Future for food education of children

Food plays an important role in the daily life and wellbeing of children. Childhood food experiences are important guides to eating behaviour in adults. Food is full of properties that we perceive with our senses of smell, touch, hearing, sight and taste. We live in individual sensory worlds, and our food perception processes are also individual. Children actively investigate food during eating and cooking. By encouraging their excursion into the world of food culture and food activities, we support them in expanding their food preferences. This paper is based on the “Future for food education” workshop in the Future for Food Conference and focuses on the knowledge applied to the sensory-based food education for children. Examples of food education practices from Finland and Denmark are presented. The learning café method was used for the workshop attendees to outline the food education possibilities. The key issues were discussed in groups and included such topics as: “Who should perform the food education activities?” and “Who will benefit in the future from food education?” The workshop presentations and discussions indicate that there is a need for the advancement and research of food education for children.     

Loan Commitment Contracts,Terms of Lending,and Credit Allocation

This paper analyzes the structure of loan commitment contracts and the interrelationships among their component parameters. Lenders offer borrowers a set of loan “packages,” from which the latter may choose that “package” found to be most appealing. Borrowers may “trade off” changes in any loan parameter in exchange for other adjustments. The borrower, at this time, may “purchase” a larger credit ration for a price. Supporting empirical evidence is presented.     

Accounting education: Turning wrongs into rights in the 1980's

This article speculates upon the evolution of accounting education in the 1980's. Ideas are presented which impact upon many facets of higher education including undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs, as well as research and service. Further, institutional issues concerning the role of academics are addressed.The paper begins with “wrongs” of accounting research, education, libraries, and continuing education. Particular stress is placed upon weaknesses in educating and motivating accounting faculty to teach and have primary concern for students. Promotion, tenure, expense support, and reward structures are biased toward research and publication rather than teaching. Funding and faculty attention are not directed toward innovation in accounting education and development of university libraries as learning centers. In short, accounting educators continue to “educate for absolescence.”The paper ends with some suggestions of how to turn “wrongs” into “rights.” More than increased funding is needed. Of primary importance is a shift in attitudes and reward structures.     

More than imagination: Making social and critical accounting real

We offer a critical consideration of the roles of cognitive dissonance, imagination, and critical thinking in accounting education, suggesting that all three are important elements of critical and emancipatory accounting education, but that they must be set within a context that is rooted in the “real lives” of students and teachers alike, seeking to both understand the world and to challenge it.     

Management control as a system or a package? Conceptual and empirical issues

Despite the trend in investigating combinations of MC practices that form packages or systems, there is ambiguity about what is meant by a “control package” or “control system”. In this paper, we address questions related to MC as a package and as a system, both from a conceptual and empirical perspective. The purpose of our study is to clarify a number of issues, so as to guide future research in this area. We do not claim to have all the answers. Rather we make a number of assumptions explicit to show when it is important to address multiple MC practices simultaneously, why this is the case, and what the empirical implications are. Our research directly relates to the systems approach to contingency theory and the literature’s struggle to clearly define its most fundamental concept, i.e., “internal consistency”. Our analysis provides a formal definition of “internal consistency” and shows how it can be used to conceptualize MC systems, thereby giving contingency theorists the necessary ingredient to move forward.     

Understanding Pensions: Cognitive Function,Numerical Ability and Retirement Saving*

In a world of declining state pension provision, it is becoming increasingly important that individuals are able to understand the financial choices they face and can choose savings products, portfolios and contribution rates accordingly. In this paper, we look at numerical ability and other dimensions of cognitive function in a sample of older adults in England and examine the extent to which these abilities are correlated with various measures of wealth and retirement saving outcomes. As well as finding that relatively large fractions of the older population can be seen to have low levels of numeracy, we show that numeracy levels are strongly correlated with measures of retirement saving and investment portfolios, even when controlling for other dimensions of cognitive ability as well as educational attainment. Numeracy is also related to knowledge and understanding of pension arrangements, and with perceived financial security. In the short run, there may be a role for targeting simple retirement planning information at low‐numeracy, low‐education groups; a longer‐run goal for retirement saving policy might be to improve numeracy levels more generally.     

金融教育是有效的吗?

2008年国际金融危机以来,金融教育备受关注。然而,学术界对于其效果并未达成共识。本文选取清华大学中国金融研究中心2012年调查数据,辅助以CHFS2015年调查数据,利用倾向得分匹配法(PSM)和工具变量法(IV)等模型实证考察了金融教育对我国居民金融行为的影响效果,研究发现：相对于未接受过金融教育的家庭,接受过金融教育家庭资产组合的分散化程度更佳、夏普比率更高;他们更有可能制定理财规划,且制定理财规划的年限更长;当权益受损时,他们更懂得寻求帮助。进一步地,随着社会互动水平的提高,金融教育的优化效果会更大。因此,在构建现代金融体系背景下,应扎实推进金融教育普及工作,全面提升居民金融素养,助力实现共同富裕。同时,针对群体互动特征实施更加多样化的金融教育方案,不断强化金融教育的总体效果。     

信用风险防范视角下的数字金融探析

随着科学技术在金融领域的飞速发展,数字金融正在逐渐取代传统金融模式而成为经济社会的主要金融服务方式,然而,数字金融是一把"双刃剑",给我们带来便利的同时也带来了信用风险.在对数字金融与传统金融进行比较分析的基础上,总结数字金融信用风险的形成原因和重要特征,梳理了数字金融信用风险评估的理论与模型,最后结合我国数字金融发展...     

