Dynamic R&D choice and the impact of the firm's financial strength

ABSTRACT

This article investigates how a firm's financial strength affects its dynamic decision to invest in R&D. We estimate a dynamic model of R&D choice using data for German firms in high-tech manufacturing industries. The model incorporates a measure of the firm's financial strength, derived from its credit rating, which is shown to lead to substantial differences in estimates of the costs and expected long-run benefits from R&D investment. Financially strong firms have a higher probability of generating innovations from their R&D investment, and the innovations have a larger impact on productivity and profits. Averaging across all firms, the long-run benefit of investing in R&D equals 6.6% of firm value. It ranges from 11.6% for firms in a strong financial position to 2.3% for firms in a weaker financial position.     

当前中国周边安全环境与战略选择

纵向观察,建国以来中国周边安全环境总体向好,但时起时伏;横向比较,当前中国周边安全环境依然严峻。当前中国周边安全环境的现状是北稳南动,西缓东急。当前中国周边安全环境面对的最大挑战有朝鲜半岛安全问题、中日钓鱼岛主权与东海划界问题、南中国海问题、美国对台军售问题,以及复杂的中印关系等。当前中国周边安全战略应继续坚持与邻为善,以邻为伴的大方针;继续坚持睦邻、友邻、安邻和富邻的周边外交政策;具体执行中采取睦北、缓西、稳南和进东战略,为中国未来10年黄金发展期创造和平安宁的周边环境。     

Extensions of linear diagonal-parameter symmetry and quasi-symmetry models for cumulative probabilities in square contingency tables

For square contingency tables with ordered categories, CAUSSINUS [Annales de la Faculté des Sciences de l'Université de Toulouse (1965) Vol. 29, pp. 77–182] and AGRESTI [Statistics and Probability Letters (1983) Vol. 1, pp. 313–316] considered the quasi-symmetry and the linear diagonal-parameter symmetry models, respectively, which have multiplicative forms for cell probabilities. This paper proposes two kinds of models that have the similar multiplicative forms for cumulative probabilities that an observation will fall in row (column) category i or below and column (row) category j (> i ) or above. The endometrial cancer data are analyzed using these models.     

Cross-sectional earnings risk and occupational sorting: The role of risk attitudes

This paper investigates to what extent individuals' risk preferences are correlated with the cross-sectional earnings risk of their occupation. We exploit data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, which contains a direct survey question about willingness to take risks that has been shown to be a behaviorally valid measure of risk aversion. As a measure of earnings risk, we use the cross-sectional variation in earnings that is left unexplained by human capital variables in Mincerian wage regressions. Our evidence shows that individuals with low willingness to take risks are more likely to work in occupations with low earnings risk. This pattern is found regardless of the level of occupation categories, region, gender and labor market experience.     

The interaction effect of gender and ethnicity in loan approval: A Bayesian estimation with data from a laboratory field experiment

Microfinance targets women and uses loan provision as a tool for empowerment, which translates into better household nutrition, improved education, and a scale down of domestic violence. However, ethnic discrimination in microfinance may exist in countries with a segregated indigenous population. We assessed this possibility with a field experiment in Bolivia. The controlled laboratory experiment evaluated whether credit officers rejected microloan applications based on the interaction effect of ethnicity and gender of potential borrowers. Point estimates of a Bayesian mixed‐effects logistic regression, estimated with the experimental data, indicate that nonindigenous women have double the chance of loan approval, but indigenous women have only 1.5 times the chance of loan approval when compared with men. While the findings about gender are limited, the evidence for the interaction of gender and ethnicity is more robust and suggests the existence of positive taste‐based discrimination favorable for nonethnic women in Bolivia. We conclude that the affirmative actions towards women promoted by development agencies and microfinance institutions must not overlook ethnicity as an important factor for financial policies of sustainable development. In practice, these policies should be aimed at identifying and reducing both social desirability bias and the structural barriers to financial inclusion that indigenous women may face when trying to obtain access to a loan.     

Production-location decision and free entry oligopoly: A correction

This paper shows that there is no interior solution in Mai–Hwang's 1992 oligopolistic location model with free entry when the production function exhibits constant or decreasing returns to scale. The comparative static results of the impact of a demand change on the location decision only apply to the case where the production function exhibits increasing returns to scale. It re-examines the impact of a demand change on the location decision of an oligopolistic firm and corrects the propositions derived by [C.C. Mai, H. Hwang, Production-location decision and free entry oligopoly, Journal of Urban Economics 33 (1992) 252–271. Reprinted in: M.L. Greenhut, G. Norman (Eds.), The Economics of Location, vol. I: Location Theory, Edward Elgar, Aldershot, 1995].     

港澳珠大桥的方案选择与财务可行性分析

首先介绍了港澳珠大桥的主要方案及分歧所在,然后从区域经济角度进行客货量预测,根据客货量预测和区域基础设施的发展规划,探讨大桥的功能定位并选择最佳方案——中线方案,最后根据客货量预测探讨了大桥的财务可行性,得出结论,港澳珠大桥财务可行。     

社区商业文化价值的开发

社区商业文化产生于社区商业细致入微的服务及相对稳定的服务对象两者之间积极互动的过程。社区商业经营活动的过程就是社区商业文化形成的过程。质优价宜的商品、全面细致的服务、社区活动的参与和促销宣传活动的结合,强化了社区网点与社区居民之间的亲和关系。充分发挥社区商业文化吸引消费、引导消费的价值,必须从战略的高度对待选址、服务配套、人员配备、参与社区建设等经营管理的问题。     

企业可持续发展的战略选择：社会责任管理

在经济全球化的背景下 ,社会责任管理是任何一个企业都不能回避的问题 ,它关系到企业的生存和发展。企业应该把社会责任管理作为可持续发展的战略选择 ,并努力构建有效的社会责任管理模式。