亚太自由贸易区的经济与环境效应及中国的策略选择

本文研究亚太自由贸易区(FTAAP)的经济与环境效应,尝试从经济、贸易与环境利益综合平衡的角度为中国的FTAAP战略提出建议。量化突出了削减非关税措施(NTMs)的影响,在GTAP9数据库基础上,通过CGE模型,开展多种政策试验。研究结果表明:FTAAP能够带动中国和区域内多数经济体贸易额、GDP、社会福利等的增加,有利于促进亚太地区经济增长;FTAAP对于中国的环境影响由规模效应主导,总体上增加污染排放,但削减NTMs方案情景和自由化中方案情景的结构效应可以促进中国行业结构优化,有助于减少多种污染排放。中国应积极推进FTAAP的建设与积极推进,将其作为实现在亚太区域经贸利益的重要抓手。中国不应排斥甚至应积极推动在FTAAP条文中设置环境条款和章节,在实现经贸利益的同时兼顾环境利益。     

The Contingency Effects of Supplier Influence Strategies and Their Implications for Retailer Cooperation

Abstract

The success of manufacturers' consumer marketing programs often hinges on whether they are implemented at the retail level. Manufacturers use various influence strategies to persuade retailers to adopt their marketing programs. We investigate how well those influence strategies shape the retailers' positive attitudes toward their suppliers' marketing programs. We find that the effectiveness of those influence strategies depends upon the extent of uncertainty in the retailers' market. We also find that the manufacturer's investment in specific assets to support its relationship with the retailer strongly affects the retailer's attitude toward the supplier's programs.     

美欧TTIP谈判的重要议题及其对中国的启示

TTIP旨在建立跨大西洋彼岸的共同自由贸易区,谈判历时5年,从搁置到重启,再到搁置,进程曲折。TTIP第15回合取得了实质性的进展,特别是在市场准入、监管等领域表现的尤为突出。但是在贸易关税减让条目、服务贸易、劳工问题、政府采购、投资争端解决机制等问题上始终存在分歧,最终TTIP能否取得谈判成功在很大程度上仍需要美欧双方在这些敏感领域做出让步和妥协。在这些议题中劳工问题、政府采购、投资争端解决机制一直是中国自由贸易协定的短板。面对来自TTIP的挑战,中国应重视规则不够健全的领域,积极参与双边和多边自贸协定的谈判,逐步建立与国际接轨的高标准的自贸区网络体系。     

The Business of Commercial Legal Advice and the Ethical Implications for Lawyers and Their Clients

Company directors and executives seek legal advice outside the company on a regular basis. This advice is meant to be given within the context of the lawyers’ professional obligations and ethical practise. What clients may not appreciate is there is often a conflict of interest between the lawyers’ professional and ethical concerns and the legal advice business. If lawyers follow their business interests, their advice may be incomplete especially in relation to the ethical consequences of that advice. This could lead to a compromise of the clients’ commercial interests and even raise doubts in relation to the legality of the clients’ proposed course of action.     

“入世”对温州民营企业的影响和对策

本文在分析“入世”对温州民营企业机遇与挑战的基础上,针对温州民营企业现状,提出温州民营企业,在机制创新和追求“地区和零部件规模经济效益”的同时,应充分利用网络经济带来的发展机遇,把观念创新、技术创新、市场创新有机结合起来,接受全球经济一体化的考验。     

Economic Sectors in Egypt and Their Managerial Implications

Abstract

This study uses ethnographic data collection methods to investigate entrepreneurial sectors and types in Egypt. First, three sectors-formal, informal, and state controlled-were identified. Their characteristics and business practices were discussed. In the formal sector relationships rely on a set of impersonally defined relationships and transactions maximize benefits based on rational decision making. The bazaar sector transactions are numerous and rely on personal relationships. The state controlled sector is bureaucratic and aims to minimize competition. Second, the role of Egypt's Small Enterprise Credit Program in assisting entrepreneurs in the informal sector was discussed. Last, the managerial implications were presented.     

Demographic Effects of Work Values and Their Management Implications

A survey of 316 participants from Chinese enterprises indicated that the level of their work values was more likely in line with increasing age and education, and associated with employment position and gender. The older the employees, the higher the work values they perceive. The higher the education one receives, the higher the work values he or she counts. Managers rate higher work values than the employees do, and male employees show higher work value perceptions than do those of females. The results of the study suggest that the employees’ age, education, position and gender are important antecedents of work values, and these demographic effects can be a good revelation to enterprise management in both theory and practice.     

