Bargaining, Bonding, and Partial Ownership

This article provides a theory of interfirm partial ownership. We consider a setting in which an upstream firm can make two alternative types of investment: either specific investment that only a particular downstream firm can use or general investment that any downstream firm is capable of using. When the benefits from specific and general investments are both stochastic, equity participation by the downstream firm in the upstream firm can lead to more efficient outcomes than take-or-pay contracts. The optimal ownership stake of the downstream firm is less than 50 percent under a natural assumption about relative bargaining power.     

Population growth and economic and social development

This article sets forth 3 positions on population growth: 1) rapid population growth is a central development problem that implies lower living standards for the poor; 2) proposals for reducing population growth raise difficult questions about the proper domain of public policy, yet it is acceptable for governments to attempt to influence private decisions about family size; and 3) the experience in many developing countries shows that quick, effective measures can be taken to reduce fertility. Rapid population growth has slowed development because it exacerbates the difficult choice between higher consumption in the present and the investment needed to bring higher consumption in the future. As populations grow, larger investments are needed just to maintain current capital/person. It further threatens the balance between natural resources and people and creates severe economic and social problems in urban areas. Public policy must provide alternative ways for poor families to secure the benefits provided by large family size. That is, governments need to provide tangible evidence that it really is in the best interests of parents to have fewer children. Also required is greater infomation about and access to fertility control. When family planning services have been widespread and affordable, fertility has decline faster than social and economic progress alone would predict. There is a need for immediate action to improve women's status and to make education, family planning, and primary health care more available. Although economic and social progress help to slow population growth, rapid population growth hinders development. Thus, governments must act simultaneously on both fronts. Accumulating evidence on population growth in developing countries shows that is the combination of social development and family planning that reduces fertility.     

Traditional vs. modern production systems: Price and nonmarket considerations of cacao producers in Northern Ecuador

Many factors besides profit maximization, such as nonmarket ecological and social benefits, influence smallholder households to adopt a specific agricultural production system or sell in a particular market. Thus, different analytical techniques are needed that take into consideration more than monetary income to fully capture these additional benefits to better understand the production decisions of smallholder farmers. We build on previous work on the household model and shadow wage estimation to develop a shadow wage for Ecuadorian cacao producers that includes these nonmarket benefits. We found that the shadow wage correctly indicated that, on average, these households would prefer to use an agroforestry production system instead of the more profitable modern system because of the nonmarket benefits received from the former system.     

Measurement of level and gap of technological development

In the present world of exponential technological growth, technological cooperation is a major imperative. In selecting optimal partners for technological cooperation, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the levels and gaps of a technology with respect to the cooperating countries/industries/firms. This is because both large and small gaps in technology make cooperation difficult. However, technological cooperation is a viable proposition for partners with moderate gaps, since the benefits would be mutual. Gaps and levels can be measured in an absolute or relative sense, and also in qualitative or quantitative terms. This paper presents procedures for the analysis of levels and gaps with respect to specific technologies. Illustrative examples from selected fields are included. It is hoped that a disaggregated analysis of levels and gaps in terms of the four basic components of technology can give better insights for technology planning.     

"SMART" GUNS: A TECHNOLOGICAL FIX FOR REGULATING THE SECONDARY MARKET

A "personalized" or "smart" gun will not fire unless it is being used by an authorized individual. Such guns have the potential to reduce the negative externalities of gun ownership while preserving the benefits. Ongoing efforts to develop practical "smart" designs make it timely to consider regulations that would favor or mandate them in the market for new guns. The likely consequences would depend on the design details, in particular the costs of transferring the "key" to firing such guns. With an "ideal" design, transferring the key would require special equipment that could be monitored by appropriate authorities. The result would be to block thefts and other transfers of such guns in the secondary market and, in the long run, reduce access by individuals who are proscribed from possessing a gun. Personalized guns, therefore, could make existing firearms regulations more effective and reduce the social costs associated with gun misuse. Though personalized guns have advantages relative to standard guns in a wide variety of situations, some of the potential benefits of personalized guns could be captured through alternative policy measures.     

