A two-way causal chain between tourism development and quality of life in a small island destination: an empirical analysis

This study postulates that tourism development (TD) and residents' quality of life (QoL) may have an intrinsically reciprocal relationship. The possible connection between TD and QoL is investigated in the island of Aruba, with economic development as a mediating variable. This investigation contributes to the literature by emphasizing the active role of QoL in the relationship with TD through a subjective well-being approach, and by expanding our understanding of the development concept. The study also advances the scope of tourism theory by presenting new propositions. The methodology consists of applying exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses combined with structural equations modeling. The results suggest that TD has a direct and indirect impact on QoL, and that QoL has an indirect effect on TD, via economic development. These findings provide new insights on the dimensions that shape the link between TD and QoL.     

Implicit attitudes toward risk: the construction and validation of the measurement method

Methods that are typically used to examine individual differences in risk attitudes (e.g. lotteries, dilemmas, questionnaires) require participants to explicitly declare their willingness to take risk. Therefore, they may be biased by the need for self-presentation or situational characteristics such as time pressure and cognitive constraints that lead to more spontaneous and automatic processing of risk-related information. The aim of this study was to construct an indirect measure of risk attitudes that is free of these methodological limitations. The method based on the Implicit Association Test shows high internal reliability and satisfactory stability over time. It correlates moderately with different explicit measures of risk attitudes that are related to sensation seeking. Finally, it is characterized by a high predictive power. Adding the implicit measure to the set of independent variables representing declarative evaluations of risk attitudes significantly improved the model predicting risky real-life behavior. We argue that the indirect assessment of risk attitudes presented in this paper may be used as an universal measure of people’s risk propensity that is free of biases related to self-presentation and situational factors.     

Comments on the Institutionalist View of Reaganomics

Gender inequality is caused by numerous factors, among which one may find traditional division of labor, family, religion and many other institutions. The state also influences a position of women in society and economy. Nowadays most western states seem to engage in the promotion of equal status of men and women. The European Union (EU) is known for its policy of gender mainstreaming that has been implemented in member states. The EU, however, promotes a neoliberal approach in the economy that seems to be in contradiction to the promotion of gender equality.

In Poland, tendencies to liberate, privatize and deregulate are warmly welcomed as cures for economic underdevelopment. Gender equality, on the other hand, has been challenged as a relic of the former political system. In this paper, the author attempts to answer the question whether macroeconomic policy promoted by the EU influences the status of women in Poland.     

An Exploration of Older Men's Social Lives and Well-Being in the Context of a Coffee Group

Recreation professionals continually strive to serve a host of diverse program constituents, while leisure researchers attempt to uncover barriers to leisure participation. Much of the barriers or constraints research has come from the perspective of program participants. This study identified, from the perspectives and experiences of 18 recreation professionals, the issues and barriers that they perceive inhibit recreation program access and availability to diverse constituents, particularly ethnic minority populations. Co-cultural theory, which integrates the concepts of muted group theory and standpoint theory, was utilized as the study's theoretical framework. In-depth interviews were utilized. Five primary barriers were identified that related to the changing faces of the community, the changing faces of management and staff, deferred program responsibility, language barriers, and negative attitudes and stereotypes held by some management and staff. This article demonstrates how these barriers impact leisure participation for disenfranchised groups. The findings suggest that recreation agencies, often unwittingly or unknowingly, foster organizational barriers that inhibit the perceived program accessibility or attractiveness to ethnic minorities. Implications for research and professional practice are explored.     

Value Orientations, Income and Displacement Effects, and Voluntary Contributions

Identifying the value orientations of subjects participating in market or non-market decisions by having them participate in a ring game may be helpful in understanding the behaviour of these subjects. This experiment presents the results of changes in the centre and the radius of a value orientations ring in an attempt to discover if the measured value orientations exhibit income or displacement effects. Neither significant income effects nor displacement effects are identified. An external validity check with a voluntary contribution game provides evidence that value orientations from rings centred around the origin of the decision-space explain significant portions of voluntary contributions while value orientations from displaced rings do not.     

评谢韬的两篇文章

谢韬在《炎黄春秋》2007年第二期和第六期上分别发表《民主社会主义模式与中国前途》、《试解马克思重建个人所有制的理论与中国改革》两篇文章,文中的一些观点违背了《中国共产党章程》和《中华人民共和国宪法》,对马克思恩格斯原文的引用也不完整,误解了马克思和恩格斯的原意。     

延迟退休、个人账户调整与城镇职工医疗保险基金可持续运行

文章通过构建精算模型,从城镇职工医疗保险基金可持续运行的角度对不同延迟退休和个人账户调整方案及组合进行模拟评估。研究发现:现行制度下城镇职工医疗保险统筹基金面临支付风险,延迟退休仅能够在短期内缓解城镇职工医疗保险基金的支付压力;仅依靠延迟退休难以在长期内缓解城镇职工医疗保险基金的支付压力,运用“延迟退休+个人账户调整”的模式,即在延迟退休的基础上对个人账户进行调整,更有利于基金的长期稳定运行。在现行退休制度下,建议取消个人账户,将单位缴费和个人缴纳的费用计入统筹账户,城镇职工医疗保险基金的单位缴费率可以下调1%;在延迟退休政策势在必行的情况下,建议在男性和女性不同岁退休的基础上,取消个人账户,实现城镇职工医疗保险单位缴费率降低2%。这样既有利于基金的可持续运行,也可以保证基金的运行效率,更能加强城镇职工医疗保险制度的互助共济性。     

浅析我国个人所得税改革中的问题及对策

个人所得税是对自然人取得的各项应税所得征收的税种,在聚集财政收入、公平收入分配方面发挥着巨大作用.个人所得税关系到每一个自然人的切身利益.对我国个人所得税现状的分析表明,随着我国经济体制改革的不断推进,市场经济的建立和完善,经济发展水平与综合国力的明显提高,现行个人所得税运行机制逐步显露出征收模式不科学,税率设计不合理,起征点不公平,征收管理不严密等一系列缺陷.为进一步改革和完善个人所得税制,更好地发挥个人所得税在组织收入、公平分配与调节经济中的重要作用,应进一步完善个人所得税征收基础制度;建立科学的预扣预缴税款制;推行双向申报制度;拓宽税基,降低税率;重点稽查,加大处罚.