Search

At present, the circular economy is emerging as a strategy for sustainable development. What is important in promoting the circular economy is to assess its current level and take measures for assessment. This paper discusses some methodological issues in comparing and assessing the efforts for the circular economy at the international level. To this end, the authors explain the theoretical premise related to the assessment of efforts for the circular economy, establish an indicator system for assessing the efforts for the circular economy, and suggest a method for comprehensively assessing the efforts for the circular economy by country. The conclusions are that (a) the comparative evaluation of activities related to the circular economy by country requires a unified standard or category that can cover these activities, including all factors that meet sustainable development; the outcome, process, and guarantee of the circular economy, and this can be the circular economy effort and (b) the circular economy effort of a given country must synthetically be assessed by using the indicators capable of showing all aspects. These conclusions may contribute to establishing a new theoretical foundation that can include various aspects of the circular economy activities and to setting a practical and methodological foundation for evaluating each country's various activities related to the circular economy at the international level and can serve as a policy basis for identifying the weak and strong aspects of circular economy activities at the domestic or international level and establishing technological and economic measures to strengthen the weak aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The railway power conditioner-based energy storage system (RPC-based ESS) is a promising technology to improve the regenerative braking energy (RBE) utilization and power quality of ac direct-fed (25 kV) and AT-fed (2 × 25 kV) railway power systems. However, despite its benefits from the technical perspective, economic viability must be concerned in industrial applications. The capacity is one of the critical issues affecting ESS performance in technical and economic aspects. Therefore, this paper presents a comprehensive approach to designing the capacity for the RPC-based ESS by considering multiple objectives, including the RBE utilization rate, power quality standard, and net lifetime benefit. The proposed approach develops a technical-economic model for the RPC-based ESS based on variables such as the system capacity for RBE utilization and power quality improvement, lifetime cost, and electric charge-based benefits. Moreover, the master-slave control strategy is employed to control the RPC-based ESS to implement the capacity design objectives. Finally, the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method are validated by sufficient tests based on field load data of a Chinese traction substation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a four-step copper-chlorine cycle for hydrogen production with conceptual modification through flash vaporization and evaluates its economic and environmental performances through exergy approach. The flash vaporization method is employed as a new approach for realizing the anolyte separation under vacuum conditions for reducing the thermal requirement of the anolyte separation step and consequently of the overall cycle. A flash vaporization is usually employed commercially for seawater desalination purposes. However, its utilization in a thermochemical hydrogen production process has not been considered previously which is really one of primary novelties of this investigation. The obtained results for the exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analyses of the conceptually modified cycle are also compared with those of the existing integrated cycle at the Ontario Tech University. The exergoeconomic analysis of the cycle has also been carried out for the cycle operating with and without waste heat recovery. In this regard, waste heat recovery from a steel furnace has been considered for supplying the required thermal energy for the hydrolysis step. The cost assessment of the cycle is carried out in the Aspen-plus. Compared with the existing cycle, the cycle with the proposed modification results in a lower unit cost of hydrogen. Moreover, a significant reduction in the unit cost of hydrogen is observed when waste heat recovery is considered for the modified cycle. The average unit hydrogen cost for the modified version of the cycle is evaluated to be 4.7 $/kg which reduces to 2 $/kg with incorporation of waste heat recovery. Furthermore, the overall environmental impact of the existing cycle can be potentially minimized by considering the proposed modification through flash vaporization. • Exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental assessement of copper-chlorine cycle. • Comparative evaluation of cycle operating with and without waste heat recovery. • Comparative evaluation of the modified and existing integrated cycles. • Evaluation of exergy and unit exergy cost at each state point of the cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple risks have been building up in the Chinese economy during the past decade, exposing it to a possible financial crisis of increasing likelihood. Based upon the inductive reasoning from the conventional key indicators discussed by economists, this paper also adds a deductive reasoning by examining the incentive structure for key players in the Chinese political economy to gauge the risk of a financial crisis in China. It highlights the political and structural factors that are responsible for soft budget constraint, moral hazard from major players, and the lack of institutional foundation for sovereign credibility. It argues that recent policies have not only failed to address these issues but instead have further damaged the credible commitment of the state to the market economy and ratcheted up the course of a great meltdown. This paper calls for a fundamental institutional change in China’s political economy in order to prevent perversion in the state-market interaction from spawning both political and economic crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper emphasizes the main tendency in the vegetables field of Romania by examining economic indicators. The aim is to find the ability of the Romanian market to provide the necessary with vegetables. In order to answer to the question was analyzed total area, total production, average production, average prices, average consumption, import and export. The analysis was made for the period 2011-2015. The obtained results show a diminishing of indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy-makers require strategies to select a set of sustainability indicators that are useful for monitoring sustainability. For this reason, we have developed a model where sustainability indicators compete for the attention of society. This model has shown to have steady situations where a set of sustainability indicators are stable. To understand the role of the network configuration, in this paper we analyze the network properties of the Entangled Sustainability model. We have used the degree distribution, the