Ranking asymmetric auctions: Filling the gap between a distributional shift and stretch

I consider first-price auctions (FPA) and second-price auctions (SPA) with two asymmetric bidders. The FPA is known to be more profitable than the SPA if the strong bidder's distribution function is convex and the weak bidder's distribution is obtained by truncating or horizontally shifting the former. In this paper, I employ a new mechanism design result to show that the FPA remains optimal if the weak bidder's distribution falls between the two benchmarks in a natural way. The same conclusion holds if the strong bidder's distribution is concave, but with a vertical shift replacing the horizontal shift. A result with a similar flavor holds if the strong bidder's distribution is neither convex nor concave. The dispersive order and the star order prove useful in comparing the weak bidder's distribution to the benchmarks. A key step establishes a relationship between these orders and reverse hazard rate dominance.     

Chinese universities economic research output 2000–2010

This study analyses the publishing output of Chinese authors in a group of leading economics journals over the period 2000–2010. We find that the output distribution across institutions is unevenly distributed, but within institutions there is a relatively more even spread. Research output has more than doubled over the period and is comparable with South Korean and Japanese output. Authors associated with US institutions have been an important source of research output growth. However, domestic output has also been increasing. Econometrics is the main field of output growth.     

Capital advantages: could colleges and universities located in Beijing City win more national social science fund projects?

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the relationship between the distance a college/university from Beijing city and the number of the National Social Science Fund projects it undertakes. We find that geographical location of a college/university is closely related to the number of National Social Science Fund projects it undertakes, and per hundred kilometres far away from Beijing city will result in a decrease of the number of projects by 0.24–0.50. In addition, colleges and universities located in Beijing city have significant advantages over those located in other places with more projects of 1.74–5.68. It is also shown that, for colleges and universities, especially for those top 100, the availability of high-speed railway to Beijing city significantly increases the probability of winning the National Social Science Fund projects.     

近十年我国旅游学术共同体成果的h指数测度与评价

h指数是一项评价科学家科研绩效的定量指标,一个人的h指数越高,表明他的论文影响力越大。文章对2003~2012年我国旅游学术共同体(学术期刊、旅游研究者、高等院校及科研机构等)的旅游研究成果应用h指数进行测度和评价。h指数的计算兼顾了论文的数量和质量,弥补了单纯以论文数量来测度和评价学术共同体成员(如学术期刊、研究者和学术机构等)成果学术影响力和贡献度的不足,增加了旅游学术影响力的评价维度,较为全面客观地反映了我国旅游学术共同体成员的科研生产力和学术影响力,更为全面客观地测度和评价了近十年来我国旅游学术研究的概貌和特征,对旅游学术共同体成员成果进行了评价和排序。     

第三方物流企业优选的混合多属性决策方法研究

在分析研究的基础上，将第三方物流服务企业选择问题归结为一类典型具有多类评价信息的多属性决策问题，据此提出根据多类评价信息对备选第三方物流企业进行综合排序，为企业选择物流合作伙伴提供参考依据。文中实例分析说明，该方法在进行第三方物流供应商的选择上是可行有效的。     

Researching accounting in health care: considering the nature of academic contribution

As academics we naturally seek to address interesting and important questions. Our concerns for rigour drive us to work from generally accessible preoccupations towards more narrowly and precisely defined questions however. Such specialisation is properly understood as a source of strength in our knowledge. The growing impact of governance mechanisms surrounding journal rankings threatens this strength by attacking our abilities to produce, but also to integrate, the specialised contributions that we make however. This article will expand upon this basic argument and further elaborate it through a discussion of the academic literature around costing in health care.     

'Rotterdam econometrics': an analysis of publications of the Econometric Institute 1956–2004

The high ranking of the Econometric Institute, as listed in recent leading scientific journals, is examined for a 50-year period using similar standard measures. The distribution of the publications over different research areas is analyzed and a time-series model is specified to describe and forecast the publication pattern.     

Confidence and decision

Many real-life decisions have to be taken on the basis of probability judgements of which the decision maker is not entirely sure. This paper develops a decision rule for taking such decisions, which incorporates the decision makerʼs confidence in his probability judgements according to the following maxim: the larger the stakes involved in a decision, the more confidence is required in a probability judgement for it to play a role in the decision. A formal representation of the decision makerʼs confidence is proposed and used to formulate a family of decision models conforming to this maxim. A natural member of this family is studied in detail. It is structurally simpler than other recent models of decision under uncertainty, which may make it easier to apply to practical decisions, whilst being axiomatically sound, permitting the separation of beliefs and tastes, and allowing comparative statics analysis of attitudes to choosing in the absence of confidence.     

Ethics in Practice: What Are Managers Really Doing?

This study asked managers with different educational backgrounds and experience from a variety of industries of a variety of sizes representing both genders and various predominant managerial functions at different levels to “describe the skills they think are necessary to perform their jobs effectively”. In particular, they were asked to rank 178 behavioral skills presented under 22 different categories that described different aspects of management. Data were then examined first to determine the importance of ethics or integrity overall in the group of managerial activities and then to explore how specific ethical activities of managers differ across various managerial and organizational characteristics. Findings indicate that ethics is still considered one of the least important skills necessary in managers’ daily work. However, once specific ethical activities are analyzed separately, significant differences are found across characteristics of managers, as well as those of the organizations at which they work.