Neighbors and friends: How do European political parties respond to globalization?

This paper explores the relationship between globalization and party positions accounting for potential differences between left- and right-wing parties. The analysis is based on a panel model of 36 political parties in 18 Western European countries between 1970 and 2015. We find that right-wing parties move leftward in response to globalization, while left-wing parties do not alter their position. Additionally, we find that ideological party positions are affected by foreign parties’ positions of the same ideological bloc. These findings indicate that there is a convergence towards the left of the political spectrum due to right-wing party moderation.     

Welfare Policy and Precarious Lives: “Welfare Reform” Revisited

Abstract:

Although welfare reform has not been one of the most highly visible policy agendas for the Trump administration, restricting access to public assistance programs has been a part of proposals and actions in a number of areas. The Trump administration’s overall approach to welfare reform was articulated formally in 2018 in an Executive Order and a Council of Economic Advisers Report. To provide some context for a discussion of these two documents, the article begins with a discussion of the different meanings of “welfare reform” identified in institutionalist literature, and a brief overview of some important findings on the impacts of the 1996 welfare reform. It then highlights some key aspects of the Trump administration’s approach to welfare reform and responses from the poverty research and advocacy community.     

On the role of Islamic and conventional banks in the monetary policy transmission in Malaysia: Do size and liquidity matter?

This paper empirically investigates the impact of monetary policy on the credit supply of Islamic versus conventional banks of Malaysia using an unbalanced panel dataset over the period 2005-2016. While estimating the effects of three alternative measures of monetary policy on banks' credit supply, we include several bank-specific and macroeconomic variables in the specification as control variables. We provide strong evidence on the existence of the credit channel of monetary policy transmission mechanism in Malaysia. Yet, we show that Islamic banks respond considerably less to changes in monetary policy instruments as compared to their conventional counterparts. We also find that the monetary policy measures affect small-sized banks and less-liquid banks more as compared to large-sized and more-liquid banks. Our findings suggest that for an effective monetary policy, there is a vital need to consider the nature of Islamic banking while devising any monetary policy instruments to manage credit supply in the economy.     

An investigation of the moderating effects of current job position level and hotel work experience between technology readiness and technology acceptance

Rapid technology development has greatly changed the hotel structure in operation or customer relationship management. Most previous studies simply employed either the technology readiness index (TRI) or considered the technology acceptance model (TAM) to predict consumer behavior from the perceptions of consumers. Nonetheless, only limited studies, if ever any, integrated technology readiness (TR) into technology acceptance model in hospitality. Hence, to bridge the aforementioned research gap, the purpose of the present study is to advance and modify TAM by proposing a new research framework which integrates TR into TAM. Online questionnaire survey was conducted with hotel employees through a well-known survey company Qualtrics. Data were then analyzed by structural equation modelling. Findings indicate the direct relationship between technology readiness (TR) and technology acceptance (TA), and reveal the moderating effects of current job position level and hotel work experience on the proposed research framework. Implications are further discussed.     

The untold story of commodity futures in China

We investigate the behavior of commodity futures risk premia in China. In the presence of retail-dominance and barriers-to-entry, the term structure and momentum premia remain persistent, whereas hedging pressure, skewness, volatility, and liquidity premia are distorted by time-varying margins and strict position limits. Furthermore, open interest, currency, and inflation premia are sensitive to institutional settings. The observed premia cannot be attributed to common risks, sentiment, transactions costs, or data-snooping, but are related to liquidity, anchoring, and regulation-induced limits-to-arbitrage. We highlight the distinctive features of Chinese futures markets and assess the challenges posed to theories of commodity risk premia.     

湛茂阳临港经济圈中阳江港比较优势产业定位研究

2012年"湛茂阳"临港经济圈发展设想的提出,为湛江、茂名、阳江发展港口经济带来新的模式,也为阳江港的发展带来了严峻的挑战。在粤西的2 200多公里海岸线上,港口泊位多达150多个,湛茂阳三大港口都希望通过合作,为三大港口的经济振兴带来一轮全新的飞越。然而,如何有效合作?在准备合作的道路上,阳江港应如何调整产业定位,实现阳江港经济的可持续发展,使湛茂阳的港口经济合作走向多赢是一个值到探讨的重要课题。笔者通过比较优势理论,采用定量分析的方法,寻找近3年阳江港产业的比较优势,尝试构思合适阳江港本土的优势产业定位,从而促进阳江港区域经济的发展,更好地迎接湛茂阳经济圈带来的机遇和挑战。     

论市、县级政府在旅游行政管理中的 “位”与“为”

本文对当前市、县级政府在旅游行政管理中的“无位”与“无为”原因进行了分析，并从政府行政组织的结构、体制与实施机制角度出发，研究如何解决旅游行政部门在旅游行政管理中的“位”与“为”问题。     

中俄天然气合作博弈分析

中俄两国在能源领域的合作受到全球越来越多的关注，中俄能源合作有着广阔的前景，但目前还存在一些具体的问题，石油管线的修建一波三折，天然气合作仍处在初级阶段。针对两国在天然气合作过程中出现的现象和问题，本文将运用博弈论思想做出具体的分析。     

中美高新技术产业全球价值链分工地位和竞争力研究

通过测算中美高新技术产业双边贸易规模及结构,探讨两国高新技术产业全球价值链分工地位与竞争力。研究结果表明：中国高新技术产业依附于全球价值链的加工和装配等低端环节,整体竞争力低于美国,但近年来有向价值链上游攀升的趋势;美国高新技术产业主导着全球价值链的研发和设计等高端环节。因此,应当继续提升自主创新能力,推进高水平对外开放,搭建国际技术交流平台,完善高新技术产业发展政策,助推中国高新技术产业实现价值链升级。     

浅谈我国中小型企业推广工业工程的“历史路径”法

经调查发现,我国中小型企业工业工程的推广工作相对迟缓,已经成为这类企业提高企业运营效益和综合竞争力的发展瓶颈。这与在我国中小企业的工业工程的具体推广过程中存在的客观制约是密不可分的。推广工业工程的"历史路径"方法是历史辩证法理论在工程实践活动当中的一次运用,"历史路径"法具体如下:结合工业工程的实践以及工业工程的发展历程,发达国家工业工程发展过程为我国中小型企业提供一种推广工业工程并提高企业效率的战略思路。