No more discount under enhanced fair value hierarchy

We use an integrated approach to analyse the reasons behind the discount on the balance-sheet fair value of illiquid financial instruments held by European banks and classified into the Level 3 Fair Value hierarchy under IFRS 7. We believe that the potential sources of misalignment are (1) the lack of disclosure, (2) earnings management, and (3) the lack of liquidity. We show that the discount implicit in market values is linked to the lack of mandatory additional disclosure required by IFRS 7 and that this result supports the strong enforcement activity made by national authorities.     

Mandatory Financial Reporting Processes and Outcomes

In an extension to the mandatory financial reporting literature, we consider compliance and applicability as intermediate stages in the disclosure decision process, and investigate to what extent these measures explain any variance in the quantity of disclosure. We use financial instruments disclosures as our empirical context because of the level of complexity and diversity of the mandatory requirements. We find that neither applicability nor compliance show statistically significant association with disclosure quantity. By contrast we find that a firm's financial instruments management programme is an important determinant of both applicability and quantity. Finally, we demonstrate the economic consequences of applicability, compliance and quantity through their association with audit fees. For companies that use financial instruments management programmes to a greater extent, audit fees are higher. In contrast, the quantity of financial instruments disclosures appears to reduce audit fees.     

Harnessing the political economy of environmental policy: David Pearce’s contribution to OECD

During 34 years, David Pearce made major contribution to OECD work on environmental economic issues, with a particular focus on cost–benefit analysis, economic instruments, biodiversity and distributive issues. This article provides a brief review of David Pearce’s contributions. This work was particularly useful in enhancing the political economy of environmental policy which is at the core of OECD work. The opinions expressed in this paper reflect the author’s perception of this long history of the development of environmental economics at OECD; it does not necessarily reflect the views of the OECD and its member countries. Many thanks to Jonathan Fisher, Nick Johnstone and Michel Potier for their comments on an earlier draft.     

Current Issues in the Economics of Groundwater Resource Management

Abstract.  The issue of groundwater management remains a practical concern in many regions throughout the world, while water managers continue to grapple with the question of how to manage this resource. In this article, we attempt to bring the most advanced and appropriate tools to bear on the issue of resource allocation involving groundwater. Our objective is to demonstrate the state of the art in the literature on ways to think about this complex resource and to deal with the important economic issues emanating from its complexity. We present the conceptual framework within which economists examine the elements interacting in the management of groundwater resources, indicate why the role of the market is limited with respect to the price of this very complex resource, and point to the mechanisms that can pull competitive groundwater price and quality-graded quantity of groundwater in line with their equilibrium levels. In particular, we critically review economic models of groundwater use, examine the potential for groundwater management, discuss the difficulties encountered in the estimation of the relevant control variables of such models, and identify the advantages and limitations of the instruments devised for the efficient use (allocation) of this resource. Finally, we argue that devised regulatory schemes usually ignore the information and knowledge needed for their implementation, and we suggest a core of conditions necessary for successful groundwater management reforms.     

强化素质教育，重视高校书法教学

书法教学是素质教育中的一个重要内容，书法课的教学内容应在毛笔楷书的基础上侧重硬毛书法，课堂精讲多练，因人施教，个另辅导；课余多开展书法展览、比赛等活动。     

对我国票据伪造风险负担规则之检讨

最高人民法院《关于审理票据纠纷案件若干问题的规定》中关于票据伪造风险责任的规定,在对付款人、持票人、被伪造人之间的利益衡平方面,体现了过分保护被伪造人利益的倾向,加重了付款人的责任和义务,负担规则不尽合理,既与我国票据立法相关规定冲突,也不符合过失责任理论和票据法原理,违反了公平原则,降低了票据交易效率,妨碍了票据的快速流通,且不具有现实可行性.     

湿度传感器的简易现场校准方法

在自动气象站的使用中发现,湿度传感器在极端湿度天气的出现后常出现示值不准,必须校准和订正,基层台站往往不具备这样的及时校准能力,影响气象数据的准确性。本人实践中发现：利用氮气、LiCl过饱和溶液和NaCl过饱和溶液可以现场简易校准温湿度传感器。     

"Marking-to-Market" and Treasury-Bill Futures Prices: Some Empirical Evidence

Financial economists have not found empirical evidence of a “marking‐to‐market” effect in Treasury‐bill futures contracts, despite a firm theoretical basis for its existence. Therefore, we speculate that confounding effects, possibly due to liquidity preferences, influence futures‐forward price spreads. By using an empirical specification that allows for both effects, we present empirical evidence that Treasury‐bill futures‐forward price spreads are sensitive to the volatility of the underlying commodity in ways predicted by the theory of the marking‐to‐market effect.     

Revenue Neutral Deposit/Refund Systems

Deposit/refund systems are desirable instruments forenvironmental regulation where monitoring of emissions is difficult. Such systems may gain additional politicalacceptability, however, if implemented so that no net revenues accrue to the government. The revenue neutralityconstraint causes the deposit to drop below the efficient level, and the refund to rise. The extent to which thisconstraint leads to efficiency losses varies with the price elasticity of demand, with compliance costs, with thedegree of correlation between willingness to pay and compliance costs, and with the magnitude of theexternalities.     

基于USB接口的电路检测系统的硬件设计

随着USB(universal serial bus)接口技术的迅速发展,使其已经成为微机的基本配置,将USB技术、虚拟仪器技术、单片机技术以及数据采集技术进行综合运用,开发了一种专门用于电路板检错的USB外设———基于USB接口的电路板检错笔。