The Impact of Self‐Perceived Relative Income on Life Satisfaction: Evidence from British Panel Data

This is the first article that uses panel data to investigate the impact of individuals' self‐perceived relative income on life satisfaction. Analyses show that the self‐perceived relative income has a significant impact on life satisfaction, but the impact is asymmetric. The decline in life satisfaction is much more significant due to perceiving a lower relative income in comparison to the rise in life satisfaction because of perceiving a higher relative income. Absolute income is only significantly and positively associated with life satisfaction in the pooled ordinary least squares estimations, but the association is never significantly different from zero when individual fixed effects are controlled. Household savings have a positive but small impact on life satisfaction. Among different financial‐related shocks, people's self‐perceived relative income varies the most due to changes in household net income, total savings, and employment status.     

基于人的全面自由发展的新型工业化研究

新型工业化是实现现代化的必由之路。新型工业化发展与人的全面自由发展相互推动、互为促进。文章认为,新型工业化的发展应以实现人的全面自由发展为基础,通过创新人的全面自由发展的机制体制,建立GDP与幸福感并重的指标体系,发展以制造业为重点的多元化产业,扩大就业,处理好经济发展与人口、资源和环境的关系等途径促进新型工业化的发展。     

Market and Welfare Effects of Mandatory Country‐of‐Origin Labeling in the U.S. Specialty Crops Sector: An Application to Fresh Market Apples

This study provides a new framework of analysis of the market and welfare effects of mandatory country‐of‐origin labeling (MCOOL) for fruits and vegetables that accounts for heterogeneous consumer preferences, differences in producer agronomic characteristics, and retailer market power. The market and welfare effects of MCOOL are shown to be case‐specific and dependent on the labeling costs at the farm and retail levels, the strength of consumer preference for domestic products, the market power of retailers, the marketing margin along the supply chain, and the relative costs of imported and domestic products. Simulation results for the U.S. market of fresh apples indicate that domestic producers are the most likely beneficiaries of MCOOL, followed by domestic consumers. Being unable to exercise market power on consumers or suppliers of fresh apples, retailers will lose if the implementation of MCOOL entails fixed costs. Imports of fresh apples decline after MCOOL introduction.     

浅谈高校学生管理中的激励机制与“以人为本”的结合

以人为本作为现代思想政治教育最根本的价值原则和核心理念,是做好高校学生管理工作的前提和基础。有效的激励是实现高校学生管理的重要手段和方式,掌握激励的内涵、原则,运用正确的激励方法,对于高校实现以人为本的学生管理将起到积极地促进作用。本文从实际出发,针对如何贯彻以人为本理念,推进大学生思想政治教育创新与建立健全大学生思想政治教育的保障制度和激励机制相结合进行了论述。     

Estimating the Short Run Effects of South Africa's Employment Tax Incentive on Youth Employment Probabilities using A Difference‐in‐Differences Approach

South Africa's Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) came into effect on the 1st of January 2014, with the objective of reducing the substantial national youth unemployment rate. Under the ETI, firms are eligible to claim a deduction from their taxes due, for the portion of their wage bill that is paid to certain groups of youth employees. We utilise several waves of nationally representative data and implement a difference‐in‐differences methodology at the individual level, in order to identify the effects of the ETI on youth employment probabilities in the short run. Our primary finding is that the ETI did not have any statistically significant and positive effects on youth employment probabilities. The point estimate from our preferred regression is ?0.005 and the 95% confidence interval is from ?0.017 to 0.006. We also find no evidence that the ETI has resulted in an increase in the level of churning in the labour market for youth. Thus, any decrease in tax revenues that arise from the ETI are effectively accruing to firms which, collectively, would have employed as many youth even in the absence of the ETI.     

Endogenous,Intra‐household Decision‐making and its Impact on the Labor Supply of Couples in Rural India*

Using data for rural India, this paper analyzes households' labor supply decision‐making, taking into consideration non‐participation, endogenous intrahousehold bargaining and nutritional status. Analyses of unitary and collective models suggest that bargaining between household members forms the basis of households' decisions, and these decisions alter households' internal power balance. Analysis of households' internal bargaining process suggests that women's bargaining power increases when their wages are higher and they are better educated. The results indicate that it is crucial to account for the mechanics of decision‐making within households when studying the effects of changing labor market conditions or designing development policies to improve individual well‐being or to empower women.     

