Complementary currencies: what role should they be playing in local and regional government?

The current climate of fiscal austerity has seen a resurgence in ‘complementary currencies’ as local and regional governments look for ways to use under-utilized assets, maintain employment and avoid local economic decline. The authors explore how local and regional governments can facilitate complementary currencies to reduce the impact of external economic shocks and enable their economies to continue to function in the face of austerity. They recommend that localities consider participating in existing complementary currency ‘circles’.     

Personality and older consumers’ green behaviour in the UK

The UK government has set an ambitious target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% before 2050. An interesting segment that could help to achieve this is older consumers, due to their growing numbers. There seems to be a lack of attention, in the research looking specifically at different age categories of older consumers’ green behaviour, and whether their level of greenness can be explained by their personality. Using Socioemotional Selectivity Theory and Time Perspective, the research presented here was designed to provide an exploratory analysis of how the green behaviour of older consumers is explained by their personality types. Based on the responses of 204 older consumers in the UK, our results find the openness personality trait to be positively linked to green behaviour, whilst the extraversion personality trait is negatively related to green behaviour. Although the level of green behaviour increased with older consumers’ age, this did not reach significance.     

Social capital,user motivation,and collaborative consumption of online platform services

Collaborative consumption is broadly defined as sharing, obtaining, and giving access to products and services through peer networks online. As it is expected to resolve the societal and environmental problems, quite a few studies investigated consumers’ motivations that lead to positive attitudes and intention for collaborative consumption. This paper aims to study the determinants that motivate participants to perceive a positive attitude towards collaborative consumption focusing on three salient traits of social capital (shared goal, social interaction tie, and norms of reciprocity). The study found that social capital exerts a more substantial influence on intrinsic motivation (enjoyment and sustainability) than extrinsic motivation (economic benefit). The study also found that different social capital traits display different effects on motivation. In particular, the shared goal was a key determinant of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. And all three motivations positively affect collaborative consumption attitudes.     

Local Government,Spatial Spillovers and the Absorption of EU Structural Funds

The allocation of regional policy funds varies dramatically across regions even when one controls for regional development indicators. We investigate the impact of local government performance as well as spillovers in knowledge, financial means and social relations as determinants of regional fund absorption. Government performance is derived within a Data Envelopment Analysis approach. Spillovers are investigated using a spatial Durbin model. Results show that government performance has a positive impact on fund absorption. Spillovers occur in knowledge as well as in financial means. The empirical analyses focus on Special Accession Program for Agriculture and Rural Development in Slovakia using panel data.     

谈地方高校图书馆馆员素质——以贺州学院图书馆为例

随着社会的不断进步,改革的步伐不断加快,信息时代的飞速发展,对地方高校图书馆馆员的综合素质要求越来越高。地方高校图书馆事业的发展与图书馆员的素质与能力密切相关,馆员素质的提高已刻不容缓。通过对地方高校图书馆馆员应具备的几个素质的阐述,并介绍了贺州学院图书馆提升馆员素质的方法。这样有利于地方高校图书馆工作有条不紊地开展,更好地为学校的教学和科研服务。     

地方人大重大事项决定权工作机制探索

党的十八大对坚持和完善人民代表大会制度提出了新的更高要求,十八届三中全会作出的《中共中央关于全面深化改革若干重大问题的决定》,特别明确了人大重大事项决定权。鉴于目前地方人大及其常委会的决定权基本虚置的状况,本文探讨了地方人大重大事项决定权的涵义及工作机制,以期健全人大讨论、决定重大事项制度,推进人民代表大会制度理论和实践创新。     

Gentrifier? Who,Me? Interrogating the Gentrifier in the Mirror

Schlichtman and Patch suggest that there is an elephant sitting in the academic corner: while urbanists often use ‘gentrification’ as a pejorative term in formal and informal academic conversation, many urbanists are gentrifiers themselves. Even though urbanists have this firsthand experience with the process, this familiarity makes little impact on scholarly debate. There is, Schlichtman and Patch argue, an artificial distance in accounts of gentrification because researchers have not adequately examined their own relationship to the process. Utilizing a simple diagnostic tool that includes ten common aspects of gentrification, they compose two autoethnographic memoirs to begin this dialogue.     

经济条件、人口特征和风险偏好与城市家庭的旅游消费——基于国内24个城市的家庭调查

旅游者的旅游消费支出对旅游产业的发展至关重要。它是旅游者的经济条件、人口特征和行为特征等因素共同作用的结果。但国内现有的研究由于多采用宏观数据,缺少描述旅游者人口和行为特征的微观数据,对旅游消费支出的影响因素分析有失偏颇。文章采用2010年对中国24个城市的居民家庭进行调查收集到的旅游消费数据,综合考虑家庭的经济条件、人口特征和行为特征,以家庭为单位,采用广义线性模型定量研究了影响家庭旅游消费支出的影响因素。研究表明:除家庭资产和收入外,家庭对收入的预期显著影响家庭的旅游消费,这解释了旅游产业对宏观经济的变动比较敏感的原因。它折射的宏观经济意义是显而易见的:当经济不景气时,旅游业可能是率先遭受冲击的产业。反之,当经济向好发展时,旅游业也往往蒸蒸日上。以户主年龄作为代理变量,调查还发现城市家庭的旅游消费与家庭生命周期密切相关,当户主年龄在25~34岁时家庭旅游消费支出达到高峰。此外家庭的风险偏好也显著影响家庭的旅游消费支出。借鉴美国消费金融调查用分类变量测度风险厌恶的方法,文章发现风险厌恶程度越高的家庭越愿意将大部分收入用于储蓄,从而相应地减少旅游消费支出。由于家庭承受的风险多数无法对冲,因此提高风险厌恶程度较高的家庭的旅游消费,恐怕单靠旅游产业自身还无法解决,需要保险业等相关产业共同努力来创造一个较好的旅游产业发展环境。     

本土理论供给不足地域性建筑的发展——来自云南当代建筑创作的启示

本文首先对云南本土理论及地域建筑的发展历程进行叙述,同时对未来地域性建筑的发展趋势进行展望。描述了云南本土理论落后于地域建筑创作实践及大多本土理论未能有效指导和帮助地域创作实践的现状。在说明对本土理论思想形成的土壤营造的重要意义之后,阐明了本土理论与地域性建筑发展之间的理想关系。     

我国能耗监测管理现状及未来发展趋势

适应节能形势发展的新变化,能耗监测的内涵也正在逐步延伸。实践表明,建立有效的能耗监测管控体系,对于提高能效、推进节能减排作用明显。近年来我国能耗监测管理得到了不同程度的改善,但在管理理念、制度安排、技术创新、资金支持等方面还存在着较多问题。利用信息技术,建立能耗在线实时监测管理体系,将成为未来能耗监测的发展目标。适应这种发展要求,我国需要在计量设备基础管理、能耗监测考核制度、监测机构设置和人员培训、资金渠道等方面进行不断创新。