Drivers and barriers of eco‐innovation types for sustainable transitions: A quantitative perspective

Firms are influenced by internal factors (resources and capabilities) and external factors (e.g., regulation) when taking the decision to eco‐innovate. However, the analysis of the internal factors has received much less attention than the external ones. This paper aims to fill this gap in the literature by analyzing the role of resources, competences, and dynamic capabilities (RCCs) as determinants (drivers and barriers) of different eco‐innovation (EI) types. Those EI types contribute differently to the sustainable transition of the economy and society, that is, towards the circular economy. The statistical analyses reveal that RCCs are quite relevant as determinants of EIs, and that different RCCs are more or less relevant for different EI types. In particular, the determinants of systemic and radical EIs substantially differ from those for continuous improvements. Our results suggest that physical RCCs, involvement in green supply chains, an EI‐friendly corporate culture, technology‐push and market‐pull, and internal financing resources represent drivers to these EIs, whereas cooperation, organizational learning, an ISO (International Organization for Standardization) ecological certification, and technological path dependency are barriers. The results may guide firms to pursue competitive and sustainable advantage by innovating through certain EI types corresponding to available and dedicated RCCs. They may also be useful to policy makers who are willing to promote specific EI types.     

Option pricing and hedging in different cyclical structures: a two-dimensional Markov-modulated model

The critical role of interest rate risk and associated regime-switching risk in pricing and hedging options is examined using a closed-form valuation model. Equity call options are valued under the proposed 2-dimensional Markov-modulated model in which asset prices and interest rates exhibit Markov regime-switching features. In addition, the relationship between cyclical structures and option prices are analyzed using a time-varying transition probability matrix. The proposed model can enhance the forecast transition probabilities in an out-sample period. The cycle-stylized effect of an economy exhibits different impacts on option prices and hedging strategies in a short- and a long-cycle economy. Our closed-form formula based on more realistic specifications with respect to business-cyclical structures in various financial markets is more appropriate for pricing and hedging options.     

Forecasting realised volatility: a Markov switching approach with time‐varying transition probabilities

This paper introduces a markov‐switching heterogeneous autoregressive (MS‐HAR) model with time‐varying transition probabilities (TVTP) for the realised volatility of Shanghai securities composite index returns. Its various extensions have been obtained by including negative returns outside trading hours in addition to the leverage effects and trading volume. The findings show asymmetries in the impact of explanatory variables on the realised volatility. Moreover, the out‐of‐sample results show that the benchmark MS‐HAR with TVTP model and its extensions consistently outperform the simple HAR model, MS‐HAR model with constant transition probabilities (CTP) and their extensions. These results are robust to alternative realised measurements, and have economic implications.     

Post-socialist constitutions: The de jure–de facto gap,its effects and determinantsa

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate on constitutional rules and their economic effects by extending focus to the de jure–de facto constitutional gap. First, evidence is provided that size of this gap matters as higher gaps lower the effectiveness of the constitutional commitment mechanism. Second, several explanations of this gap are identified, in particular relating to the democratization process, political conflict, age and comprehensiveness of the constitution. The conclusions are based on an empirical study for the unique setting of the post-socialist countries of Europe and Asia, which all enacted new constitutional frameworks after 1989 and it is shown that in some of these countries constitutions acted as blueprints.     

Transition to greener pulp: regulation,industry responses and path dependency

Although the dioxin alarm broke at the same time in Sweden and the US in the mid-1980s, Swedish pulp and paper (P&P) firms led the way towards the new market for low-chlorine and chlorine-free P&P products. This study explores the transition in the Swedish P&P industry and contrasts the Swedish case to the US experience. We highlight the importance of already established technological paths to deal with pollution, paths which were strongly formed by the different national environmental policies since the 1970s. Thus while US P&P firms were technologically locked-in when the dioxin alarm broke, the strategy of Swedish P&P firms to proactively collaborate in environmental research and development (R&D) together with a national policy that favoured process integrated abatement technology, helped Swedish firms take technological leadership. This article particularly stresses the implications of technological path-dependency and different national regulatory styles in understanding the evolution of different modes of corporate environmental strategies.     

价值主张创新促进服务型制造的实证研究

基于2014—2016年639家制造业上市公司的数据,探讨价值主张创新能否促进服务转型。研究表明,大型制造企业适合开展嵌入服务并创新功能型价值主张,而小企业应当从事混入服务并创新情感型价值主张。进行与转型方式相匹配的价值主张创新,会促进制造业服务化。价值主张创新对服务转型的促进效应,随着资产规模的缩小而减弱。     

Mechanism of regional land use transition in underdeveloped areas of China: A case study of northeast China

By using Northeast China as example, this study measured the characteristics of the land use transition of underdeveloped areas (UAs) of China and explored the underlying transition mechanism. This study found that, the main characteristics of the land use transition of Northeast China during the last two decades (1995–2015) were continuous expansion of cropland, accelerated growth of construction land, and continuous reduction of woodland and grassland, as well as unused land. Policies dominate the process of land use transition of the UAs of China. The land use transition of UAs of China is a result of interaction and coupling between socio-ecological feedback under the guidance of policies and socio-economic change under the influence of policies. The former determines the direction of regional land use transition while the latter determines the intensity of this transition. During the process of land use transition, the sustainable use of land of the UAs of China faces several severe issues: inefficient use of urban construction land caused by unreasonable policy support, degradation of the ecological environment caused by irrational expansion of cropland, and both policy instability and policy conflicts. To resolve these issues, punishment and accountability of local governmental violations of land use should be strengthened. Furthermore, a land use information disclosure system and public supervision mechanism should be established by policy makers. The starting point of policy formulation should be shifted from quantity growth to quality improvement as well as from economic benefits to comprehensive benefits.     

区域一体化背景下城市群产业生态效率及其时空跃迁特征

在区域一体化背景下，以江浙沪两省一市2009~2018年新材料产业面板数据为研究样本，基于DEA模型和空间自相关模型，分析该地区的城市群产业生态效率及其时空跃迁特征。研究结果表明，江苏省GDP总量与增速最快，新材料产业的集中程度较高且生态效率呈现快速上升趋势，生态效率以南部的苏州和无锡为中心向周围递减；浙江省生态效率缓慢上升，大致呈现由北向南递减的趋势；上海市则呈现下降趋势。江浙沪区域新材料产业整体呈现向苏南与浙北地区聚集的时空跃迁特征。行政支持、财政支持这两个驱动因素与新材料产业生态效率的灰色关联度呈现下降趋势，其余均呈现上升趋势。政府应结合城市群的生态效率发展特点与时空跃迁特征推进区域一体化建设，缩小城市之间的生态效率差异，实现区域协调发展。     

Land questions in the 21st Century Postcolony

The question of land, its commodification and role in capital accumulation has come to occupy centre stage in political economy since the last decade of the 20th century. Such concerns are however not confined to the agrarian question as in classical political economy but have emerged primarily in the wake of land being integrated into circuits of speculative capital accumulation constituting novel processes of dispossession. This financialization of land and accompanying processes of dispossession, often justified through neoliberal developmentalism, not only has consequences for agrarian actors and ecologies but also poses questions about the role of land in current accumulation dynamic, especially in transitioning economies in the global South. Based on a review of three recently published books on the contemporary land question and politics around it in India, this essay explores how such incorporations and dispossessions are driven by multiple developmental imperatives and asks what such logics mean for conceptualizing the land question in the 21st century.