THE WELFARE PERFORMANCE OF SEQUENTIAL PRICING MECHANISMS*

Consumers are commonly required to subscribe to particular tariff options before uncertainty regarding their future purchases gets resolved. Since the general comparison of welfare performance of different pricing mechanisms is ambiguous, this article empirically evaluates the expected welfare associated with standard nonlinear pricing and optional tariffs by using information directly linked to the type of individual consumers. Results show that tariffs composed of nonlinear options do not necessarily outperform simpler pricing strategies in terms of expected profits. Furthermore, evidence suggests that a menu of optional two‐part tariffs dominates any other pricing strategy from an expected welfare perspective.     

THE INFLUENCE OF TYPE OF HIGH SCHOOL ATTENDED ON UNIVERSITY PERFORMANCE*

It is widely reported that the main determinant of success at university is the score on university entrance exams. Recent studies have argued that the outcomes at university also differ according to the type of high school attended. This paper examines the impact of attending a non‐Government school on the marks of first‐year university students. Non‐Government school students are found to have lower marks at university than Government school students, with the mark differential being slightly larger for those who do not perform well at tertiary study. The main factors influencing the size of the gap between the university marks of students from Government and non‐Government schools are university entrance exam results and attendance at same‐sex high schools.     

A CONTINGENT VALUATION STUDY OF UNCERTAIN ENVIRONMENTAL GAINS

Acid deposition in a present and future cause of biodiversity losses in vulnerable upland areas of Scotland important for nature conservation. However, the exact nature of damages under the status quo, and both the timing and extent of recovery of upland ecosystems if deposition is reduced, are subject to uncertainty. this uncertainty complicates damages cost estimation. In this paper, we have explored the use of CVM to measure the willingness to pay (WTP) of the Scottish population for uncertain recovery/damage scenarios from reduced acid rain deposition. An optimally-designed referendum format was used utilising the distribution of open-ended bids from a pilot study to determine bid amounts and sampling size for each bid amount. Eight explanatory variables, including future damage level were selected in a non-linear step-wise regression analysis. Average household WTP for abatement of acid rain was £247 and £351 per year when faced with low and high future damage levels respectively. Recovery level and recovery time did not significantly influence WTP. When faced with risky outcomes regarding future damage and recovery level, respondent were found to be risk averse to both environmental gains and losses.     

SPURIOUS INJURY AS INDIRECT RENT SEEKING: FREE TRADE UNDER THE PROSPECT OF PROTECTION*

In the literature on directly unproductive profit seeking or rent seeking, intervention-seeking by labor and industry groups is generally restricted to direct lobbying activity. However, import-competing producers may have an additional instrument to influence the decision to grant protection. Under well-established injury criteria for protection import-competing producers have an incentive, either collectively or individually, to feign injury. To the extent that the free-rider problem can be overcome, orchestrating the appearance of injury is an intervention-seeking activity that may be complementary to DUP lobbying. When the established indicators of industry well-being include variables controlled by the prospective beneficiaries, therefore, free trade under the prospect of protection is potentially accompanied by a concomitant spurious-injury distortion. Some of the positive and welfare implications of the theory of spurious injury are investigated in both a partial equilibrium framework and in the Heckscher-Ohlin model.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FINANCIAL INCENTIVES FOR COMPANY PRESIDENTS AND FIRM PERFORMANCE IN JAPAN*

Kaplan (1994 ) concludes that the relationship between top pay and stock performance in Japan is similar to that in the USA. Using a new and comprehensive data set that includes presidents’ stock and their stock option holdings, this study estimates the sensitivity of Japanese presidents’ wealth to shareholder wealth in the period 1977–2000. Contrary to the commonly held belief that Japanese corporate governance is becoming more like that in the USA, the results show that pay–performance sensitivity actually decreased substantially after 1990. In 2000, Japanese presidents received $US22,100 when stock returns increased from ?2.1% to 14.8%.     

