Economic performance Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

The trans-European transport networks programme is one of the most ambitious initiatives of the European Union. The networks are to link landlocked and peripheral areas with the central areas of the Community. The identification of those peripheral regions, whose accessibility and transport infrastructure systems are to be improved, is becoming of great political importance. This paper presents the result of a Study on Peripherality. The objective of this study was the development of an interactive GIS-based software package for the calculation of the European Peripherality Index (E.P.I.) in order to identify those peripheral regions, whose geographical location is handicapped. The paper first outlines some theoretical considerations on the relationship between transport network development, accessibility and cohesion; afterwards the dimensions of the indicator system developed are explained briefly. The presentation of the two standard peripherality indicators defined and the discussion of the other dimensions of the indicators will form the heart of this paper. At the end, it concludes with first hints on political implications of the main findings of this study.

- by
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- Quality of life, European Union, Economic Development, European Commission

The increasing competition in refinery industries, reducing refinery plant's costs, minimizing measurement errors and environmental issues lead to growing interest in modeling, simulation and optimization of refineries. Real time optimization (RTO) of the process units is one of the most effective ways for enhancing economic performance and reducing overhead costs of chemical plants. This method has a fully automated system, which intelligently collects and processes main outputs of the plant. Modifications of plant operating conditions have been implemented in order to reduce costs and meet constraints. Many objectives can be reached by implementation of RTO in refinery industries such as: automatically optimizing plant's performance, automatically performing fault detection, elimination and modification of random errors (Data reconciliation), modification of nonrandom errors (Gross Error Detection), intelligent computation of data which are not measurable, calculating and reporting consumption of raw materials, products production and energy consumption of the entire plant and the equipments at any time. In this article we studied the RTO implementation profits in oil industries and the effect of different parameters on the refinery processes performance. The medium term plan of the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) on developing RTO technology in IRAN oil industry is presented.

- by Mahdi Ahmadi Marvast
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- Energy Consumption, Fault Detection, Oil Industry, Raw materials

This paper reviews empirical studies on the relationship between environmental and economic performance carried out with European data in order to derive conclusions with regard to their methodological comparability. Two types of research are analysed, namely (model) portfolio studies and multiple-regression-based studies. For each type two representative empirical studies are contrasted in order to establish methodological influences, as well as the importance of data availability. The review allows us to formulate a set of criteria to support improved research design in the future. These point to a strong need to

- by Walter Wehrmeyer
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- Multidisciplinary, Empirical Study, Economic performance

Recent literature on the interactions between labor unions and monetary institutions features either a supply or a demand channel of monetary policy, but not both. This leads to two opposing views about the effects of central bank conservativeness. We evaluate the relative merits of those conflicting views by developing a unified framework. We find that: (i) the effect of conservativeness on employment depends on unions' relative aversion to unemployment versus inflation, and (ii) for plausible values of this relative aversion (and more than one union), social welfare is maximized under a highly conservative central bank. We also evaluate the effects of centralization of wage bargaining and product market competition on unemployment and inflation.

- by fabrizio coricelli
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- Economics, Wage bargaining, Monetary Policy, Social Welfare
- by VaNee VanVleck
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- Economic History, Industrial Organization, Applied Economics, Product innovation

This article compares the economic performance of the EU cohesion countries -Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland -from 1960 to the present, in order to identify the processes that have promoted or inhibited real convergence prospects at various points in time. The likely impacts of EMU in strengthening or weakening these processes are then analysed. Amongst the factors studied are labour-market performance, macroeconomic stability and the efficacy of microeconomic policy-making.

