Promoting healthy eating to children: a text message (SMS) feedback approach

The paper presents the design and results of a goal‐setting and feedback intervention aimed at increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables. The intervention involved 256 Danish adolescents (aged 12), and consisted of a nutrition education programme and an SMS‐based diary and feedback procedure that involved setting and modifying consumption goals. Effects were measured by comparing consumption goals and consumption data from the SMS diaries as well as from pre‐ and post‐intervention surveys. In addition to assessing the effects of the intervention on the consumption of fruits and vegetables, an objective of the study was to evaluate the intervention process in terms of attrition and goal accommodation behaviours. Based on the pre‐intervention survey, the sample was split into two groups consisting of pupils with low vs. high intake of fruits and vegetables. The diary and feedback design resulted in low attrition for both groups of pupils. Contrary to expectations, however, pupils with a high vs. low pre‐intervention intake were not less likely to reduce their intake goals during the intervention. For the pupils with low pre‐intervention intake, the intervention resulted in small but significant increases in consumption frequencies, whereas the partial effect of the SMS routines was only marginally positive. Unexpectedly, the pupils with a high pre‐intervention intake reduced their consumption of fruits and vegetables during the intervention.     

The liquidity effects of foreign exchange intervention

This paper examines the effectiveness of foreign exchange intervention in a two-country, two-currency, general equilibrium model that allows for liquidity effects. Both sterilized and non-sterilized intervention operations have significant impacts on the allocation of liquidity in international financial markets. Whether intervention is successful in moving the exchange rate in the desirable direction depends upon the degree of sterilization of intervention and the intratemporal elasticity of substitution of the consumption goods. The model shows that there exist circumstances in which the response of exchange rate to intervention is ‘perverse’ as documented in the empirical literature.     

The temporal pattern of trading rule returns and exchange rate intervention: intervention does not generate technical trading profits

This paper characterizes the temporal pattern of trading rule returns and official intervention for Australian, German, Swiss and U.S. data to investigate whether intervention generates technical trading rule profits. The data reject the hypothesis that intervention generates inefficiencies from which technical rules profit. In particular, high frequency data show that abnormally high trading rule returns precede German, Swiss and U.S. intervention. Australian intervention precedes high trading rule returns, but trading/intervention patterns make it implausible that intervention actually generates those returns. Rather, intervention responds to exchange rate trends from which trading rules have recently profited.     

适度干预理念在行政法中的体现——“有限政府”理论

经济社会必须在适度自由与适度干预之间寻求平衡。适度干预理念的干预界限在于——不破坏市场机制的正常运行,这也正是体现了行政法中有限政府理论的干预界限的要求。适度干预理念和有限政府理论在理论发展方面,具有内在逻辑结构的一致性。可以用适度干预理念去解释有限政府理论的合理性,亦可以用有限政府理论去解释适度干预理念的正当性。     

The impact of soft intervention on the Chinese financial futures market

During the 2015 financial crisis in China, participants faced the criticism that manipulators and shorts had destabilized the market. As a result, the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission intervened sequentially in the spot market and then in the futures market. Trading volume dropped precipitously. Using the cost-of-carry model, we find that these actions significantly impacted equilibrium pricing. Following intervention in the spot market, mispricing was attenuated but remained significant after further intervention in the futures market. We use the Hong Kong market and a difference-in-differences statistic to address the role of the China Securities Regulatory Commission soft intervention versus intervention by hard rules.     

Government Intervention,Perceived Benefit,and Bribery of Firms in Transitional China

This article examines whether (1) government intervention causes bribery (or corruption) as rent-seeking theory suggested; (2) a firm’s perceived benefit partially mediates the relationship between government intervention and its bribing behavior, as rational choice/behavior theory suggested; and (3) other firms’ bribing behavior moderates the relationship between government intervention and a firm’s perceived benefit. Our study shows that government intervention causes bribery/corruption indeed, but it exerts its effect on bribery/corruption through the firm’s perceived benefit. In other words, a firm’s perceived benefit fully mediates the relationship between government intervention and its bribing behavior. We also find that other firms’ bribery positively moderates the relationship between government intervention and a given firm’s bribery. This study partly proves that firms are rational actors. Potential benefit encourages them to practice bribery. Besides, this research also supports the rent-seeking view of bribery/corruption, which argues that government intervention is a source of bribery/corruption. However, we have also identified that only those government interventions that will create “rent” can cause bribery/corruption.     

