Political economy of international diversification: The case for partial integration

The literature on international portfolio diversification explored the benefits of international diversification and the pricing of securities in an international context largely from the perspective of an integrated world capital market. Imperfections in the international markets were acknowledged as exogenous variables added to the basically integrated market, and their effects on security prices, consequences of diversification,etc, were then measured. All studies are related, explicitly or implicitly to two extreme situations. One extreme situation is complete segmentation, the other is perfect market integration. This paper begins with a literature review to illustrate the inadequacy of either of the extreme situations described above. A case of partial integration where the barriers are an endogenous part of the model is then presented. Indirect and circumstantial evidence that the international financial markets are partially integrated by design, and not as a result of market failures, is then presented as a preliminary validation of the partial integration model.The authors are thankful for the very valuable comments of Professor Peter Kaus of UCR.     

Farm subsidies and obesity in the United States: National evidence and international comparisons

Many commentators have claimed that farm subsidies have contributed significantly to the “obesity epidemic” by making fattening foods relatively cheap and abundant. But U.S. farm policies have generally small and mixed effects on farm commodity prices, which in turn have even smaller and still mixed effects on the relative prices of more- and less-fattening foods. Other factors have had much more influence on reducing the farm prices of food commodities and the consumer prices of food such that any effects of U.S. farm policies on U.S. obesity patterns must have been negligible. Moreover, while many arguments can be made for changing U.S. farm subsidies, even entirely eliminating the current programs could not be expected to have a significant influence on obesity rates. International evidence reinforces this finding. The countries that support their farmers most strongly tend to have relatively low obesity rates. In these countries the main support for farmers comes through trade barriers and higher consumer prices, which—like U.S. policies for sugar, dairy, orange juice, and beef—discourage consumption and reduce obesity. In contrast with agricultural subsidies, agricultural R&D has had a significant effect in the past on the relative price of food commodities and food, and has the potential to influence obesity patterns in the future, but R&D policy is a very blunt instrument for pursuing public health policy objectives.     

Technical trading system performance in the Australian share market: Some empirical evidence

This study incorporates Australian All Ordinaries Share Price Index time series data over the period 1987–1991, and firstly considers the ability of technical trading systems to generate returns greater than a Buy-Hold control. Secondly it aims to test for the weak-form efficiency of the Australian Share Market. Efficiency is considered in both the statistical context and in terms of the trading system's net returns. Statistical test results provide the Australian share market to be weak-form efficient. In confirmation of this result, none of the trading systems employed were able to earn a return greater to the Buy-Hold control strategy once transactions costs were taken into consideration.The authors are Senior Lecturer and Associate Lecturer respectively, at the Department of Economics and Finance, University of Western Sydney — Macarthur, P.O. Box 555, Campbelltown, NSW 2560, fax: 61-46-266683. The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the valuable comments received from M. Aiken and participants at the Third International Conference on Asian-Pacific Financial Markets.     

Trade and invasive species risk mitigation: Reconciling WTO compliance with maximising the gains from trade

This paper analyses the issue of balancing the gains from trade with the risk of pest and disease transference. Two decision frameworks for determining whether or not to permit trade in a potentially invasive species-carrying good are presented. The first considers only the potential production losses resulting from an invasive species entering through a trade pathway, as is prescribed by WTO compliance. The second is a unilateral welfare-maximising approach which considers the consumer gains from trade, the loss of domestic producers’ market share and expected damage from the invasive species. It is shown that these alternative decision frameworks can be reconciled such that they produce the same outcome regarding whether or not trade is to be permitted. The key parameters which influence these decisions are also highlighted.     

Strategies for the exploitation of intelligence capital: evidence from Hungarian Research Institutes

This paper is based on survey interviews with 64 respondents conducted in four Hungarian Research Institutes during the spring of 1993. The main objective of the research was to assess progress made with the exploitation of intellectual property contained within these bodies. This investigation has two subsidiary goals. First, given a rapid decline in funding provision by the Hungarian government for these organisations, an initial task of the work was to ascertain the actual and potential financial contribution that has been made from consultancy activities and new 'spin off firms. Second, existing 'spin off firms which had emanated from these sources were examined to ascertain if they had potential for providing industrial growth in the local Hungarian economy. The paper concludes, on the basis of detailed evidence, that progress has been disappointing, and moreover, that severe barriers to the achievement of both these goals continue to exist within the Hungarian economy. Coherent planning will be necessary to exploit potentials which are in danger of being lost through the haemorrhaging of staff to foreign employment opportunities.     

