Extensions of linear diagonal-parameter symmetry and quasi-symmetry models for cumulative probabilities in square contingency tables

For square contingency tables with ordered categories, CAUSSINUS [Annales de la Faculté des Sciences de l'Université de Toulouse (1965) Vol. 29, pp. 77–182] and AGRESTI [Statistics and Probability Letters (1983) Vol. 1, pp. 313–316] considered the quasi-symmetry and the linear diagonal-parameter symmetry models, respectively, which have multiplicative forms for cell probabilities. This paper proposes two kinds of models that have the similar multiplicative forms for cumulative probabilities that an observation will fall in row (column) category i or below and column (row) category j (> i ) or above. The endometrial cancer data are analyzed using these models.     

Demand for milk quantity and safety in urban China: evidence from Beijing and Harbin

Urban households account for most of the milk consumption in China, but their consumption is hampered by safety concerns. Using survey data collected in Beijing and Harbin in 2010, this paper simultaneously analyses urban households' milk consumption using a multiple linear model and their willingness‐to‐pay for milk safety using an ordered choice model. The results of this study show that as income increases, urban households consume more milk and are willing to pay a higher premium for milk safety. Modern food marketing channels play a positive role in stimulating milk consumption and building consumers' confidence in milk safety. The growth in the elderly population influences milk consumption positively, but their demand for milk safety is negatively affected by higher price. The combined analysis of households' demand for milk quantity and safety may be useful to the Chinese government in promoting the development of the domestic milk industry and to dairy firms in exploring the milk market in China.     

Seasonal Adjustment in a Market for Female Agricultural Workers

This article explores seasonal adjustment in the market for temporary agricultural labor. We estimate a model of participation allowing for unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity/selection bias using daily observations from Chilean panel data, and a model of daily earnings. Results indicate that seasonal wage variation is an important aspect of labor-market adjustment, contributing to a large change in labor force participation. The labor force participation rate of women is significantly more elastic to changes in the expected wage than is that for men. Nonetheless, we find evidence of substantial open unemployment during the slack season, especially for females, probably due to frictional and efficiency wage effects.     

福建茶叶企业融资优先序及其影响因素分析

在理论分析茶叶企业融资优先序及其影响因素的基础上,通过福建茶叶企业的实地调研,运用ordered logistic针对茶叶企业的融资选择行为进行实证分析,结果发现,企业的经营年限、企业的注册资本、企业主的受教育程度、企业主的管理年限、茶叶企业的利润以及企业融资的外部环境对企业的融资顺序选择有着显著的影响,并得出茶叶企业融资的优先序,进而提出改变产品的销售渠道、提高企业主的受教育程度等政策建议。     

环境规制对产业结构的作用机理研究

利用1998年-2014年全国各省的面板数据,通过理论分析与联立方程模型的构建,实证研究了环境规制对产业结构调整的作用机理。研究发现:环境规制对产业结构的调整存在倒逼机制和空间异质性,即提高环境规制强度能够促进产业结构的调整,中部效应最明显,东部次之,西部效应不明显。因此,从全国的角度来讲,国家应采取科学合理的环境经济手段,适当提高环境规制程度,发挥其对产业结构调整的促进作用;从区域的角度来讲,地方政府应根据本区域的环境状况和经济发展状况,制定相应的环境规制政策,发挥其最大效用,增加社会福利。     

The Food (In)Security Impact of Land Redistribution in South Africa: Microeconometric Evidence from National Data

The South African land-reform program has been widely criticized for its slow pace as well as its apparent lack of contribution to poverty reduction. No econometric evidence of the impact of land transfers has been provided to date and this paper attempts to fill this gap by considering the impact of receiving a land grant on households’ food insecurity. Propensity score matching and univariate probit estimates using two national household surveys indicate that, on average, land grant recipients are more food insecure than comparable non-participants. Recursive bivariate probit estimates suggest that selection bias is not driving this result.     

Capital buffer and credit‐risk adjustments in Islamic and conventional banks

The main purpose of this article is to empirically investigate the interactions between changes in capital buffer and changes in credit risk, using panel data of Islamic and conventional banks located in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region over the period 1999–2016. A negative two‐way relationship between the changes in capital buffer and the changes in credit risk is found for the two types of banks, that is, banks tend to decrease their capital buffers in response to an increase in risk exposure and limit their risky activities in response to an increase in their capital buffers. Dividing our period of study into three subperiods to assess the effect of the last financial crisis 2007–08 on the adjustment process, we point out the negative bidirectional relationship between the changes in capital buffer and the changes in credit risk of the two types of banks is present for the three subperiods except the case of conventional banks during the precrisis period. Moreover, we provide evidence that Islamic banks adjust their capital buffer in response to the changes in credit risk regardless of the existence or not of a deposit insurance scheme. In contrast, the negative two‐way relationship between the changes in capital buffer and the changes in credit risk in conventional banks is found only in countries without deposit insurance schemes.     

Public and private healthcare services: What drives the choice?

This paper has explored patients' propensity to consume private healthcare services. We based our analysis on the typical tangible and intangible (for instance, responsiveness, reliability, assurance and staff empathy) domains of the SERVQUAL and SERVPERF methods. These variables may influence patients' decision-making when they choose between the public and private sectors. We combined factor analysis (to obtain a set of latent factors related to perceived quality) and a partial proportional ordered logit model to estimate the probability that a patient would access private healthcare services. To test the main hypotheses, we used data from a stratified sample in Sardinia, a peripheral region of Italy. Findings revealed that private and public healthcare are substitutes, especially for primary/specialised services. Patients who used public healthcare frequently and had a low income were unlikely to change to private healthcare or to recommend private services. ‘Responsiveness’ and perceptions on ‘tangibles’ were key in determining the probability that a patient would choose and recommend private services. This paper offers a multifaceted framework that can be used in future research to generalise these findings, especially in insular regions that are constrained by mobility.