The use of ex-ante modelling tools in European Impact Assessment: What role does land use play?

Impact Assessment was introduced by the European Commission in 2002 in order to make policy development more transparent and improve the ‘quality’ of European policies. Cross-sectoral consultation, broad participation and the quantitative assessment of the impacts of policies are significant elements of this process. This article specifically addresses the role of tools modelling the impact of policies on land use in Impact Assessment. The choice of a specific modelling tool is conceptualised as an action situation interlinked with other action arenas. The article aims to uncover the institutions structuring the action situation. The outcome of the empirical work suggests that two types of Impact Assessments can be distinguished. Impact Assessments either substantively contribute to the specific policy that the Commission proposes or they legitimise policy choices ex post that have already been adopted. The legislative procedure that applies to a specific policy sector, the policy making culture in the DG and the stakes that are at issue seem to influence whether Impact Assessments contribute to policy development, or legitimise it. Furthermore, the article describes the situation in which desk officers choose a modelling tool throughout Impact Assessment. To advance their careers desk officers aim to produce policy proposals which respond to the issues raised by the actors involved in Impact Assessment and specifically in policy development and, later on, adoption. Therefore, desk officers’ preferences are shaped by the community that is involved in policy development and Impact Assessment. The article describes what role modelling tools play in European Impact Assessment procedures and it names the heuristic of criteria which desk officers use to choose a modelling tool. Besides several technical and data problems of modelling land use impact, it seems to be unlikely that land use will become a significant dimension of Impact Assessment and modelling as it is confronted with an unfavourable institutional environment at the European level.     

Success Determinants when Tendering for International Consulting Projects

A unique database on individual proposals is used to analyse competition among consulting firms (CFs) for international projects. CFs, which sell services based on human capital, focus on developing countries when operating abroad and, thereby, are highly dependent on development agencies (DAs). The DAs have strict tender rules and claim that skill and experience are the most important factors when proposals are evaluated. Both economic theory and the results of the estimations suggest, however, that long-term relationships (LTRs) between the CFs and the clients are at least as important as traditional skill and experience factors. The LTRs are here measured by means of information about whether the CF has previously worked for the client (repeat purchases) or has visited the client. The results indicate that the client in some cases has pre-decided which CF to select. The client invites several CFs to compete for the tender anyway, either because he is forced to do so by the financier, or because he wants to subject an old supplier to competitive pressure. As the tender rules do not seem to be followed, a policy implication would be that the DAs can skip, or at least relax, their strict tender rules, or strengthen the sanctions associated with violations of the rules.     

对会计委派制可行性的思考

会计委派制是政府为了根治会计信息失真，财务监督弱化，会计管理失控这些现象而出台的会计制度，但是从理论上讲，它是行不通的，本从会计的职能，政府的职能，现代企业管理制度几个方面论述了它的不可行性，并提出了解决会计信息失真问题的一些办法。     

浅谈共用技术平台开发的战略观

企业面对更多的挑战,要适应环境的变化,才能战胜挑战。国内外一些企业开始寻求一些新的管理方法,IPD就是其中之一,本文仅选取了IPD中一个核心—共用技术平台思想,用战略理论和观点,来分析其价值,以及在共用技术平台开发中的管理问题。初步阐释这种在国内还比较新的管理方式,希望能够让更多的学者和管理者能够关注并丰富这一理论。     

牢牢把握发展这个主题——学习《中共中央关于制定国民经济和社会发展第十个五年计划的建议》的体会

作者深刻体会到《中共中央关于制定国民经济和社会发展第十个五年计划的建议》中“把发展作为主题”的原因 ,以及这种发展是以经济结构调整为主线的发展 ,是靠改革开放和科技进步为动力的发展 ,发展的目的是提高人民的生活水平。     

电子商务中的信息安全及应对方法

随着互联网的全面普及，基于互联网的电子商务应运而生。它的高效率、低成本等优点越来越受到社会的认可。而作为一种全新的商务模式，信息安全的保障是电子商务实施的前提。     

Contracts with endogenous information

I study covert information acquisition and reporting in a principal agent problem allowing for general technologies of information acquisition. When posteriors satisfy two dimensional versions of the standard First Order Stochastic Dominance and Concavity/Convexity of the Distribution Function conditions, a first-order approach is justified. Under the same conditions, informativeness and riskiness of reports are equivalent. High powered contracts, that make the agent's informational rents more risky, are used to increase incentives for information acquisition, insensitive contracts are used to reduce incentives for information gathering. The value of information to the agent is always positive. The value of information to the principal is ambiguous.     

Trade,technology, and China's rising skill demand1

China has experienced rising wage inequality due to rising relative demand for skilled labour. In this paper, we use a sample of 1,500 firms to investigate the impact of trade and technology on China's rising skill demand. We find that export expansion had a negative direct effect (Heckscher–Ohlin type) and a positive indirect effect (export‐induced skill‐biased technical change) on skill demand; the net effect was found positive and accounted for 5 percent of rising skill demand of the sample firms. We find that technical change in Chinese firms was on average skill‐neutral, but majority foreign‐owned firms experienced skill‐biased technical progress that accounted for 22 percent of the rising skill demand of the sample firms.     

我国房地产交易中存在的道德风险及其治理

本文用信息经济学理论分析了我国房地产交易中开发商、中介机构可能存在的道德风险及其带来的负面影响,在此基础上,分别从开发商、政府、购房者以及中介机构四个角度提出了治理房地产交易中道德风险的方法和措施。     

深圳高新技术产业从比较优势走向竞争优势的思考

高新技术产业凭借其成长力及可持续性,已成为全球产业中增长速度最快的产业之一,受到各国各城市重点扶持培养的产业。深圳作为南中国对外贸易的窗口,为保持长年高效的经济增长,深圳政府在20世纪90年代初开始培育高新技术产业,现在已成为全市的支柱产业之一。本文通过比较优势原理的分析方法,旨在找出深圳高新技术产业潜在的竞争优势,并分析探讨如何克服各种不利因素,最终形成该地区高新技术产业的竞争优势。