Software for Learning and for Doing Statistics

The community of statisticians and statistics educators should take responsibility for the evaluation and improvement of software quality from the perspective of education. The paper will develop a perspective, an ideal system of requirements to critically evaluate existing software and to produce future software more adequate both for learning and doing statistics in introductory courses. Different kinds of tools and microworlds are needed. After discussing general requirements for such programs, a prototypical ideal software system will be presented in detail. It will be illustrated how such a system could be used to construct learning environments and to support elementary data analysis with exploratory working style.     

Why are Small Firms Different? Managers’ Views

Do incentives differ between large and small organizations? Results from a representative survey of compensation managers are used to shed light on the issues. I find that (i) small establishments rely less on pecuniary incentives, and have a significantly more hostile attitude towards incentive schemes based on competition and relative rewards; (ii) large units are more vulnerable to mechanisms of efficiency wages, effects that remain even after controlling for differences in monitoring ability; (iii) large units are more prone to indicate that negative reciprocity is important, and that their employees care about relative pay. I argue that these findings fit with behavioral stories of incentives and motivation, in particular those stressing group interaction effects, inequity aversion and gift exchange.     

LABOUR SUPPLY ESTIMATION AND PUBLIC POLICY

Abstract. Economists devote considerable energies towards refining their econometric techniques to overcome difficulties connected with conducting empirical research. Despite advances in technique. it is not clear whether further refinement in this direction is worthwhile for policy purposes. It may be that no further amount of statistical adjustment of inadequate data will increase understanding, and that better data is simply necessary to add to our knowledge. But rarely is sufficient credit paid to new forms of data. In short, econometric technique is emphasized to the neglect of data innovation, as if new data were merely lying about waiting for an ingenious suggestion for use. This paper surveys advances of the last twenty five years in estimating labour supply for policy purposes with a view towards appreciating the relative contribution of both improvements in econometric technique as well as developments of new data.
After briefly detailing the key parameters which economists have sought to estimate, we describe the early 'first generation' research (circa 1970), which is plagued by problems of unobservable variables, measurement errors, truncation and selectivity bias, and non linear budget constraints. 'Second generation' research constitute attempts to resolve one or more of these difficulties, and the respective contribution of econometric technique and new data is acknowledged and assessed, including the contribution of data generated by large scale social experiments in which participants are randomly assigned to different guaranteed income plans and their labour supply behaviour measured.     

Economics and underdetermination: a case study of urban land and housing economics

Underdetermination, associated with the Duhem–Quine thesis,is a familiar if under-researched theme in economics. In thelight of this, we examine the development of urban land andhousing economics. Through its Cartesian dualistic delineationof theory and data, the contemporary mainstream approach appearsunable to circumvent the problem of underdetermination. In effect,it employs the strong version of Duhem–Quine in its retentionof the assumption of a single, unitary competitive market (andassociated access–space trade-off). Conversely, we highlightthe affinity of Ely's (and the later Columbia School's) approachto pragmatists Dewey and Peirce, which provides a more fruitfulbasis for explanation.     

中国进口与经济增长关系的区域差异分析

利用面板数据对中国东、中、西部的进口额和GDP增长关系进行的实证研究。在短期内，GDP增长对进口额影响最小是中部地区，在长期，西部GDP增长对进口额影响最大。中国经济增长对拉动世界经济增长起了十分重要的作用，中国经济增长减速也会影响全球经济。     

浅谈煤矿企业HSE管理机制构建的可行性

煤炭是中国最主要的能源资源,我国煤矿企业的安全问题一直是社会关注的焦点。我国煤矿企业在安全管理方面存在诸多问题,并且相关方面研究存在不足。HSE体系在石油行业的应用相对已经成熟,成为国际通行的行为准则。HSE管理机制具有许多一般安全管理方法所没有的优点。把HSE管理体系运用到煤矿企业的安全管理当中能够很好的解决煤矿企业的安全生产问题。     

城市轨道交通开通运营阶段的溢价回收方法研究

城市轨道交通的外部性导致项目盈利困难,解决这种困难的方案之一是将轨道交通溢价返还给建设企业。然而,作为传统计算溢价大小的方法,地价函数模型缺乏时间序列分析。本文在传统土地溢价计算模型的基础上,引入时间维度,建立城市轨道交通开通运营阶段溢价的面板数据计量模型,使得溢价计算的精度得以提高。     

中国精英对中欧关系现状和前景看法

2010年5月至8月,在欧盟第七框架项目解析中国人对欧盟的看法的资助下,中国社会科学院研究生院联合中国人民大学等机构针对中国精英就中欧关系现状和前景及与此相关的问题看法进行了调查。调查数据显示:第一,精英对欧盟的知晓率比较低。第二,在信息渠道选择上,互联网、电视和报纸是三大主要工具,不同工具对中欧关系看法具有一定的影响。第三,中国精英对欧盟保持较好的印象。第四,精英认为欧盟的国际政治和经济影响力仅次于美国,且均强于中国。第五,精英对中欧关系现状和前景的看法日趋谨慎和保守。第六,通过回归分析可以发现,教育、收入、学习和工作经历等变量对精英的欧洲观有着明显影响。第七,学者和媒体工作者对中欧关系的现状和前景的看法和评价,均比其他群体更为积极和乐观。     

武汉城市圈生态环境与经济发展关系研究——基于面板数据的分析

构建了环境—经济模型,并基于武汉城市圈9个城市2006年至2008的面板数据进行实证研究,结果表明:武汉城市圈经济发展与生态环境呈反向变化关系,其经济发展在某种程度上仍是以牺牲环境为代价的;同时,圈内9个城市环境与经济关系存在明显的个体差异。武汉城市圈应加大对污染产业的技术改造,推行清洁生产,并不断优化产业结构,大力发展具有高产出、低消耗、低污染的绿色产业。     

Consumers’ willingness to disclose their personal data in e-commerce: A reciprocity-based social exchange perspective

While personal data is invaluable to firms, the drivers of e-commerce customers' willingness to disclose their personal data remain tenuous. Using social exchange theory, we develop a model that explores the impact of consumers' perceived benefit, and relative power, on store trust, in turn driving their willingness to disclose their personal data. We collected our empirical data using a representative online survey, with the results being analyzed by using structural equation modeling. The results corroborate that (a) consumer-perceived e-commerce store trust drives their willingness to disclose their personal data, and (b) perceived e-commerce provider reciprocity outweighs consumers’ perceived data disclosure benefit, suggesting the existence of symbolic (vs. purely instrumental) social exchange.