中国农村居民消费金融效应的地区差异研究

本文基于2002~2012年省级面板数据分析了中国农村居民内生的金融资产配置与消费的关系及其地区差异性。研究结果显示:在消费升级背景下,农村居民持有储蓄、投资、住房和保险对消费有促进作用,但是作用大小及显著性存在地区差异。其中,储蓄对东部农村居民消费的促进作用最大,而投资对中西部农村居民消费的促进作用最大。研究还发现,假如农村居民同时配置四种金融资产,配合消费升级的作用,能够更好地促进消费。这表明通过丰富农村金融消费产品,改善农村消费金融市场环境,满足农村居民内生金融需求,能刺激农村居民消费。     

24个大中城市人均住房面积及房价相对泡沫估算

国家统计局公布的“城市人均住宅建筑面积”反映的是有当地户籍并有住房的城市居民的人均住房面积,与城市人均实际住房面积的概念存在着较大的差别。对我国24个主要大中城市实际人均住房面积的估算结果明显小于统计年鉴公布的数据,而且不同城市之间存在较大的差距;利用估算结果进一步估计各城市的房价相对泡沫指数,结果表明一些城市相对于其他城市存在较高的房价泡沫。我国城市人均住房面积与发达国家相比还有明显差距,对住房的刚性需求仍然强劲,房地产业还将保持较快的增长速度;对已经出现较大房价泡沫的城市,应防止其局部风险向全局风险转化,而对于房价泡沫程度不高的城市,应支持居民的合理住房需求。     

去工业化、经济增长与区域协调发展——基于土地资源错配的视角

针对我国近年来的“去工业化”现象,本文通过280座城市的面板数据,以及城市地形和省级审批建设用地占比构造的工具变量,从土地资源错配视角考察了去工业化对经济增长和区域协调发展的影响。实证结果发现,在当前经济发展阶段工业化对经济增长仍然具有显著的积极影响,过快、过早地去工业化不利于保持经济持续增长和实现区域协调发展,而土地资源在地区间和部门间的双重错配是导致我国出现过早去工业化的重要原因。进一步的分析表明,较高的城镇化水平以及发达的生产性服务业有助于增强工业化对经济增长的推动效应。本文为新时期保持制造业比重基本稳定,推动我国经济持续稳定增长,推进区域协调发展以及促进土地资源优化配置提供了经验证据。     

Communication of food waste messages: The effects of communication modality,presentation order,and mindfulness on food waste reduction intention

This study investigates how businesses can persuade customers to participate in food waste reduction efforts by using communication strategies. Grounded in information processing and persuasion theories, we conducted two studies. In study 1, a focus group interview was performed to explore how customers process food waste communication from foodservice operations. In study 2, a 2 (communication modality: written vs. verbal) × 2 (presentation order: before meals vs. during meals) × 2 (mindfulness: low vs. high) between-subjects design quasi experiment was conducted to examine these interaction effects on customers’ intention to support the restaurants’ food waste reduction efforts. The findings are consistent across the two studies. The findings indicate that people with low mindfulness have lower intention to participate when the message is delivered verbally (vs. written) and the message is prompted before meals (vs. during meals). Conversely, people with high mindfulness tend to have higher intention to participate regardless of communication modality and presentation order.     

The impact of offshore exchange rate expectations on onshore exchange rates: The case of Chinese RMB

This paper examines the impact of offshore RMB exchange rate expectations on onshore RMB (CNY) exchange rates. Employing data for the period of 2005–2018, we show that overall offshore market expectations influence onshore RMB rates, but this effect is significant only for the period after the “Second exchange rate regime reform” in 2010. The non-uniform nature of this impact is also confirmed by the existence of a threshold effect of the expectations in the same period. The study improves our understanding of how the offshore RMB market influences onshore RMB spot rates as a result of the marketization reform of the RMB exchange rate regime.     

The impact of online celebrity in livestreaming E-commerce on purchase intention from the perspective of emotional contagion

The purpose of this study is to investigate (1) if online celebrities can directly emotionally influence consumers, and (2) if the other audiences of the same livestream can indirectly emotionally influence consumers to increase their willingness to buy the products recommended by the online celebrities. Therefore, to understand the reasons for the successes of livestreaming e-commerce. Two studies have been conducted: in Study 1, a questionnaire-based survey has been used for data collection and AMOS version 17.0 software was used to analyze the data of the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM); in Study 2, a web data crawler for data collection was developed using python software, and the collected data were processed by ICTCLAS text splitting tool and analyzed by Stata/MP 13.0 software for the econometric model constructed in this paper. This study found that the performance of online celebrities can stimulate consumers' emotions, and thus enhance consumers' purchase intention regarding the products recommended. This study also found that pleasure, arousal, admiration, and emotional trust can influence purchase behavior for cosmetics and clothing. For food products, only pleasure emotion, arousal emotion and admiration emotion can increase the willingness to purchase such products. For other audiences who watch the same Online celebrity for food products, the pleasure, arousal, and admiration emotions can increase searches for, and purchases of the products recommended. This study identified that online celebrities' performances can emotionally influence consumers' willingness to purchase products recommended by online celebrities directly. In addition, the emotions of audiences watching the online celebrities can indirectly influence consumers' willingness to purchase products recommended by the online celebrities.     