Using a systems framework to develop higher level thinking skills in cost/management accounting: Experimental evidence

The teaching of learning and thinking skills has become a primary objective of accounting education. Recent cognitive research has emphasized the importance of a framework for the organization of knowledge in attaining these skills. This paper examines whether a systems framework leads to improved long-term learning and higher level thinking skills. The systems framework involves the identification of objectives, users, inputs, and outputs, in addition to the calculation process. A learning experiment was conducted in which the systems framework was used for organizing material presented to students and for practice exercises. This study suggests that the systems framework enhances long term learning and higher level thinking skills. These results support the recent emphasis on information systems in accounting education.     

Insights into method triangulation and “paradigms” in interpretive management accounting research

This paper seeks to develop our understanding of method triangulation and research paradigms in interpretive management accounting research. Relying on field illustrations, the paper provides insight into how method triangulation has actually been received within the Finnish management accounting research community. At present, talk can be distinguished from action in method triangulation. Relying further on this insight, the paper discusses the meaning of a “paradigm”. It points out that for the individual scholar the paradigm is not necessarily a coherent, well-reflected philosophical standpoint. Instead, it represents a socio-political assemblage that suggests a “methodological identity” and provides “paradigmatic economies” for the self-interested academic. We also put forward a view on the future of method triangulation and paradigmatic détente more generally.     

普惠金融与创业:“授人以鱼”还是“授人以渔”？

在“大众创业,万众创新”战略推进的关键时期,本文考察了普惠金融对创业的影响和作用。基于中国家庭金融调查数据的实证研究发现,普惠金融的发展对创业具备显著的增进效应。考虑多种模型设定、不同自变量和因变量度量方式以及内生性问题讨论的稳健性检验均不改变本文的主要结论。在此基础上,本文对普惠金融影响创业的作用机制进行了检验。结果发现,普惠金融并没有通过缓解家庭资金约束来促进创业,普惠金融对创业的增进作用主要来源于对居民金融能力的提升。随后,本文实证检验了金融教育对普惠金融影响创业的调节作用。结果发现,随着金融教育的普及,普惠金融发展对创业的促进作用将加强。区分普惠金融不同维度可以发现,金融教育对普惠金融影响创业的调节作用,是通过提高金融服务使用度对创业的增进效应实现的。本文的研究表明,相较于传统金融发展,实现金融广化更有助于居民创业精神的激发。     

Agency,Delayed Compensation,and the Structure of Executive Remuneration

In this paper we examine the factors affecting the structure of executives' compensation packages. We focus particularly on the role of various types of delayed compensation as means of “bonding” executives to their firms. The basic problem is to design a compensation package that rewards actions that are in the long-run interest of the stockholders. Firms must take into account their ability to discern unfortunate circumstances from mismanagement, the extent to which a compensation package forces the executive to face risks beyond his control, and the willingness of a given executive to bear this risk. We use our theory to interpret some executive compensation data from the early 1970s.     

Optimal linear estimators of location and scale parameters using order statistics and related empirical Bayes estimation

Summary

An estimator which is a linear function of the observations and which minimises the expected square error within the class of linear estimators is called an “optimal linear” estimator. Such an estimator may also be regarded as a “linear Bayes” estimator in the spirit of Hartigan (1969). Optimal linear estimators of the unknown mean of a given data distribution have been described by various authors; corresponding “linear empirical Bayes” estimators have also been developed.

The present paper exploits the results of Lloyd (1952) to obtain optimal linear estimators based on order statistics of location or/and scale parameter (s) of a continuous univariate data distribution. Related “linear empirical Bayes” estimators which can be applied in the absence of the exact knowledge of the optimal estimators are also developed. This approach allows one to extend the results to the case of censored samples.     

QUALIFIED AUDIT REPORTS,FIELD DEPENDENCE COGNITIVE STYLE,AND THEIR EFFECTS ON DECISION MAKING

This paper reports the findings of an experiment designed to investigate the effects of an unqualified versus an “except for” qualified audit report on subjects' share price estimates and the moderating role of cognitive style in this relationship. Using ANOVA experimental design, 34 subjects were administered identical financial information on a hypothetical company except that 17 subjects received a qualified auditors' opinion and the other 17 received an unqualified auditors' opinion. In addition, the subjects in each group were classified as either field dependent or field independent on the basis of their scores in the Embedded Figures Test. Results showed that the “except for” audit qualification affected share price estimates and field dependence cognitive style interacted with qualified/unqualified audit opinion to also affect subjects' share price estimates.     

