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The Determinants of Financial Risk Performance of Target Corporation In United States
No full textThis research study examined firm specific (internal) and macroeconomic (external) factors of determining financial risk performance at Target Corporation in the United States during a ten-year period, 2014-2023. The company had variability in operating profitability and a number of indicators had indicated an increase in financial pressure, which is why it is essential to know what factors determine financial risk. Financial ratios and economic indicators were analyzed with the help of SPSS which included correlation and regression models. The three models were created to identify the impact of internal factors, external factors, and a combination of both sets of variables on Operating Profit Margin (OPM) that served as the primary proxy of financial risk. As per the results, Net Profit Margin (NPM) has been identified as the most important internal factor to enhance OPM, whereas Operational Risk has been identified as the most important internal factor to decrease OPM. With GDP and interest rate having weak effects on the outside, it means that Target is more affected by its internal managerial factors than the macroeconomic factors. The results indicate that the optimization of costs, operational failures, and the risk management of interest rate risks are pivotal in reducing the financial risk. This study has the limitation of time as it considers a single company and 10 years of data, which might not portray the industry in general; thus, further studies can involve multiple companies and other financial indicators
Three key levels of the real exchange rate in Latin America
No full textThe article presents a simple three-sector macroeconomic model that incorporates key structural features common to many Latin American economies. The model allows for the formal identification of three benchmark levels of the real exchange rate (RER). The macroeconomic equilibrium RER is the level consistent with the simultaneous achievement of internal and external balance (i.e., full employment and a sustainable balance of payments). The social equilibrium RER corresponds to a state in which workers, at full employment, obtain a real wage consistent with their income aspirations. The developmental RER is defined as a benchmark level that ensures the labor-absorbing tradable sector earns a risk-adjusted rate of profit comparable to that in developed countries, thereby fostering investment. The three-RER-levels framework provides a unified analytical setting to organize and compare alternative theories developed in Latin America —including unbalanced productive structures, distributive conflict, structural inflation, macroeconomic populism, and stop-and-go cycles— and to clarify how different configurations of the benchmark RER levels underpin competing diagnoses and development strategies in the region
Bulgarian Economists on the Development of an Independent Basis for Price Formation in COMECON Trade (1958–1971)
No full textBetween 1958 and 1971 (until the adoption of the Comecon's Comprehensive Programme), active work was carried out on models for complete separation from world (capitalist) market prices. Bulgarian economists were particularly active in this regard, and their position was also expressed politically, which gives us reason to examine their proposals in particular. To this end, the present text sequentially examines several debated methodological issues related to pricing (within the framework of the Marxian labour theory of value, particularly in the work of Jacques Aroyo), selected ideas of Bulgarian economists on practical pricing (again Jacques Aroyo and Evgeni Mateev), the Tsvetkov–Golubarev approach, as well as Stefan Stoilov’s analyses of the potential effects of a transition to an independent pricing basis
Minimum Wage and Parental Childcare Time in the USA, 2019-2023
No full textRecent economic literature suggests that increases in the minimum wage can lead to parents spending more time in childcare through easing financial constraints such as the income effect. However, most evidence from past research does not analyse the disruptions of the COVID 19 pandemic. This research examines the impact of state-level minimum wage increases on parental childcare time in the United States during the mentioned period of 2019 to 2023. Through the use of microdata from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), we analyse a sample of 4043 working age parents and find that, contrary to findings from the 2003 to 2019 period, there is no statistical-ly significant effect on childcare time across aggregate or subgroup specifications, including mothers, fathers and low education parents among others. This null result diverges from pre-2019 literature. We attribute this lack of significance to the unique structural rigidities of the post-pandemic labor market (2019–2023) and the erosion of real wages due to high inflation, which likely neutralized the behavioral incentives typically associated with wage floors
Rice Cultivation Systems in Latin America: Diversity and Climate Vulnerability.
No full textRice cultivation systems in Latin America exhibit substantial heterogeneity driven by geographic, climatic, technological, and institutional factors. These differences shape productivity outcomes, exposure to climate risks, greenhouse gas emissions, and producers’ adaptive capacity. This article provides a system-oriented analysis of the main rice production systems in the region, distinguishing among irrigated, partially irrigated, and rainfed systems, as well as mechanized, semi-mechanized, and traditional production models. It examines how water management, mechanization, cropping intensity, and socioeconomic conditions interact to influence climate vulnerability and the feasibility of adaptation and mitigation strategies. The analysis highlights the importance of differentiated system-sensitive climate-smart agriculture pathways aligned with local production contexts and producer realities across Latin America
Clean Vehicle Incentives and Urban Air Quality: Evidence from Italy
No full textGovernments increasingly rely on purchase incentives for electric and hybrid vehicles to address both climate change and local air pollution. This paper provides new causal evidence on the environmental effectiveness of sub-national vehicle purchase incentives in Italy. Exploiting rich spatial and temporal variation in regional and municipal policies across Italian provincial capitals between 2013 and 2023, we show that the introduction of purchase incentives leads to statistically and economically significant reductions in traffic-related air pollution, measured by maximum annual concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). These effects are robust across multiple specifications and placebo tests and are primarily driven by direct cash subsidies, while purely fiscal incentives do not generate detectable improvements in air quality.
