THE CAUSES OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY: A SURVEY

Childhood obesity rates are rapidly rising in many countries. Because it is highly likely that obesity will persist into adulthood, current rates undermine the health and future of people in developed as well as developing countries. This public health epidemic carries significant economic, social as well as individual‐level consequences and has become a research topic of significant interest in various disciplines including economics. We survey the literature in economics and related disciplines associated with the causes of childhood obesity and synthesize the results to provide a better understanding of the explanations for the rising childhood obesity rates. This is an important step in crafting effective policies to combat global childhood obesity trends.     

Obesity: An economic and financial perspective

Obesity has been slowly increasing in most countries. This problem has increased to an extent that it is being labeled an epidemic and a leading cause of preventable deaths, second only to smoking. This paper provides a synthesis of the extant economics literature on obesity. More importantly, a framework outlining the economic causes and effects of obesity is discussed. The causes of obesity are many, including economic, technical, historical, and biological. The effects of obesity can be external or internal. These effects, in turn, can be direct or indirect. Recommendations for governments and businesses and directions for future research are discussed. Helpful comments from James Payne and research assistance of Richard Connelly are appreciated. Financial support from the Katie School of Insurance at Illinois State University is gratefully acknowledged.     

肥胖的经济学研究：文献综述

本文从肥胖问题导致的后果、产生的原因及针对的干预三个方面综述了肥胖的相关经济学研究。最近30年肥胖流行症在全球范围内的迅速蔓延已使得如何控制它成为全球最重要的公共健康议题之一。由于肥胖是由社会经济、个体行为、遗传因素及其交互作用所共同决定,单纯的医学研究倍受局限。随着肥胖问题日趋严重,越来越多的学者开始从经济学视角展开探索,这也使人们对肥胖问题有了崭新认识,该领域的研究也已经成为西方应用经济学科研究的重要方向。     

MEASURING MACROECONOMIC INSTABILITY: A CRITICAL SURVEY ILLUSTRATED WITH EXPORTS SERIES

For at least 40 years, the analysis of the causes and consequences of macroeconomic instability has greatly deepened our understanding of the handicaps faced by developing countries. This concern on economic instability is evidenced by a broad spectrum of indicators, based on the deviation of observed values of a given economic aggregate from its reference or trend value. In general, the choice of this or that indicator is not discussed advocating that the resulting instability indicators are closely correlated. Focusing on measurements of instability in export revenue data for 134 countries from 1970 to 2005, this paper finds that this assertion may be true for variance‐based indicators, measuring the average magnitude of deviations from the trend. However, great discrepancies may arise between different measures of the asymmetry or of the occurrence of extreme deviations around the trend when different trend computation methods are used. Our purpose is, therefore, to invite further discussions regarding the use of these indicators, and to highlight the different dimensions of instability, which have been so far unheeded by the economic literature.     

A Model of Organizational and Job Environment Influences on Workplace Violence

A considerable amount of research on workplace violence has been conducted over the past two decades, resulting in a better understanding of its causes and consequences. Several models have been developed that consider the causes and consequences, as well as the organization??s policies that influence workplace violence. The source of violence (internal vs. external), hierarchical position (supervisory vs. line positions), formalization in terms of policies, and the external environment factors that affect organizations have rarely been considered in combination with one another in models to date. The present paper develops a model addressing these gaps in the literature by incorporating these factors as influences on the likelihood of experiencing workplace violence.     

The social and private micro-level consequences of homeownership

This paper reviews the literature that describes the micro-level economic and social consequences of homeownership. We adopt an interdisciplinary approach and include studies from economics, sociology, geography, political science, psychology, and other disciplines. Our focus is on the set of consequences of homeownership in developed countries. Our list of potential outcomes of homeownership includes the impact on household wealth and portfolio choice, mobility, labor force participation, urban structure and segregation, home maintenance, political and social activities, health, demographics, self-esteem, and child outcomes. There is substantial evidence that homeownership has important effects on some household behaviors and outcomes. However, we find that much of the past 30-year's literature on consequences of homeowning is deficient from a theoretical or econometric perspective. We suggest solutions and identify research gaps present in the literature.     