改进农村金融服务“最后一公里”的思考（下）--以江西省部分农村乡镇信用社为例

文章通过对江西省部分乡镇农村信用社金融服务情况的调查和分析,来展示当前农村基层金融机构与农村经济、农村社会之间的关系,并分析了农村金融中资金使用情况,资金供求关系、资金供求主体和资金流动方向的发展和变化情况。特别是针对农村金融服务与农户金融需求之间还存在一些不通畅的情况,提出改进农村金融“最后一公里”服务的对策建议：一是农村金融要熟悉“地方知识”,二是广大农户要了解“国家知识”,三是固定成本就一定不能降低吗？四是农村金融要“雪中送炭”,五是金融不是唯一重要的。     

Back to the futures: Retrospecting the prospects of smart grid technology

This paper analyzes a ten-year long technology debate, which dealt with the so-called advanced electricity meters in Norway (1998–2008). The debate circled around one central question: should the implementation of this technology be forced through with regulations or should the market decide on pace and character of implementation? In 2008 it was decided that it was best to regulate the implementation. Throughout these 10 years, the debate largely concerned how the future would look with or without regulation. This paper is inspired by “the sociology of expectation”, which assumes that futures are performative. This means that when the future is evoked or imagined, it influences present action and navigation. With this in mind, the paper analyzes future visions and expectations as they were formulated in the technology debate, and traces the role of these futures in the policy debate and for the policy outcome. The paper identifies two modes of future performativity: translative and transformative futures. Translative futures are often mobilized as spokespersons for desired technology or policy trajectories. Here, they work as (a) stagestting devices: sparking debate, enrolling new actors in the debate and generating interest. Further, they work as (b) regulative tools: establishing the need for political decisions, either to realize the content of future visions, or to avoid the contents of alternative futures. Transformative futures do more subtle and gradual work, shifting the practical, symbolic and cognitive meaning of “what” the technology in question might become in the future. As an example, the significance of the advanced electricity meters discussed in this paper changed from being a device filling the knowledge gaps of electricity consumers, to being a central hub in households delivering a range of potential services and being available for a number of different users. In this paper, I describe the gradual shift in understanding of what advanced electricity meters could be as a virtual domestication trajectory.     

Globally scanning for “Megatrends of the Mind”: Potential futures of futures thinking

This paper focuses on emergent signs of evolutionary change in human thinking that run parallel with many of the exponential changes manifesting in the external world. Weak signals are identified from the early 20th century indicating the emergence of new knowledge patterns. These signals have strengthened in the last 40 years. The paper first identifies new ways of thinking within several disciplines such as science, philosophy, religion and education. New knowledge patterns are then identified in discourses that traverse disciplinary boundaries through transdisciplinary approaches such as futures studies and planetary/global studies. The paper then discusses evolution of consciousness, identifying research that theorises new ways of thinking as being related to individual psychological development and/or socio-cultural evolution. Finally, evolutionary concepts are discussed that attempt to meta-cohere the new knowledge patterns via the terms postformal, integral and planetary. Notably, academic research on “futures of thinking,” “evolution of consciousness” and/or “global mindset change” has been, until now, largely ignored by mainstream academic discourse on evolution, consciousness and futures studies.     

Texas Roundtable on: The Future of Graduate Business School Education

A small group of academics and practitioners discuss the challenges now facing today's business schools. First and foremost is the challenge now being mounted by “online” courses to the traditional methods of classroom lecture and discussion, supplemented in some cases by apprenticeships and other kinds of “experiential” learning. How will traditional universities burdened with high and rising fixed costs for buildings and faculty compete with very low‐cost competitors—programs that reportedly have enabled star lecturers to reach audiences that, in some cases, have exceeded 100,000 students? In assessing the seriousness of the challenge, the panelists start by attempting to articulate what is valuable in current business school education—valuable enough to enable the best business schools to command as much as $175,000 for two‐year (or shorter) programs that confer MBAs. Much of the discussion focuses on establishing the relative importance of the disciplines, or body of knowledge, that are taught in business schools, as compared to the development of “collaborative” habits and interpersonal skills aimed at enabling students to make more effective use of their knowledge within large organizations. Some of the panelists, notably Jeff Sandefer, founder of the (now ten‐year old) Acton School of Business, argue that far too much of today's business school curriculum is devoted to the classroom and conventional learning. And many of the changes in the top business schools during the past decade appear to reflect Sandefer's charges. But, to the extent there is a consensus among the other panelists, it is that the best business schools will continue to try to accomplish both of these goals, though with varying degrees of effectiveness, while most schools attempt to maintain their specialized capabilities, and carve out distinctive niches based on them. For some schools, such specialization is likely to mean continued emphasis on theory and classroom learning—though almost certainly with more attention to practical application and collaborative decision‐making. For other schools, the main focus will continue to be the development of general management and leadership skills.