Hedging Affecting Firm Value via Financing and Investment: Evidence from Property Insurance Use

I provide evidence about the value effects of alternative risk management by examining corporate purchase of property insurance, a commonly used pure hedge of asset-loss risks. Using an insurance data set from China, I find that there is an inverted U-shape effect of the extent of property insurance use on firm value measured by several versions of Tobin's Q. Therefore, the use of property insurance, to a certain degree, has a positive effect on firm value; however, over insurance appears detrimental to firm value. Given that the inflection points occur at relatively high levels of the observed insurance spending, insurance use appears beneficial to the majority of my sample firms. The estimated average hedging premium is about 1.5%. I demonstrate that an avenue for insurance to create value in China is that it helps firms secure valuable new debt financing and enhance investment.     

对基层国税部门经费支出核算与控制的思考

规范和加强经费管理对于提升干部能力、激发队伍活力、增强单位实力、保证发展潜力具有举足轻重的作用。对于基层国税部门来说,如何把有限的资金用在刀刃上,是一件很难的事情。下面结合某县国税局经费管理方面存在的主要问题提出加强经费管理的建议。     

项目法施工管理在水利施工企业中的应用

随着市场经济的发展,项目法施工已广泛应用于水利工程施工中,推行项目法施工管理,是水利施工企业发展的必然趋势。本文结合笔者的工作实践,与大家共同探讨项目施工法在施工单位的实施应采取的具体措施,旨在提高项目法施工管理水平。     

Least squares model averaging by Mallows criterion

This paper is in response to a recent paper by Hansen (2007) who proposed an optimal model average estimator with weights selected by minimizing a Mallows criterion. The main contribution of Hansen’s paper is a demonstration that the Mallows criterion is asymptotically equivalent to the squared error, so the model average estimator that minimizes the Mallows criterion also minimizes the squared error in large samples. We are concerned with two assumptions that accompany Hansen’s approach. The first is the assumption that the approximating models are strictly nested in a way that depends on the ordering of regressors. Often there is no clear basis for the ordering and the approach does not permit non-nested models which are more realistic from a practical viewpoint. Second, for the optimality result to hold the model weights are required to lie within a special discrete set. In fact, Hansen noted both difficulties and called for extensions of the proof techniques. We provide an alternative proof which shows that the result on the optimality of the Mallows criterion in fact holds for continuous model weights and under a non-nested set-up that allows any linear combination of regressors in the approximating models that make up the model average estimator. These results provide a stronger theoretical basis for the use of the Mallows criterion in model averaging by strengthening existing findings.     

收入结构视角下扩大居民服务消费的实证研究——基于广东省城镇住户调查数据

随着我国扩大内需的深入推进,培育新的消费增长点,发展服务消费日趋重要。本文利用2002-2009年广东省城镇住户调查数据,在考虑家庭异质性因素基础上重点分析了收入结构对总消费、服务消费和服务消费结构的影响,同时数值模拟了改变中低收入家庭的收入结构对服务消费倾向的效应,最后提出了扩大服务消费的相关政策建议。     

Income distribution dynamics of urban residents: The case of China (1995–2004)

Using a 1995–2004 panel data of Chinese urban residents, we investigate the dynamics of income distribution in cities. According to Kernel estimates of the relative income distribution of Chinese cities, we find that: (1) the national across-city distribution of per capita GDP exhibits an apparent unique-peak distribution in 1995 and an “emerging multiple-peak” one in 2004; (2) for prefecture-level cities, income distribution has evolved to an “apparent multiple-peak” distribution from a unique-peak one; (3) the income distribution of county-level cities maintains a unique-peak curve; (4) most of the income dynamics of urban residents originates from prefecture-and-higher-level cities. We sample three representative provinces and study the urban income dynamics respectively. The analysis suggests that within a single province, urban income distribution evolves from unique-peak to twin-peak curve; while among provinces, income convergence is evident for urban residents. In addition, we measure the incidence of poverty in cities based on our income dynamics analysis, and find that the ratios of people living below absolute poverty line have been decreasing at cities of all levels.     

Brain drain and factor complementarity

In this paper we develop an extended Solow growth model with emigration which aggregates different types of labor skills from strict complementarity to perfect substitution. The derivation of balanced growth paths shows that the most relevant cases for studying the impact of emigration are those where these paths can only be attained asymptotically. This requires and justifies the need for using transitional dynamics. We therefore derive a complete characterization of the transitional dynamics of output and wages in the sending country for all possible values taken by the elasticity of substitution between skilled and unskilled workers. The model then serves to qualitatively study the effect of brain drain on per capita income and wages of the sending country.     

Combining qualitative, quantitative and structural dimensions in a longitudinal perspective. The case of network influence

Some research questions involve several dimensions. The most rewarding approach may be switching (under control) between the diverse methods and databases involved. Having recourse to different dimensions that form a system produces wider results but also opens up new questions. A survey on the evolutions of social networks and life transitions of young people draws an original design including contextual names generators, questionnaires and interviews in a longitudinal perspective. Young people interviewed every 3 years on 4 survey waves produced a total of 287 interviews and networks and a global amount of 10,804 relationships informed. This article aims to highlight this specific potential of integrating qualitative, qantitative and structural dimensions in an iterative process of data construction and analysis. The methodological argument is empirically illustrated with a focus on the thematic of influence of the network upon life orientations. It shows influence comes mainly from strong central ties but also from some peripheral isolated mates. The structural evolution reveals a general trend of dissociation of their ties the ones from the others when people are entering adult life, which makes influence from the network become more and more diversified.     

对低碳经济热的冷思考

按照我国发展低碳经济的路线图,电力、交通、建筑、钢铁、水泥、化工及石油化工六大部门的排放占到我国工业排放的70%、全国排放的50%。世界资源研究所筛选了88种技术,至少有60种技术作为骨干支持的路径,否则,实现低碳经济就是一纸空文。     

结合机械设计教学开展多种形式计算机辅助设计

本文介绍作者多年来结合机械设计教学开展计算机辅助设计几种行之有效的形式。