The Bioeconomics of the Spatial Distribution of an Endangered Species: The Case of the Swedish Wolf Population

Conservation of endangered species often entails significant costs, and, from a social perspective, many species can be characterized as both environmental bads and goods. This paper concerns the management of one such species, the Swedish wolf (Canis lupus). The fact that the wolf tends to disperse over a wide area causes specific management problems. The goal is to choose a harvesting strategy, such that the discounted stream of net benefits from the wolf populations in different geographical regions is maximized. The spatial dimension is involved through emigration and immigration. The solution to the management problem is shown to be a modification of the classical rule of renewable resource exploitation, caused by the migration of wolves between regions. Empirically, this problem is solved by dividing Sweden into 13 geographical regions, and accounting for the existence values, harvesting benefits, and predation costs of the wolf population in each region. The results show that the geographical distribution of wolves, in absolute numbers, is very sensitive to the abundance of prey and to different assumptions regarding the economic parameters of the model. However, the relative distribution of wolves across the country is less sensitive to these assumptions. The highest densities of wolves were found in regions with low marginal costs, due to the abundance of prey in relation to the comparatively low number of human hunters utilizing the same prey as the wolves. The lowest population densities were found in regions with a low carrying capacity for the wolf or with high costs of depredation on reindeer.     

A taxonomy of ecopreneurship in small manufacturing firms: A multidimensional cluster analysis

This study presents a multidimensional taxonomy of “ecopreneurship” for small manufacturing firms. Based on a cluster analysis of 312 Swedish firms, four distinct clusters are identified: pioneers, green dumpers, overlookers, and recyclers. These clusters are compared regarding their level of entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. Based on the results, and because of the resource constraints associated with small firms, managers of such companies are advised to examine the economic consequences of specific environmental business practices and to adopt a less aggregated approach to ecopreneurship. This study illustrates the usefulness of a multidimensional scale when researching environmental behaviors and is a response to the lack of an empirically based classification of ecopreneurship configurations.     

The behaviour of the Lagrangian multiplier test in testing the orders of an ARMA-model

Summary The Lagrange multiplier test for testing the order of an ARMA-model is investigated. It is shown that it exhibits some pathologies stemming from the special properties of parameter spaces of ARMA-models. As a consequence one has to be careful in using the LM-test in this context. Furthermore results of this paper are used in a subsequent paper [Pötscher, 1983], to show the consistency of an order estimation procedure based on Lagrange multiplier tests, described there.     

The impact of productivity adjusted deviations from PPP on the U.S. inbound FDI: Evidence from Japan, U.K. and Germany

In this paper, we investigate the degree to which productivity adjusted deviations from PPP influence the U.S. inbound FDI. Our results show a significant negative relationship between productivity adjusted misalignments and the U.S. inbound FDI from Germany and the United Kingdom in the short-run, and a positive relationship in the long-run. Hence, indicating that a positive misalignment—undervalued U.S. dollar—leads to a decrease in the U.S. inbound FDI in the short-run and to an increase in the long-run. No significant evidence is found for Japan. Interestingly, unadjusted real exchange rate changes show no statistically significant relationship with respect to the U.S. inbound FDI. The authors thank the reviewers for their insightful comments.     

Die Marktabgrenzung im Versicherungskartellrecht am Beispiel der Berufshaftpflichtversicherungen

The definition of the relevant market is crucial to the application of European and German competition law and especially difficult when dealing with insurance markets. Generally, the product and geographic market comprises all products or services that are regarded as substitutable by consumers. In addition, the supply-side substitutability can be taken into consideration. In defining insurance product markets, the supply-side substitutability is decisive, because insurance products are seldom interchangeable from a policy holder’s point of view. Applying the concept of supply-side substitutability to professional indemnity insurances leads to product markets correlating with the different professional groups: Indemnity insurances for physicians constitute a product market; insurances for lawyers, notary publics, tax advisers and public accountants form another market and insurances for architects and construction engineers another one. These product markets are still national markets. Professional indemnity insurances are extensively shaped by the differing legal systems, namely by national insurance contract law, by liability provisions and by a legal obligation to insure. Consequently, policy holders cannot substitute their indemnity insurance with foreign insurance products and insurers are confronted with market entry barriers. However, the proposed directive on services on the internal market and the adopted directive on insurance mediation could result in community-wide markets in the near future.     

Is R & D Financially Constrained? Theory and Evidence from Irish Manufacturing

We re-examine the effects of liquidity constraints on R & D investment. Inour theoretical section we extend the neoclassical framework of investmentin physical capital by introducing R & D and liquidity constraints. Weanalyse this issue empirically using firm-level data for R & D activemanufacturing firms in the Republic of Ireland. Our results provide evidencethat suggests that R & D investment is financially constrained. This is inline with previous studies of U.S. firms.     

Multinational Companies and Entrant Start-up Size: Evidence from Quantile Regressions

This paper analyses the impact of foreign multinationals on the start-up size ofdomestic entrants in Irish manufacturing industries. We use the regression quantileestimator, which allows us to take account of the heterogeneity of entrants' start-upsize. Estimation results show that the presence of foreign multinationals in a sectorimpacts negatively on the start-up size of domestic entrants of all sizes in modernsectors and on the start-up size of large domestic entrants in traditional sectors. Thisnegative effect may be attributed to competition of domestic plants with foreignmultinationals and other domestic plants in the final goods and/or the intermediategoods market.