Separation of ownership and control for Chinese listed firms: Effect on the cost of debt and the moderating role of bank competition

This research investigates the effect of the separation between firm ownership and control on the cost of debt, with attention to the moderating role of state ownership and bank competition. We make use of a sample of 1744 Chinese A-share firms for the years 2011–2017. We find that separation between ownership and control is positively associated with the cost of debt. This is consistent with the view that separation of control from ownership allows controlling shareholders to engage in tunneling and other behaviors that increase the risk of default. State ownership weakens this positive link because government debt guarantees mitigate the risk of default. Greater competition in the banking industry generally reduces the cost of debt for non-state enterprises while having no effect for state enterprises. At the same time, greater bank competition amplifies the positive effect of ownership and control separation on debt cost for non-state enterprises as banks must still cover the higher default risk. Finally, the global financial crisis raised the cost of debt for non-state enterprises but had no effect for state enterprises.     

Understanding expert practices in order to control expert activities: The case of trading

Experts are important actors of organizational control. Nevertheless, experience suggests that they must be controlled as well. This is particularly the case for traders in financial institutions. We first identify the limits of traditional control patterns when the managing the activities of experts is at stake. Hyperspecialization, which is the ability to act within different logics and multiple time horizons, suggests that multidimensional representations of these activities be adopted and made explicit, which has the potential to prevent such activities from turning problematic. By examining bank risks and conducting additional interviews with actors from bank trading services, we recommend that multiple components of complexity be preserved when dealing with expert‐related operational risks, instead of reducing this complexity to a single concept. Such an approach implies to turn back expertise against itself. Copyright © 2017 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

剖线强度梯度变化的作物软硬变化区精确划分

[目的]软硬变化区的划分是进行遥感变化检测技术识别农作物的基础。为解决人工判读方法中存在人为主观因素影响以及自动判别和交互式判别方法对不同研究区的适用性问题,该文提出基于剖线梯度变化(Profile based Gradient Change Magnitude,PGCM)进行软硬变化区划分的方法。[方法]该研究选择破碎农业景观种植区域为研究区,计算拔节期Quick Bird影像和播种期模拟影像两个时相的变化强度,从作物地块内部向外绘制剖线,利用剖线强度的梯度变化确定硬变化区(Hard change region,HCR)、软变化区(Soft change region,SCR)和未变化区(Non change region,NCR)3者间的划分阈值。[结果]从识别结果来看,PGCM能够有效在地块边界处探测到软变化像元,进而确定HCR、SCR。像元分辨率在5~60 m不同尺度下,识别HCR区混入比例为11%~16%,混入比例随着分辨率下降而降低;NCR区混入比例为3%~4%,受分辨率尺度影响不大;SCR区识别比例为74%~86%,识别精度较高,识别结果与冬小麦空间分布结果保持一致。[结论]PGCM方法能够自动、便捷地确定阈值,摆脱人工判定的主观性,有效地划分出HCR、SCR和NCR 3个区域,为进一步HCR、SCR区内的作物识别提供基础。     

基于熵权Topsis的淮河生态经济带水资源承载力评价

[目的]评价发展规划驱动下的水资源承载力特征,为区域发展提供科学依据。[方法]以淮河生态经济带为对象,采用熵权重的Topsis评价方法,分析淮河生态经济带水资源承载力的区域差异及其影响因素。[结果] 2015年不同市县水资源承载力综合得分介于0. 305 8～0. 698 8之间,其中盐城市最高,桐柏县最低;境内江苏、安徽、河南3省的水资源承载力分别为0. 585 2、0. 478 2、0. 524 9。[结论](1)淮河生态经济带水资源承载力具有在淮河干流上、下游承载力高,但中游偏低的空间分布特征。(2)水资源系统层面,水资源总量是承载力高低的供给侧决定性因素,是水资源承载力高低的重要基础。(3)社会系统中,用水量与用水结构是提升和优化水资源承载力的调控性因素。(4)城镇化发展与人口增加是水资源承载力高低的胁迫性因素,而经济发展水平是水资源承载力调控的重要保证。     

湖南省农业生态与农业经济耦合性测度

[目的]考察湖南省近9年来农业生态与农业经济系统耦合发展现状,探究二者发展过程中的规律,以期找出二者协调发展模式,并为湖南省农业生态环境保护、农业经济发展提供决策依据。[方法]运用耦合协调度模型,基于熵权法为各指标进行客观确定权重,结合2007~2015年湖南省农业生态与农业经济发展的相关数据,确定农业生态与农业经济的耦合匹配分析模型,采用熵值赋权法确定各项指标的权重,构建农业生态—农业经济耦合协调评价指标体系。[结果]研究结果表明,2007~2015年湖南省农业生态与农业经济的耦合协调发展基本稳定,耦合度值均在0.9以上,二者呈协调发展趋势。其中,2014年和2015年二者的耦合度较高,分别为0.975 3和0.984 3,说明湖南省在这两年的农业生态与农业经济的协调性好,农业经济与农业生态能够相互有效促进彼此的发展。同时,仍需时刻关注生态环境的承载力,降低对自然资源的无序攫取,实现经济的可持续发展。     

