农村合作经济与苏南乡村空间互动机制——以基于行动者网络理论的研究,以苏州为例

行动者网络理论(ANT)为利益合作联盟的形成提供了一种新视角和新方法。通过对新型集体经济下合作社创建的相关行动主体缕析,到合作社行动者转译过程剖析,再到合作社网络运作结果分析,可以得出,行动者网络理论不仅很好地解析了新型集体经济下相关合作联盟的形成与发展机制,而且深入揭示了新型集体经济与苏南乡村空间之间互动机理。新型集体经济在促进乡村空间全方位重组的同时,自身也得以转型升级、发展壮大,即二者之间呈良性互动关系。     

The exchange value of the dollar and the U.S. trade balance: An empirical investigation based on cointegradon and Granger causality tests

This article performs tests of Granger causality in the relationships between the nominal ad real exchange rates of the dollar and the U.S. trade balance as well as its price and quantity components over the period 1973:IIQ–1989:IIIQ. Our results suggest: (i) weak statistical evidence of unidirectional causality running from the nominal exchange rate to import prices and nominal trade balance (ii) no statistical support for the proposition that the real exchange rate simply “accommodates” changes in the real trade balance, and (iii) strong (no) causal links between the nominal and real exchange rates and export (import) volume. We tentatively conclude that movements in the exchange rate have a rather limited effect on the trade balance and that this effect is more likely to materialize on the export side of the trade balance.     

An empirical analysis of the nexus between external balance and government budget balance: The case of the GIIPS countries

The present study investigates the causality relationship between the external (trade and current account) balance and government budget balance for five countries of the euro area's Mezzogiorno, namely Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. These countries, due to their weak economic and financial performances, have been labelled the GIIPS group. The analysis is implemented using two methodologies: the traditional Granger test and the approach developed by Toda–Yamamoto. The results reveal homogeneity in using both approaches and give support to the Ricardian theory, according to which there is no clear nexus between budget-current account balances and budget-trade balances. This implies that fiscal austerity could help the five peripheral countries to conform to the budget deficit criteria as established by the Stability and Growth Pact, but would not be effective in restraining external deficits.     

Benchmarking institutional variety in the eurozone: An empirical investigation

The European debt crisis has shown that the future of the European Union (EU) depends on the willingness of each member country to implement responsible policies, avoid moral hazard and uncooperative attitudes, and ensure stability and soundness. However, the European institutional variety means that each member country reacts differently to shocks and policies, follows a different path of recovery, and adapts to common institutions, including the common currency, in different ways. Helping countries to converge toward a situation that guarantees well-being, stability, and development at the national and community level is the goal of the European benchmark. This benchmark is a framework inspired by European treaties that, through the distance-to-frontier score methodology, aims to measure member countries’ performance and identify inefficiencies and negative externalities within the economic, social, and political institutions of each member country. The paper presents an empirical investigation of the European benchmark. Based on the results obtained, all countries can improve their performance, and none of them can be considered a model for the others. However, the Mediterranean and post-communist countries have more challenges to face and therefore need to make greater efforts.     

Calvo vs. Rotemberg in a trend inflation world: An empirical investigation

This paper estimates and compares New-Keynesian DSGE monetary models of the business cycle derived under two different pricing schemes—Calvo (1983) and Rotemberg (1982)—under a positive trend inflation rate. Our empirical findings (i) support trend inflation as an empirically relevant feature of the U.S. great moderation; (ii) provide evidence in favor of the statistical superiority of the Calvo setting; (iii) point to a substantially lower degree of price indexation under Calvo. We show that the superiority of the Calvo model is due to the restrictions imposed by such a pricing scheme on the aggregate demand equation.     

Confidence intervals: An empirical investigation of the series in the M-competition

This paper empirically evaluates the uncertainty of forecasts. It does so using the 1001 series of the M-Competition. The study indicates that although, in model fitting the percentage of observations outside the confidence intervals is close to that postulated theoretically, this is not true for forecasting. In the latter case the percentage of observations outside the confidence intervals is much higher than that postulated theoretically. This is so for the great majority of series, forecasting horizonts, and methods. In addition to evaluating the extent of uncertainty, we provide tables to help users to construct more realistic confidence intervals for their forecasts.     

