Search Results (18)

The Court of Justice of the European Union’s Grand Chamber judgement in Public.Resource.Org v Commission (“Malamud”) raises fundamental questions about the relationship between EU law and the European standardisation system. By holding that harmonised standards referenced in the Official Journal must be accessible to the public free of charge, the Court reaffirmed the principle that individuals must be able to know the norms governing their legal rights and obligations. While widely welcomed as a victory for transparency and the Rule of Law, the judgement poses significant challenges to the longstanding governance and funding model of European standardisation, which relies heavily on copyright-based revenues generated by European Standardisation Organisations and national bodies. This article examines the practical and institutional consequences of the Malamud ruling and explores viable compliance pathways for the EU standardisation system. After outlining the role of harmonised standards within the New Legislative Framework and their growing importance in regulatory regimes such as the Artificial Intelligence Act, it analyses the judgement’s implications for access to law and the copyright status of standards. The article then evaluates a range of implementation models, including Commission-hosted publication, read-only access portals, licencing buyouts, and expanded use of common specifications. It argues that a Commission-hosted publication model, supported by revised funding arrangements, offers the most coherent pathway to reconcile open access with the continued functioning of the European standardisation infrastructure, and proposes corresponding reforms to Regulation 1025/2012. Full article

Flood hazard mitigation programs increasingly rely on property buyouts and home elevation, yet participation remains sensitive to program design details that affect household constraints. This study estimates homeowner preferences for buyout and elevation program attributes using a stated-preference discrete-choice experiment administered to N = 1560 homeowners, in which each respondent completed up to 4 choice tasks with 3 alternatives (Buyout, Elevation, and Neither). Choices are modeled in a random-utility framework with a multinomial logit as the primary specification and a mixed logit as a robustness specification. Observed choices favor Buyout (51.2%) over Elevation (29.6%) and the status quo (19.2%). In the estimated utility model, higher buyout offers increase acceptance, longer payment delays significantly reduce acceptance, and longer time to vacate increases acceptance; the acquisition option feature also raises buyout utility. These timing effects imply economically meaningful offer-equivalent tradeoffs: at representative baselines, an additional month of payment delay requires approximately a 6.45 percentage-point increase in offer (as a share of home value) to maintain acceptance, while households would trade about 8.02 percentage points of offer to obtain one additional month to vacate. Heterogeneity results indicate lower baseline participation among low-income respondents and attenuated marginal benefits of longer vacate time among respondents reporting damage. Respondent-level cross-validation shows stable predictive performance and similar accuracy across MNL and mixed logit models. The results highlight that accelerating payments and offering flexible time to vacate can increase program uptake, and that complementary supports may be needed to reduce participation barriers for economically vulnerable households. Full article

This research explores the impact of ownership structure on the financial performance of Leveraged Buyout (LBO) transactions in the MENA region, a key emerging market region. Drawing on agency theory by Jensen & Meckling and the capital structure theory of Modigliani and Miller, the study investigates how different shareholder configurations, particularly managerial equity participation, influence LBO outcomes. Based on a sample of 233 transactions conducted between 2000 and 2023, the research adopts a quantitative methodology grounded in a hypothetico-deductive approach. The analysis focuses on the interactions between managerial ownership, leverage, target firm size, and operational performance. The findings support the agency theory premise that managerial ownership aligns interests and enhances performance, showing a positive relationship between managerial equity stakes and financial outcomes. Conversely, the effect of leverage, central to Modigliani and Miller’s propositions, proves more nuanced, reflecting the region’s unique financial constraints and market imperfections. Firm size, meanwhile, shows no direct correlation with performance improvement. These insights underscore the complex mechanisms behind LBO success in the MENA context and offer practical and theoretical implications, particularly regarding governance practices and institutional frameworks. The study also outlines avenues for future research, including a deeper examination of regional governance dynamics. Full article

