Heterogeneous returns to chemical fertilizer at the intensive margins: Insights from Nepal

Increased fertilizer use is considered important for agricultural development in low-income countries. Promoting increased use of chemical fertilizer by lowering its price may be ineffective if demand is price inelastic. In theory, the price elasticity of demand depends on the returns to its use, but the evidence is scarce. Furthermore, while returns are often estimated for small changes in chemical fertilizer use, returns to larger changes in its use (intensive margins) are less understood. Through the inter-zonal comparisons in Nepal, we provide indicative evidence that greater returns to chemical fertilizer are associated with greater price elasticities of demand. Moreover, the evidence suggests that returns at the intensive margins, rather than returns to small changes, may largely account for inter-zonal differences in returns to chemical fertilizer within Nepal. The results suggest that better understanding the returns at the intensive margins is critical for effective agricultural inputs policies in developing countries.     

Economic consequences of war: Evidence from Sri Lanka

We propose a theoretical and econometric framework to evaluate the impact of war on economic growth of a developing country with an open economy. The theoretical framework encompasses both the neoclassical and endogenous growth models. We test this framework using Sri Lankan data. The war had significant and negative effects both in the short and long-run (annual average of 9% of GDP). High returns from investment in physical capital did not translate in sizable positive externalities. Only short-run significant effects of openness on growth are found. Inconsistent politically driven policies towards openness are the likely reason.     

How do mentoring rewards influence experienced auditors?

The benefits of mentoring are well documented, and include lower employee turnover, heightened employee success, and higher employee satisfaction. In an effort to acquire these benefits, audit firms are structuring rewards for mentoring. However, we predict that rewarding mentors can prove problematic, leaving needy young auditors without a mentor or perhaps receiving advice that might prove detrimental. We test our expectations in an experiment with 111 Big 4 auditor participants. As expected, we find that in the presence of mentoring rewards, experienced auditors are less willing to mentor the young auditors who likely would benefit the most. We also find that in the presence of mentoring rewards, experienced auditors are more likely to provide advice that might be counterproductive. Yet interestingly, in our study, when rewards are absent, experienced auditors are more willing to mentor and more likely to provide beneficial advice. Our results inform the audit mentoring literature though our focus on mentor behavior, as opposed to protégé behavior. Our results also have implications for audit firms as they consider the structure of mentoring rewards, training on mentoring advice, and the effects of this advice.     

Ethnic patterns of returns to education in Bulgaria

It is widely accepted that disparities in education contribute to the poor labour market outcomes experienced by ethnic minority groups and consequently to their poverty. In this article, I analyse differential educational benefits in Bulgaria and compare returns to education for the Roma minority with the majority population and the Turkish minority. I show that both ethnic minority groups have lower education levels and employment rates than the majority population and that they also have lower returns to education. This result could be related to minorities' lower education quality as well as to discrimination in the labour market. Integration policies should thus aim to improve employability and labour market competence of vulnerable groups starting from school.     

Belief consistency and trade consistency

Interpersonal consistency can be described in epistemic terms as a property of beliefs, or in economic terms as the impossibility of certain trades. The existence of a common prior from which all agentsʼ beliefs are derived is of the first kind. The non-existence of an agreeable bet, that is, a contingent zero-sum trade which is always favorable to all agents, is of the second kind. It is well established that these two notions of consistency are equivalent for finite type spaces but not for countable ones. We present three equivalences of epistemic consistency and economic consistency conditions for countable type spaces, defining in this way three levels of consistency of type spaces: weak consistency, consistency, and strong consistency. These three levels coincide in the finite case. We fully analyze the level of consistency of type spaces based on the knowledge structure of Rubinsteinʼs email game. The new notion of belief consistency introduced here helps to justify the requirement of boundedness of payoff functions in countable type spaces by showing that in a large class of spaces there exists an agreeable unbounded bet even when a common prior exists.     

移民积分制的全球实践及其启示

移民积分制是一种挑选移民主要是高技能人才的重要政策工具,在一些具有移民传统的发达国家和地区广泛使用,并受到越来越多的国家关注。目前,实施移民积分制的国家,一类为实施积分制,另一类为实施类积分制,这两类的典型国家分别为加拿大和德国。通过概述加拿大积分制和德国类积分制的实践,深入分析了移民积分制的实施前提、主要特征,剖析了实施移民积分制的优点和不足,继而对实施和调整移民积分制的整体框架进行了反思与归纳。我国当前仍处在经济社会快速发展的阶段,迫切需要各类科技人才,必须加快移民积分制的实施,但在实施过程中,应该注意对实施对象的范围做出严格限定,所制定的积分制要有利于满足高层次科技创新创业人才以多种方式来中国发展的需求,并可采取国家、省级两级积分体系。     

加强政府回应渠道的建设与完善促进服务型政府建设

服务型政府作为公共管理研究的一个重点领域,其定义和评判标准学术界目前并没有完全统一,但对于服务型政府的根本目标和内容的认识是基本一致的。从政府的服务角度看,对政府服务效果评价的主体应该是接受政府服务的广大群众,而群众的评价又与政府面对公众诉求时回应的态度、效率及采用的方法和取得的结果有直接关系。所以提高政府的回应质量直接关系到群众对政府的满意度,本文将从加强政府回应渠道的建设与完善角度出发,探讨服务型政府建设问题。     

Low-fare flights across the Atlantic: Impact of low-cost,long-haul trans-Atlantic flights on passenger choice of Carrier

The purpose of this paper is to gain insights into low-cost, long-haul (LCLH) and full-service carrier (FSC) passenger preferences in the trans-Atlantic market. A total of 1412 economy and premium economy passengers were surveyed at Los Angeles and Seattle-Tacoma International Airports. The underlying factors comprised of passenger travel attributes were: Operations, Comfort, Onboarding, Service, and Flight Schedule, along with a variable, Airfare. Satisfaction with Airfare (#1 priority) and Comfort (#2 priority) impacted choice of LCLH carrier, whereas satisfaction with Service (#3 priority) and Flight Schedule (#4 priority) impacted choice of FSC. Both carrier types have a place in the trans-Atlantic market, although passenger loyalty was stronger for an all-inclusive FSC offering (76%) than a no frills LCLH offering (55%).     

Quantitative easing and the loan to collateral value ratio

We study optimal monetary policy in a New Keynesian model at the zero bound interest rate where households use cash alongside house equity borrowing to conduct transactions. The amount of borrowing is limited by a collateral constraint. When either the loan to value ratio declines or house prices fall, we observe a decrease in the money multiplier. We argue that the central bank should respond to the fall in the money multiplier and therefore to the reduction in house prices or the loan to collateral value ratio. We also find that optimal monetary policy generates a large and persistent fall in the money multiplier in response to the drop in the loan to collateral value ratio.