CHILDREN AND THE ENVIRONMENT: VALUING INDIRECT EFFECTS ON A CHILD'S LIFE CHANCES

Children can face disproportionately greater risk from environmental hazards because they are kids—smaller bodies, faster metabolisms, shorter attentions spans, less knowledge, and fewer resources. Environmental programs that reduce risks to children produce benefits to society that should be adequately represented so policy makers have more information to help them decide which policies are most worthwhile relative to their costs. The open question is just how exactly to value these reductions in risks to children, risks which can arise either from a direct effect on their health, or an indirect effect on their life chances because of illness in other family members or the degradation of the environment. This article focuses on valuing these indirect effects to a child's life chances. The question addressed here is whether standard benefits estimation adequately captures the indirect effects on healthy children. If policy makers presume caregivers make fully informed, rational choices when dealing with adverse family health, indirect effects are already accounted for in revealed and stated values: estimating indirect effects implies double counting of benefits. But if policy makers fear that caregivers face choice without complete information or experience, indirect effects might be understated. Then it becomes constructive to devote resources to explore the importance of these indirect effects.     

关于税收筹划的若干思考

在我国，税收筹划逐步被有关人员所重视。纳税人要把握好税收筹划与偷税、避税的界限；纳税人可以从投资决策、融资决策和应纳的主要税种等方面进行税收筹划。     

Foresight in science and technology

Emerging generic technologies seem set to make a revolutionary impact on the economy and society. However, success in developing such technologies depends upon advances in science. Confronted with increasing global economic competition, policy-makers and scientists are grappling with the problem of how to select the most promising research areas and emerging technologies on which to target resources and, hence, derive the greatest benefits. This paper analyzes the experiences of Japan, the US, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and the UK in using foresight to help in selecting and exploiting research that is likely to yield longer-term economic and social benefits. It puts forward a model of the foresight process for identifying research areas and technologies of strategic importance, and also analyzes why some foresight exercises have proved more successful than others. It concludes by drawing an analogy between models of innovation and foresight.     

Making a difference matters: Impact unlocks the emotional benefits of prosocial spending

When does giving lead to happiness? Here, we present two studies demonstrating that the emotional benefits of spending money on others (prosocial spending) are unleashed when givers are aware of their positive impact. In Study 1, an experiment using real charitable appeals, giving more money to charity led to higher levels of happiness only when participants gave to causes that explained how these funds are used to make a difference in the life of a recipient. In Study 2, participants were asked to reflect upon a time they spent money on themselves or on others in a way that either had a positive impact or had no impact. Participants who recalled a time they spent on others that had a positive impact were happiest. Together, these results suggest that highlighting the impact of prosocial spending can increase the emotional rewards of giving.     

融入策划思想的规划思路探讨——以同里景区控制性规划为例

经济全球化的大背景下，投资体制、资源和利益分配体制都快速的摆脱原来计划经济的轨道，越来越受市场规律的引导和制约，在投资渠道越来越多元的今天，建设程序也有了很大的不同，这些变革都要求我们在规划过程中打破原来以物质空间规划为重心的规划方式，全方位的革新规划的技术方法和思路．为了在规划过程中真正理解规划实施的最重要因素“市场需求”，我们尝试在同里景区控制性规划中借鉴市场营销等方面的理论，引入市场策划的思想，力求让规划成果兼顾投资方利益以及公共利益，使之在实施过程中具有更高的可行性和可操作性。     

中国人口迁移流动现状及发展趋势

根据第五次人口普查,我国人口迁移率达9.74%,人口流动率达12.33%。人口的迁移流动,以经济因素为主,以女性为多,且迁移流动者的文化程度普遍高于其他人口。由于城乡经济社会发展的差异,会有越来越多的人口向城市迁移。按城市化发展规律,城镇化发展需要的新增人口数量,低于农村人口外出迁移数,农村人口迁移对城市发展带来很大压力。为了实现人口顺利迁移流动,需要相应的配套策略。     

MRO线上销售联盟及收益分配问题研究

以制造企业、网络平台和中间商作为工业品线上销售模式的构成主体,对其不同组合形成的三类销售联盟：单方联盟、两方联盟和三方联盟进行分析描述。运用Shapley值法及考虑实际收益权重的改进方法计算MRO线上销售联盟的收益分配问题。研究结果表明,三方联盟的附加收益大于等于任意两方联盟附加收益之和的一半,即可保证三方联盟中各方收益都达到最大值;任意两方联盟的附加收益增加都会使得第三方成员的边际收益减少。且基于实际责任、风险、成本及损失权益四个综合因素的变权计算方法,可使得线上销售联盟成员之间的收益分配更加公平合理,更加有利于工业品领域线上销售发展。     

Examining the link between plan evaluation and implementation

The study investigates evaluation and implementation during planning — determining how evaluation and implementation tactics join to produce successful and less successful outcomes. The tactics managers, acting as plan sponsors, used to evaluate and implement were uncovered from an appraisal of planning practices found in nearly 400 projects. The findings indicate that implementation has more influence on success than evaluation. Considering social and political issues early in the planning process frames the process with implementation concerns and allows foresight, visualizing innovative ideas. When implementation tactics lead planning in this way either intervention or participation tactics are employed. Both tactics improve success dramatically. However, in three of four projects studied implementation was positioned at the end of a planning process. This concentrates on installation behaviors and employs evaluation to find arguments that support a preferred plan. The choice of implementation tactics was limited to persuasion or edict. Both are failure prone. The best evaluation tactics (analysis and participation) improve success somewhat for the best implementation tactics (intervention and participation), but do not overcome the difficulties created by implementing with persuasion or edict.     

