Aging Workforce,Firm Productivity and Labor Costs in Korea: Are Older Workers Costly to Firms?

Are older workers costly to firms? This study aims to investigate the relationship between an aging workforce on firm productivity and labor costs using a unique Korean firm‐level panel dataset (WPS) covering the period from 2007 to 2011. The primary results show no evidence of a negative relationship between the proportion of older workers and firm productivity, and no significant relationship between the proportion of older workers and labor costs. In addition, the findings of this study implies that failure to account for unobserved firm heterogeneity and endogeneity of changes in age structure biases the results toward finding a correlation between the age structure of workers and firm productivity and labor costs. Consequently, there is a tendency to underestimate the true value of older workers for firms.     

A Meta‐Analysis on the Elasticity of Demand for Pesticides

There is an increasing policy interest in pesticide taxation schemes as a measure to reduce harmful effects of pesticide use. The effectiveness of such tax depends, however, on the price elasticity of demand for pesticides. Moreover, information on these demand elasticities and their determinants is of crucial relevance for policy‐making and normative modeling approaches. In this article, we present a meta‐analysis based on studies that have estimated pesticide demand elasticities in Europe and North America. Our meta‐analysis reveals that the own‐price elasticities of demand for pesticides are, with a median of ?0.28, significantly smaller than zero, but also significantly larger than ?1, i.e. to be inelastic. We find that the demand for pesticides for special crops is less elastic than that for arable and grassland. In addition, the demand for herbicides is more elastic than for other pesticides. Studies that consider only short‐term horizons and little flexibility for farmers to adjust to price changes generate significantly less elastic pesticide demands. The results also indicate that more recent studies identify lower pesticide price elasticities of demand. Furthermore, we find that peer‐reviewed studies tend to find more inelastic results compared to grey literature.     

Does Medical Equipment Expansion Lead to More Diagnostic Services? Evidence from China’s Sichuan Province

A major goal of China’s healthcare reform is to control the increasing healthcare spending, much of which can be attributed to the overuse of diagnostic tests and has been relatively less studied in the literature. This article analyzes the correlation between medical equipment expansion and the increase in diagnostic test expenditure in China, using Sichuan Province as an example. County-level data aggregated from hospitals’ annual reports in Sichuan Province from 2008 to 2012 were used. The results show a positive correlation between the expansion of medical equipment and the increase in diagnostic test expenditure. Our study provides implications on reforming China’s healthcare delivery system and medical equipment regulation policies.     

大城市劳动力供需平衡与外来劳动力就业政策研究——以上海市为例

文章在经济转型和大城市人口调控背景下,研究了上海劳动力资源供需平衡趋势与外来劳动力需求情况。研究显示,在上海经济保持一定的增长速度下,2015-2020年外来劳动力需求量在700-856万人之间,这使大城市在对待外来劳动力上处于尴尬境地,一方面面临着经济发展对外来劳动力的依赖性,另一方面面临着大城市人口调控的压力。目前上海劳动力市场中外来劳动力与本地劳动力在就业岗位、工资待遇、社会福利等方面仍存在一定的差异。外来劳动力与本地劳动力在岗位上更多的是一种优势互补关系,对外来劳动力歧视有悖于社会公平理论,同时政府的强行调控政策也不利于劳动力市场的发展。政府的职责应该是尽可能地创造出健康、有序、公平的市场秩序,让市场在调节劳动力供需和结构性短缺上发挥决定性作用。     

农民专业合作社对农地经营权抵押贷款潜在 需求及影响因素分析

研究目的:通过对江苏省徐州、淮安、泰州、南京4市191个非试点村340份农民专业合作社的有效问卷调查的分析,检验了农民专业合作社对农地经营权抵押贷款的潜在需求及影响因素。研究方法:文献调查法,Logit回归模型。研究结果:分析了4个地区的农民专业合作社对农村土地经营权抵押贷款的潜在需求与关键影响因素。研究结论:(1)农民专业合作社对农地经营权抵押贷款存在强烈需求;(2)银行较少为农民专业合作社提供针对性的金融性产品,享受农业政策性保险与贴息贷款农民专业合作社比例较低;(3)这种潜在需求受到年龄、受教育水平、固定资产规模、年贷款申请次数、贷款满足率、银行是否提供针对性金融产品、是否享有政策性农业保险、是否享有贴息贷款以及地区等因素的不同程度影响。     

