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We show that tail risk aversion, proxied by the skewness risk premium implied from the SSE 50 ETF options market, explains a significant proportion of the unusually deep backwardation of index futures during the 2015 Chinese stock market crash, while traditional factors such as non-synchronous trading, spot return, volatility and liquidity, all fail to explain the backwardation. These empirical results imply that investors' concern over the crash risk causes speculators to charge a high 'insurance premium' on hedgers. On the other hand, short-sale constraints, namely high security borrowing costs and other barriers, prevent reverse arbitrage such that the deep backwardation of index futures persists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the association between farm/farmer characteristics and unsubsidized farm insurance premium expenditure in Ireland. The distribution of farm insurance expenditures is wide, and it is important to understand the extent to which individual factors influence demand for different levels of insurance premium. Design/methodology/approach: The quantile regression approach and farm accountancy data from the Teagasc National Farm Survey are used to model the association between farm/farmer characteristics and farm insurance demand in Ireland. Findings: Asset values (livestock, buildings and machinery) are positively associated with total insurance expenditure. Both forestry area and crop area are significantly associated with farm insurance expenditure with a stronger influence on the middle and upper part of the distribution. The interaction between farm income and farmer age is positively associated with insurance expenditure pointing to the importance of farm income protection. Research limitations/implications: The research is mainly concerned with insuring against substantive risks, which are capable of threatening the asset base and continuation of the farm business. Future research can integrate questions in relation to farm safety and farmer health with research on the economic survival of the farm business. Practical implications: Farmers in Ireland adopt unsubsidized farm insurance as a risk management tool. This situation is relevant to other EU member states including Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Sweden. The findings can be used to inform stakeholders and policymakers about the relative impact of different factors on insurance expenditure. Originality/value: Previous research has typically focused on the linear relationship between farm/farmer characteristics and insurance demand without accounting for variability across the size distribution. This research is based on the quantile regression approach where the association between farm/farmer characteristics and farm insurance expenditure can be assessed at different points of the distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pandemic has caused a contraction in hospitality business and sifted through Romanian tourism, creating a real chance for authentic rural tourism. The characteristic economic indicators for the period 2020-2021 are presented, highlighting the decreasing trend in the degree of occupancy especially in large hotels, according to INSSE statistics. The organizational specifics of a tourist unit - a guesthouse - in a Muntenia authentic household, were analyzed. This type of authentic peasant household organization, with accommodation units distributed within a large, spaced courtyard, provided the opportunity to carry out a tourism activity in a mandatory by low safe, sanitary conditions. This led to the continuation of this business and the development of the local tourism offer. It can thus be said that authentic Romanian tourism, organized in the typical way of a traditional household, offered a viable alternative for the continuation of hospitality in a critical period of the pandemic, characterized in general by a decrease in this activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The reconfiguration of the South African higher education landscape in 2003 and 2004 had a significant impact on the University of South Africa (UNISA) and Technikon SA (both distance education institutions) which merged to form the 'new' UNISA. Aim: The aim of this conceptual study is to explore the extent to which the policies of the post-merger UNISA are enablers or inhibitors of efforts to reduce its Scope 3 carbon emissions. Setting: Staff commuter patterns between the main campuses of UNISA and the policy environment that has an impact on such travel. Methods: The aim is achieved by means of a case study methodology that considers the relevant policies of the university and applicable results of a 2018 UNISA staff travel demand survey to determine whether the policies are incongruous with the institution's attempts to reduce its carbon footprint in general, and its Scope 3 carbon emissions in particular. The impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on defining a 'new normal' for the university's operations, and the impact thereof on staff commuting, have been discussed. Results: The study revealed that despite being an Open Distance E-Learning (ODeL) institution, the university has not put a coherent policy framework in place that undeniably supports its efforts to limit or reduce its Scope 3 carbon emissions. This was brought into stark focus by the measures the university was forced to put in place as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown regulations in South Africa, to ensure the continuation of its business. Conclusion: The conclusions will assist UNISA - and other universities which have had to revisit their operations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic - to define a true 'new normal'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carry-over additives and processing aids are exempted from the mandatory listing as ingredients. In both cases, this exemption requires that the respective substance has no (more) technological effect on the final product. The interpretation of this element of European