Influence of Informed Buyers in Markets Susceptible to the Lemons Problem

It is shown that the presence of informed buyers is necessary but not always sufficient for producers to use prices as signals of product quality. A sufficiently high fraction of informed buyers eliminates the lemons problem. A small fraction of informed buyers mitigates the lemons problem, provided that buyers' prior belief of high quality is sufficiently pessimistic: price reveals high quality at a signaling cost which increases with market power. However, if buyers' prior belief of high quality is optimistic when the market is poorly informed, then the lemons problem is not overcome.     

Brand Personalities of Global Wine Exporters: A Collective Reputation Theory Perspective

This study examines the perceptions of the personalities that wine drinkers attribute to the wines of the six top exporting countries. An exploratory study with an inductive approach was used, and data were collected from 757 wine consumers from 22 countries. Based on the collective reputation theory, we question the use of standardized versus localized strategy when approaching international markets by the top producers of the world. By means of correspondence analysis, our results indicate that each wine producer country tends to have a different positioning among consumers from different regions of the world. Besides, it is evident that a standardized approach to marketing and promotion of a specific country’s wines to global markets could be viewed as rather myopic, representing a gross oversimplification of reality, and contradicting what our findings reveal about differences in global consumers’ perceptions of wines from the big six producers.     

Protecting Quality of Wine Exports to China: Barriers and Bridges

There is a great potential for wine to deteriorate during shipment and storage of wines being exported from the United States to China. Certification of storage conditions such as that provided by the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) is a key bridge to protecting quality and maintaining value in the auction market there. A literature review and semistructured interviews with winery managers, freight forwarders, transportation experts, and representatives of HKQAA provide qualitative analysis of barriers and bridges to protecting quality. The article presents a strong case for the adoption of storage and transportation standards for wine, such as the Wine Storage Management System implemented by HKQAA. Looking at wine exports through the lens of Total Quality Management provides the basis for recommending formal certification.     

The Importance of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Sparkling Wine Characteristics and Behavior of Sparkling Wine Consumers in Croatia

ABSTRACT

Sparkling wines accounted for 7.7% of the total wine consumption in 2011 in the world. Even though sparkling wine remains a long way behind still wine in total volume of production, world consumption of sparkling wine is expected to grow at a faster rate with an 8.5% increase by 2016. Although Croatia is a country with a high residual per capita consumption, the share of sparkling wine consumption compared with total wine consumption amounts only 1.3%. To collect data on Croatian sparkling wine consumers’ behavior and attitudes, we performed online research with 273 consumers. The research confirmed the low frequency of sparkling wine consumption. The most important characteristics of sparkling wines for Croatian consumers are their intrinsic characteristics (taste, smell) together with price:quality ratio, while visual appearance, expert reviews, or wine prizes are less important. Consumption of sparkling wines is generally associated with specific celebrations. Due to such perception of exclusive wine use, there is a need to break down this prejudice by better sparkling wine promotion through wine-tasting events, seminars, and gastronomy offers, especially for younger consumers.     

乡村善治可持续的路径探索与理论启示:来自“枫桥经验”的思考

乡村何以善治是新时代乡村治理研究的核心问题。研究这一问题需要从历史经验中寻找答案。“枫桥经验”是中国乡村善治的典范和旗帜。回顾“枫桥经验”的历史演进,发现了“枫桥经验”历久弥新的密码,找到了一条乡村善治可持续的重要路径。要始终坚持治理体系和治理能力现代化;始终坚持党的领导、政府负责、社会协同和群众参与;始终坚持自治、法治和德治有机结合;始终坚持创新发展制度体制机制。乡村善治还需要学界更关切中国情境、中国特色,以巨大的理论勇气提出彰显中国特色的乡村治理理论构念和理论体系。研究贡献在于,以治理现代化为视角,回答了乡村善治如何可持续的问题。     

Wine Tourism as an Opportunity for Tourism Development: Examples of Good Practice in Slovenia

The authors discuss wine tourism activities in the context of general tourism development in Slovenia. The country’s winegrowing areas have developed traditionally important viticulture, a relatively intensive production of typical grape varieties and in some cases also a distinct entrepreneurial spirit, which consequently reflects in tourism and regional development, based on diverse cultural heritage and natural values. Three Slovene wine regions are divided into nine wine districts with their own identities and more or less distinct terroirs. Despite a several centuries’ long tradition and a rich wine culture, it is evident that in national tourism strategies and development plans, wine tourism still does not occupy the position that it probably deserves, although most of the documents stress its potential for local or regional development. On the other hand, the authors recognize a significant interest among winemakers and tourism professionals for strategic cooperation and systematic approach to develop wine tourism in the selected destinations. The authors therefore focus on some paradoxes and emphasize examples of good practice at the national, regional, and local levels.     

