The influence of personal values in the economic-use valuation of peri-urban green spaces: An application of the means-end chain theory

The implication of land-use managers and the local community in matters relating to peri-urban green spaces has been modified by the growing importance of the values attached to such areas. This paper uses means-end chain techniques to examine whether green space users reflect their own personal values through the benefits and attributes they perceive in this type of good. The results show key factors to be opportunities for sport and recreational activities, improvement of physical and mental well-being and enjoyment of landscape beauty. Other values, both individual (personal enjoyment and quality of life) and social (respect for others and a clearer conscience) also emerge. Further analysis to determine whether values differ according to whether or not the visitor assigns a monetary value to the green space showed higher environmental and social awareness to be associated with higher willingness to pay for peri-urban green space. Thus, the greater the perceived environmental values and the higher their subsequent monetary valuation, the more effective environmental protection and conservation policies are likely to be. These results may be worth consideration by land-use managers engaged in environmental cost benefit analysis     

Estimation and inference for spatial models with heterogeneous coefficients: An application to US house prices

This paper considers the estimation and inference of spatial panel data models with heterogeneous spatial lag coefficients, with and without weakly exogenous regressors, and subject to heteroskedastic errors. A quasi maximum likelihood (QML) estimation procedure is developed and the conditions for identification of the spatial coefficients are derived. The QML estimators of individual spatial coefficients, as well as their mean group estimators, are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal. Small‐sample properties of the proposed estimators are investigated by Monte Carlo simulations and results are shown to be in line with the paper's key theoretical findings, even for panels with moderate time dimensions and irrespective of the number of cross‐section units. A detailed empirical application to US house price changes during the 1975–2014 period shows a significant degree of heterogeneity in spatiotemporal dynamics over the 338 Metropolitan Statistical Areas considered.     

Fuzzy model estimation of the risk factors impact on the target of promotion of the software product

ABSTRACT

This article studies the application of fuzzy logic to the risk analysis of a new software product development and marketing in specific case of a small size IT company. Identification and analysis of external and internal risk factors show that this type of business activity could be evaluated as high-risk enterprise. So, the purpose of the paper is to develop robust method to evaluate probability of occurrence of major risk events and their impact on the company financial health. The fuzzy logic is used to estimate degrees of threat of each relevant risk factor due to lack of reliable statistical data. The novelty of proposed approach is the inclusion into the model the risk event time.     

How not to measure sustainable value (and how one might)

Sustainability is a complex multidimensional concept that entails economic, environmental, and social aspects. The sustainable value (SV) method developed by F. Figge and T. Hahn [Ecol. Econ. 48(2004) 173-187] is one of the most promising attempts to measure sustainability performance of firms. SV measures corporate contributions to sustainability by valuing resource use based on the opportunity cost, which must be estimated. This paper critically examines Figge and Hahn's estimator for opportunity cost, and shows that the proposed estimator rests on a number of strong, unrealistic assumptions. Evidence from Monte Carlo simulations conducted by authors shows that the proposed estimator performs very poorly even under ideal conditions. Having identified shortcomings in the SV method, we review some econometric approaches with a proven statistical foundation, which might be usefully applied in the present context.     

Individual Attitudes Toward Others,Misanthropy Analysis in a Cross‐Country Perspective

While misanthropy has been analyzed taking into account one country and just comparing results, we employ the 2004 International Social Survey Program data set and assess its determinants from a cross‐country analysis by considering personal characteristics and country effects. Findings indicate that misanthropy is explained by sociodemographic and economic characteristics (being a woman, education, and marriage reduce misanthropy while being young or poor, and self‐employment have the opposite effect). Country effects result significant consequently, some environmental factors play a relevant role. Finally, we add new elements to the discussion by showing a strong relationship among our misanthropy ranking and two corruption perception rankings.     

Geopolitics,Eurasianism and Russian Foreign Policy Under Putin

This article interprets the strategies that have been associated with the war on terror against the backdrop of historical geographies of colonial violence and dispossession. It joins those who argue that wider anxieties about the sources of danger, criminality, violence and terror have become intertwined. These reveal as much about sensibilities of race, class and ‘security’ as they do objective dangers. Thus the article considers how, drawing on the British case, detentions and deportations marked by race are connected with and form part of an overlapping regime of ‘security’, ‘immigration’ and asylum. This is exemplified via an account of the trajectory British sovereign territory of Diego Garcia, leading to wider reflections on contemporary forms of sovereignty and the operation of ‘race’ in geopolitics.     

Comment on “Heuristics in the strategy context” by Bingham and Eisenhardt (2011)

Bingham and Eisenhardt (2011) highlight the positive role of heuristics in the strategy context. They discuss four mechanisms through which heuristics have positive effects for strategy. The first mechanism—using a heuristic cue as a proxy for complex, correlated information—builds directly on Gigerenzer's research on positive heuristics. The second (capturing a window of opportunity) and third (providing some direction while allowing freedom to improvise) mechanisms, combine Gigerenzer's ideas with Eisenhardt's earlier work. The fourth one relates to coordination. In this commentary, we critically evaluate the applicability of these four mechanisms in the strategy context, which differs fundamentally from Gigerenzer's context. Our primary contribution is the explication of central limitations in the ways heuristics can function in the strategy context. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of benchmarked performance measures and strategic analysis on auditors’ risk assessments and mental models

As the audit environment becomes more demanding and complex, so does the set of analytical tools available to an auditor. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of two complex audit technologies commonly used by auditors, benchmarking of performance measures and strategic analysis, on the risk judgments of auditors carrying out the initial planning of an audit. We conduct an experiment that utilizes a Balanced Scorecard for organizing and evaluating analytical evidence about the performance of business units within a large client. Our first principal finding is that external benchmarking can cause an auditor to focus on performance measures that are unique to a business unit and disregard performance measures that are common to multiple business units but not benchmarked. However, our second finding is that an in-depth strategic analysis completed prior to assessing a client’s business risk or risk of material misstatement allows an auditor to incorporate more information from performance measures in risk assessments regardless of whether the performance measures are benchmarked. Strategic analysis facilitates a more balanced and accurate assessment of the risks across the business units being evaluated. We also provide evidence that the latter result occurs because in-depth strategic analysis allows auditors to develop a more complete mental model of a client, which has been a long time belief of advocates of business risk audit methodologies and consistent with current and emerging auditing standards on risk assessment.     

消费“降级”风暴凶猛而来

在充满惊涛骇浪的时期,经济危机如何影响全球消费者的行为？企业应该采取何种措施赢得这些消费者？这是否意味着消费升级、利润丰厚的奢侈品以及“大众精品”将要消失？