An economic evaluation of market development programmes for US dairy products

‘This study measured the effectiveness of US dairy export promotion programmes on increasing foreign demand and enhancing producers’ revenues. An import demand equation based on panel data was used to test whether export promotion has a positive and significant impact on US dairy exports. The effects of various promotion scenarios on the dairy market were then simulated, and benefit–cost ratios (BCRs) for these programmes were estimated. There were three key findings. First, the combined effort of public and private dairy export promotion expenditures had a positive and statistically significant impact on demand for US dairy products in the world market. The findings indicated that export promotion stimulated total dairy exports by 4.14 billion pounds, on average, per year, which represented 55.8% of total exports. Second, US dairy export promotion has been highly profitable for the nation’s dairy farmers. The calculated BCRs, based on assumed elasticity of supply, ranged from a low of 8.54 for the most elastic assumption to a high of 30.12. Third, from an optimality standpoint, dairy farmers are underinvesting in export promotion. The marginal BCRs ranged from a low of 3.79 to a high of 15.22, which means that, at the margin, increasing export promotion expenditures would be profitable for dairy farmers.     

药品平行进口的影响及政策取向分析

专利药品平行进口对药品专利权人及消费者利益产生不同的影响。根据药品平行进口产生的原因及我国的国情,我国应坚持区别对待的适度平行进口政策。     

ARE CONSUMERS MORE LOYAL TO NATIONAL BRANDS THAN TO PRIVATE LABELS?

The evolution of private labels (PLs) can be understood in terms of a strategy adopted by the retail industry with the aim of competing with national brands (NBs). In the 1990s, this strategy led to the development of ‘me too’ products, which currently represent the largest share of store brand products. Since the early 2000s, retailers have widened the range of their store brands by introducing high‐quality products. The aim of this study was to estimate consumers’ attachment to ‘me‐too’ and niche PLs respectively, as compared to NBs. We captured the degree of maturity of these PLs through their price‐elasticities, computed for three staple goods offered by three mass retail companies. It was found that price sensitivity does not differ much between the ‘me‐too’ PLs and the corresponding NBs. This result confirms that ‘me‐too’ products are now considered reliable quality brands. However, in the high quality segment, consumers remain more sensitive to the price of PLs than to that of NBs, a characteristic which may relate to their recent introduction on the market.     

中国农村反贫困指标评价新体系的构造

从中国国情出发,中国农村反贫困效益应由生态效益指标、经济效益指标、社会效益指标组成。在遵循综合性、可行性和易操作性的原则下,在借鉴现行中国农村反贫困效益指标的基础上,增加生态、生活福利等指标,才能成为较完整的中国农村反贫困效益指标体系。     

Technological Progress and Youth Employment in South Korea

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the extent to which technology progress and youth employment are related. In doing so, we divide workers into two groups – young workers and old (prime-aged) workers - and then estimate the elasticity of substitution between (physical) capital and workers à la Jaimovich et al. (2013. “The Demand for Youth: Explaining Age Differences in the Volatility of Hours.” American Economic Review 103 (7): 3022–3044) by using the Korean labour market data between 2000 and 2014. Our findings indicate that the elasticity of substitution is greater (or at least not smaller) for young workers than for old workers.     

The optimal asset allocation of the main types of pension funds: a unified framework

The existing literature deals with the optimal investment strategy of defined benefit (DB) or defined contribution (DC) pension plans. This article’s objective is to compare the optimal policies of different types of pension plans. This is done by first defining an original framework, which is based on the distinction between the nature of the guarantee—which can be internal or external—offered by or to a pension fund. This framework allows to establish links between optimization programs of DC, DB and targeted money purchase schemes. The case of an internal guarantee appears as a standard portfolio insurer’s problem. The second kind of guarantee, not analyzed in the literature yet with regard to the resulting optimal policy, is characterized by the existence of an option in the final wealth definition. Four funds are present in the internal guarantee optimal allocation: the speculative component, the preference independent guarantee- and contribution-hedge terms and the preference dependent state variable-hedge fund. The external guarantee program, solved with an original method using the principles of standard options theory, yields an optimal policy incorporating the delta of the option embodied in the final wealth definition. The conclusion is that the resulting optimal portfolio policy becomes riskier.

香港联系汇率制度的现实启示及未来挑战

本文针对香港联系汇率制度的形成历史以及原因,总结出香港的联系汇率制度形成的偶然性申的必然性,分析香港联系汇率割度的优势和弊端,以及此项制度对于香港金融市场的重大意义。针对日新月异的国际资本市场,香港也面临着挑战,香港也必须与时俱进,加强和人民币之间的联系,进而形成合理的汇率机制。本文最后勾画了香港汇率制度未来的发展前景。     

我国工业化过程与电力消费弹性系数演变过程的相关性

本文首先论述了电力消耗与经济发展过程的一般规律、电力消费弹性系数的演变规律和我国电力消费弹性系数的演变过程,然后分析了我国工业化过程与电力消费弹性系数演变过程的相关性,最后概括了主要结论并且提出了两个需要思考的问题。研究发现,由于我国正处于重工业化时期,电力消费弹性系数明显地大于1,而且第二产业耗费电力能源的比例持续上升。     

论“互惠性”假设对“经济人”假设的非理性冲击——基于委托代理模型的分析

互惠性偏好是行为经济理论中的一个重要研究领域,对传统的理性＂经济人＂假设提出了现实性的挑战。借助于激励理论中的委托--代理模型,通过互惠性假设下与＂经济人＂假设下的博弈均衡解的对比分析可知,新古典体系中的最优契约均衡存在着帕累托改进的可能。互惠性行为下的经济收益可以大于自利性行为下的经济收益,经济个体可以通过经济行为的调整与分配机制的变更来获取更大的利益,并促进组织利益、群体利益与社会利益的扩张。研究表明,长期在经济理论中居于主导地位＂经济人＂假设在现代经济社会中的实践性日渐衰退,包括＂互惠性＂假设在内的非理性假设存在着较高的现实意义。互惠性理论的提出不仅动摇了传统经济理论的基础,也促进了管理理论与管理行为的变革。互惠性理论从一个侧面为行为经济学提供了坚实的理论基础,巩固了行为经济学在现代经济理论中的卓越性地位。     

技术进步中生产要素产出弹性关系假说及其检验

本研究提出了一个生产要素产出弹性关系假说,即在技术中性条件下,管理要素的产出弹性与劳动要素的产出弹性成正比,与资本要素的产出弹性成反比。通过构建自变量包括资本、劳动和管理要素的简单宏观生产模型,理论上证明了上述假说,经验上利用1970-2006年美国的时间序列数据和OECD七国面板数据也较好验证了假说。这种理论假说的分析和研究结果为我国继续回到经济快速增长的轨道而进行的政策选择空间提供了一个方向性指导。