An exploration of parental preferences for child care services in Canada

ABSTRACT

This article explores parental preferences for child care service providers according to parents' high/low-income status. While government child care assistance programs are intended to support low-income parents, parents are challenged to find desirable service options. Multisource pilot research suggested distinct attributes and levels of parents' preferences: staff, facilities, fees, programs, and convenience. Data were collected from 152 parents using 13 child care facilities in Canada, and were analyzed using conjoint analysis. Results suggest that consumer preferences can be explained by these attributes, and that the preferences of low-income parents differed from those of high-income parents, particularly regarding price and convenience.     

Competition In Mediation Services: Modeling the Role of Expertise,Satisfaction, and Switching Costs

This article analyzes competition among mediation service providers that match clients and vendors in a horizontally differentiated market. This is an issue that is important for decision support of mediators in determining pricing and service strategies. We present a simulation model to simultaneously represent search as well as the behaviors of clients, vendors, and multiple competing mediators. Among our findings: intermediaries find it optimal to offer registration fee incentives and derive revenues from transaction fees from successful matches; as switching costs increase, incumbent utilities increase and entrant utilities decrease; expertise, modeled as the ability of mediators to assess vendor attributes accurately, is a powerful competitive weapon for entrants to erode the incumbent intermediary's first mover advantage. On the other hand, client satisfaction is an instrument for an incumbent intermediary to deter entrance by competitors.     

Factors Used by Parents in Selecting Child Care Providers

Abstract

Regardless of the type of small business, marketing research shows that understanding how consumers/clients select a particular product or service is useful when formulating a promotional program. Traditionally, marketing research results have seldom been applied to the world of child care, but child care providers have a valuable “product” to market. Child care research indicates that the most important three factors lor which parents are seeking relate to warmth, health and safety, and daily programming. In order to meet parents” (the consumers') needs, child care centers/homes should be characterized by, and advertise, these components.     

Finanzierung von intelligenten Verkehrssystemen

Recently the importance of public investment in the EU digital internal market has been increasingly stressed. The paper analyses how government subsidies for ICT investments should be assessed from an economic point of view. The focus is on the limits of financing ICT via usage-dependent user fees in broadband communication systems and in global navigation satellite systems. Both have the character of a General Purpose Technology (GPT), and they form the basis for a multitude of applications that are important in the “App economy”.     

Charity Care by Non-profit Hospitals: The Price of Tax-exempt Debt

In this paper, we study the effects of tax-exempt debt on the supply of charity care of non-profit hospitals. We hypothesize that hospitals using tax-exempt rather than taxable debt are forced to provide higher levels of charity care as a condition for gaining access to the tax-exempt market. The study uses a panel of 189 California non-profit hospitals. Hospital uncompensated care is regressed on the level of uncompensated care by other hospitals in the market, lagged values of tax-exempt and taxable debt and other control variables.The magnitude of the tax-exempt bond subsidy has a positive effect on the flow of charity care and varies positively with the charity care provided by other hospitals. We conclude that subsidies provided by tax-exempt debt are an effective media to increase the supply of charity care by hospitals. Regulators can use competition between non-profit hospitals in order to enforce the desired behavior.     

Quo vadis Kita-Beiträge?

The debate over abolishing day care fees in Germany is ongoing. Coming from an education and family economics perspective, this contribution summarises various arguments pro and contra different day care fee systems. The following questions are addressed: How much is paid in fees over the entire income distribution? How do fees differ by region and provider? And how would households react if there were no longer any day care fees? In addition to discussing the huge variety of fee systems, other issues which contribute to a very diverse day care system are also briefly described. Overall, more intense federal engagement is needed, which makes sense given the nation-wide benefits of a qualitatively high level of day care quality.     

投资移民赚钱术

有钱人踩着点儿加快移民，投资移民公司踩着点儿加快挣钱。他们用特殊手段帮你移民到境外，获得高额的咨询费及融资返款，利润惊人，其中处处都是潜规则。     

"四大"在中国A股证券审计市场的行为研究

"四大"在全球资本市场中扮演着重要的角色,很多学者直接将"四大"作为高质量审计的代名词。本文对"四大"于2003至2006年期间在中国A股证券审计市场的行为进行了研究,研究发现:"四大"的市场占有率逐年提高,同时各成员所之间也存在着激烈的竞争,较之"非四大",其选择的客户的规模大、财务质量高、ST(或*ST)客户比例低,另外,"四大"的独立性强,在相关行业已培育了显著的行业专长,能够提供高质量的审计服务,同时收取较低比率的审计费用。     

