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The purpose of this paper is to review and assess the role of relevant explanatory variables that influence individual purchase decisions for “environmentally responsible” food consumption. In particular, we provide a detailed review of the key empirical studies in the area of consumer demand for those foods which can be broadly considered as environmentally responsible products (ERPs). We give this definition because the choice of ERPs is a consequence of individual concerns towards environmental and health issues and consumers are directly and indirectly responsible for the environmental and health effects of their food consumption choices. The decision to purchase ERPs should reduce negative environmental effects from intensive agricultural practices, helping to preserve a public good like the environment. Consumption of ERPs should also curb health risks from chemicals for all the household members eating the food purchased in the shops. Therefore, the choice of ERPs reflects both “public” and “private” demands.
Although 72% of the earth surface is covered by water, less than 1% of the world’s fresh water is directly accessible for human uses. Given humans’ water consumption patterns and the world population growth rate, these fresh water reserves have been shrinking all over the world at an alarming rate. There are currently more than 800 million people facing water scarcity and the United Nations project that approximately 2 to 7 billion people will be left without water by 2050; moreover, in the next 20 years, the average global supply of water per person will drop by one-third (see United Nations, 2003 and 2006).
This paper provides a concise review of the empirical literature on residential energy demand. It also discusses the findings in the reviewed literature and their implications for the choice of policy instruments. While there is a plethora of studies on the technical possibilities, i.e. the potential energy savings that new technologies allow, it is plain that energy consumption also depends on our attitudes, preferences and income as well as relative prices1. Therefore, this review is based on the idea that energy demand is essentially driven by human behaviour and our main task is then to explore a range of empirical evidence that sheds useful light on our limited objective. Indeed, the literature on energy demand is impressively rich; already in the early years of the 1980s there were more than 2 500 papers available on this topic (Joerges, 1988 cited in Weber, undated). This brief review will focus mainly on the economics domain, a limitation to be true, although pointers will be given to findings in related fields.
The primary aim of maritime security assessment models is to assess the level of security within and across the maritime network. When managing risk through legislation, regulatory assessment models are used to assess risk levels and examine the impact of policy options, usually in terms of the costs and benefits of a regulatory proposal. This paper reviews the development, application and adequacy of existing risk assessment and management models to maritime and port security. In particular, we examine the problematical issues of security perception, value and impact, and discuss the limitations of the current regulatory framework in providing an integrated and effective approach to risk assessment and management, including for supply chain security.
La crise mondiale du crédit qui a frappé les pays industrialisés n’a contaminé les marchés émergents que tardivement. Cependant, en octobre 2008, elle s’est rapidement étendue à tous ces pays, sans distinction ni considération pour ce qu’il est convenu d’appeler leurs « fondamentaux ». Les investisseurs adeptes du « découplage » ont d’abord été rassurés par les taux de croissance élevés, les réserves colossales de devises étrangères, l’équilibre des budgets et le consumérisme naissant. Mais il est désormais clair que l’évaluation de la performance des politiques publiques de ces États a péché par optimisme. En définitive, toutes les classes d’actifs ont été touchées : actions, obligations et monnaies.
This paper reviews the impact of ageing on private pensions, in particular on the payout phase, assesses the part that annuities can play in financing retirement, and examines the role of financial markets in facilitating the allocation on assets accumulated in defined contribution pension plans. A comprehensive set of recommendations for discussion is provided at the end of the paper.
This paper argues that reform and change are generally used as interchangeable concepts but that is not always appropriate as reforms do not always produce change and changes are not always the product of reform efforts. This study draws on the notion of receptivity to explain the practice of managing change in six OECD countries: Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland. Over the last few years, these six OECD countries have adopted major reform initiatives to modernise the management of their public service to meet society’s growing expectations in a context of limited financial resources and political pressure. Receptivity is an underdeveloped concept that intends to reveal the factors that contribute to organizations being either low-change, non-change contexts or high-change, receptive contexts. Managing change, it is argued, is an independent variable to explain change in government as it largely determines policy success. Four interconnected factors of analysis are used to explain managing change in government: ideological vision, leading change, institutional politics, and implementation capacity.
Labour productivity growth in the service sector, which accounts for 70% of Japan’s economic output and employment, has slowed markedly in recent years in contrast to manufacturing. The disappointing performance is associated with weak competition in the service sector resulting from strict product market regulation and the low level of import penetration and inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI). Reversing the deceleration in productivity growth in the service sector is essential to raise Japan’s growth potential. The key is to eliminate entry barriers, accelerate regulatory reform, upgrade competition policy and reduce barriers to trade and inflows of FDI. Special attention should be given to factors limiting productivity growth in services characterised by either low productivity or high growth potential, such as retail, transport, energy and business services. Finally, it is essential to increase competition in public services, such as health and education, where market forces have been weak.
Le présent document fait valoir que les concepts de réforme et de changement sont généralement utilisés indifféremment, ce qui n’est pas toujours judicieux, les réformes ne produisant pas toujours du changement et le changement n’étant pas toujours le produit d’efforts de réforme. La présente étude fait appel à la notion de réceptivité pour expliquer la pratique de la gestion du changement dans six pays de l’OCDE : la Finlande, la France, l’Italie, le Portugal, l’Espagne et la Suisse. Au cours des dernières années, ces six pays de l’OCDE ont adopté de grandes mesures de réforme pour moderniser la gestion de leur service public afin de répondre aux attentes croissantes de la société dans un contexte de ressources financières limitées et de pressions politiques. La réceptivité est un concept encore peu développé destiné à mettre en évidence les facteurs qui conduisent les organisations à se prêter peu, pas du tout ou très bien au changement. La présente étude soutient que la gestion du changement est une variable indépendante dans l’analyse du changement dans l’administration car elle détermine en grande partie la réussite de l’action publique. Quatre facteurs d’analyse étroitement liés sont utilisés pour expliquer la gestion du changement dans l’administration : vision idéologique, conduite du changement, politique institutionnelle, et capacité de mise en oeuvre.
