A choice experiment on fuel taxation and earmarking in Norway

Pigouvian taxes are efficient — but unpopular among voters — and hence often politically infeasible. Earmarking of revenues has been widely reported to increase public support for taxes, but earmarking is generally not the most efficient use of the revenues. This trade-off between efficiency and political feasibility is the motivation for our primary research objective: to quantify the effect of earmarking on support for fuel tax rises. Our secondary research objective is to investigate why earmarking increases support. Using data from a representative sample of the Norwegian voter population (N = 1147), we estimate models of voter preferences for fuel taxes using logistic regression models. Our results show that, in the absence of earmarking, the majority of voters would like to reduce fuel taxes, but earmarking the revenues for environmental measures has a substantial effect on voter support for fuel tax increases, garnering a majority for increases of up to 15% above present levels. Further analysis indicates that a prime reason why earmarking for environmental measures is popular is that it increases the perceived environmental effectiveness of the tax, and hence its legitimacy as an environmental rather than a fiscal policy instrument.     

宏观经济波动、公司规模和资本结构选择

中国宏观经济2006—2008年的波动为资本结构自然实验法研究提供了条件。选择该期间行业内资产规模最大和最小的中国A股上市公司作为研究样本,实证研究了宏观经济波动对不同规模上市公司资本结构选择的影响。研究发现:宏观经济波动对大规模上市公司和小规模上市公司的资本结构影响存在显著差异,不同规模的公司均显著改变了其融资行为;宏观经济状况和公司规模是上市公司资本结构选择的重要因素。     

财政分权对全要素生产率的影响--基于“省直管县”改革的准自然实验

"省直管县"改革一改以往"省-市-县"的管理模式,有助于提高县级政府的财政分权水平。为缓解内生性,将"省直管县"改革视为一项准自然实验,构建双重差分模型检验了财政分权对全要素生产率的因果效应。研究发现:①财政分权对全要素生产率的正向促进作用高于负面阻碍作用,但不同形式的分权影响有异质性,具体来说财权的下放有利于全要素生产率的提高,经济社会事务管理权限的下放则不利于。②当地方政府自主权提高时,其"重生产、轻服务"的支出偏好,使得当地基础设施供给增加,而能够增强地方软实力、加快创新要素集聚的公共服务供给相应减少,造成了全要素生产率的损失,导致在经济高质量高效益增长中政府"有形之手"的作用发挥不够。③随着改革的推进,财政分权对全要素生产率的正向作用逐渐减弱,并不再显著。据此,从合理划分省以下政府的事权与支出责任,充实基层政府财力;提高公共服务类指标在政府官员政绩考核中的权重,加强各县(市)政府间的合作,实现各自为政的地方经济向统一市场整合等方面提出政策建议。     

Reports of Bed Bugs on Hotel Selection: A Choice Experiment

The resurgence of bed bugs in the United States creates challenges for hotels and motels. One aspect that is especially important to hospitality are reports of bed bugs and how they affect travellers’ selection and potential damage to hotel brands. To address this issue, we conduct a choice experiment of a national sample of US travellers. We find that consumers expectedly respond negatively to reports of bed bugs, and they are sensitive to the number of reports of bed bugs. Through consumer Willingness to Pay for a hotel room, we quantify the negative impact of reports of bed bugs on the hotel industry through lost room premium. Expectedly, avoiding bed bugs is more valuable among those who worry more about bed bugs, but prior knowledge and experience have no effect. How explicitly the reports of bed bugs are disclosed to travellers affects their reaction and Willingness to Pay greatly.     

Leadership in agricultural machinery circles: experimental evidence from Tajikistan

Leadership is critical for the viability of rural groups. The way in which leadership is legitimised can mediate leader and group member behaviour in the face of social dilemmas. Yet there has been scant research on leader‐follower dynamics in naturally occurring groups. Highlighting the case of agricultural machinery circles in Tajikistan, the effect of leading by example on investments to a collective good is studied in a framed field experiment. To increase realism, and contrary to standard economic experiments, this investment is a voucher allowing the group to make a real‐world machinery purchase at reduced costs. Two treatments manipulate leaders’ legitimisation. Elected leaders achieve 30 per cent higher contributions to the collective investment against a baseline version without a leader. Contributions remain, on average, relatively stable over the course of the game. The results are discussed with reference to the debate on external intervention in agricultural producer organisations.     

电工学实验教学改革研究与实践

电工学课程是高校非电专业开设的一门实践性很强的技术基础课,而电工学实验教学是电工学课程教学中的重要环节。深化电工学实验教学改革,完善电工学实验教学体系,有利于培养学生创新意识和工程实践能力。     

外语教学中元认知训练的研究与实践

在元认知理论基础上结合外语教学特点,提出了系统的元认知训练方案,并把此方案应用到高职外语听力教学中,并进行了一个学期的教学实验.训练前后的数据分析表明,元认知训练有利于提高学生的外语听力元认知水平和听力成绩.     

会计专业实践实训教学中的问题及对策

会计实践实训教学是会计教学的重要组成部分。但目前所采用的仍主要是分课程实验、综合模拟实验和专业实习模式。但现代企业对会计人员提出了更高的要求,要求学生不仅能胜任一般的工作岗位,而且要具有思考能力、创新能力,能分析和利用已生成的会计信息积极参与企业的管理活动。实践实训教学应与专业理论教学相结合,改变单一的教学方式,强化案例教学,并积极推广多媒体教学。     

解读“穷人思维”:贫困农户风险态度的影响因素分析——来自广西、贵州贫困山区入户实地实验的证据

采用入户实地实验的方式,从贫困农户风险态度的影响因素入手对"穷人思维"进行解读。在广西、贵州两个少数民族聚居乡（镇）进行的抽样调查和实验发现,贫农普遍厌恶风险,特别在面临可能的损失时风险厌恶程度显著上升,但也有部分风险偏好者,在面临可能的损失时却更为偏好风险;越是厌恶风险者获得的实验收益越低,相反越是偏好风险者获得的实验收益越高;配偶、母亲受教育水平的增加显著降低了贫农的风险厌恶程度;家庭承受的教育负担越重,贫农的风险厌恶程度越高。扶贫政策的开展和实施应考虑贫农的风险态度,完善针对风险偏好者的多样化的金融支持和针对风险厌恶者的低息金融扶持,能覆盖更广泛的贫农群体。长期来看,教育扶贫应当成为一项持续的重点扶贫政策,降低家庭教育负担、提高女性的受教育年限、加强成人继续教育培训都将产生长期、积极的显著影响。     

高职《建筑力学》教学改革与实践

《建筑力学》是建筑工程类专业的专业基础课程,内容覆盖面广、难度大,一直是高职院校建筑工程类专业教学中的一个重点和难点。文章分析了传统的建筑力学教学中存在的问题,结合近些年的教学经验,介绍了已经实行的改革措施,希望能提高建筑力学的教学质量,提高学生用力学知识解决实际问题的能力。