GHG Registries: Participation and Performance Under the Canadian Voluntary Climate Challenge Program

Between 1994 and 2004, the Voluntary Challenge and Registry (VCR) played an important role in Canadian climate change policy. In this paper, we examine the decision of firms to participate in the VCR, the extent of their involvement, and then ask if greenhouse gas emissions are related to past VCR participation. As an information provision program, we find evidence that firms may participate in VCR to signal their environmental responsibility to regulators and to some extent investors, but not to consumers. We also find that past involvement in the VCR is a strong and significant determinant of current involvement in the registry. Greenhouse gas emissions reported to the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program in 2004, however, do not appear to be different between VCR reporters and non-reporters. GHG emissions are observed to be significantly lower among firms that are smaller, emit fewer toxic releases, use more renewable energy sources, are intermediate good producers, and are located in Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba.     

The erosion of colonial trade linkages after independence

Most independent nations today were part of empires in 1945. Using bilateral trade data from 1948 to 2006, we examine the effect of independence on post-colonial trade. While there is little short-run effect on trade, after four decades trade with the metropole (colonizer) has contracted by about 65%. Hostile separations lead to large, immediate reductions in trade. We also find that trade between former colonies of the same empire erodes as much as trade with the metropole, whereas trade with third countries decreases about 20%. The gradual trade deterioration following independence suggests the depreciation of some form of trading capital.     

Compositional data analysis and zeros in micro data

The application of compositional data analysis methods in economics has some attraction. The methodology relies upon the use of 'log-ratios' in the statistical analysis. Such an approach is not possible when the data to be analysed include observations where the observed budget share is zero. We, therefore, consider and extend the methods of compositional data analysis in the situation where the data to be analysed include observations where the observed budget share is zero. The modified compositional data methods are discussed both in statistical terms and through potential economic interpretations of the method. Further, the modified methodology is applied to the 1988-89 Australian Household Expenditure Survey yielding estimates for a system of Engel curves.     

Shifting reactions to risks: a case study

Social science research in the field of risk analysis has emphasised evaluating the magnitude of individuals’ reactions to risks (e.g. strength and salience of concerns, frequency and forcefulness of behaviours that respond to risks). Fewer studies assess the factors that contribute to risk reactions or the types of risks to which reactions are directed (e.g. human health, wildlife health or ecosystem health risks; economic or aesthetic concerns). Theoretical and empirical research on amplification and attenuation of risk (e.g. the Social Amplification of Risk Framework) reveals that the strength of people’s reaction to risks can change markedly over time, as a function of new stimuli. We expand on this foundation to consider here how the types of risks members of the public react to may also shift over the course of their exposure to a hazard, particularly as more information about the hazard becomes available. This case study of risk reactions related to an outbreak of type E botulism in north-western Michigan, USA, demonstrates that the types of risks people react to can change substantially over time. We identify factors that contributed to changes in types of risk reactions, and then consider how these factors potentially distinguish the botulism outbreak from other outbreaks. This case study suggests that, under certain conditions, risk communication can meaningfully alter the types of risks that people react to in response to an environmental hazard. We discuss implications of these findings for risk research, risk communication and environmental conservation.     

The CLERP 9 Audit Reforms: Benefits and Costs Through the Eyes of Regulators,Standard Setters and Audit Service Suppliers

Over the past decade or more Australia amongst other jurisdictions has experienced substantial reforms to auditing regulation in an effort to boost public confidence in the auditing profession. This paper aims to examine whether these changes in the Australian regulatory environment for audits have (a) provided enhanced confidence in reported financial data, (b) impacted audit costs and (c) not limited competition in the market for audit services. Using qualitative interview data, this study reports on the perceptions of auditors, auditing standard setters and regulators in relation to the CLERP 9 reforms to the Australian auditing regime in the later part of the 2000s. A theoretical framework is developed to evaluate whether these reforms are substantive enough in nature to effect public confidence in reported financial data and market competition in audits.     

Real and perceived losses from unemployment: a cross-country study

This article compares the Unemployment Rate (UR) as a measure of inefficiency with several other potential measures across 18 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Results show that the UR is not a very good measure of relative inefficiency between countries, it overestimates the number of individuals who would get jobs if the market is clear, the Dead Weight Losses (DWLs) of UR are remarkably low even in high unemployment countries and the aggregate perceived monetary losses by the unemployed as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are also uniformly low, although inframarginal individuals in some countries may perceive their losses to be high.     

The need for a strategic approach on the railways to the management of the vehicle–track interface

Network Rail's decision in 2003 to bring track maintenance back in-house was long-overdue recognition that responsibility for safety on Britain's railways cannot be abdicated – but there was more to it than that. The accidents at Hatfield and Potter's Bar (both in Hertfordshire, UK), in particular, had exposed very vividly how privatisation had encouraged each now separated and competing part of the industry to operate in its own interests: records, data and expertise were fragmented, and track and train operators alike each sought to minimise their individual costs in isolation. This paper argues from a systems analysis perspective that, on vehicle and track maintenance at least, the overall costs to the industry are in such circumstances likely to be higher than if the various parties were to work together towards minimising total track and train maintenance costs between them. Far from increasing efficiency, privatisation had the effect of reducing it.     

Acquisition of managerial knowledge from foreign parents: evidence from Korean joint ventures

This paper contributes to the literature on intra- and inter-firm knowledge transfer by examining knowledge acquisition by Korean international joint ventures from their foreign parents. A conceptual model is presented which identifies the factors that have been found to influence knowledge transfer, organised into variables related to the local recipient firm, the foreign sender firm and the relationship between the two. The model is examined by means of a series of multiple regressions using a sample of 128 Korean international joint ventures. We find that: (1) the international joint ventures intent to learn and international experience; (2) the level of trust between parents and their business relatedness; and (3) the active managerial engagement of the foreign parent are the most important factors explaining the level of knowledge acquisition within the international joint ventures.     

Money demand in the czech republic since transition

We analyse the demand for money since the “break up” of the Czech-Slovak Republics at the beginning of 1993 and for the aggregates M0, Ml, and M2 using monthly data. Due to the widespread use of foreign currency in formally centrally planned economies, we also investigate the issue of currency substitution. Because of our relatively small sample period the Johansen cointegration approach is not used and instead we use the general to specific methodology in a single equation framework. Previous empirical evidence on money demand in Eastern Europe, and specifically Czech Republic, has been mixed. Both graphical and empirical results suggest that any currency substitution was a one-off event due to increased uncertainty at the end of 1992 at the time of the monetary dissolution. Certainly, currency substitution in the Czech Republic is not as strong as has been found in other former centrally planned economies. However, our results do indicate that Czech National Bank may have to take account of foreign interest rates when interpreting movements in the monetary aggregates.