Culture,institutions and long-term development: the Swedish case and implications for China

Most social scientists agree that institutional analyses seem to be a promising tool to analyse long-term development. International comparisons are also necessary to understand what constitutes ‘good’ institutions and to which extent they can be created by conscious decisions. The most important aspect of studies of other countries and their institutional development is not what we learn about them but that we by comparison can develop a better understanding of the history of our own country. This article describes the peculiarities of the Swedish institutional framework in a historical perspective. Special attention has been given to aspects that are often discussed in analyses of the Chinese development. In many aspects, China and Sweden can be seen as representatives of two opposite paths of development for instance in the sequence of institutional building, in the development of checks and balances and in whether the orientation of the culture is family or society oriented. In spite of these differences, it is not difficult to find islands of cultural concordance which can facilitate mutual learning and understanding.     

Living arrangements and fire-related mortality amongst older people in Europe

Abstract

In Europe, a demographic transition has occurred meaning that countries have larger older adult populations who are increasingly living alone and receiving homecare rather than institutional care. Given that living alone is the greatest individual risk factor for fire mortality amongst older adults and that large differences exist in terms of both fire mortality risk and living arrangements between countries, this study investigates the association between co-living rates and fire mortality rates among older adults in Europe. Freely available datasets with aggregated European data on fire mortality, living arrangements among older adults, population statistics and GDP were analyzed using Poisson regression models. The results show that fire-related mortality rates amongst older adults in Europe is correlated with living arrangements after adjusting for GDP. Specifically, in Europe, when the share of older adults living alone increases by one percentage point, fire mortality rates increase by roughly 4 percent for both sexes.     

Comments on “interpreting Chinese contributions to development policy from aspects of Chang'e 4”

This article is a comment on The Fallacy of Washington Consensus and the Role of the Government: Interpreting Some Chinese Contributions to Development Policy from Aspects of Chang'e 4 by Jinghai Zheng.The comparison between how equilibrium concepts are used in economics and natural sciences is extended to areas such as biology, chemistry and convex optimization in mathematics and is discussed on the basis of the state's role in economics and general equilibrium theory.     

A Real Options Approach to Abatement Investments and Green Goodwill

In this paper we adopt the green goodwill argument as to why firms voluntarily invest in abatement capital. We investigate the effects on the abatement investment decision of changes in uncertainty about future green goodwill, competitor abatement investments, regulations, etc., using a real options framework. Our results indicate that increased uncertainty about consumers' willingness to pay for green products in the future discourage voluntary abatement investments. The model also suggests that voluntary abatement investments are promoted by an increased threat of regulation and competitor abatement investments. Furthermore, the benefit-cost ratio of the abatement investment project, at the point where it is optimal to invest, is independent of what regulatory regime (stringent or lenient) the firm operates in. We also conclude that despite the fact that voluntary abatement investment exists, there may still be room for environmental policy.     

Using relative profit incentives to prevent collusion

This paper describes a new economic method for preventing oligopoly collusion. The method eliminates incentives for collusion by making managerial compensation depend on relative profits rather than absolute profits. This alteration of managerial incentives sets up a zero-sum game among the firms in an industry, yielding the result that firms no longer have incentive to collude, either actually or tacitly, with regard to prices or outputs. The method also ameliorates the imperfectly competitive outcomes which can result from even noncooperative oligopoly interactions.     

Abatement investments and green goodwill

This paper develops and estimates a dynamic model that links profits to green goodwill. Assuming that abatement investments generate green goodwill, and using data from the Swedish pulp industry, we are able to test the effects of green goodwill on firm level output price and profits. The results suggests that Swedish pulp plant output prices and profits may be positively related to changes in green goodwill. Furthermore, no evidence is found to support the existence of adjustment costs due to abatement investments.     

A MICROECONOMIC MODEL OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

This paper explores the economic mechanisms behind corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a microeconomic model of the firm. The study's motivation is to shed light on the potential causes of the observed phenomena of voluntary over‐compliance among firms. We investigate how assumptions about costs and benefits affect CSR behavior through a stock of goodwill capital. In optimum, the firm must balance marginal costs and benefits of investing in CSR. We characterize the equilibrium and examine comparative statics and dynamics from a parameterized model. Finally, we link some of the model's results to the empirical literature on CSR.     

Time substitution for environmental performance: The case of Swedish manufacturing

We extend recent advances in time substitution modeling to a directional distance function framework, in order to examine the environmental performance of firms in Sweden’s pulp and paper industry for the years 2002–2008. Our data allow us to estimate the optimal reallocation of environmental investments, expenditures and energy use to simultaneously maximize production output and minimize emissions in the years immediately before and after the implementation of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. We find some evidence of overall productivity decline when considering both emissions and output objectives, due primarily to technological decline, and that cumulative dynamic inefficiency outweighs static inefficiency. A comparison of optimal investment with observed investment indicates that firms could have improved their performance by reallocating environmental investments to early periods and production-oriented investment to later periods.     

The impact of tourism in the Caribbean: A methodological study

Hills, Theo L. and Lundgren, Jan, “The Impact of Tourism in the Caribbean—A Methodological Study,” Annals of Tourism Research, Vol.IV, No.5, May/September 1977, pp. 248–267. The paper examines some economic, cultural and ecological problems arising from the impact of tourism in the Caribbean. Special attention is given to the nature and mechanism of the international tourist system and to the possibility of predicting saturation of tourist destinations by means of an irritation index. Types of data reflecting “space” as a resource are related to many types of tourist data, including a “seasonality index”.