- by Frank Barry
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- Law, Political Science, Economic integration, Policy making

Conventional growth theories in the literature explain the poor economic performance of African economies by stressing the inadequacy of savings, human capital, and poor institutional quality. However, the key question is how to enhance savings for the accumulation of both physical and human capital in order to spur growth. A common thread that runs through the existing models is that the dependency ratio, not only remains constant over time, but has no long-run negative impact on economic growth. By relaxing this rigid assumption, this paper constructs a growth estimating equation which accommodates this demographic factor. The analytic results from the modified model suggest that economies with high dependency ratio face their stable equilibrium at lower levels of their income per capita. Moreover, econometric results from analysis of panel data drawn from Sub-Saharan Africa economies suggest that the growth puzzle can be well explained in terms of the demographic factors, especia...

- by Paulos Gutema
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- Economics, Economic Growth, Human Capital, Panel Data

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the relation between the foreign ownership and firm performance. The study was conducted for the companies listed on Bucharest Stock Exchange, in the first, second and third categories. The financial companies and the credit institutions were excluded from the sample. The final sample included 63 companies. Return on Assets and Return on Equity are used for measuring the financial and economic performance of the firm. The foreign ownership is measured by the percentage of shares held by foreign investors. Econometric tools like linear regression analysis are used for analysis. The results of the study suggest that there is no significant link between firm performance and the existence of foreign capital.

- by Iuliana Oana Mihai
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- Firm Performance, Case Study, Financial Performance, STOCK EXCHANGE

Sheep farming is an important and well-established activity in Greece, especially in mountainous and semi-mountainous areas. In these areas, organic sheep farming has recently experienced a significant increase, representing a promising alternative to conventional methods for a number of sheep farms. This study analyses the financial performance of sheep breeding and the risk that producers are taking in practising it. Through a stochastic efficiency analysis with respect to a function, we explored the economic viability of conventional and organic sheep farming; key factors determining the economic outcome of these activities were also investigated. Both organic and conventional sheep farming appear to be viable alternatives. The viability of organic farming lies, mainly, in organic payments, while conventional farming generates a lower net return.

- by Irene Tzouramani
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- Economics, Agricultural Policy, Animal Production, Organic Farming

The article studies the linkages between industrial relations, organizational innovation and economic performance for the firms of the Emilia-Romagna food-industry. The aim is the investigation of: (i) interactions between union delegates and top management; (ii) adoption of organizational and HRM practices; (iii) linkages between industrial relations, innovations, and firm performance. The analysis suggests a role played by industrial relations in stimulating organizational changes. Industrial relations are also important for firm performances: the linkage proves to be mediated by positive effects of informative, consultative and bargaining practices on organizational changes. The analysis shows a "virtuous circle" between performance and organizational innovations, for firms with good industrial relations. Sommario Il lavoro si occupa delle relazioni tra innovazione organizzativa, relazioni industriali, performance economiche nelle imprese alimentari dell'Emilia-Romagna. L'obiettivo è indagare: (i) l'interazione tra rappresentanze sindacali e management dell'impresa; (ii) l'adozione di innovazioni organizzative e pratiche di gestione delle risorse umane; (iii) i legami tra innovazione organizzativa, relazioni industriali e risultati economici. L'analisi evidenzia l'importanza di relazioni industriali votate al dialogo tra le parti sociali ai fini delle performance economiche. Tale legame è mediato dal mutamento organizzativo il quale, favorito dalla qualità delle relazioni industriali, ha impatto positivo sulle performance. Si riscontra un circolo virtuoso tra innovazione organizzativa e risultati economici delle imprese, in un contesto di buone relazioni industriali.

Strategic formulation is a management tool for measuring negotiated performance targets. It is a freely negotiated performance agreement between the government, acting as the owner of public agency on one hand, and the management of the agency on the other hand. The County government strategies are anchored on the Kenya Vision 2030. In revising their strategies, the County government needs to employ participatory approach, relying on the consensus of stakeholder groups, including civil society, the private sector and donor partners. The study focused on Isiolo county government. This is because the county government has been formulating and implements their strategies for the period of 3 years. The study involved all the management employees who include head of department of the county government. There were 63 managerial staff who were involved in the study. The study adopted descriptive research design. The study adopted a census sample design since the target population was manag...