政府在企业并购中的干预行为比较研究

市场失灵等问题的存在使得并购不单纯是一种企业行为,也是政府实现其经济、社会管理等职能的一种重要手段。在总结中外企业并购历程及政府干预行为特点的基础上,本文分析了政府干预企业并购的动机,从国有企业委托代理关系的视角阐述了我国政府干预企业并购的实质,并针对我国政府这种直接行政干预的缺陷以及国企中现存的委托代理问题,提出相应的政策建议。     

The Effects of Uncertain Divestiture as Regulatory Threat

It has been argued that the threat of regulatory intervention affects firm behavior. We investigate the pricing decision of the dominant firm under regulatory threat, considering the probability of intervention as a function of the price. Our focus is on the case where the potential divestiture of the firm serves as a threat of regulatory intervention. It is shown that under certain conditions associated with the marginal expected penalty, the mere threat of divesting a certain portion of the firm’s manufacturing plants leads to a lower price than the actual divestiture of that same portion. Numerical examples illustrate that with relatively small-scale divestiture, the firm’s price under the threat may be lower than that under the actual divestiture, within a relatively broad range of regulator’s attitudes toward intervention.     

Effect evaluation of a multifactor community intervention to reduce falls among older persons

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a multifactor and multimethod community intervention programme to reduce falls among older persons by at least 20%. In a pre-test-post test design, self-reported falls were registered for 10 months in the intervention community and two control communities. After the pre-test registration, participants followed the intervention programme (Information and education, Training and exercise and Environmental modifications) for 14 months. All communities were situated in the Province of Friesland in the north of The Netherlands. The study ran from November 1999 to November 2002. The participants (intervention 1122; control 630) were aged 65 years and older and lived independently. There was no significant decrease in total falls, except outside the home, among women (odds ratio = 0.54, 95% CI = 0.30-0.98; p = 0.041). The multifactor intervention programme was not effective. The reduction of falls outside the home among women could be due to reduced outdoor physical activity.     

论WTO争端解决中的第三方参与--兼谈中国面临的问题

WTO争端解决中的第三方参与贯穿于磋商、专家组和上诉程序三个阶段.第三方参与对 于WTO成员具有重要意义,甚至影响到WTO规则的发展.为了更好地发挥第三方参与程 序的作用,WTO成员提出了许多改革建议.中国作为一个在许多案件中都有实质性利益 的贸易大国,应该积极并善于利用第三方参与程序.     

To Be or Not to Be in Thrall to the March of Smart Products

This article explores how perceived disempowerment impacts the intention to adopt smart autonomous products. Empirically, the paper builds on three studies to show this impact. Study 1 explores the relevance of the perceived disempowerment in respect of smart autonomous products. Study 2 manipulates autonomy of smart products and finds that perceived disempowerment mediates the link between smart products’ autonomy and adoption intention. Study 3 indicates that an intervention design―that is, a product design that allows consumers to intervene in the actions of an autonomous smart product―can reduce their perceived disempowerment in respect of autonomous smart products. Further, Study 3 reveals that personal innovativeness moderates the role that an intervention design plays in product adoption: an intervention design shows a positive effect on adoption intention for individuals with low personal innovativeness, but for those with high personal innovativeness no effect of an intervention design is present on adoption intention. The authors suggest that managers consider consumers’ perceived disempowerment when designing autonomous smart products, because (1) perceived disempowerment reduces adoption and (2) when targeted at consumers with low personal innovativeness, an intervention design reduces their perceived disempowerment.     

Industrial policy as an engine of economic growth: A framework of analysis and evidence from South Korea (1960–96)

The recent financial crisis has raised significant questions about liberal free-markets as a mechanism for generating economic growth compared to those economies where there is greater state intervention. This article develops a theoretical framework for economic development that can explain historical changes in both industrial policy and economic growth where the state actively intervenes to direct economic development. The article then applies this framework to the case of South Korea where there is a strong interventionist government. The results show that economic development can be explained within a sequential framework of policy intervention and that rather than being a static decision, successful state intervention is a dynamic and evolutionary process.     

地方政府干预、僵尸企业与资本结构动态调整

近年来，资本结构研究领域的明显趋势是对资本结构动态调整的深入探讨。各区域制度环境差异是不容忽视的影响因素，而地方政府干预是影响企业资本结构调整最基本的制度因素。僵尸企业作为地方政府干预金融市场信贷配给的副产品，负债率显著高于正常企业并居高不下。文章旨在研究地方政府干预对资本结构动态调整的影响，并探讨僵尸企业对这一影响的作用机制。研究发现：地方政府干预通过增加债务的方式加快了企业向上的资本结构调整速度，且对国有企业的促进作用更为显著。僵尸企业的“融资成本转嫁效应”抑制了地方政府干预对资本结构向上调整的促进作用，且对非国有企业的抑制作用更为显著。因此，应加强地方政府对经济的有效调控，加快对僵尸企业的清理，切实优化企业的融资环境，实现资本结构的优化调整。     

