Understanding Society: health,biomarker and genetic data

Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study includes a wide range of health measures, and in particular biomarker and genetic data. This makes it a unique resource for research on the economics of health. We review the main features of the biomarker data, how they are collected, and evidence on data quality. We also discuss examples of how these data have been used in economic research to date.     

Understanding Society: the income data

We introduce the income data of Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study. First, we show that the data are widely used in academic and policy research. We then discuss the pros and cons of different types of data on household incomes. We go on to describe the income content of Understanding Society, emphasising key details of data collection and data processing – specifically the derivation of net household income totals. We perform a quality assessment that compares Understanding Society estimates of net household incomes to those from a reliable cross-sectional source – the Households Below Average Income series. We conclude that the Understanding Society income data are of high quality, and so are an excellent source for research on the income distribution or incomes more generally. We finish with a discussion of future directions for income data collection in the study.     

Understanding Society: minimising selection biases in data collection using mobile apps

Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study has a programme of research and development that underpins innovations in data collection methods. One of our current focuses is on using mobile applications to collect additional data that supplement data collected in annual interviews. To date, we have used mobile apps to collect data on consumer expenditure, well-being, anthropometrics and cognition. In this paper, we review the potential barriers to data collection using mobile apps and experimental evidence collected with the Understanding Society Innovation Panel, on what can be done to reduce these barriers.     

Using Understanding Society to study intergenerational wealth mobility in the UK

Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study enables researchers to track individuals as they grow up and form new households, making it invaluable for studying the intergenerational persistence of outcomes including income, health and wealth. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Understanding Society relative to other datasets, and document patterns of attrition as individuals transition from childhood to adulthood. We then use Understanding Society to document the intergenerational persistence of wealth in the UK. We find that the intergenerational persistence of wealth is greater than for earnings, and that only around half of the intergenerational persistence of wealth can be explained by the intergenerational persistence in earnings and education.     

1990年以来中国居民消费率变动的实证分析

20世纪90年代以来中国的居民消费率从总体上呈现出下降的趋势。与国际比较,中国居民消费率严重偏低。中国居民消费率的下降是经济和非经济等多种因素共同作用的结果。居民消费率的持续下降对中国经济与社会的发展都是十分不利的。政府应该通过实施一系列有效的鼓励居民消费的政策措施,逐步改善居民消费率偏低的状况,从而促进国民经济快速、健康、持续地发展。     

Early influences on saving behaviour: Analysis of British panel data

Using data from the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society, we examine the saving behaviour of individuals over time. Initially, we explore the determinants of the saving behaviour of children aged 11–15. Our findings suggest that parental allowances/pocket money (earnings from part-time work) lower (increase) the probability that a child saves. There is also evidence that the financial expectations of the head of household have an influence on their offspring’s saving behaviour, where children of optimistic parents have a lower probability of saving by approximately 2 percentage points. However, there is no evidence of an intergenerational correlation in savings behaviour: the saving behaviour of parents appears to have no bearing on the saving decisions of their offspring. We then go on to explore the implications of the saving behaviour of children for their savings decisions in later life, specifically when observed in early adulthood. We find that having saved as a child has a large positive influence both on the probability of saving on a monthly basis and on the amount saved as an adult. This finding is robust to alternative empirical strategies including IV analysis where the most conservative estimates show that having saved as a child increases the probability of saving during adulthood by 12 percentage points.     

Work,Care and Gender during the COVID-19 Crisis*

We explore the effects of the COVID-19 crisis and the associated restrictions to economic activity on paid and unpaid work for men and women in the United Kingdom. Using data from the COVID-19 supplement of Understanding Society, we find evidence that labour market outcomes of men and women were roughly equally affected at the extensive margin, as measured by the incidence of job loss or furloughing. But, if anything, women suffered smaller losses at the intensive margin, experiencing slightly smaller changes in hours and earnings. Within the household, women provided on average a larger share of increased childcare needs, but in an important share of households fathers became the primary childcare providers. These distributional consequences of the pandemic may be important to understand its inequality legacy over the longer term.     

