Is exchange rate risk priced in microfinance?

High microcredit interest rates have often been a source of criticism against the microfinance movement. Research has focused attention on the cost structure of interest rates and more recently on the macroeconomic and macro-institutional factors. While cost structure is probably the most important determinant of interest rates, other factors can also matter. This paper uses an innovative measure of foreign exchange risk to explore its impact on microcredit interest rates. We show that microfinance institutions that operate in countries with fixed exchange rate regimes tend to charge lower interest rates than those operating in countries with floating exchange rate regimes.     

高职院校环境监测实践教学改革探索

本文分析了高职院校环境监测实践教学中存在的问题,从实践参与教学模式、实践教学方法及考核、评价方式等方面进行了一系列的探索和尝试。     

Making the ‘Invisible’ Visible: Redevelopment‐induced Displacement of Migrants in Shenzhen,China

Gentrification in China is intertwined with urban redevelopment, which causes the large‐scale displacement of rural–urban migrants from ‘villages in the city’ (ViCs). Because of the informality of ViCs, migrant renters have very insecure tenancy and during redevelopment they are treated as a negligible (‘invisible’) social group. As they are very difficult to locate after displacement, they are also literally invisible to researchers. To make the invisible visible, this study traced a sample of displaced migrants from Huangbeiling village in Shenzhen. The focus was on the displacement process and on identifying the consequences for the displaced. We found various forms of displacement during the redevelopment process. Nearby ViCs were prioritized by displaced migrants to minimize as much utility loss as possible. However, they generally suffer from decreased proximity, increased living costs, and the loss of social networks and job opportunities. Remarkably, some choose to return to the gentrifying village, enduring displacement in situ caused by increasing rents, drastic physical neighbourhood changes and declining liveability, in exchange for retaining their original social and economic networks. Large‐scale urban redevelopment is causing the rapid shrinkage of informal housing. Recognizing and addressing the housing needs of this impoverished social group is a matter of urgency.     

Smooth breaks and nonlinear mean reversion in real interest parity: Evidence from East Asian countries

This study aims to explore the empirical validity of the real interest rate parity (RIP) hypothesis for East Asian countries using Japan as the base country. To this end, we employ the recently proposed unit root tests of Christopoulos and Leon-Ledesma that account for both multiple smooth structural breaks of unknown form and nonlinear mean reversion in the series. Our empirical results uncover overwhelming evidences in favor of the RIP hypothesis for the whole countries in our sample. More specifically, through a Fourier approximation, it is observed that all real interest rate differentials display a mean-reverting behavior around an infrequently smooth-breaking mean, with the breaks being in accordance with the financial reforms and economic crises witnessed by the countries. Moreover, the degree of mean reversion appears to vary nonlinearly with the size of real interest rate appreciations and depreciations.     

清代诗人生卒年补考——以陆培等十位诗社成员为中心

以陆培等十位诗社成员为中心,从相关原始资料补充考订了清代诗人的生卒年及生平介绍,以期为日后编纂《全清诗》以及地方诗歌文献之类提供参考。     

Technology‐push,market‐demand and the missing safety‐pull: a case study of American Airlines Flight 587

Through a critical case study of the crash of American Airlines Flight 587, this paper draws upon ‘the Social Shaping of Technology’ (SST) approach to offer a reconceptualisation of the technology‐push and market‐demand model for High‐Reliably Organisations (HROs), providing support for a third factor, called here a ‘safety‐pull’. A safety‐pull is defined as organisationally supported reflexivity in which technology innovators and frontline operators collaborate to consider the potential implications of adopting new technologies in HROs and the complex ways this change may impact human operators' work performance, often in risky and unanticipated ways. In contrast to accidents occurring solely as the result of individual operator error, analysing the safety‐pull provides a way to tease out the wide range of factors that can contribute to HRO failures and offers a new SST perspective through which to examine high‐risk operations.     

我国货币供给内生性研究——基于现金漏损率的分析

货币供给内生性与外生性问题是一个重要的理论和现实问题,正确判断一个经济体的货币供给内外生性对于认识货币供给运行机制、制定正确的货币政策以及提高货币政策的有效性都具有重要意义。本文以现金漏损率为切入点,深入分析其对货币乘数、进而对货币供给量的影响,并得出我国货币供给内生性增强的结论。最后,在该结论的指导下,为我国选择正确的货币政策以及如何提高货币政策的有效性提出了若干建议。     

传统型美术专业在应用型本科院校中的生存与发展

传统型美术专业是否真的具有培养应用型人才的能力，是值得思考的问题。大众化教育是我国高等教育的新局面，但应用型本科院校中的传统美术专业却逐渐变为冷门。课程改革的迟缓、生源数量的减少、校地合作的局限性等问题，一直困扰着传统型美术专业。如何能够向应用型教育模式转变，是扭转此番尴尬局面的关键。     

Optimal dividend strategies with time-inconsistent preferences

This paper studies the optimal dividend strategies of an insurance company when the manager has time-inconsistent preferences. We consider the problem for a naive manager and a sophisticated manager, and analytically derive the optimal dividend strategies when claim sizes follow an exponential distribution. Our results show that the manager with time-inconsistent preferences tends to pay out dividends earlier than her time-consistent counterpart and that the sophisticated manager is more inclined to pay out dividends than the naive manager. Furthermore, we extend these results to the case with claim sizes following a mixed exponential distribution, and provide a numerical analysis to reveal the sensitivity of the optimal dividend strategies to changes in the premium, claims and surplus volatility.