Board structures,liberal countries,and developed market economies. Do they matter in environmental reporting? An international outlook

Previous empirical evidence has shown the effect of most corporate governance mechanisms on corporate social responsibility and environmental disclosure. However, there is scant empirical evidence that examines the influence of liberal countries, developed market economies, and board structures on environmental disclosure. Thus, this research aims to explore how liberal and developed countries and board structures affect environmental reporting. We hypothesise a linear and positive association between companies located in countries with liberal and developed market economies and environmental reporting. Moreover, we hypothesise that one‐tier board structures negatively affect environmental disclosure. Focusing on 13,100 companies domiciled in 39 different countries from 2005 to 2015, it is established that those companies located in liberal and developed economies are more likely to disclose environmental information, whereas one‐tier boards have a negative effect.     

The integration of sustainability within value management practices: A study of experienced value managers in the GCC countries

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) comprises the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the states of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. These countries are fairly similar in terms of socioeconomic, commercial, and infrastructural development. Disappointingly perhaps, their thriving construction industries continue to score poorly in terms of sustainability. Although value management (VM) has been proposed as a potential mechanism for delivering sustainable construction projects in some countries, this idea has not yet been widely put into practice around the world. The aim of this article is to investigate this potential in the GCC countries through interviewing 17 experienced value managers from the GCC. The primary conclusion, derived from the viewpoints of these value managers, is that such an endeavor might be unviable at present, largely due to a lack of awareness with regard to sustainability issues in the GCC. Proposals are therefore provided to assist in a successful integration of sustainability into VM practices in the GCC region.     

Modelling regime shift behaviour in Asian real interest rates

In this paper we investigate whether real interest rates for a number of Asian economies are constant but subject to occasional jumps using the Markov switching technique. We find evidence that all six rates under consideration have generally been stable, only shifting in response to either international or country-specific shocks.     

贸易自由化：理想与现实

发达国家是自由贸易的积极推动者,同时也有限制发展中国家产品出口的各种各样的贸易壁垒,这些壁垒已经对发展中国家造成了极大的伤害.发达国家进行贸易保护既有经济方面的原因,也有国际、国内政治方面的原因.研究成果表明,发达国家向发展中国家开放市场不仅对发展中国家有利,也对发达国家和世界经济有利.但是真正的自由贸易远未实现,这需要所有国家的共同努力.     

TRIPS与发展中国家的技术创新

在多边贸易进程中，WID的协定和规则主要体现了发达国家的利益，TRIPS就是发达国家利益在知识产权领域的具体表现。在发达国家发展的早期阶段，发达国家享有谋划本国知识产权政策的自由。TRIPS的实施将对发展中国家的技术创新产生负面影响，并将其锁定在低技术水平上。     

东亚国家金融稳定性面临的主要风险诱因

东亚金融危机早已过去，但是造就东亚金融危机的各种不稳定因素依然存在，并且极有可能再次诱发危机。文章对当前东亚国家金融稳定性所面临的主要风险诱因进行了系统分析。东亚国家面临的风险诱因分为内部诱因和外部诱因。外部诱因包括主要国际货币汇率变动、主要国际货币利率变动和国际原材料市场价格波动。内部诱因则包括非审慎金融自由化造就的金融脆弱性、事实固定汇率制导致的汇率失调、过高财政赤字导致的通胀压力和外债负担，以及国内制度化问题导致的裙带资本主义。     

国内外农副产品冷链物流现状分析

对国内外农副产品冷链物流现状做了对比研究,总结经验和教训,对建设完善国内农副产品冷链物流物流体系有重要的意义。     

吉林省对外科技交流与合作对引进消化吸收再创新的促进作用分析

文章本着提高自主创新能力,必须加大科技投入,特别是R&D投入强度,降低对外技术依存度的观点,分析了十一五期间,吉林省对外科技交流工作在经费、项目、活动方面的投入,同时分析了上述投入对促进吉林省引进消化吸收再创新的促进作用。     

重点国家电动汽车产业政策效果分析

电动汽车是新能源汽车的一种重要类型,发展清洁高效的电动汽车,有利于节能减排,促进中国汽车产业升级,对经济社会的可持续发展将产生积极影响。本文以美国、德国、法国、日本和中国五个国家为研究对象,采用客观评价结合专家打分法,从"投入-产出-环境"三个维度对各国电动汽车产业政策实施效果进行量化分析,针对中国与发达国家之间的差距,分别从产业政策投入指数、产出指数和环境指数各个层面进行了深入探讨,为管理部门今后制定和完善产业政策提供数据支持和决策依据。     

Nonlinearity and the Unit Root Hypothesis for African Per Capita Real GDP

Once described as an epic center of growth tragedy, African nations have lately achieved relatively rapid growth rates, which have raised hopes that the continent is finally on the path to economic convergence with other emerging economies. However, there is a need to establish whether stabilization policies for the purpose of enhancing the GDP are effective in African countries. One of the means of examining the effectiveness of these policies is through the investigation of the unit root properties of per capita GDP in the continent. This study aims to add to the existing papers on GDP in African countries by investigating the non-stationarity of per capita GDP in 52 African countries, while using a newly proposed nonlinear unit root test. The results suggest that per capita GDP follows the non-stationarity process in half of the entire sample.