AN ECONOMIC EXPLANATION FOR THE INEFFECTIVENESS OF ADDICTION TREATMENT

The addiction literature treats as a stylized fact that formal treatment programs have little long-run efficacy. Treated addicts have no better prospects for long-run abstinence than do addicts who do not enter treatment programs. A logical consequence of this is that if treatment enhances the prospects of long-run abstinence for some treated addicts, then it diminishes the prospects for others. This paper offers a simple cost-benefit argument explaining how treatment can interfere with certain natural processes conducive to permanently abandoning an addiction. The paper argues that a stable remission from addiction depends on the historic costs of the addiction relative to the historic benefits as perceived by the user. Because treatment intrinsically mitigates the cost of addiction but does not directly influence the benefits of addiction, treatment can make returning to an addiction more likely.     

Electoral systems and immigration

Unexplored stylized facts on OECD countries suggest that plurality electoral systems are associated with higher openness to immigration. We propose an explanation based on a retrospective voting model where immigration hurts voters but benefits a rent-seeking policymaker who appropriates part of the income generated by immigrants. To be reappointed, the policymaker must distribute the compensation. With respect to proportional systems, plurality systems make it possible to compensate only a few decisive districts and leave after-compensation rents higher, therefore producing higher immigration. In our model, non-decisive districts receive no compensation at all under both electoral systems, providing a rationale for widespread anti-immigration attitudes. Notably, our results also help to explain why governments often seem more pro-immigration than do voters. Finally, our model predicts that opposition to immigration is more geographically dispersed in plurality systems. Basic evidence supports this prediction.     

浅析税务筹划对企业经营活动的影响

在市场经济条件下,税收是决定企业经济利益大小的重要因素之一。如何进行税务筹划,在依法纳税的同时,谋取最大限度的经济利益,已成为企业经营活动的基本出发点。税务筹划活动对企业经营活动的影响,可以从税务筹划对企业经济效益、企业财务管理活动、企业竞争力和企业纳税意识等几个方面的影响进行探讨。     

THE MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT SECTOR IN EUROPE: SHIFTING BOUNDARIES BETWEEN PUBLIC SERVICE AND THE MARKET

ABSTRACT: This paper provides a comparative assessment of the organization of urban waste management in selected European countries and discusses the regulatory implications of the ongoing evolution. Using an institutional economic approach, focused on governance of transactions along the value chain, we argue that: i) there is evidence of an increasing shift towards operator‐based integrated systems; ii) the emphasis put on material and energy recovery opens the market far beyond the traditional legal monopolies established for managing urban services. These results pose new challenges for economic regulation and make it more complicate to trace the boundary between the public service and the market domain. Spaces for competition in the market have become much larger, but the role of public regulation and planning are nonetheless more far‐reaching than in the past.     

Immigration and welfare magnets

"This paper investigates if the location choices made by immigrants when they arrive in the United States are influenced by the interstate dispersion in welfare benefits. Income-maximizing behavior implies that foreign-born welfare recipients unlike their native-born counterparts, may be clustered in the states that offer the highest benefits. The empirical analysis indicates that immigrant welfare recipients are indeed more heavily clustered in high-benefit states than the immigrants who do not receive welfare, or than natives. As a result, the welfare participation rate of immigrants is much more sensitive to changes in welfare benefits than that of natives."     

The thrust to free trade: Conviction or fashion

Recently many developing countries flocked to free trade because the forces that led policymakers to resist trade reforms in the past have weakened. Apart from obvious external pressures from lending institutions, developing countries may simply have seen that cooperation promises more benefits than conflict in the area of international trade. The ideological debate between market forces and government planning has been decided in favor of market forces. However, another possibility not much considered is that trade reform is in vogue and this provides the motivation for following suit. Thus, trade reform can precipitate a cascade effect (Hirshleifer's term) of countries queuing up to adopt trade reform policies. A country is more likely to favor the notion of trade reform if two or more other countries have already successfully moved in that direction.