Central development spending in the regions post-decentralisation

The central government spends just under one-half of its development budget outside Jakarta. The centre provides more than one-third of total development spending carried out in the regions. Central development spending in the regions on primary and secondary sector activities and on education and culture is especially significant. The spatial distribution of consolidated public development expenditure is very unequal. However, central spending mitigates inequality in the geographic distribution of subnational development expenditure, at least to a certain extent. Agood deal of central government spending in the regions appears to be on tasks that have been turned over to subnational governments and is therefore illegal under current decentralisation legislation. Central support of specific decentralised activities could be implemented more transparently and efficiently through the government's specific purpose grant.     

Emotions as Strategic Game in a Hostile Workplace: An Exemplar Case

This exemplar case study demonstrates that, under some circumstances, staff may be encouraged by a hostile workplace to use their feelings in order to survive. This case study was undertaken as part of a larger phenomenological study of emotions in organisational life. This particular case was chosen as it depicts the story of emotions being used as strategic tools of defence against a vindictive, aggressive and hostile work place. The increase in abusive organisations has been noted in the literature: this was one person's protective response to it. The strategic gamesmanship used to positive effect included the hiding of emotions, emotional acting and the deliberate expression of emotions. Unfortunately, negative outcomes were also reported.     

Do consumers act in a sustainable way using their refrigerator? The influence of consumer real life behaviour on the energy consumption of cooling appliances

Over recent decades, energy savings and resource conservation have become increasingly important issues for debate, and this includes the residential sector. Since the introduction of the European Energy Label, the energy consumption of appliances has decreased drastically. Additionally, a number of guidelines have been published to assist the consumer in adopting more energy‐saving behaviours. Refrigerators and freezers in particular are covered by these recommendations because they are large energy consumers in domestic households. In order to understand the influence of consumers' real life circumstances and their behaviour in relation to the energy consumption of refrigerators, a web‐based survey was carried out. A total of 1011 participants in four European countries completed a questionnaire to allow the researchers to gain information about refrigerator characteristics and consumer behaviour in relation to refrigerator use. As well as demographic and socio‐economic characteristics of the participants, data were collected on refrigerator configuration and specification, ambient conditions (ambient temperature, position near any heat sources), and consumer behaviours such as shopping frequency, loading of the refrigerator, door opening and food consumption. The study has shown that recommendations on energy efficient usage are not always observed. A major finding of the present study is that for 25% of refrigerators, correct operation is not ensured as these appliances are operated outside the temperature ranges specified according to their climatic classes. This suggests a lack of consumer information on this topic. Consequently, guidelines and recommendations will have to be revised and their dissemination to be improved in order to ensure the sustainable and safe use of domestic refrigerators.     

Does confidence enhance performance? Causal evidence from the field

We analyze the effect of self‐confidence on performance using data from top‐level professional biathlon competitions. We exploit this dual nature of the sport by using snow conditions affecting performance on the skiing track as exogenous variation in confidence on the shooting range. Using round‐level data on 254 competitions between 2009 and 2013, we show that the less confident athletes are, the worse their performance is on the shooting range. Effects for women are estimated to be generally smaller and less robust. We show that our results are not driven by fatigue or exhaustion specific to the competitive setting we analyze.     

The Impact of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures on Market Entry and Trade Flows

In an attempt to disentangle the impact of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures on trade patterns, we use the database on specific trade concerns on SPS measures of the WTO. Estimating various gravity model specifications at the HS4 disaggregated level of trade, we find that aggregated SPS measures constitute obstacles to agricultural and food trade consistently to all exporters. But conditional on market entry, trade flows are positively affected by SPS measures. In addition, we find that SPS measures related to conformity assessment hamper market entry, while SPS measures related to product characteristics increase bilateral trade flows conditional on meeting the standard.     

Wie geht es mit dem Brexit weiter?

The UK’s 2016 EU referendum may account for great income losses in the UK. Gabriel Felbermayr et al. use a “new” quantitative trade model to assess various Brexit scenarios. The results broadly show that all EU member states lose, and the relative losses in the UK are about five times those of the average remaining EU country. These findings have important implications for the EU’s negotiation strategy. The outcome depends largely on the decisions about trade relations. Michael Hüther thinks that the UK is heading for an extremely hard Brexit and that it already shows. Therefore, the UK government should work out a consistent industrial policy and make up its mind about its preferences on its future economic relationship with its neighbours. In light of the currently very close and mutually welfare-enhancing business relations between the EU27 and the UK, one of the central tasks and challenges of the Brexit negotiations is undoubtedly the creation of a new supportive post-supranational legal framework governing these economic transactions in the future. Andreas Grimmel argues that the EU’s crises are largely the result of a certain mode of integration that is based on actors’ interests rather than on a comprehensive constitutional framework.     

Quantifying Brexit: from ex post to ex ante using structural gravity

Review of World Economics - Exploiting changes in the geography of economic integration in Europe, this paper quantifies the effects of Brexit from ex post to ex ante using structural gravity. By...