Overreaction to Fearsome Risks

When risks threaten, cognitive mechanisms bias people toward action or inaction. Fearsome risks are highly available. The availability bias tells us that this leads people to overestimate their frequency. Therefore, they also overreact to curtail the likelihood or consequences of such risks. More generally, fear can paralyze efforts to think clearly about risks. We draw on a range of environmental risks to show the following: (1) Fear leads us to neglect probability of occurrence; (2) As fearsome environmental risks are usually imposed by others (as externalities), indignation stirs excess reaction; (3) We often misperceive or miscalculate such risks. Two experiments demonstrate probability neglect when fearsome risks arise: (a) willingness-to-pay to eliminate the cancer risk from arsenic in water (described in vivid terms) did not vary despite a 10-fold variation in risk; (b) the willingness-to-accept price for a painful but non dangerous electric shock did not vary between a 1 and 100% chance. Possible explanations relate to the role of the amygdala in impairing cognitive brain function. Government and the law, both made by mortals and both responding to public pressures, similarly neglect probabilities for fearsome risks. Examples relating to shark attacks, Love Canal, alar and terrorism are discussed.     

20世纪前期买办职业收入分析

20世纪前期,买办的职业报酬制度达到成熟和完善。买办的职业收入主要由薪金和佣金构成,还有一部分被外商默许的暗中收入。佣金是多数买办的主要收入,是买办经纪人身份的体现;薪金是买办与外商雇佣关系的一种象征。买办收入的复杂挂还在于不同行业的买办收入来源不一,且差距较大。     

我国经济结构动态变动后的下一步

经济的非平衡增长近年来在宏观经济的研究中广受关注。利用1952～2009年的样本数据,分析检验发现,我国经济具有非平衡增长的基本特征,这导致了我国经济结构的升级演进路径呈现出结构转变性质;在所选择的样本期内,农业对经济增长的拉动作用呈现出倒U型曲线的特征,而服务业对经济的贡献则表现出逐步增加的势头。另外,经验分析的结果表明,我国经济可能正经历长期的结构调整。因此,采取合适的措施使我国经济持续长久增长至关重要。     

国家高新区能否提升城市创新水平?

文章基于2003年至2016年我国215个城市面板数据，运用双重差分模型、空间双重差分模型和分位数回归模型等方法，实证检验了国家高新区对城市创新水平的影响及其空间异质性特征。研究结果表明，国家高新区建设显著提升了城市创新水平，并且高新区设立带动的城市投资集聚是推动城市创新水平提升的重要原因。空间双重差分结果表明，国家高新区对城市创新水平的提升作用并非源于其对周边城市创新资源的掠夺，相反高新区设立对周边城市和省内城市均产生了显著的溢出效应，提升了本省城市和周边外省城市创新水平。此外，国家高新区对城市创新水平的影响具有空间异质性特征，在省会城市、直辖市和副省级城市，高新区对城市创新水平的影响并不显著，而能够显著提升一般地级市创新水平；随着城市创新水平的提升，高新区建设对城市创新水平的促进作用呈现出先增强、后减弱直至不再显著的非对称"倒V型"变化特征。但是研究也发现，国家高新区对城市创新水平影响的区位异质性并不显著，高新区对东部地区和中西部地区城市创新水平提升均具有显著的促进作用。