The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research

This paper discusses the empirical literature on the economic consequences of disclosure and financial reporting regulation, drawing on U.S. and international evidence. Given the policy relevance of research on regulation, we highlight the challenges with (1) quantifying regulatory costs and benefits, (2) measuring disclosure and reporting outcomes, and (3) drawing causal inferences from regulatory studies. Next, we discuss empirical studies that link disclosure and reporting activities to firm‐specific and market‐wide economic outcomes. Understanding these links is important when evaluating regulation. We then synthesize the empirical evidence on the economic effects of disclosure regulation and reporting standards, including the evidence on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption. Several important conclusions emerge. We generally lack evidence on market‐wide effects and externalities from regulation, yet such evidence is central to the economic justification of regulation. Moreover, evidence on causal effects of disclosure and reporting regulation is still relatively rare. We also lack evidence on the real effects of such regulation. These limitations provide many research opportunities. We conclude with several specific suggestions for future research.     

国外成本粘性理论的相关研究综述

随着学术界对成本习性认识的不断加深,成本粘性已成为管理会计研究领域一个新的研究方向,理解成本粘性有助于企业成本管理、证券分析师盈余预测以及投资者决策等。本文围绕目前国外与成本粘性理论相关的研究文献进行了综述,就成本粘性的存在性、影响因素和经济后果等方面的研究成果进行了梳理,并对现有研究进行了评述与展望。     

Exploring household financial strain dynamics

Rising energy and food prices are causing living standards to fall across Europe and straining household budgets. The longer-term outlook for households is unclear as the dynamics of financial strain are not well understood. We address four important research questions on financial strain dynamics by applying a dynamic random coefficients probit model with duration and occurrence dependence to De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) Household Survey panel data. We find no evidence that households become habituated or sensitised to financial strain over time unlike in studies of responses to stress. Entry into household financial strain is less likely when the household can cope by increasing earnings from work or by borrowing from family and friends but not by the economically inactive entering employment. Our third result is that the persistence of financial strain can be explained by a mutually-enforcing negative cycle through worse health but not through marital conflict or more short-sighted and risk averse decision-making. Finally, we find that neither income or wealth shocks affect financial strain in contrast to other studies. Further research into understanding the experience of financial hardship is warranted in the light of the economic challenges caused by the current cost of living crisis.     

在服务国家“十二五”规划中实现会计师行业跨越式发展——在2011年海峡两岸及港澳地区会计师行业交流研讨会上的主题演讲

陈晓圭秘书长提出.国家十二五,规划纲要绘就了我国在新世纪第三个五年发展的宏伟蓝图,深入领会规划拢略思路,是推进行业又好又快发展的基本前提和里要基础。注册会计师行业要里点把握国家推动服务业大发展的机遇,加快经济结构战略性调整的机遇,加快建设资源节约型、环境友好型社会的机遇。加强和创新社会管理的机遇,完譬社会主义市场经济体制的机遇.加快实施走出去,战略的机遇,在服务国家林十二五,规划纲要的实施中实现会计师行业跨越式发展。     

移动支付因素对现金供应的量化影响研究——基于倾向评分匹配的经济金融变量影响关系探讨

现金作为现阶段我国基础货币供应量中最活跃部分,是反映经济金融基本运行形势的重要指标。本文运用倾向评分匹配和向量自回归方法,研究对现金供应量产生显著影响的相关经济金融因素,量化探讨与判别各因素间的相互因果关系和长期均衡关系,并使用重庆区域2011-2020年各类经济金融数据进行实证检验。研究发现:移动支付对现金供应具有明显的替代效应,国内生产总值、工业增加值、社会消费品零售额和住户存款等指标对移动支付替代效应具有持续影响;国内生产总值和社会消费品零售额均对现金的投放回笼具有明显的正向因果关系。最后,本文从货币当局的角度提出相应政策建议。     

Transitions in environmental risk in a transitional economy: management capability and community trust in Russia

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union 10 years ago, the Russian Federation has undergone a radical social, political and economic transformation. This paper's focus is particularly on the consequences of this transformation for the natural environment. This is done by utilizing Beck's (Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, London: Sage, 1992) concept of Risk Society to explore the interrelationships between managers, firms and communities in terms of transitions in capabilities, knowledge, trust, and even the very notion of community vis‐à‐vis pollution control and environmental protection. A qualitative study of managers in Russian manufacturing enterprises, environmental regulators and local communities, was undertaken in two provincial Oblasts in the Russian Federation, identifying a number of factors characteristic of Beck's (1992) treatise including ‘risk culture’, ‘organized irresponsibility’, ‘individualization’ and ‘subpolitics’. In so doing a deeper understanding is developed of the impact of economic transition on the environment, indicating a different risk society trajectory to that predicted for the West. The implications for continued, in‐depth research in focusing on economies in transition are also discussed.     

