Engineering the Financialization of Urban Entrpreneurialism: The JESSICA Urban Development Initiative in the European Union

Urban entrepreneurialism and neoliberal urban governance are assuming new forms under finance‐dominated accumulation. We examine and contribute to theorizing the mechanisms through which urban governance is financialized, taking as a case study JESSICA, one of the European Union's initiatives to implement an ‘urban sensitive’ policy for sustainable and integrated development. Like other initiatives promoting financialization, JESSICA deploys the logic of finance to select and fund urban social initiatives and development projects on the basis of their potential return on investment (ROI). Understanding this process requires placing questions of political economy—how urban governance is shaped by the broader political‐economic context—with questions of governmentality—how stakeholders are enrolled in and come to take for granted new governance initiatives. Following the multi‐scalar institutional infrastructure is crucial to understanding how this works. Taking a relational multi‐scalar approach, we trace how changes at the supranational scale filter down to shape urban policy selection and performance in Sofia, Bulgaria, where we document how ROI calculations conflict with social welfare priorities. Contrasts between the trajectory of financialization of urban governance in the European Union and the United States demonstrate how this is geographically variegated, shaped by the broader context/conjuncture within which such financialization is embedded.     

一种基于欧式范数的第三方物流服务商评价方法

随着市场竞争的加剧,越来越多的企业开始关注物流成本的控制。而通过与第三方物流合作能够帮助企业提高物流效率和降低物流成本。因此,选择一个合适的第三方物流服务商对企业具有极为重要的影响。文中提出了一个基于欧式范数的第三方物流服务商评价方法,运用该方法能使企业更为方便快捷地对候选物流服务商进行评价,以帮助企业寻找到合适的合作伙伴。     

欧盟海关同盟战略及其执行评析

摘要：海关同盟是欧盟的三大支柱之一,也是欧盟单一市场的基石。因此,欧盟一直通过其海关同盟战略及其各类实施工具来强化有效、高效、统一、协调的海关联盟。在三十年的海关同盟演进过程中,欧盟海关同盟战略都是承接并贡献于欧盟总体经济规划目标。在其三项海关同盟战略之间以及海关同盟战略与海关行动计划之间存在着延续与发展的关系。为了实现欧盟海关战略目标,欧盟采取了软硬结合的开放协调机制以实施其战略。     

Balanced scorecard based performance measurement of European airlines using a hybrid multicriteria decision making approach under the fuzzy environment

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of the European airlines, using a balanced scorecard perspective. Within this scope, a hybrid multi-criteria approach was used by combining the Fuzzy DEMATEL, Fuzzy ANP, and MOORA methods. The results demonstrate that customer dimensions and profit per customer are the most significant key factors in the balanced scorecard perspective. Additionally, the airline companies with the largest profit (per employee) and highest number of passengers and flights (per employee) had the best scores in the multidimensional performance results. Furthermore, the airline companies with the highest profitability and efficiency are more successful than other companies. Therefore, we recommend European airlines to focus on these aspects in order to improve their performance. This study makes an important contribution to literature by helping to solve a significant problem in the market with the proposed methodology.     

The distinction between commercial and non-commercial bus services in Germany: Given by nature?

German public transport services by bus are characterized by a regulatory framework that distinguishes between commercial and non-commercial services. Contrary to the apparent views of legislators, this paper shows that costs and revenues are not the only parameters determining whether or not operators are able to provide services in a commercially viable way.Apart from the local characteristics of the specific service, we show that the classification of services as commercial versus non-commercial is determined in large part by the public transport authorities that set minimum quality standards to be provided by operators. Our analysis shows that the authorities awarding the contracts in some cases affect market organization significantly depending on how they make use of this power. Furthermore, market organization differs substantially with respect to the awarding structure and the contractual relationships, thus creating a challenge for operators and authorities in an embryonic market.     

