人民币的远大抱负

北京与六个国家和地区的央行签订了货币互换协议,包括香港、印度尼西亚、韩国,马来西亚、白俄罗斯,还有阿根廷。根据协议,这些央行可以向希望购买中国商品的本地进口商出售人民币。中国早就希望人民币能在全球金融体系中扮演更重要的角色,这些货币互换协议正是在这样一个政策目标的大背景下产生的。这个更广泛的政策目标对降低中国出口企业的外汇风险敞口和交易成本有着更为现实的作用。2008年初人民币兑美元汇率升值是一些中国出口企业破产的原因之一,以人民币进行贸易结算将会在未来降低这类风险。     

人民币的远大抱负

中国正越来越多地参与商讨解决当前经济问题的对策。讨论大部分是围绕着钱的问题——无论是温家宝总理对中国持有的美国国债价值的担忧,还是中国央行提出的以超主权储备货币取代美元的国际货币体系。到目前为止,制约中国向全球货币改革贡献力量的一大因素一直是中国自身的货币政策,特别是人民币不可自由兑换的事实。不过,现在有初步迹象显示情况正在开始发生变化。     

On Indexed Bonds and Aggregate Demand Elasticity

Bonds indexed to the price level or inflation have become popular and more common in the industrialized world. This paper examines the impact of indexed bonds on the price level elasticity of aggregate demand. With a model of aggregate demand based on the standard IS-LM framework and expanded to differentiate between bonds which are indexed to the price level and bonds which are not so indexed, we find that the existence of indexed bonds decreases the elasticity of aggregate demand with respect to the general price level.

植物单宁的性质及应用

文章综述了植物单宁的性质及其在医药卫生、食品工业、化妆品、革鞣等领域的广泛应用.     

医院信息系统的安全管理维护

针对医院网络信息系统中易出现的各种安全方面的问题,提出了一系列的解决方法。     

Does Islamic banking performance vary across regions? A new puzzle

This article investigates the performance of Islamic banks (IBs) across four different regions (Egypt, the Gulf, the UK and the US) in the aftermath of the subprime crisis. Using daily data and two performance ratio proxies (ROA (Return on Asset) and Tobin Q), we show that the performance of IBs varies significantly from one region to another, with the highest level for regions in the West. This result suggests a new puzzle as application of the same Sharia Board rules and sales of similar products should normally provide comparable performance outcomes for IBs.     

Pampered Bureaucracy,Political Stability and Trade Integration

This paper examines the effect of trade integration and comparative advantage on one of a country's institutions, which in turn influences its economic efficiency. The environment we explore is one in which a country's lower classes may revolt and appropriate wealth owned by a ruling elite. The elite can avert revolution by incentivizing a potentially productive middle class to sink their human capital into a relatively unproductive bureaucracy. Thus the bureaucracy serves as an institution through which the elite can credibly commit to make transfers to the rest of society, but in the process this reduces economic efficiency. Trade integration alters the relative value of the elite's wealth. This alters the lower classes’ incentive to revolt on the one hand and the elite's incentive to subsidize participation in the inefficient bureaucracy on the other. Therefore, the interaction between a country's comparative advantage and an inefficient economic institution determines whether trade integration increases or reduces economic efficiency. The econometric findings support the model's main prediction.     

The origins of the concept of ‘foresight’ in science and technology: An insider's perspective

This article explores how the term ‘foresight’ originally came to be used in connection with science and technology by the author and SPRU colleagues in 1983. It analyses how the rationale for its use evolved over time, first providing a ‘catchy’ title for a study (‘Project Foresight’), and then a convenient shorthand for the focus of that study, before eventually coming to formally signify a new approach to looking systematically into the future of science and technology, an inclusive and wide-ranging process that differed appreciably from that of traditional ‘technology forecasting’. The paper reflects on the importance of concepts and terminology in the field of science policy research, providing examples of how an inappropriate term or phrase can damn the prospects of the research having an impact on policy, while a more politically astute use of terminology can greatly enhance the probability of making a significant impact. The paper also examines other early uses of the concept of ‘foresight’ in the United States and Canada at about the same time. In addition, it highlights the conceptual similarities between foresight and la prospective, a novel approach developed in France not just for looking into the future but also for shaping or even ‘constructing’ the future of our choice, an ambitious aspiration that it shares with foresight. This case-study on the origins and early evolution of ‘technology foresight’ illustrates the essential importance of terminology in differentiating key concepts in social sciences (where it sometimes gives rise to unfortunate priority disputes), and particularly in the case of policy research.     

Gender and Network Formation in Rural Nicaragua: A Village case study

Abstract

This contribution examines the relation between gender and network formation in rural Nicaragua in 2007 and studies differences in the structure and contents of men's and women's networks. Such differences are relevant, as network theory suggests that structural characteristics – as well as the contents of networks – strongly influence the type and amount of benefits generated. Through the application of dyadic regression techniques, this study examines the determinants of the size and socioeconomic heterogeneity of individual networks. Research findings suggest gender segregation of networks and considerable differences in the structure and content of men's and women's networks. These differences relate to the gendered division of labor and to women's time poverty in particular. Our results are relevant in a context where policy makers increasingly consider social networks an important policy tool. We caution against a gender-blind alignment on existing social networks and argue for detailed mapping and unpacking of social networks through a gender lens.