Local and global consistency properties for student placement

In the context of resource allocation on the basis of priorities, Ergin (2002) identifies a necessary and sufficient condition on the priority structure such that the student-optimal stable mechanism satisfies a consistency principle. Ergin (2002) formulates consistency as a local property based on a fixed population of agents and fixed resources—we refer to this condition as local consistency and to his condition on the priority structure as local acyclicity. A related but stronger necessary and sufficient condition on the priority structure such that the student-optimal stable mechanism satisfies a more standard global consistency property is unit acyclicity.     

The Deterrence Effect of Law Enforcement: An Evaluation of Recent Findings and Some New Evidence

Abstract . Six attempts to measure the deterrence effect of law enforcement on certain criminal activities, as well as one by the author, have produced no clear, unequivocal evidence to support the belief that increased public expenditures on law enforcement have a deterrent effect on such activity. Yet the effect may exist. Further research into the measurement of the variables crime and enforcement and upon the nature of the relationship between them must be carried on before definite conclusions can be reached about the existence of the deterrence effect.     

Recent evidence on the impact of government budget deficits on the ex ante real interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa-rated corporate bonds

This study provides recent empirical evidence on the impact of the federal budget deficit on the ex ante real interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa-rated corporate bonds. The study is couched within an open loanable funds model that includes the ex ante real short term real interest rate, the M1 money supply, net international capital inflows, and the unemployment rate. Using quarterly data for the period 1973.1–2007.4, two-stage least squares estimation reveals that the federal budget deficit, expressed as a percent of GDP, exercised a positive and statistically significant impact on the ex ante real interest rate yield on these corporate issues.     

Public inputs and dynamic producer behavior: endogenous growth in U.S. agriculture

This paper is an attempt to understand the impact of public R&D and public infrastructure on the performance of the U.S. agricultural sector during the last part of the twentieth century. A neoclassical Solow growth model is not sufficient for this understanding given the sustained growth performance of the sector. We base our analysis on a well-known endogenous growth model, the ‘AK model’ where non-convexities are introduced through non-rival inputs. Based on these models and within the dynamic models that rationalize private and public decision making, we have identified three testable hypotheses regarding the aggregate agricultural production technology. They are: (1) increasing returns to scale over all inputs; (2) positive effect of additional units of public inputs on the long-run demand for private capital; and (3) negative impact of public inputs on cost. They are tested using two estimation procedures on two data sets for U.S. agriculture. One, covering the period 1948–1994, developed by USDA, the other, covering the period 1926–1990, from Thirtle et al. Maximum likelihood estimates do not conform to the regularity and behavioral properties of the economic model rendering them unusable for testing these hypotheses. Bayesian estimates, although not totally satisfactory, do not reject the hypotheses after prior imposition of some of the regularity conditions. This supports the notion of an important role for public inputs on the rapid and sustained growth of the sector. We calculate that, on average, one additional dollar spent on public R&D stock reduces private cost by $6.5, implying a return on these public expenses of 190%.

Existence of equilibria with infinitely many commodities: Banach lattices reconsidered

The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first aim is to present an extension of the results on the existence of Walrasian equilibrium to the infinite dimensional setting. The result depends on two crucial assumptions. These are the compactness of the collection of feasible allocations and the non-emptiness of the interior of the production set. The proof is a direct generalization of Bewley's (1972) proof for the L_∞ case. The second purpose of this paper is to show that the recent result of Mas-Colell (1986) on the existence of equilibrium for exchange economies on Banach lattices can be obtained through an argument based on the result outlined above. That is, exchange economies on Banach lattices with ‘uniformly proper’ preferences behave as though they were production economies in which the production sets have non-empty interior.     

Managerial incentives and R&D investments: The moderating effect of the directors’ and officers’ liability insurance

Literature regarding the impact of managerial incentives on firm’s research and development (R&D) investments suggests that due to the riskiness of R&D activities, firms need to provide managerial incentives to encourage managerial discretion on corporate long-term investments of R&D. In spite that managerial incentives influence corporate R&D spending, some also argue corporate R&D spending a function of managerial incentive schemes. This paper applies the simultaneous equation to investigate the association between managerial discretion on R&D investments and the incentive scheme of CEO compensations by using the sample firms listed in Taiwan Security Exchange and Taipei Exchange. The results indicate that the listed firms in Taiwan simultaneously determine corporate R&D investments and CEO compensations. They reward their CEOs in compliance with their efforts on R&D investments and CEO compensation motivates CEOs to align their interests with firms’ long-term investments on R&D. A further analysis of the protection effect from the directors’ and officers’ (D&O) liability insurance suggests that D&O protection intensifies the relationship between R&D investments and CEO compensation. It encourages CEOs to allocate resources on R&D activities and make CEO incentive contracts efficacious on corporate long-term investments. The result is robust in the electronic industry of Taiwan.     

