Climate action plan adoptions in the US states

Author(s):  
Hongtao Yi ◽  
Richard C Feiock

Purpose – This paper aims to examine state adoption of climate action plans (CAPs) and investigates the factors driving the adoption of these climate policies in the states. Design/methodology/approach – The framework that is formulated to explain the state climate actions involves four dimensions: climate risks, climate politics, climate economic and climate policy diffusions. These hypotheses are tested with event history analysis on a panel data set on 48 US continental states from 1994 to 2008. Findings – This paper found empirical evidence to support climate politics, economics and policy diffusion explanations. It also found that climate risks are not taken into account in states’ climate actions. A comparison is conducted to compare the differences in state and local climate policymaking. Originality/value – The paper investigates the motivations of state governments in adopting CAPs, and makes comparisons with local climate strategies. It contributes to academic understanding of the multilevel governance of climate protection in the USA.

2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Bampasidou ◽  
Ashok K. Mishra ◽  
Charles B. Moss

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the endogeneity of asset values and how it relates to farm financial stress in US agriculture. The authors conceptualize an implied measure of farm financial stress as a function of debt position. The authors posit that there are variations in the asset values that are beyond the farmer’s control and therefore have implications on farm debt. Design/methodology/approach The framework recognizes the endogeneity of return on assets (ROA). It uses a non-parametric technique to approximate the variance of expected ROA (VEROA). The authors model the rate of return on agricultural assets and interest rate with a formulation that focuses on macroeconomic policy. Further, the authors use a dynamic balanced panel data set from 1960 to 2011 for 15 US agricultural states from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey, and information from traditional state-level financial statements. Findings Estimation of linear dynamic debt panel data models accounting for the endogeneity of ROA and VEROA is a challenging task. Estimated variances are unstable. Hence, the authors focus on variance specification that uses the residuals squared from the ARIMA specification and non-parametric estimators. Arellano-Bover/Blundell-Bond generalized method of moments estimation procedures, although may be biased, show that VEROA has a negative and significant effect on the total amount of debt in the agricultural sector. Research limitations/implications The instruments used in this analysis are lagged regressors which may be weakly correlated with the relevant first-order condition, hence not properly identifying the parameters of interest. Future research could include the identification of better instruments, potentially use of sequential moment conditions. Originality/value Unlike previous study, the authors use non-parametric approximation of VEROA. The authors model the rate of return on agricultural assets and interest rate with a formulation that focuses on macroeconomic policy. Second, the authors make use of a large dynamic balanced panel data set from 1960 to 2011 for 15 agricultural states in the USA. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the few that provides evidence on risk-balancing behavior at the agricultural sector level, of the USA.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 1984-2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Thomas Solomon ◽  
Nawaf Alabduljader ◽  
Ravi S. Ramani

Purpose Social entrepreneurship courses are among the fastest growing category of course offerings to entrepreneurship students (Brock and Kim, 2011) because both high growth potential- and steady growth-social ventures can create value and help solve social issues effectively and efficiently. As knowledge disseminators, entrepreneurship educators are in prime position to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities of students, which, in turn, increases their intentions to start a social venture and their ability to manage and grow their venture. Students gain an understanding about the role of entrepreneurship in addressing social opportunities, as well as knowledge related to starting, managing and growing social entrepreneurship ventures. This paper is divided into three parts. First, the authors broadly discuss the concept of social entrepreneurship. Second, the authors present an overview of the field of social entrepreneurship education (SEE) and its evolution. Finally, the authors supplement this review with an analytical examination of SEE, in which the authors present results of a cross-country analysis survey of over 200 entrepreneurship education programs in the USA and Canada. This paper aims to present information about: student enrollment in social entrepreneurship courses in comparison to other entrepreneurship courses; the frequency of offering social entrepreneurship courses and programs compared to other entrepreneurship courses and programs; and future trends in SEE. The results revealed a strong demand for social entrepreneurship from students, room for improvement in terms of the supply of course offerings, and a strong belief in the continued growth of social entrepreneurship. The authors conclude with suggestions about the future of SEE. Design/methodology/approach Analysis of secondary data derived from the oldest and most-frequently cited sources regarding entrepreneurship education in the USA and a novel data set examining entrepreneurship education in Canada. Both data sets were collected using an online self-report survey. Findings Demand for SEE continues to rise in both the USA and Canada. However, course and program offerings have not kept pace. Prominent trends in social entrepreneurship such as cross-campus programs and addressing the evolving demographics of students in higher education institutions need more attention. Originality/value A cross-cultural study of SEE that provides a high-level view of the state of the field today. In addition, the paper outlines the potential of the field of knowledge management for the future of SEE.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Young ◽  
Swapnil Rajendra Gavade

