美日物流法律制度比较及对我国的启示

美国和日本拥有世界上最发达的物流业,他们的物流法律制度各有特点。通过两国物流法律制度的比较可以为刚刚起步的我国物流法律制度提供经验和发展方向。本文总结美日两国物流法律制度的特点并从中得到一些启示。     

Corporate citizenship in Germany and the United States – differing perceptions and practices in transatlantic comparison

Because of the declining fiscal capabilities of the German welfare state and the resulting reductions in social services provided by the government, increasing attention has been given to the voluntary social engagement of businesses, often referred to as corporate citizenship. In that context, scholars and politicians alike have pointed to the United States as a country with a strong corporate citizenship culture and advocated a transatlantic transfer of the respective practices. Against this background, it is the first aim of this paper to examine the socio‐economic environment for corporate citizenship in both countries. Second, it will be investigated if corporate citizenship is really practiced more widely in the United States than in Germany and what forms of corporate citizenship are used by businesses. For that purpose, the corporate citizenship activities of the 100 largest companies in the United States and Germany each will be analyzed. Results show that more US than German companies undertake corporate citizenship activities and apply a wider variety of different forms. The possibilities for a transatlantic transfer are limited because of the differences in the cultural and political systems of both countries.     

中美经贸摩擦背景下维系中美科创合作关系的对策建议

自2018年以来,持续升级的中美经贸摩擦给中美科创合作带来了严重冲击。本文首先从当前中美科创合作形势出发,全面总结了当前中美科创合作面临的直接冲击。其次通过剖析中美两国在未来大国竞争格局下的战略利益,分析了两国科创产业的长期合作趋势。最后,本文提出了中国在当前形势下维系中美科创合作关系的可行性对策建议,以期为中国制定对美科技、经济和外交等方面的竞合战略提供有益的借鉴和参考。     

中美、日美纺织品贸易摩擦比较及其启示

基于对日美、中美纺织品贸易摩擦状况的回顾,本文提出在贸易摩擦中提高产业国际竞争力,利用贸易摩擦推动国内产业结构升级,借鉴日本贸易谈判应对经验,抵制贸易摩擦给人民币升值和资本市场开放带来的压力,更多地运用世贸组织等多边贸易摩擦解决机制等建议。     

Distributional effects of environmental taxes on transportation: evidence from Engel curves in the United States

Indirect taxes on transportation activities that pollute can correct externalities and close the gaps between private and social costs. However, policy makers often find such Pigou taxes difficult to implement because of political resistance due to possibly adverse affects on equity. For this reason it is important to assess the distributional aspects of environmental levies. This article estimates properties of the demand for transportation in parametric and non-parametric analyses of Consumer Expenditure Surveys for the United States and finds patterns in the resulting set of Engel curves. Private transportation using air flights and new cars has Engel elasticity above unity while public transportation via mass transit has Engel elasticity below unity. The findings can be interpreted in an important way since they show that a differentiated scheme of environmental taxes on transportation may function progressively. A Pigou scheme with larger taxes on modes of transportation that pollute more appears to coincide with larger levies on luxury modes preferred by richer households.     

中国农产品质量安全追溯体系的出口贸易效应分析

近些年来各国政府和组织更加重视农产品质量安全追溯体系的建设,发达国家相继对出口到当地的农产品作出的可追溯性要求,凸显了中国农产品质量安全追溯体系的出口贸易效应。本文在梳理相关研究文献和总结国内外农产品追溯体系实施现状的基础上,添加"是否可追溯"这一变量,运用扩张后的贸易引力模型,利用1992-2010年我国农产品主要出口数据,就中国农产品追溯体系实施的贸易效应进行实证检验。研究发现,欧盟、美国和日本等主要进口国家和地区的追溯性要求对中国农产品的出口产生了积极的贸易促进效应,根据这一实证结论提出,应该从政府支持和消费者认可两个方面采取措施,推动中国农产品质量安全追溯体系建设。     

浙江农村安全饮用水供给体制和运行机制创新——基于市场化供给的视角

保障农村安全饮用水是新时期我国政府全面建设小康社会、构建社会主义和谐社会的重要举措,浙江省自2003年实施“千万农民饮用水工程”以来,建设成效显著,但也暴露出诸多问题,急需对此进行总结和完善。本文从制度、体制和机制层面剖析了浙江省农村安全水供给存在的问题,并在此基础上寻求诸如如何建立农村安全饮用水多元化供给体系,如何健全管理体制以推动饮用水工程良性运行,如何完善监测体系以保证农村饮用水安全等完善举措。     

Friends like this: The impact of the US–China trade war on global value chains

This paper considers the indirect impact the recent tariff increases between the United States and China can have on third countries through links in global supply chains. We combine data from input–output relationships, imports and tariffs, to calculate the impact of the tariff increases by both the United States and China on cumulative tariffs paid by third countries. We show that the tariff hikes increase cumulative tariffs for other countries and thus hurt trade partners further downstream in global supply chains. We also show that this is particularly important for tariff increases on Chinese imports in the United States. These are likely to be used as intermediates in production in the United States, which are then re-exported to third countries. The most heavily hit third countries are the closest trade partners, namely the EU, Canada and Mexico. We estimate that the tariffs impose an additional burden of around 500 million to 1 billion US dollars on these countries. China's tariffs on US imports have less of an effect.     

