THE IMPACTS OF FINANCIAL DEREGULATION UPON TRADING EFFICIENCY AND THE LEVELS OF RISK AND RETURN OF JAPANESE BANKS

Japanese banks are very large and were rigidly controlled until financial deregulation began in the late 1970s. This paper measures the impact of deregulation upon the trading efficiency and the levels of risk and return of the largest 27 listed Japanese banks. We found that as the pace of deregulation increased, there were significant increases in trading efficiency as well as in the levels of returns and risks. With deregulation, the Japanese banking system, which contains the largest banks in the world, has become less protected and more vulnerable to the discipline of market movements.     

地质事业单位人事制度改革的探索与实践

地质事业单位人事制度改革要抓住岗位遴选这一关键环节,加强岗位聘用后管理,完善岗位管理的全过程,通过深化改革,创建良好成才环境,促进地质事业发展。改革中遇到的具体问题：（1）由于人员结构不合理,带来岗位结构失衡;（2）专业技术岗分类;（3）管理岗没有出口;（4）工勤技能岗位等级之间比例失调等。建议：⑴健全相关配套制度;⑵制定过渡阶段的岗位政策;⑶将人事部门设置为专业技术岗;⑷建议岗位设置与干部管理相结合;⑸完善岗位设置聘后管理的制度建设。     

Task assignment under agent loss aversion

We analyze a task-assignment model in which a principal assigns a task to one of two agents depending on future states. If the agents have concave utility, the principal assigns the task to them contingent on the state. We show that if the agents are loss averse, a state-independent assignment–assigning the task to a single agent in all states–can be optimal even when the principal can write a contingent contract at no cost.     

Partially generalized least squares and two-stage least squares estimators

A class of partially generalized least squares estimators and a class of partially generalized two-stage least squares estimators in regression models with heteroscedastic errors are proposed. By using these estimators a researcher can attain higher efficiency than that attained by the least squares or the two-stage least squares estimators without explicitly estimating each component of the heteroscedastic variances. However, the efficiency is not as high as that of the generalized least squares or the generalized two-stage least squares estimator calculated using the knowledge of the true variances. Hence the use of the term partial.     

Tariff Rate as a Public Good

If domestic firms lobby for protection, the tariff rate is a public good to all domestic firms, whether they engage in lobbying or not. This paper analyzes how the endogenous tariff rate as a public good depends on the group size in two‐stage lobbying models. The result depends not only on whether domestic firms lobby cooperatively or not, but also on whether domestic firms incur indirect lobbying costs or not. This paper shows that if free riding is not very serious and if the number of domestic firms is small compared to the number of foreign firms, entry of a domestic firm is likely to increase the equilibrium tariff rate.     

On a two-step estimation of a multivariate logit model

In this article the author studies the properties of the two-step estimation method proposed by Domencich and McFadden (Urban Travel Demand, North-Holland, 1975) for a multivariate logit model and shows that it is consistent but asymptotically less efficient than the maximum likelihood estimator. Its computation, however, can be considerably simpler than that of the maximum likelihood estimator, especially in models involving several dependent variables.     

Evaluation of a Multi-robot Cafe Based on Service Quality Dimensions

While AI applications are popular in many domains, they should work harmoniously with domain exerts and end users. Furthermore, to develop such harmonious AI applications, we need agile AI platforms for not only developers, but also domain experts. Currently, we have developed PRactical INTElligent aPplicationS (PRINTEPS), which is a user-centric platform to develop integrated intelligent applications. This paper reports on a multi-robot cafe as a practical application of PRINTEPS and evaluates its service quality at a university festival. It is not clear if robotic services are perceived as attractive and/or valuable, and how the concept of robotic services could lead to customer satisfaction. Therefore, the evaluation of the quality of such services is necessary to identify the key factors that could contribute to improving customer satisfaction. The purpose of this research is to identify key factors in improving customer satisfaction in robotic services by evaluating the service quality of the multi-robot cafe. We designed questionnaire items based on SERVQUAL which is one of the service quality evaluation measurement methods and conducted a questionnaire survey at a multi-robot cafe held at a university festival. From the collected data, we modeled and evaluated the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction to identify key factors in robotic services using a Bayesian network. In addition, the experiment confirms the usefulness of PRINTEPS.     

Leverage-reducing exchange offers and bondholder–stockholder wealth transfers: A re-evaluation

This paper re-examines the intersecurity wealth effects of leverage-reducing exchange offer (LREO) announcements. We show that previous studies may have been confounded by not distinguishing between two types of LREOs – swaps and exchange offers – and by the limited availability of bond data to properly test the wealth transfer effect. Contrary to extant research, we find evidence supportive of the wealth transfer hypothesis in the case of exchange offers but not swap offers. More detailed analysis of LREO exchange offers reveals a systematic relationship between bond returns and certain attributes that capture managerial inclination to accede to bondholder interests, consistent with a wealth transfer effect.     

一起煤气管道泄漏事故

一起煤气管道泄漏事故致人死亡，造成此管道泄漏的原因是由于对公用管理施工管道缺乏监督、协调，致使外部坚硬钝器将管道刮伤刮透。应加强安全意识，严格施工管理，确保管道安全。