Customizing calories: How rejecting (vs. selecting) ingredients leads to lower calorie estimation and unhealthier food choices

Customization of food products has increased substantially in recent years while the desire for healthiness and an emphasis on understanding and providing calorie information continues to dynamically change the landscape of restaurant retail. The authors report four studies demonstrating that different customization routes (i.e., rejecting alternatives from a full product offering versus adding alternatives to a basic product offering) lead to systematic, but predictable, differences in consumers’ estimations of calories. In particular, this research finds that a rejection (vs. selection) customization process leads consumers to persistently estimate lower calories in the final product, which then improves evaluations of the retailer and leads to unhealthier food choices. These findings occur when consumers estimate calories of the exact same final product using the different paths to customization as well as when they create their own customized final product, while accounting for differences in the quantity and type of ingredients selected, suggesting a very general difference in estimations. This research has important implications for consumers who want to manage their weight and for firms that need to manage consumers’ health perceptions.     

技术中介在技术交易服务中是否存在下沉倾向——基于买方选择视角的验证

技术要素转移与交易对技术中介有较强的依赖性，而技术中介的存在能够有效降低交易过程中的信息失衡，为买方交易提供必要支持，技术中介服务直接影响技术交易效率。当代技术中介服务已经形成较大规模，提供服务的种类也较为全面，整体上适应了技术市场发展需要。但是，由技术中介参与的大量交易都存在低端化倾向，据此提出中介服务下沉化假设，并构建选择影响因素模型。通过对买方企业数据的采集与回归，发现无论是全样本还是分类样本均有效验证了主要假设变量。因此，为保障技术中介合理发展，从政策层面应重点关注如何提升服务质量，使其服务于中高端技术交易需求。     

Collective mental accounting: an integrated behavioural portfolio selection model for multiple mental accounts

We propose a behavioural portfolio selection model called collective mental accounting (CMA), which integrates all mental sub-portfolios (mental accounts) in one mathematical model. Moreover, this study contributes to the literature of behavioural portfolio selection in three further ways: first, the CMA model can determine the proportions of wealth allocated to each mental sub-portfolio with and without input from the investor. Second, unlike other mental accounting models (MA), in CMA it is possible to define constraints on total asset holdings such as short-selling, and cardinality constraints. Third, in order to make CMA more tractable and mathematically elegant, we obtain a semi-definite programming representation of the model. We also present a numerical example to investigate the effects of short-selling constraints as well as to compare the portfolio recommendations, utility functions, feasibility, and optimality of the CMA and MA models. The results reveal that although both models’ solutions are mean-variance efficient, CMA outperforms MA in terms of behavioural efficient frontier and utility functions.     

CAUSAL INFERENCE ON EDUCATION POLICIES: A SURVEY OF EMPIRICAL STUDIES USING PISA,TIMSS AND PIRLS

The identification of the causal effects of educational policies is the top priority in recent education economics literature. As a result, a shift can be observed in the strategies of empirical studies. They have moved from the use of standard multivariate statistical methods, which identify correlations or associations between variables only, to more complex econometric strategies, which can help to identify causal relationships. However, exogenous variations in databases have to be identified in order to apply causal inference techniques. This is a far from straightforward task. For this reason, this paper provides an extensive and comprehensive overview of the literature using quasi‐experimental techniques applied to three well‐known international large‐scale comparative assessments, such as PISA, PIRLS or TIMSS, over the period 2004–2016. In particular, we review empirical studies employing instrumental variables, regression discontinuity designs, difference in differences and propensity score matching to the above databases. Additionally, we provide a detailed summary of estimation strategies, issues treated and profitability in terms of the quality of publications to encourage further potential evaluations. The paper concludes with some operational recommendations for prospective researchers in the field.     

中国医疗保险体系中的自选择与医疗费用——基于灵活就业人员参保行为的研究

我国社会医疗保险已实现全覆盖,现阶段的主要问题在于医保基金能否实现可持续运行。在现行制度安排下,灵活就业群体参加城镇职工医疗保险可能存在逆选择问题,随着就业形态日趋多样化,这将加剧基金运行的不平衡。本文基于2012-2014年中国家庭追踪调查数据(CFPS),利用中国特有的制度特征,在实证上将逆选择效应同道德风险相区分,验证了选择参加城镇职工医保的人群是医疗费用较高的人群。估计表明,自愿选择参加城镇职工医保的人群医疗支出明显高于强制参保群体,大约高78%;而选择参加城镇职工医保的人群医疗支出比选择参加城乡居民医保高约45%。灵活就业人员参加城镇职工医保提升了他们的福利,但如何规避潜在的基金运行风险,是医保制度设计中不可忽视的问题。     

