Optimal ecosystem management with structural dynamics

We address the problem of optimal management of a self organizing ecosystem along ecological succession. A dynamic carrying capacity is interpreted as depicting the dynamics of habitat creation and occupation along ecological succession. The ecosystem may have three growth modes: pure compensation (concave ecosystem regeneration function), depensation (convex-concave regeneration function) and critical depensation (additionally having negative growth rates for low biomass). We analyse the optimal policies for the management of the ecosystem for the three growth modes. Accordingly, we prove the existence of a Skiba points for certain types of ecosystems. Further, we compare usual golden rule paths with the derived optimal policies near the Skiba points.Ecosystem management; habitat creation; optimal policies; Skiba point

Welfare effects of green tax reforms in one sector and two sector dynamic economies

The main focus of this paper is twofold. First is to design Pigouvian taxes for different kinds of environmental external effects on the market economy in order to be possible to say what is the relevant information in each situation. Second is to address the question of the welfare effects of using close to Pigouvian taxes in real economies. This is done by considering more general conditions than those used by Aronsson et al. (2003). In particular, we take the ecosystem dynamics as being density dependent, and we assume that there are errors in measuring both the consumers marginal utility of nature and its regeneration rate. Additionally, we derive cost benefit rules for a green tax reform on the context of a two sector economy, in particular, a final goods sector and a knowledge sector, considering two externalities - one environmental externality and one technology externality.Environmental externalities; Non-Pigouvian taxes; social cost benefit analysis

Analysis of green net national product and genuine saving in Portugal, 1991 - 2005

The context of this paper is the measurement of welfare and weak sustainability, defined as non-declining utility, in dynamic economies, i.e., green, environmental or comprehensive accounting. We estimate the green net national product and genuine saving for Portugal 1991-2005, accounting for the disamenity of air pollution emissions, the depreciation of commercial forests - pine and eucalyptus -, the value of time (through technological progress), excluding the effect of business cycles and discussing the assumptions behind the usual terms included in the empirics of comprehensive accounting. For the accounting period considered we find that both GNNP and GS are positive, thereby indicating no sustainability problem in Portugal, although both GNNP and GS depict a trend towards unsustainability. Excluding technological progress there is a contradiction in the sustainability message: GS is negative after 2002, whereas GNNP is always positive, indicating that welfare increased.Welfare measures; green accounting; technological progress; business cycles

Welfare and sustainability measures in dynamic economies: green accounting for Portugal, 1992-2004

Mestrado em EconomiaThe focus of this dissertation is on the theory and practice of what can be called the economic theory of sustainability. Our argument is that traditional discussions and analysis of savings and investment at the macroeconomic levei can be greatly enriched by integrating the environment into the macroeconomic picture. Here we take sustainability to mean, generically, non-decreasing welfare for the economy as a whole. The criticai concepts are the green net national product (NNP), and the genuine savings. Green net national product is a welfare measure that proposes corrections to the usual national account's aggregates in order to account for environmental and well-being concerns. The genuine savings indicator is a notion of net savings that nets out the depreciation of ali forms of capital including natural capital. Regarding a measure of sustainability, decreasing green NNP is equivalent to negative genuine savings and indicates unsustainability. We devise a model to estimate these aggregates incorporating the costs of a vector of air pollutants to households, and the depreciation of commercial forests in Portugal for the years, 1992 - 2004. The pollution disamenity term is around 6 - 8% of NNP, and the depreciation of commercial forests ranges from -0.7% in 1991 to 0.4% in 1996. So, the total environmental adjustments are of the magnitude of 6 - 9% of NNP. This may seem small compared to Portuguese NNP; however we did not include some relevant stocks of natural capital such as fish, mineral, water and soil. Regarding genuine savings, we find consistent evidence of unsustainable development for Portugal after 2003. There is also a clear tendency towards unsustainability throughout the period.Esta dissertação aborda a teoria e a prática, do que se pode chamar, teoria económica da sustentabilidade. O nosso argumento é que as discussões e análises tradicionais da poupança ou investimento ao nível macroeconómico podem ser grandemente enriquecidas tomando o ambiente como parte integrante da macroeconomia. Define-se desenvolvimento sustentável em termos de bem-estar não decrescente para a economia como um todo. Os conceitos centrais utilizados, são o Produto Interno Líquido (PIL) verde e a poupança genuína. O PIL verde é uma medida de bem-estar que propõe correcções aos agregados usais da contabilidade nacional, para ter em conta preocupações ambientais. O indicador de poupança genuina é uma noção de poupança que incorpora a depreciação do capital natural. Em termos de indicadores de sustentabilidade, a mensagem é: PIL verde decrescente equivale a obter poupança genuína negativa, o que indica desenvolvimento não sustentável. Para estimar estes indicadores, apresentamos um modelo de uma economia dinâmica que tem em conta o custo das emissões de um vector de poluentes atmosféricos para as famílias, e o valor da depreciação das florestas comercias Portuguesas em 1992 - 2004. O custo, em desutilidade, da poluição atmosférica é aproximadamente 6 - 8% do PIL, e o termo da depreciação das florestas comerciais varia entre -0.7% do PIL em 1991 a 0.4% do PIL em 1996. Assim, os ajustes ambientais são da ordem dos 6 - 9% do PIL. Embora se argumente que o valor é baixo, é de notar que os temas e stocks ambientais considerados deixaram de fora outros relevantes: pescas, minérios, recursos hídricos, e solos. Em relação à poupança genuína, os resultados evidenciam desenvolvimento insustentável para Portugal depois de 2003. E também clara ao longo de todo o período uma tendência para a insustentabilidade (poupança genuína decrescente).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Earnings Management in Hospitality Firms: Evidence From Portugal

