组织机构代码数据质量现状及对策分析

本文通过对组织机构代码数据特征和应用的阐述,以及组织机构代码数据质量现状及影响主要因素的分析,就如何提高组织机构代码数据质量提出了几点对策。     

Efficiency of travel agencies: A case study of Alicante,Spain

This study analyses the relative efficiency of 22 travel agencies of similar characteristics based in Alicante (Spain). This analysis is carried out using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique and smoothed bootstrap. Following the analysis, possible lines of action that the agencies can take in order to improve their efficiency in the future are provided. Finally, using the Mann Whitney U Test, the relationship, or lack thereof, between the levels of efficiency of these agencies and their ownership type, location and level of experience is examined.     

我国金融发展对国际贸易的影响及区域差异——基于跨省面板数据的协整分析和广义矩估计

本文针对有关我国金融发展影响国际贸易的现有研究只重视国家层面、忽视区域差异的事实,基于跨省面板数据,运用面板协整理论和广义矩估计方法,不仅就全国整体,更深入东、中、西部区域内部实证分析了我国金融发展对国际贸易影响的长期均衡和短期动态影响。结果表明:无论是在长期,还是在短期,全国金融发展对进、出口都有着显著的促进作用,但在不同区域,其影响差异显著。其中,东部地区金融发展对进出口的长期促进作用明显大于中、西部地区;而短期内,虽然东部金融发展促进了进出口,但中、西部金融发展却不同程度地制约了进出口的发展。     

Convenient estimators for the panel probit model: Further results

Bertschek and Lechner (1998) propose several variants of a GMM estimator based on the period specific regression functions for the panel probit model. The analysis is motivated by the complexity of maximum likelihood estimation and the possibly excessive amount of time involved in maximum simulated likelihood estimation. But, for applications of the size considered in their study, full likelihood estimation is actually straightforward, and resort to GMM estimation for convenience is unnecessary. In this note, we reconsider maximum likelihood based estimation of their panel probit model then examine some extensions which can exploit the heterogeneity contained in their panel data set. Empirical results are obtained using the data set employed in the earlier study. Helpful comments and suggestions by Irene Bertschek and Michael Lechner are gratefully acknowledged. This paper has also benefited from comments by two anonymous referees and from seminar participants at the Center for Health Economics at the University of York. Any remaining errors are the responsibility of the author.     

Economic impact of onabotulinumtoxinA for overactive bladder with urinary incontinence in Europe

Background: Overactive bladder (OAB) is a common condition that has a significant impact on patients’ health-related quality-of-life and is associated with a substantial economic burden to healthcare systems. OnabotulinumtoxinA has a well-established efficacy and safety profile as a treatment for OAB; however, the economic impact of using onabotulinumtoxinA has not been well described.

Methods: An economic model was developed to assess the budget impact associated with OAB treatment in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, using onabotulinumtoxinA alongside best supportive care (BSC)—comprising incontinence pads and/or anticholinergic use and/or clean intermittent catheterisation (CIC)—vs BSC alone. The model time horizon spanned 5 years, and included direct costs associated with treatment, BSC, and adverse events.

Results: Per 100,000 patients in each country, the use of onabotulinumtoxinA resulted in estimated cost savings of €97,200 (Italy), €71,580 (Spain), and €19,710 (UK), and cost increases of €23,840 in France and €284,760 in Germany, largely due to day-case and inpatient administration, respectively. Projecting these results to the population of individuals aged 18 years and above gave national budget saving estimates of €9,924,790, €27,458,290, and €48,270,760, for the UK, Spain, and Italy, respectively, compared to cost increases of €12,160,020 and €196,086,530 for France and Germany, respectively. Anticholinergic treatment and incontinence pads were the largest contributors to overall spending on OAB management when onabotulinumtoxinA use was not increased, and remained so in four of five scenarios where onabotulinumtoxinA use was increased. This decreased resource use was equivalent to cost offsets ranging from €106,110 to €176,600 per 100,000 population.

Conclusions: In three of five countries investigated, the use of onabotulinumtoxinA, in addition to BSC, was shown to result in healthcare budget cost savings over 5 years. Scenario analyses showed increased costs in Germany and France were largely attributable to the treatment setting rather than onabotulinumtoxinA acquisition costs.     

中国股票市场的三因子时变风险溢价模型研究

Fam和French(1993)提出的三因子模型,已经被国外很多学者证明能较好的解释股票的收益率差异.本文正是在其理论基础上,采用了类似的验证方法来检验中国的股票市场是否能用三因子模型解释,结果发现在大部分行业,它也同样能适用于中国的股票市场.     

The impact of maize price shocks on household food security: Panel evidence from Tanzania

Using three waves (2008/09, 2010/11, 2012/13) of the Tanzanian National Panel Survey, this study investigates the impact of maize price shocks on household food security. Between 2008/09 and 2012/13, calorie intake stagnated for urban households, yet sharply deteriorated for rural households. The latter was driven by a significant decline in the consumption of the major staple maize which showed strongest price hikes among all major food items. Fixed-effects regressions indicate a clear negative relationship between maize prices and average household energy intake. Almost all population groups were found to be negatively affected by maize price shocks, with rural landless households being the most vulnerable group. In particular, a 50 percent rise in maize prices decreases caloric intake for rural (urban) households on average by 4.4 (5.4) percent, and for rural landless households by 12.6 percent. Results further indicate that subsistence agriculture can act as an effective strategy to insure against food price volatility.     

Does corporate social responsibility influence the corporate performance of the U.S. telecommunications industry?

This study uses a two-stage approach to explore the relationship between the operational performance of U.S. telecommunications companies and their implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR). In the first stage, this study adopts the dynamic data envelopment analysis model to measure the efficiency of the telecommunications industry in the U.S. from 2004 to 2008. The empirical results show that the corporate efficiency of those companies that implemented CSR was higher than that of those companies that did not. In the second stage, the study adopts OLS and 2SLS to explore the influence of the execution level of CSR on performance. The results show that the Kinder, Lyndenberg, and Domini & Co (KLD) social ratings indexes are significantly and positively related to corporate performance. Finally, this study suggests ways in which corporate policy makers can enhance CSR in order to improve corporate performance in the U.S. telecommunications industry.     

Food scandals,media attention and habit persistence among desensitised meat consumers

Consumer reactions to food scandals and their resulting economic implication are well documented. However, studies have typically neglected the roles that consumption habits and media usage behaviours may play in explaining household’s response to food safety incidences. In this study we develop a model of heterogeneous media usage intensity, information impacts and decay over time to estimate household’s behavioural responses to the 2011 German Dioxin scandal. We are specifically interested in determining the degree of heterogeneity in household’s short-term adjustments demand patterns versus persisting long-term consumption habits of meat products (chicken and pork) directly affected by the incident. The empirical analysis employs detailed household-level retail scanner and media usage data collected by the GfK Consumer Scan panel for a total of 16,023 households over a period of 104 calendar weeks. Results of dynamic correlated random effect Tobit models indicate an important role of unobserved heterogeneity in explaining household responses during the food scandal. We find strong empirical evidence supporting our hypothesis that short-term marginal adjustments in demand and propensity to buy affected products triggered by the negative impact of household media exposure were over-compensated by habit persistence. The question of how consumption patterns evolve over time in the presence of food scandals is expected to be of interest for both policy makers and the food industry. The potential biases in the projection of economic impacts resulting from simplifying assumptions of household’s response patterns to a proliferating numbers of food safety incidences has implications for risk management and public policy.