基础设施、空间溢出对中国与周边国家间贸易的影响

本文揭示了基础设施互联互通在中国的对外贸易中所发挥的独特作用。在理论建模与实证研究当中,本文将基础设施跟要素禀赋结构结合起来考察中国与周边国家的进出口贸易,并关注了以下两个方面的差异:要素禀赋结构的地区性差异;中国在进口与出口方面的差异。以中国—东盟及上合组织区域为对象,采用2000—2015年的面板数据,本文的实证研究得到以下主要结论:(1)中国的基础设施增长提高了本国的进口依存度,对邻国亦然,这说明基础设施的本地效应为正。(2)邻国基础设施对中国具有空间溢出,其增长提高了中国的进口依存度;中国的基础设施对邻国同样具有空间溢出,且提高了邻国的进口依存度。这说明基础设施互联互通有助于中国与邻国的贸易融合。此外,本文未发现负的基础设施空间溢出效应。(3)基础设施的本地效应与空间溢出效应之间存在替代关系。     

Impacts of Insurance on the Demand and Utilization of Drug Abuse Treatment: Implications for Insurance Mandates

This article addresses costs and utilization for mental health/substance abuse treatment, with particular emphasis on the emerging importance of self-insured coverage in the 1990s. We estimate drug abuse treatment demand and utilization with an insurance claims database from self-insured employers. The study population was selected from a large database consisting of health insurance claims for all treatment events starting 1 January 1989 and ending 31 December 1991. Approximately three-quarters of the increase in in-patient usage attributable to fractional co-insurance is due to increased usage per person (the other one-quarter refers to increased numbers of users). About half of the increase in outpatient usage is due to increased usage per person. In summary, our estimates provide useful measurements of the potential impacts of improved drug abuse treatment coverage. Although the potential induced in-patient expenditures and dead-weight losses are substantial compared to co-insurance rates of 0.5, losses can be trimmed by adjusting co-insurance, even at rates of approximately 0.1.     

The Public Health Implications of Consumers' Environmental Concern and Their Willingness to Pay for an Eco‐Friendly Product

Environmental concern has been an important topic for more than 40 years and has recently become even more critical with today's concerns about creating a sustainable and healthy environment. This research examines factors affecting an individual's willingness to pay more for an environmentally friendly product. Our results show that willingness to pay more differs across demographic groups. We also find that individuals who rate concern for waste as highly important are willing to spend more money on an eco‐friendly product. Consequently, our findings provide insight into the development of appropriate educational strategies for different consumer groups to encourage consumers to purchase eco‐friendly products, with a goal of creating a healthier environment for current and future generations.     

我国电信基础业务FDI壁垒及行业影响

本文的目的是分析加入世贸组织以来我国电信业基础业务开放的情况,并测量电信基础业务市场FDI壁垒及其对行业发展的影响。非政策性壁垒确定主要基于2010年对电信业中外资服务商的第一手调研资料,利用Warren壁垒评分标准和层次分析方法测算综合壁垒指数。研究结果表明,加入世贸组织以来我国基础电信开放的政策性环境有了明显改善,同时非政策性壁垒的影响开始显现,成为客观评价行业开放度的重要因素。研究还表明,通过扩大开放、提高利用外资水平来进一步促进行业发展仍有较大的空间。     

The Harm of Symbolic Actions and Green-Washing: Corporate Actions and Communications on Environmental Performance and Their Financial Implications

We examine over 100 top performing Canadian firms in visibly polluting industries as we seek to answer four research questions: What specific environmental issues are firms addressing? How do these issues differ between industries? Are both symbolic and substantive actions financially beneficial? Does green-washing, measured as the difference between symbolic and substantive action, and/or green-highlighting, measured as the combined effect of symbolic and substantive actions, pay? We find that substantive actions of environmental issues (green walk) neither harm nor benefit firms financially, but symbolic actions (green talk) are negatively related to financial performance. We also find that green-washing (discrepancy between green talk and green walk) has a negative effect on financial performance and green-highlighting (concentrated efforts of the talk and walk) has no effect on financial performance. In this article, we provide explanations of our findings and put forth future research directions.     

Media Mergers with Preference Externalities and Their Implications for Content Diversity,Consumer Welfare,and Policy

One of the primary concerns regarding media mergers involves their potential adverse effect on content/viewpoint diversity. This paper presents a formal treatment of the influence that within-group consumer preference externalities over media content have on a media outlet’s incentive to engage in product repositioning both before and after merging with another media outlet. We first present a model of consumer behavior under preference externalities and derive aggregate consumer expenditure functions for media output. It is shown that even assuming the merged entity sets a uniform price and content mix across market areas, the relative access to some minority (majority) group subscribers will increase (decrease) post-merger (and vice versa). We derive sufficient conditions under which the merged entity will in fact have an incentive to homogenize its post-merger price/content mix. And while the post-merger repositioning effects arguably suggest the consumer welfare implications of such mergers are ambiguous a priori, it is posited that the observed idiosyncratic preferences for media content among demographic groups may translate into significant losses to consumer welfare in some instances and may also adversely affect some individuals’ participation in civil affairs, such as voting. Finally, the relation of the model to previous empirical work on media mergers and diversity, and the potential for non-traditional policy interventions to offset the competitive harms of such transactions, are also discussed.     

