Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Nielsen, S. B., Incentives and Redistribution in the Swedish Welfare State: The Swedish Tax Reform
Hannesson, R., Principles of Economic Growth     

高职学生英文阅读课浅谈

本文通过分析如何由易到难、循序渐进以引发阅读兴趣 ;如何动之以请、循循善诱 ,创设和谐氛围 ;如何授之以法、有的放矢以提高阅读能力 ,论述了教师在教学过程中怎样培养高职学生阅读英文材料的兴趣     

Taxation and Migration in a Federal System

This paper discusses how taxation may affect migration, economic efficiency and income distribution. The institutional framework is a federal system, in which local authorities are responsible for the supply of public services and the financing of these services, and where the central authorities are in charge of income redistribution. The main conclusion is that a moderate policy of income redistribution is associated with greater centralization of the work force and greater economic inefficiency than is the case with both radical and more limited policies of redistribution.     

Consumption externalities and the effects of international income transfers on the global environment

In this paper, we extend the standard model of private provision of public goods by including consumption externalities to characterize a situation in which economic activities pollute the environment. We consider a case in which there are an industrial country which can afford to invest in the environment and a developing country which cannot. Then, we show that international income transfers in both directions can improve the global environmental quality as well as the welfare of each country. We also show that the results have important implications for policies such as official development assistance or the assignment of tradable emission permits.     

Does Animal Feeding Operation Pollution Hurt Public Health? A National Longitudinal Study of Health Externalities Identified by Geographic Shifts in Livestock Production

The Environmental Protection Agency is currently gathering data to regulate livestock facilities under the Clean Air Act, legislation that purports to protect public health. To set rational policy, estimates of health externalities associated with livestock farming are necessary. This study uses geographic shifts in the industry to measure the impact of pollution on infant health. The article finds that a doubling of production leads to a 7.4% increase in infant mortality. This finding is robust with respect to the inclusion of multiple fixed and time-varying controls. The mortality increases are driven by elevated levels of respiratory diseases, providing suggestive evidence of an air pollution mechanism.     

The Dynamics of Household Wealth Accumulation in Italy

We examine the dynamics of wealth accumulation distribution in Italy using data drawn from the Survey of Household Income and Wealth, a representative survey of the Italian population conducted by the Bank of Italy. We compare survey data with National Accounts data and discuss sample representativeness, attrition and measurement issues. We then look at wealth inequality (the cross‐sectional dispersion of wealth) and wealth mobility (individual transitions across the wealth distribution) and examine the age profile of wealth using repeated cross‐sectional data. Finally, we consider various explanations for the pattern of wealth accumulation in Italy, focusing on retirement, bequests, income risk, health shocks and credit market imperfections.     

旅游服务贸易的国际政治学分析

旅游服务贸易不仅是国家之间一种普遍的交往方式,而且也是国家利益构成的重要组成部分。在当今政治化时代,如何在相互依存度不断提升条件下实现旅游服务贸易与国际政治之间的良性互动,越来越成为各国政府和国际组织普遍关注的核心议题。     

农村污染的经济学解析

农村污染直接关乎长期的、宏观的经济效益,关乎农民和全国人民的健康,是值得关注的大问题。而农村环境问题又属公共品范畴,如何解决好农村公共品的供给和管理的制度创新,又是从根本上解决农村污染问题的关键。因此,文章试图从博弈论和新制度经济学角度对其进行解析,进而提出理论和现实研究对策。     

Query Titles in Travel Forums: Nature and Impacts on Responses

Despite travel forums being an influential source of electronic word of mouth in the tourism context, the nature of interaction between information inquirers and contributors is yet to be appraised. This study attempts to fill the knowledge gap by exploring the inquiry titles in a travel forum in terms of its nature and influence on viewers’ responses. For empirical examination, thread titles for queries on South Korea and Japan that were posted in the Lonely Planet Thorn tree forum between March 2009 and February 2010 were collected (n?=?220) and analyzed. The results reveal that search by location is prevalent when potential tourists post a query in a travel forum. Search by interest is more likely at the city or regional level, while search by general (SBG) topic is prevalent in national-level search. The nature of inquiry title also reflects the intended length of stay at a destination. SBG in title significantly outweighs other categories in terms of the number of views and replies. Implication of findings and directions for future study are discussed.