Stochastic Technology, Risk Preferences, and Adoption of Site-Specific Technologies

A model of farmer decision making is developed to determine the extent to which uncertainties about soil fertility and weather affect the value of site-specific technologies (SSTs) using jointly estimated risk and technology parameters. Uncertainty can lead risk-averse farmers to apply more fertilizers and generate more pollution than in the certainty case. Ignoring uncertainty and risk aversion would overestimate the economic and environmental benefits of SSTs and underestimate the subsidy required to induce adoption. Accounting for uncertainties and risk preferences might explain the low observed adoption rates of SSTs. Improving the accuracy of SSTs would increase the incentives for adoption.     

Estimating Willingness to Pay for Improved Water Quality in the Presence of Item Nonresponse Bias

This article deals with the problem of item nonresponse in contingent valuation surveys using a payment-card method, by applying a grouped-data sample-selection estimation technique that is capable of imputing the missing values conditional upon a respondent's decision to answer a willingness-to-pay question. The advantage of the technique lies in its ability to utilize all of the information in the sample, permitting a more efficient estimation in the presence of item nonresponse bias. The major determinants of willingness to pay appear to be household income, number of children, education, perception of existing water quality, and identification with environmental issues.     

对《形状和位置公差》新标准的理解和应用

通过对《形状和位置公差》新、旧国际的对比，综述了新、旧标准间的不同之处、便于迅速了解和应用新标准。     

Price rigidities and institutional variations in markets with posted prices

Summary Standard laboratory posted-offer markets respond slowly and incompletely to demand shocks. In these one-sided markets, where sellers control the setting of prices, very little information is transmitted via the process of exchange. For this reason, traders have trouble distinguishing randomness in their own experience from changes in market fundamentals. This paper reports the results of twelve laboratory markets conducted to assess whether some common variants to standard posted-offer rules can correct the adjustment deficiences. Although discounting, multiple postings and excess demand information all improve performance, we find that response remains poor, and efficiencies low.Support for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation (SBR 9319842 and SBR 9320044), and the University of Virginia Bankard Fund. Data are archived at FTP address: fido.econlab.arizona.edu. We wish to thank Charles Plott and Shyam Sunder for useful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Market efficiency and cointegration: Some evidence in Pacific-Basin black exchange markets

This paper investigates the efficiency of the black exchange markets in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The study applies unit root and cointegration tests to examine black exchange market efficiency of Pacific-Basin countries. The generating process of black exchange rates appears to be a random walk. This is consistent with Gupta (1981) and other foreign exchange rate unit root test studies. Johansen cointegration tests are performed for these black exchange markets together with Japan and Singapore. The results suggest that there is at least one unit root among the black market exchange rates. Hence, black exchange markets are not collectively efficient.     

健全质保体系提高施工质量

阐释建立健全施工企业质量保证体系，是确保工程施工质量的重要前提，施工企业要认识到其重要性；阐述了施工企业必须制定和完善施工质量责任制度，切实落实“三检制度”，认真加强施工质量检测，才能确保水利工程施工质量。     

对独立董事制度的理性思考

独立董事制度作为改善我国上市公司治理结构的政策措施,已通过证监会的文件《关于在上市公司建立独立董事制度的指导意见》(以下简称《指导意见》)在上市公司推行。但这项政策的实际效果并没有达到预期效果,原因何在?一、独立董事的职能定位独立董事的产生根源是由于股权结构的     

小学体育新课标目标统领下单元教学计划的研究

新的全日制义务教育《体育(1至6年级)课程标准,》对体育课提出了运动参与、运动技能、身体健康、心理健康和社会适应等五大领域的教学目标。文章通过实验,在对比中阐述了以新课程标准为教学目标,进行有针对性的教学设计和课堂实施,可使学生各方面的发展更符合新时期的要求的观点,并提出了单元教学计划设计的方法。     

美元汇率周期及美元走势分析

本文首先研究了美元汇率的波动情况,指出美元汇率呈周期波动,并分析了引起这种周期波动的长期因素和短期因素。在此基础上,结合目前美国的经济现状,对美元近期和长期的走势进行了分析得出美元短期小幅看涨,长期走势较为平稳的结论。     

China’s Labor Market on Crossroad

I.IntroductionSincethelate1990s,China’slabor market has comeundergreat pressure,asreflected by anincreasing unemployment rate,and adeclining labor force participation rate.The causesofthe severe unemployment are threefold.First,due to the macro-economic downturn andrapid industrial structural change in the late1990s,state-owned enterprises(SOEs),whichlost their comparative advantage and competitiveness,have been unable to fully utilizetheir production capacity,and have become loss-makers.Se…