Moving towards an Improved Microsimulation Model of the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

Finding ways of curbing government expenditure on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) while maintaining social equity and access to ‘essential’ medicines is at the centre of ongoing public debate. This article describes a microsimulation model of the PBS that simulates current and future use and costs of PBS medicines under existing and different PBS policy settings, and estimates the distributional effects of policy changes. The article outlines future developments that will extend the current model to include health outcomes. Adding health outcomes will enable the debate on PBS sustainability to be advanced beyond the prevailing cost‐containment mentality to consider not only the costs of pharmaceutical use but also the benefits that result from the use of these medicines.     

Works Councils,Collective Bargaining,and Apprenticeship Training – Evidence From German Firms

In this paper, we investigate the effects of works councils on apprenticeship training in Germany. The German law attributes works councils substantial information and co‐determination rights to training‐related issues. Thus, works councils may also have an impact on the cost‐benefit relation of workplace training. Using detailed firm‐level data containing information on the costs and benefits of apprenticeship training, we find that firms with works councils make a significantly higher net investment in training compared to firms without such an institution. We also find that the fraction of former trainees still employed with the same firm 5 years after training is significantly higher in the presence of works councils, thus enabling firms to recoup training investments over a longer time horizon. Furthermore, all works council effects are much more pronounced for firms covered by collective bargaining agreements.     

Women Managers’ Careers in China: Theorizing the Influence of Gender and Collectivism

This article is concerned with developing an understanding of the careers of women managers in China. Existing literature suggests that while women in China are comparatively well represented in management roles, they face distinctive pressures and barriers to their progress arising from entrenched patriarchal and collectivist aspects of the Chinese cultural tradition. However, little is known about how these aspects impact on women's orientations towards their careers and to what extent influential Western career theories are adequate in interpreting their experience. Drawing on interviews with 20 women managers in China, the article interprets women's orientations towards their careers in relation to their adherence to traditional gender roles and collectivist values. Using this framework, a fourfold taxonomy is developed which identifies “conformist,” “revolutionary,” “soloist,” and “dissident” orientations. The article suggests that Western career theories fail to capture the collective dimension, and thus do not account fully for the range of experience and orientations of Chinese women managers that are captured in the taxonomy. Implications, both practical and theoretical, are discussed. Recommendations are also made as to how management and career development policies might be developed in organizations in China in order to address the diverse needs and preferences of women managers. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

饭店客户关系管理的价值链研究

本文从我国本土饭店客户关系管理现状出发,借用波特的价值链思想,深入分析饭店客户关系管理中的基本活动和辅助活动,以寻求能切实有效地提高饭店客户关系管理水平的途径。其中,文章提出了饭店客户关系管理的价值链模型,并对客户关系管理的基本活动中的客户价值分析、客户获取、客户保留、客户升级和客户联盟构建等主要环节进行了详细阐述,同时也分析了辅助活动中包括领导、组织结构、人力资源管理、组织文化和信息技术等在内的相关影响因素。     

A Distance-Based Collective Preorder Integrating the Relative Importance of the Group's Members

In this paper, we propose an aggregation procedure, which includes two steps. In the first one, the group's members elaborate individually a preorder (total or partial) on the alternatives set. These preorders can be obtained, for example, by applying a multicriterion aggregation procedure such as ELECTRE III, PROMETHEE I or II. In the second step, these individual preorders (total or partial) are aggregated into a collective preorder (total or partial). For this purpose, we first built a distance measure between pairs of binary relations in order to quantify the divergence between two preorders. Then we determine, for each pair of alternatives, the relative importance coefficients of the group's members by using a method based on subjective and objective components. These coefficients and the distance measure are finally exploited by an iterative algorithm in order to elaborate a collective preorder synthesizing the individual preorders.     

What kind of labour regime is contract farming? Contracting and sharecropping in Java compared

This article compares contract farming with share tenancy, another labour regime in which smallholder farmers are bound by contract to deliver produce to another, usually more powerful party. Based on research in the Javanese village of Kaliloro, we explore contracting and sharecropping as labour regimes, each with their own specific mechanisms of surplus transfer from producers to non-producers. The cases compared are sharecropping of irrigated rice, contract farming of watermelon, and contract farming of poultry. There are important differences in how labour inputs are organized, how decisions are made, how costs are divided between landowner/contractor and farmer, and in the mechanisms of surplus transfer between the contracting parties. Exploring these differences allows us to understand and compare the role of the two labour regimes in the penetration of capital into the rural economy. Neither contract farming nor share tenancy are in themselves “win-win” or “win-lose” relationships, good or bad for small-scale cultivators. The actual balance of burdens and benefits—often contravening the provisions of written contracts or state regulation—is determined by power relations between the contracting parties.     

Engagement with Retirement Savings: It Is a Matter of Trust

People who engage with their retirement savings are more likely to opt out of unsuitable defaults. We use cluster analysis of matched survey and administrative data to identify groups of pension plan members that are alike in their attitudes toward retirement saving. We find that engaged and disengaged members segregate into groups based on their interest and trust. Group membership in turn helps predict plan engagement, as proxied by nondefault choices. Specifically, engagement is stronger among interested groups. Trust, however, has a more complex relationship with engagement, particularly as it interacts with interest. While members with low interest and high trust are less likely to engage (e.g., by not checking plan performance), less trusting members engage more (e.g., by actively choosing asset allocations). As interest and trust successfully determine group membership, and ultimately engagement, pension plan providers should address members' diverse needs and circumstances with personalized approaches.     

难熔金属合金及其应用

文章简述了难熔金属及难熔金属基合金的特点及常用种类,介绍了部分难熔金属合金的研究及在一些领域的应用.     

Structural Breaks and the Relationship between Barley and Wheat Futures Prices on the London International Financial Futures Exchange

Co-movement between futures prices can arise when commodities are substitutes. Counterintuitively, Dawson and White fail to find a significant long-run link between feed barley and wheat prices on the London International Financial Futures Exchange. This relationship is re-examined using  Johansen, Mosconi, and Nielsen's co-integration procedure that permits structural breaks. Results show evidence of co-integration and hence price discovery. There is a significant break in October 2000 following Common Agricultural Policy intervention price reductions, the barley–wheat futures market is perfectly integrated, and the barley price Granger-causes the wheat price. Modeling structural breaks in price relationships appears important.