新冠肺炎疫情对线上商品价格变化的影响

文章运用电商高频价格大数据,分析了新冠肺炎疫情对商品价格变化的影响。研究发现:根据公平定价理论,在突发疫情下商家会加入消费者情绪制定价格策略,商品价格经过调整后趋于稳定;并且,商品价格表现出较低的价格黏性,对称的交错调价使得新冠肺炎疫情对商品价格的冲击有限。因此,政府部门可利用线上商品价格编制大数据物价指标,及时反映市场供求变化,促进资源优化配置,为宏观政策制定提供依据;同时,加快推进消费数字化转型,优化线上交易环境,建立预警机制来应对突发情况。     

新冠肺炎疫情冲击下企业现金持有的预防价值研究

最近爆发的新冠肺炎疫情牵动着亿万民众的心,面对突如其来的疫情,企业资金面临着巨大压力。企业持有现金主要源于预防和交易动机,然而预防动机的特性决定了其在企业正常经营状态下难以直观体现,因而目前鲜有研究对企业现金持有的预防价值进行直接检验。本文以新冠肺炎疫情事件的冲击为研究切入点,通过考察不同现金持有水平的企业在面临危机冲击的市场反应,发现企业现金持有水平与事件窗口期内的累计超额收益率呈显著正相关关系,从而为现金持有的预防价值提供了更为直接的经验证据。而且,当公司受疫情冲击程度越大时,二者之间正相关关系越强。进一步发现,企业现金持有的预防价值在企业现金流压力大以及外部融资环境较差时更加凸显。本研究丰富了已有关于现金持有预防价值的相关文献,并对政府与企业应采取何种举措以应对突发事件具有一定的启示。     

How to survive a pandemic: The corporate resiliency of travel and leisure companies to the COVID-19 outbreak

What protects travel and leisure companies from a global pandemic, such as COVID-19? To answer this question, we investigate data on over 1200 travel and leisure companies in 52 countries. We consider 80 characteristics, such as company financial ratios, macroeconomic variables, and government policy responses. Using regressions and machine learning tools, we demonstrate that firms with low valuations, limited leverage, and high investments have been more immune to the pandemic-induced crash. We also find a beneficial effect of stringent containment and closure policies. Finally, our results indicate that countries with less individualism may be better positioned to cope with the pandemic. Our findings have implications for regulatory bodies, managers, and investors concerning future pandemic outbreaks.     

The gloom of the COVID-19 shock in the hospitality industry: A study of consumer risk perception and adaptive belief in the dark cloud of a pandemic

As the new coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads globally, the hospitality industry is at the heart of implementing social distancing, a measure demonstrated to be effective in flattening the epidemic curve. Informed by the perceived risk theory, this research examines how the customer’s perception of the shock of the coronavirus pandemic impacts on their beliefs, and how their beliefs could influence their anticipated emotions (negative and positive) which could affect their future desire towards visiting restaurants. Structural equation modelling was used to understand the research constructs’ associations. This study provides two key suggestions: (i) that the hospitality industry is built on trust from their customers by supporting and resourcing consumers’ self-protection behaviour and adoptive belief, and (ii) that the economic influence and the continuous uncertainty and transformation of the restaurant business need the enhancement of localisation strategies, practices and performance.     

Researching the future of purchasing and supply management: The purpose and potential of scenarios

Drawing on prior research, the value of scenario planning as a methodology for researching the future of purchasing and supply management (PSM) is explored. Using three criteria of research quality – rigour, originality and significance – it is shown how developing scenarios and analysing their implications present new, important research opportunities for PSM academics, practitioners, and leaders of the profession. Researching the future of PSM supports the identification of uncertainties and anticipates change across many units and levels of analysis of interest to PSM scholars and practitioners, such as the profession/discipline, markets/sectors, or organisations. Scenarios are particularly effective for: considering how the complex interaction of macro-environmental factors affects the PSM context; avoiding incremental thinking; surfacing assumptions and revealing significant blind spots. PSM research using scenarios aligns with Corley and Gioia's (2011) call for prescience-oriented research in which academics aim for more impactful research, enhancing sense-giving potential and theoretical relevance to practice, to better perform their adaptive role in society.     

Furloughing*

Over nine million jobs were furloughed in the United Kingdom during the coronavirus pandemic. Using real-time survey evidence from the UK in April and May 2020, we document which workers were most likely to be furloughed and we analyse variation in the terms on which they furloughed. We find that women were significantly more likely to be furloughed. Inequality in care responsibilities seems to have played a key role: mothers were 10 percentage points more likely than fathers to initiate the decision to be furloughed (as opposed to it being fully or mostly the employer's decision) but we find no such gender gap amongst childless workers. The prohibition of working whilst furloughed was routinely ignored, especially by men who can do a large percentage of their work tasks from home. Women were less likely to have their salary topped up beyond the 80 per cent subsidy paid for by the government. Considering the future, furloughed workers without employer-provided sick pay have a lower willingness to pay to return to work, as do those in sales and food preparation occupations. Compared with non-furloughed employees, furloughed workers are more pessimistic about keeping their job in the short to medium run and are more likely to be actively searching for a new job, even when controlling for detailed job characteristics. These results have important implications for the design of short-time work schemes and the strategy for effectively reopening the economy.     

Unintended Consequences of Lockdowns: Evidence from Domestic Helpers in Urban China

This paper addresses the reactions of domestic helpers to the Wuhan (Hubei Province) lockdown that began on January 23, 2020. We use a novel dataset containing the information of over 40,000 Chinese domestic helpers registered on a leading professional website from November 2019 to June 2020. The results indicate a declining pattern of short-term labor supply of domestic helpers across 11 major Chinese cities, which shows an increase in the expected monthly wage of domestic helpers in these cities. More importantly, using a difference-in-difference (DID) model, this paper provides some evidence on the existence of labor market discrimination against domestic helpers born in Hubei Province due to employers’ fear of infection.     

张爱玲对都市通俗小说的品质提升

以张爱玲所处的特殊环境为视点,分析了她对都市通俗小说所作的贡献,并从品质上推动了都市通俗小说的发展,肯定了她在现代文学中的独特地位。     

当代多余人--方英文《落红》中唐子羽形象评析

方英文在长篇小说《落红》中所塑造的唐子羽，是一位当代多余人；方英文塑造唐子羽的文学观念和方法，是对十九世纪俄国批判现实主义创作方法的继承和延续；再将唐子羽与加缪笔下的当代多余人作以比较，便能清楚看出唐子羽这个人物的意义来。     

关注欧盟新资源食品法规提案

文章从新资源食品的定义（包括影响到食品的新技术）和新资源食品法规的范围、对来自第三方国家的传统食品的要求、新资源食品的审批和授权,以及激励创新4个方面对提案进行了剖析,并对我国食品出口企业如何规避这一新的技术性贸易壁垒提出对策建议。