A Dismal Reality: Behavioural Analysis and Consumer Policy

Before the behavioural turn, the economic account of consumer policy concerns was too optimistic and reductive. After the turn, we, the consumers, are more likely to need from an economic perspective a more intrusive consumer policy. This is the dismality thesis defended in this article. The dismality thesis is a theoretical, comparative, and argumentative thesis, albeit normatively incomplete. It follows from two premises. First, pre-behavioural economics elaborated a restricted theory of consumer harm in unregulated markets (“consumer harm premise”) and, second, it overstated the effectiveness of information disclosure as a means of consumer policy (“institutional premise”). The dismality thesis is further supported by a comparison of the discussion of attributes control in the pre- and post-behavioural turn literature and by commenting on the main source of controversy about attributes control in the post-turn literature, the so-called “artificial truncation” of behavioural analysis.     

Evaluating environmental sustainability strategies in freight transport and logistics industry

This paper provides a conceptual framework on green initiatives adoption in companies operating in freight transport and logistics industry and presents an overview on the emerging green practices and information systems adopted. On the basis of a literature review on the topic, a research question was identified and addressed through an analysis conducted in a sample of freight transport and logistics companies. This research question regards the behaviours of freight transporters in adopting green practices and information systems. As for the adoption of both green practices and information systems, the paper shows that freight transporters are not a homogeneous industry, but different types of behaviour emerge. As for the relationship between the degree of adoption of green practices and information systems, the paper proposes a taxonomy bringing together sustainable strategies for adopting green initiatives. Specifically, four strategies are identified: sustainability leaders, green practice adopters, information system adopters, and sustainability followers. These sustainable strategies highlight the different phases of the process of adoption of green initiatives.     

The Future of the Global Corporation: From Fortress Firms to Cambrian Corporations

What might be the future of “the innovative global corporation”? There has been a profound evolution of the corporation over the past 100 years. Corporations have, willingly or unwillingly, developed an ever‐greater macro and micro role in societies. In many parts of the world, they have become more powerful and wealthy than governments, and their global influence, by any account, is massive. As engines of economic growth, innovation, and technological progress, they have brought much good to humanity. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Mapping Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable Supply Chains: an Exploratory Perspective

Corporate responsibility (CR) in general, and sustainable supply chain management in particular, have been a growing concern for companies and researchers over the past decade. However, in scholarly work, sustainability has often been dealt with in a generic fashion or from an anecdotal point of view. Further, research works examining CR on the one hand and sustainable supply chains on the other have been conducted separately. We undertake the multiple factor analysis of a CR rating database (Innovest) which reports longitudinal scores for both the social and environmental performance of 1198 companies in different countries and distinct industries, to demonstrate a strong relationship between CR and a sustainable supply chain. Our findings from exploratory analysis also illustrate the role of country of origin and industry in shaping CR behaviour, highlighting isomorphic as well as allomorphic trends for CR trough time. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Literacy Practices and Schooling: A Case Study from Mozambique

A novel approach to the assessment of literacy is used to tackle the issue of effectiveness of years of schooling. The dichotomy inherent in the literacy rate is rejected in favor of a “practice-based” approach, which considers literacy as a multifaceted phenomenon as advocated in anthropological and economic research. Primary data collected in the poorest region in Mozambique suggest that years of schooling have a differentiated impact on acquired literacy practices of adults. Results that are robust to different specifications are reported.     

What principles should inform poverty indices? Insights from a cross-country survey

1,392 undergraduate students from Bolivia, Brazil, France, Italy, Kenya, Laos, Switzerland and the UK are involved in a survey exploring the support for customary poverty measurement principles. Our study allows us to enhance the studies of Amiel and Cowell (Empir Econ 22:571–588, 1997; The distribution of welfare & household production. International perspectives, 1998) in a variety of directions. We find that the support for Weak Monotonicity crucially depends on whether the poor income rises or falls and the (generally low) agreement with Regressive Transfer is even lower if the recipient is lifted out of poverty as a consequence of the transfer. Further, the support for a certain poverty axiom can significantly differ according to the characteristics of the income distributions to be compared, as is the case for Population Replication and Poverty Growth when, respectively, the society to be replicated and the poor person added to society are very poor ones. Our results also suggest a certain concern for the poorest in society and cast doubts on the desirability of continuity at the poverty line. Finally, notable heterogeneity emerges across relevant subgroups. Poverty perceptions are significantly different for students living in high- and low-income countries: the latter more strongly support Weak Monotonicity and Regressive Transfer, unveiling a more pronounced sensitivity to lower levels of poor incomes. Interesting differences, though less marked, are also found between the views of economics students and those of their colleagues from other disciplines.     

Basic Insights in Pricing Basket Credit Derivatives

Basket credit derivatives are those financial contracts whose pay–out depends on the credit events ('failure to pay', 'default', etc.) characterizing a portfolio of bonds or loans over a determined time horizon.
We have two main categories of basket credit derivatives. The first is characterized by a pay–out depending on the temporal ranking of the credit events: first–to–default, second–to–default, etc. The second is characterized by a pay–out depending on the percentiles of the portfolio's loss distribution induced by the credit events. The latter is often embedded in securitizations of portfolios of bonds or loans, i.e. CDO.
This paper proposes some basic insights in the pricing of these particularly complex credit derivatives. Whenever possible, we will try to find an analytical approximation to the exact pricing formula, if a closed form solution is not available.
(J.E.L.: G13).     

UPPER BOUNDEDNESS FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF RELATIVE DEPRIVATION

A new index of relative deprivation is derived axiomatically. Thanks to an asymptotically concave individual contribution function, the new measure provides a sounder quantification to the concept of relative deprivation as conceptualized in the seminal work of Runciman (1966 ) and better reflects the sociological connotations of the phenomenon.     

The financial and green effects of cultural values on mission drifts in European social enterprises

The sustainable social enterprises (SEs) literature shows that SEs have to simultaneously pursue economic, social, and environmental aims. However, tensions between these objectives can make this a challenging task and lead towards mission drift. This work investigates if the cultural dimension can forecast the mission drift. We empirically analyze this relationship in three stages. In the first stage, we identify a homogeneous dataset of 287 sustainable SEs from seven EU countries from 2011 to 2020. Then, in the second stage, we apply the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology to calculate the efficiency of the SEs. An efficient SE has to simultaneously achieve social, environmental, and economic aims. We calculate a proxy of the mission drift and generate a dichotomous category variable that assigns value 1 to the SE not affected by mission drift, 0 otherwise. In the last stage, we implement the 2SLS logistic regression between the variable that identifies the SEs affected by mission drift and three cultural dimensions: avoidance of uncertainty, masculinity, and short-term orientation.