Covid-19-tested food labels

While the transmission of virus SARS-CoV-2 via food is rare, some Chinese food retailers are considering a Covid-19-tested food label. However, how consumers may support such a label is unknown. We quantify Chinese consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for food carrying a Covid-19-tested label using an online choice experiment. We find that the WTPs for such a label are always positive for all food products considered. The amount of WTP depends on the entities authenticating the labels, country of origin of the food, and consumers’ socio-demographic status. Contrary to expectation, the knowledge on Covid-19 does not affect consumer preferences for the Covid-19-tested food labels. Our benefit and cost analysis suggests a possible large benefit of creating and administering a Covid-19-tested food label. This study provides insights for policymakers, global food manufacturers, and retailers to create marketing strategies to alleviate consumer food safety concerns associated with Covid-19.     

Conditional Mandates on Management Earnings Forecasts: The Impact on the Cost of Debt

Exploiting a unique conditional disclosure mandate on management earnings forecasts (MEFs) in China, we examine the differential effects of voluntary and mandatory MEFs on the cost of debt. We find that firms providing voluntary MEFs have lower cost of debt than do mandatory forecasters and nonforecasters. The results of the channel analyses reveal that voluntary forecasters have greater commitment to voluntary MEFs in future periods than do mandatory forecasters and nonforecasters, and the precision, accuracy, and timeliness of MEFs are higher for voluntary forecasters than for mandatory forecasters. Additional analyses show that the differential effects of voluntary and mandatory MEFs on cost of debt are stronger for voluntary forecasters operating in opaque information environments, issuing high-quality and confirming forecasts, controlled by private shareholders, and operating in highly competitive product markets. Overall, our results indicate that, compared with mandatory MEFs, voluntary MEFs are more informative for credit investors, particularly for firms facing greater information risk and operating uncertainty.     

Determinants of China's bilateral trade balance in global value chains

This paper identifies the determinants of China's bilateral trade balance using a new measure based on international input–output data, the so-called ‘trade in value-added’ (TiVA), which can prevent double counting in the estimation of bilateral trade balance. Our results show that using a measure based on gross exports, rather than TiVA, causes relatively large overestimation of the impact of the RMB exchange rate on China's bilateral trade balance. This overestimation is mainly because that the increasing production of exports may require increasing intermediate imports as a consequence of international fragmentation of production in global value chains. In addition, our results also show that the impact of FDI inflows on China's bilateral trade balances depends on the position and role of China and its trading partners in GVCs.     

基于生态位理论的浙江省区域农产品质量竞争力评价研究

[目的]把握区域农产品质量竞争力不仅是促进区域农产品富有竞争力的积极方法,也是稳步提升农产品质量安全的重要做法。[方法]文章运用生态位态势理论,构建了以区域为评价主体的农产品质量竞争力评价体系,并从两个层面对浙江省各地级市农产品质量竞争力进行研究。在纵向层面上,测算了各地级市农产品质量竞争力生态位宽度,对各地级市农产品质量竞争力状态进行了评价和排序。在横向层面上,测算了各地级市农产品质量竞争力生态位重叠度,对各地级市农产品质量竞争力的合作程度进行了评价与区分。最后整合运用生态位协同、生态位扩充等理论,提出浙江省各地级市提升农产品质量竞争力发展策略。[结果]通过区域农产品质量竞争力生态位宽度研究发现,杭州和宁波的农产品质量竞争力较强,其生态位宽度分别为0.103 6和0.103 2,而丽水和舟山农产品质量竞争力相对居后,其生态位宽度分别为0.079 0和0.075 6;通过区域农产品质量竞争力生态位重叠度研究发现,可将全省划分为西北平原区域、东南部沿海区域和西南部山地区域等3个区域,各区域内部地级市可通过协同合作提升农产品质量竞争力。[结论]根据各地级市生态位宽度和生态位重叠度的差异,应采取生态位扩充、生态位协同、生态位分离的策略,从而因地制宜提升区域农产品质量竞争力。     

