Water pricing with household surveys: A study of acceptability and willingness to pay in Chongqing,China

In determining domestic water prices, policy makers frequently need to use demand-side information rather than only rely on supply-side data as previously did, and household surveys are often conducted to collect information on the demand side. This paper presents a multiple bounded discrete choice (MBDC) survey model for collecting information about acceptability of different water prices by different types of households and estimating households' willingness to pay for water service improvement. The results obtained from MBDC surveys can be directly utilized in the development of water pricing and subsidy policies. An empirical MBDC study is conducted in Chongqing, China, where domestic water service quality was seriously inadequate, but financial resources were insufficient to improve the service quality. With a survey of 1500 households in five suburban districts in Chongqing Municipality, this study shows that a significant increase in water price is economically feasible as long as the poorest households are properly subsidized. The analysis also indicates that the order in which hypothetical prices are presented to the respondents with the MBDC method can systematically affect the answers and should be taken into account when designing such survey instruments.     

泊里红席

“炕上没有席,脸上没有皮”。往胶南市泊里镇一带,几乎家家户户都有在炕上铺红席的习俗,无论娶媳妇还是过年,泊里红席在当地常常是亲戚朋友间互相赠送的高档礼品。实际上,泊里红席的编织和使用,已经在当地有上千年的传承历史。     

别样的元宵节

正月十五元宵节是中国最传统的节日之一,家人亲友相聚一堂热热闹闹地包饺子、吃汤圆、放鞭炮、祈求家人平安幸福……许许多多的中国家庭都以同样隆重而传统的形式度过这一天。然而,对于青岛的一些家庭而言,由于克利伯帆船队员的到来,他们的元宵节和往年大不一样。     

首届奥帆城市市长暨国际帆船运动高峰论坛主讲摘录

两年前的8月,北京向世界奉献了气势恢宏、精彩难忘的奥运盛会,青岛向世界展现了千帆竞发、万众欢腾的激情画卷.     

因子分析法在县域经济发展水平评价中的应用

县域经济是国民经济的重要组成部分。为了全面、客观、系统、科学地评价和分析县域经济发展水平,一般要采用多指标综合评价法,这种传统方法具有主观随意性与工作复杂性的缺点。采用因子分析法对县域经济发展水平进行评价,可以有效地克服传统多指标综合评价方法中的不足与缺陷。     

法国科研税收补偿政策及其启示

本文介绍了法国科研税收补偿政策的主要内容及特点,并提出了相应的激励我国企业进行研发或创新的借鉴建议。     

Impact of empathy with nature on pro-environmental behaviour

Existing studies show the role of empathy with nature in improving attitudes toward the environment. This article demonstrates that induced empathy with nature can improve environmental behaviours and commitments. We find that environmental commitment and behaviour are positively affected by empathy with nature and establish a causal model between empathy with nature and pro-environmental behaviour. We further investigate the relationship between self-construal (interdependent or independent), empathy with nature (existing or non-existing) and pro-environmental behaviour. The results indicate that participants who have empathy with nature display stronger pro-environmental behaviour, particularly in the private domain. Commitment to the environment plays a mediating role in this relationship and self-construal plays a moderating role. Specifically, for individuals with interdependent self-construal, empathy with nature promotes pro-environmental behaviour, whereas for individuals with independent self-construal, empathy with nature has no statistically significant effect on pro-environmental behaviour.     

Does character's gender matter in inspirational brand story? Exploring the moderating effect of gender role conformity

Inspirational brand story is a widely used marketing strategy in brand building. However, few empirical studies have investigated the underlying mechanism and boundary conditions of a successful brand story strategy. The current study examined the influence of lead character's gender in inspirational brand story on consumer–brand identification based on the social identity theory, benevolent sexism, and gender schema theory. Results from two experiments demonstrated that the gender of inspirational brand stories has an impact on consumer brand identity through the mediation effect of sympathy. Compared with a male character, a female character elicits viewers' sympathy, which results in high brand identification. Such a gender effect is stronger when there is a high level of perceived gender role conformity. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

无视科学底线的大胆创新-陈禹、谢康《知识经济的测度理论与方法》评述

中国人民大学出版社在1998年出版了一套《知识经济时代丛书》,作者多是信息科学、管理科学和经济科学方面的专家学者。其中中国人民大学信息学院院长、中国信息经济学会副理事长陈禹教授和中山大学谢康副教授(均为"作者简介"的职称和职务)合著的《知识经济的测度理论与方法》(以下简称《测度》)引人注目。因为"知识经济"的测度是一个困难的问题。