Bringing Ecosystem Services into the Real World: An Operational Framework for Assessing the Economic Consequences of Losing Wild Nature

Policy action to halt the global loss of biodiversity and ecosystems is hindered by the perception that it would be so costly as to compromise economic development, yet this assumption needs testing. Inspired by the recent Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, the leaders of the G8+5 nations commissioned a similar assessment of the economics of losing biodiversity, under the Potsdam Initiative on Biodiversity. Here, we propose a conceptual framework for such a global assessment which emphasizes several critical insights from the environmental economics and valuation literature: contrasting counterfactual scenarios which differ solely in whether they include specific conservation policies; identifying non-overlapping benefits; modeling the production, flow, use and value of benefits in a spatially-explicit way; and incorporating the likely costs as well as possible benefits of policy interventions. Tackling these challenges, we argue, will significantly enhance our ability to quantify how the loss of benefits derived from ecosystems and biodiversity compares with the costs incurred in retaining them. We also summarise a review of the current state of knowledge, in order to assess how quickly this framework could be operationalized for some key ecosystem services.     

Anne Clendinning. Demons of Domesticity: Women and the English Gas Industry, 1889-1939. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2004. xvii + 352 pp. ISBN 0-7546-0692-9, $109.95 (cloth).

This book examines the role of women, both as employees andas consumers, in the English gas industry in the fifty yearsbetween the 1880s and the eve of the Second World War. By thelate nineteenth century, the gas industry was well establishedthroughout England, using coal as its main raw material andwith the provision of lighting as its main market. The historicalliterature on the     

book reviews

WOMEN FOR HIRE, A STUDY OF THE FEMALE OFFICE WORKER London School of Economics and Political Science A HANDBOOK OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS PRACTICE Personnel Director British Aluminium VOTES, VIRTUES AND VICES: TRADE UNION POWER THE TROJAN HORSE: UNION POWER IN BRITISH POLITICS School of Industrial & Business Studies University of Warwick WHITE COLLAR UNIONISM: THE REBELLIOUS SALARIAT Manchester Business School THE INTERNATIONAL YEARBOOK OF ORGANIZATION STUDIES Centre for European Industrial Studies University of Bath     

Can position limits restrain ‘rogue’ trading?

This paper studies the imposition of position limits on commodity futures from the perspective of curbing excessive speculation and thus manipulation. We present a simple general equilibrium model in a static rational expectations framework and agent heterogeneity to illustrate that excessive speculation serves to enrich other agents at the expense of the speculator. Position limits, on the contrary, are not only superfluous, but also counter-productive, as they exacerbate market power and lead to a deterioration in efficiency. Position limits not only reduce social welfare but also cannot restrain market manipulation.     

Developments in human resource management in manufacturing in modern Britain

In this paper, developments in human resource management in manufacturing in modern Britain based on a national sample are examined. The organization and role of human resource management, employee involvement, training and development, work practices and rewards are all targeted for an assessment of current practices. This is a prelude for a contrast between manufacturing and non-manufacturing. The conclusion is that the similarities between manufacturing and non-manufacturing substantially outweigh the differences. By inference, too, developments in human resource management practices are likely to reflect changes in the broader environment of businesses (and differences between companies) rather than being specific to the main industrial sectors.