An empirical investigation of U.S. bank risk and the Mexican peso crisis

This paper examines two pairs of hypotheses about the effect of the Mexican Peso crisis on U.S. bank stock returns. We use a three-index market model as our empirical methodology because bank stocks are influenced more by both interest rate risk and foreign exchange risk than other non-banking stocks. The results show that the market reacted to each event promptly, supporting semi-strong market efficiency. To find out whether these effects created a domino effect in the U.S. banking system, a set of cross-sectional regressions were run. In general, the empirical results support the investor-contagion hypothesis, which indicates that the market penalized or rewarded banks without regard to their ecposure to the market for Mexican loans.     

The Cartagena Declaration,the Baker Plan,and U.S. bank security returns: An empirical investigation

This paper examines the impact of the Cartagena Declaration by 11 Latin American countries and the Baker Plan for resolving the LDC debt problem on the security returns of major U.S. banks. An event parameter approach is employed to investigate two hypotheses, the new-information and the rational-pricing hypotheses, using daily stock market data. Sample banks are grouped into three portfolios depending on their LDC exposure. The results indicate that bank stock returns adjust quickly to new information. Also, there is rational investor reaction to observed events that were neither borrower- nor lender-induced. Those banks displaying greater exposure to LDC loans were affected in a direct and proportionately greater manner.     

Credit in the euro area: An empirical investigation using aggregate data

This paper uses multivariate cointegration techniques to estimate a model of aggregate bank lending in the euro area. The model provides a quantitative benchmark for assessing conjunctural developments in loans to the area-wide private sector. Large and protracted deviations of realised loans from the paths implied by the model may reveal information about the emergence of financial imbalances as well as about the state of the economy, particularly about the strength of inflationary pressures. A specific application of the model shows that its error-correction term contains information on future changes in inflation over forecast horizons of relevance for monetary policy.     

An investigation into the values dimensions of branding: implications for the charity sector

• Branding is being adopted by charities and written about in academic and practitioner charity literature with increasing frequency. There is also growing concern, however, about the over-commercialistion of the sector and the misappropriation of techniques developed specifically for the commercial environment. Literature supporting the claim that charities are values-based organisations is reviewed and the proposition is made that it is in fact the non-negotiability of charity values that differentiate them from commercial organisations. Given the significance of values in the charity sector, the paper argues that a clearer understanding of how values are conceptualised in branding is necessary in order to establish whether branding is an appropriate and effective tool in the charity context. To achieve this, the paper reviews relevant branding literature focusing in particular upon the delineation of the values dimensions identified in for-profit branding models. To aid further understanding of these values dimensions in the non-profit context and their applicability (or otherwise) to it, the metaphors of brand as ‘mirror’, ‘lamp’ and ‘lens’ are introduced.
• It is argued that in the corporate sector the brand concept has been utilised to ‘mirror’ those values that underpin the needs and desires of consumers. In contrast to the passive mirror, when operationalised as ‘lamp’, it is claimed that the brand aims to influence both the values of the organisation and the values of its target audience. It is postulated that neither of these approaches is appropriate for values-led organisations and that it is only as a metaphorical ‘lens’, projecting the values of the organisation itself that branding offers an applicable and effective model in the charity context.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ordinal scales and fuzzy set systems to measure agreement: An application to the evaluation of teaching activity

Student evaluation of university teaching activity is now compulsory in Italy and a research group of the ItalianMinistry of Instruction, University, and Research proposed a questionnaire with items based on the four-point Likert scale and a traditional item-by-item analysis for the evaluation of classrooms, work load, course organization, lectures, and teaching aids. Three split-ballot experiments were carried out to test the differences between the four-point and five-point Likert scale. The traditional analysis is compared with the results of the fuzzy system set up to achieve the same purposes. The fuzzy system yielded scores that proved to be generally higher but sometimes also lower than those obtained using the five- or four-point Likert scale. Furthermore, an extension of standard procedures of the fuzzy system is suggested to obtain a fuzzy item-by-item analysis, thereby increasing the possibility of their use in social sciences.This study is a part of the project Methods and technology for innovating and re-organising teaching activity supported by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.     

Dynamics of the urban zoning structure: An empirical investigation of zoning change

This study empirically examines the role of land prices in the decision to rezone vacant land from one land use to another. Although the study of zoning and related issues is well documented, this is one of only a handful of studies that directly examines zoning changes. Unlike previous studies that treat zoning as static, acknowledging only that the current allocation of land differs from the market allocation, this study examines if the allocation of land will be reallocated (rezoned) toward a market allocation. The study is unique in that it analyzes zoning changes on an individual property basis and is based on transactions of vacant parcels. The data are drawn from a single municipality, Chicago—Illinois, allowing a uniform definition of zoning classification rather than trying to combine data under multiple zoning authorities.     

