Modeling asymmetric price transmission in the European food market

In this study, we employ a multivariate panel error correction model (PVECM) to investigate asymmetric price transmission among the farm, processor, and retail segments of the European food supply chain for the 2005–2016 period. The results indicate that, in both the long- and short-run, retail prices respond more strongly to processor price increases than decreases and the same occurs for processor prices due to farm price changes. Thus, the findings demonstrate the presence of positive asymmetric price transmission in the European food supply chain. Finally, the results of the present study indicate that the food price pass-through varies greatly across product category and across countries, and that the pass-through to producer prices is greater than that to consumer prices.     

Relationship between foreign capital flows,domestic investment and savings in the SADC region

The importance of foreign capital in the domestic economy cannot be underestimated as it bridges the gap between domestic capital demand and supply. Given this background the paper studies the relationship between the different types of foreign capital flows in the Southern Africa Development Region (SADC) region – foreign direct investment (FDI), remittances, cross border bank flows (CBF), overseas development assistance (ODA) – and domestic savings and investment, employing the panel cointegration test and the dynamic ordinary least squares method (DOLS). The empirical results reveal that there is a strong positive relationship between domestic investment and domestic savings, FDI and remittances. These findings indicate that FDI remittances help in overcoming the limits on the domestic capital formation in the SADC region through permitting a rate of investment which is in excess of that which can be generated by domestic savings. Important policy implications on attracting foreign capital flows are discussed in the paper.     

不同利率对我国上市银行信用风险的影响

对我国16家上市银行进行的实证检验表明：3个月同业拆借利率与银行信用风险显著正相关，人民币5年期基准存款利率与银行信用风险的关系不确定，人民币1年期基准存款利率与银行信用风险显著正相关，贷款利息收入占贷款比例与银行信用风险显著负相关。     

Microfinance and gender inequality: cross-country evidence

Microfinance enables poor women to engage in income-generating activities, which helps them become financially independent, strengthening their decision-making power within the household and society. Consequently, microfinance has the potential to reduce gender inequality (GI). Case-study evidence from across the developing world both supports and contradicts this hypothesis. We therefore revisit this issue using macroeconomic cross-country panel data for 64 developing economies over the period 2003–2014. We find that women’s participation in microfinance is associated with a reduction in GI. However, regional interactions reveal that cultural factors are likely to influence the GI–microfinance nexus.     

Socioeconomic Determinants of Child Health: Empirical Evidence from Indonesia

This paper characterizes the socioeconomic determinants of child health using height‐for‐age z‐score (HAZ), a long‐run measure of chronic nutritional deficiency. We construct a panel data that follows children between ages 3 and 59 months in 1993 through the 1997 and 2000 waves of the Indonesian Family Life Survey. We use this data to identify the various child‐level, household‐level and community‐level factors that affect children's health. Our findings indicate that household income has a large and statistically significant role in explaining improvements in HAZ. We also find a strong positive association between parental height and HAZ. At the community level, we find that provision of electricity and the availability of paved roads are positively associated with improvements in HAZ. Finally, in comparison to community‐level factors, household‐level characteristics play a large role in explaining the variation in HAZ. These findings suggest that policies that address the demand‐side constraints have greater potential to improve children's health outcomes in the future.     

河南省农村公共物品投资的经济增长效应研究

本文运用面板数据模型分析了河南省农村公共物品固定资产投资对农村经济增长的影响。固定效应模型表明,农村公共物品固定资产投资是造成地区间农业总产值差异的因素;随机效应模型表明,农村公共物品固定资产投资也是造成同一地区不同年份农业总产值变化的因素,即农村公共物品固定资产投资促进了农村经济增长。最后分析了河南省当前农村公共物品供给存在的问题及解决对策。     

Corruption and Tourism: An Empirical Investigation in a Non‐linear Framework

This article investigates the effect of corruption on tourism demand for a panel of countries during 1999–2009 by using panel least square and fixed effects regressions. Prior research has considered only the linear effects of corruption on tourism. We examine the relationship between corruption and tourism in a non‐linear framework after controlling for economic and heritage factors. The findings suggest that corruption has a significant effect on tourism demand and that this effect is non‐linear. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

商业健康保险是否促进了居民健康——基于微观数据的实证研究

党的十九大报告明确提出全面实施"健康中国"战略,强调商业健康保险参与多层次医疗保障体系建设,服务广大人民群众健康保障的重要作用。明确商业健康保险如何从微观层面提高居民健康是有效发挥其助力"健康中国"作用的前提与基础。本文基于中国健康和营养调查(CHNS)2000～2015年面板数据,利用面板工具变量法解决内生性,考察商业健康保险对居民健康水平的影响,同时对不同收入阶层和年龄阶段进行异质性分析,并进行机制探讨。研究表明,商业健康保险能够显著提高居民的健康水平,而且这一正向影响对高收入阶层和中年人群的正向影响更为明显。此外,机制分析表明商业健康保险能够提高居民的医疗服务利用,改善居民健康行为,从而提高健康水平。