law shows that such a technological effect is only to be understood as the (lasting) active effect on the final food which is marketed to the consumer. The mere fact that one can tell from the qualities of the final product that a substance with a technological effect has been used is not sufficient. This can in particular be deduced from the decision of the Union legislator itself in the area of organic food. There, the use of certain additives as processing aids has expressly been authorised although (or precisely because) their use leads to a change in the final food. The aforementioned interpretation of the requirement of no technological effect on the final product is in line with the case law of the European Court of Justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this commentary is to reflect on the transformative changes organisations experience, in the form of increased use of emergent information and communication technologies (ICTs), as a significant factor in enabling the continuation of normal business practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent key ethical considerations in the use of new technology by organisations. Design/methodology/approach: This commentary adopts a reflective approach and is based on a review of theories on diffusion of innovation, dynamic capabilities and data ethics and governance, as well as up-to-date business reports to reflect on the ethical implications of new technologies for organisations. Findings: Organisations from different industries and sectors around the world have experienced major disruptive changes because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Adoption and integration of new ICTs occurred at an accelerated pace in a collective effort to maintain "business as usual". The use of emergent technologies is not without risks. The commentary argues that, in times of crisis, it is vital that organisations address the growing concerns around privacy and security of personal data by designing effective data governance frameworks that go beyond a mere compliance with existing policies and prevailing data privacy and protection laws to ensure data security and protection for all stakeholders. Originality/value: This commentary is making the case for more considered approaches to data governance and data ethics in business following the unprecedented challenges posed by the recent COVID-19 pandemic and suggests possible ways of moving forward from an ethical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the impact of environmental and economic factors consolidation on sustainable entrepreneurship over time. A model is proposed that analyses the relations between these factors and sustainable entrepreneurship over time with sustainable development goals performances and the continuation of the businesses index as variables. Using data from 50 countries, a quantitative method based on partial least squares was applied to validate the proposed model. Our findings showed positive and significant relations between environmental and economic factors with sustainable entrepreneurship over time. This implies that the countries which invest more efforts to consolidate their economic and environmental factors obtain higher durability rates for their sustainable entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We decomposed the process for producing shipping service of a container carrier in multiple periods. • The annual efficiency and division efficiency of major container carriers were measured. • The optimal solution for sharing common inputs and adjusting owned fleet capacity was also found from our model. Abstract Taking advantage of a dynamic network data envelopment analysis (DNDEA), this study proposes a model decomposing shipping service production for a container shipping company (CSC) into two processes. Meanwhile, multiple evaluation periods are linked by carry-over activity. The fleet capacity of a CSC is separated into owned fleet capacity (OFC) and chartered-in fleet capacity, which are defined as carry-over activity and specific input, respectively. The efficiency of 13 major global CSCs is empirically evaluated based on a dataset covering a period from 2013 to 2015. The scores for company efficiency and division efficiency of each CSC are measured and examined. In addition, the optimal solution for sharing common inputs and adjusting OFC is also found from our model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim Post-polypectomy bleeding (PPB) is the most common complication of endoscopic procedures. To reduce the risk of thromboembolic incidents, Japanese guidelines for gastroenterological endoscopy were revised to indicate that antithrombotic agents were not to be discontinued for endoscopic treatment. However, carrying out endoscopic procedures under antithrombotic medication potentially increases the incidence of hemorrhagic complications. The present study investigated the impact of the revised guidelines on the frequency of complications after colonoscopic procedures. Methods The surveillance period comprised the year before the initiation of the new guidelines (2012), which served as a control period, and 2 years after initiation of the new guidelines (2013 and 2014). During the control period, 3955 cases were examined colonoscopically and 1601 lesions were treated endoscopically. During the 2-year period under the new guidelines, 8749 colonoscopies and 3768 endoscopic treatments were carried out. Changes in treatment methods and rates of complications were compared. Results PPB rate was not significantly different before and after the revision (0.87% vs 1.01%). With the new guidelines, PPB rates in antithrombotic non-users and users were 0.60% and 3.13%, respectively (OR 5.11, P = 0.000). Multivariable analysis showed that the risks for PPB were as follows: heparin bridging therapy (OR 6.34, P = 0.0002); low-dose aspirin (LDA) continuation (OR 5.30, P = 0.0079); and lesion size (OR 1.06, P < 0.0001). Conclusion The present study showed that the overall PPB rate under the new guidelines was not significantly higher when compared with the previous data obtained before the new guidelines were introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to assess to what extent Keynes, or any other speculator, could ever have used the theory of futures contracts he formulated in the 1920s as the guiding principle for their investment strategy and what light the theory can shed on speculative behaviour. To this end, we focus our attention on Keynes’ speculations on the cotton market. Our main conclusion is that Keynes did not base his speculation in cotton exclusively on the assumption that futures prices were downward biased in comparison with spot prices, as his theory would predict. