Assessing the role of components of life satisfaction

Factors affecting subjective well-being and their gross effect measurement have been widely studied. However, how people derive utility from these factors has not been fully explored. This article provides a way to decompose the gross effect of major determinants on life satisfaction into direct and indirect effects and make inference for the latter. Because the indirect effect is nonlinear in parameters associated with different models in an equation system, it creates a problem in estimating the standard error. Besides, the categorical nature in survey data further introduces bias to the covariance estimation even asymptotically. To address these issues without knowing the form of heteroskedasticity under the null hypothesis, we propose to extend the wild bootstrap procedure in this particular context. Its robustness against various data properties is validated via several simulation experiments. Using three recent waves of World Values Survey, we find that the relative importance of life control has significantly increased recently, and endowing citizens with the right to enjoy their freedoms and liberties is a more effective policy in raising life satisfaction than promoting national income.     

Herding behaviour and the declining value relevance of accounting information: evidence from an emerging stock market

This article sheds light on the underlying mechanisms behind the changes in the value relevance of accounting information in the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) during the 1999–2010 period. We find that neither changes in earnings quality nor the earnings lack of timeliness hypothesis can explain the decline in the value relevance of accounting information in the KSE. Based on the stylized facts associated with the growth of the KSE and the broader economics literature, we argue that the reduction in the explanatory power of accounting information vis-à-vis stock returns was caused by herding behaviour. Empirical estimates from state-space model of herding behaviour confirm the existence of herding, and we find that the value relevance of accounting information is significantly lower in periods characterized by herding behaviour. This article is also amongst the first attempts to empirically demonstrate that an expansionary monetary policy and increases in foreign portfolio investment lead to increased levels of herding.     

Size,value, and momentum in developed country equity returns: Macroeconomic and liquidity exposures

The paper investigates value and momentum factors in 23 developed international stock markets. We find that typically value and momentum premia are smaller and more negatively correlated for large market capitalization stocks relative to small. Momentum factors are more highly correlated internationally relative to value. We provide international evidence on three sets of risk exposures of value and momentum returns: macroeconomic risk, funding liquidity risk, and stock market liquidity risk. We find that value returns are typically lower prior to a recession while momentum returns often exhibit little sensitivity. Value returns are typically lower in times of poor funding liquidity, whereas, with notable exceptions, momentum returns are typically unaffected. Lastly, for almost all countries, value returns are high in poor stock market liquidity conditions.     

Technology ladders and R&D in dynamic Cournot markets

Motivated by dramatic and unpredictable technological advances in energy production (for instance drilling and extraction of shale oil), we extend Cournot models of competition to incorporate research and development (R&D) that can lead to (stochastic) drops in production costs. Our model combines features of patent racing with dynamic market structure, capturing the interplay between the immediate competition in terms of production rates and the long-term competition in R&D. The resulting Markov Nash equilibrium is found from a sequence of one-step static games arising between R&D successes, and several numerical examples and extensive analysis of the emerging comparative statics are presented. Analyzing the relationship between current market dominance and the level of R&D investments, we find that market leaders tend to invest more, which in some sense makes oligopoly dynamically unstable. We show that anticipated market transitions have long-term impact; for example the potential of future monopoly can spur R&D investment now, even if the firm is presently uncompetitive and not actively producing. We also show that, surprisingly, random innovations have an ambiguous effect on R&D. This feature, which is driven by the Cournot framework, contrasts with the common situation whereby uncertainty lowers innovation and delays R&D investments. Finally, we demonstrate that increased competition may actually increase efforts to innovate through higher desire to achieve dominance. This would match the anecdotal evidence that the threat of market entrants forces incumbents to maintain high R&D.     

金融危机背景下促进松节油深加工企业发展研究

近年来,受全球经济不景气等因素的影响,松节油深加工行业的市场需求也开始放缓,面对新一轮的行业内整合,松节油深加工企业如何在优胜劣汰的大环境下促进企业发展,越来越引起企业界的关注。文章从加大新资源的开发与应用的研究力度、提高松节油深加工技术工艺的创新、建立行业战略联盟等方面探讨促进松节油深加工企业发展的有效路径。     

The more contagion effect on emerging markets: The evidence of DCC-GARCH model

The paper aims to test the existence of financial contagion between foreign exchange markets of several emerging and developed countries during the U.S. subprime crisis. As a result of DCC-GARCH analysis, we find the evidence of contagion during U.S. subprime crisis for most of the developed and emerging countries. Another finding is that emerging markets seem to be the most influenced by the contagion effects during U.S. subprime crisis. Since financial contagion is important for monetary policy, risk measurement, asset pricing and portfolio allocation, the findings of paper may be interest of policy makers, investors and portfolio managers.     

高校财务管理专业教学软环境的调查与优化研究

高校财务管理专业成长发展的环境资源包括硬件与软件资源两部分,软件环境是决定一个高校教学质量与水平的内在的决定性的因素。对高校财务管理专业教学软环境的调查分析表明,当前高校财务管理专业教学软环境难以适应企业对财务管理专业人才的要求,需要优化教学计划和课程设置,优化师资队伍结构,缩短理论与实践的差距,强化校内实践教学,优化课外实践训练,变革课程教学工具和课程考试模式以优化高校财务管理专业教学软环境,培养合格的财务管理专业人才。     

高校财务审核刍议

原始凭证是反映经济业务最基本的依据。对其进行审核是会计核算工作的重要组成部分,也是高校财务管理工作的基础。文中针对高校财务审核的内容,分析了高校财务审核监督的现实状况及其原因,并提出了加强审核监督职能的建议。     

应对美国对华贸易保护政策的路径选择

文章指出,金融危机以来,伴随着全球贸易的急剧萎缩,贸易保护主义也风起云涌,特别是美国等一些西方国家近期针对中国的贸易保护措施更是纷纷出台,对我国经济发展造成了不利影响,成为我国经济发展的一个制约因素。文章认为,面对日益严重的贸易保护主义,政府、企业应采取积极的应对措施,建立健全贸易救济系统、充分利用WTO争端解决机制、实现对外贸易保护前置化和鼓励创立自主品牌等,以突破美国对华贸易保护的藩篱。     

江西上市公司总体状况分析及发展建议

江西要在中部崛起,资本市场的发展不容忽视。资本市场的发展在一定意义上就是所辖区域内上市公司的发展与壮大。换而言之,通过上市公司这个层面多少可以对一个地区经济发展水平起到管中窥豹的作用。本文以2010年中期江西上市公司有关数据作比较、分析,并就江西上市公司的发展提出了一些建议。