用条件估值法评估九寨沟的游憩价值——CVM方法的校正与比较

自然游憩资源作为环境资源的一种,是最活跃的环境价值研究领域之一。条件估值法(CVM)是国际上用于游憩价值评估的两种经典方法之一,其评估结果受不同引导评估技术的影响。以九寨沟自然保护区为例,选择了在统计有效性方面具有相对优势的支付卡梯级法和1.5边界二分法,来评估其游憩价值。结果表明,主要由于"胖尾"偏差的影响,1.5边界二分法获得的支付意愿(WTP)要高于支付卡梯级法;在进行了偏差校正后,二者所获得的估值结果相当接近,说明本研究的内部有效性检验较为理想。研究认为即使对我国这样的发展中国家,CVM仍为一种富有前景的环境资源价值评估方法,不过必须建立在对CVM调查各个环节的精心设计、严谨实施和审慎分析的基础上。     

INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE IN THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PROTECTION: LEGISLATED V. ADMINISTERED PROTECTION

In endogenous tariff theory the outcome of the political process (the tariff) is a strictly private good from the perspective of the specific-factors in an industry. That is, the benefits from participation in the political process are fully captured by the participant group. We argue that this is an institutional assumption by showing that an alternative, administered protection, involves the enforcement of a rule that, once written, is applied to all industry groups, where applicable. Attempts to increase protection therefore result in benefits to all import competing industry groups. In a short-run neo-classical model of trade with no intermediate goods, you therefore get a political free rider problem that you do not get with legislated tariffs. Further, it is argued that the distinction between these forms of protection is of both empirical and philosophical relevance.     

城市土地保护的核心问题

我国城市土地保护中存在着突破用地规划指标、片面和孤立保护土地、以异地植物代替本土植物、生态用地和建设用地地位不对等等问题,其根源是没有科学地认识和对待城市发展无限性与土地利用有限性的关系。为了保持土地与城市的可持续发展,在变化的土地利用过程中有必要寻找和保护土地资源的核心功能。应该以土地的系统性和生境性作为土地的核心功能,建立基于这种核心功能的土地保护核心体系并加以严格保护。     

WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR DESERT PROTECTION

This paper uses a referendum-style survey approach known as dichotomous-choice contingent valuation to estimate the benefits of restricting the uses of 6.9 million acres of desert land. Statistical techniques estimate the value to California residents of creating three new national parks and 76 new wilderness areas in the high and low deserts of eastern California. The total amount that California residents would be willing to pay to enact desert protection legislation ranges from $177 million to $448 million per year. This estimate hinges on the assumptions that (i) the residents who did not complete and return the survey questionnaire ("nonrespondents") would receive no benefits from desert protection and (ii) the estimate of willingness to pay for the "respondents" is unbiased.     

EXAM SCHEDULING AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE

This paper uses data from a single School of a UK university to estimate the impact of a switch from end‐of‐semester to end‐of‐year final exams on student performance. The identification strategy exploits the fact that while the timing of final exams changed, the timing of mid‐term exams remained the same. Estimates are based on a difference‐in‐differences methodology that compares final and mid‐term exam scores after the switch, with final and mid‐term exam scores before the switch. The empirical findings suggest that the shift of final exams to the end of the academic year had a negative effect on student achievement. Many changes in higher education are often done on the basis of financial, administrative or ideological considerations, underestimating the magnitude of their effect on student learning and student performance.     

生物多样性保护的生态补偿机制

生物多样性公共性特征的存在,决定了市场交换不能实现其经济价值,要充分发挥它的经济效益,就必须通过生态补偿机制来实现生物多样性保护外部性的内部化.本文从生态系统和物种等不同层次上对生物多样性的生态补偿机制进行探讨,分析了我国生态补偿的现状以及森林生态效益的计量评价体系,并在资源、生态、市场等方面提出了建立生态补偿机制的对策和建议.