一季度增长稍有放缓中国经济硬着陆风险加大

【台湾《全球观察》4月16日】一季度增长速度稍有放缓 中国经济在第一季度失去了一些动力，但增长率仍然超过预期。国家统计局公布的数据显示，GDP增长10．6％，比去年第四季度的11．2％有所放缓。这意味着中国经济实现了连续第9个季度的两位数增长。此前普遍的市场预期是，增长率将显著放缓到10．0％左右。     

Integrating effective writing skills in the accounting curriculum

The J.M. Tull School of Accounting at the University of Georgia has developed a program for its accounting curriculum which integrates the teaching of effective writing skills with the regular accounting courses. Students in a three-course sequence write a total of eight papers — technical, memos, or reports. The assignments resemble on-the-job technical writing tasks actually encountered by professional accountants. A full-time writing consultant on the School's staff provides occasional lectures and handouts for students on effective writing skills; she also provides help to individual students who may need it. Papers are evaluated for both accounting content and effective writing     

Bank computing in a changing economic environment: the IBIS project in New Zealand

This paper examines a major bank computing redevelopment attempted in New Zealand in the 1980s - the IBIS project. After the expenditure of some hundreds of millions of dollars this project was not proceeded with and this paper looks at the factors that led to its eventual failure. We find that dreams of banking technology can be as costly as other failures experienced by banks, and that banks must have regard to the competitive environment in building their computer systems.     

Marginal Rates and Two-dimensional Level Curves in DEA

Of great importance to management, the computation of trade-offs presents particular difficulties within DEA since the piecewise linear nature of the envelopment surfaces does not allow for unique derivatives at every point. We present a comprehensive framework for analyzing marginal rates, and directional derivatives in general, on DEA frontiers. A useful characterization of these derivatives at given points can be provided in terms of the ranges they can take; equivalently, the bounds of these ranges correspond to derivatives to the rightand to the left at these points. We present two approaches for their computation: first, the dual equivalents calculation of minimum and maximum multiplier ratios / finite differences, and then a modified simplex tableau method. The simplex tableau method provides a more general application of the method introduced by Hackman et al. (1994) to generate any two-dimensional section of the isoquant and is a practical tool to generate level plots of the frontier. By giving a complete picture of trade-offs and allowing a better visualization of high dimensional production possibility sets, these tools can be very useful for managerial applications.     

We the living: the effects of living and deceased donor stories on charitable bequest giving intentions

Choosing messages to encourage charitable bequest giving may be particularly challenging given sensitivity to personal mortality reminders. Previous research suggests that people often react to mortality reminders with avoidance, including distancing themselves from those associated with death. We compare the effects of otherwise similar living and deceased bequest donor stories on subsequent intentions to leave a charitable bequest. Although both story types significantly increased subsequent intentions to leave a charitable bequest, living donor stories consistently outperformed otherwise identical deceased donor stories. Fundraisers may do well to emphasize stories of living planned bequest donors and de‐emphasize death and the deceased in charitable bequest fundraising messaging. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.