Download or read book Capital Market Responses to Environmental Performance in Developing Countries written by Susmita Dasgupta and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Capital Market Responses to Environmental Performance in Developing Countries written by Benoît Laplante and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capital markets do respond to information about a firm's environmental performance and if properly informed, may provide appropriate financial and reputational incentives for pollution control. Perhaps more resources should be used for disseminating firm-specific information about environmental performance to allow all stakeholders to make informed decisions.Firms in developing countries are often said to have no incentives to invest in pollution control because they typically face weak monitoring and enforcement of environmental regulations. But the inability of formal institutions to control pollution through fines and penalties may not be as serious an impediment to pollution control as is generally argued, contend Dasgupta, Laplante, and Mamingi.Capital markets may react negatively to news of adverse environmental incidents (such as spills or violations of permits) as well as positively to the announcement that a firm is using cleaner technologies.The authors assess whether capital markets in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and the Philippines react to the announcement of firm-specific environmental news. They show that:deg; Capital markets react positively (the firms' market value increases) to the announcement of rewards and explicit recognition of superior environmental performance.deg; They react negatively (the firms' value decreases) to citizens' complaints. Environmental regulators in developing countries could (1) harness market forces by introducing structured programs to release firm-specific information about environmental performance, and (2) empower communities and stakeholders through environmental education programs.This paper - a product of the Development Research Group - is part of the group's ongoing work on industrial pollution and also to study whether capital markets in developing countries can provide incentives needed for pollution control. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Incentives for Pollution Control: The Role of Capital Markets (RPO 680-76).

Download or read book Environmental and Financial Performance written by Mark A. Cohen and published by Investor Responsibility. This book was released on 1995 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover which foreign companies are conducting or are considering conducting business in southern Africa. Abstracts of nearly 2000 firms include the locations, product lines, number of employees & the amount of assets & sales in southern Africa. For companies with non-equity links, abstracts include the name & location of the company's South African distributor or licensee. Appendices sort companies by industry sector, size & location. The "Company Watch" section identifies firms that have announced plans to establish business ties to southern Africa.

Download or read book Research Handbook of Finance and Sustainability written by Sabri Boubaker and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2018 with total page 681 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The severe consequences of the global financial crisis 2008-2009 and numerous accounting frauds and financial scandals over the last fifteen years have let to calls for more ethical and responsible actions in all economic activities including consumption, investing, governance and regulation. Despite the fact that ethics in business and corporate social responsibility rules have been adopted in various countries, more efforts have to be devoted to motivate and empower more actors to integrate ethical behavior and rules in making business and managerial decisions. The Research Handbook of Finance and Sustainability will provide the readers but particularly investors, managers, and policymakers with comprehensive coverage of the issues at the crossroads of finance, ethics and sustainable development as well as proposed solutions, while focusing on three different levels: corporations, investment funds, and financial markets.

Download or read book Regional Groupings Among Microstates written by Soamiely Andriamananjara and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: May 1998 This model shows that a microstate's decision to form, expand, or join a regional organization is based on reduced negotiating costs and increased bargaining power, rather than on the traditional costs and benefits of trade integration. Forming a regional grouping with neighboring nations may be one way for microstates to overcome a major problem: Because of their weak bargaining power and high fixed costs of negotiation, microstates are at a severe disadvantage in dealing with the rest of the world. They don't have the human and physical resources to unilaterally conduct the various bilateral and multilateral negotiations a developing nation typically conducts. Andriamananjara and Schiff present a model in which the decision to form, expand, or join a regional club is based on reduced negotiating costs and increased bargaining power, rather than on the traditional costs and benefits of trade integration (which might be miniscule for a microstate and might even generate welfare losses). Under various conditions for entry, the model is used to determine the equilibrium group size, which is shown to be positively correlated with the number of issues to be tackled, the degree of similarity among countries, and the per-issue costs of international negotiation. They use the case of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to show the model's relevance in the real world. The countries that belong to CARICOM pooled their negotiating resources and formulated common policy stances. Despite its relatively limited impact on trade and investments, CARICOM served as a political instrument in joint negotiations on trade and investment with larger countries and regional trade blocs. By establishing a union, the CARICOM countries succeeded in making their voices heard on a variety of issues in a way none of them could have done alone. This paper-a product of the Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to examine the economics of regionalism and development. Maurice Schiff may be contacted at [email protected].

