Choosing for others

Experiments conducted in the US and France were used to study how individuals make trade-offs between health and taste for themselves and others. When someone receives a choice made for them that differs from their preference, they experience a welfare loss; at least in the short-term. We measure the empirical magnitude of this loss, and suggest it play a role in assessing the desirability of paternalistic policies motivated by behavioural economics. We show that the welfare loss changes with the provision of new information and the impact of this information differs for the two countries.     

河南省现代农业可持续发展的综合效益评价

近年来,我国农业生态环境恶化,可利用农业资源紧缺、农产品质量安全等问题日渐凸显,因此发展可持续现代农业产业已经被提上日程。河南省作为发展现代农业的试点改革省份,在发展特色农业模式,优化农业产业结构方面取得了一定成效,但同时存在着制约其进一步健全完善的因素。文章以农业可持续发展为理论基础,从经济效益、社会效益和生态效益等3个方面构建现代农业可持续发展综合效益评价指标体系,并采用主成分分析法评价现代农业可持续发展的综合效益。研究结果表明,经济发展是河南省农业可持续发展的核心;人口问题已成为制约部分城市农业可持续发展的重要因素;生态因子的贡献率最低,是阻碍河南省经济可持续发展的重要因素。据此提出调整产业结构、促进农业经济发展,控制人口增长、提高农民生活水平,保护生态环境、健全生态因子机制等具有针对性的对策建议,为提升现代农业可持续发展综合效益提供理论借鉴。     

Genetically modified organisms and the age of (Un) reason? A critical examination of the rhetoric in the GMO public policy debates in Ghana

Using narrative policy analysis we examined the adversarial rhetoric of claims-makers in their bid to undermine alternative and conflicting accounts of GMOs as environmental and human health risk and to forestall any challenges to the scientific authority of the technological deterministic account of the GMO policy debates in Ghana. The study shows that the GMO discourse was built with the rhetorical frames of smallholder farmer vulnerability and entitlement used in the account it contradicts, thereby legitimating its own appeal for responsive remedies. Civil society claims attacked GMOs as discriminatory and as an environmental and human health risk. Government and scientists engaged in unsympathetic counter rhetorical strategies in hopes of debunking or neutralizing the claim made by civil society. In other words, Government and scientists were denying the claim that GMO was discriminatory and posed significant human health risk, as well as the call to action to do something about GMOs. Civil society adapted the counter rhetoric of insincerity, claiming that scientists had some kind of “hidden agenda” behind their claim, such as eagerness to just earn money from their patents on GMOs. It is imperative that communication on GMOs includes the underlying assumptions, the uncertainties and the probabilities associated with both best and worst case scenarios. This is a necessary condition to minimise misinformation on GMOs but may be insufficient to completely erase conspiracy theories from the minds of the public especially when scientists and government are perceived to be biased towards multinational corporations that are ostensibly preoccupied with making profits.     

小麦种植效益影响因素与提高途径分析研究——以山东省日照市为例

小麦是世界各国重要粮食作物之一,也是我国整个农业生产的基础,处重要战略地位,关系民生和国家粮食安全。但在粮油大宗作物当中效益一直垫底,在迫切需要加快农业转型升级的同时,提高小麦种植效益非常重要。文章采用2000年以来有关数据,按高、中、低等3种不同产量水平计算产值,扣除当年种子、化肥、农药等直接成本和人工费用等间接成本,对小麦种植效益横向、纵向分析比较,得出近十几年来小麦种植效益大致经历了低迷期、增长期和稳定期等3个阶段,纯收入在45~400元/667m~2之间,效益增加主要得益于粮价的提高和政策性补贴。纵观国际市场、国内政策等宏观外因条件,结合人工、地力、劳动力素质等内因影响,解析了小麦种植效益制约因素。联系实际并辅以实例,提出了小麦当前种植效益在不能依靠小麦涨价的背景下,只能依靠科技手段,进一步挖掘增产潜力,走节本增效的路子。     

Integrating corporate ownership and pension fund structures: A general equilibrium approach

This paper studies pension fund design in the context of investment in the debt and equity of a firm. We employ a general equilibrium framework to demonstrate that: (i) the asset location ‘puzzle’ is purely a partial equilibrium phenomenon, conceived in a risk neutral setting, that disappears with the introduction of sufficient risk aversion; (ii) the inability of policy makers to manage an economy with multiple firms yields a mixed equilibrium, where bonds are observed in both taxable and tax-deferred accounts; and (iii) the Pareto-efficient pension plan comprises of a defined benefit plan.     

强化周转材料管理 提升项目经济效益

在工程项目施工过程中,为了提高经济效益,需要对材料加强管理,本文通过周转材料配置、使用、考核、回收等环节进行阐述,同时提出相应的管理建议,为企业施工提供参考依据。     

Indigenous Peoples’ Health Care: New approaches to contracting and accountability at the public administration frontier

Abstract

This article analyses reforms to contracting and accountability for indigenous primary health care organizations in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The reforms are presented as comparative case studies, the common reform features identified and their implications analysed.

The reforms share important characteristics. Each proceeds from implicit recognition that indigenous organizations are ‘co-principals’ rather than simply agents in their relationship with government funders and regulators. There is a common tendency towards more relational forms of contracting; and tentative attempts to reconceptualize accountability. These ‘frontier’ cases have broad implications for social service contracting.     

Assessing the welfare effects of congestion charges in a real world setting

The standard textbook analysis shows that drivers as a group lose from congestion charges. However, it omits taste heterogeneity, shorter travel times far out in the larger network arising from less blocking back of upstream links and the possibility for drivers to reschedule. Taking account of these factors, using a dynamic scheduling model with heterogeneous users we find that all three add significantly to the benefit of the Stockholm congestion charges and that drivers as a group benefit from these charges even without recycling of revenues. This paper also provides an update on the consumer benefits of the Stockholm charges.     

What Initiatives Are British Food Retailers Taking to Improve Children’s Health and Nutrition?

Along with food manufacturers, retailers contribute directly to the national diet. While efforts to reformulate private-label products have been assessed, little research considers other voluntary initiatives to impact public health. We explore efforts targeting children’s health and nutrition. Making use of the corporate social responsibility reports of the seven leading retailers from 2006 to 2011, we examine the types of actions, by which retail chains and when. Before 2008, most retailers reported on initiatives promoting children’s nutrition education and physical activity in schools. Since 2009, references to such programs have decreased, with a shift toward child wellness. We find that retailers differ in approaches and commitment. Those with larger market shares mention initiatives more frequently. Most activities are related to nutrition education, developing cooking skills, and promotion of physical activity and not product reformulation. Our research suggests these efforts are not coordinated, might be misplaced, and do not persist over time.