U.S. government agencies execute home relocation programs, known as buyouts, in flood-prone areas to reduce hazard exposure. By converting the buyout properties into open space, these governmental agencies assume ownership and management responsibilities. As with all landscapes, the post-buyout landscape reflects power dynamics and institutional forces that shape how the land is managed, perceived, and used. For acquired properties, historic housing polices, disaster risk reduction strategies, and the social construction of the land have all accumulated over time on the post-buyout landscape and influence contemporary land management practices. To understand the influence of power and social capital on post-buyout land management, this study analyzes land management practices and compares them with the socioeconomic characteristics of buyout neighborhoods in Harris County, Texas, USA, a county with a fifty-year buyout history. Results indicate that homeownership status, race, and ethnicity were related to post-buyout land management to varying degrees, thus reflecting differing degrees of social capital in buyout neighborhoods and therefore power to shape the management of post-buyout open space. Full article

Disaster losses and expenses are increasing rapidly in coastal regions, highlighting the pressing need for effective mitigation strategies. The voluntary buyout program is an effective approach to reducing risks of future flooding, often funded by federal grants after disasters. However, following a disaster, decision-making tends to be reactive, potentially leading to a haphazard selection of properties and households for program participation. It is crucial for local governments in charge of these programs to be informed about who may or may not benefit from program participation when deciding which properties to select and prioritize. Therefore, incorporating social equity in those decisions prevents unintended consequences for program participants. The present research addresses this complexity by raising the critical question of how local practitioners can evaluate equity considerations of using federal grants for buyout projects. With a mixed-methods research design, we offer systematic guidelines for supporting local practitioners in evaluating the equity considerations of using funding for buyouts, ultimately leading to improved outcomes for households. By acknowledging the potential of buyouts in mitigating flood exposure and recognizing its equity implications, this study uses advanced hazard models, buyout practitioners and experts’ insights, data on buyout funding, and findings from past research to support local practitioners in making equitable prioritization and selection of households by developing a decision framework. Full article

In this paper, a new methodology for comparing the cost-effectiveness of sustainable agricultural water policies during times of drought is developed. The methodology explicitly accounts for regional economic impacts from policy implementation and uncertainty related to drought frequency. The methodology is applied to two policy options being considered by the state of Georgia in the lower Flint River basin: irrigation buyout auctions and source switching. The results demonstrate the following: (1) the importance of modeling uncertainty associated with both the frequency and timing of drought, and the hydrologic effects of source switching; (2) as the frequency of drought increases, the cost-effectiveness of irrigation buyout auctions decreases. Failure to incorporate the regional economic impacts of each policy significantly underestimates the costs of both, but more so for irrigation buyout auctions than source switching. The ability to proactively manage the uncertainty associated with source switching through research and the judicious site selection of new irrigation wells increases its cost-effectiveness. Full article

A number of studies have documented coastal forest dieback as a historical and ongoing process across the Northeast US region. To further develop a current understanding of the state of knowledge, review adaptation and response measures available to land managers, and to identify research and management needs, we conducted a literature review, interviewed experts, and convened a workshop bringing together scientists and land managers. A synthesis of the above suggests that the most important proximate mechanisms driving coastal forest dieback in the Northeast US are sea level rise-induced changes in the groundwater table in concert with increased saltwater inundation related to storm surges. What sets our conceptual model apart from prior work is the greater emphasis placed on the role of rising fresh groundwater levels in increasingly stressing the forest vegetation and decreasing regeneration potential. Episodic storm surges often exceed the salinity or saturation tolerances of existing trees leading to a wave of mortality that leaves the site inhospitable to subsequent regeneration. Maintaining functioning coastal forests across the Northeast US will require that the marsh and forest ecosystems be considered as an integrated unit when determining an appropriate adaptation response. With a better understanding of each of the sea level rise-induced mechanisms at work in these ecosystems, managers may be better prepared for the changes ahead and facilitate proactive adaptation strategies. Easements or buyouts are vital to ensure that there is ample space for the marsh and upland systems to migrate landward together. Forward thinking land use planning is needed to promote the “no net loss” of both marsh and coastal forest ecosystems to ensure the continued provision of their vital services to society. Full article

