The appointment qualifications of Muslim accountants in the Middle Ages

Historically, accountants and accounting have played a very important role in Muslim societies. Accountants, who were known as Al-Kateb (accountants/bookkeepers/accounts clerks), held very prestigious positions in government, business and society. They were the advisors and decision-makers for the rulers, business peoples and society at large. The primary objective of accounting was the ascertainment of the adequacy of the transactions from the religious view point and the appropriate calculation of Zakat (religious levy). The role and responsibilities of Al-Kateb were much broader than those that exist in many instances today. The expanded role and status of Al-Kateb resulted in the establishment of comprehensive and demanding appointment criteria. Some of these criteria were of a compulsory nature while others were optional and were known as recommended appointment requirements. This paper examines the mandatory appointment requirements that were, at large, based on Shari'ah Islami'iah (Islamic teachings) that reflects the role of Islam as a comprehensive code of life for Muslims. Technical competence was also a mandatory requirement that had to serve the religious requirements in the process of recording and interpreting business transactions. Some of the mandatory appointment requirements of Al-Kateb are, in essence, similar to current Western practices. The similarity could have been prompted by historical business relationships between Muslim and Europeans (especially Italians) since the twelfth century.     

中低收入社区与信贷支持——美国《社区再投资法案》经验借鉴

单纯依赖市场机制不足以完美地解决中低收入社区信贷可得性不足的难题。为此,政府相关政策的介入成为必要的一环。美国的《社区再投资法案》以法律的形式对金融机构加大对中低收入社区和人群的金融支持力度作出了规范,同时该法案所包含的灵活性又避免了使存款机构由此而承受过度的守法成本,美国《社区再投资法案》的施行值得我国借鉴。     

我国民间金融的历史回溯

我国民间金融在封建时代不同时期的形态和表现各有其风貌,历代统治者都制定不同的政策来规范其发展。本文综述各个历史时期民间金融的总体状态,探索封建时代民间金融的共性特征,分析民间金融存在和发展的内在因素。     

参数Bootstrap方法在全年龄人口死亡模型中的应用

在全年龄人口死亡模型中,较为著名的有Heligman及Pollard(1980)提出的具有8个参数的死亡率模型,也有Carriere(1992)分析美国人口死亡规律所提出的由四个生存函数:Gompertz分布、逆Gompertz分布、Weibull分布和逆Weibull分布所组成的混合参数生存模型。本文试图将He-ligman-Pollard模型与Carriere模型应用于中国分年龄、分性别的全年龄人口死亡数据,先借助R软件或Excel软件估计两种参数模型中的参数,然后利用参数Bootstrap方法计算所估参数的标准误、偏度、t统计量、置信区间等,并以此评估模型拟合的精度。最后,针对中国人口分年龄、分性别的死亡数据,提出相应的模型拟合建议。     

Extreme Value Analysis of Mortality at the Oldest Ages: A Case Study Based on Individual Ages at Death

In this article, the force of mortality at the oldest ages is studied using the statistical tools from extreme value theory. A unique data basis recording all individual ages at death above 95 for extinct cohorts born in Belgium between 1886 and 1904 is used to illustrate the relevance of the proposed approach. No leveling off in the force of mortality at the oldest ages is found, and the analysis supports the existence of an upper limit to human lifetime for these cohorts. Therefore, assuming that the force of mortality becomes ultimately constant, that is, that the remaining lifetime tends to the Negative Exponential distribution as the attained age grows is a conservative strategy for managing life annuities.     

Determinants of Saving-Borrowing Decisions and Financial Inclusion in a High Middle Income Country: The Turkish Case

We use a representative survey of the Turkish household sector and investigate factors impinging on saving-borrowing behavior. We run four probit regressions to elucidate (i) the saving decision, (ii) asset choice or portfolio composition for those who save, (iii) the bank loan decision and lastly (iv) the formal versus informal borrowing decision. We find income, education, marital status and region within country strongly correlate with those decisions. We offer some insights regarding the influence of variables like rural to urban migrant status and religious belief on saving and borrowing decisions. We discuss the long-term implications of our findings on the Turkish household savings performance.     

生态旅游发展中的社区参与问题研究

社区参与是生态旅游的本质要求,是实现旅游目的地生态、经济和社会文化可持续发展的有效途径。本文分析了生态旅游社区参与的必要性和重要性以及生态旅游发展中社区参与的现状及制约因素,并对生态旅游发展的社区参与问题进行系统研究。     

社区银行经营发展问题研究——以桂林“小能人”社区银行为例

当前经济环境下银行业竞争日趋激烈,发展零售业成为银行重要转型发展方向,2013年以来国内开始涌现出大批社区银行。根据国际经验,社区银行不仅为银行业提供新的利润增长点,同时能满足中小企业和个人的多元化金融需求。本文通过介绍桂林银行＂小能人＂社区银行创新实践,总结对比发达国家社区银行发展经验,分析目前社区银行发展中需关注的问题,提出促进社区银行发展的政策建议。     

中东离乱事国人冷眼观--中东乱局溯源

当前世界上最大的政治经济动向是“全球化”。这个“全球化”被一些西方学者直白地称为“西方化”,即所有非西方人要学着以西方人的眼光观察社会,以西方人创造出来的一整套的方法论来改造自己民族的社会形态。我看这个说法是有一定道理的。现在我们中国人依旧以中国旧传统的“阴阳五行观”的角度来观察、认识和对待客观世界的只剩下中国传统医学的医师和风水学的巫师了,但是在中东北非南亚（以下的文字中只称为“中东”）,坚持不接受西方人看待世界的方法的大有人在。他们顽强地对抗着来自西方的“文化渗透”,拒绝接受“全球化”,甚至不惜付出生命的代价来抵制这一进程,这就构成了现今世界政治的一个主要内容--全球化过程中的一股“逆流”--中东各国政治格局持续普遍的动荡。