Polish and Belgian consumers' perception of environmentally friendly behaviour

The aim of this study was to design a method for evaluating the importance that consumers place on the characteristics of environmentally friendly (EF) products and on consumer EF behaviour. Attitudes and opinions of consumers regarding the EF value of the different aspects of consumer behaviour – purchasing, using and disposing of goods – were measured. The perception of EF behaviour was analysed for Belgian and Polish consumers, a Western and an Eastern European country. The cultural, economic and political differences between Belgium and Poland may imply that their consideration of EF behaviour is different. The perception of consumers about buying, using and disposing of EF products does not necessarily indicate their own EF behaviour, but it gives an indication of what consumers think is EF behaviour. On the basis of the results, policy‐makers and industry can diagnose the consumers' perceived cost–benefit relationship of EF consumer behaviour. An evaluation of what consumers think is EF can be made for the two countries. Marketers, government and EF organizations can draw on our research results when developing EF products and/or advertising campaigns.     

Financial Structure: Theories and Stylized Facts for Six Eu Countries

The article provides a survey of one of the most important elements of financial structure, namely credit to firms and households, by means of five distinguished theoretical issues. It is complemented by a survey of relevant stylized facts for six European countries. A cross-country comparison across Europe shows that indirect credit markets with banks as the main players are far more important than direct credit markets, and that the most striking difference in financial structure among the countries considered relates to debt maturity.     

Inherited agglomeration effects in hedge fund spawns

This paper studies inherited agglomeration effects, which we define as human capital that managers acquire while working in an industry hub that may be transferred to a spinoff. We test for inherited agglomeration effects in the hedge fund industry and find that hedge fund managers who previously worked in New York and London outperform their peers by about one percent per year. The results are driven by managers who worked in investment management positions previously, and are at least as large as traditional agglomeration effects that arise from being located in an industry hub contemporaneously. The evidence suggests that inherited agglomeration effects are an important, but as yet overlooked, factor influencing the performance of new firms. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

REVERSE DISCRIMINATION AND EFFICIENCY IN EDUCATION*

This article shows that reverse discrimination policies can find a justification purely on efficiency grounds. We study the optimal provision of education when households belong to different groups, differing in the distribution of the potential to benefit from education among individuals, which is private information. The main result is that high‐potential individuals from groups with relatively few high‐potential individuals should receive more education than otherwise identical individuals from groups with a more favorable distribution of these benefits.     

Keynes, Lucas and involuntary unemployment: a reply to Hayes

In this response to Mark Hayes's criticism of his article, ‘Lucason involuntary unemployment’, the author insists on theneed to draw a distinction between labour rationing (a marketoutcome) and unemployment (the activity of job seeking). Economictheory is mainly concerned with the former. Yet the issue ofthe voluntarity versus the involuntarity of unemployment pertainsto unemployment as an activity. Failing to make this distinctioncannot but lead to semantic confusion.     

Öffentliches Krisenmanagement und kollektive Meinungsbildung — empirische Befunde und theoretische Implikationen am Beispiel von AIDS

The diffusion of HIV and AIDS as an issue in the discourse of the mass media is an important example of the formation of public opinion in our time. Drawing on various models of public opinion formation, this comprehensive genealogic case study of the presentation of HIV and AIDS in Danish mass media documents that strategies for the solving of conflicts around HIV and AIDS, on the one hand, originated from narrative patterns known from the discourse on other diseases, and were, on the other hand, increasingly affected by news factors crucial for public crisis management, irregularity and personalization. On the basis of this case study, a balance is drawn of research and theory about the models of public opinion formation, of the methods available for its study, and of the metatheoretical explanatory approaches by Habermas, Foucault and Luhmann. This leads the authors to posit that any study of public opinion formation that heeds the totality of the phenomena needs a combination of various theoretical and methodological elements in order to account for the historical context, the actors’ behavior and the systemic structures of public opinion formation.     

Computerized electronic temperature control system for thermal efficiency during baking in food research

A more sophisticated temperature control system than the capillary thermostat in conventional electric ovens is necessary for laboratory research on foods. The aim of the study was to develop a computerized temperature control system (CTCS) for conventional electric ovens and to determine whether the CTCS could effect comparable and consistent results in two ovens with regard to oven and product characteristics of baked products. No significant differences were found between the two ovens with regard to average oven temperature, texture and height of products. In most instances there were also no significant differences between the ovens with regard to instrumental colour measurement and moisture loss. The regression results also illustrated the effectiveness of the CTCS, i.e. that an increase in set oven temperature of 1°C has a significant effect on specific oven and product characteristics. The CTCS therefore significantly improved the reproducibility of quality characteristics of baked products. Thus, more consistent and repeatable results can be obtained to improve the reliability of consumer‐driven food research.     

Do universal banks create value? Universal bank affiliation and company performance in Belgium, 1905-1909

We investigate the impact of universal bank relations on the performance and the risk of listed companies in Belgium in the period 1905-1909. Our results are consistent with the view that universal banks are efficient institutions which overcome problems of asymmetric association inevitably associated with external finance. We find that universal bank affiliation was positively linked with market-to-book ratio and return-on-assets. Performance was also positively related to the degree of bank involvement. Universal bank relations were significant and negatively correlated with volatility of return-on-assets. Finally, stock return performance, measured by the Sharpe ratio, was also significantly better for affiliated corporations.     

会计专业毕业生面向有色金属行业就业的探索和实践

有色金属行业是我国国民经济的重要组成部分，直接影响到国家经济的发展和社会的稳定。根据有色金属行业的特点，鼓励和引导优秀毕业生到基层，到祖国需要的地方去，满足有色金属行业对人才的迫切需求，探索一条会计专业毕业生面向有色金属行业就业新途径。