How Does Social Interaction Affect Pro-Environmental Behaviors in China? The Mediation Role of Conformity

Environmental problems rooted in human behaviors have been the major obstacles to sustainable development in many countries. The promotion of residents’ pro-environmental behaviors may serve to mitigate environmental problems. In this paper, we understand residents’ pro-environmental behaviors from the perspective of social interaction. We distinguish between low-cost and high-cost pro-environmental behaviors and analyze to what extent social interaction may affect the two types of pro-environmental behaviors and whether conformity plays a mediation role, using the Chinese General Social Survey in 2013. We find that frequent social interaction increases residents’ low-cost pro-environmental behaviors but decreases residents’ high-cost pro-environmental behaviors. Conformity has no mediation role for low-cost pro-environmental behaviors but has a full mediation role for high-cost pro-environmental behaviors. We conclude that residents have a strong tendency to conform to the behavioral patterns of the social majority when such conformity can save their time, effort, or financial cost. To promote residents’ pro-environmental behaviors, their enforcement cost for the residents should be taken into account and adaptive policy instruments should be developed for different types of pro-environmental behaviors.

Understanding the Interaction between Cyclists’ Traffic Violations and Enforcement Strategies: An Evolutionary Game-Theoretic Analysis

An evolutionary game-theoretic analysis method is developed in this study to understand the interactions between cyclists’ traffic violations and the enforcement strategies. The evolutionary equilibrium stabilities were analysed under a fixed (FPS) and a dynamic penalty strategy (DPS). The simulation-based numerical experiments show that: (i) the proposed method can be used to study the interactions between traffic violations and the enforcement strategies; (ii) FPS and DPS can reduce cyclists’ probability of committing traffic violations when the perceived traffic violations’ relative benefit is less than the traffic violation penalty and the enforcement cost is less than the enforcement benefit, and using DPS can yield a stable enforcement outcome for law enforcement compared to using FPS; and (iii) strategy-related (penalty amount, enforcement effectiveness, and enforcement cost) and attitudinal factors (perceived relative benefit, relative public image cost, and cyclists’ attitude towards risk) can affect the enforcement strategy’s impacts on reducing cyclists’ traffic violations.

EXPLORING INNOVATION FACTORS AFFECTING ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE IN EMERGING ASIAN COUNTRIES: A MACHINE LEARNING APPROACH

In this study, we aimed to identify the main innovation factors that affect the economic performance of emerging countries. We analyzed data on 21 innovation-related variables in six emerging Asian countries (China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) from 1990 to 2008. Using principal component analysis (PCA), we identified six factors that explained up to 90.6% of the variation of all of the variables. Taking the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator clustering approach to variable selection, along with the other classification and estimation methods, we explored the effects of the six identified factors on economic growth. Research and development expenditure and contract enforcement (cost) had negative effects on economic growth, whereas gross enrolment ratio (tertiary), primary-school pupil–teacher ratio (inverse), paved roads and number of registered carrier departures worldwide had positive effects on economic growth.

Redrawing Hot Spots of Crime in Dallas, Texas

In this work we evaluate the predictive capability of identifying long term, micro place hot spots in Dallas, Texas. We create hot spots using a clustering algorithm, using law enforcement cost of responding to crime estimates as weights. Relative to the much larger current hot spot areas defined by the Dallas Police Department, our identified hot spots are much smaller (under 3 square miles), and capture crime cost at a higher density. We also show that the clustering algorithm captures a wide array of hot spot types; some one or two addresses, some street segments, and others an agglomeration of larger areas. This suggests identifying hot spots based on a specific unit of aggregation (e.g. addresses, street segments), may be less efficient than using a clustering technique in practice.

States and Firms Co-producing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Developing World

This article examines policy options that are co-produced by both states and firms, with the purpose of regulating an area of public policy and the practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) by companies. The contributions of this article are twofold. First, it creates a typology of the co-production of corporate social responsibility, adding “delegated,” “brokered,” and “partnership” as intermediate categories between the natural end points of “voluntary” and “regulated.” Second, it proposes a framework for understanding why governments opt for a particular version of co-produced regulation, by focusing on the interaction between two key variables, the “net enforcement cost” and the “political salience of the demand for regulation.” The framework is tested on examples of the co-production of CSR from Argentina and Peru, where I identify pathways of change from one category of co-production to another.

Redrawing hot spots of crime in Dallas, Texas

In this work we evaluate the predictive capability of identifying long term, micro place hot spots in Dallas, Texas. We create hot spots using a hierarchical clustering algorithm, using law enforcement cost of crime estimates as weights. Relative to the much larger current hot spot areas defined by the Dallas Police Department, our identified hot spots are much smaller (under 3 square miles), and capture crime harm at a higher density per the Predictive Accuracy Index statistic. We also show that the hierarchical clustering algorithm captures a wide array of hot spot types; some one or two addresses, some street segments, and others an agglomeration of larger areas. This suggests identifying hot spots based on a specific unit of aggregation (e.g. addresses, street segments), may be less efficient than using a hierarchical clustering technique in practice. Code and data to reproduce the analysis can be downloaded from https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kcask6pinaaaz4v/AAC4CXk6NzUweyld2n4OznzWa?dl=0

What drives credit risk of microfinance institutions? International evidence

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the factors that affect microfinance institutions’ (MFI) credit risk. These factors include MFIs’ characteristics and country-level indicators. Design/methodology/approach This empirical study uses an unbalanced panel data of 638 MFIs from 87 countries observed over a period ranging from 2005 to 2015. Random-effects models are used to estimate the models. Findings The results reveal that group-lending methodology, percent of loan granted to women and diversification activities reduce credit risk; credit quality is enhanced by the relevance of the information published by public or private bureaus and law enforcement cost increases credit risk. Finally, credit risk tends to be limited in a good institutional environment. Practical implications Several implications can be drawn in light of these findings. For MFIs’ managers, using group lending or granting more credit to women and diversifying their activities enhance their credit quality. Furthermore, authorities need to strength debt repayment institutions and reinforce institutional environment to help MFIs to limit their credit risk. Originality/value Previous studies focus on specific MFIs’ practices that enhance repayment rate or on country-level indicators. One of the contributions of this paper is the use of both types of indicators.

