Modelling price transmission and volatility spillover in the Slovenian wheat market

Interdependence between first and second moments of producer and consumer wheat prices in Slovenia is assessed, in light of the recent major historical events that the country has undergone, as well as the recent rumours of cartel agreements between millers causing a decline in farm-gate prices, while leaving consumer prices untouched. A threshold vector error correction and multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model with exogenous variables is applied. Results indicate that price-level adjustments mainly favour retailers by increasing their marketing margins. Important second-moment interactions are also identified. Increases in international wheat stocks reduce producer prices, while higher interest rates increase their instability.     

Maximizing benefits in project selection: a hybrid approach

Charitable foundations and government programmes should endeavour to allocate their limited resources to best serve their constituents. Yet, mathematical programming techniques are rarely used despite overwhelming evidence of their superiority in selecting projects that yield higher levels of total benefits. We present a novel ‘hybrid selection model’ that combines binary linear programming and heuristic rank-based models applied to two case studies. The first case focuses on providing services to women and shows a hybrid model would have selected the top three ‘signature’ projects and maintained an above-average overall project benefit while securing a 180% improvement in the number of projects funded, a 66% improvement in the number of women served and a 132% improvement in the total benefit achieved. In the second case, we apply the hybrid approach to data from the US government’s largest forest preservation programme and demonstrate that the hybrid approach could allow the programme to select up to 11 top-scoring projects while still achieving a 97% gain in the total overall benefit compared to their traditional method. These case studies show that the hybrid approach has the potential to be applied in a variety of settings and improve how foundations and programmes achieve their goals.     

从经济理性到有限理性:经济学研究理性假设的演变

"经济理性"是经济学的传统研究假设,却因背离现实而受到质疑.基于行为人稀缺的心理资源和系统固有的不确定性而产生的"有限理性"正逐步取代"经济理性"成为经济学研究的理性假设.不同的理性观点可以从决策的视角得到系统地解释和比较.并且,随着理性假设的演变,经济行为的决策标准也相应从单一静态最优向多元动态平衡转变.     

人民币升值是紧缩性的吗?

中国经济近年来呈现出比较明显的外部失衡和内部失衡,这与人民币汇率低估不无关系。我国政府对是否允许人民币升值保持非常谨慎的态度,主要原因是担心人民币升值如传统宏观经济理论所言是紧缩性的,从而造成中国经济增长放慢和失业上升。本文运用向量自回归模型实证考察了人民币实质汇率冲击对中国产出的影响,实证分析表明:(1)在控制了可能导致人民币实质汇率与中国产出之间伪相关的来源后,人民币实质汇率升值仍会导致中国产出一定程度的下降,因此货币升值在中国确实是紧缩性的,“紧缩性贬值”文献揭示的升值扩张性效应在中国不是支配性的;(2)一旦考虑了中国经济的国际金融联系,实质汇率冲击对中国产出变动的解释力和影响程度明显变小,而美国利率冲击对中国产出变动有更大的影响,其影响超过了人民币实质汇率冲击的影响。本文进一步分析了实证结果背后的可能原因,并且指出并不能从本文的结论引出中国应该继续维持人民币汇率低估的政策建议。     

Testing for negativity in a demand system: A Bayesian approach

The paper introduces Bayesian inference into a demand model. This allows us to test for the negativity condition of the substitution matrix which is difficult to handle directly in the traditional approach. To illustrate the Bayesian inference procedures, we estimate the Rotterdam model and test the demand properties using Japanese data. The empirical results show the importance of specifically considering negativity in demand analysis. First version received: September 1997/final version received: February 1998     

基于物联网技术平台的O2O商业模式研究

在国家大力推进产业结构调整、信息化的压力下,物联网技术和O2O商业模式作为信息时代的新型生产力,在国内的普及率并不高。本文运用案例分析的方法通过研究大学生创业项目引入O2O商业模式的概念,并与物联网技术有机结合,把握两者之间优势互补的关系,提出两者创新应用,同时从商业模式构成要素的角度对该模式进行系统、深入分析,为中国现代农业信息化建设和结构调整提供了新思路。     

A grey decision and prediction model for investment in the core competitiveness of product development

Because enterprises do not disclose their internal specific cost information to the public and, moreover, every firm has its own product character and financial constitutions, it is difficult to offer fixed guidelines for investment decisions. Thus, an enterprise may be uncertain when required to choose the most promising set of possible investments.The goal of this research is to use a grey relation analysis and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to probe the core product development and competitiveness of an enterprise from limited data and, furthermore, by constructing the grey model, GM(1,1), to validate the feasibility of this assessment of the core competitiveness and investment strategy. In this study, a precision mechanical manufacturer is taken as an example, and the forecast estimate from this method is compared to those of a linear regression and the actual values to demonstrate the feasibility of applying this methodology to investment decision making, hence, demonstrating the value of this research.     

Thriving in the New Normal: The HR Microfoundations of Capabilities for Business Model Innovation. An Integrated Literature Review

Firms need to respond to the increasing competition and change of the current New Normal environment by being more innovative, and especially in developing new business models. This paper seeks to explore how microfoundations, particularly with respect to human resource management, play a key role in facilitating innovation in business models through the development of key needed capabilities. Four themes are identified with respect to business model innovation (BMI) in the New Normal: BMI as an enabler to create and operate across industries and product-markets; BMI as a mechanism for firms to better navigate changing institutional landscapes; BMI as giving rise to business model portfolios; and concurrent and cumulative innovations that can lead to BMI. This paper also develops a conceptual framework that presents a synoptic view of the five essential capabilities for BMI, which include analogical reasoning, sensemaking, dynamic capabilities, organisational ambidexterity, and organisational learning. Finally, it is shown how the microfoundations of a bespoke, development-oriented BMI HR architecture can support the advancement of these capabilities and thus contribute to the strategic HR literature.     

经济转型下的外商直接投资、国内资本与经济增长——基于中国时间序列数据的计量检验与实证分析

经济转型背景下,中国经济持续增长的一个重要原因是引入外商直接投资。本文对1985年-2010年中国外商直接投资、国内投资与经济增长的总量时间序列数据进行了实证分析。结果表明:FDI与国内资本对我国的经济增长的影响显著,都是GDP的格兰杰原因,与经济增长存在长期均衡关系;但FDI对经济增长的影响小于国内资本,并且FDI与国内资本还存在相互挤入效应。     

我国水资源可持续利用能力评价

选取31个省级单位最新数据,提炼出7大类共计25项反映水资源可持续利用的评价指标体系,运用主成分分析法和DEA模型评价了我国水资源可持续利用的能力。研究结果表明:我国近74.2%的省份水资源可持续利用能力欠佳,呈阶梯状分布,这主要是由于水资源与社会经济、水环境容量、农业灌溉、城市发展、生态保护与可持续利用的不协整所导致的,但仍有很大的发展潜力。