Financing energy efficiency retrofits in Chilean households: The role of financial instruments,savings and uncertainty in energy transition

High firewood consumption for heating produces high levels of pollution in cities in central and southern Chile, with serious consequences for health and quality of life. Energy efficiency measures (EEMs) have been identified as the best strategy to reduce air pollution and maximize social benefits. However, their adoption has been slow. The objective of this article is to investigate household preferences for financial incentives needed to promote private investments in EEMs in Central-Southern Chilean households and study the role of energy savings and the uncertainty about potential savings in the investment decision, with the aim of finding solutions to increase the adoption of these technologies. We use a choice experiment to explore the trade-off between the investment costs, financial instruments, energy savings, and the uncertainty about achieving the theoretical savings provided by engineering and architectural models. The results show that financial instruments play the most important role in this decision, followed by the savings achieved by the retrofit. Householders prefer to finance their investments with a mix of their personal resources and medium-term credits, trying to avoid long-term commitments. Although uncertainty was found to be a significant variable, it seems to play a small role in the investment decision.     

Network structure,portfolio diversification and systemic risk

We investigate the effect of portfolio diversification on banking systemic risk, where the network effect is incorporated. We analyze three kinds of interbank networks, namely, random networks, small-world networks and scale-free networks. We show that the effect of portfolio diversification on banking systemic risk depends on interbank network structures and shock types. First, systemic risk increases first and then reduces with the increase of the level of portfolio diversification in the case of the individual shock. Second, in the case of the systemic shock, systemic risk reduces with the increases of the level of portfolio diversification. Third, banking systems with scale-free network structures are the most stable, and those with small-world network structures are the most vulnerable.     

Chinese consumers’ preferences for food quality test/measurement indicators and cues of milk powder: A case of Zhengzhou,China

Many food regulations focus on test/measurement indicators, such as hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) and traceability, etc. Other than these indicators, the food industry uses various cues such as product origin as indicators of product quality. However, in an environment where consumers’ confidence in food safety is low due to frequent food safety scandals, little is known about the efficiency of these test/measurement indicators and cues. This paper used the primary data collected in Zhengzhou (China) to estimate consumers’ preferences for test/measurement indicators and a new cue of “own farm” for milk powder. Our results show that country of origin is the most important cue attribute, followed by price and own farm. The importance of test/measurement indicators such as organic, traceability, and HACCP certification is relatively low. Also, the individual parameter estimates show that consumers’ preferences for test/measurement indicators currently in the market are weak and fragile. Interestingly, price has an inverse-U-shaped relationship with consumer utility, implying that Chinese consumers may perceive low-price milk powder as low quality. The results of this study provide important insight for regulatory authorities and the food industry to develop more effective policies and programs to improve consumer preferences for milk powder.     

工业体系和民营企业兴起——基于252家中国最大民营制造业企业的经验研究

主流经济学家把改革开放后民营企业的大规模兴起，主要归因为市场经济条件下发挥企业家精神和遵循比较优势的必然结果。但是这无法解释为什么民营企业在兴起之初就广泛和快速地进入到各个工业，尤其是技术和资本密集型工业。基于中国工业史和252家中国最大民营制造业企业创业发展史的历史证据，文章找回"工业体系"这一被主流所忽略的重大历史现象和学术概念，从而首次提出一种理解中国民营企业发展独特性的结构性解释。文章发现：从计划经济时期继承而来的门类齐全和独立完整的工业体系，是解释民营企业创业和发展独特性的关键变量；已有的由国有企业和科研院所组成的工业体系，从市场机会、技术能力和组织资源等方面塑造了民营企业的创业选择和发展路径。所以，中国民营企业的快速发展不是仅凭自由市场就会自动出现的普遍现象，而是在市场条件下充分利用工业体系提供的技术和市场条件才得以出现的特殊现象。     

The relationship between governance structure and risk management approaches in Japanese venture capital firms

This paper attempts to understand what drives Japanese venture capital (JVC) fund managers to select either active managerial monitoring or portfolio diversification to manage their firms' investment risks [J. Bus. Venturing 4 (1989) 231]. Unlike U.S. venture capitalists that use active managerial monitoring to gain private information in order to maximize returns [J. Finance 50 (1995) 301], JVCs have traditionally used portfolio diversification to attenuate investment risks [Hamada, Y., 2001. Nihon no Bencha Kyapitaru no Genkyo (Current State of Japanese Venture Capital), Nihon Bencha Gakkai VC Seminar, May 7]. We found that performance pay is positively related to active monitoring and that management ownership is positively related to active monitoring and negatively related to portfolio diversification. The managerial implication of our study is that venture capitalists should be as concerned about the structure of their incentive systems for their fund managers as they are for their investee-firm entrepreneurs. Agency theory says that contingent compensation is a self-governing mechanism for individual effort that is difficult to measure and verify. When properly applied, equity ownership and performance-based pay can have powerful influencing effects on the strategic choices of managers.     

Labor income and risky investments: can part-time farmers compete?

In the developed countries, a majority of farm households receive at least as much income from nonfarm sources as from the farm. Such part-time farms have survived inspite of lower returns than full-time farms. This paper considers when lower returns to part-time farming could be compensated by risk-reduction due to diversification of income sources. The paper uses a dynamic portfolio choice model with labor income. The model and results could be applied in other contexts as well.     

Race and the development of career interest in accounting

Data from the AICPA (2009b) show that African–Americans comprise only 1% of CPAs and were only 4% of new hires by CPA firms in academic year 2007–2008. The current study uses social cognitive career theory to examine whether this shortage of diversity may be caused by differences between African–American and Caucasian students in factors that lead to career interest in accounting. Students were surveyed on two key personal variables: self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Results suggest that African–American students are more likely than Caucasian students to perceive accounting as providing outcomes that match their values. However, favorable perceptions may be countered by differences in self-efficacy. African–American students value outcomes provided by accounting, but they may have less confidence, compared to Caucasian students, that they can successfully complete the course of action necessary to enter the profession.     

时间、收入与消费选择--兼论假日经济效应

本文首先给出了一个时间和收入双重约束下的消费者最优选择理论，分析了收入充裕而时间稀缺条件下的消费者行为，认为价格的变动将不会影响最优的消费组合，同时认为，通过增加闲暇将促进消费的增长；最后运用季度数据进行了计量检验，检验的结果证实了上述结论。     

关于证券市场投资者风险偏好的实证研究

根据显现偏好理论,投资者的投资行为显现了其内在的风险偏好。在本文中,采用均衡分析方法,以中国证券市场中的指数序列为样本,综合期望收益、方差,自相关系数等统计量,准确反映证券组合的投资价值,揭示市场中投资者作为一个整体所具有的风险偏好和投资组合无差异曲线的形式。     

离散选择模型的基本原理及其发展演进评介

离散选择模型的研究真正兴起于19世纪50年代末，属于微观计量经济学的范畴。该模型能够对个体和家庭行为进行经验性的统计分析，因而在经济学和其他社会科学中得到广泛的应用。本文从离散选择模型的基本性质及效用最大化的理论背景出发，指出logit模型虽然使用的是最早并且最为广泛的离散选择模型，但是其存在着三大局限性：不能表示随机口味的变化、暗含成比例的替代形式和不能处理不可观测因素在不同期间相关的情形。GEV（含嵌套logit）、probit和混合logit模型等其他的离散选择模型，很大程度上都是为了避免这些限制而产生并发展起来的。