Real effects of financial reporting and disclosure on innovation

This paper reviews the literature on the real effects of financial reporting and disclosure on corporate innovation, highlighting both the possible channels of influence and the potential challenges that researchers face when attributing causal effects. We discuss the concept of innovation, emphasising the specific characteristics that make investments in innovation difficult to report. We then provide a review of the nascent work relating disclosure to innovation, which we organise around three channels: financing, compensation and learning. Finally, we discuss recent efforts aimed at increasing the quality of corporate disclosures, including disclosures of firms’ innovative activities. Throughout the paper, we highlight the trade-offs of disclosure (reduced information asymmetry and increased proprietary costs), which are particularly exacerbated in the context of corporate innovation.     

Can China reduce the carbon emissions of its manufacturing exports by moving up the global value chain?

This study analyses whether embedding in the global value chain has an impact on the carbon emissions of China’s exports. We develop a carbon decomposition model and use panel data for 14 manufacturing industries in China from 1995 to 2009 to empirically analyse the impact of China’s exports on carbon emissions. Our results show that the GVC effect on China’s carbon emissions embodied in manufacturing exports outweighs the scale, composition and technique effects.     

资源税的价格效应分析

2011年11月1日实施的资源税改革将原油和天然气由原来的从量计征改为从价计征,税率均为销售额的5％-10％,其他的资源税税日依旧是从量计征。这次的资源税改革使社会上普遍关注资源税税改后导致的资源性产品价格上涨．进而对居民消费价格指数CPI产生很大压力。文章采用实证分析方法分析资源税是否会严重影响CPI,研究结果表明资源税对CPI影响不大。     

财政支农的市场一体化效应及其政策

以增加农民收入从而支撑具有产业、区域特征的市场一体化为视角,对财政政策不同的支农方式和支农工具所产生的不同的农业市场一体化效应进行了分析,认为直接收入补贴明显好于价格支持;间接支农优于直接支农;而且不同的支农项目对市场一体化的促进作用差异显著。为此,提出了逐步减少价格支持,增加直接收入补贴,增加财政间接支农力度,引导农业生产要素多渠道利用,促进农业系统内外部合作,重视三农无形资产,建立适当监督机制等政策建议。     

瓶装水的正负效应及对策研究

从瓶装水的正负效应两方面来分析其瓶装水的市场发展。同时建议我国政府应参照国外先进技术和环保措施．对我国的瓶装水市场的发展予以合理引导和调控,加快资源节约型、环境友好型社会的建设。     

进口大豆低温保质保水储藏技术探讨

本文重点探讨了进口大豆不同保管方式对大豆质量的影响,在降温通风中如何降低水分减量,探索控温储藏的方法以取得较好的经济效益和社会效益。     

The house price determination process: Rational expectations with a spatial context

Applying the rational expectations hypothesis, this essay models the current value of a house as the conditional expectation of the discounted stream of housing services accruing to the owner of the house. The value of housing services is determined by neighborhood effects as well as the physical attributes of the property itself. In the existing hedonic literature, future transactions have not been utilized to describe neighborhood effects. The rational expectations asset pricing model in this study accounts for expected future neighborhood effects as well as observed current neighborhood effects. The reduced form of the rational expectations model is a spatial autoregressive (SAR) model with two spatial lags. After employing the generalized method of moments (GMM) in estimating the spatial asset pricing model, I find that both expected future transactions and prior transactions in the neighborhood are significant. The inclusion of expected future transaction prices in the neighborhood takes into account the influence of expected changes in the community and factors these potential changes into the current house price. This is consistent with forward-looking households. The forward-looking model generates superior out-of-sample prediction performance relative to both the conventional hedonic model without considering neighborhood effects or the standard spatial hedonic model including only past transactions.     

Price competition in a differentiated products duopoly under network effects

We examine price competition under product-specific network effects, in a duopoly where the products are differentiated both horizontally and vertically. We emphasize the role of consumers’ expectations formation. When expectations are not influenced by prices, the market may be shared but shares must be equal unless product qualities differ or one firm, possibly even the low-quality one, may capture the entire market. When expectations are influenced by prices, which would be the case when there is commitment, competition becomes more intense and the high-quality firm tends to capture a larger market share. Under strong network effects there is a continuum of equilibria and the higher the prices, the smaller the difference between those prices can be. Requiring continuity of expectations, however, delivers a unique equilibrium where one firm captures the entire market.     

ICT growth effects at the industry level: A comparison between the US and the EU

This is an empirical study on the growth impact of Information and Communication Technologies using industry-level data for the US and the EU industries over the period 1980-2000. A panel data approach is employed to estimate the ICT effect using the system GMM and the pooled mean group panel data estimators. The results vary depending on the period, the region, and the type of industry considered. The GMM estimates suggest a significant ICT effect on growth during the 90s both in the US and in the EU. This effect for the EU was strong in the early 90s and weakened afterwards, as opposed to the US where it strengthened in the late 90s. The results of the pooled mean group estimator confirm that the long run growth contribution of ICT was significantly positive in the industries of both regions and over the entire period 1980-2000. However, it seems that the productivity effects of ICT are mainly present in the industries which are either ICT producers or heavy ICT users.     

Does sport make you happy? An analysis of the well‐being derived from sports participation

This paper examines the impact of sports participation upon the subjective well‐being of individuals. Encouraging participation in sports activity is now an important public policy issue, as it is argued that there are benefits in terms of health and well‐being to individuals as well as to society through externalities. Controlling for personal and socio‐demographic characteristics affecting well‐being, this paper examines if participation in, and the frequency and duration of, 67 sports activities affects well‐being. The form in which sports participation takes place is also investigated by examining if social‐interaction sports produce more well‐being. This paper demonstrates that sports participation has a positive affect upon the subjective well‐being of the population and, moreover, estimates its monetary value. The effects are larger if one allows for social interactions.