scholarly journals Climate Change and Global Governance

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-59
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
International System ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Main Obstacle ◽  
Comparative Advantages ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Working Mechanisms

The article takes for granted the conclusions of natural sciences about climate change. It rather examines how politicians react to the challenges of global warming. It assumes that the high cost of fighting climate change creates comparative advantages and real gains for countries that opt to ignore the problem. This creates powerful incentives for politicians to focus on the short-term gains from defecting instead of on the long-term risks. Therefore, countries are confronted with a prisoner’s dilemma about climate change – the cost of cooperation is higher than the cost of defecting. The conclusion is that the structure of the international system – its anarchy – is the main obstacle to finding a lasting solution to climate change. The resulting assumption is that climate change may prove to be the deciding factor for a radical change in the international system and the creation of working mechanisms for global governance.

scholarly journals Methods to Prevent Future Severe Animal Welfare Problems Caused by COVID-19 in the Pork Industry

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 830
Author(s):  
Temple Grandin
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Detrimental Effect ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Electrical Parameters ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Pork Industry ◽  
Third Party Auditing ◽  
The Cost ◽  
High Welfare

In the U.S., the most severe animal welfare problems caused by COViD-19 were in the pork industry. Thousands of pigs had to be destroyed on the farm due to reduced slaughter capacity caused by ill workers. In the future, both short-term and long-term remedies will be needed. In the short-term, a portable electrocution unit that uses scientifically validated electrical parameters for inducing instantaneous unconsciousness, would be preferable to some of the poor killing methods. A second alternative would be converting the slaughter houses to carcass production. This would require fewer people to process the same number of pigs. The pandemic revealed the fragility of large centralized supply chains. A more distributed supply chain with smaller abattoirs would be more robust and less prone to disruption, but the cost of pork would be greater. Small abattoirs can coexist with large slaughter facilities if they process pigs for specialized premium markets such as high welfare pork. The pandemic also had a detrimental effect on animal welfare inspection and third party auditing programs run by large meat buyers. Most in-person audits in the slaughter plants were cancelled and audits were done by video. Video audits should never completely replace in-person audits.

Accelerating democratic global state formation

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Chase-Dunn ◽  
Hiroko Inoue
Keyword(s):  
State Formation ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
International System ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Global State ◽  
World State ◽  
Global Democracy ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Historical Processes

This article discusses the evolution of the international system and global governance within the Europe-centred modern world-system since the 15th century in the context of a comparative framework that includes interpolity systems since the Stone Age. The evolution of the modern system includes the emergence of the European system of sovereign national states and colonial empires, the extension of the Westphalian system to the non-core by succeeding waves of decolonization, the rise and fall of successively larger hegemons, the deepening of global capitalism in waves of globalization, the emergence of weak international regulatory institutions and the prospects for and the rapid emergence of global democracy. It is not claimed that a global state has already emerged, but the authors see the long-term processes as the early stages of the emergence of a world state, and consider how these processes might be accelerated within the next few decades. The need for democratization of the institutions of global governance is also discussed. However, in this article, the focus is more on real geo-historical processes than normative questions, outlining the evolution of interpolity institutional orders, describing the challenges in thinking about global state formation, and discussing some of the technological and political forces that might accelerate the long-term trend toward global state formation.

scholarly journals How do Employees Adapt to Organizational Change? The Role of Meaning-making and Work Engagement

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Machteld van den Heuvel ◽  
Evangelia Demerouti ◽  
Arnold B. Bakker ◽  
Jørn Hetland ◽  
Wilmar B. Schaufeli
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Work Engagement ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Adaptive Performance ◽  
Role Performance ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Office Design

