创新研究中的概念问题

本文探讨了目前复合组织创新研究过程中出现的一系列尚未解决的、复杂的概念问题。在把这些问题串联在一起的过程中,通过对影响实证研究中不稳定性因素的探讨分析,我们界定了四种相互独立的导致不稳定性产生的因素,并深入探讨了它们在理论和方法论上的意义。     

Audited reputation

We study reputations with imperfect audit and a reputation market. The main result shows the existence of a separating equilibrium in the reputation market, which contrasts with Tadelis [Tadelis, S., 2002, The market for reputations as an incentive mechanism, Journal of Political Economy 110(4), 854–882].     

Carbon sequestration and farm income in West Africa: Identifying best management practices for smallholder agricultural systems in northern Ghana

The interest in agricultural soils as global storage of carbon has increased in recent years, along with the prospect of farmers' participation in payment schemes under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto protocol. Thus, a better understanding of agricultural practices that can increase soil carbon and enhance the livelihoods of farmers is necessary, particularly in smallholder farming systems of West Africa. This study evaluates different crop management strategies both by their capacity to sequester carbon in agricultural soils and by their contribution to household income. A case study in Wa, Upper West Region of Ghana is used to test 48 different cropping strategies by means of a crop simulation model and a household-level multiple-criteria optimisation model. Each cropping strategy is evaluated after a 20-year simulation period by its capacity to accrue carbon in the soil, by its economic performance at the plot-level, and by its contribution to the farm income with and without carbon payments. A set of best management practices that concomitantly increase soil carbon and farm income are identified and classified by their cost of investment.     

Customer ignorance, price-cap regulation, and rent-seeking in mobile roaming

Mobile phone usage when traveling abroad is expensive. Although the network connection switches frequently between available networks, the choice of network is largely independent of wholesale prices. As a consequence, we show that wholesale prices are strategic substitutes. The recent European price-cap regulation forces firms to reduce wholesale and retail roaming prices, but does not solve the underlying problem. There may thus be a permanent need for regulation analogous to what we have for domestic call termination. Furthermore, we show that there is a risk that wholesale price-cap regulation stimulates wasteful rent-seeking activity.     

An investigation of cointegration and causality between fertility and female labour force participation

Both economists and demographers have long been interested in the nature of the relationship between fertility rate (BR) and female labor force participation (FR). Earlier work suggests an inverse relationship between BR and FR, except in preindustrial countries. The author applies Hsiao's version of the Granger causality method to examine the causality between BR and FR using transformed US data for the period 1948-93. An unidirectional causality is found to run from BR to FR with no feedback. These results confirm the hypothesis that the presence of small children discourages women from seeking employment outside of the home. Employment does not, however, affect a woman's decision to have children.     

Microeconometric models of infrequently purchased goods: An application to household pork consumption

The double-hurdle and infrequency-of-purchase models are generalized with the inverse hyperbolic sine transformation in the dependent variable. The resulting specifications feature more flexible parameterization and error distributions than the untransformed models. Using the 1987–88 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey data on household pork consumption, a nonnested test suggests that the IHS double-hurdle model provides better characterization of the data-generating process than the IHS infrequency-of-purchase model but the elasticities derived from these models are similar. Own-price effects on the probability and level of consumption are negative and significant, but the elasticities are small. Income and cross-price effects are not significant. Household age composition, education, gender of meal planner, and race are among the demographic variables that affect consumption.     

Semi-endogenous versus Schumpeterian growth models: testing the knowledge production function using international data

Using various indicators of innovative activity and product variety in the OECD countries over the past century, this paper tests first- and second-generation models of economic growth. The estimation results give evidence in favour of Schumpeterian models, while the semi-endogenous growth theories are shown not to be consistent with the data.      

SAVINGS MOBILIZATION,FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND LIBERALIZATION: THE CASE OF MALAYSIA

This paper attempts to identify the key factors behind Malaysia's remarkable savings performance. Drawing on the life cycle theory, the saving function is estimated by incorporating other relevant structural features and institutional settings of the Malaysian economy into the specification. Particular emphasis has been placed on the roles of financial factors in mobilizing funds in the private sector. The results suggest that financial deepening and increased banking density tend to encourage private savings. Development of insurance markets and liberalization of the financial system, however, tend to exert a dampening effect on private savings.