Stakeholder Involvement in the Design of U.S. Voluntary Environmental Programs: Does Sponsorship Matter?

Voluntary environmental programs (VEPs) promise to provide firms and facilities additional flexibility in managing their environmental affairs while increasing internal efficiencies and improving their public image. Although stakeholder input is thought to improve program development, little is known about the extent that stakeholders are involved in the VEP design process. Based on a survey of 61 program managers, this research distinguishes between the intensity and diversity of stakeholder involvement and uses these two concepts to assess VEP development relative to government, industry, and third-party sponsorship. Even in the absence of a mandate, all three sponsors include a variety of stakeholders in program design. Although there is evidence that collaborative relationships are developing between sponsors and a range of stakeholder groups, variations in the intensity of involvement among sponsors suggest that some stakeholders may have disproportionate levels of influence in the design of VEPs.     

Grassroots development and upwards accountabilities: tensions in the reconstruction of Aceh's fishing industry

This article explores the tensions between aid funding and grassroots development goals in the context of post-disaster fisheries reconstruction in Aceh, Indonesia. We argue that both short- and long-term grassroots goals are distorted by upward accountability requirements which lead to unsatisfactory aid outcomes. Our analysis employs the concept of aid webs and draws on fifty-one formal interviews with stakeholders in Aceh in 2007/2008. The findings initially concentrate on the impacts of upward accountability on project cycles, with a particular focus on the problematic incorporation of private boat-building contractors and commercial values during the implementation phase. We then discuss the more subtle, long-term impacts of upward accountability on the professionalization of community institutions — in this case, the Panglima Laot Lhok. We conclude with a few observations about the hybrid institutions — combining elements of local and development cultures — that are produced within the current political economy of aid.     

A LONG-RUN INTERPRETATION OF REGIONAL INPUT-OUTPUT ANALYSIS*

ABSTRACT. Regional input-output (I-O) analysis is traditionally motivated by a short-run, extreme Keynesian vision of markets. In this paper we argue that an appropriately formulated, investment-endogenous, I-O system replicates the long-run equilibria of a wide range of regional models, many of which do not operate as I-O systems in the short run. In particular, we use a computable general equilibrium (CGE) framework to illustrate the impact of an aggregate demand disturbance on an I-O and standard neoclassical model. When run forward over a number of periods, the results from the capacity-constrained neoclassical model asymptotically approach the I-O outcome. We use sensitivity analysis to examine the speed of adjustment of the neo-classical system and investigate barriers to the attainment of the I-O result.     

NEOCLASSICAL AND KEYNESIAN PERSPECTIVES ON THE REGIONAL MACRO-ECONOMY: A COMPUTABLE GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM APPROACH*

ABSTRACT Regional economic models typically either ignore prices altogether or simply treat them as exogenously determined. An unfortunate consequence of the neglect of prices is that model builders have been very much limited in the range of macroeconomic perspectives they have been able to bring to bear on regional economic issues. In this paper, we first explain how prices can be modeled endogenously at a regional level despite the paucity of data on regional prices. Using an illustrative interregional computable general equilibrium model for Malaysia, we then demonstrate how alternative macroeconomic visions of regional systems may be captured.