Everybody wins? A discourse analysis of competing stakeholder expectations in Social Impact Bonds

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how diverse stakeholders frame their expectations of Social Impact Bonds (SIBs). Using discourse analysis, the authors examine competing expectations in SIB press releases, showing how they differ between stakeholders, between institutional contexts, and how they evolve over time. The paper highlights how the prioritization of social finance and collaboration discourses privileges the role of private investors, which in turn diminishes the role of service providers as innovators.     

Environmental performance and plant closure

This study uses a sample of plant closings as the testing stage to examine the financial consequences of variant environmental performance records and stakeholder pressure levels. It compares 117 manufacturing facilities closing down between 1998 and 2000 to 351 facilities surviving through this period, along four measures of environmental performance. It shows that in the ten years prior to closure, closing facilities reduce their toxics emissions relatively more and incur somewhat stronger community and regulatory pressures than surviving ones. The results persist through alternative versions of the model and suggest that the environmental performance of closing facilities is at least as good as that of surviving ones. The mix of environmental practices of closing facilities differs from that of surviving ones with the former engaging in significantly less recycling of waste than the latter. Closing facilities focus more on end-of-pipe measures while surviving ones engage in more pro-active strategies, consistent with evidence in the literature of a positive relation between pro-active environmental practices and performance. Stakeholder pressures, in some cases (e.g., in pollution intensive industries), may be associated with unrecoverable costs to facilities, including closure, depending on the environmental management choices of the facilities.     

The rationality of irrationality in times of financial crises

Whilst there are many models discussing the mechanics of financial crises, the notion of predation seems to be insufficiently taken into consideration as one of the explanatory behavioral factors, although it would enrich the understanding of dysfunctional financial markets. This paper provides a stylized model for disruptive and toxic economic behaviors in the context of predatory markets like the subprime crisis of 2007–2009. In this context, we investigate why consumers and sellers buy products they know to be toxic. Conventional economic models contain classical tenets that assume that consumers are rational and search for utility maximization; however, these models cannot straightforwardly explain the behaviors consumers and sellers adopted during times of financial crises, known as “exuberantly irrational”. Hence, we use and expand on a predator-prey perspective that endeavors to capture such behaviors more effectively while showing that four market variables must be considered together over time – consumers, suppliers, toxic products and regulations. Our analysis shows that during the GFC, consumers and lenders as well as regulators embraced whole-heartedly, and contrary to common economic sense, the development and marketing of toxic products. Their behaviors were actually quite rational in the context of a poisoned market. Such observation could assist in drafting regulations.     

双模双控释新工艺制备格列齐特缓释胶囊

文章介绍了双模双控释新工艺制备格列齐特缓释胶囊的技术原理、主要技术指标、技术创新点及其研制过程中的关键技术与工艺和项目鉴定结论.     

A Model of Bargaining over Hazardous Waste Cleanup

We put forward a formal model of a bargaining problem in which two parties suspected of contaminating the environment are responsible for clean-up costs. If the parties do not negotiate an agreement on a cost allocation, one will be imposed by the government. This process is commonly used in environmental cleanups performed under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund). Passed by the US Congress in 1980 and administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), CERCLA provides the U.S. government with authority to manage releases (or threatened releases) of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment. We conclude that potentially responsible parties will be induced to settle only in the face of specific allocations of clean-up and explicit threats. For example, at the Middlefield–Ellis–Whisman Superfund site in Mountain View, California, the responsibilities of the different parties for soil and groundwater contamination are understood by all, yet our negotiation model predicts that without the threat that additional costs will be imposed, agreement on the allocation of clean up costs will never be reached.     

Appearance-related consumption among dating,cohabiting and married consumers: a comparison between men and women

This paper explores press releases, a neglected area of retail and marketing research, from leading British supermarket retailers over a two-year period to December 2002. Major themes for press releases are found to be products and services, corporate social responsibility, and corporate affairs and performance, although individual retailers show different emphases. A stakeholder engagement approach demonstrates how the releases seek to build networks of common interest, which is particularly demonstrable in relation to support for British farming and charitable activities. However it is noted that both these could be considered “easy targets”, grateful for any support they can obtain.     

Trust and community building in the Doñana (Spain) toxic spill disaster

Appeals to public participation and, more generally, to a wider involvement of civic networks in the management of environmental conflicts are becoming more common after the difficulties that both the Market and the State appear to have in regulating these conflicts. The concern of this paper is with how central elements in civic society, such as interpersonal trust and community-building mechanisms, are influenced by environmental catastrophes. The case of the toxic spill disaster in Doñana, Spain, is presented in order to examine whether this accident had any effect on interpersonal trust and the mobilization of civic networks in the area. From the analysis, it can be concluded that involvement of civic networks in the management of these situations depends on the magnitude (real or perceived) of the disaster but also on the performance of public institutions regarding the event.     

January Anomalies: Implications for the Market's Incorporation of News

We examine the responses of five interest rate instruments to the release of macroeconomic announcements to determine whether January returns behave differently from returns in other months when information is released. Our results suggest that in all instruments, returns in January are less sensitive to macroeconomic news, compared with other months. This is true even though the number and type of announcements are much the same in January as in other months. The instruments examined feature important differences in liquidity, maturity, credit risk, and other institutional differences, suggesting that our evidence is robust.     

Does news play an important role in the correction process of the accrual anomaly?

We examine whether the financial press plays an important role in the correction of the accruals anomaly. Using 83,016 Wall Street Journal news articles published during 1993–2006, we find that a significant fraction of abnormal returns associated with the accruals trading strategy is concentrated on news days. The clustering of returns on news announcements is consistent with the financial press revealing information valuable for the correction of accruals mispricing. Further, we find that earnings‐related news is more influential in the correction process than non‐earnings‐related news. Collectively, the results suggest that the financial press provides useful information to capital market participants.     

Timing Movie Release on the Internet in the Context of Piracy

Offering movies on the Internet is one way of combating the issue of online movie piracy, although the tradeoff is the cannibalization of the more revenue-generating channels. Given this tradeoff and the rather unique “staggered window distribution” mechanism followed by the movie industry, this article addresses the problem of when the studio owner should release the movie online to maximize the entire revenue stream of that movie. A general modeling approach that assumes an exponential demand function and fixed release times in the remaining channels is provided. Detailed illustration using three different movie types demonstrates that a high revenue-generating movie should be released online just prior to its home video release, while the online release of an average or below-average movie should coincide with their withdrawal from the theaters. Sensitivity analyses of the results are also displayed and give the circumstances under which a different online release time is warranted. The analysis suggests, among other things, that if a movie has an excellent opening strength and is able to sustain its revenues quite well, it would be more profitable to release the movie online a few weeks before it is withdrawn from the theaters. Additionally, the standard outcomes generated by the model are found to be sensitive to any online per-unit price change.