Asset pricing and energy consumption risk

This paper proposes energy consumption in the US as a new measure for the consumption capital asset pricing model. We find that (i) industrial energy growth produces reasonable values for the relative risk aversion coefficient and the implied risk-free rate; (ii) compared to alternative consumption measures, industrial energy performs well in explaining the cross-sectional variation in stock returns with the lowest implied risk aversion and pricing errors; (iii) the industrial energy consumption risk model performs equally well as the Fama–French three-factor model in the cross-sectional asset pricing tests; and (iv) total energy consumption risk is priced in the presence of the Fama–French factor risks.     

互联网金融对中国居民消费水平的影响研究

本文先简要分析了互联网金融对居民消费的影响机理,再利用2014年1月-2016年3月中国省际面板数据实证分析了互联网金融对居民消费水平的影响。研究结果表明,互联网金融的发展能有效促进消费需求,且对传统经济强省的影响更为显著。最后,提出针对性政策意见,以确保未来互联网金融的健康规范发展,进一步刺激需求。     

The Effect of the Interaction between Price and Time Preference on Cigarette Consumption among Pregnant Women

In this study, I explore smoking behavior among pregnant U.S. women using the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The key aspect of this study is the availability of smoking participation data before and during pregnancy. I consider the probabilities of smoking cessation while pregnant as the outcome. I find that pregnant women who smoke are less responsive to price changes when they are more future-oriented. Women who are more present-oriented are more likely to smoke and consume more cigarettes given that they smoke more than those who are future-oriented. Moreover, those who discount the future more heavily are more sensitive to the money price of cigarettes than those who are more future-oriented. I focus on the role of time preference and the interaction between time preference and price in determining these outcomes.     

农村环境治理绩效审计的作用机制与实施路径

农村环境治理是实施乡村振兴战略的重要举措,实施农村环境治理绩效审计是推进环境治理体系和治理能力现代化建设的重要内容之一。目前农村环境治理存在着投资大、周期长、涉及面广、收效缓等问题,亟需开展农村环境治理绩效审计以提升农村环境治理绩效。本文基于农村环境治理全流程,把农村环境治理绩效审计的主要内容分为农村环境政策审计、农村环境资金审计、农村环境项目审计和农村环境监管审计。然后从审计的预防、揭示和抵御功能分析了农村环境治理绩效审计的威慑、纠偏和反馈作用。在此基础上,提出了农村环境治理绩效审计的实施路径:加强审计处理与处罚力度,协同审计追责问责;聚焦审计整改与纠偏控制,统筹审计资源技术;完善审计建议与公开制度,构建审计评估机制。     

国有企业高管薪酬管制与委托代理问题

由于国企高管的经营业绩难以被准确度量，加上监督约束机制不健全，高管的超额薪酬成为国企代理问题的一种典型表现，于是政府将高管薪酬管制作为应急措施来降低代理成本，缓解国企代理问题。采用双重差分法对2011—2018年A股上市公司的分析表明：第二次限薪令在有效限制国企高管薪酬水平的同时，没有对高管在职消费产生显著影响，有效降低了国企代理成本；但第二次限薪令也降低了薪酬激励效应，导致国企高管努力程度降低，由此造成的利益损失又成为新的代理成本。国企薪酬制度改革面临激励与管制的两难选择，应在国企分类改革的基础上对不同类型国企的高管采取不同的激励机制：对公益类及特殊行业的国企增强高管政治晋升激励，对竞争行业（营利性）国企则应在推向市场的同时放松薪酬管制，从而有效降低代理成本，解决国企代理问题。     