WTO subsidy rules and tariff liberalization: evidence from accession of China

Countries increasingly rely on subsidies to assist their producers leading to concerns about their potential misuse. The WTO regulates its members’ subsidies by defining subsidies that are permissible, as well as by providing means to retaliate against subsidies of partner countries if these subsidies hurt one's interest. However, these subsidy rules might have an unintended effect. As both subsidies and tariffs are substitute instruments of protection, tighter subsidy rules might lead to a decrease in the pace of tariff liberalization. In this paper, we present first empirical evidence in support of this prediction. Using China's accession to the WTO in 2001 as a case study, we show that China's accession to the WTO was associated with a relative increase in its tariffs for products that faced a higher threat of retaliation against subsidies. More importantly, we also show that increases in tariff were larger in products with higher potential costs imposed by retaliation. Finally, we include several robustness tests as well as conduct two counterfactual exercises to verify that the results we obtain are indeed due to perceived threat of retaliation against subsidies.     

‘Hands Across the Water’: Canadian Industrial Financiers in the City of London, 1905–20

This article traces the emergence of Canadian industrial financiers and their links to the British capital market before the Great War. Within a few years, these individuals evolved from bond salesmen to investment bankers channelling capital from British and North American investors to Canadian industry. Between 1908 and 1912, a select group of these financiers established branches of their investment houses in the City and conducted flotations on behalf of their Canadian clients. Judging by the case of Max Aitken (later Lord Beaverbrook), Canadian financiers did so to circumvent the high fees and, at times, poor service offered by the City investment banks, and to increase their own profits. The financial depression of 1913 and the outbreak of the Great War slowed and then stopped Canadian industrial flotations in London. Thereafter, Canadian security issues were redirected to the North American capital market, particularly the United States.     

利用“绿箱政策”促进我国农业健康快速发展

文章在归纳总结WTO“绿箱政策”主要内容的基础上,分析了我国农业补贴的现状,总结了我国利用“绿箱政策”存在的主要问题:“绿箱补贴”的总量偏少、利用有空白、结构不甚合理、方式不甚科学等。针对上述问题,提出了完善“绿箱政策”的十大对策:增加总量,加快农业基础设施建设,缩减粮食安全投入,增加农业科技投入,发展农业保险网络,强化对农民收入的支持力度,削减价格补贴数额,加大对中西部地区农业的扶持力度,扩大和提高农民培训的广度和深度,创新完善法律制度。     

Do firms manipulate earnings after winning public-private partnership bids? Evidence from China

We examine whether firms manipulate their reported earnings after winning investment project bids. China's adoption of the public-private partnership (PPP) provides a unique setting for our analysis. Using the PPP announcements to identify the firms participating in PPP projects, we find that firms conduct both accrual-based and real earnings management after PPP participation. Our findings survive difference-in-differences design with different matching methods. We document that PPP-participating firms have strong incentives to manipulate earnings because of abnormal administrative expenditure and greater short-term performance pressure than non-PPP-participating firms. The auditors respond by charging higher audit fees due to the increased risk. Moreover, government subsidies relieve performance pressure and decrease the likelihood of earnings management among PPP-participating firms. Overall, this study documents the unintended consequences of PPP participation.     

Was ist von der Familienpolitik der Großen Koalition zu erwarten?

A major evaluation of family policies in Germany came to the primary conclusions that family leave and early childhood education and care policies are effective. Specific German tax regulations, however, are less effective, as they decrease the incentives, especially for mothers, to return to the labour market or increase the number of hours they work. The tax regulations for couples, in particular, should be reformed, as this would offer funding possibilities for other worthwhile policies. However, it should not be forgotten that tax regulations are not just aimed at family policies. Indeed, their primary function is to reduce the burden on families and to keep them out of poverty, as demanded by the Germany Federal Constitutional Court. Given the findings of this evaluation, the new German government plans to implement policies which make sense but which do not go far enough. Public child care has been shown to increase maternal employment, household income and fertility in Germany. There are good reasons to invest further in public child care for young children; however, the focus should not only be on the quantity but also the quality of care.     

