A GPS data-based analysis of built environment influences on bicyclist route preferences

This study examines the effects of built environment features, including factors of land use and road network, on bicyclists' route preferences using the data from the city of Seattle. The bicycle routes are identified using a GPS dataset collected from a smartphone application named “CycleTracks.” The route choice set is generated using the labeling route approach, and the cost functions of route alternatives are based on principal component analyses. Then, two mixed logit models, focusing on random parameters and alternative-specific coefficients, respectively, are estimated to examine bicyclists' route choice. The major findings of this study are as follows: (1) the bicycle route choice involves the joint consideration of convenience, safety, and leisure; (2) most bicyclists prefer to cycle on shorter, flat, and well-planned bicycle facilities with slow road traffic; (3) some bicyclists prefer routes surrounded by mixed land use; (4) some bicyclists favor routes which are planted with street trees or installed with street lights; and (5) some bicyclists prefer routes along with city features. This analysis provides valuable insights into how well-planned land use and road network can facilitate efficient, safe, and enjoyable bicycling.     

消费领域的量化自我:研究述评与展望

量化自我是指消费者对自我数据进行收集并经由数据获得自我知识的过程。量化自我能增强消费者的自我精准管控和行为理性,驱动消费者行为方式的转变。数据驱动的量化自我时代正在来临,全新的商业逻辑正在被建立起来。消费者的行为正从非标准化向精准化转变。鉴于此,越来越多学者开始围绕量化自我展开研究,在清晰界定量化自我概念的基础上,分析量化自我的参与动机与阶段性过程,关注量化自我带来的消费者精准化消费方式转变。本文系统回顾了量化自我相关研究,阐释了量化自我的概念与本质,从量化自我的类型与效用、动机与过程等方面对相关研究进行了述评,整理提炼了量化自我在消费领域的应用现状,并在此基础上明确了量化自我研究尚需解决的问题和未来的研究方向。     

Atypical work: a threat to labour productivity growth? Some evidence from Italy

Various theories suggest the existence of a negative relationship between the use of atypical employment contracts and productivity growth, arguing that firms’ utilisation of atypical contracts may reduce the incentive to innovate and internal training, inducing firms to follow a ‘low-road’ to competitiveness, based upon cost-cutting strategies.

This paper aims to provide new evidence on the occurrence of these effects in the Italian economy, where changes in labour legislation from the mid-Nineties onwards, associated with an ‘institutional’ wage moderation period, have brought about a significant process of job creation, but also an appreciable slowdown in labour productivity.

This issue is investigated using a microeconomic approach, taking a rich source of microdata for firms and estimating a dynamic model for labour productivity on a pseudo-panel of firms for the period 2003-2008.

The results support the hypothesis of a negative impact of external labour flexibility on labour productivity growth at firm level, such effect proving stronger for small and medium than for large enterprises and of varying magnitude for the different atypical contracts.     

FDI是否促进了中国城市的郊区化?--基于卫星夜间灯光数据的实证检验

城市郊区化是国内外城市发展过程中不可避免的现象。伴随着城市化的不断发展,中国的城市郊区化问题也受到了越来越多的关注,但FDI 作为各个地方旧城改造和新区开发的重要力量,其对中国城市空间的形态塑造作用却被忽视了。文章基于单中心城市模型的理论假设,将FDI 因素纳入分析城市郊区化的框架,通过全球夜间灯光数据、Landscan 人口分布数据和中国行政区域矢量数据构造了中国城市市辖区层面的郊区化指数和蔓延指数,并利用2003-2013年中国地级及以上城市市辖区面板数据检验了FDI 对城市郊区化的影响。研究表明：(1)FDI 是促进我国城市郊区化的关键因素,FDI 占GDP 的比重每提高1%,我国城市郊区化的水平会相应地提高0.1%;(2)由于FDI 在我国存在区域分布的不平衡性,因此其对不同区域的城市郊区化的促进作用有所差异,外资进入显著地促进了东部地区的城市郊区化发展,但外资进入对中西部地区的城市郊区化的影响并不显著。因此,各地方政府应格外关注FDI 可能带来的城市低密度蔓延现象,并检视自身的城市发展战略。     

Bootstrap J-Test for Panel Data Models with Spatially Dependent Error Components,a Spatial Lag and Additional Endogenous Variables

We develop a bootstrap J-test method for testing a panel model against one non-nested alternative when the competing specifications are estimated by Feasible Generalised Spatial Two Stage Least Squares/Generalised Method of Moments (FGS2SLS/GMM). Both models incorporate spatially correlated error components, thus accounting for spatial heterogeneity via random effects, and accommodate endogenous regressors other than the spatially lagged dependent variable. The proposed scheme is applied to a testing problem involving non-nested wage equations as motivated by the Wage Curve literature and the New Economic Geography theory. Results show that our bootstrap test is a reliable and effective procedure for correcting asymptotic reference critical values and distinguishing between the two rival hypotheses.     

Age dependency and labour productivity divergence

This study finds strong empirical evidence in favour of the hypothesis that the age composition of population matters for labour productivity growth. We applied the fixed effects panel model using data on a large number of countries over the period 1980–2010. Our results suggest that higher age dependency not only directly impacts negatively on labour productivity but also modifies the impact of other determinants of labour productivity. Child dependency has a more adverse effect on labour productivity than old age dependency. We specifically find that the marginal effects of gross capital formation, information and communication improvement, and labour market reforms are significant at lower levels of age dependency. However, the marginal effect of savings on labour productivity is high at a high level of age dependency. The impact of age dependency varies between developed and developing economies. Diversity in the size and nature of age dependency across regions and different income groups help to explain the labour productivity differential across them.     

The asymmetric relationship between executive earnings management and compensation: a panel threshold regression approach

Prior research shows that chief executive officers (CEOs) are rewarded for their earnings management. We re-examine this issue using a panel threshold regression approach, which allows the effect of earnings management on the CEO compensation to change across the level of earnings management and CEO compensation. Our results show that the effect of CEOs’ discretionary accounting choices on their compensation is not homogeneous across various degrees of earnings management and compensation. In particular, for firms with moderate (inordinate) levels of earnings management and CEO compensation, earnings management is rewarded (penalized).     

Do women borrowers augment financial performance of MFIs?

There is some consensus that depth of outreach and financial performance of Microfinance Institutions (MFI) are positively correlated. A majority of microcredit borrowers are women and since the prevalence of female borrowers is even greater among the very poor, there should be a positive correlation between female borrowers and financial performance. Most of the MFIs target women as preferred borrowers. However, no study to date has investigated the relationship between targeting women and MFI’s sustainability with respect to profitability and yield. Utilizing a panel of 892 MFIs over a period of 10 years, this study shows that increased proportion of women borrowers has a statistically significant positive impact on yield and financial performance of MFIs. Consequently, this article also analyses the implication as to whether female borrowers have better repayment rate than male borrowers.     

The causal relationship between natural gas consumption and economic growth: evidence from the G7 countries

This article re-examines the nature of the causality between natural gas consumption and economic growth in G7 countries over the period from 1965 to 2011. We employ the Granger causality procedure proposed by Emirmahmutoglu and Kose (2011) which takes into account cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneity across countries. Our overall empirical results support the neutrality hypothesis for the panel while the individual country results confirm the same result with the exception of the case of UK, where the conservation hypothesis is confirmed, showing that GDP causes natural gas consumption in the country. These results make policies that promote the consumption of natural gas risk-free with regard to their effects to the economic growth and development levels.