Energy and CO2 emission relationships in the NAFTA trading bloc: a multi-regional multi-factor energy input–output approach

The North-America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has brought together the economies of Canada, Mexico, and the US into forming one of the largest trading blocs worldwide (within the top CO₂ emitters). However, the current global protectionist discourse threatens the agreement. This paper analyzes the energy and energy-related CO₂ emission relationships between NAFTA countries in 2014 to gain insights into the climate change implications of current integration and the possible cancelation of the agreement. The analysis is performed with a multi-regional version of the multi-factor energy input–output model. The results show that NAFTA has not built a single integrated energy system, though it has helped reduce energy-related CO₂ emissions. Moreover, if NAFTA is not revoked, further integration would depend on the capacity of the Mexican energy sector to converge to the performance of its trade partners’ energy sectors. Conversely, a broken deal would induce negative environmental externalities.     

Estimation of investment costs in fish processing plants

Investment costs for fish processing plants are hereby presented along with a detailed analysis of different types of processes in relation to economies of scale.The cost-capacity factor for fish industry is estimated as 0.84, except for fish meal plants where the cost-capacity factor is 0.61.It is also discussed how technology, capacity and location in developed and developing countries can affect investment costs for fish processing plants, while cost-capacity factors remain unchanged.The concept of minimum limit for industrial capacity is included. Investment costs for minimum size plants or plants below minimum size are even greater than what would correspond to the correlation line. This is due to the need to incorporate one or more oversized pieces of equipment.     

中国农民工供给态势与“十二五”时期走向

我国农村劳动力转移已进入总体上仍然过剩,但结构性供求矛盾开始突出,农村劳动力供求关系正从长期供过于求转向总量过剩,结构短缺的新阶段。促进农村劳动力转移仍将是我国中长期的重要任务。十二五以及更长时间内,要做好劳动力转移工作,必须把产业结构优化调整放在重要的位置,坚持发展服务业,有序积极推进农民工市民化工作,进一步增加对农村居民培训的投入,提高农村劳动力的受教育程度和技能水平,进而促进社会和谐发展。     

Value at Risk and Economic Growth

The improvement of data statistics as well as the econometrician methods have facilitated the introduction the new variables and factors I the economic growth analysis. In this sense, real variables have mainly been considered in the economic growth studies, but not financial or risk management aspects. In this sense, it is interesting to analyze the relationship between economic growth and value at risk and the feed-back process. The goal of the paper is to analyze the relationship between economic growth and risk management and the feed-back process. We will consider economic variables, including economic growth, rule of law, human capital, fiscal policy and monetary policy, among others, in our analysis. We will analyze the theoretical relationships between these variables and risk and the effects of risk on economic growth. We will also develop an empirical analysis considering the case of 15 European Union countries.

Cost-effective compensation to avoid carbon emissions from forest loss: An approach to consider price-quantity effects and risk-aversion

Analyses were carried out on financial compensation to avoid loss of tropical forests and related carbon (C) emissions when marginal financial yield declined for land-use options with extended areas, and when a risk-averting perspective (modeled according to financial theory around the capital asset pricing model) is assumed. The approach in this study was to consider natural forest, forest plantation, pasture, and cropland simultaneously to investigate how an optimized land-use distribution may reduce the amount of compensation necessary to avoid C emissions from forest loss.The financial compensations derived were as high as US$ 176 per hectare per year when comparing natural forests only with the most profitable alternative (croplands). However, compensation decreased to US$ 124 for risk-neutral decision-makers, who would strive for optimized land-use allocation, and to only US$ 47 per hectare per year for risk-avoiders, who would look to maximize the reward-to-variability ratio. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the compensation under risk-aversion increased much less than under risk-ignoring when increased productivity of agricultural land-use or growing demand for agricultural products was simulated. It was concluded that considering appropriate diversification strategies and the well documented human behavior to avoid risks is an important step in developing cost-effective compensation policies.     

Equilibrium price formation in markets with differentially informed agents

We consider a pure exchange economy with a finite set of types of agents which have incomplete and asymmetric information on the states of nature. Our aim was to describe the equilibrium price formation and analyze how the lack of information may affect the allocation of resources. To do so, we adapt to an asymmetric information scenario a variant of the Shapley–Shubik game introduced by Dubey and Geanakoplos (J Math Econ 39:391–400, 2003 ).     

DOES SIZE MATTER? THE INFLUENCE OF FIRM SIZE ON WORKING CONDITIONS,JOB SATISFACTION AND QUIT INTENTIONS

Using a detailed survey on Spanish workers, this paper investigates the relationship between firm size and working conditions, the extent to which firm size differences in workers' job satisfaction can be accounted for by differences in their work environment and the impact of firm size on workers' quit intentions. The results indicate that: (1) employees in larger firms face a worse work environment; (2) working in large firms significantly reduces job satisfaction when no controls for working conditions are included, but taking them into account makes differentials across size categories statistically insignificant; and (3) no systematic differences exist in intentions to quit across firm size categories, irrespective of conditioning on wages.     

Beyond Contracts: Love in Firms

The traditional theories of the firm leave no room for love in business organizations, perhaps because it is thought that love is only an emotion or feeling, not a virtue, or because economic efficiency and profit making are considered to be incompatible with the practice of charity or love. In this article, we show based on an approach to the human action within the organization, that love can and must be lived in firms for firms to operate efficiently, be attractive to those who take part in them, and act consistently in the long run.     

区域间的不对称与制衡行为——以欧盟与东盟关系为例

在现有国际体系中,不对称性是国际关系的主要特征之一,它与单位行为体的制衡行为直接相关联。随着全球化和区域主义的发展,不对称性已从国家层面扩展到地区层面,其原有内涵和制衡逻辑也发生了转移。以地区性作为比较区域间不对称的参考点,作者探讨了地区层面的制衡行为,分析了不对称性、地区性与制衡行为之间的关系,认为在不对称的国际关系中,弱势国家出于维护现状或提高讨价还价能力的需要,它们倾向于选择地区层次的制衡行为。由于地区层次的制衡行为伴随着一定的制度化风险,因此地区层次制衡行为的发生需有一定的条件。通过选取欧盟与东盟关系作为考察对象,作者认为,在不对称的国际关系中,地区性能够反映区域间的不对称关系,也代表了地区层次的制衡能力;地区层次的制衡行为没有特定目标,但主要以平衡大国或发达国家的地区性国家集团为主;当弱势国家的内部制衡无法在短期内得到质的提升时,它们会更倾向选择通过外部制衡,即利用区域间关系来平衡不对称关系。尤其在无政府状态下的单极体系中,当国际结构对霸权国的约束力被严重削弱时,地区层次的制衡作用便显得更加突出。