Status‐Seeking in Criminal Subcultures and the Double Dividend of Zero‐Tolerance

This paper offers a new argument for why a more aggressive enforcement of minor offenses (zero‐tolerance) may yield a double dividend in that it reduces both minor offenses and more severe crime. We develop a model of criminal subcultures in which people gain social status among their peers for being “tough” by committing criminal acts. As zero‐tolerance keeps relatively “gutless” people from committing a minor offense, the signaling value of that action increases, which makes it attractive for some people who would otherwise commit more severe crime. If social status is sufficiently important in criminal subcultures, zero‐tolerance reduces crime across the board.     

材料力学教学方法探讨

文章针对二本院校《材料力学》课程教学过程中出现的问题,总结出了提高教学效果的教学方法,即合理删减教学内容、理论结合实际调动学生的积极性、运用比较学习方法、强调数学基本功。     

On the slippery slope: Conformance vs defection in a multi-party prisoners' dilemma

A slippery-slope slide occurs when minor deviations from an unstable superior solution of total conformance result in an inferior solution of massive defection. Using a multi-party prisoners' dilemma (PD) game in binary choices, this paper examines some possibilities between total conformance and total defection. Specifically, it shows how minor deviations from total conformance can be contained and how total defection can be reversed. The containment of deviations is, however, greatly complicated by technological changes which may precipitate a free slide by reducing the transaction costs of defection, or which may transform a slippery slope into an invisible hand.     

Schumpeter,Keynes and the theory of economic evolution

The contribution deals with a nonlinear dynamic macro-economic model which is used for simulation runs. Conditions and model specifications allowing for global stability are investigated and tested. Based on this some well-known facts as Schumpeterian long-wave phenomena, Keynesian unemployment, productivity growth effects are simulated. Moreover specifying an instrumental variable for state interventions policy issues are also discussed. With this runs it is shown that minor changes of parameters may provide totally different outcomes and different economic developments.     

Capital accumulation during the transition from plan to market1

This paper focuses on the process of capital accumulation and the forces that drive it in the countries undergoing the transition from plan to market. The methodological framework for analyzing the determinants of aggregate business investment draws on the neoclassical accelerator model, extending it to reflect some of the specificities of the transition environment. The model is estimated on data for the economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The results highlight the role of some key drivers of capital accumulation in an economy in transition, in particular, the relatively significant accelerator response to output, the importance of adjustment effects and financing constraints and the relatively minor role of the cost of capital.     

制约中国中西部地区大城市人口增长的因素分析

自然条件较好的中西部大城市扩大人口规模非常必要,但多数城市人口规模一直变化不大。通过对相关变量做因子分析、向量自回归分析、格兰杰因果检验,得出影响城市人口增长的主次要因素和长短期因素以及格兰杰因果关系,并运用相关理论做出解释,据此总结出一些有意义的结论。     

The Impact of Aging Population on the Rise of the Health Care Cost in the Czech Republic

Population aging is believed to be a major factor behind the rise of health care cost worldwide. However, an increasing body of evidence in the literature on the subject of population aging and its influence on health care cost suggests that demographic changes play a relatively minor role in driving up the health care bill. Firstly, we review some available evidence. Secondly, we analyze the situation in the Czech Republic using financial and health care utilization data and demographic projections. Thirdly, we point out the main areas of health care responsible for the health care expenditures growth in the Czech Republic.     

Determinants of Net Trade Flows in the OECD: New Evidence with Special Emphasis on the Former Communist Members

This study estimates an econometric panel-data model, in order to explore the capacity of some of the hypotheses formulated in recent dynamic models of trade and economic growth to explain the bilateral trade of OECD countries. The study suggests that the larger a country's endowment of both tangible and intangible (human and technological) capital in relation to that of its trade partners, the higher the export/import ratio of its bilateral trade. It also shows that direct investment enhances the export/import ratio with the host country. The former communist countries reflect only minor differences from the other OECD members.     

A Measure of the Incidence of the Costs of Structural Change: The Experience of Birth place Groups in the Australian Labour Force during the Seventies*

During the 1970s there were some marked shifts in the occupational composition of the Australian workforce. It is sometimes argued that these had a particularly adverse effect on migrants. However we conclude that the structural pressures of the early 70s had only a minor impact on the relative labour market performances of different birthplace groups in Australia. The analysis involves the construction of a measure of the incidence of the costs of structural change. The correlation between the measure applied to birthplace groups and various indicators of their labour market performances is found to be low.     

