Quota Regulations Research Articles

Update on Ergonomics Standards in the United States

After two decades of dormancy, activity around ergonomics rulemaking has increased recently, primarily due to legislation passed at the state level. Several states have enacted laws addressing production quotas in warehouses and the impact they have on worker safety and health. Minnesota added an ergonomics program requirement for industries with known risk for work-related musculoskeletal disorders to their safe patient handling and warehouse quota regulations in response to legislation passed in 2023. In that same year, the Washington State Legislature passed laws that resulted in a warehouse quota regulation and initiated industry-specific rulemaking efforts. This paper provides an overview of current ergonomics standards at the state level and offers a national perspective from federal OSHA.

Cartels, board gender composition and gender quotas

Cartel busting often results in the restructuring of boards of directors, presumably to remove individuals (both executive and non-executive members) who may have been involved in the cartel. This study employs 2 exogenous changes—cartel busting and binding board gender quotas policies—to examine their impact on board gender composition using DiD and Staggered DiD methods. In countries with binding quotas, boards are already undergoing restructuring to include more women, even without the shock of cartel busting. Furthermore, boards increase the percentage of women in non-cartelized firms only when countries introduce binding gender quotas. Binding board gender quota regulations are effective in improving gender balance on corporate boards. Additionally, in countries without binding board gender quotas, only firms sanctioned for cartel conduct show an increase in the percentage of women after cartel busting, compared to non-sanctioned firms. Thus, board gender quota regulations and anti-cartel policies interact to influence the gender composition of sanctioned firms: binding gender policies are effective in achieving more balanced board gender composition, and cartel busting drives more balanced boards in sanctioned firms regardless of whether their countries have binding board quota regulations or not.

Research on Carbon Cap Regulation, Retailer Altruistic Preferences, and Green Decision-Making of Manufacturing Enterprises

As manufacturing advances swiftly and public consciousness about low-carbon practices rises, eco-friendly supply chains have seen significant expansion. This study investigates a government-driven green supply chain in two phases, involving a producer and a seller. Four scenario game models are established to determine whether the manufacturer engages in green technology innovation or whether the retailer has altruistic preferences. The Stackelberg game was used to analyze changes in government carbon quota regulations, retail prices of retailers, and manufacturers’ carbon reduction efforts in the context of carbon market trading. Research shows that the government will set looser carbon emission limits for manufacturers when retailers have no altruistic preferences. When carbon prices in the market are low, encouraging manufacturers to invest in green technology innovation enhances social welfare. This study offers essential theoretical backing for the government in crafting carbon quota regulations and aids businesses in making prompt technological innovation choices.

Women on boards and ESG performance: empirical evidence before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia and Malaysia

PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether the presence of women in the boardroom influences companies’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Furthermore, it examines whether the COVID-19 pandemic and family control affect the relationship.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses nonfinancial firms listed on the Indonesia and Malaysia Stock Exchange during 2018-2021. Thomson Reuters’ database is used to collect the ESG scores. Using 312 firm-year observations, the authors apply multiple regressions and sensitivity testing to ensure the robustness of the results.FindingsThis study provides empirical evidence that the presence of women in the boardroom improves companies’ ESG and family control weakens the relationship. Meanwhile, there is no support on the moderating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors also conducted additional tests using ESG pillars (i.e. environment, social and governance pillars) as the dependent variable. The findings are robust to alternative samplings.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is limited to Indonesia and Malaysia, thus affecting the generalizability of the results to all developing countries. The sample size is relatively small due to data limitations related to the availability of ESG scores.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study provide a basis for the government to establish mandatory regulations regarding sustainability performance. The positive relationship between women on boards and better ESG performance suggests that encouraging gender diversity in corporate leadership can improve sustainability practices. The government may consider implementing gender quota regulations to increase women's representation on corporate boards.Social implicationsShareholders can pursue investment portfolios in socially responsible companies, prioritizing ESG performance. In addition, investors should consider the presence of women in the company’s boardroom and whether family control exists when making investment decisions.Originality/valueOverall, the originality and significance of this research lie in its comprehensive examination of the moderating factors, the inclusion of different governance systems in the sample, and the exploration of psychological aspects, contributing to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the relationship between women on boards and ESG performance in the context of developing countries.

