Endogenous expropriation and political competition

We develop a game-theoretical model in which the politicians can be influenced by means of campaign contributions of special interest groups. If there is no legally binding contract, politicians have a proclivity to divert some contributions for private use. In doing so, they maximize their own utility which depends on expected election-winning premium and amount of funds misappropriated. We study the utility maximizing fraction of expropriation emerging from the equilibrium policy platform and the associated contribution level. We then compare results under alternative scenarios, namely, one single lobby group versus multiple lobby groups and one-sided lobbying versus two-sided lobbying.     

Bribery and firm survival in Vietnam: Moderating effects of market competition,credit, and institutional constraints

This paper examines the relationship between bribery and firm survival when facing different levels of market competition, credit constraints, and other institutional limitations. Using panel data from surveys of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam over a 10-year period and a semi-parametric Cox proportional hazards model approach, we provide empirical support for the “greasing-the-wheels” hypothesis of firm survival. Effects are found to be more pronounced for formally registered and larger firms, explained by their greater bargaining power vis-à-vis public officials. Moreover, bribery as a “risk-of-exit” reducing strategy is found only for firms not institutionally or financially constrained and for firms operating in sectors with low levels of competition.     

Racial/ethnic match and student–teacher relationships

This paper explores the role of teacher race/ethnicity in the teacher-perceived relationships with kindergarten and early elementary school students. Employing a model with both student and teacher fixed effects, we discover a positive link between the racial/ethnic match and the teacher-reported relationships with students. Specifically, minority students tend to have closer relationships with their teachers when they are taught by a minority teacher. Our analyses also provide suggestive evidence that the effects on the teacher–student relationships could not be driven by differential racial discrimination between white and minority teachers. Particularly, white and minority teachers are not differentially biased in judging their relationships with minority students, implying that the source of the racial/ethnic interaction effects is likely to come from the role modeling of behaviors. Given the importance of the relationships between young children and nonparental adults in their early stages of life, these findings have crucial policy implications.     

The impacts of women's land ownership: Evidence from Vietnam

Women's equal access to and control over economic resources such as land are integral to achieve gender equality and sustainable economic development. This study evaluates the impacts of women's land ownership on various women's and household's outcomes in the context of Vietnam. We discuss the beneficial effects of allowing women to own more land on both women and their families. In particular, there is a positive association between women's land ownership and intra-household bargaining power in various aspects. In particular, the relationship is the strongest for women's autonomy in decisions regarding their children. It is also easier for land-holding women to formally access credit and invest in human capital. We further study the favorable effects of women's land ownership on their families in terms of spending and saving behaviors. Finally, women's land ownership also contributes to household social capital. These findings lend support to the passage and implementation of laws intended to grant women equal rights to the ownership and control over land.     

Pandemic effects in the Solow growth model

We show how diseases can affect economic growth in a Solow growth model, with population growth and no technical progress, but modified to include a saving rate that depends on the individual health status. We successively insert this model into the SIS (susceptible–infected–susceptible) and SIR (susceptible–infected–recovered) models of disease spreading. In these two models, the spread of the infection proceeds according to the so-called basic reproductive number. This number determines in which of the two possible equilibria, the disease-free or the pandemic equilibrium, the economy ends. We show that output per capita is always lower in the pandemic steady state, which implies a contraction in the economy's production possibilities frontier.     

基于情景规划的国家公园气候变化 应对：美国经验及对中国的启示

：应对气候变化已成为全球共识，国家公园和自然保 护地既是应对气候变化的重要阵地，也是受气候变化影响的敏 感区域，但中国目前的研究和实践均还较薄弱，亟须借鉴域外 经验。系统梳理了美国国家公园体系中，气候变化对自然、文 化和社区的影响，概述了美国国家公园管理局的气候变化应对 行动，指出情景规划是重要的气候变化应对工具。总结了美 国国家公园在气候变化中开展情景规划的流程，提炼其规划特 征，并以魔鬼塔国家纪念区为案例，详析其情景规划实践过 程。在此基础上，总结了中国国家公园及体制试点区可能面临 的气候变化风险，对比了情景规划与传统规划的区别，明确目 前推广条件的欠缺，指出应逐步推广情景规划，并从实现科研 储备、奠定实践基础、建立规划体系三方面提出可能的路径， 对中国开展国家公园和自然保护地应对气候变化的相关工作具 有借鉴意义。     

Armed conflicts and women's authority in intra-household decision making

This paper evaluates the extent to which armed conflicts alter women's intra-household decision making in 51 countries over the past three decades (1990–2018). Exploiting the variations both within and across districts in the timing of battles, we uncover adverse consequences of armed conflict on women's engagement in household decisions on both financial and non-financial aspects. Specifically, a one standard deviation increase in the number of battles (equivalent to an increase of 5.1 battles) reduces the composite financial and non-financial decision indices of women by 2.32% and 1.34% relative to the sample averages. Breaking down the decision-making indices by looking at the underlying items, we further find that the declines in women's intra-household decision making come from reductions in all aspects of financial and non-financial domains.     

The effects of landscape fascination on subjective well-being and revisit intention: Evidence from agritourism destinations

This study adopted the reasonable person model (RPM) in the context of agritourism to identify tourists' preferences for features of agricultural landscapes; to examine the effects of agritourism landscape's fascination on subjective well-being and destination attachment, which in turn influence tourists' loyal behaviors; and to investigate the moderating effects of farm types. The quantitative and qualitative approaches were combined to obtain 1118 usable samples. The results validated the RPM by identifying the predictive power of landscape fascination, subjective well-being, and destination attachment on tourists' destination loyalty. Managerial implications for enhancing visitors' retentions in Taiwan were discussed.     

Climate-resilient practices and welfare impacts on rice-cultivating households in Vietnam: Does joint adoption of multiple practices matter?

Farmers have a long history of adjusting their production practices in response to changing production conditions. Using a multinomial endogenous treatment effects model that accounts for observable and unobservable heterogeneity, this study investigates the adoption and welfare impacts of climate-resilient practices on Vietnamese rice-cultivating households. We found evidence of clear and positive welfare impacts from the adoption of canal irrigation (CI) and the joint adoption of agricultural conservation practices (CP) and CI as the main adaptation strategies to increase water stress. More importantly, although farmers with access to CI systems obtained the highest returns, the joint adoption of multiple practices still had substantially high adoption rates and significantly positive effects on rice yield, rice revenue and household income. Our findings indicate that farms' and farmers' characteristics, market information and climatic conditions are generally the main factors driving rice farmers' decisions to adopt climate-resilient technologies, both individually and jointly. Follow-up policy interventions should focus on improving CI systems and promoting the joint adoption of climate-resilient technologies to improve rice farmers' well-being and enhance their resilience capacity to cope with incoming climatic uncertainty.