Changing land use intensity in Europe – Recent processes in selected case studies

In recent decades the intensification of agricultural production in many European countries has been one of the key components of land-use change. The impact of agricultural intensification varies according to national and local contexts and a greater understanding of the drivers of intensification will help to mitigate against its negative impacts and harness potential benefits. This paper analyses changes in land use intensity in six case studies in Europe. A total of 437 landowners were interviewed and their responses were analysed in relation to changes in land use intensity and agricultural production between 2001 and 2011. In the case studies in Western and Eastern Europe we observed stabilisation during the last decade, and no clear tendency of increase or decrease of land use intensity. The use of fertilizers and pesticides seems to have decreased in our cases in Western Europe, which is contrary to trends in Eastern Europe. Agricultural production remained stable in almost all cases, except for an increase in Austria and Romania which may indicate that the farming efficiency has increased. A statistical analysis showed a division between study areas in Romania and Austria (increasing land use intensity) versus those in the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece (decreasing). In the Mediterranean cases we observe a process where agriculture is becoming increasingly marginalised, at the same time as changes in function with regard to urbanisation and recreational land uses have taken place. Logistic regression highlighted the importance of farm size and farmer type in understanding changes in land use intensity. The dominant pattern of stabilisation which has occurred over the past 10 years may also partly be a result of effective EU and national environmental and agricultural policies, which are increasingly concerned with improving environmental conditions in rural areas.     

ARBITRAGE‐FREE BILATERAL COUNTERPARTY RISK VALUATION UNDER COLLATERALIZATION AND APPLICATION TO CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS

We develop an arbitrage‐free valuation framework for bilateral counterparty risk, where collateral is included with possible rehypothecation. We show that the adjustment is given by the sum of two option payoff terms, where each term depends on the netted exposure, i.e., the difference between the on‐default exposure and the predefault collateral account. We then specialize our analysis to credit default swaps (CDS) as underlying portfolios, and construct a numerical scheme to evaluate the adjustment under a doubly stochastic default framework. In particular, we show that for CDS contracts a perfect collateralization cannot be achieved, even under continuous collateralization, if the reference entity’s and counterparty’s default times are dependent. The impact of rehypothecation, collateral margining frequency, and default correlation‐induced contagion is illustrated with numerical examples.     

The role of inventories and capacity utilization as shock absorbers

We examine the role of inventories and capacity utilization (of both capital and labor) for the propagation of business cycle fluctuations. We document a new set of facts regarding the U.S. cyclical regularities of inventories and capacity utilization. First, we find that capital utilization and the flows of services from both capital and labor are procyclical, and comove with the holdings of inventories. Second, we find that labor utilization is procyclical as well, but is weakly negatively correlated with inventories. We build a model that accounts for these facts, and also accounts for the stylized inventory facts, i.e., inventory holdings are procyclical, while the inventory-to-sales ratio is countercyclical. The analysis is centered on the effects of two possible shocks: preference (demand) shocks and technology shocks. Our model shows that inventories and the rate of capital utilization are mostly complements, while inventories and the rate of labor utilization are mostly substitutes. It further shows that temporary demand shocks emphasize the role of inventories as being a “shock absorber,” whereas high-persistence demand shocks, as well as technology shocks of any persistence, emphasize the role of inventories as being a complement to consumption.     

Revisiting carbon disclosure and performance: Legitimacy and management views

With corporate disclosure of carbon emissions rapidly increasing, the long-standing question remains whether carbon disclosure has any influence on the improvement of carbon performance. Previous studies of environmental disclosure and performance have predominantly focused on whether disclosure is a substitute for poor performance. Little attention has been devoted to the more important question about how changes in disclosure may lead to subsequent changes in performance over time. Following the rationales taken by the legitimacy and management perspectives, we revisit the relationship between carbon disclosure and performance, with a focus on changes that disclosure may (or may not) create. Using a change analysis of Global 500 companies and their carbon emission and disclosure data released between 2008 and 2012, this study finds that the change in carbon disclosure levels is positively associated with a subsequent change in carbon performance (examined through direct and indirect carbon emission intensities). Thus, regardless of whether disclosure has been used as a legitimising tool for prior poor performance, this study confirms that carbon disclosure motivates companies and creates an ‘outside-in’ driven effect for subsequent change and improvement in carbon performance. However, the association between changes in carbon disclosure and performance is relatively weaker in high energy-intensive firms.     