Land use transitions and urban-rural integrated development: Theoretical framework and China’s evidence

This paper establishes the analytical framework of the driving mechanism of land use transitions on urban-rural integrated development. The evolution rules and spatio-temporal patterns of land use transitions and urban-rural integrated development in China were quantitatively analyzed using the methods of kernel density and spatial analysis. Furthermore, the relationship between land use transitions and urban-rural integrated development was tested by the econometric models based on China’s provincial panel data from 2005 to 2016. The results show that urban-rural integrated development is a process of the reconstruction of urban-rural values. It helps to promote the free flow and equal exchange of urban-rural development elements, and achieve the convergence of returns from urban-rural development elements. The effect of land use transitions on urban-rural integrated development requires to realize the rational distribution of land incremental value in urban-rural territory. Under ideal channels, it is supposed to promote urban-rural integrated development through income effect, resource effect and urbanization effect. But urban-rural dual institution, distorted land market and obstacles to social integration may distort the positive role of land use transitions. The degree of land use transitions presented a trend of “decrease first and then increase”, and urban-rural integrated development has been improved since 2005, both of which are characterized by spatial agglomeration. Currently, land use transitions have a negative impact on urban-rural integrated development. Accordingly, some implications are formulated for policy makers to improve urban-rural integrated development form the perspective of land use transitions.     

Network based definition of functional regions: A graph theory approach for spatial distribution of traffic flows

Functional regions are autonomous (internally coherent and externally self-contained) spatial structures based on vector data, so-called spatial interactions. Typically, travel-to-work, travel-to-school flows and migrations are analysed by various methods of functional regional taxonomy in order to define functional regions. There is still another type of statistically recorded vector data which has, up to now, rarely been used for this purpose: traffic flows. However, these data differ distinctly from the above mentioned flows. In this paper we pursue two objectives: (i) to define functional transport regions based on a graph theoretic analysis of individual traffic flows, and (ii) to add knowledge to the issue of the self-containment of functional transport regions. The specific nature of transport data compared to the above-mentioned spatial interactions requires a specific methodological approach, which is presented in the paper. The existing graph theoretic procedures do not seem suitable for the definition of functional transport regions due to data specifics. Therefore our analysis is based on a rough analogy to the minimum cut method – we identify minimum flows in a graph representing a transport network. The territory of the Czech Republic is used as the example. Two regional systems are defined (based on 2000 and 2016 data) and compared in time. The paper achieves two main findings. First, the proposed methodological approach allows us to define autonomous functional transport regions, and the means to calculate their self-containment is discussed. Second, functional transport regions in the Czech Republic show unexpected stability over time compared to functional regions based on such spatial interactions as commuting flows.     

Diversification and optimal hedges for socially responsible investment in Brazil

This study contributes to the literature on socially responsible investing by examining the diversification potential of commodities, specifically oil, gold and clean energy together with the Brazilian Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE). Multivariate GARCH models are used to model volatility spillovers and conditional correlation in pairs of stocks containing ISE. Specifically, A-BEKK and A-DCC models with spillovers are estimated. The models’ results are used to compute and analyze the optimal weights and hedge ratios for stock portfolio holdings. The greatest benefit from diversification is obtained through the acquisition of gold and then OVX.     

Assessing governance challenges of local biodiversity and ecosystem services: Barriers identified by the expert community

This paper assesses barriers to local biodiversity and ecosystem (BES) governance within cities, drawing on findings from an international expert survey encompassing 45 cities in 25 countries. BES is recognised as a key foundation for sustainable cities, yet current literature indicates that more clarity is needed on the factors which may undermine BES initiatives. Survey findings show broad agreement that officials in development sectors have inadequate BES knowledge, budgets for BES are insufficient, and planners in the locality lack knowledge about BES. Respondents not working for local governments were more likely to see policy change with administrations, budget limitations, and lack of expertise as barriers. Respondents for cities in less-developed countries agreed significantly more that there were harmful cultural activities, and were more concerned that inadequate consideration from governments at different scales and poor internal communication were barriers. Based on the findings, we suggest (a) a need to evaluate the effectiveness of collaboration both within government and between sectors; (b) the importance of building capacity within local government staff, both in techno-scientific knowledge and in engaging the policy landscape with this knowledge; and (c) the importance of further considering how BES conservation may relate to culturally meaningful practices.