Managing decision-making with certainty of threat

Several factors, such as emotion and uncertainty of the outcome, influence decision-making. We assessed decision-making during a risky event (natural hazard, focusing here on two types of volcanic threats) by manipulating the certainty of lethal threat in an information campaign. We hypothesized that the reduction of uncertainty of lethal threat in an information campaign would improve behavior through more suitable choices by reducing the use of emotional choices. In the scenario that occurred in a familiar place, participants who received information with uncertainty of lethal threat presented more emotional and comfortable choices, such as staying at home, rather than detached ones, such as leaving the area. These were either appropriate (for volcanic ash cloud) or inappropriate (for pyroclastic flow). The certainty hypothesis was partially validated, as certainty influenced the quality of choice in the scenarios that took place at home. Furthermore, participants in the volcanic disaster context presented less suitable decisions compared to those in the neutral context, which was discussed in terms of the presence of emotions, such as fear of volcanic eruption. Our results highlight the importance of controlling the comforting emotional aspect of the home environment in any information communication.     

碳汇交易机制在西部生态补偿中的借鉴与启示

随着经济快速持续发展,生态环境的瓶颈日益凸显,政府通过财政转移支付及项目专项资金实施补偿,但市场化补偿长期缺位,补偿远远低于生态效益产品的成本.碳汇交易的市场化机制,给西部生态补偿长效机制的确立,提供了新范式.文章从碳汇交易发展前景,结合西部的碳汇存量及生态补偿现状,分析了西部发展碳汇的必要性和可行性,并提出了具体的建议.     

Is the Patent System an Even Playing Field? The Effect of Patent Attorney Firms

The patent system underpins the business model of some of the fastest-growing companies. Used appropriately, it should support frontier technologies and nurture new firms. Used perniciously, it can stifle innovation and protect established technological behemoths. We analyze patent examination decisions at the American, European, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese patent offices and find evidence that patent attorneys have a surprisingly significant role in the patent system. Our results suggest that some forces within the examination system maintain the uneven playing field by allocating monopoly rights to inventors with better access to influential attorneys, rather than leveling it by favoring inventors with better, nonobvious ideas. Attorney quality is most important, vis-à-vis invention quality, in less codified and more rapidly changing technology areas such as software and ICT.     

Product Market Reforms and Productivity: A Review of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature on the Transmission Channels

Product market reforms are microeconomic structural reforms that aim to improve the functioning of product markets by increasing competition amongst producers of goods and services. Theoretical models suggest that regulation and reforms which liberalise or improve the functioning of markets can positively affect productivity through three different channels, namely a reallocation of scarce resources (allocative efficiency), an improvement in the utilisation of the production factors by firms (productive efficiency) and an incentive for firms to innovate to move to the modern technology frontier (dynamic efficiency). This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on these three channels and discusses policy implications for the European Union.     

On the political economics of tax reforms: survey and empirical assessment

Political constraints and incentives are the true driver of tax reforms. This paper reviews the political economics literature on personal income tax systems and reforms to see how political mechanisms help explain tax reforms. We take some of the implications of these theories to the data using LABREF, a database that identifies labor tax reforms in the European Union for the period 2000–2007, and control for economic and labor market factors. We find that political variables carry more weight than economic variables, and we show empirical regularities that support political economy theories. We also find that governments tended to reform more in better economic times, engaging in pro-cyclical behavior.     

关于大学生择业心理指导的思考

关于大学生的择业心理问题,是大学生心理咨询的重要工作,关系到大学生本人的生存与心理健康问题.大学生常见的职业心理问题应引起高校的关注,从心理上对大学生进行职业指导是一种有效的途径:采取的主要方法有理智控制法、自我转移法、合理宣泄法、自我慰籍法.大学生只有不断完善自我意识,才能树立起自信心,迎接社会的挑战.     

Crisis and relief in the Niger Delta (2012–13): assessment of the effects of a flood on relational capabilities

In September 2012, the Niger Delta (Nigeria) experienced a severe flood. By conducting a differences-in-differences estimation (as well as qualitative interviews), this paper studies the effects of the flood and of relief aid provided by an oil company on relational capability, a concept which covers bonding, bridging, and linking aspects of social capital (SC). We find that the flood increased bonding SC, measured as trust in the community, but reduced bridging SC, measured as participation together with unknown people in common-interest projects. The aid distributed to some people, on the other hand, was associated with higher bridging SC. The aid was not distributed according to flood damages but mostly according to social status. Our findings emphasize how a disaster can affect the repartition of bonding and bridging SC in the short term. They also highlight the need to build social cohesion in vulnerable communities from a longer-term and institutional perspective.     

Corporate Taxes in the European Union

The enlargement of the European Union in 2004 and 2007 by a number of countries with comparatively low corporate tax rates – seen by some as representing an unfair competitive advantage – has refuelled the debate on corporate taxation in Europe. The present Forum highlights a number of pertinent issues and discusses the challenges implied for European corporate tax policy. *The authors are indebted to Andreas Reutter for helpful comments. **The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author. They should not be attributed to the European Commission. The author wishes to thank Anton Jevcav for valuable comments. ? European Communities, 2007.     

对大学英语教学中多媒体技术的回顾与反思

20世纪90年代末,随着高校扩招,现代教育技术在大学英语教学中的应用如火如荼.其中,PPT(Power Point)课件因其充满趣味性和互动性受到广大英语教师的青睐,成为大班授课的有效手段,也是读写教学中主要采用的多媒体教学方式.经过十年探索,多媒体课件的弊端已在教学中完全显现出来,回到传统教学的趋势已是必然.从传统教学到现代化教学再重新拾起传统教学,这种否定之否定已经超越了从前的传统教学模式,不应再是简单的回归.纵观20世纪电化教学手段的变迁,每个英语教师都应当以最佳教学效果为原则,灵活应用现代教育技术.     

Performance,Representation and the Economics of Border Control in Uzbekistan

This article explores the contradictions and intersections between the performative and economic aspects of state boundary control. From 1999 onwards, Uzbekistan's formal trade with its neighbours declined dramatically, whilst cross-border smuggling mushroomed. This article examines these developments, using both an economic analysis, and a theoretical approach to the study of international boundaries derived from political geography, anthropology and ‘borders theory’. Methodologically, it employs trade-flow analysis, discourse study and ethnography to construct an account of how an apparently economically counterproductive policy has symbolic and performative value to the state. The changes in trade patterns were largely due to the unilateral introduction of a new and highly disruptive border and customs control policy, which dramatically increased transportation costs, precipitating a growth in smuggling in which some state officials themselves colluded. Economically, whilst this policy would thus appear harmful to the state, the article suggests that border control policies also had a theatrical function related to the performance of national identity and the perpetuation of the incumbent regime. It concludes with policy recommendations addressed to both Central Asian states and international donors.