Gender heterogeneity in the sell-side analyst recommendation issuing process

Using analyst stock recommendations issued between January 1996 and December 2006 we show that the odds for female financial analysts to issue optimistic investment advice is 40% lower than for male analysts. Although 17% of our sample of analysts is female, 48% is employed by a top financial institution and for them the odds to issue optimistic recommendations are 16% lower than their male colleagues. The odds are even 30% lower than their female counterparts at non-top institutions. The observed gender heterogeneity cannot be attributed to differences in the risk characteristics of recommended stocks, experience or task complexity.     

Quality heterogeneity and global economic growth

This paper develops a fully endogenous, variety-expansion growth model with firm-specific quality heterogeneity, limit pricing, and an endogenous distribution of markups. Firms with high-quality products engage in exporting, firms with intermediate-quality products serve the domestic market, and inefficient firms with low-quality products exit the market. Trade liberalization, measured by a reduction in trade costs or a decline in foreign market entry costs, generates a reallocation of resources from low-quality to high-quality products and exit of inefficient firms. However, it has ambiguous effects on the average global quality level, long-run growth, and welfare. An increase in the rate of population growth or in the intensity of trade-related knowledge spillovers accelerates economic growth. The laissez-faire equilibrium is inefficient, and this leaves room for welfare-improving government intervention.     

Biocapacity supply and demand in Northwestern China: A spatial appraisal of sustainability

Integrating spatial analysis with the supply and demand of biocapacity is critical for the sustainable development of regional eco-economic systems. Previous studies have focused on the temporal analysis of biocapacity at broad geographical scales, but lacked the systematic spatial realization at fine scales. An improvement is proposed of this conventional methodology of the ecological footprint by incorporating land-use data derived from high-resolution remote-sensing images into the calculation of biocapacity supply at regional, provincial and county levels in Northwestern China in 2000. The spatial heterogeneity and its effect on the biocapacity supply were systematically revealed for this region. First, the biocapacity supply declined from the east (the Guanzhong Basin and the Loess Plateau) to the middle (the Qaidam Basin and the Turpan Basin), and turned to rise from the middle to the west (the northwest of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomy). Second, although the gap between biocapacity supply and demand resulted in a small ecological deficit at the regional level, a large ecological deficit was observed at the provincial and county levels, highlighting an unsustainable situation for some of the sub-regions. Importantly, a power law relationship was unveiled between the biocapacity supply and population density, suggesting that (i) the biocapacity supply as a critical indicator could reflect the intensity of human exploitation on local biophysical resources and (ii) humans tend to have a preference to inhabit those areas with high biological productivity. These results provide opportunities to enhance policy development by central and local governments as part of the long-term Great Western Development Strategy of China.     

The effect of individual ‘ability to choose’ (scale heterogeneity) on the valuation of environmental goods

Environmental valuation methods, such as choice experiments, are increasingly being used to value complex and often unfamiliar environmental goods. A potential risk is that some survey respondents may not be capable of developing and expressing preferences for such goods. The noise from these individuals may then conceal the well-defined preferences of other respondents and affect valuation estimates. We address this problem by estimating a range of models that accounts for scale heterogeneity (which we interpret as a respondent's ability to choose: ATC) and taste heterogeneity. These models are applied to two case studies: amenity from coastal defence and biodiversity. In both case studies, model fit was improved in a scale-heterogeneity multinomial-logit (S-MNL) model (compared to a standard MNL model) suggesting the accounting for ATC (scale heterogeneity) improved preference revelation. A mixed multinomial-logit (MIXL) model outperformed the S-MNL model suggesting that accounting for taste heterogeneity was also important. However, a generalised multinomial-logit (G-MNL) model improved model fit over the MIXL model only for the biodiversity data suggesting that for these data both taste heterogeneity and ATC were important. We conclude that accounting for ATC can improve the reliability and robustness of the results when valuing complex or unfamiliar environmental goods.     

基于空间异质性的中国能源消费强度研究——资源禀赋、产业结构、技术进步和市场调节机制的视角

本文基于资源禀赋、产业结构、技术进步和市场调节机制的视角分析能源消费强度的影响因素,采用空间变系数的地理加权回归模型（GWR）进行实证研究,通过对比分析揭示了经典OLS方法无法模拟地域间各种影响能源强度的因素的空间异质性问题。研究结果显示：能源资源禀赋与能源强度成正比关系,但GWR回归弹性系数差别很小;工业和重工业弹性的省域间差异性十分显著,是能源强度的重要影响因素;技术进步降低了能源消费强度,但从系数来看,地区间略有差别;在市场调节机制下,能源价格变量在统计上不够显著;外商直接投资和对外开放有力地降低了能源强度,其中外商直接投资对西部地区作用较大,而对外开放对东部沿海地区影响较大。本文研究结论为制定差异化的政策提供了理论依据。     

我国对外直接投资与对外贸易的关系——基于变参数模型的分析

选取我国1980—2009年的数据,建立了对外直接投资与对外贸易之间的变参数模型。实证结果表明,对外贸易是对外直接投资的原因,对外直接投资不是对外贸易的原因;而且在不同的时期对外贸易与对外直接投资之间既有替代关系又有互补关系。     

城市中心职能分异视角下住宅价格影响因素的空间异质性研究——以武汉市为例

职能分异的城市多中心结构有效缓解了资源配置的不经济问题,但同时也对住宅价格产生了复杂深远的影响。以城市职能各异的武汉“三镇”为例,运用空间自相关、地统计分析、地理时空加权回归模型,对住宅价格空间特征及其影响因素的空间异质性进行了实证分析。结果表明:武汉“三镇”中,武昌住宅价格空间分布呈同心圆模式,汉口呈扇形模式,汉阳呈多核心分布模式;绿化率、公园距离和生态环境分别为建筑、区位和邻里特征中对住宅价格作用力最强的驱动因素;差异化城市职能中心住宅价格影响因素存在明显空间异质性,汉口受区位特征驱动影响最强,武昌受区位特征和邻里特征影响最强,汉阳受建筑特征影响最强。基于研究结果,提出了结合城市中心职能引导要素流通与资源配置、促进房地产市场有序发展等对策建议。     

Bidders' and Sellers' Strategies in Sequential Auctions. New Evidence about the Afternoon Effect

Using dynamic panel data econometric techniques, we analyzethe price structure of sequential auctions of modern and contemporary art that took place inItaly during the period 1983–1996. Contrary to previous empirical studies, we do not find anyafternoon effect, or decline of auction prices relative to estimated values. Taking intoconsideration the structure of the auctions and the dynamic nature of price determination, we proposean interpretation of the empirical results that encompasses previous contributions.     

Tax competition with heterogeneous firms

A model of tax competition in which firms earn rents is described. The size of these rents, coupled with the degree to which the firms are foreign-owned, determine the equilibrium tax rates. The existence of rents significantly alters some generally accepted results involving the possibility of a Pareto-improving common tax rate and the underprovision of publicly provided goods.