Declining Discount Rates: The Long and the Short of it

The last few years have witnessed important advances in our understanding of time preference and social discounting. In particular, several rationales for the use of time-varying social discount rates have emerged. These rationales range from the ad hoc to the formal, with some founded solely in economic theory while others reflect principles of intergenerational equity. While these advances are to be applauded, the practitioner is left with a confusing array of rationales and the sense that almost any discount rate can be justified. This paper draws together these different strands and provides a critical review of past and present contributions to this literature. In addition to this we highlight some of the problems with employing DDRs in the decision-making process, the most pressing of which may be time inconsistency. We clarify their practical implications, and potential pitfalls, of the more credible rationales and argue that some approaches popular in environmental economics literature are ill-conceived. Finally, we illustrate the impact of different approaches by examining global warming and nuclear power investment. This includes an application and extension of Newell and Pizer [‘Discounting the benefits of climate change mitigation : how much do uncertain rates increase valuations?’ Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 46 (2003) 52] to UK interest rate data.     

城市国民经济和社会发展规划战略环境评价研究——以武汉市为例

城市国民经济和社会发展规划编制是否科学．会直接影响到城市其他规划的科学性，对城市未来的发展及生态环境状况影响重大。本文论述了对城市国民经济和社会发展规划开展战略环境评价的必要性和重要性．并结合（《武汉市国民经济和社会发展第十一个五年总体规划纲要》探讨了我国城市国民经济和社会发展规划战略环境评价的技术思路和技术方法。     

城镇社区安全管理模式的经济学分析

城镇社区安全是社会安全与稳定的基础。本文基于纳什均衡和帕累托理论，对城镇社区安全管理模式进行了经济学分析。结果显示，为实现社区安全管理资源的帕累托最优，需要改进现有的安全管理制度，通过契约协作的方式，协调社区联盟中每户居民的安全支出，以避免“搭便车”现象的发生。基于上述经济学理论分析，最后提出了有关实现社区安全管理制度创新的模式及相应对策措施。     

企业可持续发展的战略选择：社会责任管理

在经济全球化的背景下 ,社会责任管理是任何一个企业都不能回避的问题 ,它关系到企业的生存和发展。企业应该把社会责任管理作为可持续发展的战略选择 ,并努力构建有效的社会责任管理模式。     

基于社会网络的创业机会、动机与创业精神的关系研究

已有的创业精神的研究多基于西方的经济背景和实践。中国社会的历史文化和转轨时期的经济制度等都反映了中国创业精神发展的特殊性。其于制度理论,提出了创业机会、动机与创业精神之间的关系,并结合中国的创业实践认为,社会网络在创业机会、动机与创业精神的关系中起中介作用。     

构建贫困农村养老保障体系的对策研究——基于河北省涞水县的实证分析

本文通过对涞水县3个乡的12个村、362户居民的入户调查，了解了困扰涞水县贫困农民养老的问题所在，并就贫困农村养老保障进行了对策性探讨，旨在帮助贫困农民解决实际的养老问题，同时也为构建贫困农村养老保障体系提供参考。     

Can corporate social responsibility resolve the sanitation question in developing Asian countries?

The existing state of sanitation in developing Asian countries fails to deliver a level of service that is adequate for meeting the human right to a standard of living consistent with dignity and health, or for sustaining the capacity for future generations to have access to clean water resources and healthy ecosystems. We argue that translating the current neo-centralised technologies and institutional arrangements mainstreamed by industrialised countries would not resolve the problem in the context of developing countries. Instead it is necessary to ‘leap frog’ to the emerging technological and institutional arrangements that are responsive to current needs and contexts and to potential risks. The sustainability focus and often decentralised technologies of this emergent stage in sanitation present many opportunities for new actors to enter the urban sanitation industry. At the same time, there are many barriers to entry, particularly from the perspective of conventional business management focused on increasing shareholder value.We propose that perspectives from the corporate social responsibility discourse have the potential to provide both the ‘pull’ for seizing the business opportunity for profit while serving social needs, and the ‘push’ to overcome the barriers in order to serve a wider social purpose for corporations. The wealth of nations, at least as reported in ubiquitous GDP terms, has greatly increased through the activities of corporations driven by a profit motive; but the increased poverty, injustice and ecosystem degradation that have resulted from economic activity suggest that corporations perhaps ought to have regard for broader concerns beyond shareholder value. We explore how the alternative relational view of a corporation, as a metaphorical person within society who adopts a moral code consistent with both Buddhist economics and Adam Smith's philosophy, may facilitate profitable corporations that provide better economic, ecological and social outcomes in serving the need for sustainable sanitation services in developing Asian countries.     

不同性别下岗工人创业时的社会资本比较

经济改革体制、产业结构调整引发国企职工下岗,由此产生下岗人群再就业的特殊问题,即将转变为市场化的体制下失业人群再就业的普遍问题.就业在未来十年将始终是热点问题.本文根据西部地区的调查资料,从社会性别视角,从西部下岗职工这一特定人群自谋职业入手,分析和比较不同性别的下岗职工创业时社会资本、体制和人力资本等方面的差异,来解释下岗者的社会资本与创业的关系,讨论如何帮助下岗者创业.最后提出未来改进的政策建议.     

Connecting ‘talent’ meanings and multi-level context: a discursive approach

Abstract

Through an in-depth, multilevel case study of a professional services firm, this paper illuminates what stakeholders mean when they use the term ‘talent’. The paper underlines how various contextual factors including, workforce composition, ownership structures and individual perceptions influence talent meanings within an organisation. Our analysis of talent phenomena at a multiplicity of levels illustrates that it is not only about the words, phrases, and terms employed when talking about talent that requires examination. There is a need to deliberate on the meanings that underpin the talk because while stakeholders may talk the same way they may mean different things. The paper makes a key theoretical contribution through specific recognition of the importance of thoughtful reflection of how stakeholders discursively construct meanings because ‘talent’ is a concept, which requires translation via talk to become meaningful within the material world and these meanings are influenced by context. Thus, we cannot infer, that talent meanings radiate within organisations, nor across organisational boundaries, industries or countries because discourses arise and materialise within specific contexts and we must acknowledge that talent discourses can not be removed from the context in which they operate.     

加工贸易银行保函的法律性质与效力

加工贸易是一种重要的贸易方式,我国正逐步成为世界加工生产的基地,我国将对加工贸易进口料件实施保税的具体做法辅以银行保证金台帐制度共同执行,实行加工贸易进口料件银行保证金台帐制度。加工贸易税款保付保函是一种海关事务担保,应属于银行的一种独立担保。但我国《民法通则》、《担保法》等立法中没有为独立担保的运作提供具体的规则,独立担保制度尤其是加工贸易税款保付保函方面的制度的完善建立势在必行。