Consumer responses to trade-offs in eco-friendly clothing: The moderating effects of fashion leadership and regulatory focus

Consumers of eco-friendly clothing often face trade-offs between eco-friendliness and other product attributes. Across two experiments, we investigate the moderating role of fashion leadership and regulatory focus in such trade-off situations. Our results suggest that while non-fashion leaders are willing to trade-off hedonic attributes for eco-friendliness, fashion leaders are not willing to trade-off either hedonic or utilitarian attributes. It is also suggested that prevention-focused fashion leaders are more likely than promotion-focused fashion leaders to trade-off hedonic attributes for eco-friendliness. Implications for practitioners as well as directions for future research are discussed.     

印度股票市场改革的经验与启示

印度股票市场改革对中国的启示主要在于,作为一个转型经济国家在发展金融市场尤其是股票市场的过程中出现某些消极问题在某种意义上是可以的,关键在于改革者要在既定的约束条件下完善相关的制度和规则,从而引导相关利益主体的行为以实现效率改进,同时在制度移植和模仿方面要注意有关的适用条件,在改革方式上宜快则快。     

基于权衡模型的跨国公司资本结构的决定因素分析

跨国公司资本结构问题是国际金融微观领域的研究热点 ,但目前国内研究对此鲜有涉及。本文着重研究了跨国公司资本结构决定的问题 ,在概述了权衡理论的基本思想并考虑了跨国公司经营环境与国内企业的差异后 ,提出基于权衡模型的跨国公司资本结构决定机制的分析框架 ,进而深入研究了跨国公司资本结构的决定因素 :负债节税价值、破产成本和代理成本。     

政府负债会计的会计政策选择原则论析——以美国联邦政府为例

政府负债是政府部门以各种信用形式筹集资金,缓解财政支出压力,顺利履行各类政府职能的重要手段,也是引发财政危机,威胁一国财政安全的主要因素.加强对政府负债的管理,控制财政风险,高质量的政府负债会计与财务报告信息是重要的前提保证.因此,完善政府负债的会计核算始终是推动各国政府会计变革的重要动因,其中,对负债计量、确认等会计政策的选择则成为当前政府会计实践关注的焦点,本文以美国联邦政府为例,对政府负债会计的会计政策选择及其原则进行了分析,以提供借鉴.     

Testing trade-off and pecking order theories financing SMEs

This paper explores two of the most important theories behind financial policy in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), namely, the pecking order and the trade-off theories. Panel data methodology is used to test empirical hypotheses on a sample of 3,569 Spanish SMEs over a 10-year period dating from 1995 to 2004. Results suggest that both theoretical models help to explain SME capital structure. However, despite finding clear evidence that SMEs follow a funding source hierarchy (pecking order model), our results reveal that greater trust is placed in SMEs that aim to reach target or optimum leverage (trade-off model). This remains true even when SMEs take a long time to reach this level, due to the high transaction costs they have to face. Non-debt tax shields (NDTS), growth opportunities and internal resources all seem to play an important role in determining SME capital structure. Both size and age are also found to be significant factors. Moreover, the empirical evidence obtained confirms that SMEs clearly behave differently to large firms where financing is concerned.

Inflation and growth in South Africa

This paper studies the relationship between inflation and growthin South Africa. Two main issues are addressed: do tests ofthe South African data support the findings of cross-sectionstudies that inflation has a negative effect on growth overthe longer term? and, can higher growth be gained at the costof higher inflation in the short run? The findings are thatinflation drags down growth in South Africa over the longerterm, and that, in the short run, growth above its trend requiresaccelerating inflation. Thus, for growth to be pulled substantiallyabove its present low trend, inflation targeting in South Africawould have to be abandoned. However, this would be counterproductiveover the longer term, once the negative relationship betweeninflation and growth manifests itself.     

