中国全要素农田水利效率及其空间分布格局

选取我国31个省、自治区、直辖市1998—2015年的面板数据,运用数据包络分析方法测算农田水利全要素生产率。在此基础上,构建中国31省市的经济-距离空间权重矩阵,分析农田水利全要素生产率的空间相关性。研究结果表明:农田水利全要素生产率的年度波动明显,区域发展不平衡;农田水利全要素生产率的分布从高到低依次为东部地区、东北地区、西部地区、中部地区;规模效率普遍呈递减趋势,规模不经济是影响我国农田水利全要素生产率提升的主要阻力;从空间分布格局来看,农田水利全要素生产率高和低的地区都出现相对聚集的现象,而各省市具体地区的空间聚集特征强度差异较大。提出我国应注重农田水利规模效率的提升,扩大中西部地区农田水利投资规模以减少区域差异的建议。     

Is the rhino worth saving? A sustainable tourism perspective

Southern African countries are increasingly dependent on natural beauty and wildlife for tourism. Conservation is essential for sustainable tourism, and is expensive, especially for threatened and endangered species. The current price of a species only takes into account its current usefulness, often leading to an underestimation of the value of wildlife. This paper contributes to debates on the value of endangered species by estimating current use and non-use values for the rhino, a species under extreme threat. Internationally, literature that values scarce and endangered species uses willingness-to-pay (WTP) to derive a value of the species. This paper uses WTP to determine the non-consumptive use value of the rhino based on three surveys, n = 1291, conducted in South Africa's Kruger National Park (KNP) and compare it to consumptive use values. Non-use and inter-temporal values are also estimated to provide a comprehensive valuation of the rhino. Non-consumptive use values per rhino in KNP are shown to exceed consumptive use values by a minimum of 50%. The threat of extinction is shown to be linked to institutional, market and policy failures. Policy implications include raising poaching fines, raising wildlife value awareness and incentivising the community benefits of wildlife conservation.     

Are EU trade preferences really effective? An impact evaluation assessment of the Southern Mediterranean Countries’ case

This work assesses the causal impact of the EU trade preferences granted to the Southern Mediterranean Countries (SMCs) in agriculture and fishery products over the period 2004–2014. It overcomes some of the weaknesses of previous assessments and presents several methodological improvements. Firstly, it relies on a continuous treatment – i.e. preferential margins – to capture the ‘average treatment effect’ of trade preferences, rather than on a binary treatment based on dummy variables. Secondly, it uses highly disaggregated data at sectoral level in order to evaluate properly the preferential treatment. Thirdly, it applies a non-parametric matching technique for continuous treatment – specifically, a generalized propensity score matching. The results show, on the one hand, that the impact of the EU preferences is positive and significant on SMCs trade and is better evaluated using impact evaluation techniques. On the other hand, they demonstrate that the relationship between preferences and trade flows is asymmetric and warn against the risk of providing too much of a good thing. These results raise important issues for policy-making. First, they demonstrate that raising the level of preferences is not the solution to foster the SMCs trade towards EU. Second, that the policy-makers should put more emphasis on complementary factors other than trade barriers.     

Motivations to grow energy crops: the role of crop and contract attributes

Perennial energy crops are a promising source of bioenergy whose production involves production risks, long‐term commitment of land and need for crop‐specific investments without the coverage of crop insurance potentially available for conventional crops. We conduct a choice experiment in five states in the Midwestern and South‐central regions of the U.S. to examine the effect of crop‐contract attributes on the joint discrete‐continuous choice decisions to adopt an energy crop and convert acres to it from a status quo use, while controlling for the effect of various farmers’ risk and time preferences, sociodemographic characteristics, and availability of crop insurance for conventional crops. We find robust evidence that high discount rates, high upfront establishment costs and need for crop‐specific investments create disincentives for adoption and allocation of land to energy crop production. The effects of riskiness of returns and risk aversion are less robust across specifications. The effect of conventional crop insurance on the energy crop adoption decision differs across types of insurance; in particular, farmers with revenue insurance are statistically significantly less likely to adopt an energy crop. Our results have implications for the design of effective contracts and policy incentives to induce the production of energy crops.     

The 4% rule: Does real estate make a difference?

This paper examines the wealth maximisation and preservation effects of including commercial real estate in retirement-phase portfolio management. Prior research addresses the role of real estate during the wealth-accumulation phase of the investor lifecycle; however, little is known about the contribution of real estate during the invest-and-spend, or decumulation, phase. To address this issue, we estimate short-fall risk based on the widely known 4% Rule. We use pricing data for multiple asset classes and simulation techniques, combined with a robust correlation structure, to examine: short-fall risk sensitivity to alternative spending rules; the impact of public vs. private real estate allocations; wealth preservation as an investment objective; and the effect of real estate on upside, or wealth maximisation, potential. We find short-fall risk in a decumulation portfolio decreases with substantial allocations to real estate. This result holds for a portfolio including either public or private real estate. Additionally, and under most conditions, the best performing decumulation-phase portfolios include a real estate allocation with both public and private real estate exposure. These results have significant implications for investors, whether they be retirees, plan administrators or endowments, as well as financial economists studying the lifecycle of investment decisions.     

基于GIS的工商管理信息系统的设计与实现

由于我国的工商管理涉及的地域较为广泛,而且业务流程极其复杂繁琐,尤其是基层工商管理部门,面对的营业户口不仅数量巨大,而且区域也十分广泛。所以,这就对我国的工商管理信息系统提出了较高的要求,需要为工商管理部门提供完善而科学的管理。因此,可以通过GIS来进行电子信息管理。文中就如何设计出基于GIS的工商管理信息系统进行了讨论。     

高校公寓社区化管理背景下大学生思想政治教育路径研究——基于无锡科技职业学院的调查与分析

高校公寓不仅是学生休息生活的地方,更是学生交流思想、实行自我教育、自我管理和自我服务的重要场所。因此,对高校公寓社区化管理背景下的大学生思想政治教育途径研究就显得尤为重要。通过对无锡科技职业学院学生的调查,掌握学生对公寓社区的认知情况,分析学生对公寓社区大学生思想政治教育的一些意见,并提出了进一步加强和改进公寓社区化管理下的大学生思想政治教育的途径。     

跨境电子商务存在问题与发展对策

跨境电子商务具有全球性、无形性、匿名性、即时性、无纸化和快速演进等特征,已成为我国国际贸易的新方式和新手段。目前,跨境电子商务随着政府扶持利好频出,市场增长前景可期,行业助力发展迅速,拉内需促就业效果明显,市场竞争日趋激烈。面对发展跨境电子商务面临的消费者不信任、服务体系不完善以及语言、地理环境因素等问题,发展跨境电子商务的措施是:认清消费者信任的网上购物者和付款者的最佳组合商业模式;熟悉语言文化环境,整合资源链;熟知通转关、商检、保险、物流配送、金融结算流程,推动跨境电商跨领域跨经营环节合作。     

浅析地下建筑中消防防烟排烟系统的设计对策

文章针对地下建筑特征，分析其消防防烟、排烟系统在火灾中的重要性，从而对地下建筑消防防烟、排烟系统设计、常见问题及其对策作分析并提出建议。