Non-convex Technologies and Cost Functions: Definitions,Duality and Nonparametric Tests of Convexity

This contribution is the first systematic attempt to develop a series of nonparametric, deterministic technologies and cost functions without maintaining convexity. Specifically, we introduce returns to scale assumptions into an existing non-convex technology and, dual to these technologies, define non-convex cost functions that are never lower than their convex counterparts. Both non-convex technologies and cost functions (total, ray-average and marginal) are characterized by closed form expressions. Furthermore, a local duality result is established between a local cost function and the input distance function. Finally, nonparametric goodness-of-fit tests for convexity are developed as a first step towards making it a statistically testable hypothesis. An erratum to this article is available at .     

光环境功能区域划分及管理初探

Light pollution becomes more and more serious, butt he s tudyon this field is far from enough. ln this paper, light enyironment is defined as light-free area, dark area, intermediate sight area, and bright area In addition, it is marked with index walue by index system, which includes average brightness, brightness evenness, glare index, and background brightness.     

产业能力、政府治理能力与区域协调发展

本文从主体功能实现和民生发展改善两个角度界定区域协调发展并构建评价指标体系,运用我国30个省份2012～2018年的面板数据,测算了党的十八大以来我国省际区域协调发展水平。基于测算结果构建空间计量模型,实证检验了地方产业发展能力和地方政府治理能力对区域协调发展的影响。研究结果表明:产业能力和治理能力都是区域协调发展的显著影响因素,产业能力主要作用于区域主体功能实现,而治理能力对民生发展的影响更加明显;但由于地方发展目标与全国主体功能定位并不完全相同,因此地方政府推动的产业发展并未对区域主体功能实现产生积极的间接效应。此外,人力资本积累、城镇化和金融发展都是促进区域协调发展的积极因素,而企业所有制情况并未产生显著影响。因而,应统筹推进区域产业发展,提升政府治理现代化水平,大力发展教育、城镇化和现代金融,推进国企民企双轮驱动。     

政府职能转型与媒介效应述评——以电子政务为例

在由计划经济向市场经济转型过程中,我国政府职能正加速向“服务型”政府转变。适应媒介融合发展的趋势,电子政务在各级政府部门方兴未艾。媒介产业日益融合的今天,电子政务立足于互联网平台,涵盖了微信、微博、各类手机APP等多种媒体形式。完善的电子政务服务有利于提升公众对政府的信任和公共服务的满意度。当前电子政务媒介效应经验评价方法主要有层次分析法（AHP）、结构方程法（SEM）、因子分析和DEA方法,但这些方法在指标体系选择和测评方法的适应性方面还存在不足,努力构建普遍适应的、数据可获取性强的电子政务媒介评价方法体系是今后该领域研究的方向。     

基于组合赋权物元可拓模型的评价方法及应用

提出一种基于组合赋权-物元可拓模型的评价方法。首先采用G1法(序关系分析法)和熵权法对评价指标进行主、客观赋权,运用拉格朗日乘子法求得组合权重,保证权重主观上与客观上的统一。由于定性化指标数据难以被评价研究计算,在一定程度上影响了评价结果的准确性,为此引入物元可拓模型,以可拓集为数学工具,实现定量化的评价计算,确保评价结果的客观性与准确性。最后,通过算例分析验证了该方法的有效性及实用性。     

基于目标管理的企业员工绩效管理研究

一个设计科学合理的员工绩效管理系统,应该与企业的目标管理系统有很好的关联性,应该既有助于实现企业的战略目标和员工的个人目标,又能够实现企业和员工的业绩目标。本文根据目标管理和绩效管理过程理论,构建了基于目标管理的企业员工绩效管理模型,并指出了它的实用价值。     

Supporting others and the evolution of influence

In this paper we study environments in which agents can transfer influence to others by supporting them. When planning whom to support, they should take into account the future effect of this, since the receiving agent might use this influence to support others in the future. We show that in the presence of a finite horizon there is an essentially unique optimal support behavior which can be characterized in terms of associated marginal value functions. The analysis of these marginal value functions allows us to derive qualitative properties of optimal support strategies under different specific environments and to explicitly compute the optimal support behavior in some numerical examples. We also investigate the case of an infinite horizon. Examples show that multiple equilibria may appear in this setting, some of which sustaining a degree of cooperation that would not be possible under a finite horizon.     

Some general results for moments in bivariate distributions

The purpose of this paper is to present a closed formula to compute the moments of a general function from the knowledge of its bivariate survival function. The result is derived by utilizing an integration by parts formula for two variables, which is not readily available in the literature. Many of the existing results are obtained as special cases. Finally, two examples are presented to illustrate the results. In both the examples, mixed moments as well as moments for the series system and parallel system are obtained. The integration by parts formula in two variables, derived here, is of interest in its own right and we hope that it will be useful in other investigations. The integration by parts formula in two variables is derived as a special case of a general formula in n variables.     

An Analytical Model for External Auditor Evaluation of the Internal Audit Function Using Belief Functions

The purpose of this paper is to advance research in internal audit (IA) evaluation by developing an IA assessment model that considers interrelationships among specific factors used by external auditors to evaluate the strength of the IA function. The model is based on three factors identified by auditing standards and by prior academic research: Competence, Work Performance, and Objectivity. We develop an analytical expression of the model using the belief function framework in order to overcome limitations of prior research. Our results reveal that modeling the “And” relationship is essential for assessing the strength of the IA function. As far as interrelationships are concerned, the analysis shows that, when the three factors have a strong or a perfect relationship, the strength of the IA function remains high even if there is positive or negative evidence about one of the factors. This result holds as long as there are high levels of belief about the other two factors. Further, we demonstrate how the quality of corporate governance affects the evaluation of the IA function and how a cost–benefit analysis can be applied to this framework to help determine the amount of external audit work needed to comply with standards. Our analysis reveals that the extent of external audit work to be carried out by the external auditor depends on the strength of the IA function and the amount of litigation and regulatory costs likely to be faced by the external auditor.     

South Africa's economics of education: A stocktaking and an agenda for the way forward

This paper reviews some of the existing economics of education literature from the perspective of South Africa's education policymaking needs. It also puts forward a suggested research agenda for future work. The review is arranged according to five areas of research: rates of return, production functions, teacher incentives, benefit incidence analysis and cross-country comparisons. Production functions, especially if translated to cost-effectiveness models, can point to important policy solutions. Teacher incentives is a policy area that is in need of a better theoretical and empirical basis. Rates of return are difficult for policymakers to interpret, but suggest a need for a qualification below the Grade 12 level. While benefit incidence analysis can demonstrate large improvements in the equity of public financing, cross-country comparisons reveal that not only is the distribution of schooling outcomes particularly unequal, on average it is well below what the country's level of development would predict.