Modelling the use of health services by populations of small areas to inform the allocation of central resources to larger regions.

Modelling the use of health services by local populations can inform the allocation of central resources to larger regions. At aggregate, e.g. regional, level, use is largely driven by supply and such analysis can be misleading. At small area level, however, populations effectively compete for services and their different relative use of services, after allowing for varying availability, reflects variations in their relative need. Empirical quantitative estimates can thus be made of the net relation of factors such as mortality or social deprivation to relative need for health services. These estimates can then be used in weighted capitation formulae for allocating resources to larger regions.     

Social sustainability of regional transportation: An assessment framework with application to EU road transport

The assessment of transportation social sustainability appeals to many scholars as an essential issue but imposes a risk of selecting inadequate factors and methods to measure social phenomena. In this study, based on an extensive review, we identify the measurable key social indicators (instead of the economic or environmental factors commonly used) and propose a comprehensive evaluation framework for relative performance analysis of social sustainability in the regional context. This work is the first attempt to assess regional social sustainability of transport explicitly utilizing a multi-output performance measure. We use Shannon entropy to combine the results of selected data envelopment analysis (DEA) models into a unified social sustainability performance score. The method is applied to regional road transport in the European Union (EU) member states for the period 2004–2017. The empirical section explores individual profiles of EU countries, compares the states grouped into two clusters of old (EU-15) and new (EU-13) EU members, and examines their social sustainability performance over time. The analysis suggests that considering only social factors in the measurement eliminates the bias resulting from the inclusion of economic factors. As a result, our method prevents inaccurate inflation of the scores of more economically advanced countries. The findings also draw attention to the car dependence problem associated with high motorization rates in affluent EU-15 states. The study confirms the capacity of the proposed DEA-based framework to serve as an adequate tool for measuring the social sustainability of transport, which can support policymakers by providing useful benchmarks employing social factors.     

Protecting Education for the Poor in Times of Crisis: An Evaluation of a Scholarship Programme in Indonesia*

This paper analyses the impact of an Indonesian scholarship programme, which was implemented in 1998 to preserve access to education for the poor during the economic crisis. Scholarships were targeted pro-poor and the allocation process followed a decentralized design, involving both geographic and individual targeting. The identification strategy exploits this decentralized structure, relying on instrumental variables constructed from regional mistargeting at the initial phase of allocation. The programme has increased enrolment, especially for primary school-aged children from poor rural households. Moreover, the scholarships seem to have assisted households in smoothing consumption during the crisis, relieving pressure on households’ investments in education and utilization of child labour.     

The consumption–investment decision of a prospect theory household: A two-period model

This study extends the literature on portfolio choice under prospect theory preferences by introducing a two-period life cycle model, where the sufficiently loss averse household decides on optimal consumption and investment in a portfolio with one risk-free and one risky asset. The optimal solution depends primarily on whether the household’s present value of the consumption reference levels is below, equal to, or above the present value of its endowment income. Reference levels below the endowment income are associated with the self-enhancement motive. In this case, the household avoids relative losses in consumption in any present or future state of nature (good or bad). As a result the degree of loss aversion does not directly affect optimal consumption and risk taking activity. Reference levels equal to the endowment income are associated with the belonging motive. An example would be a household comparing to others that belong to the same social class. In this case the household’s optimal consumption is the reference consumption and the household will not invest in the risky asset. Finally, reference levels above the endowment income are associated with the self-improvement motive (or high aspirations). For such high reference levels, households cannot avoid experiencing a relative loss in consumption, either now or in the future. As a result, loss aversion directly affects consumption and risky investment.     

金融素养、金融资产配置与投资组合有效性

基于动态最优控制理论模型，运用中国家庭微观调查数据，系统研究了金融素养在家庭金融资产配置中的作用及对投资组合有效性的影响。理论分析表明，在一定条件下，金融素养能够显著提升家庭资产中风险性资产的配置比重，有助于实现消费效用最大化。考虑了内生性的实证分析结果表明：金融素养对于风险性资产与金融资产具有显著的正向影响，但无法作用于国债这类无风险资产；金融素养的提升有助于增加股票与基金的配置概率，有助于实施积极的投资策略，但对消极投资策略不显著；金融素养的提升能够显著增加家庭投资组合有效性，促使家庭获得更多的超额回报。     

ISLAMIC BANKING AND FINANCE: RECENT EMPIRICAL LITERATURE AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

This paper examines the recent empirical literature in Islamic banking and finance, highlights the main findings and provides a guide for future research. Early studies focus on the efficiency, production technology and general performance features of Islamic versus conventional banks, whereas more recent work looks at profit‐sharing and loss‐bearing behaviour, competition, risks as well as other dimensions such as small business lending and financial inclusion. Apart from key exceptions, the empirical literature suggests no major differences between Islamic and conventional banks in terms of their efficiency, competition and risk features (although small Islamic banks are found to be less risky than their conventional counterparts). There is some evidence that Islamic finance aids inclusion and financial sector development. Results from the empirical finance literature, dominated by studies that focus on the risk/return features of mutual funds, finds that Islamic funds perform as well, if not better, than conventional funds – there is little evidence that they perform worse than standard industry benchmarks.     