Abstract This multi-wave, multi-source study focuses on the benefits of work engagement for employee adaptation to organizational change. The change entailed the implementation of a flexible office design in an engineering firm, which caused radical change for employees. Building on conservation of resources (COR) theory and change transition models, we predict that work engagement trajectories during change are crucial for successful adaptation. The hypothesized process was that initial employee meaning-making will facilitate work engagement, which, in turn, predicts supervisor-rated adaptive performance (i.e. adaptive work-role performance and extra-role performance) via attitude-to-change. Attitude-to-change was modeled as reciprocally related to work engagement at different points in time. Weekly questionnaires were completed by 71 employees during the first five weeks of the change (296 observations). Latent growth trajectories using weekly engagement measures showed no overall growth, but did show significant variance around the slope of work engagement. Meaning-making and attitude-to-change at the onset were positively related to initial levels, but not to growth of work engagement. Meaning-making was indirectly related to short-term attitude-to-change via work engagement. Short-term attitude-to-change was predictive of supervisor-rated adaptive performance and long-term attitude-to-change. Finally, work engagement (slope) predicted long-term attitude-to-change and supervisor-rated extra-role performance via short-term attitude-to-change. Taken together, the study contributes to knowledge about micro-level transition processes of employee adaptation and the benefits of work engagement during change.

scholarly journals Forecasting Australian port throughput: Lessons and Pitfalls in the era of Big Data

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
soumya banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Forecasting Model ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Port Development ◽  
Forecasting Accuracy ◽  
Port Throughput ◽  
Infrastructure Investments ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Modelling And Forecasting

Modelling and forecasting port throughput enables stakeholders to make efficient decisions ranging from management of port development, to infrastructure investments, operational restructuring and tariffs policy. Accurate forecasting of port throughput is also critical for long-term resource allocation and short-term strategic planning. In turn, efficient decision-making enhances the competitiveness of a port. However, in the era of big data we are faced with the enviable dilemma of having too much information. We pose the question: is more information always better for forecasting? We suggest that more information comes at the cost of more parameters of the forecasting model that need to be estimated. We comparemultiple forecasting models of varying degrees of complexity and quantify the effect of the amount of data on model forecasting accuracy. Our methodology serves as a guideline for practitioners in this field. We also enjoin caution that even in the era of big data more information may not always be better. It would be advisable for analysts to weigh the costs of adding more data: the ultimate decision would depend on the problem, amount of data and the kind of models being used.

scholarly journals Satellites, Self-reports, and Submersion: Exposure to Floods in Bangladesh

2015 ◽  
Vol 105 (5) ◽  
pp. 232-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Guiteras ◽  
Amir Jina ◽  
A. Mushfiq Mobarak
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Objective Data ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Flood Exposure ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Term Variation

A burgeoning “Climate-Economy” literature has uncovered many effects of changes in temperature and precipitation on economic activity, but has made considerably less progress in modeling the effects of other associated phenomena, like natural disasters. We develop new, objective data on floods, focusing on Bangladesh. We show that rainfall and self-reported exposure are weak proxies for true flood exposure. These data allow us to study adaptation, giving accurate measures of both long-term averages and short term variation in exposure. This is important in studying climate change impacts, as people will not only experience new exposures, but also experience them differently.

Climate change: long-term targets and short-term commitments

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Corfee-Morlot ◽  
Niklas Höhne
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Short Term

What money can’t buy: an argument against paying people to get vaccinated

2021 ◽  
pp. medethics-2021-107235
Author(s):  
Nancy S Jecker
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Healthy Communities ◽  
Good Citizenship ◽  
Mutant Strains ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Better Than

This paper considers the proposal to pay people to get vaccinated against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The first section introduces arguments against the proposal, including less intrusive alternatives, unequal effects on populations and economic conditions that render payment more difficult to refuse. The second section considers arguments favouring payment, including arguments appealing to health equity, consistency, being worth the cost, respect for autonomy, good citizenship, the ends justifying the means and the threat of mutant strains. The third section spotlights long-term and short-term best practices that can build trust and reduce ‘vaccine hesitancy’ better than payment. The paper concludes that people who, for a variety of reasons, are reluctant to vaccinate should be treated like adults, not children. Despite the urgency of getting shots into arms, we should set our sights on the long-term goals of strong relationships and healthy communities.

