Estimating spatial differences in the Brazilian cost of living with household location choices

This paper uses a model of optimal household residential decisions to construct a comprehensive “true” spatial cost of living index with readily available Brazilian census data. We find evidence of a decreasing or U-shaped relationship (differing with education level and region) between the cost of living and urbanization, suggesting that both market disintegration and congestion play roles in raising costs. Controlling for spatial differences in the cost of living is shown to have important consequences for the determinants of poverty and (contrary to many previous results) to increase income inequality.     

An equilibrium analysis of information aggregation and fluctuations in markets with discrete decisions

This paper shows how the interaction between decentralized information gathering and discreteness of investment decisions at the individual level can generate random fluctuations in aggregate investment that involve occasionally large allocation errors. This interaction is illustrated in a model in which private information is costly to acquire and prices reveal information. The unique rational expectations equilibrium outcome of the model is shown to always be noisy and characterized by investment levels which may be high simply because uninformed investors are buying under the impression that the high price is a signal of good investment opportunities.     

高校智力资本运作效率的数据包络分析

文章在综合分析高校智力资本的基本概念和主要内容的基础上，提出了用数据包络分析方法评价高校智力资本运作效率的基本思路与方法，并以8所高校在同一学科中的智力资本运作情况为算例，对数据包络分析的算法和所使用的计算工具作了说明。     

Child labor,urban proximity,and household composition

Using detailed survey data from Nepal, this paper examines the determinants of child labor with a special emphasis on urban proximity. We find that children residing in or near urban centers attend school more and work less in total but are more likely to be involved in wage work or in a small business. The larger the urban center, the stronger the effect is. Urban proximity is found to reduce the workload of children and improve school attendance up to 3 h of travel time from the city. In areas of commercialized agriculture located 3 to 7 h from the city, children do more farm work. Urban proximity effects are accounted for by a combination of local labor supply and demand conditions, most notably the local importance of agriculture, the education level of the parents, and the local wage rate. Child servants, which represent a small proportion of all children, work much harder than other children and appear particularly at risk.     

Delays and equilibria with large and small information in social learning

The general model of social learning with irreversible investment and endogenous timing is analyzed for any distribution of private informations. Strategic complementarities and multiple equilibria appear which are generated solely by information externalities. Different equilibria generate strikingly different amounts of information. The impacts of various assumptions (bounded beliefs, large number of agents, discrete time and short periods) are examined carefully. The properties are robust to the introduction of observation noise with a continuum of agents.     

Public choice interpretations of distributional preference

This essay examines, from the perspective of both economics and ethics, the logical foundations of income transfers in a democratic society that allocates resources, in the large, through free markets. Such transfers, enacted through the public choice process, modify the market-determined distribution of income, as a reflection of the distributional preferences of the members of a society. Both constitutional and post-constitutional explanations of redistributions are considered. A discussion of recent experimental evidence of distributional preferences leads into a critique of simple equality, built on Michael Walzer's distinction between monopoly and dominance, as a criterion of distributive justice.     

Testing separability of public consumption in household decisions

In this paper we propose a sequential strategy, based on the microeconomic approach of the demand theory, in order to test for separability between private and public consumption. The aim of the present work is to verify, using a conditional almost ideal demand system, whether the different components of public consumption exert conditioning effects on the allocative structure of private spending. The empirical estimation of the model and the separability tests are developed for both a demand system in five functional categories of private spending, and for a demand system in six categories, where the private expenditures on those goods and services which can also be offered by the public sector are enclosed in a single functional category. The results of the separability tests, obtained using UK data for the 1974–2000 period, show that public individual consumption plays an important role in modifying consumer choices, while public collective consumption does not affect private consumption behaviours. The relationships between the different components of private spending and public individual consumption are both of substitutability and complementarity; in particular, we find that public individual consumption and the corresponding private expenditures on ‘Health, education, recreation and social protection’ are complements.     

岷江上游退耕还林的思考

岷江上游不仅是长江上游生态屏障障的重要组成部分，更是成都平原的重要生态屏障和水源生命线，该区拥有丰富的水、生物、旅游等可再生资源，但在退耕还林（草）生态建设中表现出退耕面积扩大化、国家补贴政策一刀切、经济林比重过大等问题。文章指出，应在克服上述问题基础上，通过调整农村产业内部结构、加大坡耕地改造、发展旅游业、水电业以及加强变通、通讯设施建设是实现经济可持续发展的最佳选择。     

中介性、公共性、外部性与注册会计师行业的监管模式

本文从对注册会计师行业中介性、公共性、外部性的科学分析入手,根据斯蒂芬·P.罗宾斯的组织与环境理论,构建了对注册会计师行业的自律监管模式、政府监管模式和独立监管模式,并对其进行分析与评价,进而提出应根据本国的现实情况,选择合适的注册会计师行业监管模式.     

我国的M1/M2(1978-2002):长期趋势、水平与周期波动

本对我国1978—2002年的M1／M2的长期趋势、水平和周期波动进行了研究，结果表明1978—1995年，中国的M1／M2呈急剧下降的态势，但是从1996至今则基本保持平稳。另外从国别比较来看，我国属于M1／M2比较高的国家(地区)之一，这表明我国的居民和企业由于支付制度、取款成本、规避税收等原因比美、日等国家的经济主体对M1的需求高很多。除开长期走势之外，中国的M1／M2还伴随着经济活动呈周期性的波动，实证分析结果表明1996年前的经济增长率是M1／M2周期波动的Granger原因，但1996年以后则必须由名义利率、通货膨胀率和股票市场交易量的变动才能说明M1／M2的波动。