Passing the “Torches of Freedom”: Smoking Behaviors of Women in Nepal

Globally, men constitute a larger percentage of smokers than women, but the rate of women smokers is growing. Smoking is a feminist issue: there are unique consequences for women's health, well-being, and agency. Recently passed anti-smoking legislation in Nepal, which has the highest rate of women smokers in South Asia, omits gender-conscious recommendations, potentially diminishing the impact of the legislation on women's lives. Relying on the 2001, 2006, and 2011 waves of the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, this paper expands the dialogue around women's smoking and places it at the forefront of research on women's health issues. The results indicate that for women in Nepal, formal education and visiting a health facility mitigate smoking behaviors, whereas being employed and living in certain regions promotes smoking behaviors. The aim is for this and the ensuing inquiries to change government anti-smoking legislation in order to improve women's health.     

Goodness-of-fit techniques for count data models: an application to the demand for dental care in Spain

This paper compares the practical performance of alternative goodness-of-fit techniques for count data models in the context of a study of the determinants of demand for dental care in Spain. We apply alternative goodness-of-fit techniques to different specifications. In particular, we implement recently proposed specification tests which are consistent in the direction of general nonparametric alternatives. The analysis suggests that a negative binomial model is an appropriate specification for dental care demand. Dental health and income are identified as important predictors of individuals' behavior. First version received: April 2000/Final version received: March 2001     

京津冀产学协同创新绩效影响因素分析——基于多维邻近性视角

产学协同创新是区域协同发展的内在动力,多维邻近性作为创新主体获取外部知识的关键因素,对协同创新绩效有重要影响.文章基于多维邻近性视角,采用京津冀28个高校和492家企业2009—2018年在中国国家知识产权局共同联合申请并授权的发明专利数据,运用负二项回归模型进行了实证分析.研究结果表明:①地理邻近性对产学创新主体间的协同创新绩效具有显著促进作用;②制度邻近性对产学主体协同创新具有积极正向作用;③技术邻近性对产学协同创新绩效具有显著倒U型作用;④技术邻近性与地理邻近性的交互作用会对京津冀产学协同创新绩效产生显著负向影响;⑤技术邻近性与制度邻近性的交互作用对京津冀产学协同创新绩效产生显著负向影响;⑥地理邻近性与制度邻近性的交互作用对京津冀产学协同创新绩效产生正向作用但不显著.因此,京津冀应加大交通运输基础设施和通信网络投资,加强企业自主技术创新能力建设,加快完善制度和市场一体化政策的实施和管理,发挥多维邻近性对协同创新绩效的交互作用,实现科技创新资源优化聚集,形成京津冀协同创新共同体.     

知识产权保护与文化创意产品进口

文化创意产业被誉为21世纪的“朝阳行业”,在过去的十年间,经历了极为快速的发展,而知识产权保护与文化创意产品又有着天然而不可分割的关系。文章从知识产权保护的角度研究中国文化创意产品贸易,对于我国文化创意产业发展具有一定的现实意义。文章首先梳理了知识产权保护与国际贸易关系的相关文献,并报告了中国文化创意产品贸易与知识产权保护水平的现状,在引力模型的基础上,运用了18个发展中国家从20个发达国家进口文化创意产品的贸易数据,研究了知识产权保护力度对文化创意产品进口额的影响。研究表明,随着发展中国家提高知识产权保护力度,文化创意产品进口额也出现了增加的趋势。此外,文章使用了GDP和IPR的滞后一期作为工具变量以控制内生性问题,同样也得到了较为稳健的结果。     

On ridge estimators for the negative binomial regression model

The negative binomial (NB) regression model is very popular in applied research when analyzing count data. The commonly used maximum likelihood (ML) estimator is very sensitive to highly intercorrelated explanatory variables. Therefore, a NB ridge regression estimator (NBRR) is proposed as a robust option of estimating the parameters of the NB model in the presence of multicollinearity. To investigate the performance of the NBRR and the traditional ML approach the mean squared error (MSE) is calculated using Monte Carlo simulations. The simulated result indicated that some of the proposed NBRR methods should always be preferred to the ML method.     

Diaspora growth and aggregate remittances: an inverted-U relationship?

This paper presents a model in which remittances stem from a decision made jointly by a family coalition of multiple migrants and non-migrants, allowing two alternative interpretations: migrants’ altruism or bargaining power. The model predicts that aggregate remittances first increase, reach a maximum, and then decrease as the emigration ratio (migrants/non-migrants) increases. An alternative model of loan repayment arrangement between each migrant and her parents, predicts that aggregate remittances grow monotonously with the emigration ratio. Testing both predictions on a macroeconomic bilateral dataset we find evidence in favour of the first model and an inverted-U relationship between aggregate remittances and the emigration ratio, with a maximum reached at a value of 0.5. Since many small ‘MIRAB’ island nations are close to or even above this threshold value, this finding is highly relevant for them since they may experience declining aggregate remittances as the diaspora grows further.     