The impact of geographic reputation on the value created in Champagne

With asymmetric information, consumers need to rely on the reputation of wine to define quality before the purchasing. Amongst the tools available for underlining reputation, geographic location is considered to offer high potential. Today, some wines benefit from a country's reputation, some from the renown of a region and some from the local reputation of one specific vineyard, whilst conversely some providers suffer from a weak geographic reputation. There can be a split between producers within one vineyard or region based on varying geographic reputation. This kind of split appears in Champagne, with a range of well‐known and less well‐known brands and is particularly significant to the small growers who sell wine. This study used a representative sample of these growers to examine how their location impacts on their reputation. The results show that their selling price is influenced by the local system of grading vineyard quality, their distance from traditional regional centres and the presence in their village of growers cited in a national guide.     

安徽省黄山区国有林场改革成功经验剖析

安徽省黄山区运用分类、分制、分流,成功实施了全区4个国有林场的改革,在我国率先挂牌成立生态公益型林场,实现国有林场改革平稳过渡。其成功改革实践经验,对当前我国启动国有林场改革试点工作,具有一定的借鉴作用。     

The trade distorting effects of export refunds: The case of beef exports to Africa

The usual sale of European agricultural products to Africa using export refunds has been heavily discussed in recent decades. At the centre of the discussion are the consequences on the agricultural producers in Western and Southern Africa. There are two different points of view: On the one hand, the European Union's (EU) export policy reduces the prices on these markets and relieves high burdens on local producers; on the other hand are claims that refunds do not influence local prices significantly. Hence, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has no effect on markets of third countries, besides depressing world market prices. This paper focuses on the effects of EU's export subsidies for beef exports on its market share in several developing countries. Twenty-seven African countries were analysed using a fixed-effects model between 1988 and 2000. The results clearly show a highly significant positive impact of the export refund rate on the market and the import share. With its export policy, the EU raises its market position and edges out other competitors.     

试点经验与自发秩序：宅基地立法的制度根基

研究目的:提出并解决宅基地立法的制度根基问题,以增强宅基地立法的正当性和实效性。研究方法:文本分析、规范分析等方法。研究结果:宅基地立法既要依据宅基地制度改革的试点经验,还应植根于民间自主开发利用宅基地所形成的自发秩序。正在生成的农民集体统一利用存量宅基地制度能有效回应宅基地利用的现实需求。宅基地权利主体自主开发利用宅基地所形成的自发秩序,实现了宅基地公益与私益的有机结合。研究结论:在私法体系内,维持宅基地集体所有权与宅基地使用权的二元结构,引入宅基地集体统一利用制度,以实现宅基地使用权的适度流转。在公法体系内,将农户申请宅基地、无偿取得宅基地并长期占有宅基地的合法权益升级为宅基地农户资格权。     

The Dynamics of Agricultural Biotechnology Adoption: Lessons from series rBST Use in Wisconsin, 1994–2001

This article exploits panel data from Wisconsin dairy farmers to examine the dynamics of recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) adoption and to identify the characteristics that distinguish among nonadopters, disadopters, and early and late adopters. Panel methods are used to control for omitted variables and endogenous regressors that call into question coefficient estimates derived from cross-section adoption models. The results, however, confirm previous findings that larger farms with complementary feeding technologies are more likely to adopt rBST, nonadopters appear quite unlikely to become adopters, and rBST adoption will remain at rather moderate levels in Wisconsin.     

