On discrimination in the optimal management of teams

We study the optimal management of teams in which agents’ effort decisions are mapped (via a production technology) into the probability of the team’s success. Optimal wage schemes in such context are largely discriminatory, but we show that the extent of the discrimination crucially depends on the existence of moral hazard. More precisely, for teams with a flat structure, the domain of production technologies giving rise to discrimination is broader when agents’ actions are observable and contractible. For teams with a sequential structure, the result reverses and the domain of production technologies giving rise to discrimination is broader when there exists moral hazard. Finally, in more cooperative environments in which agents are allowed to collude, optimality does not entail discrimination, with or without moral hazard.     

Three Short Stories of Progressive Institutional Change

The process of institutional change is a fundamental theme in institutional economics. There are multiple avenues for forging institutional change — policies, laws, cultural norms, social movements, and social practices. I analyze three examples of progressive institutional change. While there are many to choose from, the three short stories focus on: (i) accounting for measures of housework and care work in GDP; (ii) transforming legal values through adoption of marriage equality in the United States; and (iii) interrogating the fresh-tomatoes food supply chain in order to achieve a penny-a-pound more in earnings for migrant field workers. Each of these examples of progressive institutional change involves changing values, a cumulative process.     

Measuring Production and Irrigation Efficiencies of Rice Farms: Evidence from the Punjab Province,Pakistan

We employ a non‐parametric approach, data envelopment analysis, to estimate the technical and irrigation efficiency of rice farms in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. We use a cross‐sectional dataset of 80 rice growers, including 45 tube‐well owners and 35 water buyers. Mean technical efficiency scores show that tube‐well owners and water buyers are operating at fairly high efficiency levels, indicating that access to technology is not a major constraint. However, irrigation inefficiency is pronounced, with water buyers being more inefficient than tube‐well owners. A bootstrap truncated regression is used to investigate the determinants of technical and irrigation efficiency. We suggest that groundwater management policies should be designed to address efficiency enhancing factors such as knowledge of crop water consumption requirement, better credit opportunities, outreach extension services and training programs.     

How Productive Is Workplace Health and Safety?

In this paper, we investigate the causal impact of workplace health and safety practices on firm performance, using Danish longitudinal matched employer–employee data merged with unique cross‐sectional representative firm survey data on work environment conditions. We estimate standard production functions, augmented with workplace environment indicators, addressing both time‐invariant and time‐varying potentially relevant unobservables in the production process. We find positive and large productivity effects of improved physical dimensions of the health and safety environment, specifically, “internal climate” and “monotonous repetitive work”.     

增值税转型对我国微观经济的影响

增值税的全面转型是振兴经济的一大利好消息，力度大、范围广，对企业来说，不仅能够直接减轻税收负担，改善生存环境，更能够增加流动资金，扩大企业固定资产投资需求，因而有利于促进企业的设备更新改造和高新技术企业的发展，促进利润的提升和产业升级。在这种经济背景下，文章论述了增值税转型后给企业带来的一系列影响以及应采取的相应对策。     

采油厂质量文化建设的探讨

石油企业是国家发展和稳定的基础，质量安全与效益对建设和谐社会有着举足轻重的作用，履行“每一滴油都是承诺”的质量文化理念．是石油开采企业质量工作特性所决定的。从质量文化建设体系及其构成的要素入手，讨论了质量文化建设必要性。围绕采油企业自身特点，阐述了中原油田采油四厂经过长期精心培育优秀的、独特的企业质量文化，实现了企业质量文化理念与生产经营管理的深度融合。提升油藏经营管理水平，促进油田持续有效发展。     

蓝色产业调研及海洋化工专业群建设初探

根据区域产业结构的变化,适时调整专业设置和专业结构,大力培养高端技能型人才是高职院校的立校之本、生命所在。作为首批国家示范性高等职业院校,青岛职业技术学院根据青岛蓝色产业发展需求,调整和申报化工相关专业,建设海洋化工专业群,充分发挥示范引领作用,实现了对接地方经济社会发展与培养高端技能型人才的良性互动。     

全球价值链与国内价值链——基于投入产出表的新方法

价值链作为组织和协调经济活动的微观机制,已使经济全球化和增长模式发生了深刻的变化。本文利用来自投入产出表的新方法,测度了广东省和江苏省全球价值链和国内价值链的水平。结果表明,粤苏两省切入全球价值链的倾向高于切入国内价值链的倾向,而对其它省份关联效应较大的行业基本上是中间品行业,且具有自然资源密集的特征。全球价值链与国内价值链之间的互动关系,则关系到我国产业升级的前景和区域经济协调发展的基础。     

Causal Ambiguity in Lean Production Implementation in Malaysia

The success of the lean production system in Japan has led other companies to attempt to adopt it. Yet lean production system initiatives have seen a low success rate. This study draws on the theory of causal ambiguity and its role in the transfer of knowledge to argue that causal ambiguity can impede interfirm transfer of knowledge during lean production system implementation. The authors argue that causal ambiguity undermines motivation during lean production system implementation. Several variables are proposed as moderating the relationship. The findings of a survey are presented here.     

高校教师按生产要素分配的理论依据及现实意义

本文对按生产要素分配的内涵和特点作出定义 ,对按生产要素分配和按劳分配的关系进行深入的探讨 ,对高校教师按生产要素分配的理论依据进行详尽的阐述 ,对当前高校教师实施按生产要素分配提出建议