Why Sweden's pension reform was able to be successfully implemented

Governments that do not reform pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension systems will eventually face a pension crisis. In a democracy, reforms require majority support. The problem is that pension reform requires today's generation to bear the burden to avoid burdening tomorrow's generation. Sweden recently passed pension legislation that specifies a gradual transition from a public defined-benefit plan to a defined contribution plan. Why was Sweden successful in reforming its pension system? We find that a political economy perspective helps to answer this question: there are more winners who would vote in favour of the reform than non-winners who would vote against it. When comparing the net effect (present value of expected benefits minus present value of remaining contributions) of the new and old systems, contributions of the working generation (age < 53) are reduced by more than their expected benefits.     

Regret in auctions: theory and evidence

The sealed-bid first-price auction of a single object in the case of independent privately-known values is the simplest auction setting and understanding it is important for understanding more complex mechanisms. But bidders bid above the risk-neutral Nash equilibrium theory prediction. The reasons for this “over bidding” remain an unsolved puzzle. Several explanations have been offered, including risk aversion, social comparisons, and learning. We present a new explanation based on regret and a model that explains not only the observed over bidding in sealed-bid first-price auctions, but also behavior in several other settings that is inconsistent with risk aversion. The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation.     

人口规模、经济增长与碳排放:经验证据及国际比较

根据国际能源署（IEA）公布的1971—2008年碳排放数据,探讨中国与典型发达国家、发展中国家（G8＋5）人口规模、经济增长与碳排放变化的差异性。结果表明：随着GDP增长,中国碳排放快速增长,人均碳排放已超过世界平均水平;单位GDP碳排放持续降低,但依然高于世界平均水平。利用秩相关系数检验人均GDP与单位GDP碳排放,发现7个发达国家均呈显著下降趋势,发展中国家南非、中国呈显著下降趋势,巴西、印度、墨西哥呈上升趋势但并不显著;人均GDP与人均碳排放秩相关系数表明,7个发达国家中,美国、法国、德国、英国呈显著下降趋势,加拿大呈不显著上升趋势,日本、意大利呈显著上升趋势;5个发展中国家处于工业化快速发展阶段,能源消费急剧增加,随着人均GDP增长,人均碳排放均呈显著上升趋势。基于此,归纳出世界主要发达国家和发展中国家人口增长、经济增长与碳排放变动的三种模式。     

以均衡为目标的车辆调度问题研究

针对物流配送企业私人承包车辆以及均衡配送线路工作量等新的物流管理理念,提出新的车辆调度模型,将车辆调度问题（VRP）转换为车辆选型和车辆路径优化两个子问题,设计Ak-FirstFit混合算法解决车辆选型问题,运用遗传算法解决车辆路径问题。基于JAVA编写计算机程序,运行结果表明该两阶段算法能够在有效时间内得到满意解。与基于传统物流管理理念的模型进行比较,得出新的两阶段模型能充分体现兼顾效率与公平思想的结论,其理念在物流配送企业中具有相当的借鉴性和推广前景。     

我国上市公司会计信息失真的原因及对策探讨——基于经济学角度分析

目前我国上市公司会计信息披露中存在较多问题,上市公司散布虚假信息、欺诈投资者的现象屡屡发生。本文试从经济学角度对会计信息的披露进行研究,通过构建博弈模型,分析会计信息失真的原因,并提出解决问题的方法。     

THEORY AND EVIDENCE IN PSYCHOLOGY AND ECONOMICS ABOUT MOTIVATION CROWDING OUT: A POSSIBLE CONVERGENCE?

The empirical relevance of motivation crowding out is a controversial issue in economics and psychology. As already pointed out by Frey and Jegen ( 2001 ), this is partly due to the historical development of two distinct and parallel strands of literature that stem from different theoretical traditions, have radically different tenets and therefore, are difficult to reconcile. In this survey, we go back to the details of the debates that took place independently among psychologists and economists, and sketch an integrative interdisciplinary approach likely to favor a more fruitful collaboration between economics and psychology. From this perspective, experimental economics (both field and laboratory) is viewed as a major research field shedding new light on the conditions of relevance of motivation crowding out.     

经济学实验室建设在高等职业学校教学中的应用

随着经济全球化和全球信息化的快速发展,社会对经济与管理类专业人才的需求越来越迫切。但是,要培养出大量合格的、具有创新精神和实践能力的经济与管理类专业的高素质人才,必须要有高水平的实验室作为保障。如何培养和造就厚基础、宽口径、高素质、强能力、重实践、重个性的经济管理类应用型人才成为经济管理类院校的新课题。而加强实验室建设,则成为使学生既了解经济及管理科学的理论,又掌握动手实践的技能的有效路径。     

Examining human resource management outsourcing in Hong Kong

This study explored the state of human resource (HR) outsourcing in the Asian context, a particularly important subject given its rapid proliferation in Europe and North America, the inconsistent and limited evidence from prior research, and its strategic importance to the human resource management (HRM) function. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data and the transaction cost, resource-based, and institutional perspectives, we found that although respondents were generally favourable towards outsourcing, that in practice its adoption and diffusion were in a nascent stage in Hong Kong. Decisions to outsource were, by and large, incremental and experimental and influenced by a range of contextual factors (e.g., availability of in-house expertise, skills and creativity, strategic priorities, legislation (coercive), availability of external service providers, and industry and peer (mimetic) influence). Despite considerable pressure to cut costs, instead of outsourcing in the first instance, firms placed greater emphasis on maximising internal resource utilization (insourcing). Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are also provided.     

A theory of the firm's demand for HRM practices

Empirical data are presented that reveal a large variation in the pattern of HRM practice adoption across firms. The paper then develops an economics-based theory that explains this pattern. The model broadens the HRM concept; models the linkage between HRM practices and firm performance (the ‘black box’); generates an HRM input demand function and demand curve; formalizes the concept of strategic HRM; suggests a new empirical tool for HRM research; generates new hypotheses and insights on the nature of the HRM–firm performance relationship; suggests that existing theories of the HRM–firm performance relationship are seriously mis-specified; and posits that on theoretical grounds the effect of more HRM on firm performance in long-run competitive equilibrium is not positive but zero.     

奥地利学派对理论经济学前提的追问——论米塞斯的经济认识论

奥地利经济学有着坚实的哲学认识论基础.在社会科学的定位上,奥地利经济学反对逻辑上的心理学要素,反对本能主义、行为主义和整体主义,主张有机的自由主义;在经济学的定位上,奥地利经济学反对笼统地划分理性与非理性,反对对经济学作表面层次的物质主义的定义,强调稀缺性由其引致的自由选择才是经济学的根本前提.