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to use the data analysis method of sentiment analysis to improve the understanding of a large data set of employee comments from an annual employee job satisfaction survey of a US hospitality organization.Design/methodology/approachSentiment analysis is used to examine the employee comments by identifying meaningful patterns, frequently used words and emotions. The statistical computing language, R, uses the sentiment analysis process to scan each employee survey comment, compare the words with the predefined word dictionary and classify the employee comments into the appropriate emotion category.FindingsEmployee responses written in English and in Spanish are compared with significant differences identified between the two groups, triggering further investigation of the Spanish comments. Sentiment analysis was then conducted on the Spanish comments comparing two groups, front-of-house vs back-of-house employees and employees with male supervisors vs female supervisors. Results from the analysis of employee comments written in Spanish point to higher scores for job sadness and anger. The negative comments referred to desires for improved healthcare, requests for increased wages and frustration with difficult supervisor relationships. The findings from this study add to the growing body of literature that has begun to focus on the unique work experiences of Latino employees in the USA.Originality/valueThis is the first study to examine a large unstructured English and Spanish text database from a hospitality organization’s employee job satisfaction surveys using sentiment analysis. Applying this big data analytics process to advance new insights into the human capital aspects of hospitality management is intriguing to many researchers. The results of this study demonstrate an issue that needs to be further investigated particularly considering the hospitality industry’s employee demographics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (9) ◽  
pp. 3779-3798 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N. Aratuo ◽  
Xiaoli L. Etienne ◽  
Tesfa Gebremedhin ◽  
David M. Fryson

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the causal linkages between tourism and economic growth in the USA and determine how they respond to shocks in the system. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a variety of time series procedures, including the bounds test, Granger causality test, impulse response functions and generalized variance decomposition to analyze the relationship between monthly tourist arrivals (TA) to the USA, real gross domestic product (GDP) and real effective exchange rates. Findings Results suggest that GDP Granger causes TA in the USA in the long run, indicating the economy-driven tourism growth hypothesis. Additionally, a shock to GDP generates a positive and significant effect on TA that persists in the long-run, while exchange rate shocks only have a significant effect in the first six months. Research limitations/implications Different tourism sectors may exert different degrees of influence on the economy. The use of aggregate data on TA in the analysis assumes homogeneity in the industry, thus, only represents the average relationship between tourism and GDP. Practical implications This study provides insight that shapes the investment, marketing, sustainability decisions of the public and private sectors aim at increasing tourist flows to drive economic development at the national, state and local levels. Originality/value Though several studies have examined the factors influencing the international tourist demand of the USA, this is the first to investigate the causal relationships between tourism, GDP and exchange rates for the USA. It is also the first in the US tourism literature to account for the nature of interactions between the three variables because of innovations in the system.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Carswell

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect that ownership and management structures have on ability to control operating expenses. For individual investors, intensity of management experience is also explored as a possible explanatory variable for operating expenses. For property management services that are contracted out, the level of the fee is investigated as a possible cause for movements in operating expenses as well. Finally, operating expenses are used as a possible explanatory variable for a property’s lease-up performance during the year. Design/methodology/approach The analysis consists of a series of regression models performed on data provided by the 2012 Rental Housing Finance Survey (RHFS) in the USA. The RHFS is a unique data set that covers a wide degree of information on multifamily properties. The RHFS represents 2,260 properties in total, and covers various aspects of the apartment industry, including financing and operational cost measures. Control variables used as independent variables include number of units, year of property acquisition, and age of building. Findings Individual ownership and self-management proved to be statistically significant drivers in driving down log operating expenses. Hours spent by individuals performing property management roles on their own properties had a slightly positive association with operating expenses. For professional managers, the fees devoted solely to the manager or management company had a highly significant and positive effect on other operating costs. Finally, when separating out the individual components of operating expenses, only two variables had significant effects on tenant lease-ups: management expenses (positive) and security expenses (negative). Research limitations/implications The data set is potentially biased toward those properties with less than 100 units, and thus it would be problematic to assume that these findings are generalizable to the population at large. There are also no geographic coding indicators within the RHFS data set, which eliminates the potential to control for various market factors and rural/urban differences. Practical implications The research provides an understanding of some of the basic factors behind increases in operating expenses, which ultimately has implications for performance benchmarks such as net operating income and property market value. Social implications The reasonable controlling of operating expenses ultimately has potentially positive implications for low- to moderate-income populations, who would ultimately experience lower rents as a result. Originality/value This research represents one of the first known uses of the RHFS database.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Powers ◽  
Séverine Le Loarne-Lemaire ◽  
Adnane Maalaoui ◽  
Sascha Kraus

