Performance Measurement and Incentive Compensation: An Empirical Analysis and Comparison of Chinese and Western Firms' Practices

This paper describes the findings of a study aimed at providing a replication and extension in China of studies focused on incentive compensation practices of automobile retailers in the USA and the Netherlands. Rich, detailed data-sets from all three countries are analysed together and in comparison. As theory is not well developed at the level of detail of the data collected, the purpose of this study was primarily exploratory, to provide empirics that can lead to the development of theory. The findings show that Chinese firms are much more likely to provide incentive compensation than are Dutch firms, and they are even somewhat more likely to provide them than are US firms. But Chinese bonus plans are more likely to be subjective, rather than formula-based. In the situations where incentive payments are based on pre-set formulas, the Chinese firms' systems are more like those used in the Netherlands than in the USA, with bonuses based on non-financial performance measures and with more complex performance–reward functions. Like managers in the US firms, but unlike managers in the Dutch firms, Chinese managers who receive some form of incentive compensation are more satisfied with their pay. The paper concludes with tentative explanations of the findings and suggestions for future research.     

反垄断与行业管制的体制冲突与改革路径

中国垄断性行业具有"三重垄断"交织在一起的特点,理顺反垄断机构和行业管制机构之间的职权配置和法律关系就成为关键.反垄断机构和行业管制机构之间的协调运行的核心原则是依法行政和职能分离,反垄断机构与行业管制机构分权合作的多元执法体制是中国反垄断与行业管制混合体制的模式选择,并确立反垄断法的优先适用.     

Inflation and Growth: Stories Short and Tall

This paper reviews the stories that economists tell about the growth effects of inflation. Informal accounts are common, but there are few models that get to grips with the effects that are probably central. Partly as a result of this, and partly as a result of many econometric problems, much of the empirical evidence remains unconvincing. The paper assesses the various contributions, and suggests possible improvements.     

城乡联系及统筹城乡的战略性问题

关于城乡联系的传统经济理论大致可归纳为城市为主导、乡村为主导、城乡一体和城乡互动三方面,新兴古典经济学的城市化理论和新经济地理学理论则为城乡联系理论增加了新的内涵.以城乡联系理论为基础并结合对建国以来城乡关系及城市化进程的历史考察,提出了统筹城乡发展应重点关注主现愿望与客观规律的矛盾、政府的角色和职责定位、城市化的地位及其道路选择等重要战略性问题并分析给出了方向性的政策建议.     

Assessment and Statistics Education: Current Challenges and Directions

The interaction between new curricular goals for students and alternative methods of assessing student learning is described. Suggestions are offered for teachers of statistics who wish to re-examine their classroom assessment practices in light of these changes. Examples are offered of some innovative assessment approaches that have been used in introductory statistics courses, and current challenges to statistics educators are described.     

Economic development and resource degradation: Conflicts and policies

The paper develops a model that shares common features with computable general equilibrium (CGE) models. It is used to address two questions. First, what are the future prospects of a green gross domestic product (GDP); should we be concerned with resource degradation or not; and, to what extent, and under which conditions? Secondly, which policies are more effective than others? Model closures are simulated using different specifications of exogenous variables. Further, alternative policies are treated: human capital, price incentives, property rights and poverty reduction. In the African context, we show that while the prospects of environment-friendly economic development, i.e. a rising green GDP, are weak in the medium-run, under certain structural conditions there is a range of effective policies that resolves the conflict between economic growth and resource degradation, thus contributing to a rising green GDP.     

Productivity Growth, Efficiency and Outsourcing in Manufacturing and Service Industries

This paper is a survey of recent contributions to, and developments of, the relationship between outsourcing, efficiency and productivity growth in manufacturing and services. The objective is to provide a thorough and up–to–date survey that provides a significant discussion on data, as well as on the core methods of measuring efficiency and productivity. First, the readers are introduced to the measurement of partial and total factor productivity growth. Different parametric and non–parametric approaches to the productivity measurement in the context of static, dynamic and firm–specific modelling are discussed. Second, we survey the econometric approach to efficiency analysis. The issues of modelling, distributional assumptions and estimation methods are discussed assuming that cross–sectional or panel data are available. Third, the relationship between outsourcing and productivity growth in manufacturing and services is discussed. The correspondence between a number of hypotheses and empirical findings are examined. Examples of varieties of relevant empirical applications, their findings and implications are presented. Fourth, measurement of inputs and outputs in manufacturing and services are discussed. Finally, to promote useful research, a number of factors important to the analysis of outsourcing, efficiency and productivity growth in the service sector are summarised.     

中小型IT企业的转型升级策略研究

随着市场竞争日趋激烈,我国中小型IT企业面临着前所未有的挑战,及时正确的转型升级成为其生存与发展的必然选择。本文对中小型IT企业的特征进行探讨,分析了其转型升级的经营要素与竞争特点,并为其转型提出了相应的策略。     

Matricvariate and matrix multivariate T distributions and associated distributions

Several distributions are studied, simultaneously in the real, complex, quaternion and octonion cases. Specifically, these are the central, nonsingular matricvariate and matrix multivariate T and beta type II distributions and the joint density of the singular values are obtained for real normed division algebras.     

Irreversibility and entropy

The genesis and role of entropy in statistical thermodynamics are discussed from first principles, showing in what respect the H-function is unique. Simplifications are introduced in the theory of fluctuations and diverse, often misleading, definitions of entropy are reconciled. The discussion is kept throughout accessible to the non-physicists.     