Download or read book The 1944 Currency Crisis in Turkey written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Global Environment written by K. R. Gupta and published by Atlantic Publishers & Dist. This book was released on 2007 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Environmental Status of India written by C. V. Chalapati Rao and published by Atlantic Publishers & Dist. This book was released on 2008 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental pollution has assumed alarming proportions in recent years. Its adverse impact on the everyday lives of people is increasing in magnitude and intensity. That more and more people are becoming aware of this hazard is evident from the fact that National Environmental Engineering Research Institute is inundated with queries relating to various aspects of environmental pollution. This book has been prepared to present the environmental status of India, study various pertinent issues and suggest measures to mitigate the harmful effects of environmental pollution. It is divided into seven main sections, each dealing with an important aspect of environmental pollution. The Air Pollution section describes the different sources and types of air pollution, the status of air quality, the concerns and inadequacy in management and control and their related health impacts. The section on Water studies water resources, their distribution across India and the major contaminants that pollute water. One section of the book exclusively deals with the problem of wastewater generated by industries and municipal sewage. The section on Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste categorises the types of waste generated and suggests different treatment options thereof. The challenges of disposal of hazardous wastes have also been discussed. Pollution related problems in soil and land use have been analysed in Land Environment section. The book analyses all the important aspects of environmental pollution and suggests measures to keep it under control. It will be useful to students, teachers, researchers, policymakers and common readers.

Download or read book Intergenerational Equity written by Julia M. Puaschunder and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2019 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} Exploring a topic of growing importance that has scant coverage, Intergenerational Equity brings to the fore a comprehensive discussion of intergenerational predicaments. The book explores how corporate and financial social responsibility can leverage intergenerational harmony through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Socially Responsible Investment (SRI).

Download or read book Fiduciary Law and Responsible Investing written by Benjamin J. Richardson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-08-21 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about fiduciary law’s influence on the financial economy’s environmental performance, focusing on how the law affects responsible investing and considering possible legal reforms to shift financial markets closer towards sustainability. Fiduciary law governs how trustees, fund managers or other custodians administer the investment portfolios owned by beneficiaries. Written for a diverse audience, not just legal scholars, the book examines in a multi-jurisdictional context an array of philosophical, institutional and economic issues that have shaped the movement for responsible investing and its legal framework. Fiduciary law has acquired greater influence in the financial economy in tandem with the extraordinary recent growth of institutional funds such as pension plans and insurance company portfolios. While the fiduciary prejudice against responsible investing has somewhat waned in recent years, owing mainly to reinterpretations of fiduciary and trust law, significant barriers remain. This book advances the notion of ‘nature’s trust’ to metaphorically signal how fiduciary responsibility should accommodate society’s dependence on long-term environmental well-being. Financial institutions, managing vast investment portfolios on behalf of millions of beneficiaries, should manage those investments with regard to the broader social interest in sustaining ecological health. Even for their own financial self-interest, investors over the long-term should benefit from maintaining nature’s capital. We should expect everyone to act in nature’s trust, from individual funds to market regulators. The ancient public trust doctrine could be refashioned for stimulating this change, and sovereign wealth funds should take the lead in pioneering best practices for environmentally responsible investing.

Download or read book Making Voice Work written by Samuel Paul and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: May 1998 A citizen's assessment of public services provided evidence of inefficiency and corruption and stimulated public service providers to be more responsive to customers. So, public feedback can change behavior. Paul reports how a report card on public services in the Indian city of Bangalore was used by citizen groups to create greater public awareness about the poor performance of public service providers and to challenge them to be more efficient and responsive to their customers. The report card was the result of a survey of a sample of users (both rich and poor) of the city's services and rated public agencies in terms of public satisfaction with different dimensions of their services. Public feedback was used to quantify the extent of corruption and other indirect costs of the services. The result was a citizens' assessment of public services. The survey was completed in 1993, but the follow-up activities continued for three years, with the active involvement of several concerned citizen groups and nongovernment bodies. Paul discusses how the media disseminated the report card findings, how public agencies responded to it, and how agencies joined citizen groups in joint initiatives to improve services. Similar report cards have since been prepared on several other large cities in India. It is not easy to measure the impact of the report card on the quality and responsiveness of Bangalore's service providers. Paul examines the problems involved and gives some intermediate indicators. There is some evidence that public awareness of the problems has increased as a result of the experiment. Civil society institutions seem to be more active and their interactions with public agencies have become better organized, more purposeful, and continuous. As a result, some public agencies in Bangalore have begun to take steps to improve their services. This paper is a product of the Development Research Group. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Effectiveness of Client Surveys in Improving Service Delivery (RPO 682-07). The author may be contacted at [email protected].

Download or read book Small and Medium Enterprises Under Globalisation written by and published by Gyan Publishing House. This book was released on 2009 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstracts of papers presented during a seminar.

Download or read book Terms for Endearment written by Jem Bendell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Business and NGOs are seen by many to be locked in a perpetual war of values and ideologies. What this book demonstrates is that the war has moved on. Many companies are now engaging with their stakeholders – even those with which they have traditionally had antagonistic relationships – as part of their strategies for improved social and environmental performance. With contributions from an outstanding and diverse group of experts from business, consultancy, research institutes, NGOs and academia, Terms for Endearment investigates the how and why of these new collaborations and provides concrete examples of business working with stakeholder pressure for sustainable development. The book forcibly argues the notion of organizations of civil society setting the standards for business behaviour in the 21st century. For those companies that choose not to pursue high standards of social and environmental performance, confrontation with NGOs must be expected, with negative consequences for sales, costs and social capital, i.e. the bottom line. Terms for Endearment therefore presents business with both a threat and opportunity as we move closer to establishing a social basis for global economic activity.

