Life Cycle Price Trends and Product Replacement: Implications for the Measurement of Inflation

The paper explores the extent to which products follow systematic pricing patterns over their life cycle and the impact this has on the measurement of inflation. Using a large U.S. scanner data set on supermarket products and applying flexible regression methods, we find that on average prices decline as items age. This life cycle price change is often attributed to quality difference in the construction of CPI as items are replaced due to disappearance or during sample rotations. This introduces a systematic bias in the measurement of inflation. For our data we find that the life cycle bias leads to the underestimation of inflation by around 0.30 percentage points each year for the products examined.     

论生活质量

提高生活质量是全面建设小康社会的重要内容。小康社会的实现是通过生活质量的提高来完成的。生活质量包含着丰富的内容，是物质生活与精神生活的统一，同时也体现了社会生活环境与个人主观评价的结合。改革以来，我国人民的生活质量发生了深刻地变化。实现了由温饱到小康的历史性跨越，目前已经进入到追求生活质量的发展阶段，积极创造条件推进生活质量的提高，是全面建设小康社会的现实任务。     

Schooling in a Corporate Society

This article defines a measure of the quality of life in the regional capitals of Poland and compares the results. This taxonomic measure is based on a set of diagnostic traits, including housing conditions, state of the natural environment, labor market, personal safety, and range of cultural services available. For this purpose, a set of variables from 2011 was observed for each regional capital. This research is important in defining the difference between our target cities from the standpoint of social development. It also allows us to classify the cities into groups based on the quality of life of their inhabitants.     

Ranking quality of life using subjective well-being data

Indices ranking the quality of life in cities based on climatic, environmental and urban conditions have a long tradition in the hedonic literature. In this paper we propose an alternative set of indices based on subjective well-being (SWB) data linked to regional level amenities. SWB indicators provide a direct, self-reported evaluation of life satisfaction and can be used to rank quality of life among different locations in the absence of data on housing prices and wages. Using SWB data in Ireland, we show how to rank quality of life in regions in three different ways: 1) using a simple unconditional average of SWB across locations, 2) conditionally, controlling for personal characteristics of individuals and the environmental amenities in their area and 3) weighting the environmental endowments in each location by the marginal rate of substitution between income and the amenity. The results show a very high correlation between the three indices and suggest that variation in SWB across locations is not random, but is driven to a large extent by the endowment of location-specific amenities across locations.     

论广西农村饮用水源法治与习惯法的互动

广西是我国水资源大省,但由于农村饮用水源面临的法治困境,农村群众面临严重饮水困难。然而,这里的各民族群众在长期的社会生活中自发地形成了一套丰富的保护饮水源的习惯法,这些习惯法包括了对饮用水源水量和水质的保护内容。文章试图构建广西农村饮用水源法治与习惯法的良好互动,以期更好地保护广西农村饮用水源的安全。     

Natural capital and quality of life: a model for evaluating the sustainability of alternative regional development paths

Natural capital contributes to the quality of life of a region in two complementary ways: first, by directly providing environmental services that cannot be imported, and second, by supplying the natural resources that, through a human controlled production process, become valuable to humans. The evolution of the combination of these two components of the quality of life determines the path of development a region takes. Environmental services also determine the ability of natural capital to regenerate itself. Ecosystems and other components of the regional natural capital produce environmental services that provide life-support functions necessary for natural capital reproduction. The destruction of this critical natural capital impairs the internal sources of improvement of the quality of life of a region, leading to a non-sustainable path of development. This article describes a model of the relationship between natural capital and quality of life that provides a stricter definition of sustainable development through explicit characterization and classification of natural capital according to its ability to produce life-supporting environmental services, by its substitutability, and by its possible reconstruction. Application of this model then shows that there are 51 possible regional development paths, only 32 of which are sustainable and only 14 of which are sustainable while also providing improvements in quality of life. Only six of these 14 sustainable development paths are attained with economic growth, however, while the other eight paths increase quality of life by increasing the production of environmental services. The model could help in the development of institutional interventions that would promote regional development paths that are sustainable.     

Medical technology and the production of health care

This article investigates the factors that determine differences across OECD countries in health outcomes, using data on life expectancy at age 65, over the period 1960 to 2007. We estimate a production function where life expectancy depends on health and social spending, lifestyle variables, and medical innovation. Our first set of regressions include a set of observed medical technologies by country. Our second set of regressions proxy technology using a spatial process. This article also tests whether in the long-run countries tend to achieve similar levels of health outcomes. Our results show that health spending has a significant and mild effect on health outcomes, even after controlling for medical innovation. However, its short-run adjustments do not seem to have an impact on health care productivity. Spatial spill overs in life expectancy are significant and point to the existence of interdependence across countries in technology adoption. Furthermore, nations with initial low levels of life expectancy tend to catch up with those with longer-lived populations.     

