Consumer cooperatives as an alternative form of governance: The case of the broadband industry

With a growing number of consumer cooperatives in non-agrarian industries such as energy and broadband, there is a need to better understand their emergence as a viable form of governance. In this context, the paper uses Mikami’s (2010) model on consumer cooperatives to explain their emergence as a result of their ability to generate additional equity financing through the membership market. It focuses on the motivations of consumers to financially contribute to a cooperative by examining the risks and benefits associated with the investment. Based on a survey of 759 consumers, it links their motivations for joining a cooperative to different forms of risks and benefits associated with the investment. It shows that the risks related to cost sharing and switching costs are important determinants for consumers. Other factors that affected the likelihood of joining a cooperative were expected benefits with respect to user network externalities and infrastructure gains.     

我国最低工资政策的就业效应——基于北京市和重庆市建筑业的分析

VAR模型对最低工资就业效应的分析结果显示:北京市的最低工资标准与建筑业就业只是在数理统计上存在关系,并没有实际的经济意义;最低工资对重庆市建筑业的微弱负影响可以忽略不计。最低工资的就业效应并不明显,可以紧密联系行业平均工资来调整最低工资标准,以保障劳动者的基本生活。     

高技术服务业与资源型产业融合对资源型企业两阶段创新效率的影响

基于新技术与新知识的高技术服务业跨界融合是传统企业实现创新资源优化配置、创新研发和商业转化的重要因素。因此，运用熵指数测度全国各省区高技术服务业与资源型产业融合水平，并利用2014—2017年资源型上市公司面板数据检验两大产业融合对资源型企业两阶段创新效率的影响，同时探讨企业吸收能力的调节作用。结果表明：现阶段高技术服务业和资源型产业融合程度不高，但发展态势良好，处于从失调走向协调的转变期；产业融合对资源型企业创新研发效率短期无显著影响，长期存在抑制作用，资源型企业技术能力刚性导致对新技术的排斥，且较大的产业间认知差距削弱了产业间良性互动带来的技术扩散效应；产业融合对创新转化效率呈先抑制、后促进效应，就长期而言，产业融合具有良好的创新转化推动力；资源型企业吸收能力分别在产业融合与滞后一期创新研发效率及滞后三期创新转化效率的关系中起正向、负向调节作用，表明资源型企业吸收能力构建尚不全面。     

Regional development and migration in the Lower Basin of the Zambezi River. The importance of property rights

Globalization is associated with pressures and conflicts over natural resources, with migration, urbanization and development. The analyzes these phenomena focusing the Lower Basin of the Zambezi River in Mozambique where external demand over natural resources have been associated with huge projects on transport infrastructures, coal mining and agroforestry, somehow correlated with recurring conflicts. The approach proposes and uses a regional development model that highlights the impacts of the spatial allocation of property rights on income and migration. Results show the importance of resources ownership in the spatial profile of development and social unrest.     

The Spanish Textile Industry Sans ATC Quota Protection

The Spanish textile and apparel manufacturing sectors have been badly impacted by the global recession as well as the removal of quotas that were in place with the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC). This study employs a cost function to investigate the presence of scale economies and the interrelationships among inputs of domestic capital, labor, and intermediate goods as well as outsourced (imported) intermediate products for the Spanish textile industry in a global environment that has become increasingly competitive. While there is evidence of scale economies at low output levels, there is also some evidence consistent with diseconomies of scale at the highest output levels. All of the inputs appear to be substitutes for one another except for domestic capital and outsourced intermediate goods. An important finding is that the demands for both labor and domestic intermediate goods have become increasingly sensitive to the prices of outsourced inputs. The estimated coefficients of dummy variables indicate that reduced international trade restrictions have put downward pressure on unit cost for the industry in recent years. These results suggest that the Spanish textile industry and its domestic suppliers will be increasingly challenged by international competitive pressures.     