政府公职人员经济人性边界界定与启示

政府公职人员是特殊经济人,并且从"经济人"角度、从历史性角度、从社会契约论角度、从初始社会分工及分工发展过程角度看,政府公职人员经济人性应有必要的边界。其经济人性发挥应符合作用空间的"非市场性"、经济人性范围的日趋"紧缩性"、经济人性目标满足渠道的"单一性"及较强的"社会性"这些内在规律。把握这些规律,可有效地建立针对政府公职人员的约束机制和非市场性的竞争机制,还可有效地促进民主发展,这对提升基本公共服务综合绩效及构建和谐社会都具有重要意义。     

Asymmetry in the effects of economic fundamentals on rising and falling exchange rates

Empirical research provides evidence for exchange rates overreaction to changes in economic fundamentals over a short run, but convergence in a long run. In this research we use statistical method developed by Cox [Cox, D.R., “Regression models and life-tables,” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B (Methodological), Vol. 34, Iss. 2 (1972), 187-220.] to examine the differences in the effects of local economic fundamentals on the probability of occurrence of extreme fluctuations in exchange rates over time periods of rising and falling exchange rates. We identify an extreme fluctuation as a 10% decrease or increase in exchange rate over a three month period and 20% over a one year period. We find asymmetry in the effects of economic fundamentals on exchange rates (eight countries' exchange rates quoted as f/$) during time periods of rising and falling exchange rates: the probability of extreme fluctuation is greater during time periods of rising exchange rates as compared to falling.     

湖南省长株潭“两型社会”建设与低炭经济发展的调查

城市群正成为我国区域经济发展的核心增长极,运用保险手段实现经济与环境的双赢,从而推动区域整体发展是当代区域经济研究的新课题。以长株潭（长沙、株洲、湘潭）城市群为例,随着城市化、工业化的加速推进,客观上需要对可能导致环境污染突发性事件进行防范和化解。实施环境污染责任保险,既是推进“两型社会”建设的迫切要求,也是贯彻低炭经...     

Financial crises and labor market turbulence

Financial crises in emerging markets trigger a significant reallocation of labor as exchange rate depreciations and interest rate increases cause relative prices to change drastically. Household survey data for Mexico reveal that individuals who switched industry or occupation during the 1994–1995 crisis lost about 10% of their hourly earnings on average compared to similar workers who did not move. This suggests that many workers became less productive in the process of migrating to different economic activities. These productivity losses, in turn, can explain about 40% of the observed fall in TFP in Mexico in 1995.     

Mechanisms for controlling expenditure in the Spanish Royal Household, c.1561-c.18081

The purpose of this article is to examine the accounting and auditing in the Spanish Royal Household between 1561 and 1808. The Royal Household was the third most important item of expenditure that the State Treasury financed, after the Army and Navy and the National Debt. On studying spending control in the Royal Household, we have rejected the idea, often advanced by historiography, that there was no spending control within this institution. On the contrary, treasurers and accountants were only able to release funds for expenditure purposes on the basis of prior authorization. However, the efficiency of spending control was very limited due to technical, administrative and, above all, social and political elements.     

宏观金融效率与微观金融效率一致吗？——来自广东省农信社的实证数据（1993—2004）

农村金融是中国金融体系的短板,中国农村金融发展的关键是效率问题。针对宏微观金融效率研究出现的分野,聚焦中国金融体系的短板,本文以广东省农信社为例,尝试回答“宏观金融效率是否与微观金融效率一致”的问题。本文首先通过回归分析与基于经济发展分区的Panel-Data模型分别检验广东省农信社作为一个整体与经济分区对广东农村经济可能存在的促进作用,实证结果表明：Panel—Data模型的分析结果更加显著,农信社发展对农村经济有更加显著的促进作用。文章接着将广东农信社的微观金融效率与四大国有银行的微观金融效率进行比较．发现广东省农信社的宏观金融效率与微观金融效率不匹配。     

Component structures of agricultural commodity futures traded on the Tokyo Grain Exchange

In this paper, we propose a discrete version of the short-term and long-term component model of the agricultural futures prices. The maximum likelihood estimate of each parameter is obtained using an adaptive filtering algorithm. The diagnostics statistically support the specification of the model. The short-term components exhibit no causal relationship with economic fundamentals such as inflation rate and economic growth rate. These components, therefore, seem to be driven mainly by fads rather than market fundamentals. On the other hand, the long-term components show conitegrating relationship with only one cointegrating vector among the three futures contracts examined. We are grateful to an anonymous referee for many helpful comments and suggestions. Second author’s research is in part supported by a grant-in-aid of Japan Economic Research Foundation and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science