乡村集体经济发展的全面振兴价值与实践途径——以福建省南安市蓉中村为例

乡村振兴是时代的使命,乡村振兴的基础是经济的振兴,关键是新时代理念下的集体经济发展。只有集体经济发展了,才能充分体现社会主义农村经济制度的优越性,适应乡村全面振兴的要求,为乡村基层组织提高引领力、组织力和战斗力奠定基础;为乡村经济、政治、文化与环境全面协调发展提供支撑,为乡村居民实现美好生活建立基本保障。而乡村集体经济发展的重要途径在于始终坚持习近平总书记提出的具有普遍指导意义的"晋江经验";在于坚持因地制宜地选择产业、依托龙头企业,在城乡统筹中走抱团发展之路;在于坚持辩证统一观念下的"口袋"与"脑袋"、经济与社会、内涵发展与外在协作的协调与推动。     

Testing the transport-induced environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: The role of air and railway transport

The airline and railway industry contribute immensely to economic development, however, its role in environmental pollution requires attention. Here, this study builds on the theoretical pedigree of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis to explore the contribution of the air and railway transportation sector and urbanization to the emission-growth argument. We utilized annual time-frequency data from 1995 to 2014 for a panel of top 10 air passenger carrier countries using robust panel estimators that control for cross-section dependence. The empirical analysis shows a positive significant relationship between emissions and economic growth, thus, economic growth is emission-embedded with limited green growth. The existence of the EKC phenomenon is affirmed for the investigated blocs — where economic growth is prioritized over environmental quality. Additional, while air transportation drives pollution, railway transportation and urbanization decline emission over the sampled period. The results underscore the need for clean and environmentally friendly energy sources for air sector operations.     

Do Status discrepancy and socioeconomic immobility really drive compensatory consumption?

This research aimed to empirically explore whether impulsive consumption in the hospitality industry could be explained as a form of compensatory behavior that individuals engage in to cope with pessimistic self-evaluations. In this study, these self-evaluations have been operationalized as status discrepancy and perceived socioeconomic immobility. To test the hypotheses, this study used a three-way factorial design in two consumption settings: (1) leisure activities and (2) restaurant visits. Across the two studies, the results indicated that satisfactory self-assessments, rather than status discrepancy or socioeconomic immobility, lead to impulsive consumption. Despite the reversed findings, this study verified that participants jointly reflect status discrepancy and socioeconomic immobility in consumption contexts. Moreover, the findings suggest that millennials are more sensitive towards mobility information than older generations. This study sheds light on generational differences in impulsive consumption in the hospitality industry.     

Dreaming of the West: The power of the brand in Soviet Lithuania, 1960s–1980s

Abstract

The article reveals the interest in foreign trademarks observed in Lithuanian society from the 1960s through the 1980s, when the demand for brand names spread after Western culture reached the Soviet Union. The consumption of Western cultural products, or imitations thereof, became one of the key symbolic expressions of freedom in Soviet society. In Lithuania, the most popular clothes were those bearing fake trademarks, even though Soviet authorities attempted to prevent the desire for and the wearing of these garments through the use of ideological tools.     

Consumption and exchange rate uncertainty: Evidence from selected Asian countries

We set out to assess the effects of exchange rate uncertainty on real consumption in selected Asian countries. Consumption influences business cycles, which in turn shape short-run monetary policy decisions. Hence, understanding factors driving consumption is appealing to policymakers. To date, few studies have analysed the effects of uncertainty on consumption. The available ones generally focus on the long-run effects, in spite of the fact that the short-run persistence and adjustments to equilibrium are equally relevant. Our study takes these limitations seriously by distinguishing the short- and long-run effects of exchange rate uncertainty on consumption. Using a flexible dynamic panel data technique that allows long-run effects to be homogeneous and the short-run effects to be heterogeneous, we find that uncertainty impedes consumption in the long run. In the short run, however, the effects are immaterial. This evidence remains robust to the measure of uncertainty, asymmetric uncertainty, inflation and the global financial crisis of 2008. By decomposing uncertainty into its temporary and permanent components, we find that the latter have a stronger effect on consumption in the long run than the former. Although both components demand policy attention, the evidence suggests that policymakers should be more concerned with permanent uncertainty.