- by DR. CLEMENT NKAABU
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- Economics, Development Economics, Financial Economics, Public Economics

Nous présentons ici une partie des travaux réalisés à la demande du Ministère de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale dans le cadre d'une convention portant sur la mise au point d'indicateurs de performance économique de la S.T.I.B. Les auteurs remercient Mr. BIOUL et Mme HANOCQ pour l'intérêt qu'ils ont manifesté pour l'approche suivie ici et l'appui qu'ils lui ont réservé. 2. D'autres indicateurs ont été mis au point ou sont à l'état de projet qui portent sur les aspects financiers de l'activité, la pollution et la congestion, l'accessibilité,... 3. Voir par exemple THIRY et TULKENS ( 1988).

Millennium development goals Human development index Data envelopment analysis Principal component analysis a b s t r a c t This research develops a framework to estimate the relative efficiency of developing countries in utilizing both their domestic and external resources to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The analysis highlights distinct efficiency differences across lending groups and geographic regions e.g. between Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The performance of regions exposed to natural disasters and political violence need to be analyzed individually and risk management ought to be an integrated part of development policy. The gap between the Millennium Development Goals and human rights approaches is then examined. Finally, we qualify a country's performance level as potentially sustainable in terms of human, social and environmental welfare, in turn searching for realistic benchmarks and intermediate targets for the relatively inefficient countries. Principal component analysis in combination with data envelopment analysis was applied to solve the problem of efficiency overestimation with multidimensional scaling used to present the issue graphically. In summary, the aim of this work is not to rank countries in a league table rather to provide a framework that combines economic, environmental and social issues in order to search for sustainable, pragmatic benchmarks, pushing the boundaries of the Human Development Index.

Building on received entrepreneurship theory, we propose that national culture, political history, and national economic performance are reliable predictors of entrepreneurial potential among the next generation of business leaders. Results of a 17-country study of business student attitudes and perceptions about entrepreneurship indicate that: (a) individuals socialized in masculine cultures are more psychologically predisposed toward entrepreneurship than are individuals socialized in feminine cultures; and (b) economic development and experience with democratic rule have positive effects on perceptions of new venture feasibility. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for future international comparative entrepreneurship research.

- by Anisya Thomas
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- Cultural Economics, Economic Development, Comparative Management, Student Attitude

- by Paulos Gutema
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- Economic Growth, Human Capital, Panel Data, Working Papers
- by Rafael Marques and +1
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- Social Capital, Economic System, United States, Economic performance

This paper reports the results of simulation experiments which were conducted by using a CGE model of Argentina. The results suggest that: the economy could not have been stabilized by using the preannouneed devaluation rate during 1978-81; economic performance could have improved in 1985-89 under a modified Austral plan but, with the altered structure, there would still be a severe currency appreciation; and the Convertibility Law based programme is very successful in arresting inflation and eliminating a budget deficit, though it is not free from side effects such as money supply shortages and high interest rates.

- by Erwin Klein
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- Econometrics, Applied Economics, Economic performance, Budget Deficit
- by Stefan Schaltegger
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- Environmental Management, Multidisciplinary, Eco-efficiency, Commerce

We draw on the experience of the major combatant countries in World War I to analyse the role of economic factors in determining the outcome of the war and the effects of the war on subsequent economic performance. We demonstrate that the degree of mobilisation for war can be explained largely by differences in the level of development of each country, leaving little room for other factors that feature prominently in narrative accounts, such as national differences in war preparations, war leadership, military organisation and morale. We ...

- by Mark Harrison
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- Economic History, Human Capital, Quantitative analysis, Economic performance

Multi-objective optimization Risk management Uncertainty a b s t r a c t In this paper we present a decision-support tool to address the strategic planning of hydrogen supply chains for vehicle use under uncertainty in the operating costs. Given is a superstructure of alternatives that embeds a set of available technologies to produce, store and deliver hydrogen. The objective of our study is to determine the optimal design of the productionedistribution network capable of fulfilling a predefined hydrogen demand.