Savings and pensions in The Netherlands

We describe the distribution of private wealth of Dutch households over the life cycle and relate this to the size of individual entitlements to pay-as-you-go social security benefits and funded pension benefits. We also investigate saving motives and find that saving for old age plays only a minor role. Precautionary motives play some role, but in view of the very extensive social safety net it does not seem likely that precaution is an important factor in saving decisions. Altogether, the data are consistent with the view that an extensive social safety net and generous old age income provisions reduce the need to accumulate private wealth.     

Altruism and Determinacy of Equilibria in Overlapping Generations Models with Externalities

This paper deals with an OLG model with production and a single commodity, in which agents are assumed altruistic and the aggregate production function contains external effects. I prove that, if the technology satisfies a minor assumption, which encompasses positive and negative externalities, some curvature conditions on the utility function ensure local determinacy of stationary and period 2 equilibria. I prove that non-separable, strictly concave preferences are a fundamental ingredient for the occurrence of indeterminate equilibria. Finally, considering the case of unbounded growth, I establish that for any utility and production functions a unique balanced growth path is globally determinate.
JEL Classification Numbers: C62, E32     

对中小企业地位的再认识

东南亚金融危机爆发后, 以大企业、大集团为基础的韩国经济受到重创, 而以中小企业为主的台湾却安度危机。本文分析了东南亚金融危机给予我们的两点启示： 一是宏观调控不能片面集中在大型企业的发展上; 二是以中小企业为主的经济更具适应性、更具活力。同时指出, 应对中小企业在我国国民经济中的地位和作用进行重新认识。     

基于生态足迹的从江县可持续发展定量分析

为了更深入地了解可持续发展的程度,有关学者努力探寻能定量衡量国家或地区发展的可持续模型和方法,其中生态足迹就是一个通过相同单位比较人类需求与自然供给的易懂、清晰、直观模型。文章基于生态足迹模型对一个少数民族众多的贫困县进行定量分析,结合一些相关指标,进行地区间横向对比。研究结果表明,2004年从江县的人均生态足迹为1.30007hm^2,人均生态承载力为1.53896hm^2,虽有人均生态盈余＋0.05422hm^2,但根据中国可持续发展等级,从江属弱可持续发展等级。依据分析弱可持续发展的原因提出了可持续发展对策。     

APPRENTICES AND YOUNG WORKERS: A STUDY OF THE NORWEGIAN YOUTH LABOUR MARKET

Apprenticeship programmes are in many countries important stepping stones into the labour market. However, recruitment of apprentices seems to follow the business cycle. This pattern may be caused by firms' contemporaneous demand for labour, but may also be consistent with an investment hypothesis. A model, in which the tightness in the labour market is taken into account, is tested on a sample of Norwegian quarterly firm‐specific data. The empirical findings give moderate support to an investment hypothesis. The apprentices substitute to some degree for skilled labour but are recruited primarily based on the labour market situation. The wage level plays a minor role for recruitment of apprentices.     

股权换技术:动因、问题与对策

股权换技术是指通过向外资出售部分股权以引进所需要的先进技术,是跨国公司战略性进入我国市场、国有企业改革以及实现技术赶超的综合结果.但是,股权换技术本身所存在的许多问题导致目标难以实现;以少儋数股权难以换取先进技术,而如果出让多数股权,则会远离自主创新区域;跨国公司还会考虑是否会使所投资公司与本公司形成竞争;我国企业还可能形成对跨国公司的技术依赖;国有企业改革中存在的非理性因素也会使股权换技术目标异化.为正确实施股权换技术,必须明确指导思想,完善模式,减少非理性因素并形成鼓励国内资本进入的产业政策.     