Managing knowledge work in Asia Pacific contexts: case studies of Hong Kong SMEs

This study explores how knowledge creation and sharing practices are fostered in a sample of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Hong Kong. Our analysis indicates that three types of managerial interventions – initiating intervention, reinforcing intervention and aligning intervention – are particularly useful to promote knowledge management activities among employees. Such findings provide insights into researchers and managers on the important role of managerial interventions in knowledge management (KM) as well as the idiosyncrasies of KM in SMEs in Chinese societies.     

Financial underdevelopment,distorted lending and export market survival

This paper examines the impact of financial development on exporter survival in foreign markets with Chinese firm-level data over the period 1998–2008. We measure financial development using the size, lending efficiency, term structure of bank loans and degree of state intervention in financial resource allocation, respectively. We find that a larger scale and greater efficiency of bank lending and less state intervention facilitate while the relative abundance of long-term credit deteriorates exporter survival. These effects are more pronounced for private exporters compared with state-owned exporters. For foreign-invested exporters, weakened state intervention is of relatively great importance. We attribute this disproportional impact to the government's intervention in funding investment and the distortional lending of banks, which varies across regions and industries with different levels of presence of state-owned enterprises.     

Crisis management in information system projects: lessons of a case study

This case study is reflective of the action‐research perspective documents applied in an intervention to manage a crisis during an information technology development project. The aim was to better understand how tools used to solve unstructured problems might help resolve such crises. The development and implementation of an intervention utilizing multiple tools is described. As a result of the intervention, a shared meaning of the crisis emerged among the major stakeholders along with a consensus as to appropriate solutions and action steps. Work on the project resumed to the satisfaction of management. Recommendations for future research are offered. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monetary policy, foreign exchange intervention, and the exchange rate in a unifying framework

The structural VAR model is developed to jointly analyze the effects of foreign exchange intervention and (money or interest rate setting) conventional monetary policy on the exchange rate, the two types of policy reactions to the exchange rate, and interactions between the two types of policies. First, many interactions among the two types of policies and the exchange rate are found, which suggests that a joint analysis is important. Second, foreign exchange intervention has substantial effects on the exchange rate, reacts to the exchange rate significantly (to stabilize the exchange rate), and signals future conventional monetary policy stance changes (to back up the intervention). This suggests the importance of modeling foreign exchange intervention explicitly in the study of monetary policy and exchange rate behaviors. Many other interesting results on the interactions among the two types of policies and the exchange rate are also documented.     

导游员职业倦怠的根源及干预策略研究

近年来,由于导游员独特的工作环境和角色要求,职业倦怠已经成为困扰导游职业较为突出的问题。从工作特征、个体和社会组织三个方面分析导游员产生职业倦怠的根源,根据导游员职业倦怠的特征,提出采用个体干预、组织干预、社会干预来消除导游员职业倦怠。     

A randomized trial to assess the effectiveness of an infant home safety programme

The aim of this study was to test an intervention aimed at addressing the risk of injury in infants 2 - 12 months of age. A non-blinded, randomized controlled trial was conducted, whereby parents were randomly assigned to either a control or one of two intervention groups. Parents completed questionnaires regarding safety behaviours and injuries at the 2 (baseline), 6 and 12 month immunization visit at the community health unit. During the 2 month visit to the health unit, the two intervention groups received a home safety kit containing nine items, an instructional brochure and a risk assessment checklist. Subjects randomized to the safety kit plus home visit group also received a standardized home visit from a community health nurse. Two of the 14 parental safety behaviours showed a significant increase in use among parents in the intervention groups. Neither of the interventions was associated with a reduction in parent-reported injuries among children. It was concluded that home visitation may provide a beneficial adjunct to the provision of safety devices and may increase use by parents.     

Exchange rate management in emerging markets: Intervention via an electronic limit order book

This paper describes and analyzes the implementation of a crawling exchange rate band on an electronic trading platform. The placement of limit orders at the central bank's target rate serves as a credible policy statement that may coordinate beliefs of market participants. We find for our sample that intervention increases exchange rate volatility (and spread) for the next minutes but that intervention days show a lower degree of volatility (and spread) than non-intervention days. We also show for intraday data that the price impact of interbank order flow is smaller on intervention days than on non-intervention days. These stabilizing effects, however, rely on the conditions of large currency reserves and the existence of capital controls; an electronic market seems to support this goal.