Insider,outsider and information heterogeneity

In financial markets, although the insider has superior information relative to the outsider, the outsider may possess some information the insider can’t precisely observe. This work investigates the impacts of information heterogeneity between the insider and outsider based on Foster and Viswanathan (1994). It shows that the less the insider knows about the outsider, the more she commits to aggressive trading, enabling her to earn more at the cost of outsider’s losses. Meanwhile, information heterogeneity improves the liquidity and benefits noise traders.     

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.     

Balance-of-payment-constrained growth in unbalanced productive structures: disregarded terms of trade negative effects

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to analyze the relation between foreign asset formation (FAF) and terms of trade (TOT) in countries characterized by unbalanced productive structures (UPS). This is done by modifying the structuralist thesis about the (overstated) positive effects of a rise in TOT on the balance-of-payment equilibrium gross domestic product growth rate. The theoretical analysis follows Thirlwall’s law and its subsequent modifications. The paper’s main contribution will be to explain and formalize the low—and even null—effects of TOT on balance-of-payment constraints due to the quasi-rent generated in the export sector of a UPS. To reinforce this idea, the empirical section econometrically shows the existence of a significant and positive relationship between TOT and FAF in developing countries.     

Consumption-based CAPM with belief heterogeneity

This paper finds that the risk–return relationship of the consumption-based CAPM is robust to the heterogeneity in agents׳ beliefs. First, the effect of disagreement cancels out in the limit as risk tolerance approaches zero. Second, although low risk aversion and large disagreement can significantly distort the security market line (SML) and the effect is amplified in a dynamic model, per capita volatility of consumption growth is implausibly high compared to empirical estimates from microeconomic data. Third, increasing risk aversion and lowering disagreement levels can help to reduce per capita volatility, however the impact of disagreement on the SML also become negligible.     

Foreign investors and stock price efficiency: Thresholds,underlying channels and investor heterogeneity

This paper examines the relationship between foreign shareholding and stock price efficiency for Malaysian public listed firms over the 2002–2009 sample period. We use stock price delay as an inverse measure of price efficiency, and consider the speed of adjustment to local and global common factor information. The results show that foreign investors accelerate the incorporation of both types of common information into the prices of Malaysian stocks, mainly due to their superior skills in processing systematic market-wide factors. However, we find evidence of optimality in foreign shareholding, suggesting that the efficiency benefit disappears after foreign ownership exceeds a certain threshold level. Further analyses shed lights on the channels and moderating variables driving this non-monotonic relationship. Our disaggregate analysis on foreign investor heterogeneity shows that foreign investors who trade through nominee accounts are elite processors of public market-wide and firm-specific news in the Malaysian stock market.     

全要素生产率、融资约束与企业对外直接投资

从微观层面检验全要素生产率、融资约束对企业对外直接投资的影响，展现全要素生产率与融资约束的交互效应。研究发现，全要素生产率越高的企业对外直接投资可能性越大，融资约束越少的企业对外直接投资的可能性越大。全要素生产率与融资约束存在替代关系，融资约束的负作用仅在全要素生产率较低的企业呈现。全要素生产率的提高能抹平融资约束对企业对外直接投资的负向影响。进一步，在内资企业和出口企业全要素生产率和融资约束对企业对外直接投资的交互效应更强。内资企业更能发挥全要素生产率的提高抹平融资约束对企业对外直接投资负向影响的作用，但该抹平作用仅在内资出口企业中成立。     

新闻语篇中的互文性与杂语性——从批评性话语分析角度对一篇CNN报道的浅析

从批评性话语分析的角度来分析新闻报道,其中话语文本互文性的重要性是显而易见的。话语表现和杂语在文本中表现各自权力阶级的权势和意识形态。反之,权力和意识形态也影响着话语的产生和形成。     

贫困地区小农户农业技术采纳意愿及其异质性分析——基于“信息—动机—行为技巧”模型

运用"信息-动机-行为技巧"（IMB）行为改变模型,探讨贫困地区农户农业技术采纳意愿的影响因素,分析不同贫困程度、不同经营规模、不同收入结构农户农业技术采纳意愿影响因素的异质性。研究发现：采纳动机、农技技巧对农户农业技术采纳意愿有显著影响,非农收入、预期收益、农业劳动力数量、风险态度、风险保障、科技培训和经营规模是影响农户采纳意愿的关键因素。不同类型的农户农业技术采纳意愿的影响因素具有差异。家庭经营规模、科技培训对贫困户农业技术采纳意愿影响更显著,农业技术信息获取渠道、非农收入对非贫困户农业技术采纳意愿影响更显著;劳役动机和农业技术使用技巧对经营规模较小的农户农业技术采纳意愿更显著;农业技术了解程度对以农业收入为主的农户农业技术采纳意愿影响更显著,非农收入、驻村农业技术员对以非农收入为主的农户农业技术采纳意愿影响更显著。