The Effect of Risk Characteristics on the Willingness to Pay for Mortality Risk Reductions from Electric Power Generation

The objective of this study is to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for the reduction of mortality risks caused by fossil fuel (natural gas, coal and oil) versus nuclear electric power generation systems and to examine the influence of risk characteristics involved with electric power generation on WTP. A choice experiment was conducted to achieve these objectives. The attributes for nuclear risks in the experiment included the probability of disasters and the expected losses if a disaster occurs. We find evidence of (i) a baseline effect (where WTP is sensitive to hypothetical versus actual baseline expected mortality); (ii) a ‘labeling effect,’ where, surprisingly, the term ‘nuclear’ has no effect on WTP, but the term ‘fossil-fueled power generation’ results in lower WTP; and (iii) disaster aversion, meaning that people focus on the conditional loss from a nuclear disaster, not the probability. We also find that the WTP for reducing deaths from a nuclear disaster is about 60 times the WTP for routine reducing fossil-fuel generation-related deaths.     

Technological change in energy systems: Learning curves, logistic curves and input-output coefficients

Learning curves have recently been widely adopted in climate-economy models to incorporate endogenous change of energy technologies, replacing the conventional assumption of an autonomous energy efficiency improvement. However, there has been little consideration of the credibility of the learning curve. The current trend that many important energy and climate change policy analyses rely on the learning curve means that it is of great importance to critically examine the basis for learning curves. Here, we analyse the use of learning curves in energy technology, usually implemented as a simple power function. We find that the learning curve cannot separate the effects of price and technological change, cannot reflect continuous and qualitative change of both conventional and emerging energy technologies, cannot help to determine the time paths of technological investment, and misses the central role of R&D activity in driving technological change. We argue that a logistic curve of improving performance modified to include R&D activity as a driving variable can better describe the cost reductions in energy technologies. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the top-down Leontief technology can incorporate the bottom-up technologies that improve along either the learning curve or the logistic curve, through changing input-output coefficients. An application to UK wind power illustrates that the logistic curve fits the observed data better and implies greater potential for cost reduction than the learning curve does.     

中国服务贸易竞争力的国际比较研究

服务贸易是当前国际贸易中发展最为迅速的领域,已成为我国经济新的增长点.通过服务贸易的国际横向比较,服务贸易TC指数大部分长期为负值,且各行业之间TC指数差异大,我国服务贸易竞争力水平远远落后于发达国家.从制约因素分析来看,提升我国服务贸易的国际竞争力,必须重视服务贸易营销,寻求国内市场支持,建立服务贸易扶持政策.     

新农村建设:一个政治经济学视角的解析

新农村建设是对城乡经济社会发展不平衡的一个积极回应,它包含经济增长和社会发展两个层面.从政治经济学视角出发,在经济增长方面,户籍、土地、保障等制度性因素制约到农村劳动力的有效流转,从而对劳动生产率提升和农业发展产生负面影响;在社会福利方面,农民的数量优势没有转化为谈判优势,对市场价格和政策制定的影响力较小,其社会福利获取以及发展程度处于不利地位.据此,新农村建设必须对相关制度性、组织性因素进行完善和改革,部分农民的真正流转和留守农民的自发组织将尤其重要.     

关于增列审计学一级学科的设想

审计是党和国家、各类组织监督体系中的重要组成部分，是一种依法监督经济权力行使的制度安排，具有鲜明的法学学科属性。推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化，迫切需要构建中国特色社会主义审计学科体系、学术体系和话语体系，构建现代审计人才培养体系。审计学具有确定的研究对象，形成了相对独立、自成体系的理论、知识基础和研究方法，已经具备设置为一级学科的条件，应该在法学学科门类下增列审计学一级学科。     

市政工程项目管理中界面管理理论的应用研究

市政工程项目是城市基础设施建设中的关键内容,随着当下城市发展速度在不断加快,市政建设中对施工效率与质量的要求也越来越高,所以加强各施工环节、施工部门等有效信息与资料对接更显重要。界面管理理论应用到市政工程项目管理工作中,能够有效提高施工内与施工外各环节、各部门、各组织之间的矛盾解除以及沟通加深,有助于施工高效进行。     

Monotonicity of Rank Statistics in some Non–parametric: Testing Problems

For some non–parametric testing problems (one–sided two–sample problem, k –sample trend problem, testing independence against positive dependence) a partial ordering, denoted by ≥, over the alternatives is defined. This partial ordering expresses the strength of the deviation from the null–hypothesis. All familiar rank tests turn out to become more powerful under "increasing" alternatives; that is, all familiar rank statistics preserve the ordering stochastically in samples whenever it is present between underlying distributions. As a tool, the sample equivalence of ≥ is introduced as a partial ordering over pairs of permutations. Functions, defined on pairs of permutations, which preserve this ordering are studied.     

物流工程课程体系探讨

随着物流产业的快速发展，社会十分需要物流管理专业和物流工程专业本科人才。物流涉及的领域很多，有物流管理、物流系统规范、物流经济、物流信息化、物流机械、物流设施、物流自动化等。其中，物流管理专业主要偏重研究物流管理、物流系统规范、物流经济、物流信息化等领域，物流工程专业主要偏重研究物流系统规范、物流机械、物流设施、物流自动化等领域。本文根据社会需要，对物流工程人才培养的课程体系进行了探讨与研究。     

产权制度与财权配置--兼议公司财务治理中的难点与热点问题

文章通过对企业产权的再认识,重新界定了企业财产权属于"他物权"中"用益物权"的一种,是明显与"自物权--所有权"相分离的,公司中的财权在两个层面(自物权和他物权)上均有分布或配置.文中进一步阐述了财权的静态配置与资本结构的动态调整.认为:"财务治理结构"是一种静态的理解,具体表现为财权配置结构和利益关系.它是由两类财务治理主体、多维度的财务治理客体及一系列财务治理中的经济利益关系构成;而"财务治理"则是从动态上看,一方面表现为财权配置中的动态制衡和激励约束机制的形成,另一方面表现为新的债权人和投资人的加入--融资结构的形成以及对现有资本结构的调整和改善.文章第三部分专题讨论了当前在公司财务治理中的热点和难点问题,阐述了笔者关于独立董事、国企财务治理及财务总监制度的若干观点.     

Has Austria’s Accession to the EU Triggered an Increase in Competition? A Sectoral Markup Study

We estimate the pro-competitive effects of Austrias participation in the Single Market after its European Union (EU) accession in 1995 in terms of firms market power as measured by the Lerner index, using a sample of 46 industries and 7 industry groups, covering the period 1978–2001. In the framework of the markup estimation method suggested by Roeger (1995), we test for both an instantaneous structural break between 1993 and 1998 and also estimate logistic smooth transition models to take up the proposition that the regime shift is likely to have occurred gradually rather than as a big bang. In sum, the results provide no reason for being euphoric: Pronounced markup reductions were only found in three industry groups (mining and quarrying, wholesale and retail trade; financial services and real estate). At the more disaggregate level, the picture is mixed: Both increases and reductions in market power have been found.