England, as well as CFA and ERP professional designations. In addition to academic appointments, Alexandr has held risk management positions at the National Bank of Uzbekistan. He is an active member of a number of professional and research associations.His research expertise is in the areas of emerging market finance, energy and carbon markets, local government finance, and financial education. As an educator focusing on evidence-based solutions to practical educational problems, Dr Akimov has been the recipient of a number of university citations for excellence in teaching.

a b s t r a c tThe electricity sector is the largest participant in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS). This paper studies how the European Union Allowance (EUA) market e the carbon market in the European Union (EU) e has impacted the magnitude and volatility of stock returns of electricity companies in the EU-ETS. The investigation is undertaken for both Phases I and II of the EU-ETS based on simple OLS, panel data and time-series analysis. The results indicate that the relationship between the EUA market and stock returns of electricity companies was largely driven by strong market shocks recorded in both periods. If the market shock impact is controlled, this relationship depends on the carbon intensity of the electricity generators. The stock returns of carbon-intensive companies are negatively affected by the EUA returns, while the opposite is true for less carbon-intensive producers. The volatility of stock returns of electricity companies is significantly driven in the same direction by the volatility of the EUA market.

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Widespread enthusiasm amongst Australian policy elites for structural reform in local government has evaporated as disappointing outcomes of council amalgamation programs became evident. As a consequence, emphasis has now shifted towards shared serviced models as a means of enhancing service provision and reducing costs. However, a disturbing feature of the current debate on shared services has been the absence of a well-articulated economic and political rationale for this form of service delivery, a lack of analysis of alternative models of shared service provision and a neglect of available empirical evidence. This article seeks to remedy these deficiencies by considering the analytical foundations of shared local services, conducting a review of alternative models as vehicles for shared services and evaluating available empirical evidence.

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