Resource Commitment,Organizational Diversity,and Research Performance: A Case of the National Telecommunication Program in Taiwan

Traditionally, a project team's resource commitment and organizational diversity are thought to be helpful to project performance; however, this relationship may falter when the project performance is considered in light of both cost and benefit. This paper integrates data envelopment analysis (DEA) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to evaluate project performance and explores the relationship between project performance and resource commitment and organizational diversity. The empirical study of research teams in the Taiwan National Telecommunication Program shows mixed results of this relationship. Implications for project management and governmental subsidy policy in dealing with resource commitment and organizational diversity are discussed.     

Does More Consumption Promote Real GDP Growth?

This paper employs Hansen's (1999) panel threshold regression model [Journal of Econometrics 39 (1999) 345–68] based on a time series dataset of 109 countries from 1960 to 2007 to investigate the threshold relationship between the change in real GDP per capita and the consumption size (consumption‐income ratio, APC). The results show that the consumption level should not exceed the 49.68% threshold of real GDP per capita for each country regardless of the income level. Also, the relationship between the change in real GDP per capita and the consumption size seems to have ‘Armey curve’ or ‘inverted‐U shape’ characteristic. In order to promote real GDP growth, our results suggest that the high‐income, low‐APC countries should encourage more consumption while the low‐income, high‐APC countries should encourage more saving.     

江苏省测土配方施肥技术的经济效果评价

本文利用江苏省已推广实施测土配方施肥技术的2个项目县的农户调查数据,通过建立PMP模型,对该技术的经济效果进行了评价。研究结果表明:测土配方施肥技术对增加农户收入的效果明显;该技术的采用会使竞争性作物种植体系中各种作物的播种面积有所调整,但在种植单一作物的情况下则其播种面积不变。     

Inflation,minimum wage and other wages: an econometric study on French macroeconomic data

This study examines the set of interdependences between the formation of wages, prices and the minimum wage (SMIC) through a vectorial error correction model estimated on French quarterly macroeconomic data covering the 1970–1/1999-4 period. Two periods are distinguished: the period of inflation rise from 1970 to 1981, which coincides with an important squeeze of the wage range, measured by the ratio of the minimum wage to the hourly wage rate; the period of disinflation since 1981, that has been concomitant with a stability of wage inequalities. Disinflation has hardly benefited the evolution of the SMIC which has always profited by price rises, in real and relative terms, which have become less strong. This evolution does not benefit any more on wage rises, when the interdependences between variables are taken into account. The SMIC seems however to have gained in efficiency as an instrument on wage disparity reduction. It rises are finally more persistent in real terms and relatively to the other salaries and have always as little inflationary impact on wages as on prices.     

Business Cycles and Net Buying Pressure in the S&P 500 Futures Options

We analyse the cyclical behaviour and intraday pattern of net buying pressure in the S&P 500 futures options market. The results suggest that the net buying pressure of puts is counter‐cyclical and is more intense during contraction periods. The trading profits for selling put options during contraction periods thus far exceed those during expansion periods. Net buying pressure also exhibits an intraday pattern. Trading profits in the early trading sessions are higher than those for the rest of the day. In addition, we show that hourly‐basis hedging yields smaller profits than daily‐basis hedging, which suggests that the trading profits based on daily‐basis hedging may contain a risk premium associated with discretely rebalanced ‘risk‐free’ option portfolios.