ASSESSING THE RELATIVE IMPACTS OF ECONOMIC EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP: AN APPLICATION OF THE HARZING DATABASE

Despite the rising prominence of economic education scholarship, little work has been done to document how economic education scholarship is faring in the academic world. Unlike prior research in this genre, this study assesses the relative impacts of economic education scholarship by examining published research in (strictly) economic education journals. In order to do so, we use the Harzing database of citations to articles published in (strictly) economic education journals from 1990 to the present. Supporting some of the measures found in prior research, we find that the Journal of Economic Education (JEE) is unambiguously the dominant source of influential scholarship in the field of economic education. Interestingly, the JEE's closest competitors among active economic education journals are the International Review of Economics Education and Computers in Higher Education Economics Research, both of which are published under the auspices of the Economics Network, which is located in the UK. Following these two journals in our ranking is the Journal of Economics and Finance Education, a relatively new journal launch.     

THE PECULIAR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL IN EUROPE

Most European industries have a history of gradually opening international markets, with growing international capital mobility and increasing free trade of goods and services. However, although labour markets have been officially deregulated as well, there is much less international mobility of labour, mainly due to cultural and social barriers. An apparent exception to the rule been the industry of professional team sports in Europe, where the Bosman verdict in 1995 has freed the European player market while the product market was still nationally protected. In this paper, we try to derive the consequences of this deviant evolution in the European sports industry, concentrating on the competitive balance within and between national leagues and on the player salary levels, using a simplified ‘two country–four team’ model with quadratic revenue functions.     

发展经济学结构转型分析方法的演进与评价

结构主义发展经济学家在探讨发展中国家的结构转型问题时,所使用的结构分析方法,被认为是持这一思路的发展经济学家对发展经济学做出的最重要的贡献之一。在结构分析方法的演进过程中,传统的统计方法和投入—产出法,由于存在无法刻画产业间关联或因假设产业间关联呈刚性等缺陷,而逐渐被可计算一般均衡模型所取代。鉴于可计算一般均衡模型拥有更加适合于分析那些实行市场导向改革的发展中国家等优势,因而该模型具有更为广泛的应用前景。     

基于生态足迹模型的区域生态经济发展持续性评估

生态足迹模型通过测度当今人类为了维持自身生存和发展而利用的生物生产性土地面积的数量,来定量地评估自身活动对地球生态系统的影响程度。文章介绍了生态足迹模型的提出背景和最新研究进展;阐释了其原理框架、基本概念及计算方法;以西北内陆地区的甘肃省(2002年)为例,对生态足迹模型在区域生态经济可持续发展评估中的应用进行了实证分析。计算结果表明,2002年甘肃省人均生态赤字为0.2883hm2,人类活动对自然生态系统的影响已经超出了当地生态承载力的限度,人地关系紧张。最后对生态足迹模型及其应用前景进行了合理评价。     

BANK MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS – AN EVALUATION OF THE ‘FOUR PILLARS’ POLICY IN AUSTRALIA*

This paper examines the efficiency consequences of bank mergers and acquisitions with particular reference to the ‘four pillars’ policy preventing mergers among the four major banks. Using data envelopment analysis, the technical efficiencies of banks operating in Australia over the period from 1983 to 2001 are estimated. A second‐stage regression is used to evaluate ex‐post efficiency performance of banks involved in mergers and acquisitions. The empirical results demonstrate that for the time being mergers among the four major banks may result in much poorer efficiency performance in the merging banks and the banking sector.     

变革中的劳动关系研究：中国劳动争议的特点与趋向

改革开放以来,特别是20世纪90年代以来,随着所有制形式、产业结构、劳动组织方式和企业经营管理模式的变化,劳动关系也发生了巨大变化。经济社会制度的重大变革带来了员工类型、需求和期望的多元化。建立顺畅高效的制度机制,识别、代表、协调不同类型员工的需求和期望,是构建和谐劳动关系的关键。本文分析了中国持续增长的劳动争议的内容、范围、主要原因以及它们与所有制形式、企业规模和经济发展的关系,研究了目前中国劳动争议发展变化的新趋势、新特点。     

TWO DECADES OF DBFO ROADS IN THE UK AND SPAIN: AN EVALUATION OF THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Road schemes are of major importance in the global PPP market. We focus on Design‐Build‐Finance‐Operate (DBFO) arrangements covered by shadow toll or availability payment mechanisms, where the UK and Spain are key players. Now that a good number of DBFO schemes in the UK and Spain have been operational for well over half the contract period, there is scope for a detailed ex post evaluation of DBFO performance in both countries and an analysis of how the DBFO model has evolved. Preliminary results show that these contracts continue to be very expensive for public administrations, especially in the UK, where the financing costs and fee per kilometre are high. On the other hand, they are an easy source of revenue for the parent companies of the concessionaires, where the increased use of subordinated debt rather than equity seeks to reduce risk. However, despite circumventing the controversial hard‐tolling, some projects in both Spain and the UK present poor outcomes. Several other problems around these projects are identified, including lack of public accountability and transparency or poor governance, raising long‐term questions around affordability and opportunities for further study.     

