The sky is the limit? The determinants and constraints of European airports commercial revenues

This study investigates the determinants of commercial and retail airport revenues from real estate operations. Aviation revenues per passenger are mainly determined by the national income per capita in the area where the airport is located, the percentage of leisure travelers and the size of the airport. Main drivers of commercial revenues per passenger include the number of passengers passing through the airport, the ratio of commercial to total revenues, national income, the share of domestic and leisure travelers and the number of flights. These results are in line with previous findings of a negative influence of business travelers on commercial revenues per passenger. We also find that a large amount of retail space per passenger is generally associated with lower commercial revenues per square meter confirming decreasing marginal revenue effects. Real estate revenues per passenger are positively associated with national income per capita at airport location, share of intra-EU passengers and percent delayed flights.     

新飞机的大问题

空客公司经过无数次调研之后,总算正式推出了A380这个全球最大的飞机。尽管当时有部分客户提出需要得到全货机型号,但是在一开始设计时,空客公司并没有过多考虑货机的改型问题。空客已经表示货机型号依然有潜力,只是该型飞机实际上机腹运力相对小,对货运而言并非最佳。该型飞机投入运营后已经＂迫使＂部分货运公司增加了全货机服务和变更了航班时刻。     

The Coatings Industry—Beautifying,Protecting, and Preserving the Nation’s Assets

Paints and coatings preserve and beautify structures, equipment, and other objects. Although coatings have been used for millennia, the modern coatings industry began in the industrial revolution. The past 30 years have seen a great deal of consolidation in the industry, but there are still a number of niche and regional firms. There are three market segments. In the order of their size, by both value and volume, they are: architectural, original equipment manufacturer, and special purpose. This paper describes the factors determining the market for each, the critical role of coatings in preventing economic loss owing to corrosion, and technological change in the industry.     

Does China's demand boom curb Australian iron ore mining depletion?

Australia's resources boom is underpinned by increased demand from industrialising China and a rise in export prices. Current depletion rates will soon exhaust currently known reserves of iron ore and coal. This paper presents a dynamic optimisation model of a growing open economy where a social planner chooses the time path for depletion of a non‐renewable resource during a demand‐led resources boom. We find that for particular functional forms and in the absence of extraction and social costs, the optimal depletion rate equals the difference between the price elasticity of export demand times the world interest rate and growth in export demand. In contrast to the existing literature, we show that the optimal depletion rate is unaffected by a temporary increase in price, but reduced by growth in demand which is in turn sustained by offshore steel production and urbanisation. The main theoretical implication is that growth in export demand from China reduces the depletion rate. Australian iron ore exports, simulated using this theory, move together with actual volumes over the period 1995–2011, and the error between simulated and actual iron ore exports is lower for the model in this paper than it is for the model without growth in export demand.     

“We are Sitting on a Time Bomb”: A Multiperspectival Approach to Inter-National Development at an East African Border

Recent discussion in critical border studies has reaffirmed the validity and necessity of multiperspectival approaches which move beyond state-centric outlooks to include diverse viewpoints of people at or on borders. One understudied aspect of everyday border life involves how international development organisations fit within wider dynamics of cross-border activities. Drawing upon experiences of development projects at a key border crossing between Kenya and Uganda, I explore (1) how perceptions of risk and danger contribute to constructions of the border towns as places in need of development interventions, and (2) how this border also adds to practical and logistical concerns already held by development organisations as they deliver these interventions. I argue that the place-based mix of location, material forms, and perceptions or practices impacts how ‘inter-national development’ is rationalised in border regions.     

NORTH AND SOUTH: PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

The limited progress made by the developing countries in securing a New International Economic Order is reviewed, noting “excuses” made by developed countries for lukewarm support or even opposition. Official development aid is defended as a necessary, second best, policy, given trade restrictions by developed countries. It should be greatly enlarged, especially if developing countries would be willing to accept tighter conditions to ensure its economic effectiveness. The remainder of the paper argues the case for a reassessment of the damage done by developed to developing countries by protectionist policies and reviews two controversial areas in the economic analysis of developing economies—rural income distribution and impact of multinational corporations.