To uncover the underlying mechanisms, we document that incentives substantially increase the adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles and accelerate the phase-out of diesel cars, having an effect on investment in active mobility infrastructure and on changes in selected forms of electric micro-mobility. A decomposition exercise shows that technological substitution within the vehicle fleet is the main channel through which incentives reduce NO2 concentrations. Overall, the results highlight the importance of incentive design and provide policy-relevant evidence on the role of demand-side policies in improving urban air quality
From Negative to Positive: A Balance-Sheet NPV Profile of the Trans Mountain Pipeline under State Ownership
No full textGovernments periodically acquire capital-intensive infrastructure projects that private actors are unable or unwilling to complete, often under conditions where conventional net present value (NPV) analysis indicates strongly negative project economics. Such interventions are typically framed as political rescues or fiscal failures, with limited attention paid to how forward-looking project value evolves once construction risk is resolved. This paper examines the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX), acquired by the Government of Canada in 2018, as a detailed empirical case of infrastructure completion under state ownership. Using publicly available financial statements, the paper constructs a balance-sheet Net Present Value Profile that evaluates the project at successive points in time based solely on remaining future cash flows, treating all past expenditures as economically irrelevant for valuation. The results show that TMX’s forward-looking NPV was strongly negative at the time of acquisition but became decisively positive as construction risk was eliminated, stabilizing at a high steady-state value upon commissioning. This transition occurs without any revision to historical costs or operating assumptions and is robust to discount-rate variation. The analysis demonstrates how state intervention can function as risk absorption rather than capital misallocation, converting uncertainty into a valuable operating asset. By distinguishing completion dynamics from project failure cases, the paper clarifies why static ex ante NPV calculations can mischaracterize the economic logic of public intervention in long-lived infrastructure projects
Endogenous Finance and Policy Interactions: Monetary Policy, Financial Regulation, and Competition Policy
No full textThis paper analyzes a vertical market structure in which downstream firms compete imperfectly in quantities while upstream banks endogenously determine loan rates. Banks' pricing depends on the policy rate, lending volume, and banking conduct (profit-maximizing versus contestable). With contestable banking, average-cost loan pricing creates feedback between lending and loan rates, making monetary transmission state-dependent. We show that monetary policy, financial regulation, and competition policy---typically delegated to separate authorities---interact non-additively through this upstream channel. Tighter financial regulation amplifies monetary transmission under contestable banking; competition policy can either strengthen or weaken it depending on banking pass-through. These results imply that policy evaluation requires treating the three instruments as a mix rather than in isolation. Extensions with default risk show that policy tightening and weaker competition can be welfare-improving
Circular Responsibility Alliances:Rethinking Responsibility in the Transformation towards Circular Economy
No full textThis paper examines the normative foundations of the circular economy transition through the lens of responsibility ethics. It argues that although the implementation of a circular economy constitutes a morally desirable societal goal, prevailing models of responsibility—rooted in retrospective, individualistic, and polluter-pays-based logics—are ill-suited to guide this transformation. These models are not only dominant in moral tradition and public discourse, but are also deeply institutionalized in key governance instruments such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes. The paper develops an expanded model of responsibility for the circular economy transition that is prospective, shared (though not collective), and systemic, grounding responsibility in agents’ participation in and benefits from linear economic structures. Building on the normative principle “ought implies can”, it further proposes that the degree of responsibility borne by an economic agent depends on its capacity to initiate, sustain, or enable collaboration within circular ecosystems. To operationalize this, the paper introduces the framework of Circular Responsibility Alliances (CRAs), defined as collaborative arrangements in which economic agents mutually enable one another to assume shared responsibility for developing circular ecosystems, while policymakers act as alliance enablers. It further provides recommendations for action for policymakers, organizations, and consumers. In this way, the paper highlights the importance of rethinking responsibility in the transformation toward a circular economy
Pitfalls and Optimal Design of Emergency Liquidity Assistance
No full textThis paper studies why lender-of-last-resort support can fail to stop bank runs. In a nominal bank-run model with equity and multiple banks, I show that delayed Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) shifts losses onto patient depositors and can trigger panic-driven withdrawals, even with sound assets and unlimited central-bank liquidity. The mechanism is a crisis-contingent, economy-wide inflation tax that insures early withdrawals while taxing those who stay, and redistributes resources across banks through the price level. The results highlight that ELA timing and fiscal design are critical for stability and can make regulatory interventions destabilizing rather than stabilizing