The maturity effect of stock index futures: Speculation or carry arbitrage?

Using the implementation of trading restrictions on CSI 300 index futures market as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper examines the maturity effect of stock index futures and its determinants. The results show that the maturity effect changes from weakly positive to significantly negative after trading restrictions are implemented. We find that the change in the maturity effect is rooted in the speculative effect, which is measured by the time pattern of price sensitivity to information, while there is a lack of support for the carry arbitrage effect on the maturity effect of index futures. Our findings provide an opportunity to better understand volatility dynamics in the equity futures market.     

承接金融服务外包对中国就业的影响

研究以金融行业外包服务数据为样本,沿直接与间接两种影响渠道,分析承接金融服务外包对我国就业数量与就业结构的影响,对就业数量变动的流向与趋势进行测算,深入到了劳动力就业质量层面。实证结果表明,承接金融服务外包可以扩大第三产业的相对就业比重,改善知识结构,有利于就业结构与产业结构之间的平衡。但不熟练工人的金融外包业准入将受到限制,加深了他们的就业困境。如何借此机遇将大量低技术劳工培训成合格人才将成为一个严峻的挑战。研究还提出了针对这一新产业形态未来发展的总结与展望。     

Is insurance normal or inferior? -A regret theoretical approach-

This study considers how changes in wealth affect insurance demand when individuals suffer disutility from regret. Anticipated regret stems from a comparison between the ex-post maximum and actual wealth. We consider a situation wherein individuals maximize their expected utility incorporating anticipated regret. The wealth effect on insurance demand can be classified into the risk and the regret effects. These effects are determined by the properties of the utility function and the regret function. We show that insurance can be normal when individuals place weight on anticipated regret, even though the utility function exhibit decreasing absolute risk aversion. This result indicates that regret theory is a possible explanation to the wealth effect puzzle, in which insurance is normal from empirical observation, but it should be inferior by theoretical prediction under expected utility theory.     

中国耕地资源利用的碳排放时空特征及脱钩效应研究

研究目的:揭示中国耕地资源利用的碳排放时空分异规律及其与农业经济增长之间的脱钩关系,以期为中国耕地资源低碳化利用政策的制定和推行提供参考。研究方法:IPCC碳排系数法,TAPIO脱钩分析法。研究结果:(1)中国耕地资源利用的碳排放整体上呈现增长趋势,但2010年后增速趋于下降并于2016年开始转入负增长,省际差异不断扩大的同时区域间差异趋于缩小;(2)中国耕地资源利用的碳排放强度总体上处于下降态势,省际和区域间碳排放强度的差异总体上趋于缩小;(3)中国耕地资源利用的不同碳排放源的碳排放量及增速呈现不同的时序波动特征,同时存在明显的地域差异性,其中,化肥是最主要碳排放源;(4)中国2000—2012年耕地资源利用的碳排放与农业经济增长之间呈现以"弱脱钩"为主,但2013—2017年不同省域的脱钩类型及脱钩程度趋于差异化。研究结论:中国耕地资源利用碳排放的时空分异性显著,且与农业经济增长之间不同阶段和不同省域呈现不同脱钩类型,需突出减排重点、实施差异化策略及注重绿色发展等多途径推进耕地资源低碳化利用,提高政策的精准性。     

The synergistic effect of insurance and banking sector activities on economic growth in Africa

It is widely understood that the insurance and banking sectors of every economy perform some functions in driving economic growth. What is not yet well documented is whether their roles are complimentary or substitutive. With the aid of the dynamic panel generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation technique, this paper evaluates the synergistic effect of both sectors on economic growth in a panel of 10 African countries that are responsible for most of the activities in the continent’s financial sector. The insurance-banking-growth nexus was also examined through bootstrap panel causality tests. The results show that the life insurance market and the banking sector, as well as the non-life insurance market and the banking sector, are complimentary. We find that, overall, the relationship between the insurance and banking sectors in Africa is a complimentary one and that their synergistic impact on economic growth is positive. The feedback hypothesis was also confirmed in the relationship between the insurance sector and economic growth and between the banking sector and economic growth.     

