Effects of scale economies and production seasonality on optimal hub locations: the case of regional fresh produce aggregation

Interest in supporting local and regional food systems is rising and food hubs have attracted considerable attention among Federal, State, and local policymakers. This study explores the problem of endogenous hub location in fresh produce value chains in the Northeastern United States. To overcome limitations in the literature, we incorporate the effects of economies of scale and production seasonality into our models. Three experimental models are designed to examine the effects of alternatively applying yearly, quarterly, and monthly data on model solutions. We explicitly assess how interactions of scale economies and seasonality influence the structure and spatial attributes of an optimal regional produce aggregation hub system. The three models generate marketed different solutions and in many respects they lead to different conclusions about developing local/regional supply chains. The monthly model allows for production seasonality and actual hub operation cycle frequency and thus leads to more efficient hub solution with rich policy implications.     

“十五”期间我国沥青应用预测

介绍了沥青的生产和需求现状，并根据消费行为的情况对沥青的市场和价格走势进行预测，分析了国内沥青行业的存在问题。     

How to get firms to invest: A simple solution to the hold-up problem in regulation

Abstract. Many governmental programs are effective only if firms make costly investments. The inability of authorities to precommit to a regulatory scheme creates incentives for firms not to invest and to hold-up the regulator. This paper describes a simple subsidy/tax scheme embedded in a four-stage mechanism that solves the hold-up problem. We design a self-financing subsidy/tax scheme which benefits a complying firm at the expense of a non-complying firm. In order to be credible, the subsidy and tax rates must maximize social welfare for any combination of investment decisions. We show that there exists a unique subgame perfect equilibrium in which all firms invest and no actual implementation with subsidies and taxes is required. We discuss in which cases the mechanism can work under incomplete information. Received: 30 December 1998 / Accepted: 12 October 2001     

网络教育浅谈

本通过对我国教育现状的分析和对网络教育特点的阐析，提出网络教育对现行教育体制的挑战，对我国高等教育由精英教育转向全民教育的深远影响，以及存在的差距和未来发展趋势。     

From T-Bills to Stocks: Seasonal Anomalies Revisited

This paper employed eleven data series which consist of stocks, bonds, bills, equity premiums, term premiums, and various default premiums to investigate whether January seasonality reported in existing literature is robust across different states of the economy as this has important trading implications. For the periods 1926–1990, small stocks, small stock premiums, low grade bonds, and default premiums (spread between high grade, low grade and government bonds) reveal January seasonality and that the seasonality is robust across different states of the economy except for low grade bond returns and default premiums. January seasonality for low grade bond returns and low grade bond default premiums are primarily driven by results found during periods of economic expansion. Overall, January seasonality is more evident during the economic expansion periods although the magnitude of default premiums is larger during periods of economic contraction. Furthermore, prior findings of strong summer equity returns are primarily driven by the results found during the periods of economic contraction. It is also found that equity returns are generally higher during periods of economic expansion.     

外资银行在拉美国家银行改革中的作用

20世纪80年代末至90年代初,受“华盛顿共识”影响,拉美国家开始了大规模的银行私有化改革。1994年末的墨西哥金融危机之后,为了缓解危机和提高银行经营效率,多数拉美国家在银行私有化改革中积极鼓励外资银行进入。对于新兴市场国家而言,盲目地西化,照抄照搬发达国家的经济模式不利于本国经济的健康发展。只有依据经济规律,根据本国实际采取适合自己发展水平和管理水平的金融体系,各个经济要素才能实现最优配置和利益的最大化。     

贯彻四中全会精神,加强高校党的执政能力建设

党的十六届四中全会通过的《中共中央关于加强党的执政能力建设的决定》，主题鲜明，论述深刻，内涵丰富，重点突出，是指导全党担当起执政兴国历史使命的行动纲领，是对马克思主义党建理论的创新和发展。加强党的执政能力建设，必须充分认识党的执政能力建设的重要性和紧迫性，正确把握党的执政能力建设的主要经验、指导思想、总体目标和主要任务。提高党的执政能力关键在于加强党的建设。贯彻《决定》精神，联系高校实际，从思想上、作风上、组织上和制度上全面加强高校党的建设，不断增强领导干部的执政意识，提高领导水平，才能更好地完成高校的根本任务。     

Governance or reputation? Flexible tax enforcement and excess goodwill: Evidence from the taxpaying credit rating system in China

This study investigates the effect of flexible tax enforcement on firms’ excess goodwill using unique manually collected data on taxpaying credit rating in China from 2014 to 2021. We document that A-rated taxpayer firms have less excess goodwill; A-rated firms reduce excess goodwill by 0.005 vis-a-vis non-A-rated firms, which accounts for 100% of the mean value of excess goodwill. This finding holds after multiple robustness tests and an endogeneity analysis. Moreover, this negative effect is more pronounced in firms with low information transparency, that are non-state-owned and that are located in regions with low tax enforcement intensity. The channel test results suggest that taxpaying credit rating system as flexible tax enforcement reduces firms’ excess goodwill through a reputation-based effect and not a governance-based effect. This study reveals that the taxpaying credit rating system in China as flexible tax enforcement can bring halo effect to A rating firms, thereby limiting irrational M&As and breaking goodwill bubble.     

新世纪前20年我国经济建设的宏观布局

在本世纪头20年的经济建设宏观布局中，要抓住现代化进程的重点，走新型工业化之路；解决全面建设小康社会的难点，繁荣农村经济；调整地区经济协调发展的均衡点，积极推进西部大开发；磨合国内经济与国际经济的对接点，全面提高对外开放水平；紧扣经济建设的根本出发点和归宿点，不断改善人民生活；优化发展与改革的聚合点，革除一切影响发展的体制性弊端。     

Volatility in the knowledge economy

Summary. We seek to explain the economic volatility of the last 6 years, in particular the rapid expansion and contraction of the knowledge sectors. Our hypothesis is that these sectors amplify the business cycle due to their increasing returns to scale, growing faster than others in an upswing and contracting faster in a downswing. To test this hypothesis we postulate a general equilibrium model with two sectors: one with increasing returns that are external to the firm and endogenously determined - the knowledge sector - and the other with constant returns to scale. We introduce a new measure of volatility of output, a real beta, and derive a resolving equation, from which we prove that the increasing return sectors exhibit more volatility then other sectors. We validate the main results on US macro economic data of real GDP by industry (2-3 digits SIC codes) of the 1977-2001 period, and provide policy conclusions.Received: 18 March 2002, Revised: 16 February 2004, JEL Classification Numbers: D5, D58, E10, L50, L52, O38, O51.Correspondence to: Graciela Chichilnisky