Childhood and capability deprivation in Italy: a multidimensional and fuzzy set approach

In the last decades, starting with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Children in 1989, children’s quality of life have received a growing attention in scientific research, as well as in politics. This work aims to gain insights into Italian children’s living conditions and deprivation of capabilities using the Capability Approach, an alternative normative framework for the evaluation of human development, well-being and freedom by thinking in terms of human functionings and capabilities. From a methodological point of view we present an approach based on a fuzzy methodology applied to data from the EU-SILC 2009 ad-hoc module on children. The use of this methodology makes it possible to preserve the richness of the data available from the EU-SILC survey, that include both monetary and non monetary aspects of children deprivation. To get more insides into Italian children living conditions we also combine the fuzzy methodology with the capability approach at a disaggregated level of analysis by three social economic factors (single parent household, household educational level, macro-region of residence). Besides the well-known Italian North/South disparity of financial indicators—confirmed also for households with children—our findings suggest a new duality for Italian children quality of life, given by the multidimensional domains of deprivation internal or external to children’s households.     

How Does Relative Deprivation Influence Employee Intention to Leave a Merged Company? The Role of Organizational Identification

Recognizing the importance of postmerger integration from a human resource management perspective, this study explores the relationship between employee perceptions of relative deprivation during a merger and acquisition (M&A) process and their turnover intentions. Drawing on social identity theory, we investigate whether the relationship between relative deprivation and turnover intention can be mediated by employee organizational identification. The results, based on a two‐phase survey of 222 employees in a merged Korean company, show that egoistic relative deprivation, defined as people's feelings of deprivation due to their dissatisfaction with their position as an individual, predicts employee turnover intention. Moreover, employee identification with the postmerger organization was found to fully mediate the relationship between egoistic relative deprivation and turnover intention. The article concludes with theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future research directions. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Homeowner Renovation and Repair: The Decision to Hire Someone Else to Do the Project

Renovation and repair expenditures are an important component of the U.S. housing market and have grown in importance relative to new construction as a source of housing supply. However, this aspect of the housing supply process is not well understood and the existing literature on the topic is relatively sparse. This paper focuses on one aspect of renovation and repair expenditures: the choice of a contractor job or a project mainly undertaken by the homeowner. The empirical work stresses the importance of looking at different categories of renovation expenditures separately. Household characteristics are important determinants of the homeowner's decision to hire someone else to do the work. Married couple households and other households with more adults are less likely to hire outside labor, all else equal. Higher household income and more years of education increase the probability of hiring outside labor. Black households have a significantly lower likelihood of performing their own renovations than white households with comparable characteristics and comparable housing units.     

基于WBS-RBS法的大型基础设施PPP项目全过程风险识别研究——以南宁教育园区西片区项目为例

现阶段,随着我国城市化进程的加快,大型基础设施项目建设资金的刚性需求日益增长,PPP模式在吸引社会优势资本、解决政府资金短缺问题、加快城市建设步伐、促进公共服务质量提升等方面发挥着积极作用,但大型基础设施PPP项目全过程的风险因素比较复杂.本文结合笔者多年工作经验,基于WBS-RBS法对大型基础设施PPP项目全过程的风...     

Assessing and valuing the nonlinear structure of hedge fund returns

Several studies have put forward that hedge fund returns exhibit a nonlinear relationship with equity market returns, captured either through constructed portfolios of traded options or piece‐wise linear regressions. This paper provides a statistical methodology to unveil such nonlinear features with respect to returns on benchmark risk portfolios. We estimate a portfolio of options that best approximates the returns of a given hedge fund, account for this search in the statistical testing of the nonlinearity, and provide a reliable test for a positive valuation of the fund. We find that not all fund categories exhibit significant nonlinearities, and that only a few strategies provide significant value to investors. Our methodology helps identify individual funds that provide value in an otherwise poorly performing category. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Private security and the public safety

The demand for private protection and the effect of such protective measures on the level of crime are examined. Private protection may reduce a household's expected victimization rate either by deterring some crime or by diverting crime to other households. The greater the relative importance of the latter effect, the more likely a community is to “tip” in the direction of deserting the streets at night and taking other precautions. Data on crime and protection are analyzed, but they are inadequate for a full estimation of the model. The paper concludes with a normative analysis of protection and implications for social policy.     

Relative deprivation,reference groups and the assessment of standard of living

This paper proposes two new indices of relative deprivation, derived from an extension of the concept of generalized Gini to the measurement of distributional change. Population- and income-weighted relative deprivation indices are then defined and, using panel data from the Consortium of Household Panels for European Socio-Economic Research (CHER), we check which of the various ways of defining individual deprivation best fits the answers given by individuals on the degree of their satisfaction with income. We find that the deprivation indices proposed are consistently and negatively correlated with income satisfaction as reported by respondents, that income weighted measures fit better than population weighted measures and that this fit improves with countries that experienced deep institutional changes such as the transitional economies of Eastern Europe.     

