Strategic accessibility competition

We analyze the effect of competition in market-accessibility enhancement among quality-differentiated firms. Firms are located in regions with different ex-ante transport costs to reach the final market. We characterize the equilibrium of the two-stage game in which firms first invest to improve market accessibility and then compete in prices. Efforts in accessibility improvement crucially depend on the interplay between the willingness to pay for the quality premium of the median consumer and the ex-ante difference in accessibility between regions. From the social standpoint, also the accessibility investment depends on such a comparison. Finally, we endogenize quality choice and check the robustness of the result to some natural modifications of our assumptions.     

Evaluating the accessibility of essential medicines in China

Objective: To evaluate the accessibility of essential medicines in China through a new system which integrated the structure, process, and effect of the National Essential Medicine Policy (NEMP).

Methods: A structural equation model was built to verify the reliability of the evaluation system. This study utilized the Delphi method to obtain the structure and process index data, and used the WHO/HAI standard method for the effect index data to evaluate the NEMP. Six regions were selected for empirical analysis so that suggestions for optimization could be put forward.

Results: The structural equation model consisted of three parts: organization structure, executive process, and effect. The factor loading of the three indicators exceeded 0.5, indicating that this model complied with the preliminary fit criteria. In the organizational structure, rules and regulations and resource investment accounted for a large proportion, indicating that they had a great impact on the effect. As for the executive process, the weight of the seven indicators were similar, and they accounted for a large proportion, indicating that each indicator had a non-negligible impact on the effect. The “p” of all the three hypothesizes was less than .01, especially the “p” of hypothesis 3 was less than .001, indicating that the structure and process of NEMP affected the accessibility of the essential medicines, and three components of the model were positively correlated.

Limitations: Some errors may exist in achieving appropriate expert selection because of potential researcher bias in the Delphi approach. The results from only six provinces in China may not be generalized nationwide.

Conclusion: The structural indicators and process indicators have a significant impact on outcome indicators, and they also have correlations. That is, the formulation and implementation of the national drug policy and related supporting measures play an important role in improving the accessibility of essential medicines.     

Site accessibility and prioritization of nature reserves

Nature reserves not only protect habitat-stressed species but also provide recreation and welfare services to people. Therefore, site accessibility matters in reserve design. This study incorporates public accessibility, determined by urban populations and distances between urban areas and reserve sites, as an additional factor in conservation reserve design besides species representation and economic characteristics of individual sites. An optimization approach is introduced to determine a reserve network with maximum accessibility while satisfying specified representation targets under financial constraints. The paper also presents an empirical application of this approach to endangered/threatened birds in Illinois, USA, and analyzes the tradeoffs between ecological, economic, and social objectives of biological conservation. The results show that: i) the conventional minimal representation approach would result in a small reserve network, but this network would have poor accessibility; ii) public accessibility can be improved significantly by selecting alternative sites with the same amount of conservation budget; iii) further improvement in accessibility can be achieved by enlarging the network, but in this particular case the gains would be insignificant after the first few additional sites; and iv) a regionally integrated conservation plan, as opposed to decentralized conservation efforts, is beneficial for both species protection and social welfare.     

高速公路网建设对旅游景点可达性影响实证分析

当前大力倡导旅游产业的发展,旅游景点的可达性成为旅游产业发展的关键因素。高速公路作为旅游交通系统的重要组成部分,对旅游空间结构的影响至关重要。运用定量方法对旅游景点的可达性进行计算,分析高速公路网建设对旅游空间结构的影响。以黑龙江省公路网建设对省内旅游景点可达性进行了实证研究。研究对比了黑龙江省2008—2011年＂三年决战公路建设＂项目前后,高速公路网建设对旅游景点可达性的影响。     

Valuing urban accessibility and air quality in Sweden

This article is concerned with the implicit values of urban accessibility and air quality in Sweden. Based on the hedonic wage and rent theory, we construct an econometric model to compute such values, and illustrate their implications for regional welfare analysis. It is shown that for most Swedish cities, welfare has increased from 1986 to 1998 due to improved air quality but the positive effect is partly offset by the deteriorated accessibility in some areas. The results also indicate that the values people place on urban accessibility and air quality vary considerably across regions.     

