Environmental taxes on intermediate and final goods when both can be imported

One of the most difficult administrative problems in implementing broad-based environmental taxes concerns the tax treatment of imports, particularly imports of final goods that are producedusing intermediate goods that are taxed domestically. Provided there is no joint production, taxing imported final goods based on the amount of intermediate goods consumed in their domestic production will raise marginal costs by the same amount for domestic and foreign producers. This rule is impossible to implement when final goods are produced as joint products, however, as in the petroleum refining and petrochemical industries. In such cases arbitrary assignments of intermediate good inputs to final goods-for example, on the basis of relative output weight or value-are likely to change the relative marginal costs of domestic and foreign producers.     

Investment option under CIR interest rates

We analyze extensively the characteristics of the solution to an irreversible investment decision when the only source of uncertainty comes from interest rates. They are assumed to be driven by the popular Cox–Ingersoll–Ross (CIR) stochastic process. Particular attention is paid to the impact that both CIR parameters and risk aversion have on the threshold rate.     

Accumulation pattern of the Brazilian economy in the 1990s and 2000s

This paper investigates the dynamic relationships among income distribution, debt ratio and capital accumulation in the Brazilian economy in the 1990s and 2000s. One explanation for the relatively slow growth of the Brazilian economy is the relatively low rate of investment. The paper presents an econometric model, based on Nishi, to investigate the causes of instability in investment in the period. It concludes that the Brazilian economy since the economic opening presents a debt-burdened pattern of capital accumulation.     

How does Financial Distress Affect Small Firms’ Financial Structure?

This paper provides new evidence on the financial structure of small firms by emphasizing the role played by financial distress. We specify a model of debt adjustments that allows us to investigate the specific nature of the adjustment process towards target debt levels in small firms, which is then extended to account for the effect of financial distress on financial structure decisions. Our models were estimated by the Generalized Method of Moments on a data panel of small Portuguese firms during a period of recession, in which a substantial proportion of the companies analyzed faced a financial distress situation. We find that small firms do adjust their debt ratios towards target levels, the speed of adjustment being faster in the shorter term. Our results also indicate that there are major differences in the determinants of long-term and short-term debt, highlighting the role played by debt maturity in explaining a firm’s financial structure. Finally, random behavior is observed in financially distressed firms, who seem to be disoriented when making their financial structure decisions.     

旅游学研究:尚不可靠的理论基础

本文通过对瓦丽妮·史密斯主编的新作《重访主人与客人 :2 1世纪的旅游问题》一书的评述 ,比较全面地涉猎了过去 2 0多年来本文旅游学研究尤其是旅游人类学研究的理论和实践问题 ,对当前的某些主流观点提出了一些质疑 ,并阐明了作者的这样一种见解 :对旅游的社会文化效应的判断要坚持动态的、辨证的原则。     

The Puzzle of Persistently Negative Interest‐Rate–Growth Differentials: Financial Repression or Income Catch‐Up?

The interest‐rate–growth differential (IRGD) plays a critical role in determining the sustainability of government debt. Yet it is striking that IRGDs are correlated with income levels, and are generally negative in emerging and developing economies, which contradicts standard economic theory. Negative IRGDs constitute a powerful debt‐stabilising force, driving down debt ratios or keeping them stable even in the presence of persistent primary deficits. Motivated by the puzzling facts, this paper examines the IRGDs for a large panel of advanced and non‐advanced economies by utilising a newly assembled data set. The evidence shows that large negative IRGDs in emerging and developing economies are largely due to real interest rates well below market equilibrium – stemming from financial repression and captive and distorted markets – whereas the income catch‐up process plays a relatively modest role. Therefore, the IRGD in non‐advanced economies is likely to rise with financial market development and financial global integration, perhaps even before their GDP per capita converges to advanced‐economy levels.     

Systemic crisis,weltschmerz and tourism: meaning without incense during vacations

The present global economic crisis is revealing manifold fissures in the economic/social/value/sense-making system and that inevitably has an effect on people’s psyche, on their beliefs and desires, even on their perception of needs. Many effects of the present situation are symptoms of a broader type of crisis. The economic crisis may have acted as a catalyst for increasing (social, political, and spiritual) awareness, and it could be paradoxically a landmark and a far-reaching impetus to renewal and awakening of humanity, to build a sounder and more sustainable (social, educational, political, and economic) system. At this crossroad, the reappearance in the last decade of the term weltschmerz is not coincidental. Whereas the extent to which the current economic crisis has produced a personal or integral crisis remains to be measured, it is clear that concepts such as meaning or transcendence – to combat meaninglessness and weltschmerz – have become central in the discussion on qualitative implications in tourism. The paper suggests a meaningful learning framework to identify required elements for a particular, desired outcome (coping with the second domain of existential pain/ weltschmerz), whose empirical relevance and practical developments are examined in this piece of research on tourism experience.     

Environmental management and the “soft side” of organisations: Discovering the most relevant behavioural factors in green supply chains

Anchored in the resource‐based view theory, the objective of this research is to empirically analyse the behavioural factors affecting the green supply chain management (GCSM) performance in a fast‐growing emerging economy by taking an empirical data set of 101 responses from personnel in the mining sector. Behavioural factors in green supply chains are still a critical challenge—not yet a well‐explored academic subject—when the focus is on the mining industry of emerging economies like India; the lack of studies in this field could be a factor preventing the Indian mining industry becoming more green. In terms of methodology, original survey data were processed through AMOS 4.0, adopted for assessing the causal connection among the six constructs, that is, top management support, teamwork, workplace culture, resistance to change, green innovation, and green motivation. We further explore the input from the human side of GCSM by highlighting that top management support and green motivation are the most crucial behavioural factors that influence GCSM in the Indian mining sector. The study will be helpful for mining companies because it will enable them to identify the areas that require their attention for enhancing GCSM performance related to behavioural aspects.