This paper studies the difference between startup investments by private equity funds (buyout funds; PE) and venture capital funds (VC). PEs, which have traditionally invested in mature companies, have been increasingly investing in later-stage startups in recent years. Based on Crunchbase’s data on EU startup investments from 2011 to the first half of 2021, we find that: (1) later-stage VC-backed startups and PE-backed startups differ in terms of the industry domain, (2) PE-backed startups tend to have higher revenue when they receive investments, and (3) VC-backed startups are more likely to exit via Initial Public Offering (IPO) and slightly less likely to exit via Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) than PE-backed startups. These results connect previous studies on VC and PE and deepen our understanding of later-stage startup investment. It also suggests that PE invests differently than VCs and provides new added value to the startup ecosystem. In addition, it adds insights into corporate behavior in new business domain expansion. Full article

In order to obtain a better understanding why some entrepreneurs retain more control over their venture than others, this article analyzes the relationship between the social identity of the entrepreneur and her/his desire for control. In fact, entrepreneurs face an important tradeoff between attracting resources required to build company value and retaining decision-making control. Yet, we currently lack insight into whether and how entrepreneurs’ social motivations shape this trade-off. This study draws on social identity theory and a unique sample of 148 buyout entrepreneurs, as this setting confronts aspiring entrepreneurs directly with the value–control tradeoff. In our logistic regression, we find that entrepreneurs with a strong missionary identity, where venture creation revolves around advancing a cause, hold a higher desire for control. We do not observe a significant relationship between entrepreneurs having a Darwinian (driven by economic self-interest) or communitarian (driven by the concern for the community) identity and the desire to control their venture. When adding the moderating role of the portion of personal wealth the entrepreneur is willing to invest in her/his venture, the relationships between having a Darwinian or missionary social identity and the desire for control become significantly positive when the entrepreneur is looking to invest a larger portion of her/his wealth. Full article

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness that not all decommissioned and obsolete real-estate assets can be recovered and reused. After the paradigm of urban growth, and following the paradigm of regeneration, a new paradigm seems to be looming on the horizon: the paradigm of shrinkage. Due to this change in perspective, discussions on the potential of demolition policies as an alternative to regeneration and reuse are gaining support in the debate about urban growth. In the United States, there are two on-going programs using demolition as their main tool for urban planning: the blight elimination programs and the flood buyout programs. The former foresees the demolition of abandoned and decayed real-estate assets, while the latter envisions the demolition and relocation of buildings within areas under flooding risks. Given their successful employment in the U.S., this paper evaluates the applicability of these programs to an Italian case, which is characterized by a different building heritage and different territorial conditions. Simulations of the programs’ application are made using two case studies: Lecce nei Marsi (Abruzzo) and Moncalieri (Piemonte). The results demonstrate the substantial feasibility of the blight elimination programs’ usage in Italy, while the flood buyout programs instead demonstrates major obstacles that may hinder its successful application. Full article

Limited funds and the demand for disaster assistance call for a broader understanding of how homeowners decide to either rebuild or relocate from their disaster-affected homes. This study examines the long-term mobility decisions of homeowners in Lumberton, North Carolina, USA, who received federal assistance from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) for property acquisition, elevation, or reconstruction following Hurricane Matthew in 2016. The authors situate homeowners’ decisions to rebuild or relocate in the context of property attributes and neighborhood characteristics. Logit and probit regressions reveal that homeowners with lower-value properties are less likely to relocate, and those subjected to higher flood and inundation risks are more likely to relocate. Additionally, homeowners in neighborhoods of higher social vulnerability—those with a higher proportion of minorities and mortgaged properties—are more likely to rebuild their disaster-affected homes. The authors discuss homeowners’ mobility decisions in the context of the social vulnerability of neighborhoods. Our results contribute to an ongoing policy discussion that seeks to articulate the housing and neighborhood attributes that affect the long-term mobility decisions of recipients of HMGP assistance. The authors suggest that local governments prioritize the mitigation of properties of homeowners of higher physical and social vulnerability to reduce socioeconomic disparities in hazard mitigation and build equitable community resilience. Full article

