Societal preferences for fertility treatment in Australia: a stated preference discrete choice experiment

Objective: To investigate preferences for fertility treatment from the Australian general population with the aims of calculating the willingness to pay in tax contribution for attributes (characteristics) that make up treatment and for an “ideal” fertility treatment program. We also assessed whether willingness-to-pay varies by the relationship status or sexual orientation of the patient.

Methods: A stated preference discrete choice experiment was administered to a panel of 801 individuals representative of the Australian general population. Seven attributes of fertility treatment under three broad categories were included: outcome, process, and cost. Attributes were identified through published literature, focus group discussions, expert knowledge, and a pilot study. A Bayesian fractional experimental design was used, and data analysis was performed using a generalized multinomial logit model. Further analyses included interaction terms and latent class modeling.

Results: Six of the seven attributes influenced the choice of a treatment program. Under process attributes, individuals preferred: continuity of care of clinic staff, where patients are seen by the same doctor but different nurses at each visit; “alternative” treatments being offered to all patients; and onsite clinic counseling and peer-support groups. Personalization and tailoring of the treatment journey were not important. Among outcome attributes, the improved success rate of having a baby per cycle and significant side-effects were considered important. Cost of treatment also influenced the choice of treatment program. Individual preferences for fertility treatment were not associated with patients’ relationship status or sexual orientation. Latent class modeling revealed sub-groups with distinct fertility treatment preferences.

Conclusion: This study provides important insights into the attributes that influence the preferences of fertility treatment in Australia. It also estimates socially-inclusive willingness-to-pay values in tax contributions for an “ideal” package of treatment. The results can inform economic evaluations of fertility treatment programs.     

加速城市建设应注意的几个问题

目前,我国城市化进程不断加快,城市数量增加,规模扩大,成效显著.但是,也必须清醒地看到,城市建设工作中的短期行为和浮躁之风相当严重,应当引起人们的高度重视.本文认为,城市规模扩张必须以产业支撑为前提,不能搞空壳城市;城市公共设施建设慎向民资伸手,不能滥用市场化手段;居民区搬迁改造应多些人文关怀,不能一拆了之;应遵循城市发展的客观规律,正确处理城市建设中的几个关系问题.     

关于我国财政政策导向调整的研究

近年来我国实施的积极财政政策确实在很大程度上促进了经济和社会的发展。但是随着经济市场化程度的不断提高和经济环境的变化，这种积极财政政策也表现出诸多的不适应性。因此应适时调整财政政策导向以适应经济和社会发展的新要求。拟从我国近年来实施的积极财政政策的成效分析出发，阐述了当前调整财政政策导向的必然性，并提出了今后我国财政政策的调整方向。     

公众参与城市绿色空间管理维护 ——以坦纳斯普瑞公园为例

“公众参与”广泛应用于以美国为代表的西方现代景观规划设计领域。随着社会的发展在美国等国相继出现“公众参与”城市绿色空间管理维护的趋势，人们逐渐意识到管理维护对城市绿色空间的重要性。以美国波特兰市坦纳斯普瑞公园为典型案例，通过实地调查、文献研究、访谈、归纳推理等研究方法，从公园建设背景、设计特色出发，回顾“公众参与”前管理维护的困境，阐述“朋友和伙伴”项目的发展历程、工作内容及成效，总结“公众参与”后期维护管理的意义，分析成功推行的原因。“公众参与”有助于解决目前中国城市公园管理维护面临的投入资金不足、游人素质偏低等问题，对未来城市公园管理工作的发展具有重要启示意义。     

Anticipated Environmental Policy and Transitional Dynamics in an Endogenous Growth Model

This paper makes a new attempt toinvestigate how an anticipatedenvironmental policy governs the transitionaldynamics of an economy when pollutionexternality is taken into account. Themodeling strategy we use is an AK technologyendogenous growth framework with an endogenousleisure-labor choice. It is found that, unlikeinelastic labor supply framework, a rise inpublic abatement expenditure will stimulate thebalanced economic growth rate. It is alsofound that public abatement technology plays animportant role in determining the transitionaladjustment of the economic growth rate inresponse to a pre-announced environmentalpolicy.     

世界遗产:公共产权的转移与约束

世界遗产是具有公共产权性质的特殊资源，应由国家进行永久性保护。但由于目前我国文物保护经费的不足，以及现行体制把世界遗产的管理权分散到地方政府各部门，在获得保护经费及旅游利益的驱动下，部分遗产地出现了过度开发现象，导致世界遗产保护区的城市化与商业化．出现保护与开发矛盾的根本原因，在于世界遗产公共产权私人化趋向，导致其外部性的增强．可能的解决途径是世界遗产公共产权由中央或地方的国家单一部门管理，以实现产权的硬约束，并且建立旅游收益与保护资金之间，政府与旅游企业之间的平衡。     

美国公共预算改革的途径:管理、政治和法律

公共预算是通过分配有限资源来实现人类各种不同目的的公共行政活动,目前是公共行政的核心所在。为解决如何分配资源的问题,美国公共预算领域产生并发展了多种预算研究途径,戴维.H.罗森布鲁姆将它们归纳为管理途径、政治途径与法律途径。本文试图从该视角入手,以此对美国公共预算改革进行历史的回顾,探析公共预算改革的发展趋势,从而阐明在实践中运用各种预算理论解决不同预算问题的可行性和必要性。     

基于城市公交系统的 B2C电子商务物流配送解决方案

随着电子商务的发展，电子商务中的物流管理越来越受到商家的重视。本文结合现阶段中国物流配送行业的状况和城市公交系统的特点，提出了基于城市公交系统的服务于B2C电子商务的第三方物流配送的解决方案。并对该模式下的工作流程、关键问题和该方案的可行性进行了分析。     

The flypaper effect and political strength

Simple models of local government behavior predict equal effects of private income and unconditional federal grants on local government expenditures. Numerous empirical analyses, however, find that the effect of grants is larger than the income effect. We argue that this flypaper effect may be a result of weak political leaderships in multi–issue and multi–party decision–making environments. In multi–issue institutions, a strong political leadership may reduce inefficiency due to interest group influence and inter–party bargaining in the local council. Utilizing data for Norwegian local governments in the 1930s, we find that political strength reduces the size of the flypaper effect. When the local council consists of only one political party, we cannot reject absence of a flypaper effect, while the flypaper effect is large in fragmented local councils. Received: June 2000 / accepted: February 2001     

Impatience and equilibrium indeterminacy

This paper extends the neoclassical one-sector optimal growth model by postulating that individual agents’ time preference (impatience) depends on the economy-wide average consumption and average income, which are social factors taken as external by individual agents. The paper shows that with the socially determined individual time preference local equilibrium indeterminacy can arise. Moreover, local indeterminacy can also be associated with global indeterminacy in many cases. The results hold in models with bounded and unbounded growth.