Increasing supply chain resiliency through equilibrium pricing and stipulating transportation quota regulation

Supply chain disruption can occur for a variety of reasons, including natural disasters or market dynamics for which resilient strategies should be designed. If the disruption is profound and has dire consequences for the economy, it calls for the regulator’s intervention to minimize the impact for the betterment of the society. This paper investigates the minimum quota regulation on transport amounts of a shipping company with limited capacity that transports a group of products with heterogeneous transportation and production costs and prices. An interesting example can be found in the North American rail transportation market, where rail capacity is used for a variety of products and commodities, such as oil and grains. Similarly, in Europe, the supply chain for grain produced in Ukraine is disrupted by the Ukraine war and the blockade of the maritime transport routes. This siege puts pressure on the rail transport capacity of Ukraine and its neighboring countries to the west, which needs to be shared to ship a variety of products, including grains, military, and humanitarian supplies. Such situations require the proper execution of government intervention for effective management of limited transport capacity to avoid rippling effects throughout the economy. We propose mathematical models and solutions for market players and the government in a Canadian case study. Subsequently, the conditions that justify government intervention are identified, and an algorithm is presented to obtain the optimum minimum quotas.

Discretion rather than rules in multiple-species fisheries

This paper evaluates the bioeconomic performance of individual fishing quota (IFQ) regulations in multiple-species fisheries. In our model, a manager chooses the aggregate quotas under uncertainty over the true stock abundances of two jointly-harvested fish species. Fishers conduct harvest operations under full knowledge of the species-specific productivities of fishing gear. We derive the profit maximizing fishing mortality and economic rent outcomes implemented by fishers under various regulatory designs. We compare bioeconomic performance of an IFQ regulation with discretion over the mix of harvested species against an IFQ regulation that bans at-sea discarding. Both regulations eliminate discards. Discretion allows closer alignment between fisher implemented outcomes and those that maximize long term expected fishery value. Incorporating discretion into regulatory designs provides new prospects for improving fisheries management.

Ein Drittel des Himmels. Die politische Partizipation von Frauen in Deutschlands Parteien

Women currently make up 30 percent of German party members . Among new members, this proportion is only slightly higher at one third . Consequently, there are still barriers to women‘s participation in party politics in Germany . This article examines gender-specific differences in the perception of incentives and costs of party membership along the entire membership cycle . The German Party Membership Studies of 1998, 2009 and 2017 serve as the data basis . It is shown that women more often than men cite inner-party conflicts as a reason for not joining a party . They also more frequently expect to have little fun working within a party . If they do join a party, they do so more often because of the expectations of their social environment . They are less likely than men to seek a political career . Accord- ingly, men take on internal party functions more often than women and run for public office more frequently . There is no evidence that internal party quota regulations increase the proportion of women in the membership .

Analysis of the tripartite evolutionary game in the marketization of China’s renewable energy-based electricity prices

The evolution of China’s renewable power pricing regulation from subsidy-driven fixed feed-in tariffs (FIT) to market-oriented, quota-based renewable portfolio standards (RPS) is a crucial institutional transformation designed to advance the low-carbon energy transition. The government’s price regulation of mandatory and non-mandatory quotas has a direct impact on the optimal production decision-making behavior of renewable and coal-fired power producers, which determines the effective substitution of fossil energy by renewable energy in China, and relates to the successful realization of the low-carbon energy transition. This article presents the construction of a tripartite evolutionary game model under both non-mandatory and mandatory quotas, employing MATLAB software to simulate and assess the effectiveness of a tradable green certificate (TGC) system in the presence of mandatory quotas. Based on stable equilibrium strategies, we discuss the impact of FIT on green certificate trading under four different subsidy withdrawal strategies and three quota and penalty scenarios. The results indicate the following. First, when renewable power producers certify and engage in green certificate trading, coal-fired power producers purchase green certificates, and the government implements mandatory quotas, the participants in the game achieve an equilibrium strategy combination. Second, the findings validate the effectiveness of the RPS–TGC model (i.e., the green certificate trading system in the presence of mandatory quotas) for electricity price regulation. Third, the root cause of the failure of China’s current voluntary green certificate trading system is the government's non-mandatory quotas. Accordingly, it is proposed that the marketization of renewable electricity prices in China needs to adopt a fast-then-slow exit of FIT subsidies, with renewable energy power quotas set at 20% and penalty standards set at 1.5P.

