A new economics approach to modelling policies to achieve global 2020 targets for climate stabilisation

This paper explores a Post Keynesian, ‘new economics’ approach to climate policy, assessing the opportunities for investment in accelerated decarbonisation of the global economy to 2020 following the Great Recession of 2008–2009. The risks associated with business-as-usual growth in greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere suggest that avoiding dangerous climate change will require that the world’s energy-economy system is transformed through switching to low-carbon technologies and lifestyles. Governments have agreed a target to hold the increase in temperatures above pre-industrial levels to at most 2°C and have offered reductions by 2020 in GHG emissions or the carbon-intensity of GDP. The effects of policies proposed to achieve pathways to 2020 towards this target are assessed using E3MG, an Energy-Environment-Economy (E3) Model at the Global level. E3MG is an annual simulation econometric model, estimated for 20 world regions over 1972–2006 adopting a new economics approach. Additional low-GHG investment of some 0.7% of GDP, with carbon pricing and other policies, is sufficient to achieve a pathway consistent with a medium chance of achieving the long-term target. GDP is above reference levels because decarbonisation reduces world oil prices and increases investment. Employment is some 0.9% above reference levels by 2020 and public finances are almost unaffected.     

Why sustainable and ‘nutritionally correct’ food is not on the agenda: Western Sydney,the moral arts of everyday life and public policy

Within a context of delivering food security into the future, dietary guidelines are being reframed, corporations are replacing unsustainable products, and consumers are being encouraged to become ecological citizens. While there is a growing literature on the food practices of ‘alternative’ consumers, ‘mainstream’ consumers are less well understood. This paper describes qualitative research undertaken in a socio-economically disadvantaged area of Sydney, Australia, which aimed to uncover consumer views towards sustainable and healthy diets. Most participants indicated a discrepancy between their desired and actual behaviours: while they want to support Australian, or local, food producers they gravitate towards cheap and tasty food from ‘anywhere’; and while they associate nutritious food with fresh food, they will buy processed foods which can be less expensive, appeal to children and are prone to less waste. Reflecting mainstream Australian political culture, participants were compromising household food budgets in order to pursue a socially acceptable standard of living (including decent housing, car-reliance). They were also incorporating the pleasure and desires of family members as part of ‘the moral arts of everyday life’. Using social theories of consumption and practice sociology we argue that food choices and practices – easy or not – need to be interpreted as part of the role that consumption plays in political citizenship and moral subjectivity. In the Western Sydney context, food practices are essentially household budget and family nourishment practices rather than nutrition and sustainability practices; a position which is not addressed in the government’s new food policies or wage determination processes.     

Implementing market segmentation using full-refund and no-refund customer returns policies in a dual-channel supply chain structure

Products returned by customers are common in the retail industry and result in costs to both the supplier and the retailer. In practice, retailers implement returns policies that may give customers a full, partial, or no refund for returned products. In this paper, we examine how a firm that faces customer returns can enhance profit by using different customer returns policies, full-refund and no-returns, as a device to segment its market into a dual-channel structure. We also show the impact of customer returns on the firm's pricing and ordering decisions, as well as on the firm's profit in such a dual-channel structure.     

Harmonization of Accounting in France and Britain: Some Evidence

The European Community's accounting harmonization initiative is intended to create harmonized reporting by Community companies. If the Community's programme is successful, measurement practices in each member state should be such that the same transactions receive broadly comparable treatment irrespective of the country where the accounts are prepared. This study sets out to test whether this is the case in France and Britain and the application of the Fourth Directive, and whether in practice there is any consensus even within each jurisdiction. An empirical test for harmony and uniformity is made by asking accountants within each jurisdiction to compile financial statements from a common set of data.
The results of the test show that in this sample there is relatively little harmony within each national group, let alone between one jurisdiction and another.     

Earnings management and firm valuation under asymmetric information

This paper seeks to provide an explanation for why corporate officers manage the disclosure of accounting information. We show that earnings management affects firm value when value-maximizing managers and investors are asymmetrically informed. In equilibrium, the strategic management of reported earnings influences investors' assessments of the market values of companies' shares.     

论“公正”重于“关护”———对中国就业弱势群体税收支持政策的哲学反思

随着我国就业弱势群体的出现,财政部和国家税务总局陆续出台了一系列促进就业的税收政策,但由于这些税收政策在“公正”与“关护”两个基本原则运用上存在侧重点的偏差,导致这些政策的作用效果并不明显。“公正”与“关护”同属人类伦理学理论资源中的两个基本道德诉求。在就业弱势群体税收支持政策制定中,两者缺一不可、互相关联,但从国家宏观就业指导方针、道德原则的稳定性、持久性以及普遍性的角度看,应该坚持“公正”重于“关护”。     

日本政府调控市场经济初探

日本政府干预是日本经济得以高增长的重要保障。日本历届政府根据本国特殊国情、本民族特殊性等，制定了合理有效的各类产业政策和经济计划，对经济发展的趋向和产业结构，加以调控、引导。对日本政府干预机制的形成和内在机理做一深入细致的剖析，有助于对日本经济高增长的主动力源泉做出深层次的解析。     

赤道原则-国际金融公司政策的延伸

赤道原则是国际项目融资的环境与社会的最低行业标准。它的制订与执行由国际金融公司主导,它的核心内容基本上援引了国际金融公司的政策和指南,国际金融公司环境与社会政策的评审结果关乎着赤道原则的命运。国际金融公司也帮助赤道银行培训赤道原则专家,国际金融公司的政策与实践直接影响赤道原则的性质。它把自己定位为开发性金融规则的提倡者,是由于现实因素的推动,客观上提高了银行的公众形象,也提高了国际金融公司自身的形象。     

Policy matters. The long run effects of aggregate demand and mark-up shocks on the Italian unemployment rate

This paper estimates a VAR including labor productivity, real wage and unemployment rate, to identify the dynamic effects of technology, demand, and mark-up shocks, respectively, on the Italian labor market. Identification is achieved by imposing recursive restrictions on the matrix of long run multipliers. Our results show that both mark up and aggregate demand shocks permanently reduce the unemployment rate. Finally, technology shocks do not significantly affect the unemployment rate in the long run. These findings convey important policy implications: expansionary aggregate demand and deregulation policies reducing the mark up permanently decrease the Italian unemployment rate.Jel classification: C32, E32, J29This paper has been produced as part of a CEPR Research Network on New Approaches to the Study of Economic Fluctuations. We would like to thank Marcello DAmato, Mario Forni, Marco Lippi and Antonio Ribba for useful comments. We are also grateful to Bernd Sussmuth for pointing out to us several significant improvements to the paper.First version received: November 2001/Final version received: October 2002     

企业购并行为中的税收政策效应

本主要分析所得税对企业市场购并行为的影响。国外学所分析企业购并时,通常假设市场完全竞争,企业的决策不受非市场因素的干扰。他们认为,企业购并中,购并方的收益率只受两个因素的影响,即企业已分配股息的纳税比率和资本利得税率。笔从两方面对以上模型进行了修正：一是修正了其中“债务利息可以全部税前扣除”的假设前提,二是修正了被购并方在交易中的交易条件。以上修正使模型能够更加准确地描述中国的现实经济环境,也得出了完全不同的结论。