中国OFDI的区位决定因素——基于地理距离与文化距离的检验

中国对外直接投资(OFDI)呈明显的洲际分布不均衡特征。首先运用2003—2010年中国对40个国家(地区)OFDI的面板数据,并且引入交叉项变量进行总体检验,结果表明:地理距离和文化距离均与OFDI呈负向关系,并通过双边贸易额等因素产生传导作用。然后依据地理距离均值对样本数据进行分组检验,发现当地理距离较小时,地理距离与OFDI负向关系不变,但是随着地理距离的增大,其对OFDI的影响转而呈现正向关系。同理,文化距离分组检验也验证了门槛效应的存在,即当文化距离增大时,文化距离对OFDI的影响愈不明显,但能通过贸易间接阻碍OFDI。基于此,中国OFDI在集中于地理距离与文化距离较小的周边国家和地区的同时,应通过各种正式与非正式的贸易与文化交流,削弱文化距离对中国OFDI的间接阻碍作用,完善中国OFDI的空间格局。     

为爱需要走多远?——依据北京近年数据对通婚距离变动情况的估算和分析

基于北京2004-2012年的婚姻登记数据并参照最新的铁路里程信息,对近年初婚夫妇的通婚距离(以两地之间的最短铁路里程计)及其变动情况进行测算和分析。2004年以来在北京登记的跨地域通婚夫妇的比重大致在50%上下波动,但平均通婚距离,不论是京外人口(包括迁移人口和流动人口)的个体迁移里程,还是跨地域通婚夫妇的原籍之间的距离,以及京外且原籍不同夫妇的三地间的\"探亲\"距离,都在时序上表现出了逐渐缩短的趋势,2010和2011年左右的变化尤为显著。     

中国省际居民迁移与地方公共支出——基于引力模型的经验研究

文章运用居民迁移的引力模型对我国省级居民迁移与地方公共支出的相关性进行了实证研究.通过对1990年以来的人口普查和抽样调查面板数据的回归分析发现:地方公共支出差异在2000年之前的居民迁移中作用不显著,而在2000年、2005年的迁移中有显著影响.对于迁入地、迁出地地方公共支出,2000年之前的迁移主要受迁入地的拉力作用,而在2000年之后则主要受迁出地的推力作用.     

邻近性、区位指向与信息服务业集聚——以上海为例

本文以上海为例,从邻近大学与研究机构、邻近相关企业两个角度阐述邻近性促进都市内部信息服务企业集聚的机理。在分析上海市信息服务业空间分布的基础上,以上海265个邮编区为空间单元,应用负二项分布模型研究邻近性对信息服务业和三个子行业企业集聚的影响。研究发现,信息服务企业有偏离一般大学、选择邻近名牌大学的区位倾向。同时,它们选择邻近自然科学和自然科学技术研究机构、邻近企业集中度较高的开发区、邻近同行业代表性企业、邻近地价较高的城市中心区和近郊区。     

Does China’s trade defy cultural barriers?

Using annual data for China and 88 trading partners that span the period 1995–2011, we estimate whether cross-societal cultural differences influence China’s external trade flows. Our results, obtained from the estimation of a series of multi-level mixed effect random intercepts and coefficients models, indicate that China’s aggregate exports and imports are largely unaffected by the cultural distance between China and its trading partners. Examination of disaggregate trade measures and consideration of the underlying dimensions of our composite cultural distance variable produces a largely similar result. Taken collectively, our results suggest that China’s trade is less affected by cultural distance than has been reported for other countries in similar studies.     

The determinants of internal migration in a developing country: quantitative evidence for Indonesia, 1930–2000

This study specifies and estimates a gravity model for interprovincial migration in Indonesia. Analysing five cross-sections for Indonesia's 26 provinces for five survey years between 1930 and 2000 we show that throughout the twentieth century economic factors were more important in the explanation of interprovincial migration patterns in Indonesia than planned migration policy aimed at the redistribution of the population. In addition, our regression analysis demonstrates that the urban primacy of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, had a strong effect on the direction and size of migration flows. Our findings thus suggest that the costly government-supported migration is not very successful and that a strongly centralized government induces migration flows to the capital. These findings have policy implications for other developing countries.     

Determinants of interregional mobility in Russia

The paper studies the determinants of internal migration in Russia. Using panel data on gross region‐to‐region migration flows in 1992–99, we estimate the effect of economic, political and social factors. Although overall migration is rather low, it turns out that its intensity does depend on economic factors even controlling for fixed effects for each origin–destination pair. People move from poorer and job scarce regions with worse public good provision to those which are richer and prospering better both in terms of employment prospects and public goods. Migration is, however, constrained by the lack of liquidity; for the poorest regions, an increase in income raises rather than decreases outmigration. Our estimates imply that up to a third of Russian regions are locked in poverty traps.     

避孕知情选择对中国人工流产的影响分析

随着避孕知情选择的逐步展开,我国已婚育龄人群的避孕模式发生了较大变化。其中,短效自控型避孕措施构成的升高,减弱了原来以长效医控型避孕措施为主的避孕模式所固有的高避孕效果,也增加了意外妊娠的可能性。人工流产作为意外妊娠的主要补救措施,其发生的可能性是否随知情选择的开展而有所变化?目前,鲜有学者对此进行过全国层面的系统量化分析。利用1988～2001年全国计划生育/生殖健康抽样调查数据,比较知情选择开展前后人工流产行为的变化。伴随知情选择的全面展开,已婚育龄妇女人工流产发生可能性降低的趋势在各个孩次上都有明显的体现,表明我国知情选择的逐步推广已产生了一定的良性效果。