The hidden value of air transportation infrastructure

Air transportation is a key strategic asset in that it provides access to markets and thereby enables the economic development of nations. Thus, in order to maintain their competitiveness in a global economy, countries must invest in air transportation infrastructure to ensure their ability to meet current and future demand for aviation services. The objective of this paper is to develop and illustrate a methodology for evaluating the strategic value of air transportation infrastructure, in particular the benefits associated with the ability to react quickly to changes in the market. The hypothesis is that by recognizing and taking advantage of this strategic value, it may be possible to design better policies for aviation infrastructure delivery.The methodology developed here uses system dynamics to model different strategies for infrastructure delivery. These strategies are defined by three variables: the amount of capacity increase, the time to deliver the capacity and the congestion threshold that triggers the need for capacity delivery. Monte Carlo simulation is used to take into account multiple sources of uncertainty. The model shows that a strategy of capacity delivery based on small increments and short response times can yield more benefits than strategies that consider large capacity increases and long response times. Furthermore, in the specific airport example considered here, it was found that a congestion threshold of 75% should be the trigger for capacity enlargements if strategies based on small capacity increments and 1 or 5 years to increase capacity are considered. The lesson for decision-makers is that congestion delays must be addressed with foresight.     

存在风险条件下的资本市场投资预期收益模型研究

风险是指预期收益的不确定性,是指在将来一段时间内遭受损失的可能性.进行资本市场投资,必然存在风险.资本市场投资风险就是投资预期结果(预期收益损失)的不确定性,有投资风险,就会有投资者对其进行的预期.本文建立了存在风险条件下的资本市场投资预期收益模型,并由此得出了不同投资者的预期收益--风险偏好的不同投资选择.     

Achieving High Quality, Comparable Financial Reporting: A Review of Independent Enforcement Bodies in Australia and the United Kingdom

This article provides a review of the activities of two quite different types of national enforcement body, the U.K.'s Financial Reporting Review Panel (FRRP) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). We present material (some not available elsewhere) about their activities over the period 1998–2004 and show that both types of body can fulfil an enforcement role, albeit subject to political forces. We also assess the relevance of the bodies' past activities for comparable international enforcement following the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2005. A review of cases reveals that for both bodies approximately half were related to recognition and measurement issues, where interpretation can be crucial. Although there is potential for cross-country differences to arise, they may be mitigated by the participation of both bodies in international enforcement coordination activities. Past activities suggest that the scope of the bodies' activities and the extent of comparability of enforcement decisions are likely to reflect political views held within the government, corporate sector and accounting profession.     

The allocative efficiency and conservation potential of water laws encouraging investments in on-farm irrigation technology

Agricultural water conservation statutes are emerging in the West encouraging private irrigators to improve on‐farm irrigation efficiency as a basinwide conservation measure. We investigate whether private improvements promote the economic efficiency and conservation of water use basinwide under a wide variety of hydroeconomic circumstances. The standard of efficiency is how an irrigation district manager should optimally invest in improving the irrigation efficiencies of individual farms located along a stream while internalizing intrabasin allocative externalities of these investments. The results indicate that the popular Oregon legislative model may be the least effective in conserving water and promoting economically efficient water allocation.     

Gold price risk and the returns on gold mutual funds

A model is presented for estimating the theoretical gold price elasticity of the value of mutual funds investing in gold mining companies. The theoretical elasticity shows that if the funds invest in companies whose assets are comprised primarily of operating gold mines, then the return of an investment in the fund will be at least as great as an investment in gold (i.e., the gold price elasticity of the gold fund is greater than 1). Empirical tests of the above propositions are presented. Empirical tests also show, however, that the gold mutual funds contain a substantial amount of risk which is not explained either by market risk or gold price risk. Accordingly, gold mutual funds and gold bullion do not bring identical risks to an investor's portfolio.     

Framing and the disposition effect: evidence from mutual fund investor redemption behaviour

Research on decision-making under uncertainty has highlighted that individuals often use simple heuristics and/or exhibit behavioural biases. Specifically, with respect to portfolio decisions, research has indicated that investors are subject to the disposition effect, i.e. they are reluctant to sell assets that have performed poorly (losers) and prone to sell assets that have performed well (winners). We find that the mutual fund investors in our sample are subject to the disposition effect when they withdraw the redemption proceeds from their account, but not when they reallocate the proceeds within the account. The evidence is consistent with Shefrin and Statman’s hypothesis that framing a transaction as a transfer as opposed to a sale mitigates the disposition effect.     

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) from Market Economies to Centrally Planned Countries

Despite the recent economic slump and subsequent reductions and fluctuations of investment ­activities undertaken by multinational enterprises (MNEs) in host markets, the overall volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) has significantly grown over the past three decades. The major proportion of the FDI flows from market economies to centrally planned countries, with the latter currently receiving huge amounts of inward FDI from the West. A representative example of this flow is China. China is often referred to as the factory of the world and/or the black hole of inward FDI. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

国家创新体系包容性视角下高校与外资研发机构合作模式演进研究

在华外资研发机构具有明显的技术和管理优势,对我国自主创新能力产生了积极影响;高校作为研发创新的重要载体与外资研发机构开展科研合作,可加速科研成果转化应用,进而提升我国科技创新能力。从国家创新体系包容性视角,分析了高校与外资研发机构科研合作模式演进历程及存在的问题,并提出了对策建议。     

高管职位特征、机构投资者治理与企业研发投入

以沪深A股非金融类上市公司为样本，检验高管职位特征（任期、薪酬）以及机构投资者治理对企业研发投入的影响。结果发现：高管职位特征对企业研发投入有显著正向影响，高管任期越长、货币薪酬越高，企业研发动力越强、研发投入越大。然而，在机构投资者有效监督的环境下，当高管任期越长、短期货币薪酬越高时，出于研发失败风险导致未来职业声誉受损和被替换风险的考虑，高管会倾向于规避风险，反而不利于企业研发。政策意义在于：董事会和股东应当将长短任期和薪酬机制有效结合，当研发失败导致业绩下滑时审慎地对高管作出处罚，解除高管层的后顾之忧，增强高管加大研发投入的动力。     

我国公共农业R&D投资变化及其国际比较研究

研究了我国公共农业RD投资现状及其变化趋势,并从全球各地区、金砖国家及新兴国家层面进行了国际比较。结果表明,我国公共农业RD投资增长迅猛,投资总额位居金砖国家及新兴国家之首,但投资稳定性不容乐观且投资强度明显不足;公共农业RD投资以政府部门为主,重点扶持农业和农、林、牧、渔服务业。政府应提高公共农业RD投资强度,确保投资稳定性,使资金适量向林业、畜牧业及渔业倾斜,同时鼓励私人部门对公共农业RD进行投资。