Deliberative monetary valuation (DMV): Issues in combining economic and political processes to value environmental change

This paper explores and contrasts the different social processes of valuation now appearing as economic means of valuing the environment. Monetary valuation via stated preference approaches has been criticised for assuming well formed and informed preferences and excluding a range of sustainability concerns such as rights, fairness and equity. Deliberative monetary valuation (DMV) in small groups is a novel hybrid of economic and political approaches which raises the prospect of a transformative and moralising experience. Critics of standard contingent valuation approaches have advocated this as offering a way forward. However there has been a lack of clarity as to the means of obtaining values, the expected outcomes and their role. Moving to group settings of deliberation raises concepts of social willingness to pay and accept which are distinct from an aggregate of individual value, although this does not seem to have been widely recognised. A new classification of values is presented appropriate to the literature trying to merge economic and political processes. Values associated with the individual may be exchange values, charitable contributions or fair prices, while social values can be speculative, expressive or arbitrated. The use of DMV is shown to result in different values due to variations in the institutional setting and process of valuation.     

Assessing the effect of educational programs on public schools’ performance

This paper provides evidence on the effectiveness in the implementation of an educational program which offered public schools in Catalonia (Spain) the opportunity to improve the quality of educational provision. We employ a difference-in-differences approach on rich balanced panel data of public schools. The results confirm that the program did effectively improve students’ achievement and reduce absenteeism, albeit not for all modules and school types or across all years. Our results highlight that it is important to condition the delivery of resources upon specific academic goals depending on the characteristics of the treated population. Additionally, program results suggest the need to enhance educational program design in order to get better evaluation feedback.

Abbreviations: DoE: Department of Education; EU: European Union; PMQCE: Projecte per a la Millora de la Qualitat dels Centres Educatius; DiD: Differences-in-Differences; SFDC: Schools Facing Disadvantaged Conditions; OECD: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development; REA: Regional Educational Authority     

国有银行改革的成本和收益

四家国有商业银行改革的成本和收益需从多角度来考察,从财务角度来看,四家银行通过剥离不良贷款,注资、股改上市带来巨大收益;从社会成本来看,高利差以及高不良贷款率意味着社会为国有商业银行支付较高的隐性成本;从历史角度来看,国有商业银行垄断国家金融业数十年,从理论上说,应当为出资人和国家贡献利润和超额利润,但是,高成本消耗了这种利润的大部分。总体来说,四家国有商业银行的改革是成功的,但并非四家国有商业银行的成功。     

公共财政:概念界说与演变脉络——兼论中国财政改革30年的基本轨迹

本文立足于中国特定的体制转轨背景,在系统考察公共财政问题来龙去脉的基础上,对这一经济范畴的内涵与外延做出了比较清晰的界说。本文的分析表明,跳出纯学术思维的局限而放眼中国财政改革30年的历史进程,可以发现,公共财政本来就是为了解决中国自身问题的需要而提出的一个富有中国特色的概念。鉴于\"公共性\"是财政与生俱来的本质属性,作为一个有别于计划经济年代的财政制度安排,以覆盖范围不断拓展为集中体现的中国公共财政建设之路,实质是一个让传统中国财政体制机制和传统中国财政学回归\"公共性\"轨道的过程。站在制度变革的高度,按照公共的理念和规则,深刻把握公共财政制度的基本要求,以此勾画中国财政改革与发展蓝图并改造中国财政学学科体系,是历史赋予我们这一代人的特殊使命。     

浙江省高速公路微观经济效益分析

在过去的10年里,中国的高速公路建设取得了迅速发展,高速公路的开通有力的推动了当地区域经济的发展,产生了巨大的经济效益。文章的目的在于建立一套定量分析的方法来评估高速公路在投入使用中所产生的微观经济效益。在分析高速公路带来的直接微观经济效益即公路使用者效益(包括运输成本降低效益、旅行时间节约效益、交通事故减少效益),通过浙江杭甬高速的定量分析给出了实例。定量分析显示,自从杭甬高速1996年12月开通以来,为当地带来了显著的微观经济效益。     