Long‐run Effect of the Global Financial Crisis on Singapore's Tourism and the Economy

This study employs recent Singaporean tourism survey data, the updated Singaporean input–output tables and a computable general equilibrium model to gauge the long‐run effects of the 2008 global financial crisis and selected policy responses. The simulation results suggest that the global financial crisis has had mild negative long‐run effects on the overall development of Singapore's economy, and that the GST deduction policy ought to offset this negative effect.     

青海省东部地区县域经济时空差异研究

以2005-2014年人均GDP为变量指标,运用极差、标准差(绝对差异)和极比、变异系数(相对差异)对青海省东部地区县域经济发展的演变趋势进行分析。选取2014年各县的9项指标构建县域经济发展实力评价指标体系,运用主成分分析法和GIS方法分析各县经济空间差异。研究表明：近十年来,青海省东部地区各县的总体差异呈扩大的趋势,地区间的不平衡进一步加剧,虽然近几年差异开始进一步缩小,但与前几年相比,整体差异还是较大的;建立综合评价模型,根据各县的综合得分可以将其划分为较发达型、欠发达型、不发达型三种区域类型。互助土族自治县、大通回族土族自治县综合得分排在前两名,在七个县中经济综合实力较强,因此属于较发达型。湟中县、民和回族土族自治县综合得分次之,因此为欠发达型。循化撒拉族自治县、化隆回族自治县以及湟源县综合得分为负值,由此可知发展水平位于平均水平之下,因此属于不发达型。     

Early Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Health Care Access,Risky Health Behaviors,and Self-Assessed Health

The goal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to achieve nearly universal health insurance coverage through a combination of mandates, subsidies, marketplaces, and Medicaid expansions, most of which took effect in 2014. We use data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to examine the impacts of the ACA on health care access, risky health behaviors, and self-assessed health after two years. We estimate difference-in-difference-in-differences models that exploit variation in treatment intensity from state participation in the Medicaid expansion and pre-ACA uninsured rates. Results suggest that the ACA led to sizeable improvements in access to health care in both Medicaid expansion and nonexpansion states, with the gains being larger in expansion states along some dimensions. However, we do not find clear effects on risky behaviors or self-assessed health.     

Trade Barriers and Participation in the Global Value Chain: An Empirical Study Based on Anti‐dumping toward China

This paper investigates the effects of trade barriers on China's participation in the global value chain (GVC) using a thorough decomposition approach for trade volume, total exports, final exports and intermediate exports. Our econometric results indicate that anti‐dumping (AD) measures initiated by trade partners have restrained the process of China's participation in the GVC. From 2000 to 2014, AD measures reduced the foreign value‐added rate of total, final and intermediate exports by 4.5 to 28.7 percent, 3.4 to 17 percent and 1.2 to 8.5 percent, respectively. In addition, suffering the effects of AD measures, China's GVC position index declined by 8.2 percent to 28.6 percent during this period. Moreover, AD measures have increased industries' upstream index by 3.2 to 13.7 percent over the same period. These results imply that both the petition and approval of AD cases has had a negative influence on the extent and position of China's GVC participation.     

Re‐Examining the Role of Structural Change and Nonlinearities in a Phillips Curve Model for South Africa

Although studies generally find evidence of a Phillips curve‐type relationship in South Africa, uncertainty remains about the relevance of the model over a relatively long sample period, and whether conventional output gap measures are suitable proxies for demand pressure. This paper reviews research which shows that the Phillips curve model prevails over an extended sample, provided that the benchmark specifications include major structural changes in the balance‐of‐payments and labour market, and account for shifts in the root causes of inflation. When this is done, a linear specification with an output gap in levels correctly predicts the non‐trended inflation pattern over the period 1971(Q1)–1984(Q4), whereas a piecewise concave curve with an output gap in growth rates accurately forecasts the decelerating inflation pattern during 1986(Q1)–2001(Q2). A novel feature of the concave model is that it remains statistically robust and structurally stable when it is estimated until 2015(Q4). The concave model imparts a disinflationary bias, which suggests that monetary policy should be more expansionary during downswing phases of the business cycle and neutral during upswing phases. The analysis also considers how the shape of the Phillips curve might change if the balance‐of‐payments constraint on demand is relaxed in a significant way.     

