Pricing-to-Market: Price Discrimination or Product Differentiation?

We employ a vertical differentiation model to examine the potential bias in pricing-to-market results when using export unit values aggregating differentiated products. Our results show that: (i) false evidence of pricing-to-market is always found when using unit values, whether the law of one price holds or not; and (ii) the size of the bias increases with the level of product differentiation. Our simulation results support those conceptual findings. Thus, some of the positive pricing-to-market results in the literature could be an artifact of the product heterogeneity embodied in unit values rather than evidence of imperfect competition.     

论区域差异化现代服务业的构建

在经济区域中,现代服务业的发展已成为衡量区域产业结构水平的一个重要标志,其发展与自主创新形成了一种互动的正向关系。一方面,自主创新是区域现代服务业实现的基础条件之一;另一方面,自主创新的实现也有赖于区域现代服务业提供完善的支撑。各经济区域应结合自身的特点和区情,通过自主创新,构建区域差异化现代服务业,加速推进区域经济发展。构建具有差异化的现代服务业,其重点在于发展知识密集型的生产性服务业。     

城乡规划过程中实现可持续人居环境的探讨

本文首先介绍我国的城乡发展规划,具体阐述人居环境理念,继而基于人居环境理念,探讨如何实现城乡规划转型,同时按照我国可持续发展的基本要求,以住宅小区设计为例,探讨如何在城乡建筑设计的基础上创造经济、安全、和谐、宜居的人居环境。     

Is more better? The relationship between meeting space capacity and hotel operating performance

This study examines the effect of meeting space capacity on hotel operating performance. We use Resource-Based View (RBV) of the firm as the theoretical foundation. We employ a national-level dataset with more than 20,000 hotels in the United States for the 2007–2012 period. We find that meeting space has a non-linear effect on hotel operating performance. That is, at low levels of meeting space, meeting space capacity is negatively related to hotel operating performance. At high levels of meeting space, meeting space capacity has a positive influence on operating performance. These findings provide insights for hotel owners, developers and practitioners in planning hotel meeting space capacity.     

In and out of everyday life through film experiences: an analysis of two social spaces as leisure frames

The new information and communication technologies have made it possible to view films in different spaces. Using the symbolic interactionist framework as a frame of analysis, we interpret the meaning of the two experiences of viewing technology-mediated films in the home and in the cinema. We conducted field research during the first half of 2009, digitally recording 16 interviews with research participants living in Barcelona (Spain). The interviews were transcribed verbatim with the help of voice-recognition software. Reports from our research participants indicate that individuals considered only the cinema experience to be a true leisure activity, while the home experience was interpreted as a routine recreational activity. Therefore, the meanings of the film-viewing activity were associated with the symbolic properties of the frames of interpretation. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for the home as a unified centre where shared meanings are co-produced by family members.     

文化旅游的空间形态研究——基于文化空间的综述与启示

文化空间是一个多尺度的概念,现有研究分析了文化空间的哲学意义,并将其界定为非物质文化遗产的专有属性,而地理学视角的文化区探讨为文化空间的研究提供了重要补充。基于文化空间的研究体系,文章综述了文化旅游的研究概况,从物质维度、时间维度和区域维度的三重视角,分资源利用、整合路径和评价指标三个方面,构建了文化旅游空间形态的分析框架,并据此提出了文化旅游研究存在的不足和研究趋向。     

Implementing COOL: Comparative welfare effects of different labeling schemes

Country-of-origin labeling (COOL) is being implemented in different forms and degrees in the United States and other countries across the world. The first implementation of mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) in the United States was for seafood in 2005. This is an example of partial MCOOL because it exempts the foodservice sector and excludes processed seafood from labeling. Using a conceptual framework, we analyze the welfare impacts of partial MCOOL when compared to no, voluntary, and total mandatory COOL, taking into account imperfect competition in the downstream markets, information asymmetry, and diversion of low-quality product to the unlabeled market. The model is general enough to apply to any incomplete regulation for which the perceived low-quality product is required to be labeled, such as the labeling of genetically modified food in the European Union. Our results show that when consumers have a strong enough preference for domestic relative to imported product, regulators can overestimate the gain in consumer welfare from partial mandatory labeling if they ignore the diversion of lower quality imports to the unlabeled sector. We show that if the preference for domestic product is large enough, total MCOOL benefits the home market the most overall, including domestic consumers and producers, but not the imperfectly competitive downstream agents. However, if total MCOOL is too costly to implement, partial MCOOL is the second-best solution, but only if consumers falsely believe the unlabeled product to be of higher quality than it truly is. Our results suggest more research is needed to determine the extent to which consumers value the information provided by MCOOL and to enable regulators to consider the welfare impact of diversion in evaluating incomplete mandatory labeling regulations.     

Efficient learning via simulation: A marginalized resample-move approach

In state–space models, parameter learning is practically difficult and is still an open issue. This paper proposes an efficient simulation-based parameter learning method. First, the approach breaks up the interdependence of the hidden states and the static parameters by marginalizing out the states using a particle filter. Second, it applies a Bayesian resample-move approach to this marginalized system. The methodology is generic and needs little design effort. Different from batch estimation methods, it provides posterior quantities necessary for full sequential inference and recursive model monitoring. The algorithm is implemented both on simulated data in a linear Gaussian model for illustration and comparison and on real data in a Lévy jump stochastic volatility model and a structural credit risk model.     

独立学院城乡大学生差异化教育管理

独立学院这个新型教育模式,在国内出现的时间只有十多年,但却得到飞速发展。早期独立学院就读学生以＂城市生＂为主。随着国家经济发展以及高考扩招等因素影响,有更多的＂农村生＂进入独立学院学习。＂城市生＂、＂农村生＂在意识形态等方面的差异,对独立学院学生教育管理工作提出更高要求,学院需要对他们进行差异化教育管理。