Go Big or Go Home: Priorities for the Canada-EU Economic and Trade Agreement

A comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU) is both desirable and possible. For Canada, an agreement with the EU is a strategic opportunity to significantly diversify the market for its high-value-added goods, services and skills, to increase the attractiveness of its economy for investors, and to make a statement that it is ready to engage with other important trade partners on reducing barriers to mutually beneficial trade and investment. This is important in light of both the failure of the Doha round of WTO talks and the existence of other important trade negotiations undertaken by Canada’s key trade partners.International Economic Policy, comprehensive economic and trade agreement (CETA), Canada, European Union (EU)

Beyond the Border and Back to the Future: Seizing the Opportunity to Enhance Canadian and US Economic Growth and Security

The leaders of Canada and the United States have announced an ambitious vision for perimeter security and economic competitiveness between the two countries. They have charged a working group with producing a multi-year Action Plan that will turn this vision into reality. The vision is centered on the idea that performing inspection and other formalities well before shipments and people arrive at the busy bilateral border will ease costly delays there, and that this can be achieved while simultaneously enhancing security and reducing costs for secure trade and for individuals. The study concludes that these new mechanisms can draw inspiration from existing ones that help provide the mutual trust, dedication and expertise necessary to successfully manage water issues between Canada and the United States.International Economic Policy, trade, Canada, United States, border security

Scientific Research about Climate Change Mitigation in Transport : A critical review

Peer reviewedPostprin

The road to happiness : from mood during leisure trips and activities to satisfaction with life

Over the past years an increasing number of studies have investigated the link between travel and subjective well-being (SWB), often focussing on the effects of trip characteristics on satisfaction with particular trips. Two elements not frequently addressed in this research domain are (i) how trip satisfaction affects the mood during – and the evaluation of − the activity at the destination of the trip and (ii) how travel can affect long-term well-being. As engagement in out-of-home activities can improve eudaimonic well-being − referring to meaning of life, self-development and social relationships − it is possible that travel (satisfaction) does not only affect the overall evaluation of people’s lives (i.e., life satisfaction), but also eudaimonic well-being, through activity participation and satisfaction. In this study we will analyse the effect of satisfaction with leisure trips on the satisfaction with the leisure activity at the destination of the trip and look at how satisfaction with these short-term activity episodes affect both eudaimonic well-being and life satisfaction. Results of this study applying a structural equation modelling approach on 1,212 respondents from the city of Ghent (Belgium) indicate that spill-over effects exist from trip satisfaction on leisure activity satisfaction and that both these short-term satisfactions affect eudaimonic well-being and life satisfaction, whether directly or indirectly

Shopping online and/or in-store? A structural equation model of the relationships between e-shopping and in-store shopping

Searching product information or buying goods online is becoming increasingly popular and could affect shopping trips. However, the relationship between e-shopping and in-store shopping is currently unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate empirically how the frequencies of online searching, online buying, and non-daily shopping trips relate to each other, after controlling for sociodemographic, land use, behavioral, and attitudinal characteristics. Data were collected from 826 respondents residing in four municipalities (one urban, three suburban) in the center of the Netherlands, using a shopping survey. Structural Equation Modeling was used to give insight in the mutual dependencies of the endogenous variables, and in direct and indirect effects between variables. The findings suggest that complementarity or generation between e-shopping and in-store shopping seems to be more likely to occur than substitution. The more often people search online, the more shopping trips they tend to make. Frequent in-store shoppers also buy frequently online. Shop accessibility has a negative effect on the frequency of online searching; the more shops are nearby, the less often persons search online. However, shop accessibility influences the frequency of online buying positively; the more shops are nearby, the more often persons buy online. Urbanisation level affects e-shopping indirectly via Internet use: urban residents shop online more often than suburban residents do, because urban residents use the Internet more often.

Being kind to my socially anxious mind; A study of the relationship between selfcompassion and social anxiety

Self-compassion is a relatively new construct in Western psychology. It involves a kind and accepting attitude towards oneself during failure, when experiencing difficulties, or disliking an aspect of oneself. In the face of social failure, self-compassion might be particularly useful for people with social anxiety. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between social anxiety and self-compassion. A total of 120 individuals completed online questionnaires measuring self-compassion, social anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and self-focused attention. Results showed that higher levels of social anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and self-focused attention were strongly related to less self-compassion. Self-compassion might, therefore, be a useful construct for people with social anxiety and explicit training in self-compassion may give rise to a more caring and kinder attitude towards onesel

The impact of metropolitan structure on commute behavior in the Netherlands: a multilevel approach

The effect of decentralization of land uses on travel behavior remains an unresolved issue in the academic literature. Some US researchers argue that a tendency towards polycentrism is associated with decreasing commute times and distances. Others have, however, suggested and shown the opposite commute times and distances tend to be longer in polycentric than in monocentric urban areas. Using this controversy as a starting point, we analyse how monocentric and polycentric urban structures affect commuting in the Netherlands with data from the 1998 National Travel Survey. Four kinds of urban systems are distinguished: one monocentric and three polycentric systems. In contrast to most previous work, we use multilevel regression analysis to take adequate account of the effects of individual and household attributes. The results indicate that urban structure influences most dimensions of commuting considered here. Yet, individual and household level variables are more important determinants than characteristics of the residential and workplace environment. Gender, household type and their interaction effects remain important determinants of commute behavior in the Netherlands; particularly women in two-earner households commute less than average. Education and income are both positively related to the amount of commuting. Further, the effects of mono- and polycentrism on commuting are more complicated than the literature makes us believe. When individual and household level factors are taken account of, polycentrism does not always result in more efficient commute patterns than monocentric urban structures: in most polycentric urban areas commute distances and times are longer than in monocentric ones. Only when polycentric regions consist of several relatively independent and self-contained development nodes are commute distances shorter than elsewhere. Commute times are in that case comparable to those in monocentric urban areas. The impact of urban structure disappears when commute time is related to the time spent on work activities; the ratio between commute time and work duration is not much affected by the type of urban system in which workers reside. The fact that commute times and distances are not lower in polycentric urban areas may be attributed to the specific situation in the Netherlands: strong spatial planning policies may have obstructed the relocation of employment and housing in close proximity of each other. However, the longer commute in most policentric regions may also indicate that workers and their households not always behave as urban economic theory predicts. In any case, the results show that it is necessary to distinguish several types of polycentric systems instead of merely using a dichotomy of monocentric and polycentric in the analysis of commuting.