Monopoly versus Competition in Setting Accounting Standards

Financial accounting standards are set by organizations granted a significant degree of monopoly power by various governments. While there has been considerable debate on the merits of national (e.g., US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)) versus international (International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)) monopolies, little attention has been paid to the merits of using competing standard‐setting organizations (SSOs) for setting accounting standards. We compare the standard‐setting processes of the FASB/IASB to the processes of four technology‐oriented SSOs to assess the role of competition. We also provide a case study of monopoly and competitive standards in telephony. Both telephony and accounting yield some gains from coordination, and similar arguments are used (under the labels of comparability and consistency of accounting) in debates about granting a monopoly to their respective SSOs. Our results show that a group of volunteers competing with the government‐sanctioned monopoly of International Telecommunications Union transformed the telephone industry. Thanks to this standards competition, we enjoy free video internet calling and massive cost savings. Implications for accounting standard setting are discussed.     

环境资源配置中的市场失灵

本文分析了在环境经济领域市场失灵的原因是由环境问题的外部性、环境质量的公共物品性和环境资源产权不清而引起的由此提出了纠正市场失灵的对策；主要靠征税、企业合并、科斯交易、产权界定和政府干预等措施。     

NETWORK EXTERNALITIES AND COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE

In this article, I examine how the network externalities of communications activities and trading opportunities interact to determine the structure of comparative advantage. These interactions are examined by constructing a two‐country, three‐sector model of trade involving a country‐specific communications network sector. The role of the connectivity of network providers, which allows users of a network to communicate with users of another network, is also explored.     

Romancing the alpaca: Passionate consumption, collection, and companionship

With their inquisitive nature, apparent intelligence, and aesthetic appeal, alpacas draw humans to them. This article spotlights alpaca breeders in an exploration of collecting as passionate consumption [BelkRussell, W. Collecting in a Consumer Society. London: Routledge, 1995.] and consumers' relationships with their animal companions [Hirschman Elizabeth. Consumers and their animal companions. Journal of Consumer Research 1994; 20 (March): 616-32.; Holbrook MB. Stephens DL. Day E. Holbrook SM. Strazar G. A collective stereographic photo essay on key aspects of animal companionship: The truth about dogs and cats. Academy of Marketing Science Review 2001; (1) 1-16.]. Multiple data sources provide stories of alpaca ownership. These sources comprise books, newspaper clips, and magazine articles about alpacas, as well as the author's own experiences as an alpaca breeder over the past 10 years. Building from Belk's work on collection, this article both introduces the idea of dynamic-and-transforming collections and illustrates how passionate consumption can lead to rejuvenation and re-enchantment with life. By concentrating on consumption experiences, this work adds to the growing body of consumer research that moves beyond a narrow focus on purchase behavior.     

住宅消费外部性及其治理研究

住宅消费的满足程度不仅取决于自身的居住空间,还受到邻居行为、社区公共环境等影响.分析了住宅消费外部性产生的原因和影响,提出了治理住宅消费外部性的相关对策.     

Shared Tax Sources and Public Expenditures

This paper deals with a specific vertical assignment of public functions in a federation: Two levels of government share both the same tax source and expenditure on a productivity increasing public service. We consider surplus maximizing Leviathan governments which provide public services in order to increase their potential tax base. The Nash equilibrium is characterized by overtaxation and relative to surplus maximization—depending on whether or not the public goods are sufficiently complementary with the entire tax base—either underprovision or overprovision of the public service. The implications of these results, in terms of welfare and potential use for earmarking taxes are also considered.     

关于农村消费的现状及政策建议

文章对我国农村消费变化现状和趋势进行了深层次研究和分析，做出了新的概括和判断。从诸多方面研究了农村的消费能力、消费条件、消费环境、消费信心和消费习俗，深入分析了农村居民的消费水平、消费结构和消费行为，指出了制约农村扩大消费的七个因素。在此基础上，提出了扩大农村消费的总体思路和政策建议。     

Naturally designed for masculinity vs. femininity? Prenatal testosterone predicts male consumers' choices of gender-imaged products

In this paper, we find that a proxy of prenatal testosterone exposure (i.e., digit ratio) is a significant predictor of preferences for products that differ in perceived masculinity vs. femininity. A more masculine (feminine) digit ratio predicts choice of products that have an increasingly masculine (feminine) image. This relationship is statistically significant for male consumers, but not for females.     

Impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on single-person households in South Korea

Using nationally representative income and expenditure data from South Korea, we show that single-person households suffered a much greater decrease in household income and expenditure compared to multi-persons households during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Negative effects on income were largest for the single-person households in ages 50—64, mostly driven by decreases in earned income rather than business income. There was no corresponding decrease in consumption expenditures, however, other than on transportation expenditure for young men. Notably, there were significant decreases in non-consumption expenditures that are related to formal and informal consumption-smoothing mechanisms, such as spending on insurances, pensions, and household transfers. Our findings highlight the disproportionately negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the middle-aged single-person households. With reduced spending on consumption-smoothing mechanisms, this group is likely to be even more vulnerable to negative income shocks in the future.     

居民住房租赁核算及对消费率的影响——国际比较与中国的实证研究

城市化将使居民住房租赁消费成为居民收入与支出的重要组成部分.依据美国和其它发达国家的一般经验,本文分析深圳的居民住宅租赁调查案例,进而对京沪穗深进行对比研究,在此基础上测算了全国城镇居民住房租赁消费规模及时国民经济和居民消费率的影响.本文的主要结论是,居民住房租赁消费已经成为我国大城市的重要经济活动,并对居民消费率产生了显著影响.从全国范围看,随着我国城市化进程的推进,居民住房租赁是影响我国居民消费率的一个越来越重要的因素.