Examining the process of performance measurement system design and implementation in two Italian public service organizations

In the last two decades, the adoption of new public management (NPM) practices in the public sector has increased as public sector organizations seek to improve efficiency, effectiveness and public accountability. We present case study findings of a NPM initiative to implement balanced scorecard (BSC) performance measurement systems in two Italian public sector organizations. This study considers the question of whether the BSC development process can be effectively translated into the public sector context. Our findings highlight the importance of aligning the development of performance management systems with a greater understanding of the internal and external environment of public sector organizations. Our results further emphasize the significant role of emergent stakeholders and management culture for the success of NPM performance management initiatives.     

农村基本公共服务农户满意度影响因素研究 ——基于Logistic-ISM模型

农村基本公共服务农户满意度对促进农村基本公共服务的可持续健康发展具有重要意义。基于496份调查数据,运用多元有序Logistic模型和ISM模型分析了农村基本公共服务农户满意度的影响因素及各影响因素间的关联关系和层次结构。结果显示,农户满意度受年龄、文化程度、家庭年收入水平、政府投入力度、政府监管力度、政府人员服务态度、农户参与度和对基本公共服务的了解程度等8个因素影响。因此,建立信息披露机制,完善政府投入机制,加强政府监管力度,有助于提升农户对农村基本公共服务的满意度。     

Housing and Health

Deprived housing is recognized as a source of poor health, but there is still little evidence of a causal relationship between housing and health. While existing literature identifies neighborhood effects and the individual dwelling as factors which affect health, it does not offer a joint examination of these factors. Moreover, endogeneity is a concern in analyses of both problems. Thus far, studies addressing endogeneity have done so through experimental design or instrumental variables. The first approach suffers from problems of external validity and the latter from the lack of reliable instruments. We therefore adopt an alternative strategy which considers both sources of endogeneity in order to identify the effects of housing on health by estimating fixed‐effect models. We reveal how housing problems affect health depending on living conditions and socioeconomic status. Our results therefore indicate that living in poor housing is an important short‐term socioeconomic determinant that directly affects health.     

Innovation in R&D service firms: evidence from the UK

Research and Development (R&D) service firms make significant contributions to innovation in other businesses. The extant literature considers these firms a homogenous sub-group of Knowledge Intensive Business Service firms (KIBS). The objective of this study is to investigate how R&D service firms innovate and the variety of innovation practices within these firms. Employing data from semi-structured interviews with senior managers from 32 UK-based R&D service firms, we suggest that there are two different modes of innovation: in the first mode, R&D service firms innovate similarly to KIBS whose innovation is ad-hoc in nature and driven by customers’ requests; another group of R&D service firms innovate like New Technology-based Firms (NTBFs) relying more on structured in-house R&D activities.     

数字普惠金融对海洋经济增长的影响分析——以广东省为例

运用面板数据模型分析了 2011-2015年广东省三个沿海经济发展区 14个市的数字普惠金融对其海洋经济增长的影响。结果显示：整体上看,数字普惠金融对海洋经济还没有发挥有效的促进作用。分地区看,珠三角区和粤东区的数字普惠金融总指 数对其海洋经济增长发挥了一定的促进作用;粤西区在使用深度和数字服务支持程度 方面有效地促进了海洋经济的增长。提出广东省各地数字普惠金融发展重点,粤东区的重点是借优势,促发展。珠三角区的发展重点在于借优势,补不足。粤西区发展重点在于广覆盖,深挖掘。     

Can the affordable care act provisions explain the recent wave of acquisitions in the health insurance industry?

This research shows that the ACA health insurance exchanges have generated more merger activity in the health insurance market. The impact is robust to control for an extensive set of factors suggested by both neoclassical and behavioural frameworks. The economic impact of this ACA provision is substantial with 3.8 more months of unusually high merger activity or 52 more merger bids per year.     

大学生心理健康教育创新思考

大学生的心理问题不容忽视。目前,高校心理健康教育应澄清诸多认识上的误区,积极创设以人为本的心理健康教育体系,以促进大学生心理健康发展。     

The impact of Nepal's earthquake on the health status of rural children

We study the impact of Nepal's 2015 earthquake on the health status of children aged 0–5 years. Using a difference-in-differences approach we find that the earthquake decreased height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) and that this effect is largely driven by females, who experienced an average decline of −0.763 standard deviations in their HAZ. Further, we find that females in the 0–3 years age group and in the least wealthy households are the most vulnerable. This is particularly unfortunate, as the first 3 years of life can impact long-term health and well-being, and female undernutrition contributes to the intergenerational transmission of poverty and ill health.     

临时仲裁在我国金融仲裁机制中的引入分析

我国临时仲裁机制的缺失带来了种种弊端,作为完善路径的选择,我国可以采用"试点方式"逐步将临时仲裁机制引入仲裁体系。当前金融仲裁方兴未艾,金融纠纷解决的特性及其对临时仲裁的需求,使得金融仲裁成为进行临时仲裁"试点"工作的适当领域。在具体制度构建方面,可从临时金融仲裁的法律地位与基本原则、仲裁协议内容与效力、仲裁员选任与监督、与仲裁机构的支持及法院对临时金融仲裁的监督等方面进行。     

关于服务外包理论与实践的几个问题

为推动中国服务外包业的发展,国务院已在"十一五"规划纲要中明确提出要在全国建设若干个服务外包基地,大力发展服务外包业务。对服务外包理论的全面深刻的认识,有利于我们更好地推进服务外包。本文初步探讨了服务外包的内涵、服务外包的发展、服务外包的分类、服务外包的市场和建设几个问题。