我国能源战略选择的一些思考

党的十七大把能源战略提到了重要的议事日程。实现全面建设小康社会的目标,必须坚持把能源作为经济社会发展的战略重点,必须对中国能源发展战略的构建依据和基本构想做较为系统、深入和全面的研究。文章分析了我国能源面临的主要形势,从保证供应、节能优先、结构优化、环境友好、市场驱动5个方面,提出我国未来能源战略的选择和建议。     

声誉激励还是经济激励——独立董事“跳槽”的实证研究

独立董事制度作为改善公司治理机制的一项重大举措引入我国上市公司。独立董事作为中小投资者的利益代言人,曾被誉为“名利双收”的阳光职业。但是,在上市公司纷纷聘请独立董事满足监管者要求的同时,我们却发现部分独立董事提出辞职,并且这种趋势愈演愈烈。更为有趣的是,很多独立董事在一家上市公司辞职后又到另外一家上市公司去任职,怎么解释这种现象呢？独立董事“跳槽”究竟是为了获得更多的经济激励,还是为了获得更多的声誉激励？本文以2001年至2005年75个独立董事的“跳槽”事件为研究对象,分析独立董事任职选择的真实动机。首先,我们回顾了已有的研究成果,并提出了一个基于经济激励和声誉激励的分析框架。经济激励包括薪酬收入和现实成本付出,声誉激励包括企业知名度、企业隶属层级和任职风险。接着,我们对独立董事“跳槽”的真实动机进行实证检验。研究结果显示,独立董事“跳槽”主要考虑的是上市公司知名度和任职风险等声誉因素,而不是薪酬收入和现实成本因素。最后,我们得出结论,片面地强调独立董事的薪酬并不能达到对独立董事的激励效果,声誉机制更能实现对独立董事的激励约束作用。独立董事制度要更好地发挥治理效果。首先要解决独立董事任职并改善公司治理的原动力问题,这就要求形成配套的独立董事绩效评估机制以及声誉激励约束机制,这样才会有培育独立董事市场、改善公司治理绩效的可能。本文的研究不仅从一个全新的角度丰富了公司治理的文献,而且对完善独立董事的激励机制提供了一定的经验证据。     

信贷配给及信息甄别博弈理论的文献分析及评述

自从Stiglitz＆Weiss和Jaffee＆Russell这两篇经典文献从信息不对称角度解释信贷配给现象之后,涌现出众多的理论文献对信贷市场的信贷配给现象和信息甄别问题进行了研究。现有的信贷市场基本理论研究在以下几方面取得成果：一是信贷配给的信息不对称成因;二是抵押物可以成为银行的风险分类工具：三是贷款额度可以成为银行的风险分类工具。同时其理论研究框架在银行类型假定、借款人类型假定、以及描述借款人行为的效用函数等方面存在局限性,有待进一步深入研究。     

基于轨道交通整体网络的市域铁路线路规划研究

随着我国城市化进程不断推进,市域铁路发展需求不断增加,科学制定市域铁路线路规划,对推进新型城镇化市域铁路发展具有重要意义。在阐述市域铁路线路规划影响因素及结构模式选择的基础上,综合线路选择模型与线网规划模型的特点,建立市域铁路线路规划两阶段联合模型,先通过基于自身建设目标的线路规划模型中所得到较优备选线路集合,再联合基于轨道交通整体网络的线路比选模型的二次筛选,得出一个综合优化的市域铁路线路选择方案。以成德市域铁路线路规划为例,验证线路规划结果,为市域铁路线路规划研究提供借鉴。     

兰州铁路枢纽总图方案研究

合理确定兰州铁路枢纽布局有助于完善西北地区铁路网络,促进兰州—西宁城市群发展,提升欧亚大陆桥互联互通能力,发挥兰州地区的桥头堡作用。阐述兰州铁路枢纽现状,指出枢纽内客运站分工及货运设施功能存在问题,提出枢纽发展规划;研究提出兰州铁路枢纽总图方案,包括干支线、疏解线及联络线工程方案与总图方案设计。研究结果表明,兰州将形成衔接11条铁路干线,南客北货的大型环状枢纽格局,更好地支撑西北地区核心路网运输。