Dynamics of the urban zoning structure: An empirical investigation of zoning change

This study empirically examines the role of land prices in the decision to rezone vacant land from one land use to another. Although the study of zoning and related issues is well documented, this is one of only a handful of studies that directly examines zoning changes. Unlike previous studies that treat zoning as static, acknowledging only that the current allocation of land differs from the market allocation, this study examines if the allocation of land will be reallocated (rezoned) toward a market allocation. The study is unique in that it analyzes zoning changes on an individual property basis and is based on transactions of vacant parcels. The data are drawn from a single municipality, Chicago—Illinois, allowing a uniform definition of zoning classification rather than trying to combine data under multiple zoning authorities.     

Multi-step forecasting in emerging economies: An investigation of the South African GDP

To forecast at several, say h, periods into the future, a modeller faces a choice between iterating one-step-ahead forecasts (the IMS technique), or directly modeling the relationship between observations separated by an h-period interval and using it for forecasting (DMS forecasting). It is known that structural breaks, unit-root non-stationarity and residual autocorrelation may improve DMS accuracy in finite samples, all of which occur when modelling the South African GDP over the period 1965–2000. This paper analyzes the forecasting properties of 779 multivariate and univariate models that combine different techniques of robust forecasting. We find strong evidence supporting the use of DMS and intercept correction, and attribute their superior forecasting performance to their robustness in the presence of breaks.     

后现代资本结构理论的形成与发展:契约理论视角

后现代资本结构理论共同的特征是将资本结构看成是协调企业财务主体冲突、解决代理问题的契约制度安排.体现内生性完备契约思想的代理理论是后现代资本结构理论早期成果,其最新的发展是基于不完备契约理论的控制权状态依存观.后现代资本结构理论弥补了现代主流财务理论内在的制度性缺失,该理论也大大推动了我国内生性财务理论研究的发展.     

"双轨制"审计体制新论:改革的实施和理论辨析

本文基于现行中国人大制度和政府体制，在“双轨制”审计体制改革设想的基础上，重点对人大设立预算审计机构的现实必要性、可行性、现实依据、法律依据、机构设立、职责划分及职责履行和改革的实施步骤进行了探讨。同时，本文还对国外“双轨制”体制作了介绍。最后对影响改革实施的一些认识问题也作了理论上的辩证分析。     

Term structure models and the zero bound: An empirical investigation of Japanese yields

When Japanese short-term bond yields were near their zero bound, yields on long-term bonds showed substantial fluctuation, and there was a strong positive relationship between the level of interest rates and yield volatilities/risk premiums. We explore whether several families of dynamic term structure models that enforce a zero lower bound on short rates imply conditional distributions of Japanese bond yields consistent with these patterns. Multi-factor “shadow-rate” and quadratic-Gaussian models, evaluated at their maximum likelihood estimates, capture many features of the data. Furthermore, model-implied risk premiums track realized excess returns during extended periods of near-zero short rates. In contrast, the conditional distributions implied by non-negative affine models do not match their sample counterparts, and standard Gaussian affine models generate implausibly large negative risk premiums.     

Innovation and corporate sustainability: An investigation into the process of change in the pharmaceuticals industry

Although there has been considerable research effort directed at refining the content of corporate environmental performance, e.g. corporate environmental reporting and accounting, there has been relatively little empirical investigation to date on the process of corporate eco‐change. This research reports on the quantitative and qualitative results of a survey of German and UK pharmaceuticals firms, which evaluated the significance of the various incentives, both intra‐firm and external to the organization, that have stimulated eco‐change. We find that, although the industry is one that has been characterized by voluntary agreements and proactive behaviour in the past, regulation still remains the main driver for sustainability improvements. New technology is the second most important driver. Stakeholder dialogue and inter‐firm cooperation were both revealed to be relatively weak forces for eco‐change. The study also tested the validity of the conventional neo‐classical economic world‐view of innovation in firms versus a more radical co‐evolutionary one. The former assumes that firms respond only to profit signals and do so efficiently, whereas the latter assumes that change is path dependent; i.e., the firms’ norms and routines and past experiences are influential. We find that, although the neo‐classical perspective stands up to our empirical investigation of eco‐innovation to some degree, the co‐evolutionary approach better captures the complexity of the corporate eco‐change process. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment