Hybrid knowledge for understanding complex agri-environmental issues: nitrate pollution in Italy

Although agri-environmental policies have been launched by the European Union to mitigate environmental pollution and sustain agricultural development, there is not much understanding of how to manage the asymmetries between the objectives and the effectiveness of the implementation of the policies on local scale. The nitrate directive (ND) is an emblematic case in this context. This research focused on the role of ‘hybrid knowledge’ (scientific and local) and the process of knowledge integration in understanding the nitrate problem as an agri-environmental issue emerging from a complex set of biophysical and social factors. We conducted an integrated analysis of a case study on nitrate pollution in an intensive dairy district under Mediterranean conditions. A participatory action research approach was applied to elicit stakeholders’ knowledge and perspectives and to create new learning spaces among farmers, researchers and policy makers at case study scale. We explored the effectiveness of social learning triggered due to participatory field experiments, by bringing together stakeholders to generate new ‘hybrid knowledge’ for agri-environmental sustainability. The dramatic shift from the initial defensive position of farmers to an agreement on concerted actions proved that the integration between local and scientific knowledge may contribute to an increase in the effectiveness of the ND.     

Making sense of Bolkestein-bashing: Trade liberalization under segmented labor markets

An increase in the range of tradable goods is analyzed in a two-country Dornbusch-Fischer-Samuelson style model, where labor cannot relocate to another sector upon a non-expected increase in the range of goods that can be traded.The effect of liberalization on the terms of trade tend to favor the poorer country (the “East”), if (as assumed) the most sophisticated goods are tradable before reform. Second, under ex-post liberalization, there exists a class of workers in the West who are harmed because they face competition from Eastern workers and cannot relocate to other activities. But if the East's economy is relatively small, their wage losses are not very large. Things are different, however, if there exist asymmetries in labor market institutions, such that upon reform, labor can relocate in the East but not in the West. Some workers in the West can then experience very large wage losses. Thus, rigid labor markets in the West magnify opposition to reform there.     

Living in a bubble: potential gains from flexible water management policies

We study Swedish implementation of the European Union’s Water Framework Directive, and compare the current implementation strategy with more flexible ‘bubble’ schemes, where measures can be traded among various locations within the same river system to reach the overall environmental target. Two different Swedish river systems, the Mörrum system with small-scale hydropower plants, and the Ångerman system with larger plants, are studied. We find that the environmental benefits that current policies are likely to accomplish could be achieved at well under half the cost in the Mörrum system, and at less than a tenth of the cost in the Ångerman system.     

试论人才使用标准的导向作用及对高等教育的影响

人才 ,基本分为“知识型”或“智能型”两大类 ,人才的教育和培养方法及其使用标准 ,也是如此。重用何种人才 ,人才是否有效使用 ,不仅对用人单位本身 ,而且对整个社会 ,对人才的教育和培养过程 ,对人才的教育和培养机构 ,甚至对我们民族的生存心态 ,都会产生极强的导向作用     

谈我国信用征信业加入WTO后应对欧盟数据保护指令的策略

1998年10月开始生效的欧盟资料保护指令禁止个人资料向不具备欧盟适当隐私保护水平的第三国转移,这一做法无疑增加了中欧贸易的障碍,也不利于我国信用征信业的发展,为了避开禁令限制,根据欧盟指令的让步条款,结合WTO争端解决方式及美欧安全港协议,信用报告使用者、信用征信业和政府各有可行的应对策略。     

Role and Current Status of IFRS in the Completion of National Accounting Rules – Evidence from Malta

Abstract

We analyse the extent to which International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have influenced the development of the national generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in the transposition of Directive 2013/34/EU in Malta including whether they are used as a reference point in the interpretation of the national GAAP. Malta mandated the use of IFRS by all companies for a significant number of years. This has resulted in IFRS influencing the development of the national GAAP; and enforcers and other key stakeholders viewing IFRS positively.     

Integrated assessment of water framework directive nitrate reduction measures

This article illustrates a statistical approach for deriving farm economic impacts of policy options aiming to reduce nitrate diffuse pollution. Building upon Fezzi et al. (2008) , who assess the costs of Water Framework Directive‐related measures on farm accounts data, we estimate regression models allowing such costs to be predicted for any region for which land use patterns and livestock numbers are known. We derive economic impacts in terms of changes in farm gross margin for (a) reducing inorganic fertilizer application, (b) reducing livestock stocking rates, and (c) converting arable land to ungrazed grassland. A case study of the agriculturally diverse Yorkshire Derwent catchment, in the North of England, demonstrates the overall approach. In addition, for this illustration, we combine these cost estimates with prediction of the water quality changes arising from each measure, derived via an integrated hydrological model of the Derwent. This allows a comparison of cost‐effectiveness. Finally, we implement our spatially explicit approach to target the measures to specific subcatchments identified as being of particular environmental policy interest.     

Non-financial strategy disclosure and environmental,social and governance score: Insight from a configurational approach

Evaluating the determinants of environmental, social and governance (ESG) score is significant for topic for academics and regulators and companies. Despite its importance, little attention has been paid to non-financial strategy disclosure and how to communicate non-financial information. However, in the recent years, attention to the topic has considerably increased as demonstrated, in the European context, by the introduction of the non-financial reporting directive in 2014. Therefore, it is important to analyse how the quantity and quality of disclosure influence the ESG score. To explore this relationship, a configurational analysis aimed at 31 Italian listed companies was studied by fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. The results showed that there were three path types driving the ESG score and that integrated reporting played a highly significant role in promoting a high ESG score. Specifically, we show the importance of assessing the combinations of quality and quantity disclosures for ESG score through configurational thinking. These results provide a first theoretical basis for the effectiveness of disclosure measurements on ESG score, charting the future direction for environmental management studies.     

Information Sharing and International Taxation: A Primer

The sharing between national tax authorities of taxpayer-specific information has emerged over the last few years as a—probably ‘the’—central issue on the international tax policy agenda. Yet this refocusing of the debate on international taxation—away from parametric tax coordination and towards strengthening information exchange—has gone largely unnoticed in the public finance literature. This paper gives an overview of this increasingly important area of international taxation, reviewing the key economic, legal, and practical concepts and issues bearing on the analysis and implementation of information exchange, and providing an account of recent policy initiatives and emerging theoretical insights. JEL Code: H77, H87, F42     

欧盟EuP指令实施动态及应对策略

欧盟用能产品生态设计框架指令（EuP指令）已经生效，虽然欧盟各国相关法律转化和实施细则制定工作有所延迟，但自2008年以来，实施细则的出台速度明显加快，已有包括照明产品在内的八类实施细则相继出台并实施。当前我国外贸产业的发展正遭受金融危机的巨大冲击，加强EuP指令的应对工作已变得尤为重要和紧迫。