Empirical linkages between good governance and national well-being

This paper brings together the largest available sets of national-level data, covering 157 countries over the years 2005–2012, to assess the extent to which governance quality contributes to life evaluations. Our most significant new finding is that changes in governance quality within a policy-relevant time horizon can lead to significant changes in the quality of life. For example, the ten most-improved countries, in terms of changes in government service delivery quality between 2005 and 2012, when compared to the ten most-worsened countries, are estimated to have average life evaluations higher by 0.4 points on a 0 to 10 scale. The results also confirm earlier findings that service delivery quality generally dominates democratic quality in supporting better lives until delivery quality has reached sufficient levels. The situation changes as development proceeds, with democratic quality showing a positive influence among countries that have already achieved higher quality of service delivery.     

Mapping patterns of well-being and quality of life in extended Europe

In this paper, we have applied a powerful clustering procedure (the two-step cluster analysis or BIRCH algorithm) to a set of non-monetary indicators of well-being and quality of life taken from the first four waves of the European Social Survey. By employing this technique, we have identified nine clusters of people characterized by different forms of well-being and quality of life, while preserving as much as possible the multidimensional information contained in the preselected indicators. We then analyzed the distribution of the clusters among the various European countries, finding significant differences among the groups of Nordic countries, Continental European countries, Mediterranean European countries and Eastern European countries in the chances of belonging to the nine forms of well-being and quality of life previously identified. On average, citizens of the Nordic countries, but also those of Switzerland and Luxembourg, have a higher chance of belonging to cumulative clusters of well-being than countries in Continental Europe and Eastern Europe. In very concise terms, the former appear to be somewhat protected from the risk of incurring the more severe forms of material deprivation, distrust of others and of institutions, poor health and relational isolation. In contrast, Eastern Europeans are characterized by particularly pronounced levels of deprivation across multiple dimensions.     

The Impact of Power Equality,Income, and the Environment on Human Health: Some Inter‐Country Comparisons

Economic studies on environmental degradation generally have a narrow focus on per capita income as an explanatory variable, and often fail to distinguish among the various types of environmental quality or damage. This paper addresses both problems by examining the effect of relative equality in the distribution of power on environmental outcomes, and making a clear distinction between health‐related environmental outcomes and so‐called ‘environmental amenities,’ only the latter of which should correlate strongly with income. This paper introduces a national index of power equality that is derived from related socioeconomic variables, and studies its effects on individual country achievement in addressing environmental quality and population health. This model is applied to a data set of 180 countries, as well as to subgroups of the entire country set. Employing disability‐adjusted life expectancy and the population child mortality rate as two health proxies, this paper finds that power equality in most cases positively influences population health, and that power equality is in every case no worse and in some cases better than per capita income at explaining population health.     

Revealed Preference Measures of Quality of Life in Australia's Urban and Regional Areas

Using data from the 2011 Census, we estimate quality of life across Australia. With mobile households, utility will be equalised across regions, so those regions with high real incomes must have a compensating low quality of life and vice versa. There are significant differences in quality of life across the 56 regions we examine. The top‐ranked region in our study is the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, while the Western Australian Outback has the lowest quality of life. The drivers of quality of life are explored, and climate appears to be important as well as certain human‐made cultural amenities.     

Life During Growth

A remarkable diversity of indicators shows quality of life across nations to be positively associated with per capita income. At the same time, the changes in quality of life as income grows are surprisingly uneven. Either in levels or changes, moreover, the effect of exogenous shifts over time is surprisingly strong compared to growth effects. This article reaches this conclusion with a panel dataset of 81 indicators covering up to four time periods (1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990). The indicators cover seven subjects: (1) individual rights and democracy, (2) political instability and war, (3) education, (4) health, (5) transport and communications, (6) inequality across class and gender, and (7) bads. With a SUR estimator in levels, income per capita has an impact on the quality of life that is significant, positive, and more important than exogenous shifts for 32 out of 81 indicators. With a fixed-effects estimator, growth has an impact on the quality of life that is significant, positive, and more important than exogenous shifts for 10 out of 81 indicators. With a first-differences IV estimator, growth has a causal impact on the quality of life that is significant, positive, and more important than exogenous shifts for six out of 69 quality of life indicators. The conclusion speculates about such explanations for the pattern of results as (1) the long and variable lags that may come between growth and changes in the quality of life and (2) the possibility that global socioeconomic progress is more important that home-country growth for many quality-of-life indicators.     

Comparing Lives

The construction of quality of life indicators seeks to transform a fundamentally subjective and experiential concept - the quality of lives as lived by actual people - into an objective and globally applicable measuring instrument. The article critiques some of the assumptions that are necessary to construct such a measure, and makes a plea for the use of a more appropriate and felicitous procedure for comparing variations in the quality of life.     

Introduction: Quality of Life Indicators

Economic growth has increased the potential for a materially more fulfilling life. But economic growth has a price: it undermines the contributions of households, communities, and nature, on which all economic activity depends. How can we make visible, in economic terms, the qualities that are lost as a consequence of excessive economic activity? In the spirit of these critical discussions, Feminist Economics has initiated this issue's exploration of quality of life: Which aspects of life do economists regard as essential to the concept? What can we learn from disciplines whose traditions of quality of life research are older than ours? The ten articles that follow suggest, in the brief form allowed by the format, a number of different ways to approach these questions.     