Welfare indicators for public facility investments in urban renewal areas

To evaluate the effects of alternative public investment policies in terms of the welfare status of human beings thereby affected, we must have a clear delineation of social, economic, or other roles that such investment is intended to play. This paper defines a role for public facility investment in urban renewal areas that is based on analysis of both the intrinsic characteristics of these investments and the policy environment—defined by a set of renewal objectives—in which they are made. Benefits and costs are seen to accrue to society—individuals, households, business, or the community-at-large—from appropriately defined categories of public facility investment impact. A set of welfare indicators, comprised of benefit-cost measurements related to the categories of investment impact, emerges from our analysis to provide a basis for re-evaluation of certain aspects of renewal policy.     

社保基金偿付能力风险理论分析与实证检验

欧盟针对保险公司偿付能力实行的新政"Solvency Ⅱ"已经开始在欧盟范围内运行,由此掀起了全球商业保险与社会保险偿付能力风险的变革,以抵御国际金融危机给保险业带来的巨大威胁。我国社保基金管理由于在资金来源和运营管理上与欧盟国家存在很大区别,且国内学者还没有高度重视偿付能力风险问题。因此,从理论上对社保基金偿付能力风险进行概念界定,提出相关指标体系,并结合社保基金收入与支出的时间序列建立ARMA模型,对偿付能力风险进行预测具有重要意义。这对充实社保基金风险管理理论,为相关管理机构提供更加合理的偿付能力风险管理方法,保护全体参保人的权利,降低国家的财政压力有一定的帮助。     

Results of the first survey of independent trust grantmaking: who is setting the agenda?

Based on an analysis of 2,300 grants made by a representative sample of independent trusts and foundations, ‘Patterns of Independent Grantmaking in the UK’ is the first national survey identifying where independent trusts allocate their funds. The results show that, as in mainstream central and local government expenditure, social care was a clear priority for independent grantmakers, not only attracting the highest proportion of grants overall, but also the single largest proportion of funding, £233m. This figure equals just over one‐third of local authority support for social services in the voluntary sector and indicates that the collective impact of independent funding to the sector is significant. Social care funding consisted mainly of a large number of small to medium‐sized grants. Health was the second largest area, followed by education and the arts. There was a considerable regional imbalance in funding. Given this fairly conservative pattern of funding, the question arises whether funders are led by applicants or vice versa? What is needed to introduce more change and risk into trust funding? Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Simplified Jackknife Variance Estimates for Fuzzy Measures of Multidimensional Poverty

In this paper, we present a practical methodology for variance estimation for multi‐dimensional measures of poverty and deprivation of households and individuals, derived from sample surveys with complex designs and fairly large sample sizes. The measures considered are based on fuzzy representation of individuals' propensity to deprivation in monetary and diverse non‐monetary dimensions. We believe this to be the first original contribution for estimating standard errors for such fuzzy poverty measures. The second objective is to describe and numerically illustrate computational procedures and difficulties in producing reliable and robust estimates of sampling error for such complex statistics. We attempt to identify some of these problems and provide solutions in the context of actual situations. A detailed application based on European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data for 19 NUTS2 regions in Spain is provided.     

农户借款规模的影响因素分析

借款是解决农户自有资金不足的重要途径,但需要资金的农户却并不一定都能顺利借款或者借入足够的款项,其实际借款规模会受到很多因素的影响。文章使用TOBIT模型对农户借款规模的影响因素进行分析,发现农户收入水平、农户生活消费支出与年末拥有居住房屋原值显著影响其借款规模,而农户生产经营投资规模、医疗住院费支出、人际关系状况与借款规模之间的关系不显著。     

新时代普通高职院校科技创新路径探析

职业教育是提高国家核心竞争力的要素,尤其是高职教育,在社会经济的发展中发挥着其独特的作用。新时期,普通高职院校面临着招生难、经费有限的发展挑战,如何利用区域优势、盘活周边社会资源,引才聚智,协同发展,是这一类学校共同急需解决的难题。本文以科技创新为切入点,试图为普通高职院校提供一种可参考的发展路径。     

风险社会理论与城市公共安全——基于人口流迁与社会融合视角的分析

在我国社会转型和快速城市化的背景下,城市人口发展所面临的风险呈现出多元化特征,人口流迁与社会融合逐步成为影响城市公共安全的现实因素。流动人口缺乏在城市的原始积累,生存状态不体面,对城市社会缺乏认同感和归属感,而户籍制度仍然是制约流动人口城市融合的主要障碍。在风险治理和安全保障方面,政府需要通过合理的制度安排解决农民工在城市体系中的制度化生存问题,通过扩展流动人口的社会支持网络,增强其归属感。同时,还必须加强流动人口的常态性、制度性管理和政府公共服务能力建设,提高流动人口素质和对城市社会的自适应能力。