clustering coefficient, and the interaction strength distribution as main measures. We also analyze the network properties for scenarios compared against randomly generated scenarios. We found that the stable situations show different characteristics from the unstable transitions present in the model. We also found that the complex emergent feature of sustainability shown in the model is an attribute of the scenarios, however, the randomly generated scenarios do not present the same network properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation infrastructure investment (TII) has significant influence on regional economic development. This paper aims to measure the potential economic impact of TII and to help policymakers to evaluate different alternatives and strategies at the regional level through a system dynamics (SD) approach. First, an SD model is established to simulate the impact of TII on the economy and employment. The relationship between transportation investments and economic development is examined and the relevant employment and economic indicators are identified. Second, the variables, flow diagrams, and structural equations of the SD model are defined. Third, the program Vensim is employed to establish the SD model with economy, transportation, and employment subsystems. It is then calibrated based on the historical statistics data in Liaoning Province, China. Finally, scenario analysis of different transportation investment plans is presented. The results will help investors, policymakers, and government agencies to estimate the potential outcomes of proposed transportation investment plans and to further develop optimal policies for transportation investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the government's governance ability and governance level attracts worldwide attention, but the governance level of local government remains to be improved. The modernization level of the governance capacity of local government becomes an important indicator of its ability to measure governance. The economic base determines the superstructure. Economic governance is an indispensable part of the governance system. In this paper, the target of economic governance in Liaoning, a large province of mineral resources, is taken as the research object. The principal component analysis method is applied to establish the index evaluation system of the economic governance ability and the current economic situation is evaluated. The result is instructive to the improvement of Liaoning economic governance index system and the reference is provided for the improvement of the economic governance ability of other provinces and cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides the first published evidence for a ‘U’ shaped relationship between country ‘league-table’ ranking based on the Human Development Index and Corruption Perception Index and media reporting. The results suggest that the Extremity Hypothesis proposed by Heath (Glob Environ Change 21(1): 198-208, 1996) applies to such data rather than the alternative of the Centrality Hypothesis. In the Extremity Hypothesis people are more likely to transmit information regarding extremes, perhaps because people value ‘surprisingness’ or think that others do so, and the inevitable polarity of league-tables would appear to invite greater attention on those countries that rank high and low. This is an important finding as it suggests that countries at these extremes could act as exemplars. However, this is not to say that at more regional scales the media may pick-up on differences between ‘peer group’ countries ranked towards the middle of the league-table. Much more attention needs to be given by researchers to the use of indicators and indices and what helps to influence this, especially as it would help inform further development of existing indicators/indices and the creation of new ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at analysing the dimension of the underground economy in the EU states between 2003 and 2015. In order to achieve this goal, we use qualitative and quantitative methods. In the first two sections of the study we resort to conceptualisation and bring up to date scientific contributions in the field of the shadow economy both in terms of its definition and the methods of quantifying the phenomenon. In the third section, based on the results of the latest research, we identify the dynamics of the underground economy on three levels: the EU-15 (before and after 2005); the EU-10 (before and after the accession of 10 countries in 2005) and the EU-3 (before and after 2007). The main conclusion is that regardless of the reporting level (national, European, world), the real size of the underground economy remains unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to clarify on the evidence of primary material how Keynes transformed his theory from the Tract to the Treatise. Keynes went on working along the lines of the Tract theory until around April 1926, subsequently adopting the Transaction Approach up until September 1927. The paper stresses the importance of the three TOC between September 1927 and September 1928 as pointing the way towards the Treatise's fundamental equations - the breakthrough opening the way to the Treatise. The second fundamental equation, the TM supply function and the natural rate of interest had made their appearance by April 1930. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, though the need for new indicators of progress is broadly recognized, no consensus has arisen on a successor to gross domestic product (GDP). Various quantification options are debated. While some intend to improve current indicators by completing or adjusting them to new constraints, others think that new indicators of progress are liable, if well-designed, to catalyse a transition toward a new societal model, less reliant on growth. Up to now, the normative stakes related to quantification options, though crucial for 'what we measure affects what we do', are scattered among the debates and do not appear clearly to actors. Our paper aims therefore to offer a systematic understanding of the normative impacts of generic quantification choices. To that end, we analyse the index of economic well-being (IEWB). For each dimension of this composite indicator, the analysis-which aims to be easily transposed to other indicators-sheds light on the variety of normative implications resulting from its conceptual and methodological apparatus. This concomitantly leads us to question in depth the relevance of some theoretical hypotheses underlying the IEWB to coherently account for economic, social and ecological issues. The paper's conclusion suggests that alternative conceptual frameworks, such as ecological economics and the capability approach, are liable to carry more coherent indicators of progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban transport policies are characterized by a wide range of impacts, and trade-offs and conflicts among these impacts. The task of integrating and reconciling these impacts poses challenges, because they are incommensurable, and they affect different groups differentially. Further, impacts such as those related to social equity are hard to define and