“特保条款”及其对我国出口贸易的负面影响评析

“特保条款”是世贸组织保障机制的重要组成部分。中国《入世议定书》和《工作组报告书》中的“特保条款”具有专门适用于中国的特定性、单向性与歧视性。在这些“特保条款”的过渡期限内,任一世贸组织进口成员都可以针对给其造成或威胁造成市场扰乱的某一中国出口产品提起“特保”立案申请,这就必然会给我国的出口贸易带来不利影响。本文在比较分析各类保障条款的基础上,对“特保条款”的适用现状与不利影响进行分析与评价,并提出若干应对措施。     

Expansion Strategies of European Banks to Brazil and Their Impacts on the Brazilian Banking Sector

ABSTRACT

This paper aims at analyzing the main determinants and impacts of the recent wave of European banks entering Brazil. The principal hypothesis of the paper is that this wave can only be understood if one considers both external and internal determinants. External determinants concern the process of banking consolidation in the European financial system under the EMU that has stimulated some banks to expand abroad. Internal determinants are mainly related to the gradual flexibilisation of legal restrictions with respect to the presence of foreign banks in the Brazilian banking sector. Finally, the paper evaluates the impacts of the recent entry of European banks into the retail banking market in Brazil. In this particular matter, it shows that foreign entry has affected the national banking market forcing domestic banks to operate more efficiently, and also to expand their activities organically or by mergers and acquisitions. The paper concludes that there is no clear evidence that foreign banks have been more efficient than domestic banks in Brazil in the recent period, but there is some evidence that the big private Brazilian banks have reacted positively to the entry of foreign banks.

RESUMEN. Este documento tiene el propósito de analizar los determinantes más importantes de los impactos de la reciente onda de bancos europeos que llegaron al Brasil. La principal hipótesis del texto és que la onda sólo puede entenderse si se consideran ambos determinantes: los externos y los internos. Los determinantes externos conciernen el proceso de la consolidación bancaria en el sistema financiero europeo bajo el EMU, que ha estimulado a algunos bancos a expandirse en el exterior. Los determinantes internos son especialmente aquellos relacionados a la flexibilización gradual de las restricciones legales con respecto a la presencia de los bancos extranjeros en el sector de la banca brasileña. Finalmente, el texto también evalúa los impactos de la reciente entrada de los bancos Europeos en los mercados de la banca minorista en el Brasil. Cuanto a esta preocupación particular, parece que la entrada de los bancos extranjeros ha afectado el mercado banquero nacional, forzando a los bancos domésticos a operar con mayor eficiencia y también a expandir sus actividades orgánicamente, o por medio de fusiones u adquisiciones. El documento concluye que no existe ninguna prueba clara de que los bancos extranjeros son más eficientes que los brasileños en el período reciente, pero sí existen evidencias de que los grandes bancos privados brasileños han reaccionado positivamente a la entrada de los bancos extranjeros.

RESUMO. Este artigo objetiva analisar os principais determinantes e impactos da recente onda de bancos europeus que se instalaram no Brasil. A hipótese principal deste trabalho é de que esta onda só pode ser entendida se forem considerados os determinantes externos e internos. Os determinantes externos tratam do processo de consolidação bancária no sistema financeiro europeu que, sob o sistema da Unidade Monetária Européia, estimulou alguns bancos a se expandirem para o exterior. Os determinantes internos estão relacionados, principalmente, à flexibilização gradual das restriç[otilde]es legais no que diz respeito à presença de bancos estrangeiros no setor bancário brasileiro. Finalmente, o artigo também avalia os impactos da recente entrada de bancos europeus no mercado bancário de varejo do Brasil. Neste particular, ele mostra que a entrada estrangeira afetou o mercado bancário nacional, forçando os bancos nacionais a operarem com mais eficiência e, também, a expandirem suas atividades, organicamente ou através de fus[otilde]es e aquisiç[otilde]es. O artigo conclui que não há evidência clara de que os bancos estrangeiros sejam mais eficientes do que os bancos nacionais no Brasil no período recente, mas há alguma evidência de que os grandes bancos privados brasileiros reagiram positivamente à entrada dos bancos estrangeiros.     

可持续发展理论与中国经济发展

可持续发展问题是国际社会普遍关注的问题。中国在GDP高速增长的同时,存在诸多与可持续发展的要求不相适应的问题。可持续发展理论对中国社会产生了全方位的影响。因此中国政府和企业应积极采取措施,改变经济发展方式,保护生态环境,关注人的全面发展,以实现中国社会的可持续发展。     

The Strategic Implications of EMU for European Banking

This paper reviews the broad impact of the European SMP (Single Market Programme) and approach of EMU (European Monetary Union) on European bank strategies.

Select but key aspects of the competitive strategies that banks might pursue in this ‘New Europe’ are then considered. Within this review; the key strategic question is explored whether banks necessarily have to be bigger in order to be more efficient and even ultimately to survive in a post-EMU world. It is argued thut efficiency considerations should dominnte over size per se. The strategic perspective that will be developed is to

view EMU as the next stage on from the present SMF! This perspective avoids the mistake of visuulising any kind of EMU as likely to precipitate dramatic ‘breaks’ in the present

strategic development of European banking. Since the SMP is well advanced, we already have some experience of the

strategic reactions of banks towards a single European banking market; this provides a useful indicator of at least some of the broader bank strategic reactions that might be expected to EMU.