PurposeThis article contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship for people with disabilities through a better understanding of the impact of entrepreneurial self-efficacy perceptions on entrepreneurial intentions in populations with lower levels of self-esteem. It investigates the entrepreneurial intention and self-efficacy of a population of students suffering from dyslexia, which is a learning disability.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on the study of a data set of 796 male and female adolescents in the USA, aged 13–19 years, both with and without dyslexia. The sample is a convenient one. The whole sample replied to the questionnaire on their self-efficacy perception and their intention to create, one day, their own venture. They also self-declare their dyslexia. Regressions have been conducted to answer the research question.FindingsResults show that having dyslexia has a negative impact on entrepreneurial self-efficacy perceptions. They also reveal that self-efficacy perceptions mediate the relationship between dyslexia and entrepreneurial intentions and their three antecedents (social norms, control behavior and perceived ability).Research limitations/implicationsThe sample is composed of students from private schools and might socially be biased.Practical implicationsOur findings relaunch the debate on the necessity to develop education programs that consider the personal-level variables of students, specifically the development of entrepreneurial self-efficacy among adolescents with disabilitiesSocial implicationsSuch findings should help to better understand students who are suffering from dyslexia and help them find a place in society and economic life.Originality/valueThis is so far the first study that has been conducted on dyslexic adolescents.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon L. Clark ◽  
Sarah McGill ◽  
Yukie Saito ◽  
Michael Viehs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how shareholder engagement on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues is informally exercised by a large global institutional investor with locally embedded, geographically remote firms. This field is still a new area of research due to a scarcity of data, and because ordinarily, private engagement activities are conducted confidentially. Therefore, the paper aims to fill this gap in the literature by studying the private corporate engagement activities of a large UK-based institutional investor on ESG issues with Japanese investee firms in order to achieve a greater understanding of the under-researched area of corporate social responsibility. Design/methodology/approach – The authors employ a multi-method approach to analyse engagement activities by the institutional investor. The authors have obtained a unique data set of the institutional investor’s engagement activities. The institutional investor is UK-based, has a long history of active engagement, and is considered one of the oldest and largest specialists in responsible investment. Further, the authors have conducted several in-depth interviews with a UK-based ESG service provider as well as one of the largest Japanese trust companies. Findings – First, it is found that main target firms of engagement activities are large firms with global operations, and that corporate governance issues are the most important engagement topic in Japan. Second, in trying to effectively exercise voice across societies, engagement activities are conducted with geographically remote target firms on various ESG agendas in a self-enforcing, face-to-face, and sometimes collective manner. Finally, this study argues for the gap between the asset manager’s motivation to engage and local target firms’ readiness to respond due to corporate organisational and language issues. Originality/value – The authors contribute to social responsibility literature by focusing on the role of global investors in Japan to diffuse global standards. This area has been largely neglected in this stream of literature, despite the increasing presence of foreign investors in Japan. This is one of the first attempts to analyse a global investor’s engagement strategies with one specific country outside of the USA and Europe. Further, within the literature on shareholder engagement, this is the first paper that focuses on the means of engagement activities and the responses by target firms.


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 110-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Borges

PurposeTo give a quick and easy approach to library advocacy, with regard to the ongoing needs of keeping in touch with stakeholders due to poor or reducing government funding for public libraries, librarians are in the situation of having to advocate in new and different ways.Design/methodology/approachGiven the state of New York and federal funding, this approach explores the best practices that anyone can apply to approach stakeholders and policy makers for more funding.FindingsFunding for libraries in the USA is often tied to “who” the library knows and this article gives a direct “how to” approach that can be used throughout the local, state or federal lobbying process. Especially in meeting the sophisticated demands of library users, this approach ties funding to patron activities, such as reading, electronic resources and programming.Originality/valueThis snapshot on advocacy can give those in the front lines or new to the advocacy process a way to start thinking in new ways to getting an advocacy action plan in place. A web resource of state activities in the State of New York offers resources on advocacy, specifically targeted to library advocates. Other benefits include developing messages and building coalitions.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia R. Ingersoll ◽  
Christy Glass ◽  
Alison Cook

Purpose The current study aims to analyze the connection between gender disparities and employment in senior legal roles within large American firms. Specifically, this study seeks to uncover whether legal positions in large corporations reproduce inequalities in representation and wages, or whether these roles provide women with a pathway to greater gender parity. Design/methodology/approach Investigating a large data set of over 2,000 USA public companies over a ten-year period, this study examines the representation of women in senior legal roles, the likelihood of women’s appointment to those roles as a function of the gender composition of the industry and if a wage gap exists between men and women serving in the top legal roles in corporate America. Findings Findings suggest that rather than moving women closer to gender parity, in-house counsel positions reproduce many of the same inequalities found in large law firms, particularly with regard to representation in senior ranks and compensation. Originality/value Research has illustrated that women experience disadvantage in terms of representation, wages and advancement in large law firms and in corporate executive suites. Women lawyers who occupy senior executive roles, however, may benefit relative to their non-legal counterparts given their education and expertise. Their credentials and relative status may contribute in reducing or eliminating gender disparities. This study extends current research by investigating this potential path to greater gender equality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-202
Author(s):  
Namkyung Oh

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the applicability of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to collective decision-making of local and state disaster managers for their efficient and effective allocation of limited financial resources.Design/methodology/approachFor the implementation of AHP, this study conducted an AHP survey with state and local disaster managers in post-Katrina Louisiana, the USA.FindingsThe AHP analysis disclosed a preference gap between local and state managers. It also identified frequent interaction with partners, leadership and communication, as the most critical capabilities to develop for effective emergency management.Research limitations/implicationsThis study discussed the value of consistent and careful management of the collaborative relationship. This study is context-specific in disaster type (Hurricane) and locality (Louisiana). Other AHP studies or similar multi-criteria decision-making models should be implemented in different contexts.Originality/valueEven with clear advantages of collective decision-making in the emergency management field, a model for collective decision-making has been rare. This study explored the applicability of AHP to the collective decision-making for the efficient and effective allocation of limited financial resources.


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