New development: Unified scores of governance capacity using a Bayesian latent variable analysis

A plethora of governance measures has been developed to assess governance capacity in different countries. Choosing one indicator over another involves discretionary decision issues. This article presents a new unified measure of governance capacity for the administrative and political dimensions. The unified measure provides a more accurate understanding of governance than single indices.     

Examining the disclosures on the websites of English credit unions

This paper examines the disclosures made on English credit unions’ websites. Credit unions without a website are presumed to be small. Community credit unions with websites tend to offer basic services with a limited range of products that may appeal to poorer members of society. Occupational credit unions appear more likely to have a greater range of products.     

Societal trust and corporate tax avoidance

Using an international sample of firms from 25 countries and a country-level index for societal trust, we document that societal trust is negatively associated with tax avoidance, even after controlling for other institutional determinants, such as home country legal institutions and tax system characteristics. We explore the effects of two country-level institutional characteristics—strength of legal institutions and capital market pressure—on the relation between societal trust and tax avoidance. We find that the relation between trust and tax avoidance is less pronounced when the legal institutions in a country are stronger and is more pronounced when the capital market pressure is stronger. Finally, we examine the relation between societal trust and tax evasion, an extreme and illegal form of tax avoidance. We show that societal trust is negatively related to tax evasion and the negative relation is less pronounced when legal institutions are stronger.     

Population Aging and the Possibility of a Middle-Income Trap in Asia

We present three conditions for a demography-driven middle-income trap and show that many economies in East, South, and Southeast Asia satisfy all of them. The conditions involve (1) the support ratio of workers to consumers has an impact on economic growth, (2) economic development accompanies more investment in human capital and lower fertility due to the quantity–quality trade-off, and (3) a current low level of fertility corresponds to very low support ratios for keeping up with frontier economies in the long run. Panel analysis for 178 countries shows that (1) and (2) are satisfied for Asia with higher elasticity than others. As for (3), we set up a dynamic model for simulations, showing that approximately two-third of Asia’s developing countries have an unsustainable level of support ratios, implying possibility of a middle-income trap due to future demographic headwinds.     

不同利用方式下草地CH4、CO2及N2O通量研究

[目的]在全球气候变化背景下,研究天然草地和人工草地的温室气体通量以及与部分环境因子的相关关系,进而明确不同草地对温室气体通量的影响情况,为当地相关部门合理开发利用草地提供理论依据,推进草业绿色发展、高质量发展。[方法]文章以内蒙古自治区的阿鲁科尔沁旗选取退化的天然牧草地、混播型放牧人工草地以及刈割型人工牧草地为研究对象,利用目前较为普遍的箱法进行了野外实验,对比分析不同草地利用类型的主要温室气体CO₂、CH₄和N₂O的通量变化情况,并进一步探讨了温室气体与土壤含水量、箱内温度、地表温度以及其他土壤养分指标的相关性。[结果](1)不同利用方式下草地的CO₂通量在整个生长季均表现为排放,其中刈割人工草地的CO₂排放量为67.00±9.15 mg/(m²·h),显著高于放牧人工草地35.50±5.37 mg/(m²·h)和天然草地30.17±4.57 mg/(m²·h)(P<0.05),且CO₂     

一村一策，确定乡村“三生”功能建设、提升人居环境质量工作重点

[目的]研究乡村“三生”功能和人居环境质量对其实现区域的乡村振兴和可持续发展具有重要的现实意义。[方法]文章以北京市门头沟区为例,基于乡村的微观尺度,集成实地调研、土地利用和遥感数据,运用因子分析法、TOPSIS模型和椭圆标准差等方法对“三生”功能和人居环境质量进行量化评价及其关联研究。[结果]（1）门头沟区生产、生活和生态功能水平不等,各功能空间分异明显;“三生”功能整体水平较低,呈东高西低的分布格局,高值区聚集,低值区在清水镇和斋堂镇的乡村集中,“三生”功能与生活功能空间重合度高;（2）门头沟区人居环境质量总体偏低,呈现出由东部向西部逐渐递减的态势,具有显著的“点轴模式”特征,空间分布格局相对集聚;（3）门头沟区“三生”功能和人居环境质量的空间分布格局相一致,二者空间关联度高,部分地区因生产发展水平和自然条件的差异有所偏差。[结论]未来需基于“一村一策”的发展思路,确定不同乡村“三生”功能和人居环境工作重点,以改善乡村人居环境质量,促进乡村可持续发展。     

用PERT法求解不确定网络中活动时间参数的改进研究

基于计划评审技术(PERT)中β分布的假设,阐述了常规三时估计方法的不足,提出了相应解决对策,即采用限定概率三时估计法分别建立了β分布和Gamma分布拟合方差最小模型,用微粒群算法求解模型,并且将求解结果与常规三时估计方法进行了对比研究。实例证实,对于不同类型的活动,可以选择合理的分布类型并利用限定概率三时估计法,对各个活动的持续时间服从的分布密度函数进行拟合,从而提高PERT的精度和效率。     

以绩效考核推动医院财务职能转变

充分利用管理会计的理论与方法,构建绩效考核指标(KPI)体系,通过实施全面周期性的控制调节与考核奖惩,以绩效考核为载体,管理会计的方法为手段,推动医院财务职能积极向管理会计职能转变.适应医院管理向精细型管理转变的要求,实现财务管理对医院整个经济活动核算与监督、预测与决策、控制与调节、分析与评价、考核与奖惩的全过程管理与调控.     

提高企业自主创新能力的财税对策

提高企业自主创新能力是建设创新型国家的中心环节.财税政策在提高企业自主创新能力方面可发挥重要作用.当前我国财税政策在提高企业自主创新能力方面存在不足,应进一步调整现行的财税政策以提高企业的自主创新能力.     

Contemporary University Strategising: The Financial Imperative

This paper examines the financially focused strategies now evident amongst institutions competing for space in the global higher education system. In their search for increasing financial self‐sufficiency, universities and other higher education providers are examined for their primary competitive strategies. The study provides comprehensive evidence of their cost and operating efficiency strategies, facilitated by increasingly pervasive financial performance accountability systems. The primary operational strategies of teaching and research are found to have been transmogrified into strategies of customised education and research that is primarily focused upon and measured in terms of its funds generation. These trends contribute to complex performance management and accountability challenges as universities’ senior managers balance their internal financial ambitions with the expectations of external stakeholders, while simultaneously projecting sanitised imagery through corporate public relations strategies.