The Determinants and Consequences of Abandoned Takeovers

Takeover activity has attracted a great deal of academic attention over the past three decades. Much of this interest has focused on the study of completed takeovers with a particular interest in seeking to understand the impact of takeover activity on the wealth of both shareholders in acquired and bidding firms. Unlike their completed counterparts, abandoned takeovers have received relatively little academic attention. This is surprising since a significant proportion of takeover bids are unsuccessful. This paper seeks to address the imbalance by providing a comprehensive survey of the takeover failure literature. The paper focuses on two aspects of the literature: First, we discuss and review the factors likely to influence takeover outcome. Second, we examine the consequences of takeover abandonment from the perspective of targets and bidders. We also identify a number of areas where future research may seek to improve further our understanding of the causes and consequences of takeover abandonment.     

会计稳健性的影响因素和经济后果——基于文献综述的分析

会计稳健性是重要的会计准则和公司治理机制,从产生以来就受到广泛的关注和研究。国内外学者一般从五个方面研究会计稳健性,分别是会计稳健性的定义、存在性、影响因素、计量方法和经济后果。从影响因素和经济后果两方面总结学者研究会计稳健性的重要文献,结果显示：会计稳健性的影响因素主要包括契约、诉讼、税收、监管、股权集中度和股权制衡度以及独立董事特征;会计稳健性的经济后果主要包括投资效应和融资效应两个方面,其中投资主要分为投资不足、投资过度及并购,融资主要分为债务融资和权益融资。     

A REVIEW OF THE RECENT LITERATURE ON THE INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS ANALYSIS OF THE LONG‐RUN PERFORMANCE OF NATIONS

This paper reviews the recent (post‐2000) literature that assesses the importance of institutions as a factor determining cross‐country differences in growth rates or in the contemporary level of “prosperity.” It first sketches how institutional economics has evolved. It then examines critically the methods of analysis employed in the recent literature. The paper finds that this literature has made a major contribution to the analysis of the causes of economic growth but the relative importance of institutions as a determinant of long‐run growth and prosperity is still a wide open question.     

POLLUTION'S ROLE IN REDUCING URBAN QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

This paper surveys the recent literature exploring the consequences of urban pollution in the developing world for a city's productivity and resident quality of life. The environmental Kuznets curve literature predicts that developing nations will experience significant environmental degradation as a byproduct of economic development. In contrast, the recent literature that we review reverses this logic by arguing that geographic areas featuring lower levels of pollution will experience economic growth through improvements in health and human capital. In an economy where pollution reduces worker productivity, inhibits child development and repels the skilled from living in such an area, those cities featuring less pollution have a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining the skilled. Given the central role that human capital plays in urban economic growth, such cities will be more likely to achieve sustainable long‐term growth.     

CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION: WHAT HAS PAST DECADE'S EMPIRICAL RESEARCH TAUGHT US? A SURVEY

Corruption has fierce impacts on economic and societal development and is subject to a vast range of institutional, jurisdictional, societal, and economic conditions. It is this paper's aim to provide a reassessment and a comprehensive state ‐ of ‐ the ‐ art survey of existing literature on corruption and its causes and effects. A particularly strong focus is put on presenting and discussing insights resulting from empirical research and contrasting recent with older findings.     

The economic causes and consequences of corporate divestiture

This study investigates economic causes and consequences of large corporate divestitures between 1983 and 1987. Prior empirical evidence suggests that firms hold on to poorly performing operating units for many years before divestiture. An agency-cost explanation for ‘holding on to losers’ has been proposed in the literature, as managers may be unwilling to admit they invested in inappropriate asset choices in the first place. However, a puzzle still remains: why should such a manager ever sell off such a unit? We provide both a possible explanation and empirical evidence that suggests managers hold on to losers as long as they can ‘blur’ their poor performance under the cover of the remaining operating units of the firm. We find that firms do not sell off poorly performing business units until the firm's other units experience significant underperformance relative to their industry peers. Finally, although there is evidence that the stock market reacts favorably to divestitures, we find that beyond the initial improvement, the firm's performance reverts back to its mean pre-divestiture level.© 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

国外财务重述研究述评及启示

近年来,财务报告质量问题受到国内外学者和监管机构的高度关注。作为一种事后更正或补充行为,财务重述导致资本市场对先前披露的财务报告质量产生怀疑。在我国资本市场的特殊制度背景下,对国外财务重述的类型、动机、影响因素和经济后果所进行的系统梳理可以为今后研究财务重述问题提供有益的启示。     

