Declining Discount Rates: The Long and the Short of it

The last few years have witnessed important advances in our understanding of time preference and social discounting. In particular, several rationales for the use of time-varying social discount rates have emerged. These rationales range from the ad hoc to the formal, with some founded solely in economic theory while others reflect principles of intergenerational equity. While these advances are to be applauded, the practitioner is left with a confusing array of rationales and the sense that almost any discount rate can be justified. This paper draws together these different strands and provides a critical review of past and present contributions to this literature. In addition to this we highlight some of the problems with employing DDRs in the decision-making process, the most pressing of which may be time inconsistency. We clarify their practical implications, and potential pitfalls, of the more credible rationales and argue that some approaches popular in environmental economics literature are ill-conceived. Finally, we illustrate the impact of different approaches by examining global warming and nuclear power investment. This includes an application and extension of Newell and Pizer [‘Discounting the benefits of climate change mitigation : how much do uncertain rates increase valuations?’ Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 46 (2003) 52] to UK interest rate data.     

企业间专业化分工与产业集群组织发展——基于交易费用的分析视角

从劳动的专业化分工入手,本文通过揭示产业集聚降低区域企业交易费用,指出发生在产业关联企业间而不是企业内的专业化分工是产业集群组织发展的基本动力。大量的产业关联企业在区域内聚集发展,不仅能够降低企业内生交易费用,而且能够降低外生交易费用,使人们劳动的专业化分工深化沿着大量地理接近的企业间而不是数量有限的企业内进行,从而为产业集群发展给出了一个具有新制度经济学含义的理论解释。     

A hierarchical model of the determinants of non-performing assets in banks: an ISM and MICMAC approach

The banking systems of emerging economies in general and India in particular are facing sustained impairment due to mounting non-performing assets (NPAs). In the absence of stringent policies and their implementation, the results will be detrimental and may eventually lead to an economic crisis. Thus, it is imperative to unearth the causal factors and mitigate the risks involved with rising NPAs. The study attempts to identify the determinants of NPAs from the existing literature and subsequently, explore the interlinkages between the identified factors. A model of these factors is developed using Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) and MICMAC approach. Key managerial insights were obtained by the suggested model, specific to the Indian context. The hierarchical model provides a clearer perspective about the relationship between the factors and suggests that economic conditions and political factors are the key drivers which impact the ownership pattern and adherence to the regulatory framework; these further impact the internal factors related to the banks and borrowers’ capacity to repay. The study will act as a scaffolding for policymakers and bankers. Based on these findings, better instruments and mechanisms for recovery/management of NPAs can be put in place.     

The Effects of Public Ownership and Regulatory Independence on Regulatory Outcomes

We examine the effects of public ownership and regulatory agency independence on regulatory outcomes in EU telecommunications. Specifically, we study regulated interconnect rates paid by entrants to incumbents. We find that public ownership of the incumbent positively affects these interconnect rates, and suggest that governments influence regulatory outcomes in favor of incumbents in which they are substantially invested. However, we also find that the presence of institutional features enhancing regulatory independence from the government mitigates this effect. In order to study regulatory independence, we introduce a new cross-country time-series database—the European Union Regulatory Institutions (EURI) Database. This database describes the development of institutions bearing on regulatory independence and quality in telecommunications in the 15 founding EU member states from 1997 to 2003 *We thank Laurent Pipitone for superb research assistance. Geoff Edwards thanks the Sasakawa Foundation and the Institute of Management, Innovation and Organization at the Haas School of Business for generous financial assistance, and London Business School for non-financial support. Leonard Waverman thanks the Global Communications Consortium for support     

Regulatory and environmental effects on public transit efficiency: a mixed DEA-SFA approach

This paper assesses the impact of regulatory and environmental factors and statistical noise on the efficiency of public transit systems within a DEA-based framework. Using a panel of Italian companies, we implement a DEA-SFA mixed approach based on [H.O. Fried et al. (2002) Journal of Productivity Analysis, 17(1–2), 157–174] to decompose DEA inefficiency measures into three components: exogenous effects, managerial inefficiency and stochastic events. Besides providing evidence on the determinants of input-specific efficiency differentials across companies, the results point out that managerial skills play a minor role, and emphasize the relevance of regulatory policies aimed at replacing cost-plus subsidization with high-powered incentive contracts as well as improving environmental conditions of public transit networks.      

基于“消亡模式”的并购企业文化整合

并购企业的文化整合方式有多种模式选择。在论述“消亡模式”文化整合及其适应条件下,对并购企业采取“消亡模式”文化整合的过程和方法进行了探讨;提出了从全新的心智模式上升为企业的规章制度,并形成新的企业文化过程中,管理职能所起的特定作用;结合联想并购IBM全球PC业务案例,进行了应用分析。     

论会计事项的认定与会计确认

符合确认标准的会计事项是会计确认的对象,会计确认是会计事项进入财务会计系统的第一道关口,两者关系十分密切,本文对会计事项作了科学界定,并针对不同事项的认定说明其对会计确认对象、观点和时间的影响,为科学合理地确认会计事项提供了理论指导。     

面向CRM的数据挖掘应用

近几年来，信息在企业发展中的关键地位得到了越来越多的关注，赢家往往是那些能成功收集、分析、理解信息并根据信息决策的企业，而新型电子商务的关键是它与消费者之间的关系。本文研究了数据挖掘技术在客户关系管理（CRM）中的运用，讨论了企业如何理清和客户之间的关系。     

基于提前期和价格折扣的延迟交货和库存策略研究

研究了基于提前期和价格折扣的延迟交货和库存策略,其中的价格折扣是基于提前期的价格折扣,即当出现缺货而不能在既定的提前期内交货时,企业就会提供一个价格折扣,这时会有一部分顾客愿意等待,直到订单被满足,即延迟交货。其中,愿意等待延迟交货的比例跟提前期成反比关系,提前期的各部分都可以通过增加成本来实现压缩。     

Modelling of repairable systems with various degrees of repair

The availability of a stochastic repairable system depends on the failure behaviour and on repair strategies. In this paper, we deal with a general repair model for a system using auxiliary counting processes and corresponding intensities which include various degrees of repair (between minimal repair and perfect repair). For determining the model parameters we need estimators depending on failure times and repair times: maximum likelihood (ML) estimator and Bayes estimators are considered. Special results are obtained by the use of Weibull-type intensities and random observation times.