Hours worked in selected OECD countries: an empirical assessment

In this paper, we empirically assess the evolution of the aggregate hours worked, with a particular emphasis on their age structure, in a sample of OECD countries, along the period 1970–2007. We show that the age composition of the workforce has a large and statistically significant effect on hours worked volatility. To exploit the multilevel structure of our data, we use a Mixed Linear Model to investigate the consequences of (i) demographic change, (ii) sector-specific, and (iii) country-specific factors on hours worked by ‘young’ (aged 15–29) and ‘prime-aged’ (29+) individuals. We show that changes in workforce demographics, captured by the ratio between population older than 29 and population younger than 29, are strongly and significantly correlated with the amount of hours worked by ‘young’ individuals. We also document the impact of sectoral capital intensity and profitability on the dynamics of (aggregate) hours worked. Finally, we show that productive public expenditure, here proxied by the public investment in ICT, is beneficial for the hours worked both by young and prime-aged individuals.     

中国石化与壳牌公司发展模式比较及思考

对中国石化与壳牌公司发展模式进行比较,发现中国石化在竞争力上与国外同行业大公司相比在持续盈利能力、资源优势、技术创新能力、管理体制上存在差距,中国石化提升核心竞争力应进行管理制度创新、技术创新以及在竞争合作中提高综合能力     

科技伦理治理机制的法治因应与逻辑转换——由生物技术科技伦理规制问题展开

针对新兴技术的科技伦理治理,关键在于健全的法治保障,而法治手段主要包括基于私领域市场调节功能的民法手段、基于刑事处罚的刑法手段、基于行政管制的行政法手段。其中,行政法模式应当成为通过科技伦理规制科研活动常态化的有效手段,而现行科技伦理的行政规制模式存在过度依赖行政命令、行政法律主体范围受限、对科技风险预防不足以及多元共治相关制度缺失的问题。通过分析传统科技伦理行政规制模式的缺憾和不足,提出建立多元共治的科技伦理治理机制。     

Speed to Legal Registration and Nascent Venture Performance: A Temporal Dilemma for Nascent Entrepreneurs in an Emerging Economy

In this paper, we examine the effect of a nascent venture's speed to legal registration during its formation on the initial venture performance in an emerging economy. Quickly obtaining legitimacy via legal registration in the early stages of a new venture's formation accelerates its resources acquisition and transition to other start‐up activities, facilitating the venture to seize dynamic entrepreneurial opportunities; however, in an emerging economy, quick legal registration also incurs substantial costs and compliance activities that may inhibit the venture's engagement in other start‐up activities. A nascent venture in an emerging economy suffers from being either too fast (early) or too slow (late) in registering its business during the formation process, and the relationship between the speed to registration and nascent venture performance is best reflected by an inverse U‐shape. Moreover, the inverse U‐relationship becomes more pronounced when the entrepreneurial opportunity is more innovative. Based on analyzing 145 nascent entrepreneurs from the event history data set of the China Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (CPSED), we found strong support for our arguments.     

Forecasting output gaps in the G-7 countries: the role of correlated innovations and structural breaks

Trend GDP and output gaps play an important role in fiscal and monetary policy formulation, often including the need for forecasts. In this article, we focus on forecasting trend GDP and output gaps with Beveridge-Nelson trend-cycle decompositions trend-cycle decompositions and investigate how these are affected by assumptions concerning correlated innovations and structural breaks. We evaluate expanding window, one-step-ahead forecasts indirectly for the G-7 countries on the basis of real GDP growth rate forecasts. We find that correlated innovations affect real GDP growth rate forecasts positively, while allowing for structural breaks works for some countries but not for all. In the face of uncertainty, the evidence supports that in making forecasts of trends and output gap policy-makers should focus on allowing for the correlation of shocks as an order of priority higher than unknown structural breaks.     

Do Clients’ Enterprise Systems Affect Audit Quality and Efficiency?

Enterprise systems (ESs) are widely used to support business processes along the enterprise value chain. It has been shown that ESs, by integrating business functions and making information about day‐to‐day activities available, enhance operational transparency and improve the internal information environment. However, while ES‐based business infrastructures can offer many benefits, their prevalence and increased complexity have also brought new challenges to external auditors. Motivated by the prominence of this issue for auditors and regulators and by the scarcity of research jointly examining ESs and auditors’ work, we investigate whether the presence and extent of client firms’ ES implementations are related to the quality and efficiency of auditors’ work. Using proprietary archival data on ES implementations and controlling for self‐selection, we find that ES implementation improves the quality and efficiency of current and future years’ audit work. Specifically, there are fewer restatements, a greater likelihood of auditors issuing going‐concern opinions to firms that do not survive, higher accruals‐based auditing quality, a lower likelihood of Form 10‐K filing delays, and generally lower audit fees. We further show that the benefits of ESs generally increase with the scope of implementation and are generally greater when the ES includes accounting and finance systems. Inconsistent with improvement in the quality of auditors’ work, we find no evidence that ESs help auditors identify material weaknesses in advance of restatement announcements and we find that, even in the presence of ESs, auditors issue an excessive number of going‐concern opinions to clients that survive.     

政府效应、再保险与巨灾保险供给结构——基于巨灾债券、再保险最优结构的模型分析

南方雪灾、汶川地震等顿发的自然灾害暴露了我国巨灾风险分散制度的薄弱,传统风险分散方式的不足使资本市场、政府在巨灾风险管理中的地位提升本文克服了已有文献只定性讨论政府作用的缺陷,从需求角度构建了政府、再保险与巨灾风险债券的组合模型,结论表明:政府与再保险、巨灾风险债券都存在替代效应,这解释了当前各固政府在分散巨灾风险中参与程度不问的现象:政府的参与,还减小了巨灾债券与再保险组合的可行集,限制了直接保险人的选择.     

FDI对中国服务业产业效应的实证分析

本文将服务业下属的行业按要素密集度的不同使用划归为三种类型:知识密集型、资本密集型和劳动力密集型,并对这三种类型服务业与FDI之间的关系进行了实证分析,发现不同类型服务业的FDI存在不同效应.研究结果表明;中国目前有必要通过FDI的引入调整服务业的产业结构,提升整体服务业水平及其核心竞争力,对此提出了相应的政策建议.     

跨国公司在华R&D投资对我国区域创新系统的影响

跨国公司R&D投资是在全球范围内配置R&D资源的一种投资活动。其在华R&D投资对我国区域创新系统的影响,主要是通过对企业、高校和科研院所、中介组织、政府及区域创新环境的作用表现出来的。     

浅析标准的规范支撑和控制作用

从标准化发展的不同阶段,分析了其对经济发展和社会进步所产生的"规范"、"支撑"和"控制"的作用.强调了企业建立内控标准的必要性和意义,并结合中国海洋石油总公司制度建设,阐述了其企业内部控制标准体系.