联邦制森林治理:分权管理经验和潜在影响

80%以上的发展中国家和经济转轨国家正在进行着某种形式的分权试验。以11个国家(拥有全球森林总量60%以上)为例,简要描述了实施联邦制的主要林业国家当前的森林行政管理类型以及施政形式,认为分权后强化了跨部门联系的重要性,许多政府机构都介入了有关森林资源的各项决策;有效的森林治理取决于各种管理机构的能力;私营部门和民间组织在成功治理各种森林资源中也发挥着重要作用。从11国经验中分析了各种潜在优势、潜在危险,指出分权管理减少了中央政府的官僚和决策障碍,但会使全国性的政策协调、实施和监督变得困难。     

建设用地供应规模与结构对城市发展质量的影响研究

研究目的:分析建设用地供应规模、建设用地供应结构变化对城市发展质量的影响效应,为以提高质量为导向的新型城镇化战略提供参考。研究方法:采用构建综合指标体系的熵值法测度城市发展质量,运用空间计量模型对土地供给与城市发展质量的相关性进行验证分析。研究结果:无论是建设用地供应规模,还是建设用地供应结构(工业用地占比、商业用地占比、住宅用地占比、公共管理与公共服务用地占比),均与城市发展质量之间存在倒U型曲线变换关系,即建设用地供应规模和建设用地供应结构在服务于城市高质量发展的时候,均存在一个动态的最优值或者最优比例。研究结论:建设用地供应对城市发展质量的影响是动态调整的,需要根据建设用地供应和城市发展质量的实际情况来确定最优的建设用地供应规模和供应结构。     

西北林业计划:美国国有森林经营的经验与启示

美国西北林业计划和我国正在实施的天然林保护工程有很大的相似性,都是由政府资助的以天然林保护为目标的大型林业生态工程。美国西北林业计划针对国有森林经营中涉及的重要问题给出了适当的解决方法,这对我国正在实施的天然林保护工程具有借鉴意义。介绍美国西北林业计划的实施过程及其国有森林经营的变革,并在此基础上讨论对我国天然林保护工程的几点启示。     

日本国土空间用途管制经验与启示

研究目的:系统梳理日本国土空间的用途类型以及管制措施,为中国国土空间的用途管制提供经验借鉴。研究方法:文献分析法和综合分析法。研究结果:(1)日本国土空间规划与法律体系具有权威性,为国土空间用途管制提供了立法支撑与制度保障;(2)日本国土空间用途管制各部门、各层级职权清晰,能够统一协调国土空间用途管制工作;(3)日本尊重国土空间使用类型的多样性,实施刚柔结合的用途管制制度;(4)日本重视国土空间规划监督管理,保证了规划的实施效力;(5)日本重视国土空间的系统性,保障用途管制的整体性。研究结论:日本的国土空间用途管制经验对中国有所启示,主要包括加强国土空间用途管制立法、完善国土空间规划协调机制、确立常态化的多维国土空间用途管制监管体系、构建刚柔结合的国土空间用途管制格局、提升国土空间管制体系的完整性和系统性等。     

环境资源约束下环渤海经济圈经济增长绩效测度——基于DEA-面板回归模型的实证研究

论文以环渤海经济圈为例,采用DEA-Malmquist模型对环境资源约束下环渤海经济增长绩效进行研究,并进一步利用面板回归模型,对该地区全要素生产率的影响因素进行了实证分析。环境资源约束下,环渤海经济圈总体以及圈内各省市的全要素生产率都大于1,表明经济发展方式都都有一定程度的转变。不同的经济基础、地区工业结构以及对外开放程度会影响地区经济发展速度,同时能源利用和环境污染治理对经济增长绩效有显著负向影响。     

The Capitalisation of CAP Payments into Land Rental Prices: A Panel Sample Selection Approach

The empirical literature suggests that farmland prices and rents capitalise agricultural subsidies and that the 2003 reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, which decoupled subsidies from production and attached them to land, may have increased the extent of the phenomenon. Employing a farm‐level dataset, the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) for Italy, we investigate this issue while accounting for selectivity, endogeneity and unobserved individual heterogeneity. To understand the impact of the reform we compare the estimates of capitalisation rate for decoupled payments with those for coupled payments. After correcting for unobserved individual heterogeneity and selectivity, our results reveal no capitalisation of coupled payments and only limited capitalisation of decoupled area payments into farmland rents in Italy.