审计师规模、审计费用与审计意见购买

本文引入审计师规模作为审计师特征的代理变量,区分审计费用的异常升高与降低以及审计意见的改善与恶化,并进一步考虑到审计师规模对异常审计收费和审计意见之间作用关系可能存在的调节效应,研究以审计师规模为代表的审计师特征和实际发生的异常审计费用对管理层审计意见购买行为的影响。     

政府就业补贴、劳动保护政策的就业促进效应——基于沪深A股上市企业数据的分析

就业是民生之本,关乎人民生活福祉和社会稳定。为了让企业吸纳更多就业,政府对企业进行了大量补贴。基于沪深A股上市企业数据,本文聚焦政府就业补贴、劳动保护政策与就业这个主题进行探讨。研究表明,政府补贴有助于推动企业吸纳更多就业,劳动保护能够协同政府补贴促进就业,政府补贴通过“政治许诺效应”和“融资效应”影响就业,地方人力资本积累强化了政府补贴对就业的正向影响;与资本密集型企业相比,劳动密集型企业的政府补贴强化就业的效应更明显;政府补贴增加了企业产生冗余雇员的可能性,冗余雇员在政府补贴对企业生产率的负向影响中发挥了部分中介作用。     

The Ethics of Slotting: Is this Bribery, Facilitation Marketing or Just Plain Competition?

The practice of manufacturers' payments of fees to retailers for the display and sale of their products has become a common practice. In the grocery retail business, the fees paid by manufacturers are called slotting fees, or a payment made for a slot on the shelf. The same practice is used now in the retail book industry. Large book chains command high fees from publishers for the prominent display of books. Entrepreneur's products are often precluded from stores and markets because slotting fees are prohibitive. The fees are non-uniform and often paid in cash, creating an atmosphere that has already spawned illegal activity on the part of retail executives. This article examines the ethics of slotting fees.     

具有住房反抵押选择权的长期护理保险定价研究

本文在长期护理保险中嵌入住房反抵押贷款选择权,提出一个新的长期护理保险产品方案,并给出其定价模型。同时,根据对未来房屋价值、利率、死亡率等因素的预测,模拟计算具有住房反抵押选择权的长期护理保险的合约费以及可获得的给付金额。研究结果表明,与一般长期护理保险产品相比,具有住房反抵押贷款选择权的长期护理保险可以以当前相对较低的合约费为未来出现生活不能自理状态的老年人提供较多的收入,并可保留房屋的使用权至终生。     

Rethinking international subsidy rules

Geo-economic tensions, notably associated with the rise of China, and global collective action problems—climate change and the COVID-19pandemic—call for international cooperation to revise and develop rules to guide both the use of domestic subsidies and responses by governments to cross-border competition spillover effects. Current WTO rules dividing all subsidies into prohibited or actionable categories are no longer fit for purpose. Piecemeal efforts in preferential trade agreements and bi- or trilateral configurations offer a basis on which to build but are too narrow in scope. Addressing spillover effects of subsidies could start with G20 countries launching a work programme to mobilise an epistemic community concerned with subsidy policies, tasked with building a more solid evidence base on the magnitude, purpose and effects of subsidy policies. The need for such cooperation has become even more pressing by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated increase in the use of subsidy programmes in major economies.     

教育支出规模与方式对生育水平的影响

本文构建了一个两期的世代交叠模型,通过理论演绎发现,如果公共财政教育支出让家庭感知到其作为生育补贴的方式进入家庭生育决策模型中,那么增加公共财政教育支出的确会促进社会生育。进一步采用2006-2017年省级面板数据,进行经验研究和异质性分析发现:增加公共财政教育支出会促进社会生育但不显著;教育早期阶段财政投入越大,越会显著地促进社会生育,尤其在幼儿园阶段,财政教育支出每增加1%,出生率上升0.495‰;相比补贴给教育供方,补贴给教育需方家庭的财政教育支出更可能会促进社会生育,等等。给我们的政策启示在于,让民众感知到财政教育支出对生育成本的降低作用,加大幼儿园以及学前的财政教育支出,增强对教育需求方家庭的补贴。     

分析师能发现审计合谋吗？--基于我国上市公司的经验证据

以异常审计收费作为审计合谋的代理变量,研究分析师是否能发现审计合谋行为。研究发现,分析师跟踪人数会随异常审计费用的增加而显著减少,这说明分析师能觉察到审计合谋可能带来的风险,并通过放弃跟踪该公司的方式向市场传递信息;进一步研究发现,分析师对上市时间较长的公司,以及民营上市公司的异常审计费用更为敏感,跟踪数量下降较为明显。