measure. In this paper we address two inter-related questions: How is social equity conceptualized, operationalized, and prioritized relative to environmental and other objectives; and how might social equity be more effectively integrated in urban transportation plans in North America? We critically analyze how social equity is incorporated into transportation plans in 18 large North American metropolitan areas, in terms of the quality of the related objectives, how meaningfully their achievement is assessed through the choice of performance measures or indicators, and their prioritization relative to other objectives. We observe that social equity goals and objectives are in many cases not translated into clearly specified objectives, and appropriate measures for assessing their achievement in a meaningful, disaggregated manner are often lacking. At the same time, there are good examples of social equity objectives and measures in several plans. In general, there is a stronger focus on the local environment (and congestion reduction) than on social equity in the plans. We end the paper with a discussion related to considerations for generating objectives and measures for better integrating social equity into urban transportation plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The city is an important component in the construction of circular economy (CE), and after years of development, assessment of urban CE and calculation of an urban circular development index (UCDI) is an important task that the Chinese government has faced. However, existing research into the indicator system and evaluation methods is not enough to support calculation and subsequent publishing of UCDI. Building off current research into CE, its index systems and its evaluation, this paper puts forward an evaluation index system for urban CE development (UCDI) that uses an improved entropy methodology combining expert and entropy weightings. The index was calculated for 40 cities that were part of China's pilot CE cities program for alternating years in the five year period between 2012 and 2016 (that is, the index was calculated for 2012, 2014 and 2016). The study found that the level of urban CE increased significantly over the five year period, with that in the CE pilot cities growing at a faster rate than the national average. Results show that a certain relationship exists between UCDI, urban types and economic development, but has little relationship with industrial structure. Finally, recommendations for the promotion of urban CE are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presented paper analyses the development of conditions for the development of a creative economy in the regions of the Czech Republic. Through the calculations of a number of sub-indicators in the area of talent, technology and tolerance (Florida's 3T model), the development of the Creativity Index in 2011-2015 has been mapped in individual regions. In the next phase the development of the average growth rate of the Creativity Index was evaluated and graphically illustrated. At the end of the research, a situational and trending matrix of creativity was compiled, dividing the regions into four quadrants (leaders, up and coming, laggards, and losing ground). The results showed the dominant position of the capital city of Prague, which reached the highest score throughout the whole period and with great precedence surpassed all other regions. Only the South Moravian Region surpassed Prague in a specific way, in the value of the R & D indicator. In this region lies the second largest city of the Czech Republic in Brno, which has a very strong position in the field of research, development and innovation. The situational matrix captured the situation in which the leader's quadrant was only Prague, while the other regions were growing in the region quadrant. On the contrary, the trend matrix has suggested that Prague is losing its leading position as it is overtaken by the South Moravian region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop an overview of the phenomenon of corruption in Latin America and to propose a synthetic aggregate indicator to compress most of the statistical information available on corruption for Latin American countries.Design/methodology/approach The indicator of corruption has been obtained through factor analysis by applying the principal component methodology.Findings The authors have managed to obtain a single component that reproduces and synthesizes 86 per cent of all the information about corruption in Latin America gathered by prestigious institutions.Research limitations/implications The authors are aware that their study is not free from limitations. The first limitation is associated with the impossibility of incorporating information related to the phenomenon of corruption from the indicator called Latinobarómetro, as the economies of Cuba and Haiti (included in this research) are not part of the sample analyzed by that indicator. Second, this study reproduces and synthesizes 86 per cent of all available information by prestigious institutions about corruption in Latin America, and although this percentage is significant, it does not constitute 100 per cent.Originality/value This study has created a new indicator that gathers methodologies to measure corruption in Latin American countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper designs a multidimensional index of well-being for 20 Italian regions, based on a set of 41 indicators organized in an original hierarchical structure, a decision-tree whose four main pillars are Economy, Society, Environment and Health. Our novel approach combines the objective dimension of the evaluation (a comprehensive set of statistical indicators) within a flexible non-additive aggregation model (the Choquet integral) characterized with the preferences of informed Italian stakeholders. Adopting the Choquet integral allows us to overcome the well-known limitations embedded in the linear models, by assigning a weight (capacity) to any coalitions of dimensions, and by allowing a different degree of substitutability within each decision node in the tree. The weights and the parameters for the aggregation are elicited through a computer-based nominal group technique, a method which reduces the occurrences of drastically dissenting valuations and the potential expert-selection bias. Our results show that experts' perception of synergies and redundancies is quite heterogeneous between levels and nodes in the tree. Moreover, well-being measures are much influenced by the degree of substitutability embedded in the experts' preferences. Overall, the Italian picture looks more heterogeneous when analysed through the Choquet integral, with respect to a linear model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People are increasingly leaving digital traces of their daily activities through interacting with their digital environment. Among these traces, financial transactions are of paramount interest since they provide a panoramic view of human life through the lens of purchases, from food and clothes to sport and travel. Although many analyses have been done to study the individual preferences based on credit card transaction, characterizing human