关于加强与改进企业退休干部管理服务工作的实践与思考

企业退休干部是我国老干部队伍的重要组成部分,是我国社会主义建设、改革开放的有功之臣,为国有企业的建立和发展作出了重要的历史性贡献。他们是巩固党的执政基础和执政地位的重要政治力量,也是不可忽视的人才资源和智力资源宝库。如何以科学发展观为指导,做好企业退休干部的管理和服务工作,对于贯彻落实党的方针政策,维护企业稳定,促进企业发展,建设和谐社会有着十分重要的意义。     

企业品牌与城市品牌的异同及互动

城市品牌和企业品牌内涵不同,但是联系密切.在深入分析了城市品牌和企业品牌的互动关系,即企业品牌对城市品牌的支撑作用以及城市品牌建设对企业品牌发展的促进作用的基础上,得到了关于促进城市品牌和企业品牌和谐发展的几点启示.     

Ownership structure and hospital service costs and fees: A decomposition approach

This paper analyzes hospital characteristics that are associated with higher average costs and charges for venipuncture, computed tomography procedures (computerized axial tomography [CAT] scans), and electrocardiograms (EKG). Using data from a Medicare database, our results indicate that higher wages, larger hospital sizes, and greater service quality are associated with higher procedure costs, whereas system membership is generally associated with lower procedure costs. Blinder‐type decompositions, which are the main focus of this study, suggest (a) that venipuncture costs are about 17% to 19% lower at proprietary hospitals than at nonprofit or government hospitals, (b) CAT scan costs are about 6% to 12% lower at nonprofit hospitals than at proprietary and government hospitals, and (c) that EKG costs are about 3% lower at proprietary hospitals than at nonprofit or government hospitals. Lastly, large portions of each of these differences are found to be due to both differences in mean values of the hospitals' characteristics by ownership type and differences in the mechanism by which the hospitals' characteristics are transmitted to procedure costs.     

空育131提纯复壮技术及栽培要点

用五年时间,通过种子"三圃"提纯方法,对优质水稻品种空育131进行穗行和株行整理,完善该品种提纯复壮及栽培技术,提高品种单产5%-8.5%。     

公共资本和私人资本的生产效率及其区域差异——基于分位数回归模型的研究

本文基于中国各省区市1994～2005年的样本数据,利用分位数回归估计了各区域和各省区市的公共资本和私人资本在各分位点的产出弹性,主要结论是:私人资本的产出弹性远远大于公共资本,私人资本的产出弹性系数均为正,且基本上显著;而对于公共资本,除少数省区市外,东中部各省区市的产出弹性系数为正,而西部省区市的弹性系数则基本上为负,且大多数并不显著。各省区市的公共资本和私人资本不仅在产出弹性大小上存在较大差异,而且在条件分布的不同分位点,其弹性的变化规律也不尽相同。     

Multiple shifts and fractional integration in the US and UK unemployment rates

This paper analyses the long-run behaviour of the US and UK unemployment rates by testing for possibly fractional orders of integration and multiple shifts using a sample of over 100 annual observations. The results show that the orders of integration are higher than zero in both series, which implies long memory. If we assume that the underlying disturbances are white noise, the values are higher than 0.5, i.e., nonstationary. However, if the disturbances are autocorrelated, the orders of integration are in the interval (0, 0.5), implying stationarity and mean-reverting behaviour. Moreover, when multiple shifts are taken into account, unemployment is more persistent in the US than in the UK, implying the need for stronger policy action in the former to bring unemployment back to its original level.     

On existence and uniqueness of maximum likelihood estimates in quantal and ordinal response models

Summary For quantal and ordinal response models, conditions on existence and uniqueness of maximum likelhood estimates are presented. Results are derived from general results on direction sets and spaces associated with a proper concave function. If each summand of the log likelihood is in any direction either strictly concave or affine, necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained. If all cell counts are strictly positive, then it is shown that estimates always exist, and that they are unique if all parameters are identifiable. If estimates exist without being unique, results on uniquely estimable linear functions are given, paralleling corresponding results in linear regression. An extension of the maximum likelihood principle is outlined yielding similar results even if the likelihood does not attain its supremum. The logit model, the linear probability model, cumulative and sequential models and binomial response models are considered in detail.     

Stock returns and economic activity in mature and emerging markets

This paper empirically investigates the dynamic interdependencies between stock returns and economic activity in mature and emerging markets. The existence, kind and strength of potential uni-directional and/or bi-directional relations are examined, running from stock returns to future economic activity and/or from economic activity to future stock returns. A bivariate VAR(12) model is applied and Granger causality tests are performed. Monthly data covering the January 1991–December 2006 period are used. The existence of an empirical relationship, with forecasting ability, between stock returns and future economic activity is confirmed. The results are strongly differentiated between mature and emerging markets.     

Intra-urban journeys and activity linkages

Data from a travel diary study of Watford residents are used to examine the linkages between successive stages of multi-stage journeys. The linkage patterns in the journeys made each day by housewives and by other adults are described. A simple model of the number of stages to which journeys are extended is presented. The numbers of journeys made each week by various population sub-groups are also described. Some implications for planning and transport prediction are discussed.     

低、常温集油方法的研究与应用

本文对低、常温集输期间存在的问题进行分析并提出相应的解决对策,摸索出运行参数界限及管理经验,针对技术瓶颈开展科研攻关,包括转油站掺水系统提压试验、环状井降温集油试验等,为常温集输的推广提供了较好的保证措施。