Conflict and well-being of civilians: The case of the Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war

This paper investigates the contemporaneous effect of conflict on civilians living outside of the conflict zone. Applying a multi-dimensional concept of well-being, it uses two large household surveys over 2012–2016 to analyze how the Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war affected the financial well-being and health of people in both countries. We find that the conflict significantly worsened financial well-being in both countries. The impact mostly operates by worsening expectations about financial well-being and is inversely related to the distance from the conflict zone. Our analysis indicates an increase in chronic diseases in Ukraine over a longer period. Mental health is negatively impacted in both countries at the earlier stages of the conflict. However, in Russia this effect is significant only in the region bordering the conflict zone, while in Ukraine it is significant in regions farther away from the conflict zone.     

Towards understanding and resolving the conflict related to the Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca) conservation with participatory management planning

Conflicts often arise in relation to the conservation of protected predator species. If stakeholders are well defined and involved in participatory processes, their views and perceptions can be incorporated and steps can be made towards resolving such conflicts. In this paper, a case from Hungary is presented. In this case, a participatory management planning process was initiated in the Jászság Special Protection Area of European importance (SPA), within the frame of a LIFE+ project focusing on the conservation of the Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca). It provided a good opportunity to address a complex conflict situation between nature conservationists, game managers and farmers. We identified structural conflicts such as contradictions between direct agricultural payments and nature conservation goals, conflicts related to different views of the main influencing factors, relational problems between various stakeholders, and even differences in value orientation. The participatory management planning process was successful in clarifying the conflict situation and making productive steps toward a common understanding and resolution. Besides the mutually agreed conservation measures, the establishment of an administrative and financial incentive such as the high nature value area (HNVA) scheme proved to be an especially important factor for mitigating the conflict. It also contributed to a more successful realisation of nature conservation objectives in an area dominated by private land owners. However, continued interaction and cooperation are needed to stabilise this progress. Our paper also shows that stakeholder involvement in conservation management planning can transcend the strategic dimension of participation, and address broader common values besides the interests of land user groups.     

Variability of User-Based Evaluative Standards for Backcountry Encounters

Backcountry visitors are often surveyed regarding their personal evaluative standards (or norms) for acceptable levels of encounters with other groups. In this study, backpackers at Grand Canyon National Park were asked about the acceptability of encounters at several times: at home prior to their trip, once each day during their trip, and at-home after their trip. Thus it was possible to assess spatial and temporal variability within individuals, as well as variation among individuals, in both the ability to provide a personal evaluative standard about number of encounters and the standard provided. Results suggest that backcountry visitors differentiate between zones in the Grand Canyon backcountry managed to provide diverse settings, including visitor density. However, there was substantial variation in the standards provided both among individuals and over time within individuals.     

Recruiting outside board members in the small family business: an ideological challenge

The focus of this paper is to explore how contrasting ideologies influence the selection process of outside directors in the small family business. Small family businesses donot just represent smallscale economic activity but they are the outcome of entrepreneurial ambition and family involvement. This means that willpower and emotional commitment blend with calculative considerations. As emotional as well as cognitive constructs the family, management and entrepreneurship each represent an ideology: paternalism, managerialism and entrepreneurialism. The proposed ideological framework is positioned against alternative approaches to the study of board selection processes. Two sets of data are presented. A piloting survey of 12 family businesses is used to substantiate the theoretical assumption that entrepreneurial firms avoid having outside directors and managerial firms welcome outside directors, leaving paternalistically-run family businesses ambivalent. Repeated in-depth interviews in two family businesses, one founder-managed and entrepreneurial, the other established and traditional, reveal how the professionalization of the board enforces managerialism, challenging thus far dominating ideologies, entrepreneurialism and paternalism. The outcome of this ideological contest, if properly orchestrated, is an energized and more competitive family business.     

