Materialism,fashion consumers and gender: a cross‐cultural study

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among materialism, gender and fashion consumer groups from two countries – one representative of an individualistic culture (US) and one representative of a collectivistic culture (Korea). Participants were 397 students from a university in Korea (n = 221) and a university in the US (n = 176) who completed the questionnaire. The materialism construct showed adequate reliability for participants in both cultures. Fashion change agents scored higher on materialism (centrality and success) than fashion followers. Females scored higher on materialism than males which seemed to be based on higher scores on the centrality subscale. Participants from the US and Korea differed on all three subscales of materialism with US participants scoring higher on centrality but lower on success and happiness than Korean participants. The findings of this study provide valuable implications for fashion marketers and retailers in Korea and US. The findings are limited to Korean and US consumers and cannot be generalized to other cultures. This paper fills a gap in the literature by comparing materialistic values between genders and fashion consumer groups in an individualistic culture (US) and a collectivistic culture (Korea).     

Health,Education and Emergence from the Development Trap

Abstract: This paper studies the emergence of developing countries from a development trap. It shows that countries whose dynamics exhibits several growth peaks can be considered as cases of equilibrium jump. Applying this criterion to a sample of 65 countries that were initially very poor in 1950, it identifies 13 such countries, called ‘emerging economies’. Comparing emerging and non‐emerging economies in the 1950s and early 1960s, it shows that economic take‐offs starting in the 1960s can be related to health and education in the early 1950s, while other possible factors, such as savings, openness and democracy are not significant.     

Comparison of Effects from Different Institutions: Public Credit Guarantee in Korea*

We aim to compare the activities of the two main credit guarantee institutions in Korea. There has been mounting criticism that although these institutions were mandated to play different roles in financing small and medium‐sized enterprises (SME), their operations are, in fact, similar, and many SME receive overlapping support from both institutions. Using the propensity score matching method (allowing for multiple, mutually exclusive support scenarios) to compare the effects of PCG on different institutions, the present study provides suggestions to help the government make decisions regarding the consolidation of PCG funds. The results suggest that the institutions function differently and target different SME. However, overlapping support enables firms to expand their sales only, indicating the existence of inefficiency in the case of overlapping support to firms.     

Corporate Venture Capital and Its Contribution to Intermediate Goods Firms in South Korea*

Set by government, corporate, financial and individual sources, venture capitalists in Korea have adapted themselves to the new and uncertain venture capital market through stand‐alone and syndicated investments. The present study raises questions about whether various financial sources contributed differentially to their portfolio firms during the market boom of 2000. Results show that no single capital source showed better performance, and only corporate venture capitalists contributed to intermediate goods firms. The latter finding might reflect the unique ability of corporate venture capitalists to use vertical value‐chain linkages for their investments.     

应对美国对华贸易保护政策的路径选择

文章指出,金融危机以来,伴随着全球贸易的急剧萎缩,贸易保护主义也风起云涌,特别是美国等一些西方国家近期针对中国的贸易保护措施更是纷纷出台,对我国经济发展造成了不利影响,成为我国经济发展的一个制约因素。文章认为,面对日益严重的贸易保护主义,政府、企业应采取积极的应对措施,建立健全贸易救济系统、充分利用WTO争端解决机制、实现对外贸易保护前置化和鼓励创立自主品牌等,以突破美国对华贸易保护的藩篱。     

农村信用社风险及其防范

农村信用社作为农村合作金融的主体,是我国农村金融的主力军和联系农民的金融纽带。本文对我国农村信用社金融风险的表现及成因进行了分析,提出建立适应农村信用社发展的对策建议。     

上市公司企业内部控制报告的完善

近年来,无论在资本市场发达的美国、欧洲,还是在市场刚刚起步的我国,都发生了一系列令人触目惊心的财务舞弊案件。有效的内部控制是防范上市公司财务舞弊的首道也可能是最后一道防线。内部控制报告已经成为内部控制是否有效的关注点,因而有必要对上市公司内部控制报告进一步展开研究。通过对内部控制报告的理论分析,本文建议我国上市公司应借鉴萨班斯法案构建较为完善的内部控制报告框架体系,并提出应通过完善注册会计师内部控制审核标准,进而提高内部控制的质量。     

汇市干预的理论与实证分析——来自日本的经验

本文以颇具代表性的日本货币当局外汇干预的模式为参照系,对当今世界资金规模最大、金融领域最前沿的外汇市场从理论和实践的角度进行论证,旨在为未来我国人民币国际化后所必将产生的外汇干预等相关问题提供具有实际意义的建议与理念。     

MUTUAL FUND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION – APPLICATION OF SYSTEM BCC MODEL

For the first time, this research adopts the system BCC model in data envelopment analysis in order to evaluate mutual fund performance and compares the results between the BCC model and the system BCC model. This study is based on the sample of stock funds and balanced funds in Taiwan, with the empirical results summarised as follows. (i) Under the system BCC model, the average score of balanced funds is greater than the average score of stock funds. (ii) There is a significant difference in efficiency scores between the BCC model and the system BCC model, and it is proper to adopt the system BCC model. (iii) The number of major reference sets that have been referenced under the BCC model is larger than under the system BCC model. (iv) If we neglect the distinctions between stock funds and balanced funds, there will be errors on performance assessment. Ultimately, the results reveal that there is a significant difference between the two models. Provided no consideration is made for the funds belonging to two different systems, errors in performance evaluation are inevitable. This research provides investors with both a more accurate and comprehensive evaluation method.