Capturing zero‐trade values in gravity equations of trade: an analysis of protectionism in agro‐food sectors

With significant improvements in its theoretical underpinnings, the gravity model has gained renewed interest in the agro‐food trade literature. Notwithstanding, there is a dearth of literature examining the relative trade restrictiveness of tariff barriers across a broad range of agro‐food sectors. This represents an important research gap, which this study sets out to fill. Furthermore, this research reconciles the application of zero‐inflated models with a sectorally disaggregated analysis. More specifically, employing a fully specified gravity equation, a Poisson estimator and variants of the Poisson model (Negative Binomial, Zero‐Inflated Poisson, and Zero‐Inflated Negative Binomial) provide statistically significant and theoretically consistent estimates, while allowing for the inclusion of zero‐trade values. A panel data model with fixed effects is also employed to improve the estimation of the parameters of interest. Estimation results reveal that in the vast majority of sectors examined, import tariffs are found to be statistically significant, whereas export refunds exhibit a statistically smaller role due to the nonsystematic nature of their application in world food markets. Model simulations of tariff barrier eliminations reveal limited trade gains, although there is encouraging evidence of “low” and “lower middle” per capita income country trade gains in wheat, red meat, dairy, sugar, and (particularly) rice markets.     

转换成本与用户重复使用意愿研究

大量管理研究证明用户满意度对其使用意愿和行为有重大作用,然而管理实践表明满意度对用户重复使用意愿的影响力趋于下降,而转换成本的作用日渐显现。本文采用问卷调查的研究方法,选取调查了337位即时通讯软件用户,并使用SPSS17.0和AMOA18.0对数据进行结构方程分析。结果表明相关经验和在线关怀的作用得到了全面验证,转换成本的影响因素对其影响的效果存在显著差异,且不同的转换成本类型对用户重复使用意愿的作用不同,程序转换成本和关系转换成本的作用显著。     

A two-account model of pension saving contracts

Saving contracts studied in the literature and available on the pension market share certain characteristics. An overview implies a unified formalization that exposes, at the same time, the common characteristics and the important differences. This article presents such a formalization in terms of two interacting accounts and specifies a series of examples from the literature and the market. We solve the valuation problem by derivation of a partial difference-differential equation and implementation of a numerical finite difference procedure. Illustrations are included.     

Disaggregated trade and disaggregated currency unions: a ranking of common currency effects

Andrew Rose has long argued that a common currency has a large effect on increasing trade. Recently, Rose has called into question the reliability of this conclusion, as new techniques have emerged for estimating gravity equations. This article uses the sector‐specific gravity model developed by Anderson and Yotov (2010a) to investigate if disaggregated trade can provide a reliable estimate of a common currency's effect. Disaggregating trade alone is insufficient to obtain a reliable estimate of a currency union, regardless of econometric technique, when the effect of a common currency on trade is uniform across all unions. Disaggregating the universe of currency unions with individual effects provides a reliable ranking of currency unions, independent of estimation method, by the effect that each union's currency has on increasing trade. These rankings differ across sectors.     

基于SEM模型对建筑施工企业影响因素的分析

随着经济的发展和社会的不断进步,施工安全已经受到了国家和广大人民群众越来越多的关注。本文运用结构方程的思想建立了各因素与施工安全的关系模型,采用问卷调查的方法收集数据,并通过LISREL软件分析数据,验证各指标体系以及结构模型的准确性与合理性,根据拟合数据,最终得到对数据拟合良好、结构合理的施工安全关系模型。     

Measuring Birding Specialization: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The purpose of this study was to empirically test the construct validity of Gómez' Ethnicity and Public Recreation Participation (EPRP) Model. The EPRP Model was tested in the field on 311 Puerto Ricans in Massachusetts. Confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, and fit indices were employed to test the model. The results indicated that all scales possessed good validity and reliability, and that the model met various goodness of fit criteria. Theoretical and practical implications of the EPRP Model are discussed.     

On a Sparre Andersen risk model perturbed by a spectrally negative Lévy process

In this paper, we consider a Sparre Andersen risk model perturbed by a spectrally negative Lévy process (SNLP). Assuming that the interclaim times follow a Coxian distribution, we show that the Laplace transforms and defective renewal equations for the Gerber–Shiu functions can be obtained by employing the roots of a generalized Lundberg equation. When the SNLP is a combination of a Brownian motion and a compound Poisson process with exponential jumps, explicit expressions and asymptotic formulas for the Gerber–Shiu functions are obtained for exponential claim size distribution and heavy-tailed claim size distribution, respectively.     

Examining tourism SME owners’ place attachment,support for community and business performance: the role of the enlightened self-interest model

This research examines how support for the local community by small tourism businesses influences their enterprise performance, and the extent to which the owners’ place attachment influences the level of support that they provide to the community. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to analyse the responses from the owners of 298 small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs) operating in regional South Australia. Results of the analysis provide support for the validity of a structural model. The place attachment of tourism business owners has a significant positive effect on their support for the community which in turn has a significant positive effect on enterprise performance. The robustness of the structural model was tested through a series of invariance (equality) tests. Results demonstrate that the causal relationships among place attachment, support for community and enterprise performance hold true (are invariant) irrespective of the gender of the business owner, the size of the business, and/or the length of time the business has been operating. These findings have implications for research scholars in developing more robust tests of model relationships between and across groups, and for tourism policymakers aiming to support the sustainable development of regional tourism destinations.     

供应链运作风险影响企业竞争能力的实证分析

以供应链运作风险为切入点,在现有文献研究的基础上,从供应风险、需求风险、制造风险和信息风险四个维度反映供应链运作风险,通过提出相关研究假设构建了供应链运作风险作用于企业竞争能力的关系模型。基于对国内制造企业的调研数据,对模型进行了验证。研究结果表明,供应链运作风险对企业的竞争能力产生了不同程度的影响。     

Continuous time modeling of panel data: SEM versus filter techniques

Although convincing arguments have been put forward for continuous-time modeling, its use in panel research is rare. In one approach, classical N  = 1 state-space modeling procedures are adapted for panel analysis to estimate the exact discrete model (EDM) by means of filter techniques. Based on earlier less satisfactory indirect methods, a more recent approach uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to get the maximum likelihood estimate of the EDM by the direct method. After an introduction into continuous-time state-space modeling for panel data and the EDM, a thorough comparison is made between the two distinct approaches with quite different histories by means of Monte Carlo simulation studies. The model used in the simulation studies is the damped linear oscillator with and without random subject effects.