利率市场化、存款保险制度与银行风险承担——基于市场约束的研究

市场约束作为巴塞尔协议Ⅱ三大支柱之一以及衡量金融深化的重要标准，是近年来相关研究的热点之一。而利率市场化等又是提高银行市场约束程度的实质性推动力量。基于此，文章分析了利率市场化进程、存款保险制度与市场约束之间的关系及其对银行风险承担的影响，并藉此评估了存款保险制度实施的政策影响及利率市场化在其中所起的作用。结果发现：（1）我国银行整体的市场约束能显著抑制其风险承担，但分类的结果则表明地方性银行的市场约束效应最明显，大型银行次之，外资银行则不显著；进而，在考虑利率市场化因素之后，除外资银行以外的市场约束效应均有所增强，尤其是，利率市场化对价格约束效应的作用要远强于其对数量约束效应的影响。（2）基于合成控制法的估计结果表明，存款保险制度通过市场约束对地方银行的影响更明显，且存款保险制度通过价格约束对银行风险承担的影响较之其通过数量约束的作用效果要更强。（3）综合而言，存款保险制度会增加利率市场化通过市场约束作用于银行风险承担的正向影响。文章的研究结果显示利率市场化推进以及存款保险制度实施的影响开始趋于明显，并使市场约束机制作用的发挥逐渐与国外相符，但仍然有进一步深化的空间。     

Improving service quality in public transportation systems using automated customer feedback

In this paper the necessity for standardised automated information exchange between travellers and transportation company is evaluated to improve the service quality of public transport. Therefore the needs and expectations of transportation companies and travellers are defined and the usage of a novel approach for bidirectional information and communication systems in public transport is proposed. As a result, application scenarios for the usage of customer information are described and the advantages of this novel approach, especially for dispatching processes, are highlighted. Furthermore, the benefits for customers and transportation companies in regard to service quality are pointed out.     

论金融稳定监管委员会的性质及启示

2007年1月，自汇丰控股增加在美次级房贷准备金，至2008年9月美国政府开始出台救市方案，美国次贷危机的影响从次级房贷蔓延至整个联邦实体经济，失业率高居不下、经济衰退等现象至今阴霾。金融稳定监管委员会（FSOC）在《多德一弗兰克法案》的之上建立，本文目的探析其建立背后存在的纵横因素，并由此认为维护金融市场稳定不仅应考虑监管机制的统一全面，还应当注重监管者的独立性。     

On the escalation and de-escalation of conflict

We introduce three extensions of the Hirshleifer–Skaperdas conflict game to study experimentally the effects of post-conflict behavior and repeated interaction on the allocation of effort between production and appropriation. Without repeated interaction, destruction of resources by defeated players can lead to lower appropriative efforts and higher overall efficiency. With repeated interaction, appropriative efforts are considerably reduced because some groups manage to avoid fighting altogether, often after substantial initial conflict. To attain peace, players must first engage in costly signaling by making themselves vulnerable and by forgoing the possibility to appropriate the resources of defeated opponents.     

Smith,Marshall and Young on division of labour and economic growth

The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the theory of division of labour and economic growth proposed by Adam Smith and developed by Alfred Marshall and Allyn Young. In their approach division of labour is the main engine of growth and plays a central role in capital accumulation and technological progress. We suggest that, according to their theory: 1) economic growth is endogenous; 2) it has the nature of a cumulative, path-dependent process; and 3) it can be described as a disequilibrium process, supported by competitive forces. We argue that these aspects make the contributions of Smith, Marshall and Young still insightful for the development of growth theory, even in the light of the modern approach of endogenous growth theory.     

How effective is monetary transmission in low-income countries? A survey of the empirical evidence

This paper surveys the evidence on the effectiveness of monetary transmission in low-income countries. It is hard to come away from this review with much confidence in the strength of monetary transmission in such countries. We distinguish between the “facts on the ground” and “methodological deficiencies” interpretations of the absence of evidence for strong monetary transmission. We suspect that “facts on the ground” are an important part of the story. If this conjecture is correct, the stabilization challenge in developing countries is acute indeed, and identifying the means of enhancing the effectiveness of monetary policy in such countries is an important challenge.