Increasing the usability and accessibility of geodynamic modelling tools to the geoscience community: UnderworldGUI

Geoscientists are faced with a number of complexities that represent obstacles to the development of realistic simulation of deep earth processes. Realistic 4D thermo-mechanical simulation using software packages like Underworld and Gale, when combined appropriately with geoscientific expertise, can lead to novel insights into the deformation of geological structures at a wide range of time and spatial scales. The challenge for end-user geoscientists lies in applying their knowledge within the framework of the software’s input specification, including initial, internal, and boundary conditions and output visualization parameters. We have built a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to remove many of the difficulties related to editing the Extensible Markup Language (XML) encoded input files of Underworld/Gale geomodels and therefore, to greatly broaden the user base of these software packages. By helping Underworld/Gale to meet a large audience, we provide a tool to the geoscience community that helps to move from untested conceptual models to physically valid, properly scaled modelling. Furthermore, the UnderworldGUI offers a mechanism for storing and retrieving experimental models in a centralised database, thus providing the geoscience community with a means to share the outcomes of its experimental research. Further details of the UnderworldGUI are available at the web site http://www.wiki.vislab.usyd.edu.au/moinwiki/UnderworldGUI.     

Dynamics of agglomeration,accessibility, and total factor productivity: evidence from Japanese regions

With Japan’s declining population, improving productivity is important to achieving continuous regional economic growth. This study focuses on the regional effects of population agglomeration and accessibility on total factor productivity (TFP). Empirical analysis shows that population agglomeration contributed to TFP growth, most significantly in the Greater Tokyo area. The interaction (flow) of people was examined and the importance of high-speed transportation network for TFP growth was clarified as the effect of accessibility on TFP growth. Population agglomeration and the development of transportation network are thus important strategies for growing regional economies.     

Does accessibility to local public employment agencies matter? Answers from a French quasi-experiment

We question whether accessibility to local public employment agencies impacts exits from unemployment. We deal with the potential endogeneity of the residential location of jobseekers by using the unanticipated creation of a new agency in the French region of Lyon as a quasi-natural experiment. We use exhaustive and geo-located individual data on jobseekers and local public employment agencies. Contrary to past evidence based on aggregated data, we find no evidence that jobseekers with improved accessibility to the local public employment services experience an improvement of their probability of exiting unemployment. We however find evidence of transitory organizational effects. These findings strongly question the costly strategy of a fine distribution of local public employment agencies across the territory while suggesting that institutional issues are key.     

加快实施"开放立省"战略

改革开放20多年来,福建省充分发挥山、海、侨、台、特等优势,运用中央赋予的"特殊政策、灵活措施",着力推进"开放立省"战略,外向型经济迅速发展,全省经济和社会面貌发生了翻天覆地的变化,经济总量和人均国内生产总值从1979年居全国第23位和第22位,分别上升到2001年的第11位和第6位.     

试论媒体的亲和力原则——以《家庭导报》改版创新为例

结合《家庭导报》的改版创新实例。阐述了在新媒体扩张和媒体竞争日剧的当下,传统媒体特别是纸质媒体如何增强亲和力的四大原则,即新鲜性、接近性、关怀度和公信力。具体而言,就是：内容为王、角度常新;平民视角、家庭旋律;走进边缘、关注民生;贴近生活、服务社会。只有这样,才能更好地凸显报纸的感染力和影响力。     

车位的法律属性及其产权界定

伴随商品房的开发,有关车位的归属问题的纠纷不断涌现。而理论界有关车位的归属问题亦存有诸多争议。《中华人民共和国物权法》虽然对于车位的归属问题进行了界定,但尚有不周全之嫌。欲界定车位的归属问题,应当首先明确车位的法律地位。本文结合我国《物权法》的相关规定,对于不同情形下车位的法律属性进行探讨;同时,针对车位不同的法律属性,分别探究车位的归属问题。     

略论票据时效

票据时效既是公平与效率均衡理论的极好诠释,又体现了效率优先的主张.与民法上的时效相比,票据时效具有短期性和独立性的特征.它既不同于消灭时效又不同于除斥期间,而是一种独特的时效制度.最后,作者结合票据实践中的票据时效期间的起算点问题以及票据期间中断是否需要提示票据等问题提出了自己的看法.     

