行《刑法》对洗钱罪的规定与《公约》存在较大差异,从而使我国对洗钱罪及其上游犯罪的预防和打击的效果受到影响。我们有必要根据《公约》的规定完善我国关于洗钱犯罪的立法。     

第三方仓储物流企业盈利模式探讨

文中主要论述了第三方仓储物流企业三大类共四种不同类型的盈利模式,包括空间仓储服务模式、增值服务模式和基于供需管理平台的服务模式,其中基于供需管理平台的服务模式可分为作为初级阶段管理增值模式和高级阶段的供需网控模式。文中最后还提出了模式转换的建议措施。认为,前两种模式是过去和当前第三方仓储物流企业的主要盈利模式,后两种模式则代表着企业未来的发展方向。     

France in the global economy: a structural approximate dynamic factor model analysis

This study identifies the main shocks that cause fluctuations in French output and their channels of transmission. It uses a large-dimensional structural approximate dynamic factor model. There are three main findings. First, common shocks, especially demand shocks, which seem to originate from the U.S., play an important role in explaining French economic activity. While international trade, relative prices, and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows are the main channels of transmission, the stock market, consumer confidence, and interest rates also matter. Second, France’s integration with the rest of the world has increased over time. Third, there is some tentative evidence of regional components in explaining French output fluctuations; country-specific components also contribute. The predominance of exogenous factors affecting French output, the asymmetry in the transmission of shocks, and France’s participation in a currency area argue for making French goods, services, and labor markets as flexible as possible.     

用窒息价格辅助定价

本文重点阐述了在假定线性需求是合理的以及窒息价格的相关信息可用的情况下计算均衡价格的公式。它能够让分析人员信服,即使在数据非常有限以及缺乏数学支持的情况下,有效的基准计算也是可以实现的。此外,它还有助于阐明价格弹性与需求变化之间的变化趋势,     

民营担保企业运作现状及法律风险问题分析

本着为中小企业提供融资担保服务的宗旨,民营担保企业在致力于实现目标的同时,为解决就业问题、增加国家经济总值和增加税收贡献了不小的力量。由于法律风险防范意识上的不足,民营担保企业面临的法律风险逐渐暴露并呈现扩大趋势。如何能够有效预防法律风险,将其造成的种种损害降至最低,对于担保企业日后发展尤为关键。