低收入住房政策的国际经验借鉴:需求方补贴

随着国家住房保障制度的发展,世界各个工业化国家自20世纪70年代以来,对住房需求方进行国家补贴已变得越来越重要.近年来关于西方住房政策的研究认为,无论是从理论还是从实践效果来讲,需求方补贴的相关政策及执行在实现住房保障、促进社会公平方面起到了越来越积极和重要的作用;与此同时,随着近年来西方国家社会经济结构的转变,需求方补贴与传统的供给方补贴方式相比,负面影响更少,补贴的效力和效率更高.这些国际经验对于中国建立和完善城市住房保障制度具有重要的参考价值.论文旨在对低收入住房需求方补贴的相关国际经验进行概括总结,并探讨其对中国住房保障制度发展的借鉴意义.     

The Role of Attitudes and Objectives in Farmer Decision Making: Business and Environmentally-Oriented Behaviour in Scotland

Despite considerable effort to understand and represent decision making by farmers, there has been little attempt to integrate socio-economic, psychological and farming variables within a comprehensive framework. This paper attempts to do this in the context of two types of farming behaviour - business and environmental -for a sample of over 200 Scottish farmers. Using variables covering their attitudes, objectives and behaviours relevant to many aspects of farming, we proposed mediating variables models of business-oriented and environmentally-oriented farming behaviours. Structural equation modelling was used to test the adequacy of the proposed models. The results of the study emphasise the importance of psychological factors in the decision making of farmers.     

A causal analysis of psychological climate and leader behavior relationships

Individual perceptions of the work environment, or psychological climates, have been shown to be important determinants of work attitudes such as satisfaction and job involvement. However, little is known concerning the relationships between psychological climate and other variables that may lead to or cause these perceptions. This research examined causal relationships among dimensions of psychological climate and leader behavior. Specifically, the investigation attempted to determine whether leader behavior caused psychological climate, or whether psychological climate caused leader behavior. Eithty-five foremen from a truck manufacturing facility participated in the study over a 17-month period. Results of cross-lagged panel correlations and causal path analysis indicated that psychological climate caused leader behavior. Since one individual's perceptions of his/her work environment can only indirectly be linked to another person's (in this case, the leaders) behavior, an intervening variable is required to explain these findings. This variable may be a consensual or organizational climate.     

An Investigation of the Female–Male Wage Gap During the Industrial Revolution in Britain

During the industrial revolution women's wages were substantially lower than men's. This article documents the wage gap and shows that in most cases it can be explained without reference to wage discrimination. First, the wage data we have overestimate the wage gap; correcting for biases due to measurement error reduces the size of the wage gap. Second, because differences in productivity were substantial, the corrected wage gap is consistent with these.     

External balance sheets as countercyclical crisis buffers

The external balance sheets of many emerging market countries are distinguished by their holdings of assets primarily in the form of foreign debt and foreign exchange reserves, while their liabilities are predominantly equity, either foreign direct investment or portfolio equity. We investigate the claim that this composition served as a buffer for the emerging markets during the global financial crisis of 2008–09. We use data from a sample of 67 emerging market and advanced economies, and several indicators of the crisis are utilized: GDP growth rates in 2008–09, the occurrence of bank crises and the use of IMF credit. Our results show that those countries that issued FDI liabilities had higher growth rates, fewer bank crises and were less likely to borrow from the IMF. Countries with debt liabilities, on the other hand, had more bank crises and were more likely to use IMF credit. We conclude that the “long debt, short equity” (hold debt assets, issue equity liabilities) strategy of emerging markets did mitigate the effects of the global financial crisis.     

Effects of co‐creation claim on consumer brand perceptions and behavioural intentions

Increasingly often, companies ‘co‐create’ with consumers in open innovation practices to develop new products more effectively. Little is known about how co‐creation affects consumer brand perceptions in the mass market. We hypothesize that co‐creative brands – as opposed to non–co‐creative brands – are perceived as more authentic and sincere, and are associated with relatively positive behavioural intentions. A between‐subjects experiment was conducted to test these hypotheses in an online panel of consumers who did not take part in co‐creation. The experiment had a 3 (control vs. co‐creation vs. co‐creation supported with some visual proof) × 2 (well‐known existing brand vs. fictitious brand) design. Quantitative data analyses (n = 530) confirmed that for both brands, co‐creation affects brand personality perceptions directly and behavioural intentions indirectly. This study shows that co‐creating with consumers can be a strategic method to positively influence product perceptions and behavioural intentions.     

Specialized new graduate RN critical care orientation: retention and financial impact

New graduate RN retention in the first year of employment is a challenge for hospitals, ranging from a low of 25% to a high of 64%. he objectives of this study were to determine the retention and costs associated with the employment of new graduate RNs before and after the initiation of a specialized year-long critical care orientation program. Retention was compared between two independent groups of graduate RNs in the critical care units of two tertiary hospitals in a multi-hospital health care system in metropolitan New York. The major study findings were a significant difference in retention between the two groups at 3 months, 9 months, and 12 months, and an annual financial savings related to decreased nursing turnover. Specialized orientation programs that support new graduate RNs have documented increased retention and decreased turnover. Health care finances are positively impacted by specialized orientation programs.