Gender differences in self‐employment

This paper examines the factors that influence transitions into self‐employment, paying particular attention to gender differences. We find that: (i) men are more responsive to the wage differential between wage/salaried employment and self‐employment; (ii) liquidity constraints are more important for men; and (iii) the link between father's self‐employment status and the probability of self‐employment is stronger for men. Taken together, these results suggest that, for women, self‐employment is a closer substitute for part‐time work and labour‐market inactivity than it is for men. We attribute such differences to the different labour market opportunities and occupational strategies of women.     

Two-settlement Systems for Electricity Markets under Network Uncertainty and Market Power

We analyze welfare and distributional properties of a two-settlement system consisting of a spot market over a two-node network and a single energy forward contract. We formulate and analyze several models which simulate joint dispatch of energy and transmission resources coordinated by a system operator. The spot market is subject to network uncertainty, which we model as a random capacity derating of an important transmission line. Using a duopoly model, we show that even for small probabilities of congestion (derating), forward trading may be substantially reduced, and the market power mitigating effect of forward markets (as shown in Allaz and Vila 1993) may be nullified to a great extent. There is a spot transmission charge reflecting transportation costs from location of generation to a designated hub whose price is the underlying for the forward contract. This alleviates some of the incentive problems associated with the forward market in which spot-market trading is residual. We find that the reduction in forward trading is due to the segregation of the markets in the constrained state, and the absence of natural incentives for generators to commit to more aggressive behavior in the spot market (the strategic substitutes effect). In our analysis, we find that the standard assumption of no-arbitrage across forward and spot markets leads to very little contract coverage, even for the case with no congestion. We present an alternative view of the market where limited intertemporal arbitrage enables temporal price discrimination by competing duopolists. In this framework, we assume that all of the demand shows up in the forward market (or that the market is cleared against an accurate forecast of the demand), and the forward price is determined using a market clearing condition.     

An efficiency analysis of Swedish employment offices

In this paper the method–production frontier analysis is used to analyse differences in efficiency between different Swedish Employment Offices. Earlier empirical labour market policy evaluation studies have utilised various measures that, however, do not take into consideration differences between organisation units. The main result of this investigation is that employment offices show major differences in the efficiency with which they carry out their job matching services.     

经济周期性波动与适度调节

改革以来,经济周期性波动的变化特征说明了我国经济的稳定性与抗风险能力增强;经济波动的根源是生产与消费的矛盾,矛盾激化到一定程度,经济运行就表现较大幅度的波动;市场条件与生产条件相背离是生产与消费矛盾激化的市场表现;生产条件短期是难以改变的,而市场条件的改变又是相对迅速的,宏观调控的重要作用就是要适时地调整并改变市场条件,使之与生产条件相适应;需要注意的是,这种调整应该适时适度,否则,反而会进一步加剧经济的较大幅度波动。     

产品市场竞争与财务保守行为——以燕京啤酒为例的分析

企业财务保守行为近年来在资本结构研究中颇受关注。本文构造了一个两阶段模型 ,考察当企业必须加大投资的条件下 ,产品市场未来竞争程度与企业当前债务规模的关系。模型表明 ,当企业预期未来竞争程度越激烈 ,当前选择的债务规模也越低 ,从而产生财务保守行为。本文对燕京啤酒财务保守行为进行了分析 ,证实了本文的模型。     

替代、互补及互嵌:企业与市场关系的新考察

在现实世界中,企业市场关系呈现出替代、互补及互嵌等多种特征,使得单一的“替代”说或“互补”论均缺乏足够的解释力。本文从交易费用角度将交易关系分为三种类型并指出企业和市场谁更有利于交易费用的节约,主要取决于交易品的特征以及交易本身的具体职能。企业其实是一种通过非人力资本和人力资本、人力资本和人力资本间相互交易以实现生产功能的特殊履约机制。这样就不难理解,只有部分交易可以通过企业与市场间的相互替代来提高效率,而更多的交易则须通过改善企业内部管理或改进市场制度本身来提高其效率。     

股市新文化理论初探

长期以来,我国资本市场理论的研究落后于资本市场发展的实践。当前我国股市面临的一个突出问题是股市基础理论探讨严重匮乏。解决这一问题,需要从两个环节入手:第一是在社会主义市场经济条件下,对股市的基本功能进行探讨;第二是建立股市新文化和股权文化。     

政府投资项目双层多级委托代理链的分析

本文分析了政府投资项目双层多级委托代理链和两个层次中的代理人问题.第一层委托代理关系是从公众到政府代理,主要的代理问题是对公共权力的约束.第二层委托代理关系是从政府代理人到项目业主和项目执行团队,主要代理问题是政府代理人如何约束其项目业主.在第二层委托代理关系中我国政府投资项目管理方式改革发展方向是以业主市场代理模式取代业主行政代理模式.代建制的推行就是为了适应这种发展趋势的改革举措.     

现代市场经济调节的"第三只手"

通常,我们把市场调节比喻为“看不见的手”,把宏观调控比喻为“看得见的手”。同时,可以把文化道德调节作为现代市场经济调节的“第三只手”。有了这三只手,现代市场经济才会健康协调地向前发展。