基于可持续生计分析框架的农户宅基地流转意愿研究

[目的]宅基地流转是城乡建设用地优化配置和农民财产性收入增加的重要途径,对解决我国当前土地资源利用的供需矛盾,推动高效用地具有重要意义。文章从家庭生计资产量化入手,探讨不同资产配置类型农户宅基地流转的影响因素,旨在进一步推进宅基地流转进程。[方法]通过农户生计量化法和Logistic回归模型进行实证分析。[结果](1)农户整体宅基地的流转意愿较高,达到69.84%,但资产缺乏型农户的流转意愿非常低,仅有37.93%;(2)非农迁移意愿、宅基地功能和家庭生计资产总值对宅基地流转具有显著影响,年龄、专业技能、住房的满意度、宅基地面积、非农收入比例、非农就业状况6个因素对不同类型农户的影响出现差异。[结论]该文提出建立贫困农户的技能培训机制,制定多样化的宅基地流转制度,从而保证不同类型农户在宅基地流转后,整体福利水平不下降。     

Noise traders,firm-specific uncertainty and technical trading effectiveness

This is the first study to document evidence of technical trading effectiveness at firm level in the Chinese A-share market by investigating the relationship between excess profits of technical trading rules and firm-specific characteristics. Our results reveal that firms with higher excess profits from technical trading have more noise traders and higher institutional ownership and that those firms tend to be growth firms with lower liquidity and higher firm-specific uncertainty. Further analysis shows that the profitability of technical trading rules is unsustainable and the excess profits of the highest technical trading profit quintile portfolio disappear in the following year.     

Competing with complementors: An empirical look at Amazon.com

Research Summary : Platform owners sometimes enter complementors' product spaces and compete against them. Using data from Amazon.com to study Amazon's entry pattern into third‐party sellers' product spaces, we find that Amazon is more likely to target successful product spaces. We also find that Amazon is less likely to enter product spaces that require greater seller efforts to grow, suggesting that complementors' platform‐specific investments influence platform owners' entry decisions. While Amazon's entry discourages affected third‐party sellers from subsequently pursuing growth on the platform, it increases product demand and reduces shipping costs for consumers. We consider the implications of these findings for complementors in platform‐based markets. Managerial Summary : Platform owners can exert considerable influence over their complementors' welfare. Many complementors with successful products are pushed out of markets because platform owners enter their product spaces and compete directly with them. To mitigate such risks, complementors could build their businesses by aggregating nonblockbuster products or focusing on products requiring significant platform‐specific investments to grow. They should also develop capabilities in new product discovery so that they could continually bring innovative products to their platforms.     

Unfolding China’s state-owned corporate empires and mitigating agency hazards: Effects of foreign investments and innovativeness

Integrating agency and institutional perspectives, we describe how China’s socio-political institutions create state-owned corporate empires with unique agency conflicts. We develop a framework demonstrating how economically unjustified firm expansion, i.e. empire building, mediates the relationship between state ownership and performance. We uncover the instrument in empire building and appropriate corporate governance and strategic management remedies. An empirical study on 29,638 Chinese firms evidences that (1) increased state ownership drives higher management expenses and lower firm profitability though empire building; (2) long-term debt is used to finance empire building; and (3) foreign capital investments and innovativeness can mitigate these agency conflicts.     

高技术企业多元化战略对创新持续性的影响——动态能力的调节作用

基于资源基础理论和持续创新内生机制，利用435家高技术企业2010—2018年面板数据，对多元化战略对高技术企业创新持续性的影响进行探究。结果表明，产品多元化与创新持续性呈正U型关系，技术多元化对创新持续性具有正向促进作用，产品多元化与技术多元化协同效应对创新持续性具有负向影响；动态能力强化了产品多元化与创新持续性之间的正U型关系，并正向调节技术多元化与创新持续性之间的关系。在动态能力调节作用下，高技术企业产品多元化与技术多元化协同效应对创新持续性具有正向影响。     

微波加热对叶绿素水溶液的影响

本文通过对叶绿素水溶液进行微波加热,分析微波加热对叶绿素水溶液的温度、色度、叶绿素含量的影响。结果表明,微波加热处理的水溶液温度显著高于对照沸水浴,1~2 min时,1000 W功率下的水溶液温度显著高于200 W(P<0.05)。与沸水浴相比,微波加热显著降低了叶绿素水溶液的绿色程度,且高功率微波加热显著加剧了水溶液亮度的变化。200 W微波加热使水溶液中叶绿素a、b含量降低,但1000 W微波加热则提高了水溶液中叶绿素a、b含量。