Download or read book Firms Environmental Performance written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The empirical literature on environmental performance or compliance has followed two strands: one based on the impact of formal regulation as a means of inducing better environmental performance, and another centered on the role of informal regulation which mainly emphasizes the role of communities and capital markets. The authors analyze the impact of environmental news in print media on firms' environmental performance. Using data from a survey of industrial facilities in the Republic of Korea, probit estimation results indicate that the publication of environmental news in print media and the firm's awareness of this publication are important predictors of a firm's environmental performance, more so than environmental laws, regulations, and environmental training. This paper thus reemphasizes the key role of media in influencing firms' environmental performance. "--World Bank web site.

Download or read book Greening Industry written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2000 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accompanying CD-ROM contains background and reference material for the text, including the text itself, as well as a slightly modified version of the World Bank's New ideas for pollution regulation (NIPR) web site, current as of 9/29/99. CD-ROM also includes Netscape, Adobe Acrobat, and Real Media audio/video player.

Download or read book Education and Earnings in a Transition Economy written by Peter R. Moock and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: May 1998 One study shows that as Vietnam liberalizes its labor market, private rates of return to primary and higher education are already relatively high-and could be higher yet with greater cost recovery and lower costs (a more efficient system). The transition from a centrally planned to a market economy is likely to have a strong impact on the labor market, on relative earnings, and on returns to education. Major economic reforms in Vietnam since 1986 (the policy known as Doi Moi) have included a number of measures to liberalize the labor market. It is too soon to assess the full impact of these reforms, but Moock, Patrinos, and Venkataraman analyze the returns to education, on the basis of earnings in 1992-93 (collected in the first Vietnam Living Standards Survey). This represents one of the first countrywide analyses of the monetary benefits of schooling in Vietnam at a time when the labor market was in transition. On average, the estimated rates of returns are still relatively low, which is to be expected, since salary reforms were not introduced until 1993. Average private rates of return to primary education (13 percent) and university education (11 percent) are higher than those to secondary and vocational education (only 4 to 5 percent). Returns to higher education are slightly higher for women (12 percent) than for men (10 percent). Evidence from other transition economies suggests that returns are likely to increase as reforms in the labor market take full effect. The results support this hypothesis: Returns for younger Vietnamese workers (14 percent) are considerably higher than for older workers (only 4 percent). Implications for policymaking: * It is important to monitor future earnings and trends in the labor market, as updates of this analysis could provide more robust estimates of the transition's effects on earnings and returns to education. * At a time when the Vietnamese government is reassessing its pricing policy, the fact that private rates of return to higher education are relatively high suggests the potential for greater cost recovery. * Efforts to improve efficiency in secondary and higher education could increase the rate of return by lowering costs. This paper-a joint product of the East Asia and Pacific, Country Department I, Human Resources Operations Division, and Human Development Network, Education Team-is part of a larger effort in the Bank to analyze the economic benefits of schooling in transition economies. The authors may be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected].

Download or read book distinguishing between types of data and methods of collecting them written by Jesko Hentschel and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: April 1998 In the quantitative-qualitative debate, analysts often fail to make a clear distinction between methods of data collection used and types of data generated. Using characteristic information needs for health planning derived from data on the use of health services, this paper shows that each combination of method (contextual or noncontextual) and data (quantitative or qualitative) is a unique primary source of information. Hentschel examines the role of different data collection methods-including the types of data they produce-in the analysis of social phenomena in developing countries. He points out that one confusing factor in the quantitative-qualitative debate is that a distinction is not clearly made between methods of data collection used and types of data generated. He maintains the divide between quantitative and qualitative types of data but analyzes methods according to their contextuality: the degree to which they try to understand human behavior in the social, cultural, economic, and political environment of a given place. He emphasizes that it is most fruitful to think of both methods and data as lying on a continuum stretching from more to less contextual methodology and from more to less qualitative data output. Using characteristic information needs for health planning derived from data on the use of health services, he shows that each combination of method (more or less contextual) and data (more or less qualitative) is a unique primary source that can fulfill different information requirements. He concludes that: * Certain information about health utilization can be obtained only through contextual methods-in which case strict statistical representability must give way to inductive conclusions, assessments of internal validity, and replicability of results. * Often contextual methods are needed to design appropriate noncontextual data collection tools. * Even where noncontextual data collection methods are needed, contextual methods can play an important role in assessing the validity of the results at the local level. * In cases where different data collection methods can be used to probe general results, the methods can-and need to be-formally linked. This paper-a product of the Poverty Group, Poverty Reducation and Economic Management Network-is part of a larger effort in the network to combine research methods from different disciplines in the design of poverty reduction strategies. The author may be contacted at [email protected].