Economic Complexity and Trade Diversification in the Western Hemisphere Between 1962 and 2017

2021 ◽  
pp. 115-147
Author(s):  
Jorge Mauricio Falcón Gómez ◽  
Fernando Martín Mayoral
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Transaction Costs ◽  
Trade Openness ◽  
Terms Of Trade ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Economic Complexity ◽  
Comparative Advantages ◽  
Negative Effect

Trade diversification patterns help explain the level of utilization of trade opportunities by countries, mainly the least developed. Empirical analyses show an inverse U relationship between trade diversification and level of development. Trade diversification measures used do not take into account differences in complexity of exports, and complexity indices only consider products with comparative advantages. This study seeks to cover both gaps by analyzing the differences in the determinants of trade diversification, considering the complexity of products exported by 19 Western Hemisphere countries from 1962 to 2017. The results show that after controlling for economic complexity, the inverted U relationship disappears. Development of financial markets positively affects the complexity of trade diversification in the long term, while the terms of trade that have a negative effect on trade diversification does not affect the complexity-corrected indices. In the short term, transaction costs and trade openness appear to have a significant effect.

Introduction

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Berner
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Carbon Cycle ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Quaternary Period ◽  
Geological Time Scale ◽  
The Earth

The cycle of carbon is essential to the maintenance of life, to climate, and to the composition of the atmosphere and oceans. What is normally thought of as the “carbon cycle” is the transfer of carbon between the atmosphere, the oceans, and life. This is not the subject of interest of this book. To understand this apparently confusing statement, it is necessary to separate the carbon cycle into two cycles: the short-term cycle and the long-term cycle. The “carbon cycle,” as most people understand it, is represented in figure 1.1. Carbon dioxide is taken up via photosynthesis by green plants on the continents or phytoplankton in the ocean. On land carbon is transferred to soils by the dropping of leaves, root growth, and respiration, the death of plants, and the development of soil biota. Land herbivores eat the plants, and carnivores eat the herbivores. In the oceans the phytoplankton are eaten by zooplankton that are in turn eaten by larger and larger organisms. The plants, plankton, and animals respire CO2. Upon death the plants and animals are decomposed by microorganisms with the ultimate production of CO2. Carbon dioxide is exchanged between the oceans and atmosphere, and dissolved organic matter is carried in solution by rivers from soils to the sea. This all constitutes the shortterm carbon cycle. The word “short-term” is used because the characteristic times for transferring carbon between reservoirs range from days to tens of thousands of years. Because the earth is more than four billion years old, this is short on a geological time scale. As the short-term cycle proceeds, concentrations of the two principal atmospheric gases, CO2 and CH4, can change as a result of perturbations of the cycle. Because these two are both greenhouse gases—in other words, they adsorb outgoing infrared radiation from the earth surface—changes in their concentrations can involve global warming and cooling over centuries and many millennia. Such changes have accompanied global climate change over the Quaternary period (past 2 million years), although other factors, such as variations in the receipt of solar radiation due to changes in characteristics of the earth’s orbit, have also contributed to climate change.

The Effect of Incentives: Diffusion of Responsibility

2021 ◽  
pp. 166-182
Author(s):  
Jason Brennan ◽  
William English ◽  
John Hasnas ◽  
Peter Jaworski
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Collective Action Problem ◽  
P Diffusion ◽  
Perverse Incentives ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Diffusion Of Responsibility

Diffusion of responsibility refers to the problem that when something is everyone’s job, it in effect ends up being nobody’s job. This explains why many collective problems arise. People face perverse incentives to free ride on others’ actions and not to do their part. As a result, agents often think in short-term rather than long-term ways. Problems such as climate change can be modeled as instances of the tragedy of the commons, one form of a collective action problem that arises due to perverse incentives created by the diffusion of responsibility.

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