Regression-based measure of urban sprawl for Italian municipalities using DMSP-OLS night-time light images and economic data

ABSTRACT

Night-time light can be used in order to evaluate the degree of urbanization and urban sprawl in a specific territory. In fact, at the local level, the lower the urban density, the higher the per-capita length of collector roads and the area covered by buildings and infrastructures. It follows that the lower the urban density, the higher the municipal luminosity. Urban sprawl is determinant in defining the mobility condition in a specific territory and the service and infrastructure needs. This paper uses regression analyses in order to estimate a ‘relative’ measure of urban sprawl that takes into account also demographic and economic characteristics. We apply this technique to a panel of Italian municipalities over the period 2004–2012 and compare the resulting measure to the ‘absolute’ measures provided by the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research in order to evaluate the contribution of our measure to the knowledge of the sprawl phenomenon.     

A fiscal vaccine against the Dutch disease

The Dutch disease is a concern when a country is blessed with positive terms of trade (ToT) shocks. This article assesses the effects of a structural balance fiscal rule – which saves part of the revenues from better ToT – in limiting the real exchange rate (RER) appreciation. We find that the elasticity of the RER to ToT has declined (or is zero) in Chile and Norway, during the years in which the fiscal rule has been in place, although only for the part of ToT that accrue to government revenues.     

Structural social capital and mental health: a panel study

ABSTRACT

The link between social relations and psychological wellbeing is well established in sociological and mental health studies. Since the beginning of the 2000s, this link has been garnering new attention and interest in economic and public health studies. Almost twenty years of empirical studies testing this relationship have established contrasting results for two main reasons. First, the majority of the studies are based on cross-sectional data, leaving out endogeneity and heterogeneity problems; second, mental health measurements are often discordant from each other. This study investigates the relationship between structural social capital and individual self-rated mental health using five waves of the British Household Panel Survey from 1991 to 1995 (unbalanced panel N = 44,684). We take into account the heterogeneity and endogeneity issues and implement fixed effects and lag-dependent variable estimations. Moreover, we used different methodologies to measure mental health as a robustness check. Our findings show the existence of a negative relationship between being both a member of and active in an organization and worse mental health. In addition, being active within an organization in the previous year has a negative effect on worse mental health in the following year.     

融资融券对个股交易变化影响的实证研究

文章运用融资融券155只标的证券的截面数据,实证研究了融资融券对个股交易变化的影响.结果发现,融资融券余额对标的股的个股回报率、交易股数、率都具有较为显著的正向作用,分析了导致这一现象出现的原因,并针对如何充分发挥融资融券价格发现功能,平抑股价过度波动提出了相关政策建议.     

FDI与经济增长关系研究——基于浙江省数据

文章介绍了浙江省外商直接投资(FDI)与其经济增长的发展现状;建立时间序列模型.利用1987-2006年的相关统计数据,通过OLS回归分析两者之间的关系,结果表明:浙江省的外商直接投资和其经济增长之间存在相关关系,其中短期效果明显,长期效果不明显.并且在此结论的基础上,提出了有效利用外国直接投资,促进浙江省经济增长的对策建议.     

Taylor法则的实证研究:以1990年代的香港为例

本文研究90年代香港利率的决定模式。近年来,Taylor(泰勒)法则越来越多地被应用于货币研究。该法则认为短期利率可定义为产出缺口和通胀目标偏离的线性函数。尽管这一法则适用于很多经济体,但未必适用于香港。因为香港起码在两个方面跟别的经济体不同:没有与其他经济体相同的央行(或货币当局),与此同时,它又是一个国际金融中心。通过实证研究我们得出如下结论:与其他经济体不同,虽然通胀偏离和产出缺口在香港利率决定中的作用不可忽视,但金融变量如股价似乎在利率决定中起更大的作用。     

上证50股指期货套期保值的实证研究

选取上证50指数和相应的上证50股指期货(IH1606合约)数据,对其分别使用传统OLS估计和二元GARCH模型,估算两种模型下的套期保值比率,并对该两种套期保值模型的成效进行了对比研究。通过两组模型得出了最优优套期保值比率,为投资者利用期指进行套期保值提供参考建议。     

安全数据库设计中的行级控制应用研究

文章探讨了采用行级控制增强数据库安全的方法,指出为进一步提高系统的安全,应把数据库的安全同设计结合在一起。在数据库设计中,采用OLS（标签安全性）技术实现了数据库的强制访问控制,通过使用ROWID以及行级触发器构筑了安全数据库的行级控制体系。实践证明,以上方法可有效增强数据库安全。     

A comparison of results of three statistical methods to understand the determinants of festival participants’ expenditures

The aim of the research reported upon in this study is to examine the impact of visitors’ socio-demographic and festival experience-related variables on expenditure levels and patterns of visits to festivals. Three statistical models including logit, OLS (ordinary least square) and Tobit models are employed to identify and examine the differences or similarities in results from three different approaches. A comparison of the three approaches using cross-section survey data generated differences in model fit. In addition, it was found that the set of independent variables which were significant in estimating festival visitors’ expenditures varied between the three models. As such the findings of this study suggest a singular statistical approach may be inferior to multiple ones in gaining a full understanding of the determinants of festival participants’ expenditure.