Declining Discount Rates: The Long and the Short of it

The last few years have witnessed important advances in our understanding of time preference and social discounting. In particular, several rationales for the use of time-varying social discount rates have emerged. These rationales range from the ad hoc to the formal, with some founded solely in economic theory while others reflect principles of intergenerational equity. While these advances are to be applauded, the practitioner is left with a confusing array of rationales and the sense that almost any discount rate can be justified. This paper draws together these different strands and provides a critical review of past and present contributions to this literature. In addition to this we highlight some of the problems with employing DDRs in the decision-making process, the most pressing of which may be time inconsistency. We clarify their practical implications, and potential pitfalls, of the more credible rationales and argue that some approaches popular in environmental economics literature are ill-conceived. Finally, we illustrate the impact of different approaches by examining global warming and nuclear power investment. This includes an application and extension of Newell and Pizer [‘Discounting the benefits of climate change mitigation : how much do uncertain rates increase valuations?’ Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 46 (2003) 52] to UK interest rate data.     

中国金融制度变革的地区差异研究

由于经济增长与金融成长有极强的内生关联，中国东部与中西部经济发展的地带性差异决定了金融体系的分布格局和发展层次。从面上看，随着发达地区经济的发展和金融的深化，优势要素会由区域内向区域外扩散和辐射，在一定程度上改造落后地区的经济-金融因素，区域金融的发展空间得以扩展，从而逐步形成统一的金融市场。从点上看，民营经济的快速发展和民间金融对民营经济的内在性金融支持，决定了民间金融在金融体制变革和金融市场化过程中的重要地位。     

技术性贸易壁垒内涵辨正

进入21世纪以来，技术性贸易壁垒替代反倾销成为我国面临的第一大非关税壁垒。但是对于技术性贸易壁垒，世界贸易组织框架下的相关协议，即《技术性贸易壁垒协议》和《实施卫生和植物卫生措施协议》，并没有做出明确的定义。因此，在分析世贸组织相关协议和判例的基础上，提炼出技术性贸易壁垒的内核，以对技术性贸易壁垒的含义加以澄清并重新认识，对于我国具有重大而深远的意义。     

基于行为决策理论的投资决策研究：发展及实践意义

以“理性人”假设为基础的传统财务决策理论将决策者独立于投资决策过程之外，认为决策者完全能够依据理性决策模型做出最优的决策，但现实并非如此。本文对行为决策理论中关于投资决策的研究文献进行了梳理，揭示了决策者的行为特征会影响到投资决策及投资回报率的设定，展望了行为决策理论在我国的发展前景及实践意义。     

Bioenergy Crop Production in the United States: Potential Quantities, Land Use Changes, and Economic Impacts on the Agricultural Sector

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energyjointly analyzed the economic potential for,and impacts of, large-scale bioenergy cropproduction in the United States. Anagricultural sector model (POLYSYS) wasmodified to include three potential bioenergycrops (switchgrass, hybrid poplar, and willow). At farmgate prices of US $2.44/GJ, anestimated 17 million hectares of bioenergycrops, annually yielding 171 million dry Mg ofbiomass, could potentially be produced at aprofit greater than existing agricultural usesfor the land. The estimate assumes highproductivity management practices are permittedon Conservation Reserve Program lands. Traditional crops prices are estimated toincrease 9 to 14 percent above baseline pricesand farm income increases annually by US $6.0billion above baseline.At farmgate prices of US $1.83/GJ, anestimated 7.9 million hectares of bioenergycrops, annually yielding 55 million dry Mg ofbiomass, could potentially be produced at aprofit greater than existing agricultural usesfor the land. The estimate assumes managementpractices intended to achieve highenvironmental benefits on Conservation ReserveProgram lands. Traditional crops prices areestimated to increase 4 to 9 percent abovebaseline prices and farm income increasesannually by US $2.8 billion above baseline.     

我国城市化发展与耕地变化的关系——对国内相关研究的综述

在我国，城市化发展与耕地变化之间的关系一直以来就是人们研究的热点问题，不少专家和学者从不同角度进行了深入的研究。本文对国内有关这一问题的研究做一个简要的综述，并认为目前的研究在内容上较为全面、方法上比较科学，但在城市化发展与耕地质量变化的关系以及城市化发展与耕地数量变动问一般规律的探索等方面还存在不足，需要进一步深入研究。     

基于提前期和价格折扣的延迟交货和库存策略研究

研究了基于提前期和价格折扣的延迟交货和库存策略,其中的价格折扣是基于提前期的价格折扣,即当出现缺货而不能在既定的提前期内交货时,企业就会提供一个价格折扣,这时会有一部分顾客愿意等待,直到订单被满足,即延迟交货。其中,愿意等待延迟交货的比例跟提前期成反比关系,提前期的各部分都可以通过增加成本来实现压缩。     

Modelling of repairable systems with various degrees of repair

The availability of a stochastic repairable system depends on the failure behaviour and on repair strategies. In this paper, we deal with a general repair model for a system using auxiliary counting processes and corresponding intensities which include various degrees of repair (between minimal repair and perfect repair). For determining the model parameters we need estimators depending on failure times and repair times: maximum likelihood (ML) estimator and Bayes estimators are considered. Special results are obtained by the use of Weibull-type intensities and random observation times.     

战略投资决策中的实物期权思维方式

在现代市场经济条件下 ,传统投资决策方法已不适应由于环境的不确定性而产生的动态战略投资管理的需要。本文旨在通过对实物期权思维方式的介绍 ,说明它在企业战略投资决策思考中的应用     

对跨国公司人才“本土化”战略的思考

跨国公司人才“本土化”战略,对中国的优秀人才形成了掠夺态势。认真研究在开放市场经济条件 下,人力资源开发、管理的措施和办法;加快人才市场的培育,建立有竞争力的人才机制;提高我国企业国际 竞争力是十分重要的课题。