- by Nagore Sabio
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- Engineering, Modeling, Strategic Planning, Performance

The present paper provides a theoretical framework of the relationship between the rate of entrepreneurship and national economic performance. The first part deals with some aspects of the recent economics literature on the relation between entrepreneurship and small business on the one hand, and economic growth on the other. In particular, it gives a summary of some work of the EIM/CASBEC research group in The Netherlands. In the second part, a framework is presented linking entrepreneurship and growth to different levels of aggregation. The last part of the paper illustrates the framework with some historical case studies. The present paper supplements Wennekers, Uhlaner and Thurik (2002) and is concerned with the causes of the rate of entrepreneurship.

- by Roy Thurik
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- Business, Entrepreneurship, Management, Economic History

This paper argues that the patters of income and wealth distribution of the economies may explain the productive and trade specialization in the long run. Two channels are considered to understand the relations between both processes:... more

- by Antonio Tena
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- Economic Development, Income inequality, Structural Change, Economic performance

A group of river managers, stakeholders, and scientists met during summer 2005 to design a more naturalized flow regime for the Lower Missouri River (LMOR). The objective was to comply with requirements under the U.S. Endangered Species Act to support reproduction and survival of threatened and endangered species, with emphasis on the endangered pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus), while minimizing negative effects to existing social and economic benefits of prevailing river management. Specific hydrograph requirements for pallid sturgeon reproduction are unknown, hence much of the design process was based on features of the natural flow regime. Environmental flow components (EFCs) extracted from the reference natural flow regime were used to design and assess performance of alternative flow regimes.

- by Robert Jacobson
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- Decision Making, Ecohydrology, Endangered Species, Biological Sciences

Sustainable rural development has become one of the main pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy in European Union. This creates new demands to the statistical system on agriculture and, in particular, new information needs on farms... more

- by edoardo pizzoli
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- Sustainable Development, Statistical Analysis, Rural Development, European Union

Governments incur expenditures in order to fulfil the following roles in the economy: (a) to correct distortions or market failures; (b) regulate private activity that might harm society; (c) provide public goods and services (i.e. economic and social infrastructure); and (d) often engage in productive activity. Some of these activities improve economic efficiency while others reduce it. There is also considerable evidence of inefficiency in the public provision of goods and services. However, the nature and extent of government involvement in the economy varies significantly between the developed industrial market economies and the developing world, particularly the low-income economies. Historically, government in the developing economies have exercised relatively greater control and direction over their economies in all the above categories, while public sector involvement in the developed economies has remained largely confined to the provision of public goods and services, regulatory functions and the management of income-maintenance programmes. Citing historical evidence, a number of leading economists have argued that government size has had no impact, one way or another, on economic performance of industrial market economies. For the low-income economies the evidence, though mixed, points more towards a positive overall impact of government on growth performance. The present exercise, using a simple growth-modelling framework and a longer span of time-series data, produces additional evidence in support of the above propositions. Moreover, this study seems to confirm the Gerschenkron hypothesis that an effective role of the state is directly linked with the 'stage of backwardness' of the economy.

- by Zaidi Sattar
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- Human Geography, Development, Applied Economics, Public expenditure

We examine the value relevance of Australian firms' discretionary R&D accounting policy and the association between this expenditure and the firm's future economic performance. The results indicate that: (1) managerial discretionary accounting practice, capitalizing or expensing R&D expenditure, demonstrates greater value relevance than accounting figures that are the product of mandatory R&D expensing, (2) managerial discretionary capitalized R&D accounting figures demonstrate higher association with market share prices than managerial discretionary expensed expenditure, (3) the strength of the association between R&D accounting figures and the firm's market value is higher for firms that are members of a defined industrial group than for the general population of firms and (4) R&D capitalized expenditure is positively and significantly associated with the firm's future earnings. We also examine the sensitivity of comparative value relevance models to the choice of deflator variables. Our results are robust with respect to such choice. Implications of our findings for accounting rule makers and researchers are also offered.

