HEDONIC PRICING MODELS FOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION MARKS

Abstract.  This paper attempts to link Chinese numerology to the determination of vehicle registration mark (VRM) prices in Hong Kong through the hedonic pricing analysis. The values of different patterns of the numbers and Roman alphabet letters are examined. We find that there is a very strong preference for the number '8', that visually appealing patterns add great values to a VRM and that the non-transferable VRMs are more expensive than transferable ones. We also show that their prices move in tandem with the Hang Seng Index. The findings suggest that the government can raise revenue by auctioning off intangible assets containing alphanumerical identification marks.     

NONPROFIT EMPLOYEES' MACHIAVELLIAN PROPENSITIES

Nonprofit organizations are held to high ethical standards due to their charitable missions serving the common good. Incidents of fiscal mismanagement within the nonprofit sector make it relevant to assay the ethical principles of employees. This study examines the level of Machiavellian propensities of US nonprofit employees. Results indicate Machiavellian propensities do exist in certain nonprofit employees and these employees agree with questionable behavior. Policy makers and oversight agencies may find these results useful in developing corporate governance and accountability measures for nonprofit organizations. Furthermore, board of director members may use these results to monitor employee actions and address management training.     

基于知识约简的企业员工知识培训决策研究

文章首先阐述企业员工知识培训的重要性,指出企业对员工进行知识培训管理方面的不足,认为要有效地进行知识培训,必须首先了解员工的知识缺失,进行科学的知识需求分析.文章在介绍知识约简的相关概念基础上.提出了基于知识约简的企业员工知识培训决策的方法步骤,并结合算例进行了具体分析.     

基于模糊综合评价的职业经理人力资本价值评估模型

文章在分析我国职业经理人力资本价值评估研究现状的基础上,以职业经理激励约束为导向,建立了职业经理综合素质测评体系,构建了职业经理人力资本价值评估模型,最后结合实例验证了模型的有效性。     

干预行为——经济法中的“法律行为”

在我国法学界,"法律行为"有两种不同含义,一是民法上的含义,意指意思效果行为。这也是法律行为的原初含义。另一是法理学上的含义,意指具有法律效果的行为。经济法的法律行为应采何意?从相关的论述看,多是在法理学意义上使用的。笔者之见,法律行为应回归其原初含义,而最能反映经济法特征的法律行为就是"干预行为",即公共经济组织的"公意"表示及执行行为,包括宏观调控和市场规制行为。     

浅议英语中颜色词所表达的情感色彩

英语中某些常用的表示颜色的形容词如:blue,red,black,white,green and yellow等,有时可用来表达人类丰富的情感世界,值得我们在教学中不断总结和积累.     

国企改革若干回顾和思考

经过30年的改革开放,我国国有企业改革任务基本实现,这是我国基本上平稳地实现由计划经济体制向社会主义市场体制转变的主要标志。在肯定改革成就、坚持改革方向的同时,也要认真总结经验教训,特别要正确处理改革和稳定的关系、正确认识改革和发展的关系,解决好体制和管理问题。     

Domestic Support and Border Measures for Processed Horticultural Products

In horticultural markets, trade barriers often apply to the processed products whereas domestic support applies to farm-produced raw commodities. Here we assess the effects of such trade barriers and domestic support by simulating the effects of policy reform on global processing tomato markets, which are faced with modest processed product tariffs and high domestic support in the European Union (EU). Both protection and EU subsidy drive down world welfare, but we find that reducing import tariffs for tomato products would yield greater effects on markets and larger welfare impacts outside Europe than would reductions in EU domestic support.     

REVISITING INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT AND SEGMENTATION IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN LABOUR MARKET

This study revisits the definition of informal employment, and it investigates the puzzle of high open unemployment co‐existing with relatively limited informal employment in South Africa. We estimate earnings equations using data from the September 2004 Labour Force Survey and present evidence of persistent earnings differentials not only between formal and informal employment, but also between types of informal employment. These persistent earnings differentials are suggestive of complex segmentation in the South African labour market and challenge the presentation of informal employment as an undifferentiated residual with no barriers to entry or mobility.     

Modelling the inflation process in transition economies: Empirical comparison of Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic

This paper starts from the observation that inflation in transition economies appears to be persistently high and volatile and attempts to provide some empirical characterisation of the inflation process in three such transition economies: Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic. We first consider the role of monetary growth as a major causal factor for inflation in these economies, and argue that the evidence provides rather weak support for the causal relationship. We then propose a transition economy cost-plus model and estimate this using the equilibrium-correction modelling (ECM) strategy augmented by introduction of a number of transitory factors and changes in the internal structure of the real economy which we believe may have had a significant impact on inflation in these economies. We show that this approach enables us to account for long-run inflation in these economies from the early 1980s to the present despite the turbulence of the latter part of the sample period. Our results support wage and exchange rate based inflation policies.