Economic and Environmental Benefits of Eliminating Log Export Bans – The Case of Costa Rica

An increasing number of tropical timber‐producing nations have enacted bans on export of logs arguing that this will reduce deforestation, expand downstream wood processing and improve the scale efficiency of domestic processing, create jobs and retain more value‐added nationally. The theoretical literature is clear that trade restrictions are generally welfare reducing (except in special cases such as when there is a potential for an optimal export tax). At best, a log export ban is a second‐best policy tool for reducing deforestation and addressing the associated environmental externalities. In overall terms, the suggestion that log export bans can achieve the objectives expected of them is dubious. However, very little quantitative evidence exists to demonstrate this claim and the paper attempts to address this gap by looking at the economic and environmental impacts of eliminating a log export ban in Costa Rica. The authors argue that eliminating the export ban is Pareto improving and could generate economic gains as high as $14 million per annum with the possibility of relatively modest environmental benefits.     

STRATEGY AND SHAREHOLDER VALUE CREATION: THE REAL OPTIONS FRONTIER

The current interest in real options reflects the dramatic increase in the uncertainty of the business environment. Viewed narrowly, the real options approach is the extension of financial option pricing models to the valuation of options on real (that is, nonfinancial) assets. More broadly, the real options approach is a way of thinking that helps managers formulate their strategic options—the future opportunities that are created by today's investments—while considering their likely effect on shareholder value. But if the real options framework promises to link strategy more closely to shareholder value creation, there are some major challenges on the frontier of application. In the first part of this paper, the authors tackle the question, “What is really new about real options, and how does the approach differ from other wellestablished ways to make strategic decisions under uncertainty?” This article provides a specific definition of real options that relies on the ability to track marketpriced risk. Using examples from oil exploration and pharmaceutical drug development, the authors also show how specific features of the industry and the application itself determine the usefulness of the real options approach. The second part of the paper addresses the question: Given the many differences between real and financial options, how should a real options application be framed? The authors examine the use of real options in the valuation of Internet companies to demonstrate the required judgment and tradeoffs in the framing of real options applications. The case of Webvan, an online grocer, is used to illustrate the inter‐action between strategy, execution, and valuation.     

Strategic Options in the Digital Era

The collapse of the dot-com euphoria coupled with the downturn in the business cycle is driving many firms to abandon their high-growth strategies in favor of current earnings. This article argues that, whilst hedging against adverse future conditions, firms must retain an ability to seize up-side business benefits by framing IT investments as strategic options. The authors use three illustrative examples to develop a strategic management process that they term the "Strategic Options Navigator". They conclude by drawing implications for CEOs, CIOs and CFOs.     

中国特色农产品优势区空间格局及区域特征分析

[目的]探讨中国特色农产品优势区（简称“特优区”）空间分布格局,不仅可为特优区的布局规划及建设提供参考,更对依托特优区实现乡村振兴的战略制定具有启示意义。[方法]文章以中国农业农村部公布的231个特色农产品优势区为例,运用ArcGIS空间分析法,采用OLS、SEM、SLM及GWR回归模型,对其空间分布格局及集聚度影响因素进行分析。[结果]（1）特优区主要分布在胡焕庸线东南方向,且在行政区界线处数量较多、密度较高,集聚特征明显,但主导产业类型不同集中分布区域不同;（2）特优区所在地一般距离省界较近,海拔较低、地形坡度值小,人均耕地面积较少,劳动力资源不足,但当地市场消费潜力大;（3）不同特优区所在地的总耕地面积、水资源条件、路网密度等存在区域差异,不具有共性特征。[结论]资源规模并非影响特优区发展的必要条件,地理环境和消费市场可能更为重要。最后得出关于特优区建设与发展的启示。     

Determinants of Industrial Location Choice in India: A Polychoric Principal Component Analysis Approach

Journal of Quantitative Economics - This research paper attempts to identify the factors determining industrial location choice in India, which is essential for formulation of an effective...     

蒙古国生态环境及其东北亚区域合作

随着经济全球化和经济增长速度持续增长,资源储量相对丰富的蒙古国必然参与到资源再分配的世界经济与贸易格局中以获取经济利益,但随之也会带来生态环境问题。对此,蒙古国政府和民众正在采取积极而有效的应对措施,如制定蒙古国发展绿色经济规划、制定防治荒漠化政策、探索草原畜牧业可持续发展模式、发展生态畜牧业和旅游业等。     

Hedging Foreign Project Risk

We study the firm's hedging problem when there is uncertainty about whether its bid on a foreign project will be accepted. Most treatments of this problem suggest that foreign currency options are the preferred hedging instrument. However, we show that when the uncertainty pertaining to the realization of the foreign cash flow is unrelated to the exchange rate, which typically will be the case, futures dominate options as hedge vehicles.
Conversely, options hedging will be appropriate when the viability of the foreign project depends also on an exchange-rate contingency, as would be the case when the bidding firm can withdraw its bid if the foreign currency depreciates sufficiently.
In many cases, both futures and options will form part of the best hedge position. The general principle in forming the hedge is that futures will best offset exchange-rate exposure the existence of which is not exchange-rate contingent. Options will best hedge any costs or revenues that might occur in a foreign currency depending on the outcome of an exchange-rate contingency.     

T611镗床PLC电气柜改造设计对实训教学的作用

为了使技能培训中各学习领域的研究系统化、规范化、实效化,为学校和相关部门在就业培训时能从一定层次和深度上提高就业者的素质和就业能力,从而为职业技能培训提供一种亲临工作现场和工作场景零距离。同时发挥示范高职的社会服务功能,本研究成果较好解决了上述问题。     

Tests on the validity of static equilibrium models

This paper provides a framework to test the validity of static cost minimizing equilibrium assumptions that form the basis for much of the empirical literature on industrial production. The point of departure in our model is to allow the observed technology to be at a short-run equilibrium where firms minimize variable costs while being constrained by the utilization levels of quasi-fixed factors. The long-run equilibrium is then inferred by minimizing total costs with the optimal adjustment of quasi-fixed factor levels.We use results from the optimization problem to form tests with respect to quantities and prices. In the quantity space version, departures between the actual and the optimal long-run levels of quasi-fixed factors are tested for statistical significance. A significant non-zero departure implies the rejection of a static equilibrium specification. In the price space version, the test is cast as a comparison of the market price and the long-run shadow value of a quasi-fixed factor. Although the two versions would give identical results in the non-stochastic case, the rejection powers of these two tests are found to depend on the particular functional form chosen to represent the production process (i.e. cost function).In an application based on aggregate U.S. manufacturing where capital is taken to be quasi-fixed, we were able to reject the static equilibrium specification. These results cast doubt on the validity of a number of previous empirical studies.