The emergence of the internet as a commercial phenomenon has resulted in an explosion of interest in Online Dispute Resolution. Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) consists of a variety of settlement methods, which use the electronic environment to resolve conflicts. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the economic performance of a specific process elaborated by one of the main

- by Bruno Deffains
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- Online Dispute Resolution, Case Study, Human Interaction, Economic performance

This paper develops an alternative (or supplementary) theoretical justification for the regulation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social and environmental accounting and reporting (SEAR) to the justification contained in the extant academic literature. It does this by demonstrating how, contrary to the dominant business discourse, increased regulation designed to protect the social and environmental interests of a range of stakeholders can also serve to enhance corporate economic performance and shareholder value.The theoretical perspectives developed in this paper are drawn from Beck's and Giddens’ theories on reflexive modernity, and indicate that reflexively appropriated knowledge can be a key factor in developing socially constructed understandings of the social and environmental risks to a range of stakeholders inherent in business operations.In situations where voluntary self-regulation of CSR and SEAR has been ineffective in preventing corporate actions and decisions that have resulted in damaging social and environmental consequences, processes of reflexivity can substantially increase public awareness of the level of risk they face from corporate operations. Such increased perceptions of risk can lead to a loss of trust in an individual corporation or a whole industrial sector, and this can be exacerbated where stakeholders begin to actively seek out alternative risk discourses to inform themselves about possible risks of which they were previously unaware. We argue that effective statutory regulation could avoid these outcomes, and the loss of shareholder economic value that can flow from these outcomes.

- by Jeffrey Unerman
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- Corporate Social Responsibility, Risk, Regulation, Environmental Accounting

This paper examines the determinants of economic performance of 149 English rural Local Authority Districts (LADs). A Three Stage Least Square (3SLS) estimation procedure was employed to jointly determine the influence of a wide range of indicators representing economic, human, cultural and environmental capital, as well as less tangible or 'soft' factors on three distinct components of economic performance: productivity, employment and labor market participation. The results reveal that a range of facets of economic and human capital, including the three key drivers of productivity (skills, investment and enterprise), spatial factors (peripherality and accessibility), and other key factors (economic structure, government infrastructure, road infrastructure, and occupational health), are significant determinants of economic performance in rural areas. This study is of value since it proposes a method for modelling the determinants of economic performance which is transferable to other environments in the UK and beyond. In addition, it proposes a set of benchmarks of economic performance using readily available data, and highlights some implications for rural policy and several avenues for future research.

- by Sanzidur Rahman
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- Sociology, Human Geography, Socioeconomics, Methodology

The paper examines the impact of ownership structure on company economic performance in the largest companies from 12 European nations. Ownership structure is measured by the identity and share of the largest owner. Performance is measured by return on assets, market to book values and sales growth controlling for industry, capital structure and nation effects. We find evidence of a bell-shaped (first increasing and then decreasing) effect of ownership share on assets returns and market-to-book values of equity. Companies whose largest owner is a financial institution have higher market-to book values than companies in which the largest owner is a family, another company or the government. The effects on asset returns are qualitatively identical, but weaker and insignificant except for a negative effect of government ownership. In contrast, companies whose largest owner is a family or another company have significantly higher sales growth. Nationality is found to influence the relationship between ownership structure and market-to-book values. For example the positive marginal effect of ownership ties to financial institutions is stronger in the market-based British system than in continental Europe.

- by Torben Pedersen
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- Marketing, Strategic Management, Performance, Capital Structure

This paper presents an analysis of the performance of four agroforestry systems common in the southern part of Sumatra (Jambi and Lampung). The systems analysed are rubber agroforestry, cinnamon multicropping, oil palm monoculture and damar agroforests.These systems span the range from monoculture to complex agroforest and hence provide a useful overview of potential benefits and costs. Using a combination of modelling and data from various sources the paper shows that all four agroforestry systems can be financially and economically attractive. The relative performance of each system in terms of social and environmental benefits is discussed at a general level, as well as their potential as tools for carbon sequestration.