Inside the queue:: hypercongestion and road pricing in a continuous time–continuous place model of traffic congestion

This paper develops a continuous-time–continuous-place dynamic economic model of traffic congestion, based on car-following theory. The model integrates two archetype congestion technologies used in the economics literature: ‘static flow congestion’ and ‘dynamic bottleneck congestion.’ With endogenous departure times and a bottleneck along the route, ‘hypercongestion’ arises as a dynamic equilibrium phenomenon on the upstream road segment. Congestion tolls based on an intuitive dynamic and space-varying generalization of the standard Pigouvian tax rule can hardly be improved upon. A naïve application of a toll schedule based on Vickrey's bottleneck model performs much worse and reduces welfare in the numerical model.     

Embeddedness across contexts: A two‐country study on the additive and buffering effects of job embeddedness on employee turnover

Despite the growing body of literature on the effects of job embeddedness on turnover, there are few studies on how job embeddedness operates in different countries. This study, based on the Conservation of Resources theory, addresses this research gap by investigating both the additive and the buffering effects of on‐the‐job and off‐the‐job embeddedness using employee data from China (n = 373) and Switzerland (n = 268). Results showed that on‐the‐job embeddedness reduced the likelihood of turnover more strongly in Switzerland than in China (additive effect). Additionally, in China, the unsolicited job offer–turnover relationship was stronger when employees had lower levels of off‐the‐job embeddedness (buffering effect). This research contributes to the understanding of the relative role of on‐the‐job and off‐the‐job embeddedness for turnover in different countries.     

当前大学生宗教信仰问题原因探析——基于沈阳工业大学的调查分析

本文根据对大学生信教的现状及特征进行分析,在此基础上,提出大学生宗教信仰归根于社会环境的急剧变化;家庭因素的不利影响;自我心理因素的制约;个人科学信仰的缺失;教育手段方式的落后;宗教文化的魅力吸引六方面原因。     

Weighted majoritarian rules for the location of multiple public facilities

We consider collective decision problems given by a profile of single-peaked preferences defined over the real line and a set of pure public facilities to be located on the line. In this context, Bochet and Gordon (2012) provide a large class of priority rules based on efficiency, object-population monotonicity and sovereignty. Each such rule is described by a fixed priority ordering among interest groups. We show that any priority rule which treats agents symmetrically — anonymity — respects some form of coherence across collective decision problems — reinforcement — and only depends on peak information — peak-only — is a weighted majoritarian rule. Each such rule defines priorities based on the relative size of the interest groups and specific weights attached to locations. We give an explicit account of the richness of this class of rules.     

Inducing relations on incomplete ordinal data

Let X denote a set of n elements or stimuli which have an underlying linear ranking L based on some attribute of comparison. Incomplete ordinal data is known about L, in the form of a partial order P on X. This study considers methods which attempt to induce, or reconstruct, L based only on the ordinal information in P. Two basic methods for approaching this problem are the cardinal and sequel construction methods. Exact values are computed for the expected error of weak order approximations of L from the cardinal and sequel construction methods. Results involving interval orders and semiorders for P are also considered. Previous simulation comparisons for cardinal and sequel construction methods on interval orders were found to depend on the specific model that was used to generate random interval orders, and were not found to hold for interval orders in general. Finally, we consider the likelihood that any particular linear extension of P is the underlying L.     

ASSESSING THE OLYMPIC GAMES: THE ECONOMIC IMPACT AND BEYOND

This study reviews the literature on the evaluation of the Olympic Games, within the broader framework of their significance as cultural assets and opportunities for endogenous growth and sustainable development of the host city. The study reviews the main approaches to the economic assessment of the Games, from the point of view of the underlying economic concepts and methodologies, as well as of the empirical results obtained. It focuses on the effects that are measured and on those, which even though important, are generally neglected. The methodologies utilized for the quantitative assessments of the Games are reviewed with special emphasis on impact and cost–benefit analysis, both on ex ante and ex post basis. The studies surveyed are analysed from the point of view of different sets of effects on the host city, and for a limited number of cases, on the host country. While the major focus is on hosting the Summer Olympics, some attention is also paid to the bidding cities, the Winter Olympics and the Paralympics. The general findings appear to be controversial with some hints of positive overall effects, but also with a well‐documented tendency to exaggerate the benefits and underestimate the costs of holding the Games in the ex ante versus the ex post studies. The survey finally suggests that ex post cross‐country econometric studies tend to catch sizable differential and persistent benefits ignored by individual studies, especially on macroeconomic and trade variables.     

