Futures markets and price stabilisation: An analysis of soybeans markets in North America

The objective of this paper was to determine whether the futures markets have a stabilising or destabilising impact on soybean's spot prices in North America. Directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) are used to test for causality between futures prices, spot prices and ending stocks, followed by time series econometric analysis. The DAGs point to the two-way causal link between futures and spot prices and a lack of a causal link between inventory/stocks and spot price volatility. Time series results, including cointegration, vector error correction, impulse response and variance decomposition analysis, indicate a large impact from futures markets on the level and volatility of soybean spot prices in both the short and long run. These results have potentially important implications, as the impact of commodity price volatility is typically asymmetric across different actors. Farmers, for example, unlike speculators, utilise price risk management (PRM) instruments such as futures markets to mitigate price risks and appear to suffer from intensified volatility precisely because of their use of these instruments. Therefore, additional policies to cope with commodity price volatility, such as direct price controls or mitigation of consequences, can have critical stabilising functions supporting farmers' welfare and regional (rural) development.     

An Economic and Policy Analysis of Australian Export Concession Schemes

This paper examines the relationship between the implementation of industry policy instruments known as export concession schemes and the growth in Australian value-added exports.     

新技术促发半导体设备市场欣欣向荣--向新技术的迁移带来了巨大的增长空间

有个利好消息:眼下半导体行业从90nm技术向65nm工艺的过度为晶圆加工设备制造商提供了大量的增长良机.随着过渡继续朝着三代新的技术(65nm、45nm和32nm甚至更小)进行,加工工具和检测工具需求量日益增长.     

Beyond Neo-Malthusians and Cornucopians: comment on Chenoweth and Feitelson

In a recent paper in Futures, Chenoweth and Feitelson test of the validity of the projections of the Global 2000 Report to the President and The Resourceful Earth: A Response to Global 2000. This commentary critiques their approach, focusing on their comparison of the two studies' Year 2000 projections, and the pitfalls for near-term tests of long-term projections. Empirically, their paper does little to resolve the neo-Malthusian and Cornucopian debate. Nonetheless, given the past history of this acrimonious debate, their conclusions may undermine current efforts to balance global economic, social, and environmental concerns.     

Understanding leisure travel motivations of travelers with acquired mobility impairments

The purpose of the study was to understand what motivated people with mobility impairments to travel frequently. Two focus groups were conducted and results were analyzed in light of Crompton’s (1979) push/pull conceptual framework exploring pleasure travel motivation. Results showed that although travelers with acquired mobility impairments shared many similar motives with travelers not identified as having mobility impairments, they also had unique motivations including “Independence”, “The Desire of Being in a Natural Environment”, “Adventure/Risk”, “Do It Today”, and “Accessibility.” Findings and limitations of the study are discussed and implications of the results are suggested.     

Synergy and congestion in the tourist destination life cycle

Discussion of agglomeration and clustering in the tourist area life cycle (TALC) literature has not led to a corresponding change of the principal equation used to formalize the model. This paper proposes a modification that accounts for the synergies between the accommodation, entertainment, and other components of a tourist destination. The modified model is contrasted with the original TALC and estimated for a cross-section of Caribbean and other island destinations. Estimations based on visitor expenditures and experts' evaluations of destination authenticity are compared. The results illustrate how parameters representing synergy and congestion vary across tourism styles and time. The implications for destination growth are illustrated by comparing the solution to the proposed model with the TALC. The model exposes a core dilemma that while destinations should realize positive synergies to achieve self-sustaining growth, with this threshold achieved, the resulting pace of investment may drive destinations to overshoot, and uneven growth.     

Exploring the Sustainability of Mining Heritage Tourism

This paper considers the development of redundant coal mine sites into industrial heritage attractions as a process compatible with sustainable development objectives. An overview of literature in this field outlines existing social, environmental and economic perspectives on the sustainability of this form of tourism development. The economic aspect of the analysis includes an exploration of the sustainability of UK mining heritage attractions as viable tourism enterprises, using findings from a survey of UK mining heritage attractions undertaken in 2002.     

FDI and the Capital Intensity of "Dirty" Sectors: A Missing Piece of the Pollution Haven Puzzle

In an increasingly integrated world, falling trade barriers mean that the role environmental regulations play in shaping a country's comparative advantage is greater than ever. This has lead to fears that “dirty” industries will relocate to developing regions where environmental regulations may be less stringent. A number of reasons have been offered to explain why, despite anecdotal evidence and the predictions of theoretical studies, little empirical verification for the existence of pollution havens has been found. Little attention, however, has been paid to the capital intensity of pollution intensive sectors. We investigate the relationship between US outward FDI and factor endowments across sectors to two developing countries. We highlight the role of capital and believe it partially explains why pollution havens are not more widespread. Our approach also highlights those countries that are likeliest to become pollution havens. A multivariate analysis reveals some evidence of pollution haven consistent behavior.     

What Do We Know about the Capital Structure of Privately Held US Firms? Evidence from the Surveys of Small Business Finance

This study examines the capital‐structure decisions of privately held US firms using data from four nationally representative surveys conducted from 1987 to 2003. Book‐value firm leverage, as measured by either the ratio of total loans to total assets or the ratio of total liabilities to total assets, is negatively related to firm age and minority ownership; and is positively related to industry median leverage, the corporate legal form of organization, and to the number of banking relationships. In general, these results provide mixed support for both the Pecking‐Order and Trade‐Off theories of capital structure.