论金融危机中财政救助的成本与收益

作为应对国际金融危机的主要力量,财政救助是促进全球经济企稳回升的关键,但与此同时也会带来财政赤字加重、道德风险上升等潜在成本。本文认为,政府在关注财政救助收益的同时,更要关注其风险及成本,以实现财政救助效用的最大化。     

东亚货币一体化博弈分析

东亚发展中国家与地区如何选择汇率制度一直是个颇有争议的话题。在“欧元”单一货币区成功实施的背景下,寻求货币一体化便成为东亚各国与地区关注的焦点。实际上,东亚货币一体化就是各参与方根据其参与的成本和收益,权衡利弊得失的决策博弈过程,该过程具有两阶段博弈的特征。     

企业家社会责任行为方式创新对其形象评价的影响机制研究

运用扎根理论探究了企业家创新性社会责任行为的特征及作用机制。基于扎根理论,就企业家微公益行为对其形象评价的影响机制进行了探索性研究。通过深度访谈与二手数据的扎根分析,提出了企业家微公益行为对其形象评价影响的理论框架：企业家微公益行为具有权威性、互动性与多样性,会通过情感和认知两大层面来获取消费者认同感,并影响消费者对企业家微公益行为动机的感知,进而影响其形象评价。该研究是对企业家社会责任理论的有益拓展,同时为希望通过社交网络进行公益活动的企业家提供了实践参考。     

十里泉秸秆发电项目社会效益研究

秸秆发电集社会、经济、环境效益于一体,但在目前的财税政策下,发电的财务指标远低于超临界600MW及以上煤电机组发电项目,因此科学评价秸秆发电社会效益已成为亟待解决的问题。本文从社会经济、环境、生态、自然资源和项目社会适应性层面,利用投入产出技术和对比法进行定量测算,结果发现虽然十里泉秸秆发电替代燃煤发电带来地方GDP减少904万元,但却给当地带来近千人的就业效应,每年为当地减少近3000万的环境成本等。     

The impact of downward social information on contribution decisions

In this paper we study the effect of downward social information in contribution decisions to fund public goods. We describe the results of a field experiment run in conjunction with the fundraising campaigns of a public radio station. Renewing members are presented with social information (information about another donor’s contribution) which is either above or below their previous (last year’s) contribution. We find that respondents change their contribution in the direction of the social information; increasing their contribution when the social information is above their previous contribution, and decreasing their contribution when the social information is below. We hypothesize about the psychological motivations that may cause the results and test these hypotheses by comparing the relative size of the upward and downward shifts. These results improve our understanding of cooperation in public good provision and suggest differential costs and benefits to fundraisers in providing social information.      

Costs or gross benefits? – What mainly drives cross-sectional variance in Internet adoption

In this paper, we propose an empirical model of Internet adoption which takes into account the household’s desire to adopt the Internet. Our research supports three central findings. First, we determine the main factors that explain the cross-sectional variance in gross benefits. Second, we estimate the predicted probabilities that a household does not desire to adopt the Internet and that a household desires to adopt the Internet but does not because its adoption costs are higher than its gross benefits. We show that while the cross-sectional variance in the first predicted probability is high, the cross-sectional variance in the second one is low (except for the age factor). Third, we compute the predicted adoption probability assuming that the adoption costs are homogeneous across households. We show that, for a given dimension (except for the age factor), the adoption rate will be only slightly modified if the adoption costs are homogeneous across households. Our results support the argument that the digital divide is mainly due to differences in gross benefits of adoption.     