最优能源强度与我国经济增长

本文通过一个内生增长模型对能源消费与经济增长的关系进行了分析,证实存在使经济增长率最大化的最优能源强度,并且最优能源强度与能源价格反方向变动.在此基础上,估计了近年来我国的最优能源强度,并测算了实际能源强度与最优值的差距.结果表明,近年来我国实际能源强度高于最优值达3万吨标准煤/亿元以上,且有不断上升的趋势.最后提出了在保持最优能源强度的前提下降低能源消耗的政策建议.     

股票回购、现金股利替代性与研发投资——基于迎合渠道的比较分析

传统观点认为,股票回购与现金股利存在替代关系,同时在资金约束以及管理层短视情形下,二者对企业中长期研发投资支出产生负向冲击。而“边分红,边研发”却是目前我国上市公司的普遍现象。基于此背景,利用2014-2017年我国A股上市公司样本数据,在迎合渠道下分析股票回购与现金分红行为对研发投资的影响及差异。研究发现：两种分配行为并非具有完全替代性,虽然二者均会通过迎合渠道对研发投资产生正向影响,但迎合渠道又存在差异。其中,现金股利多通过股权融资渠道发挥作用,而股票回购多通过理性迎合渠道发挥作用。     

出口企业更清洁吗？——基于微观企业数据的再考察

基于工业企业数据以及环境统计数据,构建1998-2007年面板数据实证分析出口对企业二氧化硫排放强度的影响。回归结果显示：相较于非出口企业,出口企业二氧化硫排放强度较低;企业出口强度越高时二氧化硫排放强度越低。异质性分析发现：企业所属行业以及企业所在地区差异均会对二氧化硫排放强度产生影响。具体表现为,污染密集型制造业行业中,出口企业比非出口企业更为清洁;相较于其他地区而言,东部地区企业出口对二氧化硫排放强度的降低幅度更为显著。在排除两控区环境规制因素对回归结果的影响,并且通过IV(2SLS)以及PSM-DID等方法处理内生性问题后,本文的回归结果依然稳健。机制分析表明：出口企业一方面通过提高新产品产值——R D,另一方面通过提高全要素生产率,降低了企业的二氧化硫排放强度。此外,通过对企业出口状态的改变(广延边际)和企业出口强度的改变(集约边际)的比较发现,出口企业二氧化硫排放强度低的主要驱动因素在于广延边际而非集约边际。     

基于系统动力学的研发投资预算研究

研发投入是一种高风险的投资,研发投入过多或过少都不利于企业的发展,而如何在企业资源有限的情况下,合理安排研发投入以获取持续的竞争能力是企业研发管理的重点。应该说,研发投入系统是一种复杂的系统,本文首先对研发投资预算的方法进行了回顾,继而提出了运用系统动力学编制研发投资预算的思路并构建了基于系统动力学的研发投资预算模型,该模型将研发系统分为研发流程、研发团队和现金流等三个子模块并描述了研发投资预算的影响因素及其作用过程,最后,以电子产品为例运用该模型模拟了四种不同研发投资预算方案的效果。     

基于城市流视角的环长株潭城市群空间联系分析

基于城市流强度理论模型,对环长株潭城市群的城市流强度值和城市流强度结构进行了测算分析,得出本城市群多数城市的城市流强度值偏小,城市间的空间联系偏弱,究其主要原因是各城市的综合经济实力不强,产业的外向度不高.再对城市流强度值与三次产业的关系进行多元线性回归分析,发现第二产业对城市流强度的影响大于第三产业,环长株潭城市群仍然处于以工业增长为主的初级发展阶段.最后,提出了环长株潭城市群各城市提高城市流强度和增强空间联系的对策.