WELFARE-IMPROVING PRIVATIZATION POLICY IN THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY

This article considers the vertical structure of the telecommunications industry and examines the welfare effects of privatization on the public enterprise, where the public enterprise supplies the essential network service of the upstream market and competes against private, independent firms in a mixed downstream market. It is shown that the cost advantage of the independent rivals improves welfare postprivatization. Several relevant and current policy issues on the process of privatization in the telecommunications industry are also discussed. (JEL L50, D42)     

HOUSING, SPRAWL, AND THE USE OF DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEES: THE CASE OF THE INLAND EMPIRE

This article is concerned with the economics of excessively large and socially costly suburban expansion and attempts to summarize and organize the main economic arguments associated with sprawl due to single-family residential home construction. We also apply standard welfare economics and price policy instruments to the issue of suburban sprawl in order to suggest ways in which economics can participate in and inform the debate over sprawl. The article uses the Inland Empire, which includes the valley regions of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties in Southern California east of Los Angeles, as a case study. ( JEL R11, R14, Q24)     

INCREASED INDUSTRIAL USES OF AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES POLICY, TRADE AND ETHANOL

Using agricultural feedstocks for industrial products affects domestic and international agricultural markets, all of which are encumbered with complex policies. This article examines the interaction of three seemingly unrelated policies: the Clean Air Act, the U.S. corn program, and European Union agricultural subsidies. More ethanol production, resulting from new regulations associated with the Clean Air Act, increases the use of U.S. corn and increases the supply of corn gluten feed, an ethanol co-product. Corn gluten feed is primarily exported to Europe under a loophole in European Union trade barriers. But recent reform of European Union farm policy will lower the price of the European grain for which corn gluten feed is a substitute. This development lowers prices for a major ethanol co-product and thus makes ethanol itself less profitable just as the demand for the fuel is expanding. NAFTA, GATT, and new technologies also play cameo roles in the story .     

EFFECTS OF HEALTH RISK INFORMATION ON ADDICTIVE GOODS CONSUMPTION: A CASE OF TOBACCO,ALCOHOL, AND BETEL NUTS IN TAIWAN

This paper empirically investigates the relationship between the dissemination of information about the health risks of tobacco, alcohol, and betel nuts and their consumption in Taiwan. To estimate cross‐elasticities, the paper uses the Central Bureau of Statistics demand system model. Empirical results indicate that an increase in the dissemination of information on the health risks of tobacco, alcohol, and betel nuts substantially reduces real consumption. Empirical evidence from the cross‐elasticity of price also confirms that a complementary relationship exists in Taiwan among these three addictive products. (JEL D12, Q11, H26)     

Seguridad social y rendimiento empresarial. El caso de las pymes vietnamitas

Se investiga cómo la provisión de cobertura social –un factor clave de la formalidad– afecta al rendimiento de las pymes en Viet Nam. Con datos censales de todas las empresas declaradas de 2006 a 2011, los autores encuentran que las que aumentan su cobertura social en un 10 por ciento experimentan un aumento del ingreso por trabajador del 1,4 al 2 por ciento y un incremento del beneficio de hasta el 1,8 por ciento, dependiendo del tiempo de supervivencia. Sin embargo, dado el desfase entre la «inversión» y sus retornos (mejora del rendimiento), medidas como la subvención de las cotizaciones iniciales podrían incentivar la participación en los regímenes obligatorios.     

来自韩国媒体空间的风景——国际实验媒体论坛:韩国报告

我首先要说的是植入(embeddedness)的概念,它最初是经济历史学家卡尔·波兰尼(KarlPolanyi)在其著作《大转型》(The Great Transformation)     

外国技术授权策略与本国关税政策之探讨

本文将以一个拥有技术优势，且将其产品输往本国寡占市场中的外国厂商为对象，探讨其对本国厂商的最适技术授权策略，以及该策略是否受关税保护贸易政策之影响。在本文的研究结论中，我们可以发现下列三点：（1）在自由贸易条件下，当外国企业可授权国内二家厂商时，其最适授权策略，会选择同时授权于国内二家技术劣势厂商。当外国厂商仅可授权国内一家技术劣势厂商时，若市场规模相对较小，国外技术优势厂商之最适单位权利金订定为存在内部解，且会受市场规模的影响，市场规模值愈大，权利金愈高。当市场规模相对较大时，则国外技术优势厂商之最适单位权利金恰等于其技术创新所能节省的成本幅度。（2）在关税政策条件下，国外技术优势厂商可同时授权国内二家厂商时，其授权策略不受关税政策影响。在可授权国内一家技术劣势厂商时，若市场规模相对较大，其授权策略不受关税政策影响。若市场规模相对较小，在自由贸易条件下外国厂商的授权权利金将高于采取关税政策条件下的水准。（3）在本国政府的最适关税政策下，不论是当外国厂商可授权本国二家厂商之Nash均衡或可授权本国一家厂商之Nash均衡，皆有助于本国福利水准的提升。     

An Historical Analysis of Ethical Pronouncements and Debate in the Australian Accounting Profession

This paper traces the forerunners of the present-day ethical rulings of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and the Australian Society of Accountants from the earlies professional Australian accounting bodies of the 1880s and 1890s. Various codes of ethics, articles, and memoranda of association, by-laws, charters, and professional publications are reviewed. Key Australian ethical issues are identified and their orientation over time considered. There is an early orientation towards overseas viewpoints and the issue of advertising is identified as a key impetus for ethical code development. The profession's self-interest is identified as an underlying rationale. This is presented as an historical case study of the development of accounting ethics with a view to identifying factors influencing change over time.     

SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL: THE EFFECT OF UNEQUAL ACCESS TO EMPLOYMENT-BASED HEALTH INSURANCE ON SAME-SEX AND UNMARRIED DIFFERENT-SEX COUPLES

Employers' health insurance coverage for legal spouses places unmarried couples at a disadvantage for obtaining coverage. Data from the Current Population Survey confirm that people with same-sex or different-sex unmarried partners are two to three times more likely to be uninsured than married people, even after controlling for factors influencing coverage. Universal partner coverage would cut that uninsured rate by as much as 50%. Employers offering domestic partner benefits would see a small enrollment increase: 0.1%–0.3% for gay and lesbian partners and 1.3%–1.8% for heterosexual partners. We find no evidence of adverse selection. (JEL J32 , J38 , J71 )