Making a difference — how environmental economists can influence the policy process — a case study of David W Pearce

Can environmental economists influence policy? If so, how? This paper addresses these two questions using the late David Pearce’s career as a case study. Influence can be exercised, but Pearce’s career shows that certain conditions must be met. The first is desire: he wanted to influence policy, and directed a high proportion of his efforts to doing so. He focused particular attention on the power centres of his time — the OECD, World Bank, European Commission, UN, UK government; his influence was aided by his status and location as a professor in a prestige university (UCL) in a major global city (London). His messages were consistent and clear: theory is important, and can be used to frame most environmental challenges as regards both explanation and solution; externalities can be valued; assessing benefits and costs of options is important; market signals (taxes etc) and incentives generally are powerful shapers of behaviour; stock of capital (human, built, natural) is a key measure of sustainability. He communicated simply and clearly, in words and phrases that Ministers for Finance and journalists could understand. All of the broadsheet newspapers in England (Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, Telegraph, Times) were grist to Pearce’s mill of advocacy for environmental economics. He provided the Blueprint books that could be read on a commute and summaries to the media that they could fit into a 1,000 word piece. He didn’t seek out, but neither did he shirk controversy. He worked with various interest groups and politicians, but never to the point were he was co-opted. He initiated and directed the MSc in Environmental and Resource Economics that created an ever-widening and influential pool of advocates for his ideas. Finally, he achieved a prodigious academic output that ensures a sort of immortality, and provided the intellectual ballast the enabled his policy influence.     

中国近代广告之特色——以香烟为例

近代香烟广告是我国广告史上的一枝奇葩，在号称“十里洋场”的上海，外商与华商烟草公司展开激烈的竞争，并纷纷借重于广告的力量促销自己的产品。这些香烟广告有四个较为明显的特征：动用多种媒体、巧借名人之势、打出民族旗帜、融入传统文化。     

媒体监督与会计稳健性——来自中国证券市场的经验证据

以新闻传播学的“议程设置”理论和新闻心理学的“图式”理论为基础,从媒体报道和媒介环境发展层面考察媒体监督对会计稳健性的影响。结果发现,随着媒体对上市公司的正面报道越多,其会计稳健性会降低,但稳健性的降低并不显著;而媒体对上市公司的负面报道水平及媒介环境发展程度与会计稳健性均呈正相关。     

Advertising and Alcohol Demand in the UK: Further Results

Johnson (1985) presents a system-wide analysis on the effects of advertising on the demand for beer, wine and spirits in the UK. However, his results are not consistent with other studies in the area. This paper shows that his results can be improved by using a different demand equation for the alcoholic beverages group. Furthermore, this paper also considers the analysis of treating advertising as a stock rather than a flow. This analysis reveals that advertising on beer, wine and spirits depreciates in consumers' minds fully within a year.     

Newspaper Circulation and Local Government Efficiency*

In this paper, we examine the role of the newspaper market for a key aspect of political accountability: the efficient use of public funds by elected politicians. Newspapers are a major provider of the political information voters use to monitor their elected officials, especially at the local level. Thus, the incentives for politicians to reduce budgetary slack should be stronger in jurisdictions where the electorate is well informed by newspapers. Using panel data on the circulation of some 150 newspapers in Norwegian municipalities, we show that increases in local newspaper circulation are associated with higher levels of local government efficiency.     

提升领导干部媒介素养 提高同媒体交流能力

同媒体打交道的能力是领导者必备的素质,是执政能力的具体体现。领导干部要增强媒介素养,适应媒体角色的变化、政府与媒体关系的变化,既要和媒体交朋友,又要主动接受媒体的监督。突发事件处置,要在第一时间通过媒体向公众公开真相,掌握舆论引导的主导权。     

Norway's Interwar Tanker Expansion – A Reappraisal

Abstract

This paper studies the ownership structure in the Finnish print media business in the 20^th century. It pays particular attention to the extent of family ownership in this branch, to the strategies of the owning families in order to keep control of their firms and to how the owners managed professionalisation. Finally, it asks whether media companies have had other goals (e.g. political, cultural, public service) beside pure economic ones and whether such goals have been connected to family ownership. This study shows that family ownership has been a persistent feature also in the largest Finnish media companies, although the ownership structure has undergone some transformations. For example, cultural foundations have become important owners in this branch. The owning families have also been active in top management until today. Family ownership and the cultural foundations appear to have been significant for preserving cultural goals, but, on the other hand, have to some extent restricted expansion, internationalisation and diversification. One important factor influencing the Finnish media business has been the bilingualism of the country, which is dealt with in detail.     

颜色管理中的白场适应问题（英文）

在某种媒介上再现源自于另一种媒介的颜色时（比如印刷再现显示图像）,最常用的方法是将源媒介的白场与目标媒介的白场相匹配。但是这种方法仔在一定的局限。本研究通过一系列的实验,获取了一些心理物理学的数据,以便更清楚地认识颜色管理中的白场适应问题,开发更有效的颜色管理解决方案。在此基础上,评价了在采用白场补偿的条件下,不同承印物上印刷输出匹配的可接受性,并测定了承印物色差对此匹配的影响程度。     

The Impact of Media Attention on the Use of Alternative Earnings Measures

The practice of reporting earnings measures that deviate from generally accepted accounting principles (non‐GAAP measures) has received negative attention in the media. In a period of increased regulatory concern for these reporting practices, we explore whether there has been a shift away from the use of non‐GAAP metrics. This study focuses on the Dutch situation, where regulators responded conservatively (‘light’) to the accounting scandals. This contrasts with the U.S., where regulators intervened with a radical (‘heavy’) reform of regulation. We analyse a sample of earnings press releases published in the period 2000–05 from companies listed at Euronext Amsterdam. Our findings indicate that Dutch companies report non‐GAAP measures frequently and prominently. However, companies' reporting behaviour changes after a peak in negative media attention for non‐GAAP reporting. The magnitude of the adjustments to GAAP earnings becomes smaller and companies seem to have different reasons to report non‐GAAP measures. The effect of the media attention is stronger when companies have been criticized for their non‐GAAP reporting in the press. Investors seem to have become more hesitant towards the use of non‐GAAP measures for their decision‐making after negative media attention. Together, these findings suggest that the negative media attention for non‐GAAP measures has influenced the decisions of investors and managers.     

Critical uses of research in business marketing

Research into business markets and marketing operations can have very high payoff when applied critically in high leverage situations. Five characteristically high leverage situations are identified and discussed. They are: high cost decisions, major new activities, business strategy, marketing productivity, and the creation of new knowledge and theory. Mentioned are encouraging new academic and professional activities that are likely to have significant impact on the discipline.