On the different survival rates of Portuguese microbusinesses – the case of projects supported by microcredit

ABSTRACT

In spite of their importance to the micro-entrepreneur’s life, Portuguese microbusinesses exhibit a short duration in activity. However, until now there has been scarce attention about the determinants characterizing the microbusiness and/or the micro-entrepreneur. This paper is based on a very comprehensive survey distributed to the microcredit borrowers in Portugal. The main empirical findings suggest that more mature entrepreneurs, with family support, a permanent set of customers, and an awareness of the quality of their goods and services exhibit lower hazard rates of finishing the business. Conversely, high-fixed costs, bad business locations, and periods of economic crisis significantly reduce the duration of the business.     

生命质量与商品质量的协同性分析

商品质量与生命质量休戚相关,生命质量是个内涵丰富的概念,丰富的商品虽然可以对生命质量产生积极的作用,但在商品生产与消费过程中产生的副作用也在损害着生命质量.研究与了解两者的内在联系,有利于实践以人为本的科学发展观.科学发展观是全面、协调、可持续的综合发展观,其中全面发展是基础,协同发展是关键,可持续发展是目的.论证了以人为本是科学发展观的实质所在,提高人类的生命质量是科学发展观的归宿.     

采用EQ-5D评估2型糖尿病患者的生活质量及影响因素研究

目的：采用EuroQol五维调查问卷表（EQ-5D）对2型糖尿病患者健康相关的生活质量进行评价,并分析其主要影响因素,探讨健康状况发展与生活质量下降的关系。方法：采用EQ-5D问卷及访问,对南京大学附属南京鼓楼医院内分泌门诊256例2型糖尿病患者生活质量和健康状况进行研究。结果全体患者EQ-5D分值平均0．790±0．158。理想控制的患者组平均值0．836（0．810～0．861;95％CI）,良好控制和控制差的组的分值分别相当于理想患者的92．2％、84．8％。出现一种或多种并发症的患者分值0．692（0．667～0．717．95％CI）,未出现并发症的患者提高到0．863（0．842～0．883,95％CI）。各种并发症的发生发展与血糖控制情况对生活质量影响程度最强。结论：EQ-5D量表适用于中国2型糖尿病患者健康状况测量,适宜成本-效果分析研究。血糖控制不理想和各并发症的发生发展是患者生活质量下降的主要影响因素。     

Computer conferencing: Assessing the social impact of a new communications medium

Computer conferencing is a new communications technology which will affect the efficiency and quality of decision-making processes within existing groups and institutions. By removing most of the barriers to communication created by space and time, it may also facilitate the emergence of new life styles and organizational forms. However, like most technological advances, it is liable to have dysfunctions as well as advantages. A review of the literature on small group communications experiments serves as the basis for deriving a set of hypotheses about the effects of computer conferencing upon interaction processes within problem-solving groups. The uniqueness of this form of communication and the convenience offered suggest that it will ultimately have significant impacts at the societal level. Planned strategies for testing these hypotheses through field trials, surveys, and laboratory experiments are described.     

Quality of life and spatial dimensions of the productivity slowdown

This research is concerned with explaning locational variations in the productivity slowdown within the urban manufacturing sector of the United States. The observed decline in labour productivity growth rates between the 1963–73 and 1973–82 subperiods is explained on the basis of both national and location-specific factors. An explict hypothesis examined here is that quality of life is an important area-specifc influence on productivity growth and related trends. Statistical analyses are conducted whereby either an aggregate amenity index or its individual amenity components are utilized to examine the importance of quality of life differentials. The results suggest that these amenities, particularly environmental quality, may be instrumental in explanining the differncial magnitude of the productivity slowdown across urban areas. Additional findings generally do not confirm the importance of other factors frequently cited as contributing to inter-area productivity differences. A regression diagnostic analysis was performed in order to test the sensitivity of the parameters of an appreciable influence on specific coefficients, out general conclusions regarding the impact of quality of life on productivity growth remain substantially unaltered.     

Effectiveness analysis of quality achievements for university Departments of Economics

When university Departments are under pressure to improve the assessed quality of their research and teaching in several different directions simultaneously, questions arise as to the nature of the corresponding feasible set and the shape of its frontier. When quality is judged by reference to grades whose precise thresholds are subject to stochastic uncertainties, both convex and nonconvex regions of the frontier of the feasible set may be present. The appropriateness of deploying standard empirical techniques of frontier estimation is then called into question in evaluating the relative effectiveness of individual Departments and their scope for improvements. The empirical results of frontier estimation, here applied to UK university Departments of Economics, are shown to be sensitive to the choice of nonparametric frontier technique deployed, with Free Disposal Hull analysis providing an alternative estimation technique that can allow for both convex and nonconvex regions of the possibility frontier. Issues of the endogeneity of the resources available to Departments are also raised in this applied context, with a need to incorporate into the effectiveness analysis the potential feedback effects of improved research and teaching quality upon the achievement possibility set.