Why have some seemingly promising futures contracts not succeeded in the recent past? In this paper, we will examine one such example, the pulp market. In two companion working papers, we will also analyze two other futures market failures: namely, in the uranium market and in weather...

This article reports the results of an exploratory study on the role of indigenous institutional infrastructures in the accumulation of world-leading innovative capabilities (technological catch-up) in natural resource-related industries in the context of developing/emerging economies. These...

Managed investment schemes, particularly agricultural schemes, have run into difficulty in recent years as changes in tax deductibility, the Global Financial Crisis and other factors have seen a number of prominent collapses (such as Timbercorp Limited and Great Southern Limited) and the drying...

This paper examines the hypothesis that changes have been brought about in the forest industry that allow it to participate fully in globalization. The forest industry has undergone profound changes in recent years in large part by new technologies. Whereas traditionally it was primarily an...

Estonia has been amongst the most successful countries in the transition from Communism and planned economy to Western style democracy, market ecomomy, and rule of law. The reasons for Estonia's success in the past have been analyzed by various authors and institutions before, including the...

Notwithstanding the research attention given to the implementation of lean practices, particularly in the developed countries, its adoption in the furniture industry in emerging economies is not promising and confined to a handful of studies only. The purpose of this study is to examine the...

Domestic laws are the ideal legal instrument to regulate the mining sector’s contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Even so, as a stop-gap-measure, governments may consider updating model mining development agreements (MMDAs) or negotiating climate­-related contractual...

The terms governing land investments can shape whether host countries and local communities benefit from investment projects. Yet host governments in low- and middle-income countries often lack sufficient legal and technical capacity to prepare for, negotiate, implement, and monitor investments,...

Recent distressing trends in climate change, population explosion and deforestation inspired this paper, which completes existing literature by providing empirical justification to hypothetical initiatives on the impact of population growth on forest sustainability in Africa. Using three...

Firms in decentralized markets often trade using quantity contracts, agreements that specify quantity in advance of trade. We show that firms use quantity contracts to reduce the costs of trading frictions. Specifically, quantity contracts are valuable for two reasons. First, they increase trade...