Are EU trade preferences really effective? An impact evaluation assessment of the Southern Mediterranean Countries’ case

This work assesses the causal impact of the EU trade preferences granted to the Southern Mediterranean Countries (SMCs) in agriculture and fishery products over the period 2004–2014. It overcomes some of the weaknesses of previous assessments and presents several methodological improvements. Firstly, it relies on a continuous treatment – i.e. preferential margins – to capture the ‘average treatment effect’ of trade preferences, rather than on a binary treatment based on dummy variables. Secondly, it uses highly disaggregated data at sectoral level in order to evaluate properly the preferential treatment. Thirdly, it applies a non-parametric matching technique for continuous treatment – specifically, a generalized propensity score matching. The results show, on the one hand, that the impact of the EU preferences is positive and significant on SMCs trade and is better evaluated using impact evaluation techniques. On the other hand, they demonstrate that the relationship between preferences and trade flows is asymmetric and warn against the risk of providing too much of a good thing. These results raise important issues for policy-making. First, they demonstrate that raising the level of preferences is not the solution to foster the SMCs trade towards EU. Second, that the policy-makers should put more emphasis on complementary factors other than trade barriers.     

Putting ‘merchants of debt’ in their place: the political economy of retail banking and credit-based financialisation in Germany

Why did household debt in Germany not increase after the year 2000? This article offers a supply-side explanation for this deviant debt trajectory by tracing the historical evolution of retail banking in the German political economy. It argues that at the end of the 1990s and in the light of European Monetary Union, profitability issues and banking fragmentation became severe enough to interrupt the path towards credit-based financialisation as prevalent among other capitalist economies. These factors interacted with a traditional lack of tools and incentives for rapid credit expansion, even though they were renegotiated in the processes of financial liberalisation, internationalisation and innovation. By employing historical-qualitative as well as statistical evidence for the argument, the paper’s contribution becomes twofold. First, it introduces and conceptualises retail banking as a focal point in the analysis of national financial systems and their transformation. Second, it complicates the standard accounts of German non-financialisation and reveals the ‘contested’ character of financial reform.     

Social protection and regional convergence in a European Monetary Union

This paper addresses convergence in social protection and GDP in a European Economic and Monetary Union. We evaluate the impact of recently proposed EC social minimum requirements on regional convergence within the EC. Subsequently, we analyze a system of differentiated social norms as a means of raising social protection in countries with lower social standards.     

Vertical intra-industry trade and foreign direct investment in East Asia

As economic integration in East Asia progresses, trade patterns within the region are displaying an ever-greater complexity: Though inter-industry trade still accounts for the majority, its share in overall trade is declining. Instead, intra-industry trade (IIT), which can be further divided into horizontal IIT (HIIT) and vertical IIT (VIIT), is growing in importance.In this paper, we set out to measure and examine vertical intra-industry trade patterns in the East Asian region and compare these with the results of previous studies focusing on the EU, to which such analyses so far have been confined. Based on the supposition that VIIT is closely related to offshore production by multinational enterprises, we then develop a model to capture the main determinants of VIIT that explicitly includes the role of FDI. The model is tested empirically using data from the electrical machinery industry. The findings support our hypothesis, showing that FDI plays a significant role in the rapid increase in VIIT in East Asia seen in recent years. J. Japanese Int. Economies 17 (4) (2003) 468–506.     

抗战前后湖南民船同业团体的嬗变

湖南传统民船同业团体的近代转型,主要发生在全面抗战及战后复员时期。湖南民船航运业长期以流动难羁的船帮组织为同业团体形态,战前开始出现依法成立或改组的船商公会和船员工会。抗战期间,身处前线的民船同业团体,在其他交通路线和运输工具破坏殆尽的情况下,积极组建同业工会、保甲组织或同乡会,配合政府统制政策,完成对前线兵力和物资的运输周转,获得政府认可,成为合法社会组织。战后,湖南湘潭船主在船商公会与船员工会竞争中,选择以工人身份加入船员工会。战争给民船同业团体和船民带来组织和身份上的重大转变,长期游离于体制之外的民船帮会立案为同业工会;以往被看作江湖匪盗的船民群体,成为支援抗战及复员运输的内河船运工人。抗日战争对于同业团体的组织性质和底层民众的身份认同影响深远。