资源配置视角下战略性新兴产业基地建设决策过程研究

采用案例分析法，以国家传感网创新示范区建设的决策过程为研究对象，从资源配置视角重新审视了战略性新兴产业基地建设的决策过程。结果表明，在战略性新兴产业基地建设决策过程中，地方政府充分发挥了主观能动性，与中央政府、科研机构及企业积极互动，获得了建设产业基地的资源。同时，中央政府完成了与产业基地甄选及部署相关的资源配置。     

Mapping changes in land use/land cover and prediction of future extension of bowé in Benin,West Africa

Desertification and land degradation are worldwide problems affecting soil, vegetation and the livelihoods of rural populations. Bowal (plural bowé) is a particular form of degraded land that occurs in tropical regions and leads to the exposure of ferricretes, which are unsuitable for farming. Bowé are more common on farmland and degraded savanna. Changes in land use/land cover were used to map a region of 6.7 million ha in northern Benin, West Africa in 1975, 1990 and 2010. The changes observed during these periods (1975–1990, 1990–2010 and 1975–2010) were used to predict the occurrence of bowé in the period up to 2050 using Markovian chain analysis. The results showed a considerable change in land use/land cover during the three periods. The types of land on which bowé occur (farmland and degraded savanna) increased in northern Benin by 5.4% per year during the period 1975–1990 and 9.5% per year during the periods 1990–2010, while the natural vegetation (forest, woodland and tree savanna) decreased by the same amount. The future scenarios also predicted the same trend. In the period 1975–1990, 1.28 million ha (26%) of natural vegetation was converted to degraded savanna and farmland while 2.23 million ha (53%) of natural vegetation was converted to degraded savanna and farmland in the period 1990–2010. Based on the dynamics recorded during the period 1975–1990 and 1990–2010 respectively, a total of 1.28 million ha (26% of the natural vegetation that was present in 1975) and 1.29 million ha (31% of the natural vegetation that was present in 1990) will be converted to farmland and degraded savanna in the study area by 2050.Thus bowalization will persist and increase in the period up to 2050. The natural vegetation could disappear if protection and restoration measures are not taken. It is thus important to take measures to stop the degradation and to implement programs to restore soils on bowé based on the soil and water conservation techniques used on highly degraded West African soils, such as zaï pit and stone rows with grass strips. Some native plants species adapted to bowalization and resistant to climate change in northern Benin (e.g. Asparagus africanus, Andropogon pseudapricus and Combretum nigricans) should be used in association with soil and water conservation techniques on bowé.     

REGULATION STRATEGIES FOR THE PROVISION OF PATERNALISTIC GOODS

In this study, we analyze the regulation of markets for the provision of services whose costs are subsidized for paternalistic reasons. We model the choice of a benevolent regulator who wants to maximize consumer welfare in a setting where quality cannot be verified and the good provided is fully subsidized. The choice is thus made between two types of providers (profit maximizers and altruistic providers) and two frameworks (monopoly franchise and quality competition). Our analysis shows that in this environment the performance of mixed markets is always dominated by pure forms. Moreover, although making efficient providers compete for the market minimizes cost, the choice of quality competition with altruistic providers may be preferable from a welfare point of view whenever service quality is relevant and the productivity differential is not substantial.     

Herding behavior in the Pakistan stock exchange: Some new insights

This study attempts to examine the presence of herding behavior in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The novel contribution of this paper is that it investigates the herding phenomenon from a large number of facets such as herding of firms towards market, herding of firms towards industry portfolios, herding of industry portfolios towards market, herding in mostly traded stocks and in large and small stocks, and herding in the crisis period. For this purpose, we use the herding behavior model of Christie and Huang (1995) on the daily closing prices data of 609 firms listed on the PSX from January 2004 to December 2013. Results show that individual firms do not herd towards market index, except when the market experiences a negative return of 5%. However, when we sort firms into small and large groups based on median market capitalization, results indicate that large firms show herding behavior in extreme market movements. Further, we find that firms in several industries herd towards their industry portfolios. However, we find weak evidence of industry portfolios herding towards the market. We also segregate the impact of financial crisis of 2008 from normal times. These findings support results of our baseline estimation.