中国在业人口非均衡分布及合理性评价

2005年中国在业人口总体、第一、三产业人口分布相对不均衡,第二产业人口分布较不均衡。1982—2005年集中指数变动表明,在业人口总体和第一、三产业人口保持相对不均衡的分布格局,第二产业人口分布由相对不均衡跃升为较不均衡。相对于1982年,在业人口总体和第一产业人口分布的非均衡性下降,第二、三产业人口分布的非均衡性提升。2000年资源因素、经济因素和综合因素的在业人口分布的相对偏差度在1%以下,东、中、西部各种因素的偏差系数在9%以下,南、北方各种因素的偏差系数在4%以下,表明中国在业人口非均衡分布具有内在合理性;资源因素和经济因素对中国在业人口非均衡分布影响的贡献度为65对35。     

THE EVOLUTION OF SPATIAL ECONOMICS: FROM THÜNEN TO THE NEW ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

This paper presents a review of the evolution of spatial economics over the past two centuries. The focus is on the evolution of what I consider to be the most fundamental theory of spatial economics, i.e., general location theory . The paper starts with a review of Thünen (1826 ), and ends with a review of the New Economic Geography initiated by Paul Krugman in the early 1990s. It is shown that the study of general location theory has been successful at shedding light on many important features of actual spatial economies.     

暂住人口对城市环境的评价分析--以浙江省义乌市为例

通过对义乌市暂住人口的问卷调查，分析暂住人口对城市整体环境和自身工作、生活环境的评价，了解两者之间相似与不同之处；再通过对暂住者定居可能性的分析，归纳他们对改善城市环境的意见和建议，指出政府如何改善暂住人口居住生活环境，提高他们安心定居的信心，必须解决的政策和措施。     

西部地区新型农村社会养老 保险制度水平的评估

本文结合西部地区新农保试点的实际情况,通过对新农保缴费水平、待遇水平、补贴水平的评估,发现受缴费档次和缴费年限限制,西部地区新农保缴费水平较低、政府补贴呈现逆向激励,加之基金保值增值风险较大,新农保待遇水平受限。鉴于此,本文立足政府与市场边界的角度,从提高缴费水平、区分养老层次、提高替代率和建立待遇调整的长效机制等方面着手,为西部地区新农保制度可持续发展提出政策建议。     

COURNOT AND BERTRAND EQUILIBRIA COMPARED: A CRITICAL REVIEW AND AN EXTENSION FROM THE OUTPUT‐STRUCTURE VIEWPOINT*

This paper compares Bertrand competition with Cournot competition. In previous studies, the welfare ranking has not been examined in any general setting. One purpose of this work is to fill this gap. In the Zanchettin model, the ranking regarding the less efficient firm's output is sensitive to the degree of asymmetry between firms, whereas the welfare ranking is not. Another goal of this study aims at dealing with this paradox. We demonstrate that the rankings regarding average price, average output and the Herfindahl index are not sensitive to the degree of asymmetry, and hence can explain the welfare ranking.     

城市创新绩效综合评价体系及其实证应用

文章提出的我国城市创新体系创新绩效综合评价体系,分别从创新业绩和创新效率两方面对城市创新体系进行全面综合评价,以我国目前五大创新型城市的创新实践和实际数据对该评价体系进行综合实证分析,结果与五大城市的创新实践基本吻合。研究表明该城市创新绩效综合评价体系具有一定的可靠性、实用性,如果实时利用该评价体系对我国城市创新体系的构建过程进行监测和对策研究,对各城市制定创新战略、调配创新资源、提高创新效率、发展创新环境等都有重要的理论及实践意义。     

GROWTH AND WELFARE EFFECTS OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL TAX‐BASED PUBLIC PENSION REFORM*

This paper presents an overlapping generations model in which: (i) firms create emissions as by‐products of production; and (ii) tax revenue from the working young is transferred to the retired elderly as pay‐as‐you‐go pension benefits. The paper focuses on a replacement ratio, which measures the proportion of after tax work earnings replaced by the public pension, and considers a replacement ratio neutral reform in which the newly introduced environmental tax is devoted to cutting the social security tax, keeping the replacement ratio unchanged. It is shown that the reform may improve growth, environmental quality and the nonenvironmental utility of every generation.     

