Modelling the Spread of the Coronavirus: A View from Economics

This article reviews the modelling of the spread in Australia of COVID‐19 from the point of view of the discipline of Economics. After a brief overview of the epidemiological approach, we show that other modelling is needed for policy purposes and especially to provide a full understanding of the economic and social costs of disease control. We look at microeconomic aspects of infection, focusing on individual behaviour, the choices facing the individual and implications for policy. The use of a cost–benefit approach and macroeconomic aspects of the pandemic are examined together with the economic consequences of policy response.     

Economie development and land policies in the highlands and islands of Scotland

This paper explores the complex relationship between economic development and land use in a remote part of the UK — the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. It is suggested that the essential link between land reform and economic development is obscured in the Highlands and Islands. The historic reasons for this are given in detail and attached to the argument that the problems of the area have never been fully addressed. The authors state that many government policies in the area have been on an ad hoc basis and the background and achievements of the Highlands and Islands Development Board are given. The authors conclude with a plea for further legislative changes.     

A FAMILY OF AGRONOMIC PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS WITH ECONOMIES OF SCOPE

This paper derives a family of multiple-output multiple-input production functions from the underlying technologies. These technologies are represented by average yield functions for each of the commodities (crops) produced from a common pool of resources. The production functions are implicitly separable. Examples include the CRETH, translog, generalised power and generalised McFadden functions. Moreover, given a function which is a member of this family, the individual commodity yield and production functions can be recovered. Such implicitly separable multiple-output production functions may exhibit economies or diseconomies of scope which reflect the interactions between outputs sharing a common pool of resources.     

Reforms in regulatory processes affecting Canada's food industry

This article includes a discussion of some of the major innovations which have occured in the regulatory processes in Canada and which directly affect Canada's food industry. The author concludes that while much more needs to be done to improve a very heavily regulated industry, much of the regulatory reform will have to focus upon processes rather than standards: the Canadian public has shown itself not very amenable to reduction in standards for grading and inspection of processed foods either prepared in Canada or imported.     

What are the consequences of board destaggering?

In this paper, we examine the consequences of the decision to destagger the election of directors using a sample of firms that switched from a staggered to a destaggered board structure from 2002 through 2010. We find that the likelihood of destaggering increases in shareholder activism, firm size, and poor prior accounting performance. Furthermore, we find that firms that destagger tend to have larger boards and a lower entrenchment index prior to destaggering. We then use our determinants model to identify a sample of control firms that maintained a staggered board structure. Employing a difference-in-differences research design, we find that, relative to our control firms, firms that destaggered experience declines in Tobin’s q and accounting performance, measured by ROA. In addition, the negative effect on Tobin’s q is most pronounced in firms with greater advisory needs, consistent with the notion that destaggering results in worse performance when the advisory role of boards is more important. Contrary to claims made by proponents of destaggered boards, we find no evidence that CEOs are less entrenched after destaggering. We also provide some evidence suggesting that investment in R&D falls in the post-destaggering period, consistent with the view that after destaggering board members have shortened incentive horizons. Taken together, our evidence is contrary to the earlier studies that claim that destaggered boards are generally optimal and value-increasing.     

Self-Determination Theory as a Framework for Understanding Women's Psychological Well-Being Outcomes from Leisure-Time Physical Activity

Self-determination theory (SDT) is used as a framework to understand how women's psychological well-being is influenced by participation in leisure-time physical activity and the social context in which activity occurs. Data were collected during in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 participants and analyzed using constant comparison. Findings indicate women's well-being can be enhanced through casual participation in leisure-time physical activity if activity contexts support interaction between the elements of self-determination: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Participant interactions during activities also play an important role in facilitating well-being outcomes. The findings qualitatively add to understanding and development of SDT as a legitimate psychological construct by explaining the key components of the theory through the participants own words and reflections.