behavior at larger scales remains largely unexplored. This is mainly due to the lack of models that can relate individual transactions to macro-socioeconomic indicators. Building these models, not only can we obtain a nearly real-time information about socioeconomic characteristics of regions, usually available yearly or quarterly through official statistics, but also it can reveal hidden social and economic structures that cannot be captured by official indicators. In this paper, we aim to elucidate how macro-socioeconomic patterns could be understood based on individual financial decisions. To this end, we reveal the underlying interconnection of the network of spending leveraging anonymized individual credit/debit card transactions data, craft micro-socioeconomic indices that consists of various social and economic aspects of human life, and propose a machine learning framework to predict macro-socioeconomic indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second part of a two-article series presents an economic analysis of the production of concentrated apple juice hydrolates via pervaporation. The average permeability of the membrane and the results obtained for the semi-pilot scale studies presented in the first part of the paper allowed for the determination of the required membrane area for the separation of aroma compounds from apple hydrolate. The simulation was divided into the base case scenario and sensitivity analysis for both batch and continuous process configurations. The economic indicators made it possible to calculate the cost-effectiveness of the implementation of the proposed solution. Both the base case scenarios and their sensitivity analysis revealed that the continuous production generates significantly higher revenues over the batch case. The results of the economic analysis demonstrated that pervaporation is a profitable and feasible option for aroma recovery from fruit hydrolates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to establish the future intervention priorities in building a new programme that would target the economic development in the research area. The used methodology included an adapted A'WOT analysis - an initial SWOT analysis and a prioritization of the items through an expert questionnaire. In the present paper we analyze the experts' opinions and the areas where intervention is needed for the optimum strategies for the 2014-2020 financial frame. These should rely on the strengths in the Guidelines for Applicants, the rules for projects implementation and the institutional system, it should consider changes on the weak points concerning the programme objectives, the Guidelines for Applicants and the beneficiaries consultations, it should make use of opportunities coming from the crossborder status, European Union frame and economic opportunities and overcome the differences coming from crossborder status, membership of two different supranational structures and the economic gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests a new and comprehensive approach to the assessment of the material well-being at the individual level by constructing a multidimensional index. Using this approach, material well-being is understood as a generic notion that covers a number of different domains, whereas the concept of domain is used to distinguish between different aspects of people's resources, including income security, basic needs, durables, housing and subjective material well-being. Each dimension is measured independently, using the best indicators available, to generate a score or domain index for each aspect of material well-being. The procedure of re-weighting the indicators within the separate domains enables us to account for the disparity in resources and consumer preferences across different population subgroups. The final domain scores, combined with explicit weighting, are then used to generate a summary material well-being index. The domain indices and the summary material well-being index are validated by exploring their relationships to key socio-economic attributes, which were previously shown to be strongly associated with individual material well-being. The results showed that the summary indices of material well-being are characterized by greater differentiation in relation to such measures, as occupational class and judgments of satisfaction with one's life. This allows us to conclude that our summary indices capture the latent concept of material well-being better than any of our domain indices used separately. Although the index is constructed using the Russian Gender and Generation Survey data for 2007, the methodological approach that we applied can be easily replicated in other surveys which contain information on several aspects of material well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indicators of compliance and efficiency in combatting money laundering, collected by EUROSTAT, are plagued with shortcomings. In this paper, I have carried out a forensic analysis on a 2003–2010 dataset of indicators of compliance and efficiency in combatting money laundering, that European Union member states self-reported to EUROSTAT, and on the basis of which, their efforts were evaluated. I used Benford’s law to detect any anomalous statistical patterns and found that statistical anomalies were also consistent with strategic manipulation. According to Benford’s law, if we pick a random sample of numbers representing natural processes, and look at the distribution of the first digits of these numbers, we see that, contrary to popular belief, digit 1 occurs most often, then digit 2, and so on, with digit 9 occurring in less than 5% of the sample. Without prior knowledge of Benford’s law, since people are not intuitively good at creating truly random numbers, deviations thereof can capture strategic alterations. In order to eliminate other sources of deviation, I have compared deviations in situations where incentives and opportunities for manipulation existed and in situations where they did not. While my results are not a conclusive proof of strategic manipulation, they signal that countries that faced incentives and opportunities to misinform the international community about their efforts to combat money laundering may have manipulated these indicators. Finally, my analysis points to the high potential for disruption that the manipulation of national statistics has, and calls for the acknowledgment that strategic manipulation can be an unintended consequence of the international community’s pressure on countries to put combatting money laundering on the top of their national agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to apply duration methods to a sample of Farm Service Agency (FSA) direct, seven-year operating loans to identify those variables that influence the time to loan termination and type of termination. Variables include both those known at time of loan origination and those that characterize the changing economic environment over the life of the loan. Also, to examine the impact of various FSA programs promoting policy objectives. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic sample of 877 seven-year, FSA direct loans originated between October 1, 1993 and September 30, 1996 was collected. Cox regression, competing risks models are estimated as a function of borrower and loan characteristics observable at loan origination. Economic indicator variables emphasizing the farm economy and observed quarterly over the life of the loan are also included as explanatory variables. Findings – Loan characteristics, borrower financial characteristics and degree of borrower interaction with FSA observable at origin are significant variables in determining type of loan outcome (default or paid-in-full) and time to outcome. Changes in the economic environment and farm economy during the life of the loan are significant. Research limitations/implications – The sample consists only of FSA direct loans which implies borrowers are at financial margin. Application of method to agricultural loans from conventional commercial lenders could identify different significant factors. Practical implications – Using length of time to loan termination instead of just type of outcome provides for a richer analysis of loan performance. Loan performance over time is influenced by the larger economy and should be incorporated into loan performance modeling. Originality/value – The study described in the paper demonstrates use of competing risks models on intermediate agricultural loans and develops how this technique can be used to learn about dynamic aspects of loan performance. Sample consists of observations on individual FSA direct loan borrowers. The FSA direct loan program is the major source of credit for agricultural borrowers at the financial margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to develops an estimable hybrid model that combines the micro-founded DSGE model with the flexibility of the atheoretical VAR model. Design/methodology/approach - The model is estimated via the maximum likelihood technique based on quarterly data on real gross national product (GNP), consumption, investment and hours worked, for the South African economy, over the period of 1970:1 to 2000:4. Based on a recursive estimation using the Kalman filter algorithm, the out-of-sample forecasts from the hybrid model are then compared with the forecasts generated from the Classical and Bayesian variants of the VAR for the period 2001:1-2005:4. Findings - The results indicate that, in general, the estimated hybrid-DSGE model outperforms the classical VAR, but not the Bayesian VARs in terms of out-of-sample forecasting performances. Research limitations/implications - The model lacks nominal shocks and needs to be extended into a small open economy framework. Practical implications - The paper was able to show that, even though the DSGE model is outperformed by the BVAR, a microfounded theoretical DSGE model has a future in forecasting the South African economy. Originality/value - To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt to use an estimable DSGE model to forecast the South African economy [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The generation of trajectories for a biped robot is a problem which has been largely studied for several years, and many satisfying offline solutions exist for steady-state walking in absence of disturbances. The question is a little more complex when the generation of the desired trajectories of joints or links has to be achieved or adapted online, i.e. in real time, for example when it is wished to strongly synchronize these trajectories with an external motion. This is precisely the problem addressed in this paper. Indeed, we consider the case where the “master” motion is measured by a position sensor embedded on a human leg. We propose a method to synchronize the motion of a robot or of other device with respect to the output signal of the sensor. The main goal is to estimate as accurately as possible the current phase along the gait cycle. We use for that purpose a model based on a nonlinear oscillator, which we associate an observer. Introducing the sensor output in the observer allows us to compute the oscillator phase and to generate a synchronized multilinks trajectory, at a very low computational cost. The paper also presents evaluation results in terms of robustness against parameter estimation errors and velocity changes in the input. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper revisits the theory of interest rates propounded by Henry Thornton (1760 - 1815). Particular attention is paid to Thornton's examination of the inflationary effects of the gap between the Bank of England's discount rate and the current rate of profit. The paper shows that Thornton is also concerned, unlike Wicksell, about the consequences of a gap between the Bank of England's discount rate and the effective bank lending rate on the market for loanable funds, which results mainly from the usury laws. Thornton's analyses offer then a framework for regulating the value of money through adjustments to the bank rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In April 2004, Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd (MMAL) announced the closure of its foundry and engine-making plant at Lonsdale in southern Adelaide. The closure resulted in 700 involuntary redundancies with a further 400 positions lost at MMAL's Tonsley Park plant through voluntary redundancies. The loss of jobs and associated economic activity were a major shock to southern Adelaide, a relatively poor region with few large manufacturing establishments, a limited economic infrastructure and a relatively unskilled labour force. The region had suffered setbacks in the previous three years with a downturn in the wine industry and the closure of the nearby Mobil Oil Refinery at Port Stanvac. This paper draws on debates around multiscalar governance in order to understand how governments have responded to employment loss in southern Adelaide. The paper pays particular attention to the balance between regional and industry-focused initiatives and suggests that regions need to ensure they occupy a central position within the strategies and actions of governments. The paper also highlights the vulnerability of regions that lack growth coalitions able to operate as effective advocates for their region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests predictions of redistributive policy theory. Lowi claims that redistributive policy is not influenced by economic conditions. Limited empirical evidence exists to confirm this prediction, and what little evidence exists is indefinite. Policy theory also suggests that such a policy need not produce actual outcomes, but rather, only possess the capacity to produce outcomes. Do policy outcomes or the capacity to redistribute vary over the business cycle? I posit that neither capacity nor redistribution is affected by economic condition. This paper tests this hypothesis using results from the General Social Survey and data from the Current Population Survey. Revisiting one redistributive program during a period of economic downturn - a US Department of Labor initiative that was found to have produced measurable redistribution during the economic growth of the 1990s - this study examines both capacity and reallocation, and partially confirms that redistributive policies are impervious to recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the