美欧地理标志之争对东亚的影响

美国与欧盟的地理标志之争,对东亚产生了重大影响。首先,促使东亚地理标志法律保护意识崛起。"地理标志"概念被移植,国内地理标志法律保护体系得以形成。其次,导致东亚地理标志保护立场分化。日本、台湾地区成为"亲美派",中国大陆及韩国则保持中立。再次,促使东亚地理标志国际摩擦受到关注。东亚"中立派"在地理标志之争中的态度将逐渐趋于明确;"官民协作"将成为东亚地理标志维权的一大发展趋势。     

Implementing QFD for Improving Quality in Education

Abstract

In these times of changing student demographics, diminishing government funding, and dramatically increased competition, educational institutions in the United States have discovered the need for implementing the principles of total quality management. With resources becoming more limited, efficiency and effectiveness in meeting the needs of the customer becomes more critical. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the quality function deployment (QFD) method can be used to measure customer satisfaction in educational institutions. Specifically, this paper reviews TQM concepts in an educational context, briefly summarizes the application of these concepts at several institutions, and demonstrates the QFD principles as utilized to review the MBA program at Grand Valley State University. By using the QFD method as a model, this paper demonstrates how a complex process can become manageable.     

美国能源税收政策及启示

随着家用汽车的普及和生产过程中能源需求的急剧增加,美国国内的能源供应日趋紧张。在能源紧缺和环境污染日趋严峻的双重压力下,美国政府近期大幅度调整了与能源生产和消费相关的一系列税收政策。本文介绍了近30年来美国的能源及相关税收政策,分析了各项能源税收政策对纳税人和一般消费者产生的影响,在此基础上对我国的能源税收政策改革提出了若干政策建议。     

Adequacy versus equivalency: Financial data protection and the U.S.–EU divide

In 1995, the European Union passed Directive 95/46/EC, which set the legal framework for European Union citizens to own the rights to their personal data. However, American law bestows ownership to the holder of the data, not the individual, and officials feared the European Union initiative might disrupt data sharing among United States and European Union affiliates. Thus, they negotiated the 2000 Safe Harbor Agreement to allow companies to voluntarily submit to yearly certifications that fulfilled European Union demands, but kept U.S. businesses in control of their data; nevertheless, the Agreement does not include financial and banking services. Instead, the United States argued that the privacy protections within the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act adequately fulfilled European Union guidelines. The European Union disagreed and financial data sharing has operated under a moratorium for the past decade. However, the 2008 financial crisis has governments and clients clamouring for more data transparency to determine risk in the financial system. These global efforts, the European Union's recent push to strengthen the Directive, and the Dodd-Frank Act have pushed data sharing to the policy forefront. This article asserts that transatlantic data sharing will ultimately have to accommodate the privacy cultures in both the United States and the European Union, but firms must be prepared to cope with demands on their data by establishing government relations offices, standardizing information systems, enhancing education for compliance officers, and improving business school curricula.     

我国农产品物流渠道分析及对策建议

美、日、法三国农业生产和流通在全球具有很强的代表性,其典型特征是渠道短、环节少,我国农产品物流渠道建设应借鉴其经验,结合我国国情,充分发挥政府在农产品物流渠道建设中的作用,尽可能缩短物流环节,加快农产品冷链物流发展,提高农产品物流的信息化水平,培育第三方物流主体。     

An Interim Assessment of the US Trade Policy of ‘Competitive Liberalization’

Since 2001, the Administration of George W. Bush has pursued a trade policy known as Competitive Liberalization. This policy envisages a series of mutually‐reinforcing and sequential steps to open markets abroad to US companies, to strengthen market‐oriented laws and regulations overseas, and to place the United States at the centre of the world trading system. Foreign and security policy considerations have influenced US trade policy making, perhaps more so than in the 1990s. To date the principal outcome of this policy has been the negotiation by the United States of numerous free trade agreements, mainly with developing countries, individually or in sub‐regional groupings. In addition to characterising this policy in detail, the principal purpose of this paper is to assess the logic underlying this approach to trade policy making and whether Competitive Liberalization has begun to fulfil the promise spelled out for it at the beginning of this decade.     

