The equilibrium exchange rates of European currencies and the transition to euro

This study estimates the demand system using Japanese micro data and calculates the cost of living index (COLI) to assess the substitution bias in the Consumer Price Index. The estimated bias during the sample period of 1982–2000 is about 0.06 percentage points, which is larger than the estimates calculated from a superlative index. The difference between the COLI and a superlative index can be explained with the upward movements of the average utility level in Japan, since the cost of living for the rich has grown more rapidly than that for the poor.     

Transforming competitiveness into economic benefits: Does tourism stimulate economic growth in more competitive destinations?

This research note investigates the impact of a destination's competitiveness upon tourism's contribution to economic growth using a cross-section with 131 countries. Destination competitiveness is measured with the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, while tourism's contribution to economic growth is measured with the growth decomposition methodology. Results reveal that destination competitiveness has no statistically significant impact on tourism's contribution to economic growth. Tourism policy implications and directions for future research are also discussed.     

建筑工程项目全程管理的内涵及思考

建筑工程项目管理是一项复杂、繁琐的工作,只有对项目的管理进行全盘考虑,才能使工程项目做到尽善尽美。文章根据笔者的工作经验,对工程项目管理工作进行了阐述。     

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Singapore’s economic growth

Singapore’s remarkable success in economic development has been strongly associated with the country’s vigorous efforts to embrace the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution to promote economic growth. This study provides a comprehensive investigation of the contributions of ICT to Singapore’s economic growth during the 1990–2008 period. It documents three key findings. First, there is a strong positive association between the intensity of ICT use and value-added and labor productivity growth at the sector level. Second, ICT investment contributed approximately 1 percentage point to Singapore’s GDP during 1990–2008, and its role in driving economic growth has become increasingly important over time. Third, the contribution of the ICT manufacturing sector to Singapore’s growth was notable, but it was on the decline and faced difficult restructuring challenges. This paper also provides valuable policy lessons and strategic insights for governments in both developed and developing countries that aspire to embrace ICT to promote economic growth.     

Who Plays the Key Role among Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong Stock Markets？

In this paper we examine the daily frequency stock market indices of Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong from January 2000 to June 2012, and use the Morlet wavelet coherence model to determine who is playing the most important role in the financial markets of China. We find that there are significant comovements between these stock markets in the medium and long run. This provides investors with opportunities to increase their capital gains. The Hong Kong stock market plays a leading role in the long run, but its leader position is threatened by fast‐growing Chinese mainland stock markets, especially the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Based on our analysis, the following suggestions apply to the Chinese stock markets: establish and improve international and regional finance centers in Chinese mainland; encourage more qualified institutional investors; reposition the market relations among Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen; and increase deregulation and internationalization to speed up the integration of financial resources.     

TRADE INTEGRATION,OUTSOURCING AND EMPLOYMENT IN AUSTRIA: A DECOMPOSITION APPROACH

Outsourcing and trade integration of advanced countries is debated with respect to employment effects, in particular for low educated workers – at least in relative terms. We study the employment effects – differentiated by educational attainment levels – of changes in the patterns of trade integration and outsourcing in the Austrian economy over the periods 1995–2000 and 2000–2005 using hierarchical decomposition analysis based on deflated input–output tables. Outsourcing is modeled as changes in the shares of domestically produced intermediates in total intermediates. A similar decomposition of the final demand vector allows us to draw conclusions on the overall employment effects of trade integration. The results suggest that the expected negative employment effects of outsourcing and rising import penetration have been overcompensated by increasing exports. Thus, the overall employment effects of Austrian trade integration have been positive for all educational attainment groups. However, whereas the total effects have been strongest for medium and high educated workers over the period 1995–2000, employment of low educated workers have been strongest and positively affected over the period 2000–2005. This pattern can be explained by a more sluggish export performance together with stronger negative effects of outsourcing and import penetration in medium and high-skill intensive products.     

Accounting for Cross‐Country Differences in Wealth Inequality

There is considerable cross‐country variation in levels of household wealth and in wealth inequality. This paper assesses the extent to which these differences can be accounted for by differences in the distributions of households' demographic and economic characteristics. A counterfactual decomposition analysis of micro data from five countries (Italy, U.K., U.S., Sweden and Finland) is used to identify the effects of characteristics on component wealth holdings, their value and their distribution. The findings of the paper suggest that the biggest share of cross‐country differences is not attributable to the distribution of household demographic and economic characteristics but rather reflect strong unexplained country effects.     

Fulfillment source allocation,inventory transshipment,and customer order transfer in e-tailing

We consider an inventory fulfillment-allocation and transshipment problem in an e-tailing environment. For a typical e-tailer, each customer demand is fulfilled from the closest fulfillment center if there are enough inventories. Otherwise, the e-tailer would transship stock from a nearby facility or transfer the customer order so it is fulfilled from another facility, depending on the economics of transportation. We develop a mixed-integer programming model to help e-tailers optimally fulfill customer orders while minimizing logistics costs. We propose a Benders decomposition-based approach to efficiently find optimal solutions. Our computational results demonstrate the importance of considering inventory transshipments in online deliveries.     

一种基于小波域的盲水印算法

提出了一种基于小波变换后频域系数的特征以及水印图像数据的奇偶性盲水印算法。该算法先将图像进行两级小波变换，根据LL2中数据特点和水印数据的奇偶性在HL2、LH2、HH2嵌入水印。在检测水印的时候，只需要拥有少量数据，就可以完成水印的提取。攻击实验研究表明：此算法具有很好的抗规则剪切、不规则剪切、加噪、压缩的能力，具有很好的鲁棒性。     

边际效用递减规律的再发现

本文的成果主要体现在两个方面:第一,将时间维度导入效用函数,实现了对边际效用递减规律认识的一次真正的飞跃;第二,将需求在需求要素的层次上进行分解,使边际效用递减规律有了更为准确和牢靠的基础。在这两个成果的基础上,对效用的可测量性、商品的同质性假说等问题进生了前瞻性的探讨。