- by Deden Djaenudin
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- Carbon Sequestration, Economic analysis, Oil palm, Economic performance

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of value added (VA) as an indicator of intellectual capital (IC), and its impact on the firm's economic, financial and stock market performance. Design/methodology/approach-The value added intellectual coefficient (VAICe) method is used on 300 UK companies divided into three groups of industries: high-tech, traditional and services. Data require to calculate VAICe method are obtained from the "Value Added Scoreboard" provided by the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Empirical analysis is conducted using correlation and linear multiple regression analysis. Findings-The results show that companies' IC has a positive impact on economic and financial performance. However, the association between IC and stock market performance is only significant for high-tech industries. The results also indicate that capital employed remains a major determinant of financial and stock market performance although it has a negative impact on economic performance. Practical implications-The VAICe method could be an important tool for many decision makers to integrate IC in their decision process. Originality/value-This is the first research which has used the data on VA recently calculated and published by the UK DTI in the "Value Added Scoreboard". This paper constitutes therefore a kind of validation of the ministry data.

- by Daniel Zeghal
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- Stock Market, United Kingdom, Intellectual Capital, Design Methodology

Sustainable development or sustainability concept has become increasingly relevant in corporate executive's agenda after Brundtland Report was launched in 1987. Social and environmental accounting and reporting plays a relevant role in this context to analyse sustainability performance of the organizations. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines were developed as a way of helping organizations to report on their environmental, social and economic performance and to increase their accountability. However, evidence from practice seems to show a different reality. Some organizations that label themselves as GRI reporters do not behave in a responsible way concerning sustainability question, like gas emissions, social equity or human rights.

A medium sized UK based academic publishers own a subsidiary printing business. Presently the Academic Printers (AP) is experiencing productions line flow problems reducing the efficiency of the operation. Most of the problems are generated by the imbalanced workflow through the system. By implementing a JIT production planning system it is hoped that some of the production problems can be resolved. Using the simulation software a model was created to investigate the performance of the AP under a variety of operating conditions. Results showed that operating the system with JIT control would not produce economic performance improvements due to constraints applied by the printing process.

- by Mustafa Ozbayrak
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- Publishing, Production Planning, Operant Conditioning, Economic performance

The idea of positive educational externalities is that the benefits of individually acquired education may not be restricted to the individual but might spill over to others as well, accruing at higher aggregation levels, in particular at the macro-economic one. We offer an extensive summary and a critical discussion of the empirical literature on the impact of human capital on macro-economic performance, with a particular focus on UK policy. Key findings include: (1) Taking the studies as a whole, there is compelling evidence that human capital increases productivity. Although there is an important theoretical distinction between the augmented neo-classical approach and the new growth theories, the empirical literature is still largely divided on whether the stock of education affects the long-run level or growth rate of the economy. A one-year increase in average education is found to raise the level of output per capita by between 3 and 6 percent according to augmented neo-classical specifications, while it would lead to an over 1 percentage point faster growth according to estimates from the new-growth theories. (2) Over the short-run planning horizon (4 years) the empirical estimates of the change in GDP for a given increase in the human capital stock are of similar orders of magnitude in the two approaches. (3) The impact of increases at different levels of education appear to depend on the level of a country's development, with tertiary/higher education being the most important for growth in OECD countries. (4) Education is found to yield additional indirect benefits to growth (in particular, by stimulating physical capital investments and technological development and adoption). More preliminary evidence seems to indicate that type, quality and efficiency of education all matter for growth. The most pressing methodological problems are the measurement of human capital; systematic differences in the coefficient of education across countries (in particular between developing and developed countries) and reverse causality. We also make recommendations for future research priorities.

