中非贸易问题研究——基于引力模型的分析

利用中国与155个国家1995年～2009年间的进口数据,以引力模型分析中非贸易特征。在模型中引入两个与中国对外贸易紧密相关的制度变量——是否承认"一个中国"和是否承认中国市场经济地位来考察政治因素对于中非贸易的影响,并将非洲国家分为资源丰富国、沿海资源贫乏国和内陆资源贫乏国三类进行研究。结果表明:中国对于资源丰富国具有显著的过度进口倾向,而对于沿海资源贫乏国和内陆资源贫乏国存在不同程度的进口不足。这一结论可以为中国政府旨在改进中非贸易而提出的"扩大中非贸易规模并优化贸易结构"提供政策依据。     

FACTORS EXPLAINING THE ACADEMIC SUCCESS OF SECOND‐YEAR ECONOMICS STUDENTS: AN EXPLORATORY ANALYSIS

Factors influencing the academic success of first‐year economics students have been intensely researched. Lecture and tutorial attendance, age, gender, as well as matriculation results have been identified as significant in explaining academic performance. The academic success of senior students, however, has received less attention in South Africa. This paper presents the findings of an investigation into the academic performance of second‐year economics students at Stellenbosch University. Using a Heckman two‐step model, the study analyses whether the factors explaining first‐year academic success are applicable in the second year or if other factors are relevant. The results suggest that most matriculation subjects become statistically insignificant for second‐year students, whereas lecture and tutorial attendance remain important contributors to academic success. Furthermore, academic performance in the first year is an important determinant of success in the second year.     

Employee Participation,Ownership, and Productivity: A Theoretical Framework

A new conceptual framework to define and differentiate among diverse forms of employee ownership is developed. Two central rights associated with ownership, return and control rights, are identified. Their impact on individual motivation, individual performance, organizational structural variables and organizational performance is evaluated. We show how, over certain ranges of combinations of control and return rights, the relationship between alternative ownership arrangements and organizational performance may be nonlinear. The implications for the introduction of employee ownership and the evaluation of empirical work are considered.     

Explaining the Diversity of Southeast Asian Shrimp Aquaculture

Despite the large amount of academic attention that Southeast Asian shrimp farming has received since the 1980s, few attempts have been made to explain the remarkable variation in the industry's organization across countries and localities. This paper compares the development of shrimp farming in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, arguing that differences can be traced to variations in the initial conditions under which shrimp farming was established, the different ways that national aquacultures are embedded in the regional political economy and the ways in which different countries have responded to the characteristic environmental problems the sector causes itself.