Land Use Controls and the Provision of Education

Considerable prior analysis has gone into the study of zoning restrictions on locational choice and on fiscal burdens. The prior work on zoning - particularly fiscal or exclusionary zoning - has provided both inconclusive theoretical results and quite inconsistent empirical support of the theory. More importantly, none of this work addresses important questions about the level and distribution of public goods that are provided under fiscal zoning. Since fiscal issues and Tiebout demands are central to much of the motivation for exclusionary zoning, we expand the theoretical analysis to encompass the interplay between land use restrictions and public good provision. In this, we focus on schooling outcomes, since the provision of education is one of the primary activities of local jurisdictions. We develop a general equilibrium model of location and the provision of education. Some households create a fiscal burden, motivating the use by local governments of exclusionary land-use controls. Then, the paper analyzes what the market effects of land-use controls are and how successful they are. The policies considered (minimum lot size zoning, local public finance with a head tax, and fringe zoning) demonstrate how household behavior directly affects the equilibrium outcomes and the provision of the local public good.

Schools and Location: Tiebout, Alonso, and Government Policy

An important element in considering school finance policies is that households are not passive. Instead they respond to policies with a combination of modified residential choice and political choice of tax levels. The highly stylized decision models of most existing analyses, however, lead to conerns about the policy evaluations. In our general equilibrium model of residential location and community choice, households base optimizing decisions on commuting costs, school quality, and land rents. With both centralized and decentralized employment, the resulting equilibrium has heterogeneous communities in terms of income and tastes for schools. This model is used to analyze a series of conventional policy experiments, including school district consolidation, district power utilization, and different equalization devices. The important conclusion is that welfare falls for all families with the restrictions in choice that are implied by these approaches.

Borrowing Constraints, College Aid, and Intergenerational Mobility

The current level and form of subsidization of college education is often rationalized by appeal to capital constraints on individuals. Because borrowing against human capital is difficult, capital constraints can lead to nonoptimal outcomes unless government intervenes. We develop a simple dynamic general equilibrium model of the economy that permits us to explore the impact of alternative ways of subsidizing higher education. The key features of this model include endogenously determined bequests from parents that can be used to finance schooling, uncertainty in college completion related to differences in ability, and wage determination based upon the amount of schooling in the economy. Because policies toward college lead to large changes in schooling, it is very important to consider the general equilibrium effects on wages. Within this structure, we analyze tuition subsidies such as exist in most public colleges, alternative forms of need-based aid, income contingent loans, and merit-based aid. Each of these policies tends both to improve the efficiency of the economy while yielding more intergenerational mobility and greater income equality. But, the various policies have quite different implications for societal welfare, and the underlying subsidy patterns vary widely.

Household Location and Schools in Metropolitan Areas with Heterogeneous Suburbs; Tiebout, Alonso, and Government Policy

An important element in considering school finance policies is that households are not passive but instead respond to policies. Household behavior is especially important in considering how households affect the spatial structure of metropolitan areas where different jurisdictions incorporate bundles of advantages and disadvantages. This paper adds richness to existing urban models by incorporating multiple workplace locations, alternative public services by jurisdiction (school qualities), and voter- determined school expenditure. In our general equilibrium model of residential location and community choice, households base optimizing decisions on commuting costs, school quality, and land rents. The resulting equilibrium has heterogeneous communities in terms of income and tastes for schools. This basic model is used to analyze a series of conventional policy experiments, including school district consolidation and district power utilization. The important conclusion within our range of simulations is that welfare falls for all families with the restrictions on choice that are implied by these approaches.

Механизмы образования пересыщенных твердых и жидкометаллических растворов алюминий - медь при фазовом превращении сплав←→ расплав

Methods of X ­ray analysis and scanning electron microscopy have been used for investigating the structure of rapidly quenched Al-12 mass % Cu alloy after carrying out the annealing treatments in the temperature range of existence of solid and liquid phases. It is established that a rapid heating of micro­castings results in dissolution and dispersion of Q-phase plate­ like particles in a-solid solution. The formation of liquid phase at the temperatures lower than eutectic one occurs by the mechanism of metastable contact melting that prevails over the mechanism of monotropic melting. The liquid phase is suspension of ultradisperse particles of Q-phase in metastable aluminum­copper melt.Методами рентгеновского анализа и электронной сканирующей микроскопии изучена структура быстрозакаленного сплава Al-12 мас.%Cu после отжига в области температур существования твердой и жидкой фаз. Установлено, что быстрый нагрев микроотливок приводит к растворению и диспергированию пластинчатых частиц Q-фазы в a-твердом растворе. Образование жидкой фазы при температурах, меньших эвтектической температуры, происходит по механизму метастабильного контактного плавления, который превалирует над механизмом монотропного плавления. Жидкая фаза представляет собой суспензию из ультра­ дисперсных частиц Q-фазы в метастабильном алюминиево­медном расплаве

Audit and CSR committees: are they complements or substitutes in CSR reporting, assurance and GRI framework adoption?

