Factors Determining Net Interest Margins in Australia: Domestic and Foreign Banks

This study tests the application of the Ho and Saunders (1981) model of bank net interest margins (NIMs), and its subsequent developments, using Australian data. The core elements of this model apply in Australia. Bank market power is found to increase NIMs, consistent with McShane and Sharpe (1985) , with evidence of bank buying market share and mispricing for risk. Operating costs also have an important role in determining NIMs, together with implied payments and management quality. Bank NIMs are found to have fallen over the study period.     

迪士尼逆势抢“赛点”

说迪士尼仅仅是像嘉年华那样的游乐企业，一定没有看到游乐园在香港、东京的巨亏，在巴黎的那家分店还因为经营不善倒闭了。迪士尼本质上，还是一家媒体公司，每年从《玩具总动员》这样的影视产品大获其利，顺带还卖点同品牌的童装。     

未来更多地投入到价值观点的创造

提到这个品牌的时候,我第一个想到的就是"与众不同"。自从Apple建立以来,这个品牌一直致力于革新,以求拥有一个清晰的训喻。它并不只是要生产最好的软件(与Windows竞争)。而是要在硬件上进行不断的     

The Decline in the Natural Rate of Interest

With the Federal Reserve widely expected to begin normalization of monetary policy in the wake of the Great Recession—perhaps in 2015—an important question for public policy and private-sector planning is what the “new normal” for interest rates is likely to be. In particular, are real interest rates likely to be lower in the future than in recent decades? An investigation through the use of the Kalman filter shows that the natural rate of interest—the real federal funds rate consistent with the economy operating at its full potential—has declined since 1980, especially after the Great Recession. This will have important implications for monetary policy and for the private sector, including recognition that the natural rate of interest is not fixed.     

Women on Corporate Boards of Directors and their Influence on Corporate Philanthropy

This study examined the relationship between the proportion of women serving on firms' boards of directors and the extent to which these same firms engaged in charitable giving activities. Using a sample of 185 Fortune500 firms for the 1991–1994 time period, the results provide strong support for the notion that firms having a higher proportion of women serving on their boards do engage in charitable giving to a greater extent than firms having a lower proportion of women serving on their boards. Further, the results suggest a link between the percentage of women on boards and firm philanthropy in the areas of community service and the arts, but found no link between women boardmembers and firm giving to support education or public policy issues. The implications of the findings and some areas for future research are discussed.     

Social marketing to eliminate leprosy in Sri Lanka

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease which, if untreated, can lead to permanent and progressive nerve damage and thus to deformities of the limbs, eyes, and face. People with leprosy have long been ostracized by society. The clinical signs of leprosy include insensitive skin lesions and thickened peripheral nerves. Untreated infectious leprosy cases are the main source of infection, transmitting the disease through nasal secretions. People with low cell-mediated immunity are at risk of developing clinically active leprosy irrespective of gender, age, or social class. The World Health Organization (WHO) has, since 1982, recommended multiple drug therapy (MDT) against leprosy, an approach capable of curing the disease within 1 year and interrupting its transmission. According to WHO, leprosy is currently a public health problem in 55 countries and more than 20% of the estimated 1.15 million cases of leprosy worldwide remain undetected. Although Sri Lanka was the first country in South Asia to provide MDT to all registered leprosy patients, first making it available in 1984, the disease continues to be transmitted due to the large number of undetected cases in the country. An ongoing social marketing program was therefore launched in 1990 by the local health ministry and the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development to eliminate leprosy from Sri Lanka. The program encourages people with suspicious skin lesions to seek diagnosis and care, teaches health care providers to recognize leprosy and refer cases for treatment, and helps the general public to understand that leprosy is just a normal disease. The socially marketed product is MDT, provided free-of-charge by the Novartis Foundation to all leprosy patients.     

An evaluation of consumer participation in hospital breast services

Community expectations and research demonstrate that consumers play an important role in shaping services for women with breast cancer. Consumer contribution has been mandated recently in Victoria, Australia, to ensure the inclusion of consumer involvement in the planning and decision‐making processes within health organizations. As part of the redevelopment of breast services in Victoria, Southern Health has been funded to plan local improvements to care co‐ordination for women diagnosed with breast cancer in the southern metropolitan area of Melbourne. The establishment of effective consumer participation in breast services is an integral aspect of this project and a range of initiatives has been undertaken to achieve meaningful consumer involvement including the appointment of a consumer advisor; appointment of staff with extensive knowledge in women's health and community development to the project; establishment of a consumer reference group; and plans made to improve the receptivity of health service systems to consumer input. A preliminary evaluation of this ongoing project has indicated that a productive role for consumers in service practice review and policy and planning activities has been established and some change and engagement of staff has occurred. There is still work to be done to promote the involvement of a wider range of health professionals and to increase the level of trust between consumers and staff.