The Local Economic Impact of Shale Gas Extraction

Advocates of UK shale gas expansion have focused upon predicted national economic benefits, but local and/or regional impact has been largely neglected. This paper seeks to address this deficit by creating a unique dataset, combining industry data with consumer and supply chain surveys, thereby overcoming the current absence of suitable secondary data. Local economic impact in the Bowland field is estimated via a simple Keynesian local income multiplier model. Results emphasize the importance of facilitating local employment opportunities, through skills initiatives, and development of regional supply chain clusters, to anchor economic benefits within the local economy. Policy implications are discussed

Effect of plastic deformation on the properties of forging VAD15 aluminium alloy and welded joints in this alloy

Translated from Russian (Svar. Proizvod. 1999 36(11) p.6-8)SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:9023.190(VR-Trans--9328)T / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

‘Training floors’ and ‘training ceilings’: metonyms for understanding training trends

This article outlines a conceptual framework for mapping and understanding training trends. It uses the metonyms of floors and ceilings to distinguish between different types of training configurations. The argument is made that the ups and downs of employer reports of training activity are a crude basis on which to make judgements about the resilience or otherwise of training to the economic cycle. The article, therefore, suggests and demonstrates with qualitative evidence that using the metonyms of ‘floors and ceilings’ provides a more nuanced understanding of the multiple pathways that lead employers to increase, decrease or maintain training activity during an economic recession

The Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility Assurance – A Longitudinal Study

Please follow the DOI link at the top of the record to view the full text on the journal's official websiteCompanies today are realising that they no longer only account to their shareholders for their financial performance, but to their broader stakeholders for the non-financial impact of their operations on society, the environment and the economy as well. The provision of independent assurance on these corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures is a relatively new mechanism that has been introduced to provide stakeholders with onfidence about the veracity of the underlying CSR disclosures. Recent studies have found that the provision of independent CSR assurance has increased around the world. This longitudinal study covering the eight-year period from 2007 to 2014, undertaken in a South African context, examined the extent to which the largest companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), have had their CSR disclosures independently assured. As such, this is one of the first studies to examine the emerging CSR assurance phenomenon over a protracted period. Although the extent to which companies have provided independent assurance over their CSR disclosures has steadily grown, the study also revealed that the majority still did not. Although the pool of CSR assurance providers has widened to become more inclusive, contrary to the expectation that the dominance of the Big 4 audit firms would gradually be eroded, the study found that the Big 4 audit firms were actually consolidating their position in this area.Auditin