The interactions between natural and physical capitals in the tourist lifecycle model

This paper presents a model of the interactions between natural resources and physical capital in the evolution of a tourist destination. The projected trajectory of the number of tourists approaches the classical lifecycle pattern. The post-stagnation phase is analyzed within the model, obtaining different patterns which depend on the impacts of physical capital on both demand and environmental degradation. The magnitudes of these impacts are determined by the type of tourism. An empirical application to the case of the tourist industry in the Canary Islands (Spain) is presented, showing that the model can represent the general characteristics of the post-stagnation phase of a tourist destination.     

Cultural Inertia and Uniformity in Organizations

We analyze aspects of the structure of organizational culture.We show that old and culturally uniform organizations are proneto cultural inertia, that is, they are reluctant to adopt adifferent culture in response to a change in the environment.Cultural uniformity can be beneficial because the associatedinertia ex post protects and therefore ex ante encourages culture-specificinvestments by agents. We also explore the model's implicationsfor such issues as cultural uniformity within an organization,cultural heterogeneity across organizations, the destabilizingeffect of growth and mergers, and the conflicts arising in themanagement of culture.     

概率统计课程教学中案例教学法的应用

案例教学法是概率统计课程中很有效的一种教学方法。通过介绍案例教学法的意义,给出实际教例,说明在概率统计课程教学中应用案例教学法可以激发学生的学习兴趣,提高学生的创新思维能力、应用数学的能力和解决实际问题的能力,培养表达能力和团队协作能力,提高学生的综合素质。     

延安时期国共谈判的历史经验与现实启示

延安时期,中国共产党以民族利益为根本,高举抗日民族斗争的大旗,与国民党进行了艰难复杂的协商和谈判,实现了国共两党的携手合作,促成了抗日战争的全面胜利。我党在延安时期国共谈判中积累的谈判斗争经验及取得的显著成就,为促进当今海峡两岸关系的发展,提供了历史借鉴和有益启示。     

Using FRED data to teach price elasticity of demand

In this article, the authors discuss the use of Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) statistics to teach the concept of price elasticity of demand in an introduction to economics course. By using real data in its computation, they argue that instructors can create a value-adding context for illustrating and applying a foundational concept in economics. Additionally, this pedagogical strategy contributes to developing an expected proficiency for economics majors related to “interpreting and manipulating data” (Hansen 2009, 2012). The authors provide step-by-step instructions on how to use FRED to compute the price elasticity of demand for motor vehicle fuels and gasoline as well as examples of in-class discussion questions and take-home assignments related to this instructional technique.     

国际货币体系存在的问题及改革

尽管目前全球金融危机仍在肆虐,但金融全球化的进程并未停止。在二者的合力下,现行的国际货币体系的固有弊端日益暴露,越来越不能适应当前世界经济体系的顺利运行。改革现行的国际货币体系,探索新的国际货币体系就成为亟待解决的问题。文章在分析国际货币体系存在问题的基础上,就成立新的世界中央银行或改革IMF,完善汇率体系,平稳汇率大幅波动,创造新的国际储备货币等方面对改革现行的国际货币体系提出了一些思路。     

Quantitative properties of sovereign default models: Solution methods matter

We study the sovereign default model that has been used to account for the cyclical behavior of interest rates in emerging market economies. This model is often solved using the discrete state space technique with evenly spaced grid points. We show that this method necessitates a large number of grid points to avoid generating spurious interest rate movements. This makes the discrete state technique significantly more inefficient than using Chebyshev polynomials or cubic spline interpolation to approximate the value functions. We show that the inefficiency of the discrete state space technique is more severe for parameterizations that feature a high sensitivity of the bond price to the borrowing level for the borrowing levels that are observed more frequently in the simulations. In addition, we find that the efficiency of the discrete state space technique can be greatly improved by (i) finding the equilibrium as the limit of the equilibrium of the finite-horizon version of the model, instead of iterating separately on the value and bond price functions and (ii) concentrating grid points in asset levels at which the bond price is more sensitive to the borrowing level and in levels that are observed more often in the model simulations. Our analysis is also relevant for the study of other credit markets.     

Race and Income Distribution: Evidence from the USA,Brazil and South Africa

The aim of this paper is to provide some empirical evidence about black–white differentials in the distribution of income and wellbeing in three different countries: Brazil, the USA and South Africa. In all cases, people of African descent are in a variety of ways socially disadvantaged compared with the relatively more affluent whites. We investigate the extent of these gaps in comparative perspective, and analyze to what degree they are associated with differences in the observed characteristics of races, such as where they live, the types of household they have, or their performance in the labor market. We undertake this analysis with the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition at the means and with a propensity score approach at the entire distribution. Our results show how the factors underlying the racial divide vary across countries and income quantiles.     

Why is free education so popular? A political economy explanation

This paper analyzes the political support for different funding regimes of education in a one‐person, one‐vote democracy. We focus the analysis on four systems that have had a preponderant presence in the political debate on education: a private system, a public system that delivers the same resources to each student (universal‐free education), a public system that intends to equalize results, and a public system that aims to maximize the output of the economy. We show that a system of universal free education is the Condorcet winner. The level of income inequality and the degree to which income distribution is skewed to the right are key factors behind this conclusion. We also show that the voting outcome of public versus private funding for education depends crucially on the type of public funding under consideration.