- by Sunday Aboh
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- Econometrics, Economic Growth, Human Capital, Applied Economics

A comparison between the most promising design configurations for the industrial application of gasification based, plastics-to-energy cogenerators in the 2-6 MWe range is presented. A pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed air gasifier, having a feeding capacity of 100 kg/h, provided experimental data: the syngas complete composition, the characterization of the bed material, the entrained fines collected at the cyclone and the purge material from the scrubber. Mass and energy balances and material and substance flow analyses have been therefore drawn to assess and compare design solutions utilizing two mixed plastic wastes (MPW) obtained from separate collection of plastic packaging, after different levels of pre-treatments. The related techno-economic performances have been finally estimated on the basis of the manufacturer's specifications. The study concludes that the MPW obtained after a very simple pretreatment and fed to a gasifier coupled with a steam turbine is the solution that currently offers the higher reliability and provides the higher internal rate of return for the investigated range of electrical energy production.

- by C. Amorese and +1
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- Environmental Engineering, Packaging, Waste Management, Italy

In this paper we analyze the application of an optimization model to solve problems of arranging products (packed in boxes) on pallets, and arranging loaded pallets on trucks. Initially the model is applied to solve thousands of randomly generated experiments. Then, in order to assess the eectiveness of the solutions in practice, the model is applied to two Brazilian case studies: a food company distribution center and a large wholesale distribution center. We also discuss the use of this approach for optimizing the sizes of packages, pallets and trucks. In particular, we analyze the performance of the Brazilian standard pallet (PBR), adopted by the Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (ABRAS) and recommended by the Brazilian Logistics Association (ASLOG), in comparison with other standard pallets. By examining not only the loading of products on pallets, but also the loading of pallets on trucks, we can obtain global utilization indices which are useful to evaluate the economical performance of unit load systems in the logistics chain of a company. Ó

- by Silvia Morales Silva
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- Applied Mathematics, Logistics, Molecular Biology and genetics, Case Study
- by Mucktarr Darboe
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- Marketing, Policy, R&D Management, Multidisciplinary

This paper pulls together into one practical model two strands of economic theory to assess the impact of baseball player exports on the aggregate economic performance of the Dominican Republic. On one hand, foreign trade theory predicts a strong correlation between a country’s exports and economic performance measured as per capita income. On the other hand, microeconomic research finds a positive, but statistically insignificant, impact of sports activities on local economies. Analysis finds a strong correlation between baseball player exports and economic performance for the years 1962-2004, suggesting that both the USA and the Dominican Republic benefit from encouraging baseball player trade and repatriation of baseball export earnings.

- by Voxi Amavilah
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- Economic Theory, Tourism, Dominican Republic, RECREATION

Countless studies document the correlation between abundant mineral resources and a series of negative economic and political outcomes, including poor economic performance, unbalanced growth, weakly institutionalized states, and authoritarian regimes across the developing world. The disappointing experience of mineral-rich countries has generated a large body of scholarship aimed at explaining this empirical correlation and a list of prescriptions for combating the resource curse. The most popular solutions emphasize macroeconomic policies, economic diversification, natural resource funds, transparency and accountability, and direct distribution to the general population. The success of these solutions has been limited because they either presuppose strong state institutions, which are widely absent in the developing world, or assume state ownership over mineral wealth and thus the need for external actors to constrain the state. At the same time, domestic private ownership is rarely proposed and often maligned. Yet, in some countries, it would serve as a more viable way to avoid the resource curse by fostering institutions that more effectively constrain state leaders, encouraging them to invest in institution building, and enabling them to respond more successfully to commodity booms and busts.

