Capacity Building for Pro-Poor Trade: Learning from the Limitations in Current Models

human development, aid, trade, security

Cutting Costs of Catching Carbon - Intertemporal Effects under Imperfect Climate Policy

We use a two-period model to investigate intertemporal effects of cost reductions in climate change mitigation technologies for the power sector. With imperfect climate policies, cost reductions related to carbon capture and storage (CCS) may be more desirable than com-parable cost reductions related to renewable energy. The finding rests on the incentives fossil resource owners face. With regulations of emissions only in the future, cheaper renewables speed up extraction (the ‘green paradox’), whereas CCS cost reductions make fossil resources more attractive for future use and lead to postponement of extraction.climate change, exhaustible resources, carbon capture and storage, renewable energy, green paradox

The free cash flow theory of takeovers: a financial perspective on mergers and acquisitions and the economy

Consolidation and merger of corporations ; Stock market ; Corporations ; Cash flow

Hortibot: Feasibility study of a plant nursing robot performing weeding operations – part IV

Based on the development of a robotic tool carrier (Hortibot) equipped with weeding tools, a feasibility study was carried out to evaluate the viability of this innovative technology. The feasibility was demonstrated through a targeted evaluation adapted to the obtainable knowledge on the system performance in horticulture. A usage scenario was designed to set the implementation of the robotic system in a row crop of seeded bulb onions considering operational and functional constraints in organic crop, production. This usage scenario together with the technical specifications of the implemented system provided the basis for the feasibility analysis, including a comparison with a conventional weeding system. Preliminary results show that the automation of the weeding tasks within a row crop has the potential of significantly reducing the costs and still fulfill the operational requirements set forth. The potential benefits in terms of operational capabilities and economic viability have been quantified. Profitability gains ranging from 20 to 50% are achievable through targeted applications. In general, the analyses demonstrate the operational and economic feasibility of using small automated vehicles and targeted tools in specialized production settings

Can Carbon Labeling Be Development Friendly? Recommendations on How to Improve Emerging Schemes

Can Carbon Labeling Be Development Friendly? Recommendations on How to Improve Emerging SchemesCarbon accounting and labeling for products are new instruments of supply chain management that may affect developing country export opportunities. Most instruments in use today are private business management tools, although the underlying science and methodologies may spread to issues subject to public regulation. This note seeks to inform stakeholders involved in the design of carbon labeling schemes and in the making of carbon emission measurement methodologies about an overlooked issue: How can carbon labeling be made to be both development friendly and scientifically correct in its representation of developing-country agricultural sectors?trade, carbon, development, carbon accounting, carbon labeling, exports, imports, supply chain, regulations, trade barriers

Carbon Labelling and Low Income Country Exports: An Issues Paper

In response to growing concerns over climate change, consumers and firms in developed countries are considering their carbon footprint. Carbon labelling is being explored as a mechanism for greenhouse gas emission reduction primarily by private actors. This paper discusses the carbon accounting activities and carbon labelling schemes that are being developed to address these concerns with a view to their impact on small stakeholders, especially low income countries. This discussion centres on transportation, and the common presumption that products produced locally in the country of consumption will have an advantage in terms of carbon emissions, and on size. Exports from low income countries typically depend on long distance transportation and are produced by relatively small firms and tiny farms who will find it difficult to participate in complex carbon labelling schemes. However, the popular belief that trade by definition is problematic since it necessitates transportation, which is a major source of emissions, is generally not true. The scientific evidence shows that carbon efficiencies elsewhere in the supply chain may more than offset the emissions associated with transportation. Indeed, the effective inclusion of low income countries in labelling schemes may offer important opportunities for carbon emission reductions due to their favourable climactic conditions and their current use of low energy intensive production techniques. The disadvantages of small size can be reduced by carbon labelling schemes that use innovative solutions to low cost data collection and certification.carbon labelling; exports; low income countries;

Agency Costs of Overvalued Equity

In the past few years, we have seen many fine companies end up in ruins and watched record numbers of senior executives go to jail. And we will surely hear of more investigations, more prison terms, and more damaged reputations. Shareholders and society have borne value destruction in the hundreds of billions of dollars. What went wrong? Were managers overtaken by a fit of greed? Did they wake up one morning and decide to be crooks? No. Although there were some crooks in the system, the root cause of the problem was not the people but the system in which they were operating—a system in which equity became so dangerously overvalued that many CEOs and CFOs found themselves caught in a vicious bind where excessively high stock valuations released a set of damaging organizational forces that led to massive destruction of corporate and social value. The problem was made far worse than it had to be because few managers or boards had any idea of the destructive forces involved