Smallholder land ownership in Kenya: distribution between households and through time

This study uses panel data to demonstrate two dimensions of land ownership: the distribution between households at a given time and changes within a household over time. We note that recognizing the latter dimension is only possible when analyzing rare long‐term panel data. We estimate a model for land ownership using a version of the correlated random effects estimator to uniquely identify the determinants of both dimensions amongst Kenyan smallholders. We find life cycle effects are a key determinant of both distributions, and identify important ways in which initial conditions such as inheritance and off‐farm income relate to the dynamics of ownership. We find that population density is a key determinant of differences between households, but also that a given household's land ownership is not affected in the short term as population density increases around them. Controlling for population density, households own more land when they are closer to road networks where the economic value of land is higher. We find important vulnerabilities for the land security of widows, but this vulnerability is geographically heterogeneous.     

中国保险业区域发展差异的演变及解释——基于寿险与财险的夏普利值分解

本文运用合作博弈中的夏普利值分解法对中国寿险业与财险业在2003-2012年的省际发展差异进行研究分析,结果表明：近十年来,中国寿险业与财险业的省际发展差异除在个别年份略有增大外,总体来看均呈现逐步收敛态势.笔者通过进一步研究发现,经济发展水平、城镇化比重和金融发展程度等因素对中国寿险业与财险业的省际发展差异都存在影响,其中经济发展水平的影响最为关键,而城镇化比重和金融发展程度对二者的影响程度有明显差别;另外,人口结构因素对中国寿险业的省际发展差异虽有影响,但其影响程度有逐渐降低的趋势;第二产业总值和事故发生数对中国财险业的省际发展差异的影响程度近十年一直保持稳定.     

The entrepreneurial imagination and the impact of context on the development of a new venture

This paper sets out to explore the impact of a new venture's context on its development. The study consists of a single case study based on a new venture attempting to exploit an opportunity in the life sciences and charts the impact that the context, in particular actors that the venture are trying to gain resources from, have upon the plans, activities and resources developed by this nascent firm. Spanning the time period of 1999-2006, this case outlines four periods of development of the venture. This accounts for the initial plans of the venture, their struggle to gain venture financing, the development of the venture's technological resources and the attempts to create commercial relationships. The study shows the impact that institutions used in a context have on this venture leading to, among other things, the discovery of IP, finding a CEO and developing a product line.     

Spatial and economic patterns in life expectancy among US States

This study investigates the determinants of gender-specific life expectancy across US states over the period 1995–2007. We employ a production function specification where life expectancy depends on health expenditure, income, education and lifestyle variables, allowing for spatial effects. Empirical results suggest that education attainment and health expenditure are the main factors behind improving longevity, whereas smoking bears a strong negative influence. For robustness purposes, we also use health spending as well as education criteria, apart from geographical ones to model interstate spillovers. In the former case, states with similar health expenditure are ‘neighbors’ and affect positively the life expectancy process. If education is applied instead of health spending together with geographic proximity, the spatial correlation is insignificant, i.e. education ‘neighbors’ do not affect life expectancy. Our findings do not imply significant gender differences regarding health production. The results suggest that health care policy will have to focus on wider economic and social considerations, like education and lifestyle changes, except medical care provision in order to exploit the full potential for life expectancy improvements of the US population.     

Generalized Life Insurance: Ruin Probabilities

We study ruin probabilities for generalized life insurance programs. These programs include among others whole life and long term care contracts. Clearly, in such programs the claims in successive years are dependent, hence the structure of our problem is different from that of ruin probabilities in general insurance where claims over time are independent. First, we develop algorithms calculating the ruin probabilities for life and LTC insurance programs. Further, upper and lower bounds for these probabilities are derived. These new bounds take into account the joint distribution of claims over time.     

Longevity and Life‐cycle Savings*

We add health and longevity to a standard model of life‐cycle saving and show that, under plausible assumptions, increases in life expectancy lead to higher savings rates at every age, even when retirement is endogenous. In a stationary population these higher savings rates are offset by increased old age dependency, but during the disequilibrium phase, when longevity is rising, the effect on aggregate savings rates can be substantial. We find empirical support for this effect using a cross‐country panel of national savings rates.     

Give peas a chance: Transformations in food consumption and production systems

Food production chains can be organised in a variety of ways. Conventional ‘industrial’ agricultural practices are based on advanced breeding techniques and major inputs of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Food produced in this way is transport-intensive, requires high-energy processing, relies on modern retailing systems and demands high-tech kitchens. Many argue that the industrialised systems should be dismantled and replaced with alternative methods of agriculture, food processing and distribution that emphasise social and environmental sustainability. This paper looks at the environmental and social sustainability of different strategies for food systems by analysing the whole chain of production, processing, distribution and consumption activities of the production of frozen peas, a vegetable that is ‘symbolic’ of modern food systems and the UK diet.     

地方政府创新政策工具偏好测量——基于四川省政策文本的分析

创新是提高综合国力和国家竞争力的重要方式,我国各级政府均高度重视并出台系列政策推动创新驱动发展。四川省承担着西部地区转型探索的重任,为全国全面创新改革试验区建设贡献了宝贵经验。从政策文本分析视角,构建政策工具—企业生命周期二维分析框架,借助NVIVO11和UCINET等软件对2012-2020年四川省颁布的82份创新政策文件进行政策内容量化分析,研究发现四川省对创新给予了全方位激励和规制,但仍然存在一些问题：政策发布数量呈现平稳到快速增长再到缓慢回落的趋势,政策效力偏低且可操作性不强;政策颁布主体虽呈现多元化态势但联系不够紧密,形成两个小群体,即以科技厅、财政厅、发改委为代表的执行主体,以及省人民政府办公厅、省委办公厅为代表的规划主体;政策工具应用存在过溢或缺失,呈现重供给、轻需求的工具偏好,政策工具作用目标取向模糊;工具应用与创新主体生命周期不匹配,工具内部结构分布不均衡。     

Corporate payout policy in Australia and a test of the life‐cycle theory

We provide evidence on the frequency and size of payouts by Australian firms, and test whether the life‐cycle theory explains Australian corporate payout policies. Regular dividends remain the most popular mechanism for distributing cash to shareholders, despite a slight decline in the proportion of dividend payers since the relaxation of buyback regulations in 1998. Off‐market share buybacks return the largest amount of cash to shareholders. Dividend paying firms are larger, more profitable and have less growth options that nondividend paying firms. Consistent with the life‐cycle theory, we observe a highly significant relation between the decision to pay regular dividends and the proportion of shareholders’ equity that is earned rather than contributed.     

中小科技企业不同生命周期阶段的融资策略选择

中小科技企业是我国技术创新的重要主体和国民经济的重要组成部分。资金问题一直是影响中小科技企业成败的关键因素之一。本文在分析中小科技企业不同生命周期阶段特征的基础上,提出不同生命周期阶段为了解决资金问题的具体融资策略。