国际收入不平等变化的中国因素分析--基于控制人口因素的方法

中国的贡献是国际收入不平等程度从1978年到2000年呈下降趋势的主要动力,在20世纪80和90年代的部分年份中国因素的贡献率超过100%。通过控制人口因素的方法分析揭示,中国经济增长是中国因素变化的主要原因,人口增长是次要原因,但却是重要原因。20世纪80和90年代人口增长对中国因素变化的贡献率在31.8%和43.5%之间波动,经济增长的贡献率在56.5%和68.2%之间波动。所以,虽然中国因素推动国际收入不平等下降的主要源泉是经济增长,但人口增长的作用也非常重要。     

Value of public goods from sports stadiums: the CVM approach

Many state and local governments have subsidized the construction of arenas and stadium for the use of professional sports teams. They often justify the subsidies by claiming the projects generate valuable public goods and positive externalities, though such benefits are difficult to measure. This article reports an application of the contingent valuation method (CVM) to measure the value of public goods generated by two proposed projects in Lexington, Kentucky: a new basketball arena for the University of Kentucky and a minor league baseball stadium. Neither project would generate sufficiently valuable public goods to justify public financing. Although the results cannot be generalized to other cases, they do shed light on some of the main issues involved, and they demonstrate the feasibility of applying CVM to the evaluation of the subsidized stadiums.     

On weighted Kalai–Samet solutions for non-transferable utility coalitional form games

We investigate the implications of the axiom of coalitional concavity for non-transferable utility coalitional form games. This axiom says that if the feasible set of some coalition is uncertain whereas the feasible sets of other coalitions are known, then all players in the coalition with the uncertain feasible set should (weakly) benefit from reaching a compromise before the uncertainty is resolved. By imposing this axiom, in addition to other minor axioms, we characterize the weighted Kalai–Samet [Econometrica 53 (1985) 307] solutions: these solutions coincide with the weighted egalitarian solutions on the domain of bargaining problems, and with the weighted Shapley values on the domain of transferable utility coalitional form games.     

Splitting leagues: promotion and demotion in contribution-based regrouping experiments

The paper reports an experimental study on a promotion-demotion mechanism to mitigate the free-rider problem in a voluntary contribution setting. The mechanism hierarchically splits a group in two; we refer to one subgroup as the Major league and to the other as the minor league. The most cooperative subject of the minor league is switched with the least cooperative subject in the Major league. The results reveal a significant increase of cooperation levels in both leagues relative to the standard voluntary contribution mechanism. We argue that a lack of sequentially-rational beliefs about continuation payoffs in Major and minor leagues leads to higher equilibrium contributions. The data suggest beyond that, the promotion-demotion mechanism regroups subjects deliberately according to their cooperativeness.     

Modelling the economic impact of recombinant activated Factor VII compared to activated prothrombin-complex concentrate in the home treatment of a mild to moderate bleed in adults with inhibitors to clotting Factors VIII and IX in the UK

Summary

This study estimated the costs and consequences of using recombinant activated Factor VII (rFVIIa; NovoSeven®) at home, compared to activated prothrombin-complex concentrate (aPCC; FEIBA®*) at home, to manage a minor (i.e. mild to moderate) bleeding episode in adults with high titre, high responding inhibitors (>10 BU). The analysis was performed from the perspective of the UK's National Health Service (NHS).

NovoSeven and FEIBA are registered trademarks of Novo Nordisk and Baxter Healthcare, respectively.

Clinical outcomes and resource utilisation attributable to managing a minor bleed were obtained from published literature, supplemented with information about treatment patterns and associated resource utilisation derived from interviews with a panel of 22 consultant haematologists experienced in managing inhibitor patients. Using these data sources a decision tree modelling the management of a minor bleed, initially at home, was constructed. Unit resource costs at 1999/2000 prices were applied to the resource utilisation estimates in the model to estimate the expected NHS cost of managing a minor bleeding episode. Consensus on the probabilities and resource utilisation estimates in the model were reached at a meeting comprising seven panel members.

The expected NHS cost of managing a minor bleeding episode initially treated with rFVIIa or aPCC at home was estimated to be £12,944 and £14,645, respectively. Additionally, the expected time to resolving a minor bleeding episode when initially treated with rFVIIa or aPCC at home was estimated to be 32 hours and 60 hours, respectively. Hence, rFVIIa improves clinical outcome compared to aPCC, but at no additional cost to the NHS, resulting in rFVIIa being the cost-effective treatment. This finding warrants further investigation in a prospective, comparative, randomised, controlled study.