Depreciation of Business R&D Capital

We develop a forward-looking profit model to estimate the depreciation rates of business R&D capital. By using U.S. government data between 1987 and 2007, and the newly developed model, we estimate both constant and time-varying industry-specific R&D depreciation rates. The results comprise a set of R&D depreciation rates for major U.S. high-tech industries. They align with the main conclusions from recent studies that the rates are in general higher than the traditionally assumed 15 percent and vary across industries. The relative ranking of the constant R&D depreciation rates among industries is consistent with industry observations and the industry-specific time-varying rates are informative about the dynamics of technological change and the levels of competition across industries. Lastly, we also present a cross-country comparison of the R&D depreciation rates between the U.S. and Japan, and find that the results reflect the relative technological competitiveness in key industries.     

加强政策事中事后评估的思考

党的十九届四中全会明确提出要强化决策执行、评估、监督,做好政策评估对优化政府职能、推动国家治理体系和能力现代化有积极作用。加强政策运行情况的评估,应从优化评估工作机制、完善和培育评估机构、强化评估结果的应用入手,不断提升评估工作质量,形成适应中国特色社会主义现代化治理体系的事中事后政策评估机制。     

Buying reputation as a signal of quality: Evidence from an online marketplace

Seller reputation, generated by buyer feedback, is critical to fostering trust in online marketplaces. Marketplaces or sellers may choose to compensate buyers for providing feedback. Signaling theory predicts that only sellers of high-quality products will reward buyers for truthful feedback, especially when a product lacks any feedback and when the seller is not established. We confirm these hypotheses using Taobao's reward-for-feedback mechanism. High-quality products, especially without established feedback, are chosen for feedback rewards, which cause sales to increase by 36%. Marketplaces and consumers can therefore benefit from allowing sellers to buy feedback and signal their high-quality products in the process.     

累进计分和增量增酬在卫生院绩效管理中的应用探讨

随着卫生体制改革,政府对基层卫生机构的投入要要求也在不断加大,卫生院采用绩效管理制度,提高卫生院医护工作者的工作效率,从而提高卫生院的整体水平。但在实际应用中,绩效管理工作开展出现了较多问题,导致工作开展不顺利,因此,有效的绩效管理制度制定特成为了目前基层卫生院重点关注和思考的问题,本次研究将累进计分和增量增酬应用到卫生院绩效管理中,并取得了较高的应用效果。     

产业转型升级示范区高质量发展的大数据分析

2017、2019年,国家发展改革委、科技部、工业和信息化部、自然资源部、国家开发银行在全国分两批遴选创设了20个产业转型升级示范区。以第一批12个示范区为对象,通过社会媒体报道和地方政府工作报告大数据分析,研究其在探索传统产业改造、新兴产业发展、绿色发展、园区建设、产业集聚、以及优化营商环境、融入国家战略、加强区域协作等方面的建设成效和典型经验,可以发现,推动国家产业转型升级示范区高质量发展,应因地制宜谋划示范区发展定位,依据功能定位实施差异化产业战略,进一步完善示范区评估考核指标体系,充分发挥中央预算内投资激励导向作用。     

Does individualistic culture impact operational risk?

Employing a sample of 2,957 operational‐risk events across 31 countries from 1990 to 2011, we find that financial institutions located in countries with higher individualism tend to have higher operational risk. This positive relation is achieved through the risk‐taking channel and the earnings‐management channel. In addition, the magnitude of operational losses is higher in more individualistic countries. The results suggest that individualism serves as an important informal institutional determinant of operational risk in an international context. Endogeneity tests and various robustness checks confirm our findings.     

Modelling with flexibility through the business cycle: using a panel smooth transition model to test for the lipstick effect

ABSTRACT

Consumer spending typically declines during periods of economic distress, but observers have noted that lipstick purchases appear to increase during recessions, which is often referred to as the lipstick effect. However, the existence of such effect has remained empirically unconfirmed. Using weekly retail scanner data on lipstick sales from 2006 to 2016 in the United States, we applied a Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) demand model to test the relationship between economic distress and lipstick sales. This flexible demand specification allows regression coefficients to vary as a function of an exogenous macroeconomic variables and fluctuate asymmetrically, non-linearly, and time-varyingly across an unlimited number of regimes. Empirical results show the income elasticity of demand for lipstick decreased rapidly from 0.31 to 0.05 during the 2007–2009 recession, then slowly rebounded to 0.31 by the second quarter of 2014, thus first empirically confirming the existence of the lipstick effect.     

Security regulations,access to capital markets,and firm performance: Evidence from China

This study explores the cost of security regulations in China, where firms are required to meet a certain profitability benchmark before applying for permission to raise more equity via secondary equity offerings (SEOs). Using a difference-in-differences setting, we show that firms affected by the regulation (i.e., firms with high external financing demands (EFD) but profitability lower than the regulatory requirement) significantly underperform their counterparts, while unaffected firms do not. The affected firms’ performance decline increases (decreases) when the requirement of profitability is more (less) restricted. Consistently, the three-day cumulative abnormal return (CAR) of firms with high EFD is significantly negative (positive) when the regulation is tightened (loosened). Our study provides evidence on how the cost of regulation affects companies that have growth opportunities.     

Financial capability of student loan holders who are college students,graduates, or dropouts

Effective consumer financial education provides relevant information to meet special needs of targeted audiences. The purpose of this study is to examine differences in financial capability among student loan holders who are college students, graduates, and dropouts. Using data from the 2015 U.S. National Financial Capability Study, the results show that student loan holders who have completed their education program have higher scores in all financial capability indicators than college students and dropouts. Further analyses show differences in specific financial knowledge items among college students, graduates, and dropouts. In addition, college graduates are more likely to perform several specific desirable financial behaviors than college students and dropouts. The findings suggest that financial educators should emphasize action taking when they provide financial education for student loan holders who are college students and dropouts.