Purpose - This study aims mainly to test the effect of audit committee independence and expertise attributes on corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting, assurance, and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework adoption and to investigate how CSR committee existence moderates this main relationship. Design/methodology/approach - The study uses a large global sample that includes all (59,172) firm-year observations having CSR-related data in the Thomson Reuters Eikon database for a period between 2002 and 2019. The empirical analyses are based on random-effects logistic panel regression and Hayes methodology for the moderation analysis. Findings - The study finds that audit committee independence and expertise are significantly associated with CSR reporting, CSR report assurance, and GRI framework adoption. Moderation analysis largely supports the existence of a substitution role between audit and CSR committees and implies that audit committees are significant predictors of CSR reporting, assurance, and GRI framework adoption mostly in the absence of the CSR committee. Originality - This is the first study to investigate the direct and indirect effect of audit committees' attributes not only on CSR disclosure but also on GRI implementation and CSR reporting external assurance, considering the CSR committee's possible substitutability or complementarity moderating role. This research develops a deeper understanding of audit committees' non-financial role. Practical implications - The findings propose audit committee members be extra-vigilant in CSR reporting and assurance practices arising from undertaking substitution roles with the CSR committee. Hence, firms may configure their corporate structure in line with the results such as augmenting the audit committee with independent and expert members if they do not constitute a CSR committee. If firms establish a CSR committee, audit committee members may allocate less time to CSR reporting and assurance and more time to financial reporting quality

CSR reporting, assurance, and firm value and risk: The moderating effects of CSR committees and executive compensation

This study focuses on the value-generating and risk-reducing function of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting, assurance, and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) adoption by considering the moderating effects of CSR committees and executive CSR compensation. We retrieved an international dataset of 58,105 firm-year observations from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database over a long period of 16 years between 2004 and 2019. We find that while CSR reporting and external assurance are positively associated with firm value and industry-adjusted firm value, they are negatively associated with firm value volatility (i.e., risk). However, even though following GRI guidelines is not associated with firm value or industry-adjusted firm value, it is negatively associated with firm risk. Moderation analysis reveals that while CSR committees help strengthen the relationship between CSR reporting and external assurance and firm value, they fail to moderate the relation between GRI framework adoption and firm value. Furthermore, there are no significant results on the moderating effect of executive CSR compensation on firm value in any of the model configurations. However, further tests show that executive CSR compensation has a positive moderating effect between CSR reporting and assurance and accounting performance. Robustness tests confirm that the findings are largely robust to alternative sampling, methodology, and additional control variables

Does investment stimulate or inhibit CSR transparency? The moderating role of CSR committee, board monitoring and CEO duality

This study examined the potential relationship between different facets of firm investment (i.e., sales growth, R&D intensity, and total tangible and intangible assets) and CSR reporting, assurance and GRI adoption. Also, it further explored the conditions under which investing firms can encourage or discourage their CSR transparency. Our sample included 44,996 firm-year observations from 2004 to 2019 across 61 countries. Using a random-effects logistic model, our results indicate that corporate investments reduce firms’ CSR reporting and assurance tendency, which implies that a tradeoff exists between these two aspects of firm investment worldwide. Our moderation analysis outlined the contingent role of board-specific characteristics in the link between firm investment and CSR transparency. It appears that the CSR committee generates greater moderating effects on the firm investment–CSR transparency nexus than board monitoring and CEO duality. This empirical evidence also suggests several practical implications and future research agendas

Rethinking board structures in the age of multinational corporations: A global investigation

Despite extensive research on international corporations, there is still a lack of understanding about the factors that influence the composition of their board and its impact on their market value. This study aims to investigate how internationalisation influences the diversity of a firm's board, particularly regarding gender and culture. Additionally, the study also explores whether the board's diversity can enhance the impact of internationalisation on a firm's value. We analysed data from 25,436 international companies and found that as companies become more international, they tend to have fewer women on their boards but more board members from other countries. Interestingly, having a more diverse gender composition on the board helps to increase a company's value when it becomes more international, but having a more diverse cultural composition on the board seems to have the opposite effect. This information is helpful for international companies who want to make sure they have the best composition on their boards to achieve their global goals. These findings suggest that there may be a difference between what international corporations want in their board members and what their shareholders expect. Ultimately, this study can help international companies choose the right board members to maximize their success