中国农村非正规金融履约机制的实证研究

中国农村非正规金融的履约机制包括信息和信任机制、重复博弈和信誉机制、严厉的惩罚机制、灵活的担保机制、女性市场定位机制等.以湖北农村非正规金融为例,对它的履约情况进行了实证分析,得出结论:农村非正规金融具有极强的自生能力和可持续性.结论的政策含义是:压制、取缔非正规金融的行为不可取,强制性地将非正规金融正规化的行为同样不可取,正确的做法应是放松管制,引导正规金融与非正规金融的联接,促成农村一体化金融市场的形成.     

战略性新兴产业上市公司金融支持效率及其影响因素研究

培育战略性新兴产业是当前我国促进经济结构转变,顺应世界经济发展趋势的必然选择。本文运用DEA方法测度战略性新兴产业金融支持效率,以此为基础构建金融支持效率影响因素模型。实证研究表明,市场性金融支持行为在经济波动期存在效率缺失;金融支持效率的实现伴随风险的增高;在间接融资驱动力不足情况下,直接融资成为战略性新兴产业发展的主要支撑。分析结果认为,提高战略性新兴产业金融支持效率需要充分发挥政策金融的引导作用,突出银行的支持功能,推进金融服务多元化,提高产业的风险抵御能力。     

Involvement and opinion leadership in tourism

Nature-based tourism, science tourism, and ecotourism are some of the emerging and growing trends in special-interest tourism. This study utilized a southeastern sample of the United States who had an interest in travel and the environment. A modified Dillman total design method survey was used to collect the data. The study demonstrated that widely used concepts of marketing are applicable for nature-based tourism. Results indicate that highly involved nature-oriented travelers tend to be more receptive to information concerning the travel product or destination and spread that information willingly. Findings of this study suggest that opinion leaders take more trips and use slightly more information sources.     

Nature-based recreation associated with connectedness to nature and leisure satisfaction among students in Brazil

ABSTRACT

There is growing evidence that nature-based recreation (NBR) during childhood promotes connectedness to nature, which in turn fuels NBR during adulthood. In addition to providing a number of health benefits, NBR participation may enhance leisure satisfaction, an important predictor of happiness and life satisfaction. In this exploratory study, we tested these hypothesised links using a path model with a cross-sectional sample of 224 Brazilian college students, where NBR participation during childhood increases connectedness to nature and NBR participation during adulthood, which in turn promotes leisure satisfaction. The model fit the data well χ² (2) = 1.924, χ²/df = 0.962 (N = 220, p = .38), CFI = 1.00, AGFI = .978, GFI = .996, and RMSEA = .00, with results showing an indirect positive link between NBR during childhood and leisure satisfaction, and a direct link between NBR during adulthood and leisure satisfaction. The indirect effect of connectedness to nature on leisure satisfaction was also significant: NBR during childhood fostered connectedness to nature, which motivated NBR during adulthood and higher levels of leisure satisfaction. Leisure practitioners can improve people’s leisure satisfaction by promoting engagement in NBR activities across life stages and emphasising connection to nature.     

The resilience of formal and informal tourism enterprises to disasters: reef tourism in Phuket,Thailand

This paper explores the resilience of vulnerable tourism sectors to disasters in a period of global change and interdependence. The coral reef tourism industry is highly vulnerable to natural disasters and economic and political shocks. The paper also explains why enterprise resilience is central to sustainable tourism management, for economic, socio-cultural and environmental reasons. It extends the concepts of ecological and social resilience to that of enterprise resilience. Using scenarios and interviews with key enterprise staff, the study contrasts the levels of resilience of formal and informal reef tourism enterprises, and the factors associated with the enterprise resilience in Phuket, Thailand, following the 2004 tsunami and the 2008 political crisis. Informal enterprises reported better financial condition in a crisis scenario and higher levels of social capital in the form of government, family and community support than formal enterprises. Formal and informal enterprises both enjoy high lifestyle benefits from reef tourism, which supports resilience. Most formal enterprises had part foreign ownership/management (61%); no informal enterprise had any foreign ownership or management. Management policies supporting reef tourism should consider local nuances and the importance of lifestyle benefits for both formal and informal enterprises, and take steps to enable enterprise flexibility and cost-cutting during crises.     

Performance Analysis of Lodging REITs in Relation to Market Segments

This article examines the financial performance of lodging real estate investment trusts (REITs) in relation to their market focus. Secondary data were collected for from 2004 to 2008 from lodging REITs that were traded on major U.S. stock exchanges. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to assess the efficiencies of market segments to generate financial performance. The results showed that two lodging REITs were consistently efficient during the study period relative to other lodging REITs. In particular, lodging REITs investing and/or operating in one or more relatively similar market segments and those focusing on the upper-upscale segment were more efficient than others. This study could provide managers, owners, and investors of lodging REITs preliminary evidence of the relationship between market segments and firm performance. This article also proposes a framework for future investigations to assess the performance of REITs.     

Impact of International Financial Reporting Standards （IFRS） Adoption on Key Financial Ratios＂ The Case of the Czech Republic

This contribution analyzes the impact of new International Financial Reporting Standards （IFRS） reporting rules on financial ratios prepared in the Czech companies. Using a sample of 16 Czech firms, we attempt to measure the scope and size of the differences in the selected set of financial ratios as calculated with data reported according to the traditional Czech accounting standards （CAS） and under the IFRS provisions. Our study discovers that there are important differences resulting from the two reporting formats. Our research comes to a conclusion that translation of Czech statements to IFRS may cause changes in the values of financial indicators without relationship to the real change in the firms＇ value, performance, and stability. Even though the findings were not statistically significant, the indicative results of our measurements disclosed an important fact that the transition to IFRS could cause deterioration of key indicators and thereby could impact on the overall rating of companies. One needs to be cautious with generalization due to the small sample size.     

完善地方政府金融管理体制研究

地方政府金融管理体制是我国金融体制的重要组成部分。目前我国地方政府金融管理实践中还存在着重复监管、监管盲区、责权不对等、职能混淆等问题,基于对当前地方政府金融管理体制缺损主要原因的分析,借鉴国外经验及寻求理论指导,本文建议从中央地方政府统分结合、金融发展与风险防范关系、需求角度及基础性制度安排等方面入手,逐步完善地方政府金融管理体制。     

An Ecofeminist Narrative of Urban Nature Connection

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore meanings, experiences, and perceived impacts associated with an urban nature connection program as narrated by mothers of program participants. “Project Connect”, a charity organization established in 2008, delivers the program investigated in urban parks and green spaces in Toronto, Canada. Drawing on ecofeminism and narrative inquiry, the study reveals a community narrative that depicts how Project Connect serves a group of mothers as an incubator of relationships spanning social and environmental domains, and which enable resistance of status quo forces that shape contemporary cityscapes. Nature connection in this sense is very much a political and cultural process that opens opportunities to challenge but also reproduce aspects of the dominant nature-related discourses. Accordingly, this study prompts consideration of the power of mothers and an ethics of care to transform human-nature relationships, and weaves critical consciousness and cautious re-valuing around the nature narratives we tell.