European monetary arrangements: Implications for the dollar,exchange rate variability and credibility

This paper uses the recent history of the ERM to gain insights into what might happen to exchange rates on the road to EMU. to do this, the paper examines the variability of exchange rates, the transmission of monetary policy between countries, the role of the dollar in ERM exchange rate crises, and ERM members' credibility as measured by the realignment probabilities prior to the September 1992 crisis. We identify two factors that might have contributed to the September 1992 crisis: high German interest rates and weakness of the US dollar. We find that behaviour of exchange rates has changed over time and differs between ERM and non-ERM currencies. We also demonstrate that changes in German short-term interest rates influence interest rates in other ERM countries and vice versa.     

Factors affecting supplier quality performance

The interest among practitioners and researchers in quality management and other factors that may affect quality performance reflects the understanding that a firm's output (i.e., performance) can be only as good as the quality of its inputs. However, studies of the quality management-quality performance relationship have led to mixed results regarding the existence of a positive correlation between the two. The results of a survey of 348 aerospace component manufacturers are examined here to provide new insights into factors that affect supplier quality performance. In this study, the inconsistent association between practice and performance is accounted for by considering the process view of quality management. Process management links quality management with process optimization to address both effectiveness and efficiency concerns. Performance is also affected by transaction-specific investments (asset specificity) in the buyer/supplier relationship that lead to poorer component quality and higher transaction costs. Asset specificity and organizational efficiency at implementing Total Quality Management hold great promise for resolving the mixed practice-performance findings in the quality management literature.     

浅谈如何解决审计机关依法行政中遇到的问题

为进一步维护国家财政经济秩序，促进廉政建设，保障国民经济健康发展。针对目前审计机关依法行政中遇到的主要问题，提出健全和完善审计法律、法规体系，完善法律法规间的对应关系等建议及解决办法，以供审计人员在工作参考。     

不断加强干部教育努力提高干部整体素质

通过对江总书记“三个代表”重要思想的理解和把握，为适应加入WTO的新形势和我市“率先发展”的新要求，文章从三个方面对干部队伍建设提出了具体可操作和实施的要求，有一定的现实指导意义。     

Institutional arrangements and price rebalancing: empirical evidence from the United States and Europe

This paper explores the rebalancing of prices for voice service in the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) from conceptual and empirical perspectives. We determine the overall cost and structure of a standardized basket of residential and business services. Our data indicate that during the 1994–2000 period the degree of rate rebalancing was significantly higher in the EU than in the US. While the developments at the level of EU Member States are more heterogeneous and the process of rate rebalancing is not completed, these findings correspond to the predictions derived from our comparative institutional analysis.     

以质量求生存 靠质量闯市场 视超越为目标 凭实力创辉煌

全面、系统地阐述了长庆石油勘探局的质量管理工作，即：建立和完善质量管理规章制度；作宣贯和质量体系认证；加强施工过程质量控制；实施产品质量的网络动态管理；实施品牌战略；实行用户质量回访质量。并就如何进一步开展质量管理工作进行了探讨。     

An equilibrium approach to pricing foreign currency options

The paper presents a modified version of the Garman-Kohlhagen formula for pricing European currency options. The equilibrium approach deviates from the no-arbitrage approach by allowing domestic and foreign interest rates and their dynamics to be determined endogenously in the model. By using the relations between exchange rate dynamics and the dynamics of interest rates, I provide a new characterisation of the relevant volatilities for European currency option pricing, which only depends on parameters describing the variability of the log-exchange rate. The implications of the model for the valuation of American currency options and optimal exercise strategies are examined by applying numerical methods.     

事务所地域与其对盈余管理的抑制能力

与西方发达市场相比,我国会计师事务所产生于政府挂靠体制,政府干预过多;上市公司多由国有企业改制而来,国家持股比例较多,上市公司受到当地政府保护等,使得我国的独立审计具有强烈的地域特色,本地事务所多在当地招揽客户,其审计过程明显受到当地政府的干预。鉴于此,我国政府于1999年开始要求会计师事务所与其挂靠单位脱钩,经过这几年的发展,有必要考察目前本地/异地事务所的审计质量差异是否巳消除。本文使用2002—2004年在沪深两市上市的A股公司数据,考察了会计事务所的地域特征对其盈余这理抑制能力的影响。本文使用可操控性应计的绝对值和非经常性损益的绝对值衡量上市公司的盈余管理程度,使用两步回归控制事务所的自选择偏误,结果发现,异地事务所对盈余管理的抑制能力显著强于本地事务所。     

Factors influencing the profitability of domestic and foreign commercial banks in the European Union

Using bank level data this paper examines how bank's specific characteristics and the overall banking environment affect the profitability of commercial domestic and foreign banks operating in the 15 EU countries over the period 1995–2001. The results indicate that profitability of both domestic and foreign banks is affected not only by bank's specific characteristics but also by financial market structure and macroeconomic conditions. All the variables, with the exception of concentration in the case of domestic banks profits, are significant although their impact and relation with profits is not always the same for domestic and foreign banks.