Illusion of Inclusion: Examining Trickle-Down Effects of the Board Gender Quota Regulation in India

In this study, I explore the consequences of the board gender quota in India, the first developing country to implement such a policy. Proponents of board gender quotas argue that such policies ought to undo the gendered organization by bolstering up appointments of women in lower ranks, starting with senior executive ranks just below the board (i.e., positive trickle-down effects). Challenging these normative arguments, I argue that deeply rooted gender structures in organizations, coupled with the nature of the board gender quota in India, may hinder such effects. After analyzing 184 of the largest publicly listed firms in India during 2007–2017, I found that the board gender quota led to an increase in the appointment of women to corporate boards, with a smaller positive effect for boards with higher numbers of female directors before the quota. However, firms reduced appointments of women to senior executive ranks below the board after the announcement of the regulation. Hence, it seems that women’s access to board positions through a quota resulted in redoing the gendered organization by reducing female appointments at senior executive levels.

Board gender diversity and earnings management: what difference does gender quota legislation make in emerging market?

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of board gender diversity (BOGD) following the adoption of gender quota legislation on earnings management (EM) in an emerging market, Egypt, whose cultural and economic conditions and institutional context are unlike most previously studied countries’ context. Design/methodology/approach The authors use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to estimate the impact of gender quota legislation on EM using data from listed companies in Egypt from 2015 to 2022. Difference-in-difference (DID) approach estimation was used to validate the robustness of the main results. Findings This paper documents that gender diversity on boards has a significantly negative impact on EM. In addition, this paper provides robust evidence using the DID approach to show that BOGD is significantly negatively linked with EM for the period following gender quota legislation. Furthermore, the results support the critical mass and agency theories. Practical implications The findings of this study have important implications for Egyptian companies, regulatory bodies and investors in emerging markets. Specifically, these results suggest that when choosing board members, enterprises should pay particular attention to BOGD, and female involvement in all listed firms should be monitored by regulators. Social implications This paper provides evidence supporting the positive contribution of women in society by enhancing the economic performance of Egyptian firms and promoting the country’s sustainable development strategy in light of Egypt vision 2030. Originality/value As per the authors' knowledge, this empirical study is unique in investigating the impact of BOGD quota regulation on EM in Egypt. This paper contributes to BOGD as a major factor in improving financial reporting quality in Egyptian companies.

LEGAL ISSUES AND ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION OF EU WORK PERMIT QUOTAS

The interest in the European Union work permit quotas arises largely as a result of globalization and digitalization, while the European Union member states produce more labor services than materials, followed by deviations in labor policies. The main aim of the article is to analyze the work permit policies implemented by the EU and its member states to manage the legal employment of migrant workers, focusing on the existing programs during the last two years. The subject of the study is the outcome of work permit legislation and quotas for third country economic relations with the European Union. The methodology of the research includes the method of descriptive and explanatory study of legal issues of EU work permit quotas, followed by statistical analysis with legal review of the data on the subject. The study is based on the analysis of documents (founding acts, directives, regulations, decrees, etc.) of the EU countries and is focused on the research of the scope of their domestic decisions. As a result, the paper raises and analyzes many important issues of the European Union's work permit quota regulations in times of socio-economic imbalance. The first section of the paper provides an analysis of the legal background of labor migration policy at the EU level. The second section deals with the political and legal work permit measures (quotas) defined by the member states to secure their national economy. The second section is dedicated to the statistical survey of the EU work permit policy in the context of the employment of migrant workers of Ukrainian origin. The hypothesis of the paper is that labor migration is a social phenomenon with a long historical background, while the work permit quota is an annual governmental mechanism established in relevant normative acts of the states. Practical implications are as follows: the conclusions and methodological approaches to legal work permit model, obtained as a result of the study, is considered a tool for national security management of multiplicative risk factors, and is applicable to condense misleading in labor policies of EU member states and in third countries. The value/originality of the paper is revealed by the use of behavioral and economic analysis (in the context of humanitarian crisis in Ukraine). The paper modifies the current situation on execution of regulatory acts within the framework of EU work permit quotas as currently improving measures.