This paper surveys recent advances in empirical studies of the monetary transmission mechanism (MTM), with special attention to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Our results indicate that the strength of the exchange rate pass-through substantially declined over time mainly due to a fall in inflation rates and to some extent due to the so-called composition effect. The asset price channel is weak and is likely to remain weak because of shallow stock and private bond markets and because of low stock and bond holdings of domestic household. House prices may become an exception with higher levels mortgage lending and with high owner occupancy ratios. While the credit channel could be a powerful channel of monetary transmission - as new funds raised on capital markets are close to zero in CEE - it is actually not, as both commercial banks and non-financial corporations can escape domestic monetary conditions by borrowing from their foreign mother companies. The moderately good news is, however, that those banks and firms are influenced by monetary policy in the euro area because their parent institutions are themselves subjected to the credit channel in the euro area.
This paper proposes a methodological framework for examining the distributional effects of alternative agricultural policies in less developed economies. The framework combines disaggregated household models with an explicit modelling of the linkages between product and factor markets.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been one of the principal beneficiaries of the liberalisation of capital flows over recent decades, and now constitutes the major form of capital inflow for many developing countries, including low-income ones like Chad, Mauritania, Sudan and Zambia. But while there are reasons to celebrate this success, the current financial turmoil does not bode well for the sustainability these flows in 2009.
This paper discusses the adjustment pressures faced by smallholders in middle-income countries, considers the types of policy response that are warranted, and proposes an integrated framework for more inclusive development. Central to this framework is the recognition that the long-term (i.e. inter-generational) future of the majority of smallholders lies outside farming. Hence a range of development pathways need to be facilitated, including improved competitiveness within the sector, income diversification (either within or outside agriculture) and the movement to jobs in other sectors. In order to facilitate adjustment, targeted agricultural policies need to be designed in conjunction with a range of complementary economy-wide measures.
Depuis le début de la crise du crédit, on n’a accordé qu’une attention relativement faible aux conséquences de la crise financière sur l’endettement des pays à faible niveau de revenu. Si au cours des dernières années les pays en développement ont, dans l’ensemble, bénéficié d’une augmentation des flux de capitaux privés (notamment sous la forme d’investissements directs étrangers (IDE) et de transferts de fonds des travailleurs expatriés), de nombreux pays à faible niveau de revenu dépendent encore très largement de l’aide officielle externe et des flux d’endettement.
The financial crisis should give a new impetus to governments’ efforts to improve aid effectiveness. Over the last few months, the governments of OECD countries have pledged trillions of dollars in loans, guarantees, capital injections, and other assistance in their coordinated effort to prop up the global financial system. In comparison, annual aid flows, currently standing at around $100 billion, are just “a drop in the ocean”, in the words of Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank.
The proportion of non-regular workers has risen to one-third of total employment. While non-regular employment provides flexibility and cost reductions for firms, it also creates equity and efficiency concerns. A comprehensive approach that includes relaxing the high degree of employment protection for regular workers and expanding the coverage of non-regular workers by the social security system would help to reverse dualism. Given that non-regular workers receive less firm-based training, it is also necessary to expand training outside of firms to support Japan’s growth potential, while enhancing the employment prospects of non-regular workers. Reversing the upward trend in non-regular employment may also encourage greater female labour force participation, which is essential given rapid population ageing that is already reducing Japan’s working-age population by almost 1% each year. Expanding childcare facilities and paying more attention to work-life balance would also boost female employment, while also raising Japan’s exceptionally low birth rate.
Tax reform is an urgent priority, as Japan needs as much as 5% to 6% of GDP of additional government revenue just to stabilise public debt, which has risen to 180% of GDP. In addition to raising revenue, tax reform should promote economic growth, address the deterioration in income distribution and improve the local tax system. Additional revenue should be obtained primarily by increasing the consumption tax rate, currently the lowest in the OECD area, while broadening the personal and corporate income tax bases. The corporate tax rate, now the highest in the OECD area, should be cut to promote growth, while eliminating aspects of the tax system which discourage labour supply and distort the allocation of capital. Japan should also consider introducing an Earned Income Tax Credit to promote equity. The local tax system should be simplified, increasing reliance on existing taxes on property, income and consumption.
Au cours des dernières décennies, les IDE ont figuré parmi les principaux bénéficiaires de la libéralisation des mouvements de capitaux, tant et si bien qu’ils constituent aujourd’hui la forme principale des entrées de capitaux dans de nombreux pays en développement, y compris des pays à faible niveau de revenu comme le Tchad, le Soudan ou la Zambie. Si l’on peut à juste titre se réjouir d’un tel succès, les dérèglements financiers actuels ne sont cependant pas de bon augure pour la pérennité de ces flux en 2009.
Since the credit crisis first erupted, relatively little attention has been given to the consequences of the financial crisis on low-income countries’ indebtedness. Although in recent years developing countries as a group have benefited from increasing private flows (particularly FDI and remittances), many low-income countries are still heavily dependent on external official aid and debt flows.