Managing Environmental Risk in Presence of Climate Change: The Role of Adaptation in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia

This study investigates the impact of climate change adaptation on farm households’ downside risk exposure in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia. The analysis relies on a moment-based specification of the stochastic production function. We use an empirical strategy that accounts for the heterogeneity in the decision on whether to adapt or not, and for unobservable characteristics of farmers and their farm. We find that past adaptation to climate change (i) reduces current downside risk exposure, and so the risk of crop failure; (ii) would have been more beneficial to the non-adapters if they adapted, in terms of reduction in downside risk exposure; and (iii) is a successful risk management strategy that makes the adapters more resilient to climatic conditions.     

Selection by committee: Anonymity and gratitude

What kind of candidate is selected into a job when the principal has to appoint a committee to measure the candidates’ ability and select a winner? We find that if the committee takes into account the candidate’s gratitude towards them, a candidate with less than first best ability will be selected. A relevant exception may occur if the first best is the overall best candidate. First best selection is always achieved if the committee is anonymous to the candidates. If the committee is not detached enough from the candidates then delegation fares even worse than random selection.     

IMPACT OF TIME ILLIQUIDITY IN A MIXED MARKET WITHOUT FULL OBSERVATION

We study a problem of optimal investment/consumption over an infinite horizon in a market with two possibly correlated assets: one liquid and one illiquid. The liquid asset is observed and can be traded continuously, while the illiquid one can be traded only at discrete random times, corresponding to the jumps of a Poisson process with intensity λ, is observed at the trading dates, and is partially observed between two different trading dates. The problem is a nonstandard mixed discrete/continuous optimal control problem, which we solve by a dynamic programming approach. When the utility has a general form, we prove that the value function is the unique viscosity solution of the associated Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation and characterize the optimal allocation in the illiquid asset. In the case of power utility, we establish the regularity of the value function needed to prove the verification theorem, providing the complete theoretical solution of the problem. This enables us to perform numerical simulations, so as to analyze the impact of time illiquidity and how this impact is affected by the degree of observation.     

Persistency of window dressing practices in the U.S. repo markets after the GFC: The unexplored role of the deposit insurance premium

We investigate whether the regulatory improvements made in the aftermath of the global financial crisis have been effective in limiting bank downward window dressing by means of repos in the United States. We find that a strict application of the Basel III regulation wipes out incentives to engage in window dressing to bolster the level of leverage Tier 1 ratio at quarter-end. We also show that the persistency of window dressing is related to the computation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation assessment base, which motivates banks to engage in window dressing to reduce the deposit insurance premium.     

Family Involvement in the Board of Directors: Effects on Sales Internationalization

Previous research shows that family involvement in the board of directors can be both positive and negative for sales internationalization. The ambiguous nature of this relationship has hindered theory building on this important phenomenon. Integrating stewardship, stagnation, and upper echelons perspectives, we propose a nonlinear, J‐shaped relationship between family involvement in the board of directors and sales internationalization. Results from running ordinal regression analysis on data drawn from 203 U.S. family businesses confirmed our conjecture. We discuss the implications of our findings for family business theory and practice and indicate avenues for future research.     

The role of agricultural cooperatives in sustaining the wheat diversity and productivity: the case of southern Italy

We hypothesize that institutions such as agricultural cooperatives influence regional levels of variety diversity through input supply, processing or marketing functions. This diversity can also affect yield, a partial measure of crop productivity. We test these hypotheses with data from southern Italy, a mega-diversity spot and centre of diversity for durum wheat. Cooperatives in the southern regions of Italy process farmers’ harvests of durum wheat into bread, label it, and sell it locally. In this relatively marginalized region of the country, cooperatives enable farmers to capture more of the value of the final product and reduce marketing costs. To test the hypothesis, we apply a two-stage estimation approach with a Cobb-Douglas production function and panel data analysis. Findings suggest that the density of cooperatives in a region is associated with greater spatial diversity in wheat varieties grown, and that, over a 14-year period, this diversity positively affected crop yields.     

Environment, human development and economic growth

Over the last few years, environmental issues have entered into policy design, particularly development and growth policies. Natural resources are considered necessary production inputs and environmental quality is considered a welfare determinant. The integration of environmental issues into economic growth and development theories and empirics is currently widely analyzed in the literature. The effects of natural resources endowment on economic growth are mainly analyzed through the so-called Resource Curse Hypothesis (RCH) whereas the effects of economic growth on environmental quality are part of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Furthermore, recent contributions on RCH and EKC have shown the important role of institutions and human development dimensions in building a sustainable development path. In this paper, we attempt to analyze the causal relationships between economic growth, human development and sustainability combining the RCH and EKC models and adopting a human development perspective. Results confirm the importance of high institutional quality and investments for human capital accumulation in order to build a sustainable development path.