基于和合管理理论的企业社会网评价研究

基于和合管理理论的社会网评价,主要从和合人、和合体及和合网3个方面展开。对和合人的评价主要从和合观与和合力两个方面考量;对和合体的评价主要从和合略与和合效两个方面考察;对和合网的评价主要从和合态与和合度两个方面分析。     

人民币国际化的模式选择和路径安排

人民币国际化已成为经济生活的热门话题,人民币也成为许多国外经济学家对未来世界货币体系大胆预测中的热门“币材”,人民币国际化的成本与收益分析表明,收益明显大于成本,人民币国际化是大势所趋。从现实看,人民币国际化进程中具备一些有利条件,同时也存在诸多障碍。在目前的现实经济条件下,人民币国际化应走“弱经济——强制度”模式,遵循“人民币周边国际化一人民币亚洲化一人民币国际化”的渐进路径．并在资本项目可兑换、汇率制度弹性化和区域经济货币合作等方面做出具体的制度安排,最终实现人民币国际化。     

民生支出的公平正义性分析——基于浙江各县教育和卫生支出的分析

文章基于1997～2008年浙江省教育支出和卫生支出的受益归宿分析表明,民生支出的最大受益者为人均收入最高地区居民,最大受损者为人均收入次低地区居民,民生支出具有累进性,距离公平正义的政策初衷仍有一定差距。但是,如果考虑不同收入组别生活成本、支出需求的差异,民生支出的公平程度将有所提高。通过建立因素法转移支付制度,提高民生支出比重,可以进一步提高民生支出的公平正义水平。     

中国科技评价研究演进脉络与特征——建国70年来相关研究文本分析

以2 698篇中国科技评价研究相关文献作为分析样本,运用共词聚类分析法和社会网络分析法,构建不同研究阶段高频关键词谱系图和共词网络,探究不同研究阶段主题内容和变化趋势。总体而言,研究主题共性与差异并存;评价原则与导向发生了重大转折;评价主体较为单一;评价对象范围不断扩大,分类评价成为新趋势;评价方法日趋多样化;研究关联度和相互渗透性有所增强。在此基础之上,研究发现既有文献在科技评价主体、客体、指标体系构建、评价方法等层面尚存在一些局限性和空白。     

公共产品识别:基于本源属性还是现实属性

基于非竞争性和非排他性这些本源属性的公共产品界定不能解释人类社会发展所导致的某些公共产品与私人产品之间的相互转变。实际上,公共产品的性质更多地取决于政府的政策和人类的集体行为,故我们在区分产品的本源属性与社会所赋予的现实属性的基础上对公共产品的定义进行了扩展,认为公共产品是指那些具有非排他性的产品,或者说是那些具有事实上消费公共性的产品。在此定义下,通过公共性三角解释了消费的公共性和效用的公共性的区别。     

Association between glycemic control and short-term healthcare costs among commercially insured diabetes patients in the United States

Abstract

Objectives:

Glycemic control, measured by HbA_1c, is well known to be a risk marker for long-term costly diabetes-related complications. The relationship between HbA_1c and short-term costs is unclear. This study investigates how HbA_1c is correlated to short-term diabetes-related medical expenses.

Methods:

Patients with diabetes with an HbA_1c reading ≥6% between April and September 2007 were identified from a large US managed-care organization. Healthcare utilization data was obtained during the subsequent 12-month period. Multivariate analyses were performed to estimate the correlation between HbA_1c and diabetes-related healthcare costs.

Results:

In all, 34,469 and 1,837 patients with type 2 and type 1 diabetes, respectively, were identified with an HbA_1c reading ≥6% (mean HbA_1c: 7.4% and 7.9%). The majority of patients with type 1 diabetes were treated with insulin, while most patients with type 2 diabetes were treated with metformin. The multivariate analysis showed that several characteristics, including HbA_1c, significantly correlate with diabetes-related medical costs for both patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. A 1-percentage-point increase in HbA_1c will, on average, lead to a 6.0% and 4.4% increase in diabetes-related medical costs for type 1 and type 2 diabetes, respectively. This corresponds to an annual cost increase of $445 and $250 for patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, respectively.

Limitations:

Retrospective data analyses inherently associated with selection bias which can only partly be adjusted by statistical techniques. Furthermore, the study population is not necessarily representative of the general population and there can be isolated coding or data errors in the dataset.

Conclusions:

These results suggest that tighter glycemic control is associated with short-term cost benefits for patients with diabetes. This supplements conventional wisdom that HbA_1c affects risk of long-term complications and long-term costs.