problems surrounding the development of indicators for multi-purpose/multifunctional forestry in the United Kingdom. Because of international and national forestry policy commitments to multi-purpose forestry and the development of indicators for sustainable forest management, which include social indicators, forestry offers a useful laboratory in which to explore the practical and conceptual issues surrounding the development of indicators in relation to rural land use. In this paper, the background to the emergence of a multi-purpose forestry policy in the UK is explored. The shift towards multi-purpose/multifunctional forestry was boosted at international level by the Rio Earth Summit, which led to a range of region-specific international institutions which have promoted sustainable forest management. The pan-European Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests subsequently agreed a criteria and indicators approach to the evaluation of sustainable forest management, which includes consideration of the social dimension. Social indicators are problematic for several reasons. First, many social scientists would challenge the positivist basis on which indicators are normally constructed, arguing instead that social values are mutable social constructions. Nevertheless, a parallel thrust of much UK forest research in recent years has been to value the non-market benefits of forestry with greater accuracy. Given the prevalence of this positivist logic in UK forest policy circles, it is unsurprising that social issues have been marginalised and relatively weakly researched. There are now strong pressures from government to all ministries to develop performance indicators. Such indicators already exist both in relation to sustainable forest management in the UK and more widely in relation to the assessment of the Forestry Commission''s performance. Recent work in the UK recognises the contested and negotiated nature of indicators and points to the resultant problems that are likely to arise in the development of social indicators, for example in the farm sector. The high degree of state ownership makes social objectives more readily achievable in the state forestry sector than in other forms of private sector productive land use, where social objectives are closely interlinked with the overall livelihoods of private landowners, but also relate to the wider values of a more complex and increasingly consumption-based rural society. The pursuit of consensually agreed social indicators for the forest sector poses major challenges and wider applications to other rural land uses such as the farm sector will also be deeply problematic, both in the UK and more widely. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Rents form a relatively high share of GDP in developing countries (from 15-50%), so that differences in the scale of the rent and in its distribution among economic agents profoundly affect the evolution of the political economy. This paper deploys two rent-driven political economy models to analyse the performance of four oil-exporting countries (Angola, Venezuela, Indonesia and Algeria). The low-rent model provides a counter-factual for the high-rent model, which typifies most oil-exporters. The low-rent model sustains rapid per capita GDP (PCGDP) growth that brings endogenous democratisation, which is incremental. In contrast, high-rent countries tend to deploy the rent in ways that lock the economy into a staple trap, which aborts competitive economic diversification and represses sanctions against anti-social governance. These adverse staple trap features are heightened in oil-exporting countries because they tend to have very high natural resource rent, which is easily extracted by governments. However, a growth collapse may abruptly trigger political and economic reform if exogenous factors are favourable. This paper applies the models to explain the disappointing oil-driven development in Angola and Venezuela, and also the apparent anomaly of Indonesian development during 1966-96. It concludes by outlining with reference to Algeria a dual track strategy to circumvent the political obstacles that prevent reform in a rent-distorted political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This note is a critical response to Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell's recent treatise on law and economics. Fairness Versus Welfare, in which they argue that legal decision-making should be conducted with the sole goal of welfare-maximization. After a brief summary of the book, this paper focuses on three primary problems with its contents and approach. First, the tautological nature of the authors' argument, which they acknowledge but downplay is discussed. Second, it is argued that while the authors give lip-service to ‘tastes for fairness,’ they refuse to acknowledge the implications of such preferences for their conclusions and then minimize their possible importance. Finally, this paper addresses what is possibly the most disappointing aspect of this work: the arrogance, condescension, and Intolerance displayed throughout the book toward those with dissenting views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relevance of the demand-side approach to the development of a service economy. Its starts by addressing some concerns about the possibility of creating a growth regime based on services. Discussion has mainly focused on the increasing share of services in consumer spending; but equally important is the fact that most products—goods and services alike—integrate a significant service-to-the client dimension. The paper considers the costs incurred by strategies that aim to create value for the client and that require the existence of a purchasing power likely to validate them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In examining the relation between violence against women and women's economic dependence, existing literature treats the incidents of violence either as a binary or as a continuous variable. However, the incidents of violence is a count variable and, quite often, data on the number of violent incidents is categorized. This paper estimates the relation between violence against women and economic dependence by using a categorized negative binomial regression model. The model is suitable for categorized count data and thus provides a more accurate estimation of the relation than what is provided in the literature. Data analyses in this paper show that less economic dependence of women is associated with less violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preceding papers have shown the impressive versatility and potential of agent-based modeling in developing an understanding of industrial and labor dynamics. The main attraction of agent-based models is that the actors — firms, workers, and networks — that are the objects of study in the 'real world,' can be represented directly in the model. This one-to-one correspondence between model agents and economic actors provides greater clarity and more opportunities for analysis than many alternative modeling approaches. However, the advantages of agent-based modeling have to be tempered by disadvantages and as yet unsolved methodological problems. In this brief summary drawn from the discussion at the closing session of WILD@ACE, we review three of these open problems in the context of the papers presented at the conference: How can agent-based models be empirically validated? What criteria should be used to evaluate the explanatory success of agent-based models? And how can the conclusions of research on similar topics be integrated? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the location strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from emerging countries (EMNEs) in search for regional strategic assets. The analysis is based on a systematic comparison between EMNEs and multinationals from advanced countries (AMNEs) in order to unveil similarities and differences between these two major sources of foreign investment into the regions of the European Union. The empirical results suggest that EMNEs follow a distinctive logic in their location strategies. They are attracted by the availability of technological competences only when their subsidiaries pursue more sophisticated and technology-intensive activities. Conversely, EMNEs share some behavioural similarities with AMNEs in their response to the spatial agglomeration of investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural districts are becoming an important field of study to promote a growing number of initiatives for local development. Despite substantial research in this field, knowledge gaps remain, especially with regard to initiatives at supra-urban level. Many policy-makers, funding agencies, local administrators and managers still face important design issues. This paper contributes to the developing body of theory on cultural districts in two ways. Firstly, focusing on concepts from complexity theory, it expands the debate on the conception of cultural districts as complex adaptive systems. Secondly, it highlights the dysfunctional tensions that can arise from conflicting ways of conceiving organizations, organizing and designing among ‘promoters’ and designers. We have been involved for three years in a large project aimed at designing a wide supra-urban cultural district in Italy, financed by a major banking foundation. Adopting an organizational perspective and through participative action research, we develop an explorative case study. Our core argument is that a linear, predictable and deterministic approach to analysis and design presents many limitations for such complex projects, offering learning opportunities from the design experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines efficiency of building drainage system on the territory of Pancevo rit (south Banat). In this case, the research incorporates hydro-technical and economic indicators on which building of drainage systems depends. Analysed area covers over 90 000 ha of agricultural and building land. Hydro-technical solution offers 6 possible alternatives that can be applied in stages. For these alternatives total surface in risk of flood (ha) and total defended surface (ha) have been estimated. In addition to this, potential investments into building (€) and consumption of energy for powering pumping station (kWh) have been calculated for each alternative. Operational expenses of these systems include expenses of energy, expenses of maintenance and expenses of management. Expenses per defended ha, depending on the chosen alternative, amount from 34 to 76,5 €/ha. Considering the fact that the efficiency of drainage was examined using hydro-technical and economic indicators, the order of building of particular alternative was determined using multi-criteria optimization. In this case, method Electra 2 has been chosen. The input data matrix contained 6 variants and 6 criteria. One criterion regarding defended surface (ha) converged to maximum, while total investment (€), consumed energy (kWh), investment per defended ha (€/ha), operational expenses per defended ha (€/ha), expenses per defended ha (€/ha) to the minimum. The result of ranking coincides with hydro-technical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article devoted to analysis of sustainable development indicators (SDI) evolution and peculiarities of designing the set of SDI for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and other countries. The paper provides an overview of evolution and application experience of sustainability measuring practice. Researchers analyze the directions of measurement approach progress. Modern trends of indicators' using are explored. Ways of overcoming the lack of harmonization in variety of conceptual and organizational frameworks which are used by different countries are viewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately modeling and forecasting construction works completed by main contractors is pivotal for policymakers, who require reliable market intelligence to adjust or develop optimal labor and housing policies. Yet, despite its importance, limited research has been conducted to systematically develop approaches to investigating future trends of works completed in the private construction sector. Against this backdrop, this paper provides a study of the annual financial value of construction work in the private residential market. A vector autoregression (VAR) model developed utilizes economic indicators (used by private financiers when making investment decisions) to estimate the value of annual construction work carried out by main contractors. Using data from the Hong Kong private residential market and constructing an accumulated impulse function, the developed model suggests that construction work completions in private residential markets can be explained by changes in economic indicators such as gross domestic product and the property price index. These economic indicators have been identified as having a large and direct effect on forthcoming construction works. The developed model also provides a high degree of accuracy (producing an adjusted R2 value of 0.72) when simulating or forecasting future changes in the value of construction works over a short-term 5-year forecast. The output of this study contributes to the literature by systematically developing a reliable approach using economic indicators that is useful for forecasting private-sector construction completions. Such knowledge is of paramount importance when estimating the industry's future workload and supply of residential buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