Dinamika Kebijakan Keterwakilan Perempuan Pasca Reformasi Di Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia (DPR-RI)

The background of this research is the phenomenon of female minority groups in the Indonesian parliament DPR-RI. The formulation of the problem that arises is how is the representation of women in the post-reform parliament? This research uses political recruitment theory and party typology. This study uses a qualitative method of library research, especially previous studies. This study finds women's affirmation policies have been present in the post-referral election law. However, the implementation of the rules is still not effective in increasing the number of women representatives at the national level of the DPR-RI. Several inhibiting factors; First, the 30 percent quota regulation for women in political contestation is still a nomination. Second, the dominance of party elite decisions with a patriarchal mindset is often an obstacle that hinders women's political participation. Third, the pattern of party recruitment tends to be pragmatic in the nomination of cadres as candidates for legislative members.

ACADEMICS IN THE BOARDROOM: THE EFFECT OF A GENDER QUOTA REGULATION

In the framework of literature devoted to corporate governance and board composition, we take a peculiar viewpoint and focus on the presence of university professors in the governing body of Italian banks. In particular, we test whether the gender quota regulation increased the presence of female professors as directors. We find evidence of a relevant increase in the probability of designating women from the academia in the years immediately following the entry into force of the gender quota regulation in Italy, whereas no significant increase is in place for male professors over the same period. Our results suggest the need to enhance the career opportunities for women up the C-levels in order to fuel diversity in the boardrooms, not only in independent but also in executive roles. In light of the empirical evidence provided, a re-thinking of gender quota regulations would also be advisable in order to better pursue the desired outcomes.

Female directors and the firm's cost of debt: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment

Whereas in 2001 women held around 5% of board seats in Norway, in 2007 their representation increased to more than 40%. This extraordinary change was the result of a board-gender quota regulation enacted in 2006. This study leverages this unique research setting and implements difference-in-differences estimations to investigate whether the appointment of female directors affects the firm's cost of debt. The treated group in the empirical analysis consists of Norwegian public companies affected by the new regulation, while the control group includes similar firms from neighboring Scandinavian countries that were not affected by any gender quota. If, as most previous-related studies conclude, female directors contribute to reduce the cost of debt, such an effect should necessarily be observed in our research setting. However, the results of the empirical analysis show no significant differences in the cost of debt before and after the appointment of a large number of female directors. This result appears robust as it holds across several sensitivity analyses. The implications of this finding for the corporate governance literature are discussed.

Board Gender Diversity and Voluntary Carbon Emission Disclosure

In this study, we investigate the effect of board gender diversity on the decision to disclose carbon emissions voluntarily. Using an international sample consisting of 22,841 firm-year observations from 38 countries for the period 2010–2019, we determine the existence of a positive relationship between the percentage of female directors on the board and carbon disclosure. This evidence supports agency and resource dependency theories, as a gender diverse board indicates strong governance and better communication among stakeholders. Additionally, we examine the moderating effect of gender quotas across sample countries, where either soft or hard quotas have been implemented. We show that the number of firms disclosing their carbon emissions is, on average, higher in countries with either hard or soft quotas than in countries with no quota. Moreover, the positive effect of board gender diversity on voluntary carbon emission disclosure is similar across firms in countries with quotas and without quotas. The reported results demonstrate that there seems to be no need for country-level strict regulations regarding the firm-level percentage of female representation on the board to be effective, as gender board diversity in countries with no quotas has a similar effect in explaining voluntary carbon disclosure as in countries with quotas and those changing to quota regulation.

Footsteps I would like to follow? How gender quotas affect the acceptance of women leaders as role models and inspirations for leadership

AbstractThis research examines how the method of selecting women leaders affects other women's leadership interest. The results of three experiments (N = 1,015) indicated that only when women leaders were selected due to merit, not quota‐based policies, did they boost female participants’ interest in a leadership position. These reactions were mediated by perceptions of the woman leader's deservingness of her position (Studies 1–3) and consequent acceptance as a role model (Studies 2 and 3). Accordingly, success information validating quota‐based selected leaders’ competence provided a boost in leadership interest equal to that of merit‐based selected leaders (Study 2). For male participants, quota but not merit‐based selected women leaders lowered interest in leadership due to their pessimistic assessment of the probability of being selected (Study 1). These results suggest that a wise implementation of quota regulations includes validating women's competence so they are perceived as deserving of their leader roles and can thus serve as inspiring role models.