The Uses of Business History

In the 1960s small computers emerged in the United States, based on the new semiconductor technology. Originally developed for use in industrial automation, they soon began to compete with the established mainframe computers. A number of British firms entered the new market, including diversified electronic goods manufacturers, enterpreneurial start-ups, and office machinery suppliers. The Wilson government saw small computers as a central element of industrial modernisation, and thus a part of its solution to Britian's economic decline. The Ministry of Technology was given twin objectives: to support industrial modernisation and to promote the British small computer manufacturers. However, US-built systems proved more competitive, and by the mid-1970s they had come to dominate the industry, with the few remaining British firms relegated to niche markets. The paper concludes that government involvement in the industry was well-guided, but ineffectual, and that organisational cultures were to a large extent responsible for the British companies' decline.     

Horseshoes, global supply chains, and an emerging Chinese threat: Creating remedies one idea at a time

The horseshoe shape offers a model from which the complex relationships currently linking most Chinese and United States supply chain partners can be productively visualized. Wielded metaphorically, the horseshoe also illustrates how a momentous global trend may be rising within many Chinese-American supply chains, and why that trend might impose serious threats against United States economic interests for years to come. Because the trend exists independent of almost all domestic firms’ potential responses, only rarely can an associated domestic threat be eliminated within a particular United States/Chinese supply chain. Most United States firms possess a critical capability that could diminish the force of the emerging Chinese threat: the ability to manage and execute key supply chain functions more creatively. As the horseshoe illustrates, many domestic firms may soon be compelled to become more creative. To address this need, a supply chain creativity matrix model is developed in this article. The model demonstrates how domestic supply chain firms can stimulate and identify superior ideas amongst their managerial and subordinate ranks, therefore expanding the firm's creative efficiency in the strategic execution of key supply chain functions. Those firms should be better able to defend themselves against these emerging Chinese threats.     

What are the drivers of channel length? Distribution reform in The People's Republic of China

The objective of this paper is to develop a model for analyzing the relative importance of the predictors of channel length. Identifying and explaining the factors that influence channel length is one of the most important tasks of channel research. The focus of this paper is The People's Republic of China (hereafter, PRC). The PRC is in transition from a planned to a market economy. As the economy evolves from a planning orientation to a market orientation, distribution structure reform is a critical factor in this process. Yet, very little is known about the factors that shape a nation's channel system. Understanding how improvements in distribution systems contribute to economic development can aid decision-makers in developing countries to improve resource allocation.Drawing from channel structure theory, the proposed model hypothesizes that channel length is a function of economic development, consumption, consumer mobility/outreach, urbanization and government policy. Both cross-sectional and time-series analyses were used for hypothesis testing. The results show that economic development, government policy and consumption are predictors of channel length. These findings show that government policy can aid market reform as economic development takes place, Moreover, the findings show that the evolution of distribution channels is not unidirectional as hypothesized by some, but channels may evolve from short to long and then shorten again.     

中外创业板监管制度比较

纵观国外运行比较成功的创业板,如美国、英国、日本和韩国,可以发现每个国家的创业板监管制度都具有差异性,而这些差异性都与各个国家的国情差异息息相关。文章通过比较美国、英国、日本、韩国和中国等运行较为成功的创业板市场监管制度的差异,分析了造成各国创业板监管制度差异的原因,并结合我国国情和创业板发展的实际情况,提出应根据我国创业板的不同发展时期,调整监管理念的侧重点;尝试将强制性信息披露和定制性信息披露结合起来以提高保荐人的进入门槛;加强对保荐机构的规范和监管,建立和完善创业板场外市场,解决退市后的去留问题等,进一步完善创业板监管制度。     

Impact of the Community Reinvestment Act on New Business Start‐Ups and Economic Growth in Local Markets*

Economic growth in the United States has historically bypassed many minorities and low‐income communities. Some researchers and community advocates assert that the deterioration of these communities is in part caused by financial institutions' redlining and neglect. To rectify the situation, the government introduced the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) for the purpose of encouraging banks and saving institutions to become more socially responsible and help meet the credit needs of communities in which they are located. The CRA was the government's response to bank lending discrimination. However, when passing the Act, Congress was equally concerned with reversing or at least halting disinvestment from inner‐city communities and in turn revitalizing local economies. Many believe that the availability of credit to establish, refinance, and improve small businesses is critical to the well‐being of local communities. Therefore, through the provision of small business loans, the CRA could be envisioned as a catalyst toward achieving that goal. Thus the aim of this paper is to investigate potential relationship between banks' CRA lending activities, and new business start‐ups and economic growth in local markets. The paper proposes that new start‐ups will have spillover effects that will consequently contribute to community development. After controlling for several potential variables that could have an impact on business start‐ups and community developments, the study found a strong positive effect. Beside its social and economic implications, the study also considered policy implications associated with the CRA regulation as a welfare improving initiative in low‐income communities. It offers ground for certain government intervention in the loan market.