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The COVID-19 pandemic has shocked commodities markets in general and base metals markets in particular. The market turmoil made it very difficult to act in the physical market, given the impossibility of establishing or maintaining physical and/or financial positions in a context of high uncertainty. This has happened both in different moments of the development of the pandemic and in geographically different frames. That is why this contribution tries to explain the evolution of warehouses and copper price structure and its utility for hedging in the context of an extreme event. To that end, Granger causality has been used to test whether, during the COVID-19 first wave, the pandemic evolution is cointegrated on one hand with copper futures price structure and, on the other, with the incremental levels of copper stocks. Using 102 official copper prices on London Metal Exchange (LME) trading days, between 13 January 2020 and 5 June 2020 (once the most severe effects of the first wave had been overcome), it was demonstrated that, during the first COVID-19 wave in Europe, the weekly death index variation was cointegrated with the copper future price structure. It has been proven that, in this timelapse, contango in futures price structure has increased its value, and the incremental levels of stock in copper LME warehouses are linked with a stable contango structure. In short, we find that fundamental market effects predominate, in a context in which commodities used to be more financialized. This leads market players, such as traders, miners, and transformers, to move exposures in their hedging structures, under such extreme event situations, in favor of or against either contango or backwardation, so as to derive value from them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commodity futures prices are usually modelled using affine term structure spot price models with latent factors extracted from the data. However, very little research to date has considered the question – What are the economic drivers behind the calibrated latent factors? This paper addresses this question in the context of a three-factor – short-, medium- and long-term – model for crude oil spot prices by studying the relations between these factors and appropriate economic variables. An affine combination of the short- and medium-term factors is identified as the (instantaneous) convenience yield. Estimating a structural vector auto-regression model we find that the short-term factor mainly relates to demand variables in the physical markets and to trading variables in the futures markets (such as the net short position of commercial hedgers), the medium-term factor relates to business cycles, demand and trading variables, and the long-term factor relates mainly to financial factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the findings of a large scale study that tested a comprehensive model of predictors of three manifestations of sustainability: continuation, institutionalization, and duration. Based on the literature the predictors were arrayed in four groups: variables pertaining to the project, the auspice organization, the community, and the main funder. The total sample consisted of 197 projects. Informants were asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire, pertaining to the predictor and outcome variables. The findings show both a different model of predictors for each manifestation of sustainability and commonalities among them. Both financial and human factors were involved in all the manifestations of sustainability. Of the financial factors, diversity of funding sources was the most prominent. Of the human factors, the findings highlight the strong role played by the auspice organization’s management and by the main initial funder. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

J.M. Keynes first introduced the theory of "normal backwardation" in futures markets. In the language of (British) commodities markets, a "backwardation" is an excess of the spot price overfutures prices. As is well-known, Keynes suggested that this might be explained as a risk premium. Less well known is that Keynes actually proposed two distinct theories of backwardation.Of these two theories of backwardation, the latter has recently received much attention. The purpose of this paper is to formalize Keynes' first theory, his "liquid stocks" theory, with an eyeto its eventual empirical test.We follow the recent formalizations of the risk premium theory by assuming the existence of perfectly competitive asset markets. To emphasize the differences between the two theories, however, we assume that there are well-funded risk neutral investors. Thus, risk premia cannot explain backwardation under our assumptions. Instead, backwardations arise because of interactions between equilibrium in the commodities exchange, both in spot and futures trading, and the production, consumption and storage decisions taken on the real side of the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that feedback obtained from general practice teams, early-career GPs, and specialties involved has been extremely positive, leading to a planned continuation and expansion of the program. It mentions information on mentored training positions for early-career general practitioners. It also mentions that government funding designated to support general practitioners (GPs) recruitment and retention.