- by Pauline Jones Luong
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- Political Science, Resource Curse, Macroeconomic Policy, Developing World
- by Ruth Neumann
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- Public Management, Higher Education, Market Orientation, Knowledge Economy

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the economic effects of Distributed Generation (DG) in isolated grids and in particular Lesvos island in Greece. DG penetration is expected to rise in the following years since the island's wind potential is still not exploited at a satisfying level. The necessity to replace the existing oil-fired power plant together with the need to cut down on greenhouse gases makes DG, and in particular wind turbines quite a promising technology. The present study with the use of specific software simulates the current electricity production for a whole year looking at its technical and economic performance. The sensitivity analysis that is carried out shows the effects of a potential increase in renewable energy sources (RES) capacity. Different sensitivity factors are investigated such as diesel price and hub height. The results show the environmental benefits of increased RES capacity and the variation of the cost of electricity production which remains high compared to other interconnected areas in Greece.

- by Dias Haralambopoulos
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- Engineering, Economics, Wind Energy, Sensitivity Analysis

Our work pursues a twin aim. Firstly, we explore the influence of organizational size on innovations in museums as well as its impact on museums’ economic, market and social performance. Secondly, we analyse how the (public–private) funding of such organizations impacts innovation and performance. The empirical work is based on information from a survey of 491 museums (British, French, Italian and Spanish). We find that museum size does prove relevant in the commitment to engage in innovation but that public funding of museums does not encourage innovation. We also highlight the importance of the explanatory power of the type of funding on the performance of these cultural organizations. This research also reveals how organizational and technological innovations as well as innovation in value creation in museums enhance economic, market and social performance.

- by Eva Vicente
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- Cultural Economics, Technological Innovation, Applied Economics, Value Creation
- by Janvier D. Nkurunziza
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- Resource Allocation, Political System, Economic performance

Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, we posited that environmental performance and economic performance are positively linked and that industry growth moderates the relationship, with the. returns to environmental performance higher in high-growth industries. We tested these hypotheses with an analysis of 243 firms over two years, using independently developed environmental ratings. Results indicate that "it pays to he green" and that this relationship strengthens with industry growth. We conclude by highlighting the study's academic and managerial implications, making special reference to the social issues in management literature.

- by Alan Meyer
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- Marketing, Firms' Environmental Performance, Green Finance, Business and Management

This paper studies the impact of exchange rate regimes on inflation, nominal money growth, real interest rates, and GDP growth. We find that, for nonindustrial economies, "long" pegs (lasting five or more years) are associated with lower inflation than floats, but at the cost of slower growth. A similar trade-off between inflation and growth is still present in the case of "hard" pegs (currency boards and economies without separate legal tender), whose growth performance does not differ significantly from that of conventional pegs. In contrast, "short" pegs clearly underperform floats, as they grow slower without providing any gains in terms of inflation. [JEL E31, E52, F41, F43] T he proper assessment of the costs and benefits of alternative exchange rate regimes has been a hotly debated issue and remains perhaps one of the most important questions in international finance. The theoretical literature has concentrated on the trade-off between monetary independence and credibility implied by different exchange rate regimes, as well as in the insulation properties of each arrangement in the face of monetary and real shocks. 1 Recent episodes of financial distress have refocused the discussion by introducing the question of which 62

- by Eduardo Yeyati
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- Growth performance, Currency Board, Economic performance, Exchange rate regime

The development of plantation forests in Indonesia is an ongoing activity, with planting of fast-growing species, such as Paraserianthes falcataria and Acacia mangium. The establishment of exotic fast-growing trees is one way of rehabilitating unproductive forest lands, which are usually covered by bushes, weeds or alang-alang grass (Imperata cylindrica). This paper explores the carbon-sequestration potential of two tree species. This is achieved by estimating their growth rates and performing economic analysis when carbon-credit payments are available. The effect of different carbon-accounting methods on the economic performance of plantation forests is analysed. The paper shows that carbon-credit payments may increase the net present value of a plantation by 11% to 20 % above the timber value alone. Discount rates are shown to have an important effect on economic performance of plantation forests, the effects of carbon prices and baseline settings are not as important.

- by Deden Djaenudin
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- Carbon Sequestration, Economic analysis, Discount Rate, Net Present Value