资源型城市的规避转型问题研究--以新疆克拉玛依市为例

通过对世界上许多国家资源型城市转型实践的研究,发现转型是资源型城市可持续发展的必然要求。然而,目前国内外资源型城市转型基本上都属于被动转型,即在资源耗竭已经或即将使城市的发展陷入困境时才开始转型。这种转型成本高、矛盾多、难度大、风险大,这也是很多资源型城市转型效果不理想,最终导致矿竭城衰的原因。为了从根本上解决资源型城市被动转型的难题,本文从规避转型的角度来探讨这一问题。     

On the Bailout of Currencies

International Advances in Economic Research - Special Drawing Rights are reserve assets which ought to provide liquidity in times of a country’s financial distress. It is a potential claim on...     

On the Composition of Committees

This article is concerned with the role of committees in collectivedecision making processes in a world where agents must be motivatedto collect information. Committees improve the quality of decisionmaking by providing information and by coordinating the collectionof information. We address two types of questions. First, howdoes the composition of a committee affect final decisions?Second, what is the optimal composition of a committee fromthe decision maker's point of view? As to the latter question,we show that the cost of information collection plays an importantrole. If this cost is low, then the preferences of the committeemembers should be aligned to those of the decision maker. Memberswith similar preferences as the decision maker collect the properpieces of information. Moreover, manipulation of informationdoes not occur if the preferences of the decision maker andthe members are consonant. If the cost of searching is high,then the committee should be composed of members with polarizedpreferences. Outliers have a strong incentive to search forinformation.     

On the acceptance of apologies

An apology is a strong and cheap device to restore social or economic relationships that have been disturbed. In a laboratory experiment in which apologies emerge endogenously, we find that harmdoers use apologies in particular if they fear punishment and if their intentions cannot be easily inferred. After offenses with ambiguous intention punishment for apologizers is lower than for non-apologizers. Victims expect an apology and punish if they do not receive one. An apology does not help at all after clearly intentionally committed offenses. On the contrary, after such offenses an apology strongly increases punishment compared to remaining silent.     

On the duration of empires

Why did some empires endure for centuries whereas others quickly fade? To approach this question, I focus on geography, namely the extent to which an empire abutted a sea. Seas could have allowed for greater opportunities for integration as well as trade with external polities. I consider historical empires from antiquity until 1922 and examine whether those empires with larger coastlines relative to their areas endured longer. Using various estimation methodologies and instrumenting for the length of the coastline, I find support that empires that were more connected to seas lasted longer. Further analysis suggests that the potential for seaways to lead to greater integration provides a stronger explanation than the potential for seas to provide a defensive barrier.     

后发优势研究述评

后发优势是近年来发展经济学研究的热点问题,学术界在后发优势的内涵、后发优势与后发劣势的关系、后发优势的实现等问题上,既取得了一些宝贵共识,也存在诸多分歧和争议.我们应该在现有基础之上,进一步深化和拓展相关研究.     

On the dynamics of inequality

The dynamics of inequality are studied in a model of human capital accumulation with credit constraints. This model admits a multiplicity of steady state skill ratios that exhibit varying degrees of inequality across households. The main result studies equilibrium paths. It is shown that an equilibrium sequence of skill ratios must converge monotonically to the smallest steady state that exceeds the initial ratio for that sequence. Convergence is “gradual" in that the steady state is not achieved in finite time. On the other hand, if the initial skill ratio exceeds the largest steady state, convergence to a steady state is immediate.This paper is based on unpublished notes from 1990; see http://www.econ.nyu.edu/user/debraj/DevEcon/Notes/incdist.pdf. Two considerations suggest that these results may be worth reporting in print. First, the existence of a sizeable recent literature indicates that these relatively early notes may have value outside a filing cabinet or a private webpage. Second, Mukul Majumdar’s own research on economic growth with a nonconvex technology is an even earlier precursor to some of this literature, so the current outlet – a special issue in his honor – seems appropriate. Conversations with Glenn Loury simplified the proof of the main result. I thank Dilip Mookherjee for many useful discussions, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments on an earlier draft. Funding from the National Science Foundation under grant number 0241070 is acknowledged. This paper is dedicated with much affection and warm admiration to Mukul Majumdar – or to Mukulda, as I always think of him – on the occasion of his 60th birthday.