Inconvenience cost of mobile communication failure: The case of South Korea

Mobile communication failure can occur when mobile traffic exceeds the manageable level. This depends on frequency bandwidth. Mobile communication failure causes inconveniences in a user's daily life that lead to social and economic damage. To address this issue, mobile telecommunications companies deploy additional bandwidths and develop new technologies, but these are costly strategies. This study applies a spike model based on a contingent valuation method (CVM) to measure the inconvenience cost resulting from mobile communication failure. The mean monthly willingness-to-pay (WTP) to avoid communication failure per user is estimated to be KRW 898.14 (USD 0.80) over a period of five years in our study. The inconvenience cost borne by the population is estimated to be KRW 2.97 trillion (USD 2.61 billion). Users experiencing greater frequency of communication failure are found to be willing to pay more to avoid the inconvenience. When excluding respondents citing zero-WTP, the mean WTP per user was calculated to be KRW 3426.41 (USD 3.01). Data traffic usage and frequency at which communication failure is experienced are variables that exhibit statistically significant effects on WTP to avoid mobile communication failure. Overall, estimation results show that a price discrimination based on data traffic usage or quality can be considered by mobile telecommunications companies and regulators to address the issue of data traffic inducing mobile communication failure.     

乌蒙山片区绿色减贫指数分析

[目的]通过分析2012年和2014年乌蒙山片区绿色减贫指数,评价该地区不同年份扶贫效果,这也为今后各项扶贫政策的实施提供理论参考。[方法]文章依据中国绿色减贫指数指标体系,从经济增长绿化度、资源利用与环境保护程度、社会发展能力和扶贫开发与减贫效果4个方面,以人均地区生产总值、单位地区生产总值能耗等27个因子作为评价指标,利用线性加权综合法分析2012年和2014年经济增长绿化度、资源利用与环境保护程度、社会发展能力和扶贫开发与减贫效果指标值,最终确定绿色减贫指数。同时,分析片区内各贫困县波动较大的第三产业增加值比重、单位耕地面积化肥施用量、城乡收入比和农村人均纯收入增长率等指标。[结果]2014年相比2012年,乌蒙山片区经济增长绿化度、资源利用与环境保护程度和扶贫开发与减贫效果指标值上升,社会发展能力指标值降低,绿色减贫指数提高了15.40%。各县第三产业比重均降低,但农村人均纯收入都有提高。四川省10个县单位耕地面积化肥施用量增加。四川省除叙永县和美姑县,贵州省除赤水市,片区内的各贫困县城乡收入比降低。[结论]2014年,乌蒙山区在落实国家扶贫规划上取得了较好的成效。但各县之间差距较大,在今后的扶贫攻坚中,需要从不同地区的实际情况出发,了解贫困类型和贫困程度,考察当地资源储备和环境现状,统筹区域发展。     

An examination of the effects of 2014 concealed weapons law in Illinois on property crimes in Chicago

The purpose of the present study is to determine the effects of ‘may issue’ Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) law implemented in early 2014 in Chicago. Based on the daily community-level crime data from January 2006 to December 2015, using zero-inflated negative binomial difference-in-difference specification with Philadelphia as the control group, the property crimes in Chicago declined after the implementation of ‘may issue’ CCW law. The findings are robust to alternate treatment windows and to a placebo test using time windows before implementation of the law.     

国家安全视角下的生物资源安全与保护制度研究

2014年习近平总书记提出了“总体国家安全观”理念,这是我国社会主义理论制度的又一伟大创新。本文从本次新冠疫情对于国家综合安全利益的影响出发,结合疫情对国家安全要素的扩张以及对国家安全利益的威胁等实际情况,探寻本次疫情暴露出的国家安全制度中存在的问题,以期完善我国以生物资源和公共卫生安全为代表的公共安全管理制度和疫情防控制度。     

A two-generation new product model by considering forward-looking customers: Dynamic pricing and advertising optimization

Nowadays, one of the challenges of the firm managing multi-generation products is the forward-looking behavior of customers. Anticipating the introduction of a newer generation affects the demand and sales volume of the current generation and next generation. In this research, we investigated how to efficiently structure the pricing and advertising strategies of a firm that launches a two-generation new product to a market populated by forward-looking customers. Two thresholds were determined on the advertising expenditure of Generations 1 and 2. Our analysis proposed that the optimal pricing path of Generation 1 was monotonically decreasing or increasing and, then, decreasing. The optimal pricing of Generation 2 followed a concave curve. A heuristic solution method was proposed to solve the numerical examples. Findings revealed that, with increasing the customers' forward-looking behavior, the firm's profit would decrease. In the presence of forward-looking customers, it is beneficial for the firm to reduce the price of Generation 1 and allocate more budget to advertise Generation 2. Among other results, the advertising expenditure was shown to be positively affected by the number of potential customers and advertising effectiveness. Also, the length of the planning horizon had a negative effect on the advertising expenditure. A higher discount rate could lead to lower price, while higher advertising effectiveness and length of the planning horizon would result in higher price. Further, the results showed that, with increasing the word-of-mouth advertising effectiveness, the firm should increase the advertising expenditure and decrease the price firstly and, afterwards, decrease the advertising effort and increase the price.