Incorporating active adjustment into a financing based model of capital structure

The conventional partial adjustment model, which focuses on leverage evolution, has difficulty identifying deliberate capital structure adjustments as it confounds financing decisions with the mechanical autocorrelation of leverage. We propose and estimate a financing-based partial adjustment model that separates the effects of financing decisions on leverage evolution from mechanical evolution. The speed of adjustment (SOA) is firm-specific and stochastic, and active targeting of capital structure has a multiplier effect that depends on the size of financial deficit. Overall, we find expected SOA from active rebalancing (30%) more than doubles what is expected from mechanical mean reversion alone (13%).     

Fleet management policies for humanitarian organizations: Beyond the utilization–residual value trade-off

Four-wheel drive vehicles play a pivotal role in securing the last-mile distribution of goods and services in humanitarian development programs. To optimize the use of their fleets, humanitarian organizations recommend policies aimed at enhancing the utilization of vehicles while preserving residual value. Although these decisions have a significant impact on cost, there is limited empirical evidence to show that the recommended policies are actually implemented and that they produce the expected benefits. This paper theoretically and empirically examines the complex and inter-related effects of vehicle-to-mission allocation decisions and of alternative vehicle usage patterns on vehicle utilization and residual value in humanitarian development programs. The results suggest that humanitarian organizations could break the utilization–residual value trade-off by adopting different policies than the ones currently in place. They also reveal that organizations need to realize that what seems logical from the headquarters' perspective may be illogical or inconvenient for the field, and as a result, the field may do the opposite of what is recommended or even instructed. Therefore, they either need better data and analysis combined with audits or they need to improve mechanisms that incentivize field delegations to follow standards recommended by the headquarters.     

Public policy design: Assessing the potential of new collective Agri-Environmental Schemes in the Marais Poitevin wetland region using a participatory approach

The conciliation between different issues such as agriculture production, biodiversity conservation and water management remains unsolved in many places in the world. As a striking example, the wet grasslands of the Marais Poitevin region (France) presents many obstacles against the integration of these issues, especially in terms of public policy design. The socio-cultural situation in this region shows a high degree of political resistance and questions the relevancy of the current Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES) as an incentive for livestock farmers to adopt biodiversity friendly practices favoring the birds’ richness of the area. In this study, we explored the reasons for the poor effect of public policy using a two-fold approach based on ethnographic fieldwork and a role-playing game experiment. The ethnographic fieldwork aimed at understanding the local context and daily lives of farmers and current AES’s difficulties while the observation of the role-playing game session allowed for the exploration of current and alternative policy scenarios. The game represents an archetypal wetland that simulates the grass regeneration, water flows through a canal system and a surrounding network of cultivated plots (wheat, corn, sunflower, alfalfa) and pasture areas. The game is designed for eight players who embody their role in real life, i.e. water managers, biodiversity managers and farmers. The behaviors of the players during the session were observed and analyzed through semantic analysis. The game was structured around two scenarios to allow participants to explore, test and compare the current individual action-oriented AES with alternative collective public policy instruments. Such comparison brings new insights for public policy design. It also highlights the topic of integrated environmental management and questions the relevancy of participatory approaches in striving to resolve contradiction/dilemmas in environmental development.     

一种增强型指数追踪模型设计及应用

研究目标：构建了可以调节追踪误差和超额收益的增强型指数追踪模型,并给出了广义最小角度回归算法（GLARS）,用以计算调节参数作用下模型解的折中路径。研究方法：通过模拟数据和五组世界主要股票市场指数的历史数据,对本文提出的模型和算法与同类模型和算法进行了性能比较;同时追踪上证50指数构建若干稀疏且稳定的资产组合模型,通过信息比率等指标对投资组合进行评价。研究发现：本文构建的模型可用以构造权衡追踪效果和超额收益,且稀疏的资产组合,GLARS算法相对传统预设参数的算法具有良好的求解能力和计算速度。研究创新：引入调节参数平衡追踪效果和超额收益,并针对中国股票市场的特点,在增强型指数追踪模型施加非负约束;GLARS算法可遍历所有折中意义下的最优解。研究价值：本文提出的增强型指数追踪模型在国内具有较强适用性,在保证资产稀疏性的前提下可以得到超额收益,同时丰富了目前投资组合中的方法论研究。