Bayesian approach to prediction in the presence of outliers for Weibull distribution

The predictive distribution of ther-th order statistics is obtained for the future sample based on the original sample from Weibull distribution in the presence ofk outliers. Next, in the presence ofk outliers two sample case is considered where prediction can be on ther ₂-th order statistics in the second sample based on ther ₁-th order statistics in the first sample. Finally, extension top-sample case is made for a particular case of predicting minimum in thep-th sample based on minimum in earlier samples. An illustration is provided with simulated samples where minimum is actually predicted in one and two sample cases.     

产业结构变迁与中国OFDI：2003~2014年

本文采用2003~2014年187个中国对外直接投资国（地区）的跨境数据,实证分析了产业结构变迁及其引起的OFDI行业构成的变化对我国OFDI的影响效应。结果表明,产业结构合理化和高级化对OFDI均具有显著的正向影响,且两者之间对OFDI具有交互效应。在OFDI行业构成方面,信息传输、计算机服务和软件业与房地产业以及科学研究、技术服务和地质勘查业等三个行业占比的增加对OFDI具有显著的正向影响,农、林、牧、渔业与电力、燃气及水的生产和供应业等两个行业占比的增加对OFDI具有显著的负向影响,其他行业占比的增加对OFDI具有不同程度的影响。     

Equilibrium exchange rates in oil-exporting countries

We assess the determinants of equilibrium real exchange rates in a sample of oil-dependent countries. Our data cover OPEC countries from 1975 to 2005. Utilising pooled mean group and mean group estimators, we find that the price of oil has a clear, statistically significant effect on real exchange rates in our group of oil-producing countries. Higher oil price lead to appreciation of the real exchange rate. Elasticity of the real exchange rate with respect to the oil price is typically between 0.4 and 0.5, but may be even larger depending on the specification. Real per capita GDP, on the other hand, does not appear to have a clear effect on real exchange rate. This latter result contrasts starkly with many earlier papers on real exchange rate determination, emphasising the unique position of oil-dependent countries.

The role of HRM and social capital configuration for knowledge sharing in post-M&A integration: a framework for future empirical investigation

The literature on human resource management (HRM) indicates that HRM plays an important role in merger and acquisition (M&A) integration success, but pays little attention to the mechanisms for knowledge sharing in post-M&A integration. Limited work has been carried out to provide understanding on how social capital and HRM practices influence intra-organizational knowledge sharing in M&A integration. This paper primarily focuses on the phenomenon of social capital and HRM practices – one of the primary means by which knowledge sharing can occur within firms. The main aim of this paper is to provide an alternative framework that introduces the literature on HRM and social capital to discuss how HRM practices and the various dimensions of social capital may enhance knowledge sharing in post-M&A integration. Drawing on the literature on social capital and HRM, we offer an alternative view on the issue of knowledge sharing in M&A integration by explaining how specific HRM practices that have an impact on employees’ knowledge, skills and abilities for participating in knowledge sharing activities may depend on relational, cognitive and structural social capital. We isolate a number of HRM practices and social capital variables that may enhance knowledge sharing in post-M&A integration, and develop a research model and propositions for future empirical investigation.     

Best constants in Chebyshev inequalities with various applications

In this article we describe some ways to significantly improve the Markov-Gauss-Camp-Meidell inequalities and provide specific applications. We also describe how the improved bounds are extendable to the multivariate case. Applications include explicit finite sample construction of confidence intervals for a population mean, upper bounds on a tail probability P(X>k) by using the density at k, approximation of P-values, simple bounds on the Riemann Zeta function, on the series , improvement of Minkowski moment inequalities, and construction of simple bounds on the tail probabilities of asymptotically Poisson random variables. We also describe how a game theoretic argument shows that our improved bounds always approximate tail probabilities to any specified degree of accuracy. Received: April 1999     

To invest or not to invest: strategic decision making toward investing in training and development in Korean manufacturing firms

This study draws on the literature on strategic choice theory and training and development (T&D) to explore the theoretical mechanisms that explain the strategic decisions of top management, thereby leading to the T&D investment of firms. The current theoretical framework was examined using cross-lagged data collected from 163 Korean manufacturing companies at three time points over a five-year period. Results confirmed that firm performance and environmental change exert significant effects on top management strategic orientation toward T&D, which in turn, lead to financial resource allocation to T&D. The analysis also demonstrated that the effect of top management strategic orientation toward T&D on actual financial investment in T&D is stronger when the current level of human capital is high but not when it is low. This study provides meaningful practical and theoretical insights into the firm-level strategic decisions on T&D investment in organizations.