Debate on Neoliberalism in and after the Neoliberal Crisis

Social scientists have started to discuss the causes and consequences of the financial and economic crisis of 2007–09, and have also started debating the role of neoliberalism in and after the crisis. More generally, the crisis is often seen as a crisis of neoliberalism — and indeed it is. Neil Smith has observed that neoliberalism ‘has run out of ideas politically’ but remains dominant. The essays that make up this debate discuss what happened to neoliberalism during and after the global financial — or neoliberal — crisis, and how the heralded death and recovery of neoliberalism affects cities around the globe.     

中国汇率制度改革初探

中国在世界经济中举足轻重的地位决定我国的汇率制度改革会受到多方关注。本文基于中国汇率制度改革的进程和中国政府在汇率改革中的作用,通过对一些金融危机研究的分析,认为适用更宽的汇率浮动区间也许是中国当前汇率制度改革较好的选择。     

政治联系文献综述及其展望

政治联系是近年国内外引人瞩目的研究领域。本文依照文献的发展脉络与逻辑关系,从政治联系的产生途径、影响因素、经济后果和有政治联系的高管从企业获得的利益等多个方面,对政治联系研究文献进行了梳理和归纳,以期能增进人们对企业政治联系的认识,并为进一步研究政治联系提供一些思路。     

Are Related‐Party Sales Value‐Adding or Value‐Destroying? Evidence from China

Prior literature provides mixed and relatively little evidence on the economic consequences of related‐party transactions. We examine a hitherto underexplored issue of whether transactions among firms within the same business group increase or reduce firm value. Using a large sample of Chinese listed firms, we find that related‐party sales increase firm value. However, this value enhancement disappears for firms with (i) large percentage of parent directors, (ii) high government ownership, or (iii) tax avoidance incentives that often couple with management's rent extraction activities. Although we find that intragroup sales improve firm value in general, we also find that corporate insiders use intragroup sales to deprive value from minority shareholders. Overall, our findings highlight the interplay between ownership structure and tax avoidance incentives in determining the economic consequences of related‐party transactions.     

土地财政与土地市场管理

城市土地市场的混乱会降低土地配置的效率,不利于经济的可持续发展及社会的和谐稳定。城市土地市场的混乱有诸多原因,而地方政府的土地财政是其根源。在剖析城市土地市场混乱原因的基础上,阐述了土地财政的原因与后果,论述了权力寻租与市场秩序的关系,并提出了相应的对策措施。     

Circular economy,the transition of an incumbent focal firm: How to successfully reconcile environmental and economic sustainability?

Circular economy (CE) has garnered increasing attention in political circles and practitioner literature thanks to its potential to overcome the harmful consequences of linear patterns of growth. Nonetheless, the adoption of sustainable practices entails a holistic approach requiring businesses to make significant changes to their production, technologies and stakeholder management. These challenges resulted in limited progress in terms of the practical implementation of CE. This paper addresses the need for more literature focused on the pragmatic aspects of applying this paradigm to incumbent firms. The author presents the journey that Lucart S.p.A., a major European tissue paper manufacturer, has undertaken between 2014 and 2020 to apply CE principles to its practices. Insights from the transformation process, reconstructed through interviews with the firm's management and environmental impact data, suggest that to succeed it takes innovating (plants, products and marketing strategies) and setting up supply chains that reconcile environmental and economic sustainability.     

Analyst Herding and Stock Price Crash Risk: Evidence from China

We examine the proposition that firms with disproportionately more analysts herding in their coverage, as measured by a larger herding index value, have higher crash risk. Our findings are consistent with the main proposition. The results suggest that information production, rather than monitoring, is the primary mechanism behind the positive relation between herding and crash risk. Our conclusion is robust to different measures of crash risk, crash risk windows, herding measures, subsamples, and instrumental estimation. In addition, using post‐earnings announcement drift, we report that analyst herding slows down bad news transmission in the market. Our findings extend the literature by documenting that analyst herding plays a role in enhancing crash risk. Analyst herding has economic consequences on the covered firms. We offer support for the concern in the literature regarding analyst herding and market fluctuations.