United States (US) policy makers often rely on economic indicators in order to determine citizens' well-being. Authors of other research in the area of well-being have reported that well-being is a function of other factors beyond just income including health indicators such as physical and mental health, social interactions such as employment and productivity, and politics. Therefore, inclusion of these other factors would better capture variations in well-being. In this paper, well-being in each of the fifty states in the US is assessed using a mixed panel model approach (2009-2011) including typical economic and political measures. The findings from the empirical analysis reveal higher level of equality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, was the strongest indicator of well-being. Conversely, in states considered as politically conservative, an inverse relation was shown to exist between higher levels of state conservative politics and levels of average well-being by state. Finally, per capita income growth was difficult to measure as it related to well-being due to the fluctuations attributed to the recession of 2008. Therefore, state policies focused only on economic measures could not be verified whereas the income equality and/lower levels of income disparity would benefit the state population, as a whole, in terms of well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates a sample of commercial banks that voluntarily and publicly committed to becoming promoters of sustainability in the financial industry, by applying in their regular banking activity a set of principles related to environmental and societal responsibility. To assess the individual financial profile of these banks and the similarities in terms of business behavior it has been performed several steps. First, it has been computed the descriptive statistics of key financial indicators, namely the market share, the liquidity position, the financial structure, the operational efficiency, profitability, capital adequacy and the individual contribution of each bank to the domestic financial depth. Secondly, to proxy the performance in achieving their objectives, it has been employed the Data Envelopment Analysis nonparametric technique to estimate the relative efficiency scores. Two models' configurations have been tested, in the assumption of a financial intermediation approach and respectively profit efficiency approach. Then, to gain a comprehensive and dynamic picture, it has been computed the Malmquist productivity index in order to illustrate not only socially responsible banks' productivity's changes over time but also the main sources of changes, in terms of catch-up effect and technological progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The misuse of Gross Domestic Product as a measure of public wellbeing results from the idea that economic growth is always synonymous with enhanced quality of life, disregarding the fact that the economy profits from natural, social, and human capital. In order to monitor progress towards sustainability and increased well-being, governments working closely with scientists developed new metrics that go further than income and material wealth. There are several candidates for revisions of the Gross Domestic Product. Based on a comprehensive literature review, this paper identified several possible indicators that intend to adjust, supplement or substitute for Gross Domestic Product. Two main approaches were identified. The first uses Gross Domestic Product as foundation to build a complete index and includes proposals to greening Gross Domestic Product, socializing the indices and including it in a more comprehensive index. The second approach relates to efforts to redefine the indicators, with the use of environmentally oriented indicators and socially oriented measures. Challenges to measure development, welfare, and wellbeing are discussed to provide a wide-angle view of efforts to develop measures of social-economic-ecological status and progress beyond the current very narrow Gross Domestic Product. It was recognized an urgent need for guidance for the development of governance regimes designed to change from short-term decision-making processes to those, which support the multi-decade planning and implementation processes that are needed to guide the transition to post fossil carbon societies. This comprehensive review covers a wide range of topics, from problems of GDP to challenges and thoughts about indicators. The review shows that if mankind is concerned with the sustainable development of the planet as a whole, then progress indicators measured only in monetary or social terms are limited and restricted to the weak or the medium sustainability model, and must be complemented by biophysical indicators. It is time to change the global knowledge of what progress really is, changing the discussion from growth to sustainable development and human well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the relationship between the use of specific knowledge and economic success among Hungarian grape growers and wine makers. In the last decade, Hungary has been left behind by world trends as represented by the increasing share of the premium and super-premium wines (which utilise higher knowledge) in the export development. According to our survey, one cause of this might be the inappropriate use and management of knowledge and skills which is 'conditio sine qua non' for wine making. The Hungarian wine regions (usually with resource-based, fordist type resource endowment) are rather knowledge users. We have found (based on the PCA estimation) that two principal components cover 77% of the total variance: 'Size' and 'Innovation capabilities'. However, although the use and spread of skills is a basic component in explaining the differences of variation among the companies, it is not unambiguous in formulating the business success measured in different indicators. Because the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have limited resources in capital accumulation and knowledge creation, they need to maintain living network connections in order to expand their constrained innovation capabilities. Instead of the 'closed' type of innovation and knowledge accumulation, they utilise the 'open' way of acquiring knowledge, where they necessarily share their specific information with their partners, but at the same time, they are supplied with new knowledge which might be vital for their own progress. The majority of the Hungarian vine- and wine makers are not open enough in the different phases of the innovation process. However, our analysis proves that if they showed up mutuality especially in knowledge sharing with their competitors, they could improve their positions significantly. We conclude that the Hungarian wine enterprises - keeping the idea generation as well as its further development, elaboration and the adequate use within the frame of the company - can achieve market success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study measures various indicators for sustainability in this century for four scenarios of SRES (Special Report on Emissions Scenarios) published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to provide a comparable assessment of the scenarios. We assessed the scenarios using a model of Ramsey-type mainframe with cost models for fuel and non-fuel mineral resources, biomass and foods, and an environmental externality. The existing studies have not assessed these SRES scenarios for sustainability, but only for climate change and its policy under the scenarios using CO2emissions and shadow prices as indicators. The significant contributions of this paper are an assessment of the scenarios using the measured future paths of various sustainability indicators and revealing that the SRES-B1 scenario is the most favorable from a sustainability perspective. The findings of this study contribute to further empirical analysis of the economics of sustainability and climate policy assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]