Female directors, board-gender quotas and firm performance: evidence from Norway

The opponents to board gender quotas point out the utility argument, according to which, the impossibility of appointing the best candidates will have a negative impact on firm performance. Norway is the case study to investigate the impact of board gender quota regulations on firm performance. Because a gender quota was voluntary from 2004 to 2006 and mandatory afterwards, it allows us to investigate the respective impact of voluntary and mandatory gender quota regulations. The research design takes advantage of this unique research setting and implements difference-in-differences estimations. Previous studies examining the Norwegian context, however, do not differentiate between the voluntary and mandatory implementation of the quota. After controlling for several methodological issues that were unnoticed by these studies, we report sound evidence that the Norwegian quota did not have any negative impact on firm performance. Furthermore, results also suggest that when the quota was applied voluntarily, it had some positive effects on performance. These findings contradict most of the extant evidence and have interesting implications.

Can even still be uneven? The effect of quotas in Portuguese local governments

ABSTRACTPortuguese society has undergone considerable progress towards addressing gender issues. From the education system to the job market, many changes promoting gender equity have taken place. In the political sphere, the implementation of regulations on gender quotas marked a significant milestone. Since 2006, party lists have been required to meet a gender diversity quota of at least 33%. However, the implementation of such policies necessitate a more detailed analysis. This paper focusses on the impact of quota regulations on the composition of municipal councils. Based on an analysis of the data from the municipal elections from 1978 to 2017, our research supports two major findings. First, the introduction of quota regulations considerably increased the number of women in office, but also created a glass ceiling around the legal threshold. Second, an institutional history of gender diversity and a competitive political environment are both factors that boost the number of women elected.

A Multi-Region and Multi-Period Harvest Schedule of the Trawl Fleet

Under the individual vessel quota regulations, the expected economic return of a multi species fishery is influenced by an array of a multi-component choice such as targeted species, landings per haul, harvesting time and its location. The components of effort allocation decisions are further complicated by changes in the market conditions and the constant movements of fish between spawning and feeding habitats. Migratory behavior influences the dispersal of species, relative availability of fish and its composition, and the bycatch likelihood across different locations over the course of a fishing year. The objective of this article is to investigate the optimal allocation of fishing effort in the Norwegian bottom-trawl fleet within economically important species; cod, saithe, and haddock across three heavily trawled areas—including southern and northern parts of the west coast of Norway, and the high sea areas of the Arctic—to achieve maximum expected economic return, with respect to the individual vessel quota constraints and bycatch considerations. The results from a mixed integer non-linear optimization problem evidence that the spawning migration of Northeast Arctic cod along the northwest coast, effort allocation behavior of coastal fleet, together with institutional regulations necessitate the substitution of fishing effort across different fishing locations within the fishing season to maximize expected return. The results of our study further reveal that the Arctic region to target cod is the biggest contributor to annual fishing revenue. By contrast, conducting saithe fishery in the southwest of the Norwegian coast has the lowest economic contribution. The results from Monte Carlo simulation demonstrate that the proposed model is effective and applicable for effort allocation decision analysis.

Board gender quotas, female directors and corporate tax aggressiveness: A causal approach

As a result of a mandatory board gender quota regulation, the percentage of female directors in Norway increased from around 5% in 2001 to over 40% in 2007, while it remained stable in neighbouring Denmark. Taking advantage of this unique research setting, this study implements a difference-in-differences approach to investigate the effects of the gender composition of the board of directors on corporate tax aggressiveness. Results indicate that the likelihood of corporate tax aggressive strategies increased in Norway after the appointment of many female directors, compared to the situation in Denmark. This finding is robust to a battery of sensitivity analyses and, in particular, to how corporate tax aggressiveness is measured. We interpret this result as caused by the way in which the incorporation of women to the boards was achieved, that is, through a mandatory board gender quota regulation. Possible implications of the findings are discussed.