Shareholder Conflict as a Determinant of Corporate Social Responsibility Commitment for Shared Growth

In this study, we seek to explore shareholder conflicts as a determinant of large firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment for shared growth with subcontractors. Using a sample of 232 firms in the Korean chaebols during 2006'12, we find that CSR commitment is negatively related to controlling shareholders' cash flow rights but positively related to control-ownership disparity. We also find that foreign blockholders mitigate the positive relationship between CSR commitment and control-ownership disparity. This study offers a view of how controlling shareholders and blockholders protect their interests while enhancing their reputations as good citizens through CSR commitment.     

How to reduce energy intensity to achieve sustainable development of China's transport sector? A cross-regional comparison analysis

China's transport sector has been attracting great attention for its excessive energy consumption and ever-increasing pollution emissions. Thus, reducing energy intensity is one of the top priorities of China's ongoing transport upgrade. In this paper, by establishing a panel data regression model derived from the Cobb–Douglas cost function, we focus on investigating the impacts of energy price and transport productivity on transport energy intensity at the national and regional levels. The study uses the provincial panel data for 2005–2016 to perform regression analysis. The results show that: (1) energy price has a significantly negative effect on transport energy intensity in the whole China and the eastern region, whereas it has no significant impacts in the central and western China. (2) Improvements in transport productivity can effectively decrease transport energy intensity in the whole China and the three major regions. (3) Applying an extended data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach, we decompose transport productivity into four components (i.e., technical change, technology gap change, scale efficiency change, and pure efficiency change) and further differentiate their impacts in different regions. The results indicate that these four components have substantially different impacts in each region. These results provide some valuable insights for policymakers and enterprise entities aiming to adopt measures to reduce energy intensity and achieve sustainable development in China's transport sector.     

FDI是否促进了中国城市的郊区化?--基于卫星夜间灯光数据的实证检验

城市郊区化是国内外城市发展过程中不可避免的现象。伴随着城市化的不断发展,中国的城市郊区化问题也受到了越来越多的关注,但FDI 作为各个地方旧城改造和新区开发的重要力量,其对中国城市空间的形态塑造作用却被忽视了。文章基于单中心城市模型的理论假设,将FDI 因素纳入分析城市郊区化的框架,通过全球夜间灯光数据、Landscan 人口分布数据和中国行政区域矢量数据构造了中国城市市辖区层面的郊区化指数和蔓延指数,并利用2003-2013年中国地级及以上城市市辖区面板数据检验了FDI 对城市郊区化的影响。研究表明：(1)FDI 是促进我国城市郊区化的关键因素,FDI 占GDP 的比重每提高1%,我国城市郊区化的水平会相应地提高0.1%;(2)由于FDI 在我国存在区域分布的不平衡性,因此其对不同区域的城市郊区化的促进作用有所差异,外资进入显著地促进了东部地区的城市郊区化发展,但外资进入对中西部地区的城市郊区化的影响并不显著。因此,各地方政府应格外关注FDI 可能带来的城市低密度蔓延现象,并检视自身的城市发展战略。     

Crime and punishment: the role of student body characteristics in schools’ disciplinary behaviours

Discretion in schools’ discipline choices can provide an efficient and effective misconduct management structure, but could lead to discipline based on unrelated factors. Consequently, schools’ disciplinary decisions can significantly limit students’ access to education by removing students from familiar learning environments. We investigate schools’ disciplinary decisions for serious misconducts and show that punishments are more severe in schools that do not report misconducts to local law enforcement agencies. Moreover, we show that schools that report fewer misconducts to law enforcement impose more severe punishments when the student body is characterized as having a higher proportion of minority students, lower socioeconomic status students and a higher proportion of students who are below the 15th percentile of standardized test scores. These results suggest that between-school punishment differentials are associated with student body traits.     

中国保险市场地区差距:1989-2008

本文运用标准差系数作为衡量地区差距的指标,在对其进行相对化和指数化处理后建立地区差距指数,以衡量保险市场发展水平的地区差距及变化趋势,实际测算结果表明,1989年~2008年期间,我国保险市场发展水平的地区差距确实扩大了,但是扩大的趋势在减弱。本文通过实证研究表明,各地区保险需求弹性的差异是导致保险市场发展水平地区差距扩大的直接原因;而保险市场发展水平的不协调性是导致地区差距扩大的深层原因;近年来保险市场发展的协调性程度逐步提高,这是保险市场地区差距扩大趋势减弱的主要原因所在。因此,建立保险市场的自我发展机制,以促进保险需求的合理释放,是促进保险市场协调发展、缩小保险市场地区差距的有效途径。     

区域经济发展差距的因素分解

阐述了区域经济发展差距的两种因素分解方法,并以江苏省为例进行了实证分析与检验。1978年-2000年,从三次产业的层面来看,第二产业是导致区域经济发展差距的第一因素,但其贡献率呈逐年下降趋势,第三产业是第二位因素,其贡献率呈逐年上升的趋势,而第一产业对区域经济发展差距的变化几乎不起作用;从空间层面来看,地带间差距始终是影响江苏省区域经济发展差距的决定因素。文章最后提出了有关政策建议。     

国际外包的生产率效应及行业差异——基于中国工业行业的经验研究

本文根据1997年和2002年的投入产出表数据计算了中国35个工业行业的物质投入外包和服务外包比率,并以面板数据模型检验了不同形式的外包对全员劳动生产率的影响,最后考察了外包对生产率影响的行业差异性。研究结果表明,在我国工业行业中,外包有利于企业劳动生产率的提高,而且服务外包对生产率的影响程度大于物质投入外包:高技术、低开放度以及大规模行业中国际外包对生产率的促进作用更为显著。本文有两个原创性贡献:一是区分了物质投入外包和服务外包对中国工业行业劳动生产率影响的差异;二是发现行业性质影响国际外包对生产率作用程度的大小。     

加工贸易、收入转移与城乡收入差距

通过构建加工装配、收入转移与城乡收入差距模型,实证研究了加工贸易及其引起的劳动力流动和收入转移对城乡收入差距的影响。分析表明,加工贸易活动引起了农村剩余劳动力从农业部门流向城市部门,这些外出打工者又将在加工企业的打工报酬汇回农村老家,提高了农村的人均收入。但是,如果以户籍人口来计算人均收入的话,在劳动报酬占比下降和加工贸易增值率上升的情况下,加工贸易活动引起的劳动力流动未能缩小我国的城乡收入差距。随着农民工的代际更替,加工贸易活动将会进一步拉大城乡收入差距。     

我国金融发展与城乡收入差距关系的实证研究

选取麦氏指标和城乡居民收入基尼系数对整体金融发展和城乡居民收入差距之间的因果关系进行研究,发现：金融发展与城乡居民收入差距存在着单向因果关系,无论长期还是短期,金融发展均是城乡居民收入差距的原因,但我国整体金融发展并未缩小城乡收入差距,相反扩大了城乡收入差距;城乡居民收入差距具有自我加强的“惯性”,无论短期还是长期,它均不是金融发展的原因。     

山东省服务业发展的差距及对策探讨

近年来,尽管山东服务业取得了较快发展,但与广东、浙江、江苏三省相比,还存在着较大的差距,具体表现是整体规模偏小、对经济增长的贡献率低、就业吸纳能力偏弱、发展层次不高、对外开放度较低和投资力度不足。加快转变经济发展方式,必须首先从调整和优化产业结构、加快发展服务业上下功夫。其主要措施有加大经济结构调整力度、加大服务业改革开放力度、促进民营服务业快速发展、积极拓展服务业发展空间和提高服务业整体素质等。