De eenheid der wereld

Rede, uitgesproken bij de aanvaarding van het ambt van buitengewoon hoogleraar in de Staathuishoudkunde der niet-Westerse beschavingsgebieden aan de Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, op 4 oktober 1957.     

Market Power,Efficiencies, and Entry Evidence from an Airline Merger

We investigate the competitive effects of the merger between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines (2009) in the domestic US airline industry. Applying fixed‐effects regression models, we find that the transaction led to short‐term price increases of about 11% on overlapping routes and about 10% on routes that experienced a merger‐induced switch of the operating carrier. Over a longer period, however, our estimation results are consistent with the hypothesis that both merger efficiencies and postmerger entry by competitors initiated a downward trend in price, leaving consumers with a small net price increase of about 3% on the affected routes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The greening of industry for a sustainable future: building an international research agenda

In 1995 the coordinators of the Netherlands Advisory Council for Research on Nature and Environment (RMNO) and the Greening of Industry Network initiated a process of developing an international research agenda on sustainable development and the role of industry. The purpose of this initiative was two-fold: • To develop a research agenda on the process of greening of industry in the context of sustainable development which defines main research priorities for the coming decade;• To provide a clearer perspective on how research priorities are currently developed and how to improve this process. After a two year process of discussions via workshops and interviews including various stakeholders, four main research themes were selected: • Transformation towards sustainable development• Changing consumption patterns • Finance, capital and performance indicators • Technological breakthroughs. We hope to solicit a discussion on the future of the greening of industry research agenda. This article is based on a report The Greening of Industry for a Sustainable Future: Building an International Research Agenda (1997). © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment.     

An option pricing approach to optimal bidding in construction projects

Reaching an optimal mark‐up value in the context of construction projects' bidding competitions has been a research topic for more than 40 years. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by applying a real options approach. The proposed model has a pure theoretical nature and is based on a maximization problem, whose outcome is the optimal price, that is, the price that should be included in the bid proposal. The model is later extended to accommodate the existence of penalty costs if the selected bidder refuses to enter into contract. Results reached using a numerical example demonstrate that the optimal price is higher when penalty costs are considered.     

Advancing Sustainability Reporting in Canada: 2019 Report on Progress

This study examines the progress Canada's largest companies are making in their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures. Given the introduction of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) as well as the issuance of the Task Force on Climate‐Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations, our research reflects the uptake of these guidance documents by both mature and new reporters. Our analysis suggests that challenges persist—processes and progress often fail to reach investors as they are “lost in translation” when issued through third‐party ESG information providers, and reporters are also pressured to respond to a myriad of requests for information from rating and reporting agencies. Nevertheless, we note that Canada has new reporting sectors that must mature to survive the scrutiny of the markets and also hope that stock markets will respond to the recent announcement by the 181 CEOs of the U.S. Business Roundtable, who committed to lead their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders—customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and shareholders. Overall, we believe that our research will provide food for thought for companies interested in continuous improvement.     

Electronic monitoring at work: The role of attitudes,functions, and perceived control for the acceptance of tracking technologies

Organisations increasingly adopt tracking technologies that allow managers to continuously collect highly detailed records of employee, performance, and health. On the basis of the theory of planned behaviour, we aim to identify attitudes, functions of monitoring, and control perceptions that should strengthen or lower employees' acceptance of these technologies. Our experimental vignette study among 800 respondents in Germany reveals that acceptance is more likely if employees have positive attitudes towards surveillance in general and towards monitoring in private life and if the technologies enhance labour productivity. The tendency to reject the technology increases if it is to be used for monitoring health and performance. The results indicate that these new technologies will not be accepted unconditionally and may be subject to bargaining and conflicts. In the implementation process, human resources departments will have to take account of employee interests and well‐being, which in turn may improve acceptance and performance.     

Crypto-assets portfolio optimization under the omega measure

Abstract

Crypto-currencies, or crypto-assets, represent a new class of investment assets. The traditional portfolio analysis approach of Markowitz is not appropriate for use with portfolios containing crypto-assets, as the model requires that the investor have a quadratic utility function or that the returns be normally distributed, which isn’t the case for crypto-assets. We develop a portfolio optimization model based on the Omega measure which is more comprehensive than the Markowitz model, and apply this to four crypto-asset investment portfolios by means of a numerical application. The results indicate that these portfolios should favor traditional market assets over crypto-assets. In the case of portfolios formed only by crypto-assets, there is no clear preference in favor of any crypto-asset in particular.