采用国际标准管理办法

第一章　总　则第一条　为了发展社会主义市场经济、减少技术性贸易壁垒和适应国际贸易的需要 ,提高我国产品质量和技术水平 ,促进采用国际标准工作的发展 ,依据《中华人民共和国标准化法》及其实施条例 ,参照世界贸易组织和国际标准化组织的有关规定 ,并结合我国的实际情况 ,制定本办法。第二条　采用国际标准是指将国际标准的内容 ,经过分析研究和试验验证 ,等同或修改转化为我国标准 (包括国家标准、行业标准、地方标准和企业标准。下同 ) ,并按我国标准审批发布程序审批发布。第三条　国际标准是指国际标准化组织(ＩＳＯ)、国际电工委员…     

Idea-generation for industrial firms—report on an international investigation

In Germany a general interest in creativity and methods of idea-generation for industrial use arose in the late '60s, although initially knowledge was largely confined to catchwords; additionally insufficient experience hampered the appropriate diffusion of idea-generation techniques. For these reasons the Battelle-lnstitut e. V. at Frankfurt in 1971 initiated an extensive experimental research project in the field of creative idea-generation in industry. The most essential results from the research can be summarized as follows: 1. Synopses of methods of idea-generation in worldwide use enabled these methods to be grouped into six categories: Brainstorming methods (1), Brainwriting methods (2), Methods of creative orientation (3), Creative confrontation (4), Systematical structuring (5) and Systematical problem specification (6). 2. Investigations enabled the optimum conditions to be specified for applying Brainstorming, Brainwriting, Synectics and Morphological Analysis (which have to be considered as key methods) in respect to e. g. group size, group structure, leadership style. 3. Proposals were suggested for classifying problems into five different problem types (search, analysis, constellation, selection and consequence problems) together with recommendations on which problem type can be treated most efficiently with the available methods. 4. Recommendations were made on how the various methods of idea-generation can be integrated into complex problem-solving processes. 5. Original developments were reported of twelve alternative methods of idea-generation by the Battelle research team, e.g. TILMAG (reported in this paper), Sequential Morphology, Visual Synectics and Hypotheses Matrix. The investigations also led to the conclusions that further research was particularly needed in problem classification, processes of analysing problems, procedures of evaluating ideas, and different techniques for prompting ideas.     

关于石油企业打造国际化经营“合作升级版”的若干思考

在全球石油市场进入低景气周期、国内经济进入新常态、国际同行跨国经营形成最佳实践、国家提出“一带一路”战略的新形势下,石油企业须积极打造国际化经营“合作升级版”,这是打造世界级企业、实现央企转型升级的必由之路.石油企业打造国际化经营“合作升级版”需要树立新思路以实现国家能源安全观、企业发展理念、“走出去”深度广度、货币结算体系方面的“四个转变”,需要构筑“1+1+6+5+N+1”的油气合作新格局、打造数个投资与技术服务项目集群以及贸易营运中心、优化资产组合和业务布局、实现管控模式升级、构建能源金融合作机制等新任务,需要防控好内部决策、地缘政治、国别政治与安全、资源国财税政策、依法合规运营等风险.提出为企业合理优化资产结构及业务布局提供政策指导和支持、逐步打造企业全球化运营管理系统、构建全球安保防恐的信息和情报系统,以及将中国与中亚、中东和非洲的油气合作上升至国家战略层面等改革与政策建议.     

电玩具国际市场准入研究

电玩具的安全性,一直都备受关注,各进口国都制定了电玩具相关的法规、标准及合格评定要求,以确保该国进口电玩具的安全。了解和熟悉各个国家对电玩具的市场准入要求,对促进我国电玩具企业出口具有重要意义。本文介绍了电玩具的三大分类,电玩具的国际标准和各国玩具标准中对电玩具的电安全性能和电磁兼容要求以及电玩具合格评定要求等,以期为电玩具企业提供参考。