This study examines whether Portuguese hotel sector firms engage in earnings management (EM) practices to provide specific accounting results and test the main determinants in explaining EM. We use the SABI database to collect panel data regarding 1615 Portuguese SME hotels from 2006–2013. In order to obtain results, a graphical representation of the distribution of the net income and the estimation of the discretionary accruals were used, from which two estimation models were formulated. The results obtained provide empirical evidence that firms in the Portuguese hotel sector seem to engage in earnings management practices and that the main determinants behind them appear to be debt level, return on assets, and firm size. The adoption of earnings management practices by firms is a widespread phenomenon across various sectors and nations. Yet, despite the general awareness regarding the importance of the tourism sector for communities at a financial, social, and cultural level, the lack of empirical studies with application to the accommodation sector makes it pertinent to investigate this phenomenon

A Review on Audit Quality Factors

“Audit Quality” is not easy to define because of many diverse factors affecting quality. According to the consultation paper of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), audit quality is the significant issue that requires more considerable attention. Understanding how audit quality is important requires investigating audit quality factors more precisely. So, the present article aims to review and summarize the different audit quality factors, comparing the results achieved by the related recent studies. In this regard, as well as the well known audit quality factors such as size, industry expertise, auditor tenure, audit fees, non-audit services and auditor reputation, auditor specifications, were found to be able to affect audit quality significantly. Moreover, such factors can affect each other while affecting the audit quality directly

O CONTRIBUTO DOS EVENTOS CULTURAIS E CRIATIVOS PARA A CRIAÇÃO DE UMA IMAGEM DIFERENCIADORA DO DESTINO TURÍSTICO MADURO. O CASO DO FESTIVAL MED DE LOULÉ, ALGARVE

O problema de pesquisa pretendeu saber se os pressupostos do turismo criativo, presentes em eventos de cariz cultural, poderiam por sua vez influenciar a imagem de um destino turístico maduro. Incidindo na oferta, a investigação pretendeu analisar não os impactes tradicionais dos eventos, mas sim a adopção de novas medidas culturais e criativas em contexto de regeneração urbana. A metodologia utilizada incidiu na revisão bibliográfica sobre as variáveis de estudo (turismo cultural e criativo, processo de formação da imagem do destino e eventos), análise de conteúdo, técnica de amostragem “snowball” e entrevistas. O estudo de caso incidiu na cidade de Loulé, Algarve, onde o Festival MED foi analisado em relação a estas problemáticas. Não só foi identificada a vontade em criar um bairro cultural na cidade louletana como o facto de o festival ser visto como a alavanca principal de regeneração urbana do centro histórico local. No entanto, foi possível constatar através das entrevistas, que apesar da aposta em novas políticas culturais e criativas, o evento Festival MED não pode por si só influenciar a criação de uma imagem diferenciadora para o destino turístico maduro Algarve, concorrendo antes para uma diferenciação da oferta turística do concelho de Loulé. PALAVRAS-CHAVE Turismo Cultural, Turismo Criativo, Imagem do destino turístico, Eventos e Algarve. ABSTRACT The research problem intended to know if creative tourism elements, present in cultural events, could influence the image of a mature destination. Focusing on the supply, the research intended to analyze not the traditional impacts of events but the adoption of new cultural and creative measures in the context of urban regeneration. The methodology focused on the bibliographic review of the variables of the study (cultural and creative tourism, destination image formation and events), content analysis, “snowball” sampling technique and surveys. The case study concentrated on the city of Loulé, Algarve, where the festival was analyzed on these issues. Not only was identified the will to create a cultural district in the city, but also the fact that the event is seen as the main force behind the revitalization of the local historic centre. The surveys showed that, despite the adoption of new cultural and creative measures, a single event isn’t strong enough to create a distinctive image which corresponds to the whole mature destination of the Algarve, contributing to differentiate the touristic supply in the region of Loulé