Search results for "Resource"

Environmental accounting as a tool for SMEs in environmentally induced economic risk analysis

2000

The Physical Economy of France (1830–2015). The History of a Parasite?

2019

Abstract This article explores long-term trends and patterns of material use in France for a 185-year period. It is the first long-term study of material flows for France with national and yearly data for most of the period. Based on a material flow analysis (MFA) that is fully consistent with current standards of economy-wide MFAs and covers domestic extraction, imports, and exports of materials, we investigated the evolution of the French metabolism from industrialization to financialized capitalism. Over the whole period, there is a 9-fold increase in domestic material consumption, an expansion of material use per capita, and a spectacular addition of abiotic resources (fossil fuels and …

The influence of agriculture on the structural economic vulnerability of small island spaces: Assessment using DEA based composite indicators

2020

Small island spaces are confronted with significant disadvantages that ultimately result in strong economic vulnerability. The conventional literature emphasizes the main role of agriculture in generating structural vulnerability. Specifically, the higher the weight of agriculture compared to other sectors is, the more structurally vulnerable an economy is. However, the recent food crises revealed that the economic dependence on agriculture is not a problem on its own, but the issue is rather the efficiency of this sector along with the orientation of domestic production towards diversification and food self-sufficiency. In this paper, we thus propose a new structural economic vulnerability…

Conservation of forest biodiversity using temporal conservation contracts

2012

Abstract Temporal conservation contracts are used to protect biodiversity in privately owned lands worldwide. We examine how stand characteristics and habitat requirements of target species affect the contract length in a boreal forest context. We develop an integrated optimization model and apply the model with data on endangered species occurring in spruce forests in Finland. The results suggest that a cost-effective conservation policy for protecting privately owned forest land involves both short- and long-term contracts between landowners and environmental agencies. The higher the conservation objective, the more intensively long-term contracts should be assigned. Managed stands should…

School grading and institutional contexts

2011

We study how the relationship between students' cognitive ability and their school grades depends on institutional contexts. In a simple abstract model, we show that unless competence standards are set at above-school level or the variation of competence across schools is low, students' competence valuation will be heterogeneous, with weaker schools inflating grades or flattening their dependence on competence, therefore reducing the information content and comparability of school grades. Using data from the OECD-PISA 2003 Survey, the model is applied to a sample of four countries, namely Australia, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. We find that in Australia, schools' heterogeneity does …

An intertemporal approach to measuring environmental performance with directional distance functions: Greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union

2014

Abstract The impact of economic activity on the environment is a matter of growing concern for firm managers, policymakers, researchers and society as a whole. Building on previous work by Kortelainen (2008) [Dynamic environmental performance analysis: A Malmquist index approach. Ecological Economics 64, 701–715], we contribute an approach to assessing intertemporal environmental performance at the level of the management of specific pollutants, as the result of change in eco-efficiency and environmental technical change, which identify catching-up with best available environmental practices and eco-innovation, respectively. In doing so, we use Data Envelopment Analysis techniques, directio…

Determinants of Board Structure in Microfinance Institutions: Evidence from East Africa

2013

This study investigates the association between the unique characteristics of microfinance institutions and board structure. The agency and resource dependence theories provided theoretical guidance for this study. Using a panel dataset of 63 microfinance institutions in East Africa, we found that the presence of regulations and international influence is associated with larger boards, while the presence of founders is associated with small boards and less board independence. There is a higher level of board gender diversity in microfinance institutions managed by founders. There is greater diversity of nationalities in microfinance institutions that are internationally influenced. The imp…

Paradigms on landfill mining: From dump site scavenging to ecosystem services revitalization

2017

For the next century to come, one of the biggest challenges is to provide the mankind with relevant and sufficient resources. Recovery of secondary resources plays a significant role. Industrial processes developed to regain minerals for commodity production in a circular economy become ever more important in the European Union and worldwide. Landfill mining (LFM) constitutes an important technological toolset of processes that regain resources and redistribute them with an accompanying reduction of hazardous influence of environmental contamination and other threats for human health hidden in former dump sites and landfills. This review paper is devoted to LFM problems, historical developm…

Ecosystem dynamics: exploring the interplay within fintech entrepreneurial ecosystems

2021

AbstractScholars and practitioners continue to recognize the crucial role of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) in creating a conducive environment for productive entrepreneurship. Although EEs are fundamentally interaction systems of hierarchically independent yet mutually dependent actors, few studies have investigated how interactions among ecosystem actors drive the entrepreneurial process. Seeking to address this gap, this paper explores how ecosystem actor interactions influence new ventures in the financial technology (fintech) EE of Singapore. Guided by an EE framework and the use of an exploratory-abductive approach, empirical data from semi-structured interviews is collected and ana…

On the mechanics of progress in primary education

2003

03045; International audience; As countries grow rich, education improves in many ways. The sector enjoys more resources for education per primary school-aged child, not because of bigger budget allocations, nor an easing of the demographic burden on the system, but because the cost of inputs, especially teacher salaries, decline substantially relative to the per capita GNP. The extra resources enable countries to expand coverage and reduce the pupil–teacher ratio, with the latter receiving increasing emphasis during the past 20 years. The implicit trade-off against coverage raises questions about the efficiency and equity of education policies in developing countries, particularly in setti…