Peranan Koperasi terhadap Penurunan Biaya Transaksi Usaha Ternak Sapi Perah di Kabupaten Boyolali

<strong>English</strong><br />Boyolali Regency is the largest milk-producer in Central Java Province. There are many market institutions serving the farmers in selling their products. Interaction between the dairy-cow farmers and market institutions incurs transaction costs. The farmers’ efforts to reduce risk of milk quality deterioration and to search market institutions create transaction costs resulting in profit reduction. Objective of this study is to analyze the transaction costs paid by the dairy-cow farmers. Transaction cost was computed using an accounting approach and its determinants were evaluated using a regression method. Primary data were collected through a survey conducted in Cepogo District, Boyolaly Regency, during April-May 2016 from 104 farmer respondents.The results showed that average transaction cost was Rp47,44/liter. Total monthly transaction costs paid by the village cooperative (KUD) members were Rp31.955, consisted of searching cost (Rp1.059 or 3.31%), negotiation cost (Rp724 or 2.27%), and enforcement cost (Rp30.173 or 94.42%). Total monthly transaction costs paid by the non-KUD members were Rp48.012 per month, consisted of Rp2.825 (5.88%), Rp1.204 (2.51%), and Rp43.983 (91,61%) for searching cost, negotiation cost, and enforcement cost, respectively. Transaction cost paid by the KUD members were lower than that paid by non-KUD members. Roles of cooperative in reducing transaction costs were not determined by membership status, but by its real services as reflected in increasing the number of cows per farm, shorter distance of the cooling unit to the farms and information provision to all members.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Indonesian</strong><br />Kabupaten Boyolali merupakan penghasil susu terbesar di Provinsi Jawa Tengah. Terdapat beberapa lembaga pemasaran yang bekerja sama dengan peternak dalam penjualan susu. Upaya peternak untuk mengurangi risiko susu cepat rusak dan mencari lembaga pemasaran akan memunculkan biaya transaksi yang menurunkan pendapatan peternak. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis biaya transaksi yang ditanggung peternak. Biaya transaksi dihitung dengan metode akuntansi, sementara determinan biaya transaksi ,dianalisis dengan metode regresi. Data dikumpulkan melalui survei di Kecamatan Cepogo, Kabupaten Boyolali selama bulan April hingga Mei 2016 dengan jumlah responden sebanyak 104 peternak. Penelitian menunjukkan bahwa rata-rata biaya transaksi yang dikeluarkan peternak adalah Rp47,44/liter susu. Total biaya transaksi per bulan yang dikeluarkan peternak anggota Koperasi Unit Desa (KUD) adalah Rp31.955, yang terdiri dari Rp1.059 (3,31%) biaya pencarian informasi, Rp724 (2,27%) biaya negosiasi, dan Rp30.173 (94,42%) biaya pelaksanaan kontrak. Total biaya transaksi yang dikeluarkan peternak bukan anggota KUD adalah Rp48.012, yang terdiri dari Rp2.825 (5,88%) biaya pencarian informasi, Rp1.204 (2,51%) biaya negosiasi, dan Rp43.983 (91,61%) biaya pelaksanaan kontrak. Biaya transaksi yang ditanggung peternak anggota KUD lebih rendah dibanding peternak bukan anggota KUD. Peranan KUD dalam penurunan biaya transaksi tidak ditentukan oleh status keanggotaan melainkan jasa layanan riil yang tercermin dalam peningkatan jumlah ternak piaraan, penurunan jarak kandang ke pabrik pengolahan susu (cooling unit), dan penyediaan informasi bagi seluruh anggotanya.

PENGARUH BIAYA TRANSAKSI TERHADAP KEUNTUNGAN USAHATANI KEDELAI DI KABUPATEN LAMONGAN, JAWA TIMUR

Transaction cost is one of the characteristics of imperfect market. Transaction cost on soybean farming will affect the level of profit soybean farming. The purpose of this research were to analyze the transaction cost structure and the effect of transaction cost on the profitability of soybean farming. Research method used Transaction Cost Analysis and multiple linear regression. This research was held in Lamongan, Jawa Timur and interviewed 120 soybean farmers to derive the data. The results showed that the transaction cost component on soybean farming consists of (1) information cost; (2) negotiation cost; (3) coordination cost; (4) enforcement cost; (5) monitoring cost and (6) risk cost. The amount of the transaction cost that are formed on soybean farming was Rp144.120,86. Negotiation cost was the highest cost of transaction cost component that was 60,30%, followed by information cost 14,07%, coordination cost 12,22%, enforcement cost 8,03%, monitoring cost 4,23% and risk cost 1,15%. Transacion cost have a negative and significant effect on the profitability of soybean farming.