Has Distance Died? Evidence from a Panel Gravity Model

The estimated coefficient of distance on the volume of tradeis generally found to increase rather than decrease throughtime using the traditional gravity model of trade. This distancepuzzle proved robust to several ad hoc versions of the modelusing data for 1962–96 for a large sample of 130 countries.The introduction of an "augmented" barrier to trade functionremoves the paradox, yielding a decline in the estimate of theelasticity of trade to distance of about 11 percent over the35-year period for the whole sample. However, the "death ofdistance" is shown to be largely confined to bilateral tradebetween rich countries, with poor countries becoming marginalized.     

US—Mexico fresh vegetable trade: the effects of trade liberalization and economic growth

Studies of US‐Mexico vegetable trade have generally emphasized the importance of US tariffs in determining the competitive advantage of US producers. Even so, research has identified at least four factors related primarily to the different levels of economic development in the US and Mexico that also have important effects on US‐Mexico agricultural trade in general and fresh vegetable trade in particular. These include the differential growth rates of US and Mexican real wages, production technology (yields), and per capita income as well as cyclical movements in the real Mexican Peso/US Dollar exchange rate. This study examines the relative contribution of NAFTA and the development‐related factors to likely future changes in US fresh vegetable imports from Mexico. The analysis employs an econometric simulation model of US and Mexican markets for five fresh vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, bell peppers, and onions) accounting for 80% of US fresh vegetable imports. The results suggest that the 1994–1995 Peso devaluation rather than NAFTA was primarily responsible for the sharp increase in US imports of Mexican vegetables observed in the first years following the implementation of NAFTA. Over time, however, the results suggest that differences in the growth rates of US and Mexican production yields and, to a lesser extent, of US and Mexican real incomes and/or real wage rates could plausibly contribute more to the future growth of US tomato, squash, and onion imports from Mexico than the trade liberalizing effects of NAFTA.     

Boards and Sustainability: the Contingent Influence of Director Interlocks on Corporate Environmental Performance

This paper highlights the importance of a firm's board with respect to sustainability issues by analysing the relationship between director interlocks, i.e. directors who simultaneously belong to the boards of directors of several companies, and a firm's environmental performance. The previous literature has focused on the influence of firm‐level resources on corporate environmental performance. This study utilizes insights from a resource‐based view and research on social capital to demonstrate that the environmental performance of a firm is also influenced by the difficult‐to‐imitate capabilities that are embedded in the network relationships of its directors. Our results support a contingency perspective of the social capital theory that finds that director interlocks are positively connected with the environmental performance of a firm in two specific situations: (1) when the firm is linked to a larger parent company and (2) in cases of low and high levels of interlock diversity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Incentives and disincentives for stakeholder involvement in participatory research (PR): lessons from potato-related PR from Bolivia,Ethiopia, Peru and Uganda

Participatory research (PR) has been presented as an alternative to develop sustainable agricultural technologies more responsive to farmer needs. However, the institutionalization of PR methods is influenced by stakeholders' perceptions about incentives and disincentives. The study was conducted by gathering and analysing information from farmers, facilitators and institutional representatives involved in conducting potato-related PR in Bolivia, Ethiopia, Peru and Uganda between 2005 and 2007. Results indicate that at the farmer level the most important incentives are related to the benefits they can acquire (improving human and social capital, which is essential for more sustainable results). At the facilitator level, operational and organizational factors represent incentives, for example, perception of additional benefits, existing capabilities and skills, and access to logistic support. Some factors also represent disincentives such response to different types of demands, and instability of jobs within institutions. At the organization level, both financial and operational factors represent incentives or disincentives, such as the cost of PR methods, availability of skillful human resources, quality of technologies generated and the sustainability of financial support. These factors at both individual and organizational level need to be taken into consideration by organizations aiming at scaling up and out-of-PR methods and derived technologies in a sustainable way.     

Followers' entry timing: evidence from the Spanish banking sector after deregulation

Much of the literature dedicated to the analysis of entry timing decisions has been devoted to the study of their consequences in terms of performance. However, only a limited amount of effort has been dedicated to analyzing the factors that determine these decisions. In addition, previous papers have centered their efforts on the product dimension, paying no attention to entry into new geographical markets. This paper departs from previous works in this respect and extends the entry timing literature through a consideration of the geographical side of entry. Our analysis shows that organizational size, organizational competence, and organizational experience appear as key factors when explaining the pattern of geographic diversification. Our results also indicate that diversification takes place sequentially, first proceeding to closer locations, then occupying markets further from the origin. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal exploration investments under price and geological‐technical uncertainty: a real options model

This article develops a real options model for valuing natural resource exploration investments (e.g. oil or copper) when there is joint price and geological‐technical uncertainty. After a successful several‐stage exploration phase, there is a development investment and an extraction phase. All phases are optimized contingent on price and geological‐technical uncertainty.
Several real options are considered. There are flexible investment schedules for all exploration stages and a timing option for the development investment. Once the mine is developed, there are closure, opening and abandonment options for the extraction phase. Our model maintains a relatively simple valuation structure by collapsing price and geological‐technical uncertainty into a one‐factor model.
We apply the model to a copper exploration prospect and find that a significant fraction of total project value is due to the operational, development and exploration options available to project managers.     

Multipoint competition,strategic similarity and entry into geographic markets

The objective of this study is to integrate both multimarket contact and strategic similarity in the analysis of entry decisions. We also analyze the role of the reciprocity of contacts, market concentration, and coordination mechanisms at moderating the relationship. Our hypotheses are tested through the analysis of entry behavior into new geographical markets in the Spanish savings bank market. Interestingly, our results offer an opportunity of conciliating conflicting evidence in both the multimarket–mutual forbearance and the heterogeneity–rivalry literatures and offer further support to the U‐inverted influence of multimarket contact on entry. Given the coordination assumption implicit in the theory and the possible presence of unobservable variables, we also offer a method to cope with the common‐actor problem. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Consumption Externalities,Habit Formation and Equilibrium Efficiency*

We analyze the welfare properties of the competitive equilibrium in a capital accumulation model where individual preferences are subject to both habit formation and consumption spillovers. Using an additive specification for preferences, according to which the argument in the utility function is a linear combination of present and past values of own consumption and consumption spillovers, we analyze the circumstances under which these spillovers are a source of inefficiency. It is shown that consumption externalities have to interact with habits in order to generate an inefficient dynamic equilibrium. Finally, we characterize optimal tax policies aimed at restoring efficient decentralized paths.