Capital gains lock-in and governance choices

Differences in accrued gains and investors’ tax-sensitivity induce variation in a capital gains lock-in effect across mutual funds even for the same stock at the same time. Exploiting this variation, we show this effect influences funds’ governance decisions: higher capital gains decrease the likelihood a fund exits prior to contentious votes and increase the likelihood a fund votes against management. Consistent with tax motivation, these findings are concentrated among funds with tax-sensitive investors. Further, high aggregate capital gains across funds holding a stock predict a higher likelihood management loses a vote and a lower likelihood a contentious vote is proposed.     

海南省旅游业发展对经济增长的拉动效应研究

[目的]海南当前处于国际旅游岛建设和全面建成小康社会的关键时期,旅游业作为海南省的主导产业对海南经济发展的支撑作用显著增强,在此形势下,分析旅游业发展对海南经济增长的拉动效应,有利于为进一步提升旅游业对海南区域经济发展的影响,促进区域经济发展和经济结构转型,提出科学可行的对策和建议。[方法]文章从时间和空间两个维度,运用旅游业依存度、贡献率和拉动率3个指标,以旅游收入与地区生产总值等统计指标为基础,探讨了海南省旅游业对经济增长的拉动效应。[结果]从时间维度来看,海南省旅游业对地区经济增长的拉动作用进一步加大;从空间维度来看,海南省旅游业的拉动效应并不突出;从市(县)域维度来看,海南省各市(县)旅游业对经济增长拉动效应存在空间差异,东部地区拉动效应持续增长,中部地区增长势头迅猛,北部地区增长缓慢。[结论]不断完善海南旅游基础设施与管理体系;要不断细分和规范旅游产品,提升旅游产品的吸引力和复购率,完善营销及咨询服务体系;注意与其他产业的协调发展,加强与周边省份的交流与合作,省内要因地制宜,挖掘各地旅游业发展特色,推动各市(县)均衡发展,以进一步加强海南省旅游支柱产业的作用,并快速实现区域经济跨越式发展。     

医疗器械产业创新集群的现状及路径研究——以宁波市为例

产业集群能提高企业、区域和国家竞争力。当前以产业创新集群为代表的新一轮产业集群正在各地兴起。通过行业融合、知识外溢和集体行动，产业创新集群促进相关企业和支持性机构紧密互动而加速创新。医疗器械产业科技含量高，创新性强，是当前少数几个涉及学科最多的产业之一。以医疗器械产业为研究对象，从集群和区域创新发展的要义出发，挑选宁波地区的医疗器械行业，测算其行业集中度和产业集群效应，提出提升医疗器械行业集群度，激发产业创新集群活力的对策建议。     

宁夏农业科技园区专项计划项目实施情况及效果分析

农业科技园区专项项目是围绕影响农业产业化关键技术开展研究攻关，把具有市场开发前景的先进适用技术应用于产业化经营上而设立的科技研发项目。研究选取了2014-2016年列入宁夏自治区重点研发计划农业科技园区专项的69 个项目，从项目的执行情况、完成效果、组织管理以及经济和社会效益等方面进行绩效评价，并提出了存在的问题和建议。     

Is China’s Manufacturing Industry Efficient? Evidence from an Energy-Rebound Effect Perspective

Majority of the increase in global energy consumption is from China; hence, studying energy issues, especially in China’s manufacturing industry (CMI), is worthwhile and of much interest in the academic field. Based on the translog cost function, we develop a research framework to study the rebound effect of CMI. Considering the effect of asymmetric energy price, we augment the energy-cost function with asymmetric influence constraint of energy price. Again, we add time series data of CMI’s capital, labor, energy, and mid-input to the model to calculate the direct rebound effect of CMI. We find that the rebound effect of CMI is 44.2%, and CMI still has large energy-conservation potentials. Based on the results of this study, some policy recommendations are provided.