This paper aims to analyze the financial and operational approach to land regularization and financing used in Brazil by an innovative private social enterprise in order to demonstrate that the approach widens the concept fit-for-purpose land regularization to include fit-for-purpose land financing, with relevance for wider efforts in informal settlement regularization and upgrading. In this approach, the enterprise acts as a coordinator and broker to organize the residents of informal settlements to regularize their settlements by negotiating buyouts of the underlying private owners at discounted values, handling titling and registration of the occupants, and coordinating with municipal governments to provide infrastructure. The analysis of parcel-level repayment and price data provides evidence of the sustainability of the business model and increase of property values of the regularized parcels. The results presented from the enterprise’s own repayment data demonstrate that under (non-pandemic) historical conditions residents are largely able to pay an affordable monthly payment over 7–10 years to the enterprise for the service to purchase the plots and maintain the enterprise. In operation since 2001, the enterprise has regularized over 20,000 parcels in more than 30 settlements, primarily in the cities of Sao Paolo and Curitiba in Brazil. The approach suggests that it could be widely replicable and add to the set of options for regularizing informal settlements, especially when purchase of private land is required. Full article

The reduction in construction and maintenance costs per MW of renewable energy facilities, together with low interest rates, have led to a significant growth in the purchase prices paid for these facilities in the Spanish market. This trend is shared by other European countries, especially for projects that hedge energy price risk incorporating power purchase agreements with third parties. In this framework, questions arise about the economic rationale of the purchase prices paid for these projects. Consequently, we develop a project evaluation model that forecasts expected cash flow and time-varying required rates of return for a standard photovoltaic plant, in order to study the extent to which foreseeable market conditions—interest rates and equity risk premia, among others—translate into economically viable buyouts. Our results suggest that purchase prices paid for these initiatives often lead to buyer returns below those that would be reasonable according to market conditions. Indeed, we find that only facilities that reach a production 23% higher than the number of hours considered in the base case provide returns that compensate long-term financing costs. However, specialised investors can exploit their relatively low cost of financing to pay prices up to 73% higher than those affordable by classic investors. Full article

Sea level rise increases community risks from erosion, wave flooding, and tides. Current management typically protects existing development and infrastructure with coastal armoring. These practices ignore long-term impacts to public trust coastal recreation and natural ecosystems. This adaptation framework models physical responses to the public beach and private upland for each adaptation strategy over time, linking physical changes in widths to damages, economic costs, and benefits from beach recreation and nature using low-lying Imperial Beach, California, as a case study. Available coastal hazard models identified community vulnerabilities, and local risk communication engagement prioritized five adaptation approaches—armoring, nourishment, living shorelines, groins, and managed retreat. This framework innovates using replacement cost as a proxy for ecosystem services normally not valued and examines a managed retreat policy approach using a public buyout and rent-back option. Specific methods and economic values used in the analysis need more research and innovation, but the framework provides a scalable methodology to guide coastal adaptation planning everywhere. Case study results suggest that coastal armoring provides the least public benefits over time. Living shoreline approaches show greater public benefits, while managed retreat, implemented sooner, provides the best long-term adaptation strategy to protect community identity and public trust resources. Full article

Increases in extreme weather events have caused extensive flooding across the United States. In response, federal, state, and local governments have broadened their flood mitigation strategies to include acquisition and demolition of flood-damaged homes (“buyouts”). Little work has documented or analyzed the range of strategies for funding buyouts. Federal programs provide the bulk of funding, but these programs are often slow. Also, state and local governments struggle to meet cost-match requirements. We present and analyze a nationwide census of buyout funding programs (n = 34), which draw on five primary funding mechanisms. We find that state and local governments are using a range of traditional and innovative financial mechanisms, including municipal/green bonds, revolving loan funds, local option sales taxes, and stormwater utility fees, as viable tools for funding buyouts. These tools may promote more autonomy from federal government mitigation programs, and ultimately, faster buyout processes. Full article