Strategic Capital Taxation in Large Open Economies with Mobile Capital

The purpose of this paper is to provide a methodologyfor computing time-consistent, strategic capital taxes in a largeopen economy and to analyze the nature of these taxes. Our resultssuggest that even if a full set of nondistortionary taxes isunavailable and even if the government has redistributive goals,the country which imports capital should tax corporate capitaland the capital exporter should subsidize it. We perform comparativestatics experiments to show how strategically chosen taxes varywith the parameters of the model. JEL classifications: H21,E62     

加强高校党建工作的几点思考

党的基层组织是党的全部工作和战斗力的基础。本文对照新时期高校党建工作所面临的新形势、新问题,分析其产生的原因,思考如何加强高校基层党建工作的几点对策,如何最大限度地发挥党支部的战斗堡垒作用和共产党员的先锋模范作用。     

Optimization of parabolic bars for maximum Bragg resonant reflection of long waves

This paper presents an analytical solution for the problem of the long wave reflection by a series of artificial bars with parabolic configuration in terms of the associated Legendre functions. It is shown that both the reflection and transmission coefficients depend solely upon the number of bars, the dimensionless bar height, the dimensionless bar width and the dimensionless bar distance. Particularly, under the Bragg resonance condition, i.e., the distance between two adjacent bars is about half of the wavelength of the normal incident waves, the analytical solution for the peak Bragg resonant reflection is obtained, which reveals that the peak Bragg resonance depends upon the number of bars, the dimensionless bar height and the dimensionless bar width. Based on this solution, the optimization of the parabolic bars is made to obtain the maximum Bragg resonance and a group of optimal curves, which may be very useful in the design of Bragg breakwaters with parabolic bars.     

Efficiency of alternative property right allocations when farmers produce multiple environmental goods under the condition of economies of scope

The efficiency implications of different property right allocations when two environmental goods can be produced under the condition of economies of scope are analysed. It is assumed that an environmental agency – acting on behalf of the community – employs an auction-based mechanism to buy biodiversity services from farmers. However, farmers' production of biodiversity produces a second good as a by-product (e.g., mitigation of a river pollutant) that is valued by point-source emitters who are engaged in a pollution trading market. The efficiency implications of allocating the property right of the good, mitigation, to either the agency or farmers are analysed. If the agency owns the mitigation then the agency can sell mitigation to point-source emitters, offsetting the cost of biodiversity. If farmers own mitigation, then they sell it directly to point-source emitters. Assuming similar transaction costs associated with each property-right allocation, allocating the property right to farmers improves efficiency, as farmers take account of their private information to make profit-maximising decisions about the supply of biodiversity and mitigation; the agency would have trouble accessing this private information.     

How Effective Is Government Support for Korean Women Entrepreneurs in Small and Medium Enterprises?*

Women entrepreneurs are not as involved in economic activities as should be expected, despite the growing number of women entrepreneurs and increased government support in Korea. This study aims to investigate how effective the government is in terms of boosting the satisfaction of women entrepreneurs using the structural equation model. We investigated causal effect of government support policy and government support process on women entrepreneurs' satisfaction along with many other personal factors such as individual capacity, family life, social network, and business environment. The empirical results show that the government support process has the highest effect on the improvement of the satisfaction of women entrepreneurs. However, the current level of government support process is relatively low and therefore needs to be improved. It is interesting to note that the government support policy has the least effect on the satisfaction of women entrepreneurs. That is, women entrepreneurs are not sensitive to the support scale, support program, and gender‐sensitive policies currently employed in Korea. Also, we obtain the satisfaction index of women entrepreneurs according to their marital status, presence of children, age, education level, and business type. Finally, we propose improvement plans that can effectively be activated for each business type in which women entrepreneurs are involved.     

Role of customer orientation in an integrative model of brand loyalty in services

This study attempts to model the development of brand loyalty by examining the simultaneous effects of customer orientation, perceived quality, brand associations, and satisfaction on brand loyalty. Data are used from retail banking and discount store retailing services to examine the direct and indirect effects of customer perceptions of customer orientation and quality on brand loyalty. It was found that customer orientation has a direct effect on brand loyalty and indirect effects through customer satisfaction, perceived quality, and brand associations as mediators. Further, perceived quality has a direct effect on brand loyalty as well as an indirect effect with satisfaction as a mediator. The results suggest that effective management of brand loyalty would require tracking of customer perceptions of a firm's customer orientation, quality and brand, in addition to measuring customer satisfaction.     

Impact of farm management diversity on the environmental and economic performance of the wheat–maize cropping system in the North China Plain

To assess the attainable greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential from crop production in China's most important grain production region, the North China Plain (NCP), single farm environmental and economic performances of 65 winter wheat–summer maize (WW–SM) producing households were determined. The results revealed a huge heterogeneity among farms, with up to five times higher environmental impact of worst compared to best performing farms. Astonishingly no trade-off between productivity and sustainability could be identified in the region, with high-yield farms emitting no different amounts of GHGs per hectare compared to low-yield farms. Building on cluster analysis, with farms grouped according to their economic and environmental performance into ‘poor’, ‘fair' and ‘good’ producers, the regional GHG mitigation potential was estimated. Under the scenario assumption that all grain in the NCP is produced under ‘good’ production conditions, 21% and 7% of GHG could be mitigated in wheat and maize production, respectively. The study shows that in the NCP, exemplary for China's rapidly developing agricultural sector, the crop management skills of a substantial share of farmers could obviously not keep pace with the massive input intensification. Among others, farmer–farmer trainings are recommended to close the gap in crop production performance among producers.     

Disability Support Pension Recipients: Who Gets Off (and Stays Off) Payments?

We use Centrelink payment records on Disability Support Pension (DSP) recipients over the period 1995 to 2002 to investigate individual transitions off payments. Our findings are consistent with the existence of a close correspondence between disability benefit receipt and labour market outcomes: entry to DSP via unemployment benefits is associated with substantially reduced prospects of exiting DSP, while employment during the DSP spell is associated with not only an increased probability of exiting DSP, but also more success in staying off payments once an exit has been made. A further finding of our analysis is that persons who exit DSP due to take‐up of employment have a relatively high rate of return to payments compared with persons who exit for other reasons, and indeed exhibit a high propensity to cycle off and on payments.     

An integrative model of consumer satisfaction in the context of e‐services

This research examines how customer satisfaction affects its antecedent and outcome variables such as expectation, performance, disconfirmation, word‐of‐mouth, brand loyalty, attribution and repurchase. This research also takes the important integrative step of understanding the consumer behavioural constructs of consumer satisfaction. Although researchers have focused on the antecedents of consumer satisfaction, our integrative model has extended the outcomes of consumer behaviour on consumer satisfaction. Furthermore, this model strongly suggests a positive view of the inter‐relationships between the antecedent variables and outcome variables of satisfaction. In particular, our model is not consistent with Oliver's attribution models in which satisfaction is a consequence of attribution processing. All hypothesized variables were supported by our empirical study. The findings present a variety of guides to formulating marketing strategies for both practitioners and academics.