The Trouble with Minding Markets: Emotional Finance in Context

The term ‘Emotional Finance’ normally denotes a methodological approach advocated by Richard Taffler and David Tuckett, which they intended as a challenge both to Behavioral Finance and to mainstream finance and economics. In the wake of the Great Financial Crisis, Emotional Finance received a warm reception from regulators, the financial press, and the CFA Institute. Nearly a decade on, their ideas have largely failed to achieve traction in the academic literature, and continue to struggle to find empirical validation. Their approach is essentially an application of Kleinian psychoanalysis to financial markets, albeit without the terminological rigor that psychoanalytic practitioners might expect. Because their approach is inherently interdisciplinary, it has rarely been subject to scrutiny, as few psychoanalytic commentators feel qualified to comment on financial markets, and fewer finance academics feel comfortable commenting on the psychoanalytic theory. This chapter characterizes the main theoretical claims of Emotional Finance, and subjects each of them to scrutiny, finding them largely untenable. Although financial bubbles are commonplace and emotional responses to markets unremarkable, the subsidiary arguments advanced by advocates of Emotional Finance to support their primary claims are found wanting. The interpretative strategy of Emotional Finance is fundamentally flawed. Although it is fruitful to analyze the role of emotions in financial markets, more precise, rigorous and realistic approaches to these problems are needed

Health impacts of bike sharing system – A case study of Shanghai

Background: Bike sharing systems have been promoted in many countries. Bike sharing can alleviate urban air pollution and reduce road congestion during peak hours in the morning and evening. In addition, using shared bicycles as a daily commuting tool can help users increase their daily exercise volume. This study evaluates the health effects of shared bicycle use. The evaluation of health is prospective, and we utilize current data to evaluate and analyze the health of future users. The primary health considerations for users include physical activity, PM2.5 levels, and collision rates. Physical exercise might be hindered by high concentrations of PM2.5. Thus, while riding in conditions of very high PM2.5 concentration, the pollutants taken by the traveler will hurt the body and counteract the advantages of physical exercise. This research demonstrates that cycling during periods of low or moderate PM2.5 concentrations should lead to an overall reduction premature mortality. / Data and methods: We perform a health assessment study to quantify the health risks and benefits of car trip substitution by bike trip. We collected the cycling data from Mobike shared bicycles operator in Shanghai established in August 2016. From August 1st to August 31st, 2018, there were 1,023,603 orders and 3,036,936 cycling users. During the computational analysis, we examined three factors: physical activity, PM2.5 pollution, and bicycle collision rate, and then summed the results to determine the cyclist's risk of early death. Three scenarios are created to estimate the annual expected number of deaths (increasing or reduced) due to physical activity, road traffic fatalities, and air pollution. / Results: Air pollution exposure was assessed using variations in the background fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration, which was 45 μg/m3 on average in August 2016 in Shanghai. Cycling under these settings, the advantages of physical exercise exceeded the hazards posed by pollution. When PM2.5 concentrations exceed 45 μg/m3, seven to eight people will avert early mortality for every 306,936 users. It means 23–26 per million cyclists would avoid premature death. When PM2.5 concentrations exceed 68 μg/m3, 1 to 2 people will be significantly harmed by air pollution and 4–7 out of every million cyclists are negatively affected by high PM2.5 concentrations. / Conclusions: These results demonstrate that shared cycling can avoid premature mortality. In addition, from the perspective of urban pollution, commuters choosing bicycles instead of cars to travel can reduce urban air pollution, improve air quality, and reduce traffic jams in the morning and evening peaks. Further research on the co-benefits of shared bicycles would be helpful to planners

The global mismatch between equitable carbon dioxide removal liability and capacity

Limiting climate change to 1.5°C and achieving net-zero emissions would entail substantial carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere by mid-century, but how much CDR is needed at country level over time is unclear. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed description of when and how much CDR is required at country level to take in order to achieve 1.5°C and how much CDR countries can carry out domestically. We allocate global CDR pathways among 170 countries according to six equity principles and assess these allocations with respect to countries' biophysical and geophysical capacity to deploy CDR. Allocating global CDR to countries based on these principles suggests that CDR will, on average, represent ∼4% of nations' total emissions in 2030, rising to ∼17% in 2040. Moreover, equitable allocations of CDR, in many cases, exceed implied land and carbon storage capacities. We estimate ∼15% of countries (25) would have insufficient land to contribute an equitable share of global CDR, and ∼40% of countries (71) would have insufficient geological storage capacity. Unless more diverse CDR technologies are developed, the mismatch between CDR liabilities and land-based CDR capacities will lead to global demand for 6 GtCO2 carbon credits from 2020 to 2050. This demonstrates an imperative demand for international carbon trading of CDR

The sharing economy promotes sustainable societies

Sharing activities are under wide debate regarding the environmental impacts. Here the authors reviewed their benefits and problems and suggested that a simultaneous improvement of both ecological and economic efficiency is necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

9. Ecological Transition

Introduction Anthropogenic climate change caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is widely understood to be the greatest existential threat to human societies in the coming centuries. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 to coordinate a global response to the coming crisis. In 2006, the United Kingdom’s “Stern Review” concluded that early action to mitigate climate change would be the most cost-effective and therefore argued for significant expenditur..

Technological Solutions to China's Carbon Neutrality in the Steel and Cement Sectors

Abstract China has set Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and carbon neutrality targets without providing expected industry‐specific technological details. By focusing on the steel and cement industries in China, this study analyzes the energy consumption of different technology routes, decarbonization pathways of innovative technologies, and the synergistic impact of air pollutants. The study finds that the incumbent technology routes for steel and cement production have limited carbon reductions, and the deployment of innovative technologies (carbon capture, utilization, and storage [CCUS], electrolytic‐ and hydrogen‐based, and scrap‐based technologies) need to be accelerated to achieve carbon neutrality targets. We find that the net‐zero emissions pathway relying upon innovative technologies needs less investment than the NDCs scenario. Furthermore, electric arc furnace deployment will be mainly concentrated in Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Sichuan, while CCUS should be mainly in Hebei, Shandong, Liaoning, and Jiangsu provinces. The increased electrification of innovative technologies in steel and cement requires a shift in energy inputs from fossil energy to electricity. A combination of strict climate change mitigation and air pollution control will have higher synergistic effects

A European Public Investment Outlook

This outlook provides a focused assessment of the state of public capital in the major European countries and identifies areas where public investment could contribute more to stable and sustainable growth. A European Public Investment Outlook brings together contributions from a range of international authors from diverse intellectual and professional backgrounds, providing a valuable resource for the policy-making community in Europe to feed their discussion on public investment. The volume both offers sector-specific advice and highlights larger areas which should be prioritized in the policy debate (from transport to social capital, R&D and the environment). The Outlook is structured into two parts: the chapters of Part I respectively explore public investment trends in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Europe as a whole, and illuminate how the legacy of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis is one of insufficient public investment. Part II investigates some areas into which resources could be channelled to reverse the recent trend and provide European economies with an adequate public capital stock. The essays in this outlook collectively foster a broad approach to and definition of public investment, that is today more relevant than ever. Offering up a timely and clear case for the elimination of bias against investment in European fiscal rules, this outlook is a welcome contribution to the European debate, aimed both at policy makers and general readers. As with all Open Book publications, this entire book is available to read for free on the publisher’s website. Printed and digital editions, together with supplementary digital material, can also be found at www.openbookpublishers.co