支持辽宁文化事业大发展的财政政策研究

文化建设是中国特色社会主义总体布局的重要组成部分,文化发展离不开财政的大力支持。财政政策的目标应与辽宁省国民经济以及文化发展的目标相一致。财政政策主要是拉动文化增长的政策,着力点应放在扩大内需上。为了促进辽宁文化事业的大发展、大繁荣,必须制定相应的财政支持政策,而且应做到多项并举。     

供给侧结构性改革推进四川省玉米产业转型发展策略

[目的]随着中国粮食产量的"十二连增",国内农业生产的主要矛盾也逐步由总量不足转向结构性矛盾,其中玉米产业面临的矛盾尤为突出,玉米产业结构调整是我国农业供给侧结构性改革推进中的首要任务。四川既是全国玉米生产的重要省份,也是玉米消费大省,如何推进玉米产业供给侧结构性改革、实现产业转型发展还有待于思考。[方法]文章从供需平衡、供给结构、供给效益和供给效率4个角度分析了四川玉米产业供给侧的特征,同时从要素供给、社会化服务和产业链3个方面分析了影响四川玉米产业发展的制约因素。[结果]四川玉米消费结构呈现多元变化,从口粮消费为主转变为以饲料、工业加工消费为主;草食畜牧业发展迅速,饲用作物需求量增大;农业科技支撑力度明显,玉米育种成就突出。[结论]提出从优化品种结构、推行种养循环、培育新型经营主体、拓展产业链等方面推进四川玉米产业的转型升级。     

中国原木进口与国际原木非法贸易问题的若干思考

在分析认识中国木材供需矛盾问题的基础上,对中国的原木进口和国际非法采伐加剧原木非法贸易之间的关系进行了探讨。中国原木进口依存度高,非法原木进口防范程度低,缺乏应有的进口门槛,行业自律机制不健全,给非法原木贸易提供了机会。为进一步探讨国际反原木非法贸易对中国原木进口需求的影响,文章采用差异化进口需求模型方法,分析了国际打击原木非法贸易背景下中国原木进口需求的相关数量变化关系。研究结果表明,中国的原木进口正在朝着理性的方向进展,来自美国、新西兰的原木进口比重日益增加而来自非法原木高危国的原木进口日益减少。基于研究提出中国应提高自身的生产能力以及完善合法认证体系,降低原木的进口依赖,同时发挥大国作用,一起推动非法原木高危国的木材合法认证体系的发展。     

基于动态需求响应的85后知识员工管理实践

85后知识员工正逐渐成为企业的骨干层乃至核心层,如何做好对他们的使用与激励,让他们真正成为团队的中坚力量,实现平稳交接,是每个管理者都不能回避的课题。85后知识员工的特点和需求特性决定了他们更趋向于挑战和流动,本文从85后知识员工的动态需求分析入手,结合企业具体案例,希望找到选好、育好、用好、留好85后知识员工的方法和措施,为企业的可持续发展助力。     

Food fraud: economic insights into the dark side of incentives

In this review, we contextualise the articles in this special issue, relating them to existing food fraud research, and identify food fraud research trends, challenges and priorities for the near term. We accomplish these aims through a comprehensive review of research by food scientists, economists, other social scientists, legal experts, government research groups and international trade organisations. Existing food fraud research is heavily weighted towards food science, packaging and labelling, and legal areas of knowledge discovery. Moving forward, research is needed pertaining to general economic welfare outcomes from food fraud incidences, economic incentives to deter frauds, economic spillovers from fraud incidences to other food products and markets (domestic and international) and further delineation of the effect of different types of food fraud on consumer and producer welfare. The articles in this special issue make significant contributions to understanding of the role of food fraud in consumer decisions, measuring consumer welfare losses from fraud, food fraud spillover effects to other markets and new frameworks for fraud analysis.