Working-time reduction and employment: experiences in Europe and economic policy recommendations

The paper seeks to evaluate the evidence on the employment effectsof the collective working-time reductions in Europe over thepast 20 years. While theoretical analyses produce contradictoryassessments, most empirical studies show positive employmenteffects but take insufficient account of these conditions underwhich the reductions in working time were implemented. Theseconditions for the success of collective working-time reductionsinclude an active training policy designed to minimise skillshortages in the labour market, the modernisation of work organisation,wage increases in conjunction with productivity gains and amore equal income distribution.     

Accrual accounting and Australian fiscal policy

Australian governments have recently moved from cash accounting to accrual accounting. Accrual accounting has been accompanied at the national government level by the introduction of a new key fiscal policy measure: the ‘fiscal balance’. This paper explains and evaluates this new fiscal measure. It concludes that, given the present fiscal policy of the Australian government, fiscal balance is a superior fiscal policy measure to the ‘cash’ budget balance measure which it replaced. However, from the alternative ‘golden rule’ policy standpoint, fiscal balance is not a meaningful fiscal policy measure — although its stock counterpart, net financial liabilities, certainly is.     

Inferring repeated-game strategies from actions: evidence from trust game experiments

Summary. Combining a strategy model, an inference procedure and a new experimental design, we map sequences of observed actions in repeated games to unobserved strategies that reflect decision-makers’ plans. We demonstrate the method by studying two institutional settings with distinct theoretical predictions. We find that almost all strategies inferred are best responses to one of the inferred strategies of other players, and in one of the settings almost all of the inferred strategies, which include triggers to punish non-cooperators, are consistent with equilibrium strategies. By developing a method to infer unobserved repeated-game strategies from actions, we take a step toward making game theory a more applied tool, bridging a gap between theory and observed behavior.Received: 23 December 2002, Revised: 19 April 2005, JEL Classification Numbers: C72, C80, C90.The authors are indebted for discussions with Ray Battalio, David Cooper, Robin Dubin, John Duffy, Ellen Garbarino, Susan Helper, Margaret Meyer, John Miller, Jim Rebitzer, Mari Rege, Al Roth, and John Van Huyck. The authors also benefited from discussants at economic department seminars at Case Western Reserve, McMaster and McGill University, University of Pittsburgh, SUNY-Stony Brook, and Texas A&M, and participants at the 2002 European Winter Meeting of the Econometric Society. We are grateful for the financial support provided by the Department of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh and Case Western Reserve University.     

中国农村金融组织生存、变迁及发展

由于农业的弱质性及在国民经济发展中的基础地位，农村金融组织在农村经济及整个国民经济稳定发展中发挥着不可或缺的作用。中国农村金融组织也有一个生存、发展的制度变迁过程。本文在研究了合作经济及农村金融组织在农村经济发展中的作用的基础上，重点研究了法国的农村金融体系在法国国民经济中的作用，并进一步探讨了中国农村金融组织的生存条件、制度变迁及发展。     

高校隐性德育资源的开发与建设

隐性德育问题是当前德育问题的重要前沿性课题。随着德育学科的科学发展以及教育的现代化趋势,重视并充分利用隐性德育资源促进高校大学生的全面发展,已经成为当前高校德育(或思想政治教育)改革的一个重要趋势。在高校中,隐性德育是相对显性德育而言的,是高校整体德育的有机组成部分,隐性德育资源对学生的发展起到潜移默化的影响和塑造作用。本文从高校隐性德育资源的内涵、开发与建设的原则和途径等方面进行阐述,意在引起对高校隐性德育资源的重视,合理开发和建设。     

农业院校促进乡镇经济发展的个案研究

在知识就是第一生产力的今天，乡镇经济的发展已不仅是地方政府、乡镇企业的责任，农业院校在履行其育人、科研功能的同时，更应该发挥其服务社会的功能，为乡镇、县域经济的发展起到巨大的带动、推进作用。文章以位于吉林市昌邑区左家镇的吉林农业科技学院为例，分析农业院校在自身发展壮大的同时对所在地方经济的促进作用，将有高等教育辐射的左家镇与没有高等教育辐射的土门岭镇在人均收入、农林牧渔各项产值等方面进行比较，用翔实、准确的数字表明：农业院校是促进乡镇经济快速发展的主力军。     

Violations of Service Fairness and Legal Ramifications: The Case of the Managed Care Industry

Adapted from Chan's (2000) model depicting success of litigation, this paper argues that with the application of various legislation, health maintenance organizations' (HMOs') violations of service fairness to each group: enrollees, physicians, and hospitals give rise to each group's lawsuits against the HMOs. Various authors (Bowen et al., 1999; Seiders and Berry, 1998) indicate that justice concepts such as distributive, procedural, and interactional justice can be applied to the area of service fairness. The violation of these underlying justice principles with HMOs' service unfairness to enrollees, physicians, and hospitals is examined. A general synopsis of the ethical issues in the managed care industry is provided. The various lawsuits launched by each group: enrollees, physicians, and hospitals together with the key statutes used are discussed. This paper also highlights the provisions and ramifications of the 11 April 2000 landmark agreement that Aetna made with Texas Attorney General John Cornyn to settle the 1998 lawsuit brought against the company. Lastly, the current ethical issues in the managed care industry are further discussed. The value of this paper can be adapted to the study of organizations' service fairness violations in other industries or in the educational, governmental, and not-for-profit sectors both nationally and internationally.     

把握新生的特点加强工作的针对性

新生具有自豪感减退、心态失衡、适应环境的能力差、学习上的盲目性等特点.做好新生工作必须具体分析、因材施教,深入了解、勤于疏导,健全制度、规范管理.     

以企业再造思想振兴东北老工业基地

从企业再造理论产生的背景和东北老工业基地的实际情况来看,在振兴东北老工业基地的实践中应贯彻企业再造思想.要以企业再造思想为指导,把整个东北地区看做一个大组织,搞好地区的文化建设;要从企业再造理论的精神实质出发,建立新的完善的市场机制;要坚持企业再造思想所强调的三个核心原则,搞好东北地区的行政改革.     

高职学生心理素质现状分析及培养规划

我国高职院校录取分数线低,生源素质较差,自卑心理普遍,学习动力缺乏,人际交往能力不成熟。不成熟的心理素质严重妨碍了他们三年的学习生活和将来的适应就业。本文试图提出一个心理干预的规划蓝图,通过三层次心理辅导干预,致力于学生人格的重塑和未来职业心理素质的培养。