Recovering Risky Technologies Using the Almost Ideal Demand System: An Application to U.S. Banking

We present and estimate a model that shifts the focus of modeling production from the traditional assumptions of profit maximization and cost minimization to a more general assumption of managerial utility maximization that can incorporate risk incentives into the analysis of production and recover value-maximizing technologies. We implement the model using the almost ideal demand system. In addition, we use the model to measure efficiency in a more general way that can incorporate a concern for the market value of firms assets and equity and identify value-maximizing firms. This shift in focus bridges the gap between the risk incentives literature in banking that ignores the microeconomics of production and the production literature that ignores the relationship between production decisions and risk. Our estimation of the model for a sample of U.S. commercial banks illustrates that results obtained from our generalized model can differ significantly from those obtained from the standard profit-maximization model, which ignores risk.     

我国城乡一体化改革的法制保障

在我国, "城乡一体化"观念大约出现于20世纪80年代末.对于什么是城乡一体化,不同学科有不同界定.法学视角中的城乡一体化是指通过制度变革和渐进过程,打破并最终消除城乡二元结构的壁垒,使农村与城市获得平等的发展机会,使农民与市民享有平等权利,享受平等的物质文明、政治文明和精神文明.     

Contests with Multi-tasking*

The standard contest model in which participants compete in a single dimension is well understood and documented. Multi‐dimension extensions are possible but are liable to increase the complexity of the contest structure, mitigating one of its main advantages: simplicity. In this paper we propose an extension in which competition ensues in several dimensions, and a competitor that wins a certain number of these is awarded a prize. The amount of information needed to run the contest is hence limited to the number of dimensions won by each player. We look at the design of this contest from the point of view of maximising effort in the contest (per dimension and totally), and show that there will be a tendency to run small contests with few dimensions. The standard Tullock model and its results are encompassed by our framework.     

Generalized linear mixed models with informative dropouts and missing covariates

Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) are useful in many longitudinal data analyses. In the presence of informative dropouts and missing covariates, however, standard complete-data methods may not be applicable. In this article, we consider a likelihood method and an approximate method for GLMM with informative dropouts and missing covariates. The methods are implemented by Monte–Carlo EM algorithms combined with Gibbs sampler. The approximate method may lead to inconsistent estimators but is computationally more efficient than the likelihood method. The two methods are evaluated via a simulation study for longitudinal binary data, and appear to perform reasonably well. A dataset on mental distress is analyzed in details.     

Europäische Regionalpolitik – Treibende Kraft für Aufholprozesse?

Der europ?ischen Regionalpolitik kommt erst seit gut zwanzig Jahren eine gro?e Bedeutung in der Europ?ischen Gemeinschaft zu. Wie kam es zu einer europ?ischen Regionalpolitik? Mit welchen theoretischen überlegungen wurde sie begründet? War die Regionalpolitik eine treibende Kraft für nationale und regionale Aufholprozesse? Dr. Konrad Lammers, 58, ist Senior Research Fellow des Instituts für Integrationsforschung am Europa-Kolleg Hamburg.     

滨海新区形成高层次服务产业结构的路径选择

滨海新区欲做到高起点、高层次、高水平发展关键在于充分认识现代服务业在城市经济发展中揪的主导作用,着力构筑高层次产业结构,突显现代服务业的主导地位,选择能够充分发挥后发优势的加快发展现代服务业的路径.     

Corporations,Stakeholders and Sustainable Development I: A Theoretical Exploration of Business–Society Relations

Sustainable development (SD) – that is, “Development that meets the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs and aspirations” – can be pursued in many different ways. Stakeholder relations management (SRM) is one such way, through which corporations are confronted with economic, social, and environmental stakeholder claims. This paper lays the groundwork for an empirical analysis of the question of how far SD can be achieved through SRM. It describes the so-called SD–SRM perspective as a distinctive research approach and shows how it relates to the wider body of stakeholder theory. Next, the concept of SD is operationalized for the microeconomic level with reference to important documents. Based on the ensuing SD framework, it is shown how SD and SRM relate to each other, and how the two concepts relate to other popular concepts such as Corporate Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility. The paper concludes that the significance of societal guiding models such as SD and of management approaches like CSR is strongly dependent on their footing in society. Reinhard Steurer is a senior researcher and lecturer at the Research Institute for Managing Sustainability at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Adminstration. His research focuses on the changing roles of states, businesses and civil societies in the context of sustainable development. He is author and co-author of numerous articles, dealing with questions of how governments and businesses tackle the challenge of sustainable development, and what the two societal domains can learn from each other in doing so. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Salzburg/Austria, and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Maryland/U.S.A. Markus E. Langer studied ecology and environmental economics at the University of Vienna and the Vienna University of Economics and Business Adminstration as well as industrial environmental management at Yale University. He is currently working as Managing Director of FORUM Umweltbildung. Previously he was working since 1999 as a senior researcher and lecturer at the Research Institute for Managing Sustainability at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Adminstration. His research focused on the Evaluation of Sustainable Development as well as Corporate Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Management. Astrid Konrad studied business administration at the University of Graz. She has been working at the Research Institute for Managing Sustainability at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Adminstration since 2002. Her research focus is on Corporate Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Management. André Martinuzzi studied business adminstration at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. He is working as a project manager at the Department of Environmental Economics and Management since 1993, as a lecturer at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Adminstration and leads the Managing Sustainability Research Centre since 1999. Since 2001 he worked as a scientific coordinator of Austria’s Sustainability Strategy. In 2003 he worked as a scientific editor of the Corporate Social Responsibility vision statement of the Austrian Industry and as a process consultant for the Austrian Forest Program. Research areas: Eco-Consulting, Corporate Sustainability, Evaluating Sustainable Development, Sustainability Strategies and Stakeholder Dialogues.