Effects of Location Diversification and Corporate Governance on Multinational Enterprises' Financial Performance and Risk‐taking: Evidence from Taiwanese Enterprises

This study investigates the location choice performance of foreign direct investment (FDI) originating from small‐ and medium‐sized multinational enterprises established in newly industrialized economies. In this study we integrate location diversification, breadth and corporate governance to examine the performance of Taiwanese enterprises investing in Chinese mainland. Examining Taiwanese manufacturing enterprises from foundational, traditional and high‐technology aspects, our findings demonstrate the following: (i) diversifying the location choice negatively affects the return of assets; (ii) investments in regions with an abundant population positively affect the performance of Taiwanese traditional manufacturing enterprises; and (iii) a higher percentage of insider holdings in Taiwanese enterprises results in better FDI performance. We conclude that the performance of FDI originating from Taiwanese enterprises varies depending on industrial and governance characteristics. We suggest that the location choice for Taiwan FDI in Chinese mainland should be determined by the characteristics of the industry. Chinese mainland should attract multinational enterprises from emerging markets according to the characteristics of regions.     

Revisiting Cash Endowment and House Money Effects in an Experimental Auction of a Novel Agri‐food Product in the Philippines

This study explores the effect of varying cash endowments on bidding behavior in auction experiments conducted in a developing country. Our results suggest that cash endowment levels can have different effects on bidding behavior under second price auction and random nth price auction. In contrast to past studies conducted in developed countries, we generally do not see the presence of positive house money effect in our results. If behavior varies significantly as the cash endowment is varied, then care must be taken when designing auction experiments or when comparing results to other experimental results and theoretical predictions.     

Auditor Reputation,Auditor Independence,and the Stock‐Market Impact of Andersen's Indictment on Its Client Firms*

In this paper, we study a broad sample of Arthur Andersen clients and investigate whether the decline in Andersen's reputation, due to its criminal indictment on March 14, 2002, adversely affected the stock market's perception of its audit quality. Because these reputa‐tional concerns are more of an issue if an auditor's independence is impaired, we investigate the relationship between the abnormal market returns for Andersen clients around the time of the indictment announcement and several fee‐based measures of auditor independence. Our results suggest that when news about Andersen's indictment was released, the market reacted negatively to Andersen clients. More importantly, we find that the indictment period abnormal return is significantly more negative when the market perceived the auditor's independence to be threatened. We also examine the abnormal returns when firms announced the dismissal of Andersen as an auditor. Consistent with the audit quality explanation, we document that when firms quickly dismissed Andersen, the announcement returns are significantly higher when firms switched to a Big 4 auditor than when they either switched to non‐Big 4 auditors or did not announce the identity of the replacement auditor. Our empirical results support the notion that auditor reputation and independence have a material impact on perceived audit quality and the credibility of audited financial statements, and that the market prices this.     

Genuine Wealth Per Capita as a Measure of Sustainability and the Negative Impact of Corruption on Sustainable Growth in Sub‐Sahara Africa

In this paper, we argue that the answer to the question of whether the impact of corruption on development is homogenous, is no. Our optimism rest on how development may be conceptualised. When equated to a narrow measure in economic‐wise which fundamentally ignores critical issues, then there is a possibility the outlook could be positive. But when conceptualised using a broad‐based approach such as sustainable development, then the outlook could be negative. We assess a panel of 22 economies in Sub‐Sahara Africa with the most recent dataset (1996–2013) from the World Bank and other reputable agencies. Our finding is quite robust. It holds in pooled OLS, Fixed effects and GMM within IV settings; and it also holds for different measures of institutions and different measures of development using growth per capita GDP and genuine wealth per capita, respectively. Taking stock of major policy blue‐prints of selected countries in the region on the fight against corruption, we are able to point out that institutions play important role in insulating citizens against the devastation caused by corruption. Overall, through this comparison, we are able to signal that both incidental and systematic corruption poses a long‐term threat to sustainable development.