THE TRANSMISSION OF THE MONETARY POLICY IN THE EURO AREA: THE ROLE OF THE BANKS’ BUSINESS MODEL

This paper sheds some new light on the incidence of the banks’ business model as a component of the bank lending channel in the euro area. Differently from existing literature, the analysis is led on the basis of the two main macroeconomic regions that today characterize the euro area: its north‐east (German‐centric) and south‐west halves. The observation period is 2008–2013, mainly featured by the financial and economic crisis. The empirical findings evidence that in the north‐east half of the euro area the cooperative banks leveraged the effects of the reduction in the interest rates in terms of new lending. In this respect, they differentiated from commercial and savings banks, which showed a more neutral impact on the transmission of the monetary policy decisions. These results highlight the distinctive role of the cooperative banks in terms of credit provision in Germany and in the whole north‐east half of the euro area. Nevertheless, this cooperative banking effect did not emerge for the south‐west half of the continent, particularly hit by the crisis. This may suggest that the bank's business model tend to be neutral to the transmission of the monetary policy in economies characterized by prolonged recessions.     

TESTING THE ONE‐WAY EFFECT IN THE PRESENCE OF TREND BREAKS*

This paper provides an approach to testing the measures of the one‐way effect for cointegrated vector time‐series in the presence of trend breaks. We propose Wald testing the measures and their computational algorithm, an extension of previous work by Hosoya and Yao and Hosoya, to the case where trend breaks are explicitly taken into account in the cointegration relationship. On the basis of the proposed inferential method and the derived evidence, we present a causal structure characterization of money supply and income as well as interest rates for the last 44 years of the Japanese economy, and contrast it with the results of Yao and Hosoya.     

陕西省粮食单产影响因子分析及粮食灾损评估

本文从陕西粮食生产面临的严峻形势及粮食单产存在的波动性入手,运用主成分分析方法,归纳提取出本省粮食单产的四个主要影响因子,即：农业生产要素投入与热量因子,抗灾能力与水分因子,水土保持因子,旱涝保收因子,并对分析结果进行了探讨。随后,以上述分析为基础,对陕西省50年来的粮食灾损状况进行了评估。最后,分析与总结评估结果,提出了加快陕西农业稳定发展的指导性建议。     

THE IMPACT OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS’ USE OF ACADEMIC WORKERS ON THEIR PRODUCTIVITY LEVEL

We examine how firms’ productivity level, measured by the total factor productivity (TFP), is affected by their use of academic workers. A panel dataset of Norwegian manufacturing firms is used. Firms’ production level is shown to be negatively affected by their share of academic workers, but we find no clear relationship between this share and the TFP. If we account for the fact that there is an interaction between the share of academic workers and the capital stock, we find that this share has a non‐significant effect on the production level.     

INEQUALITY AND AGGREGATE DEMAND IN THE IS‐LM AND IS‐MP MODELS

This paper presents an extension to the textbook IS‐LM and IS‐MP models that allows the short run effects of an increase in household income inequality to be studied in a simple manner. The income distribution is assumed to be log‐normal, and the coefficient of variation of income is assumed to be exogenous. The latter is used as the measure of income inequality, and enters otherwise standard IS and LM curves in a straightforward manner. While the models are highly stylised, they can easily be extended to more complicated variants.     

INCOME‐GENERATING ACTIVITY: AN AVENUE TO IMPROVE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF SHGs

Self‐help groups (SHGs) are formed to work for increased income through collective effort and use of banking facilities by initiating some income‐generating activities taking advantage of the financial strength of a group. Taking into consideration the significance of SHGs to economic growth, the present study analyzes and compares the management of the income‐generating activities of SHGs in rural and urban areas. It also explores the extent of resource mobilization through various income‐generating activities, and the constraints faced by the SHGs while undertaking these activities. It is an exploratory research in which a multi‐stage stratified cluster random sampling technique was used for the selection of SHGs. Data were collected at group level and member level through purposely developed interview schedules and focused group discussions. The study revealed that, because of various financial and marketing‐related problems occurring while initiating and conducting the activities, very few SHG members actually started new income‐generating activities. Testing of hypotheses indicated that SHGs do not fulfil all the requirements of income‐generating activities carried out by its members. An overall low to medium level of resource mobilization by a majority of the SHGs presented a poor picture of SHGs in generating resources for undertaking entrepreneurial activities.