Good geography,good institutions? Historical evidence from nineteenth-century British colonies

This paper uses a historical natural experiment – the opening of the Suez Canal – to investigate the relationship between geography and the formation of institutions. While the conventional view is that good geography (commodity endowment) inevitably favours the creation of extractive institutions, we discover that a second aspect of geography – location – may in fact encourage the establishment of non-extractive institutions when rent extraction by elites depends on the productivity of non-elites. Specifically, we find that entrepôt colonies (Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements) received larger public investments in the post-Suez period than resource colonies (British India, Ceylon, and West Africa), after accounting for year effects and permanent differences across colonies. We demonstrate, using supplementary data, that the entrepôt colonies' locational advantage, coupled with their lack of extractable resources, plays a key role in explaining our empirical findings.     

Independent directors and earnings management: The moderating effects of controlling shareholders and the divergence of cash-flow and control rights

The research results on the suppressing effect of independent directors on earnings management are not consistent in existing literature. In addition, it has been argued that using financial statements provided by top management to investigate top management's earnings management is not appropriate. Therefore, the purpose of this study is twofold. First, we used external auditors (including the auditors of Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation and the auditors of two Big Four accounting firms – Deloitte & Touche and KPMG in Taiwan) as respondents in order to obtain less biased data. Second, we investigate the moderating effects of controlling shareholders and the divergence of cash-flow and control rights on the relationship between independent directors and earnings management. The results show that both the existence of controlling shareholders and the divergence of cash-flow and control rights have significant suppressing effects on the relationship between independent directors and earnings management. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.     

Do environmental regulations hamper small enterprises' market entry? Evidence from China

Due to the serious increase of environmental pollution in China, environmental regulations have become significantly stringent. Such regulations are playing an increasingly important role in the development of small enterprises (SEs) in China, especially in SEs' market entry. However, existing studies pay little attention to this issue. This paper investigates for the first time the effect of environmental regulations on SEs' market entry and the mechanism of environmental regulation effects in China. We consider two sets of panel data for the periods 2003–2010 and 2012–2015 in China. We also use the fixed effect model and the instrumental variable method to explore the role of environmental regulations in SEs' market entry. The results show that, overall, environmental regulations play a significantly positive and robust role in SEs' market entry. However, the mechanisms associated with the effect of environmental regulations on different innovative types of SEs differ. Environmental regulations promote the market entry of SEs with product innovation, but this impact is not significant for SEs with research and development (R&D) activities and R&D institutions. Our findings indicate that China's SEs prefer product innovation, which is a lower level innovative type, over R&D innovation, as a means to avoid the negative impact of stringent environmental regulations.     

中国化妆品行业——国内化妆品品牌的优点和缺点(英文)

Chinese cosmetics market gives birth since 1980s as a newly developing industry,which is the typical representative industry of the china's socialist market economy after opening policy reform.With the opening of our domestic market,the foreign brand cosmetics enter into the Chinese market as soon as possible,which accelerate the development of Chinese cosmetics industry.How to survive in this fierce competition becomes a hot topic for our domestic cosmetic companies.In this thesis,the author tries to introduce the history and development of Chinese domestic industry;analysis the advantage and disadvantage of this market;and discuss the developing method for the Chinese cosmetic market.     

推行精细化管理 提高内部审计效能

全面推行工程项目精细化管理,对于建筑施工企业的发展具有重大的意义,随着精细化管理逐步展开,对内部审计工作也提出了更为严格的要求。     

深厚层无碾压土石围堰防渗施工技术的研究与应用

作者讲述本人在四川嘉陵江上石盘电航综合枢纽工程施工中,对水下深厚层无碾压土石围堰防渗体系施工技术的研究与成功应用,为类似土石围堰工程防渗施工提供借鉴和成功经验。     

城市景区大跨负埋深隧道半盖半挖施工应用

本文根据城市景区大跨负埋深隧道施工特点,介绍了处于山高林密间飞地的负埋深露头段隧道,利用已开挖隧道做通道强行出洞、做初期支护保护壳、边盖边挖、二次进洞开挖、预留投料孔施工护拱的绿色环保施工方法,创造性的解决了地处景区、林区露头隧道施工的难题,取得了较好的经济、社会效益,加快了施工进度。     

铁离子、亚铁离子变化对工业锅炉酸洗的影响

介绍工业锅炉酸洗中铁离子的来源,并以实例说明酸洗中应强化对铁离子、亚铁离子(Fe3+、Fe2+)的化学监测,使锅炉酸洗安全进行,及终点的判断。     

热泵技术应用与电力市场开拓

文章从热泵技术原理、分类以及山西地区热泵应用自然条件和现状出发,选取应用案例对热泵和城市集中供暖的经济性进行比较,说明其在节能减排、经济性方面的优势,指出供电公司在热泵推广应用中可做的工作。