我国经济开放、地区分割影响技术差距的实证分析

采用我国1992～2007年的省际面板数据,以我国商品市场分割和省际贸易合作来度量地区分割,发现我国地区分割程度不断下降;进一步分析地区分割、经济开放影响地区技术差距的机制,建立技术差距的影响因素模型.实证结果表明,地区分割妨碍落后地区的技术进步,加剧了我国地区间的技术差距;扩大出口贸易,提高引资份额在一定程度上有利于落后地区的技术收敛;研发、市场化改革对技术差距的缩小也有积极作用.     

论保护保险消费者利益与保险业的科学发展

如何践行科学发展观是在当前经济形势下任何行业都要思考的问题,对于发展还不成熟的中国保险业而言,这个问题就显得更为重要。本文从保险的基本原理出发,论证了保护保险消费者利益与保险业科学发展之间的辩证关系,分析了目前市场上存在的因为忽视保护保险消费者利益而妨碍保险业科学发展的现象,并在此基础上提出了从保护保险消费者利益出发促进保险业科学发展的政策建议。     

Market Segmentation Effects in Corporate Credit Rating Changes: The Case of Emerging Markets

We examine stock market reactions to corporate credit rating changes in 26 emerging market countries included in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Emerging Market Index. We hypothesize and test the notion that emerging market firms in the American Depository Receipts (ADRs) markets are more likely to purchase ratings from the Big Two (Moody’s and S&P), and that they react more strongly to the announcements of corporate rating changes by Moody’s or S&P than to those of raters in local markets. We compare the effect of credit rating changes of the Big Two in two emerging stock markets: local markets (local currencies) and ADR markets (U.S. dollars). We find significant price reactions in the ADR markets, and insignificant reactions in local markets, and conclude that there is capital market segmentation in ADR markets for credit rating changes of emerging market firms. We find evidence that investors react more strongly in the ADR markets than local markets because they require higher costs of capital for firms cross-listed both in the ADR markets and local markets due to greater expected bankruptcy costs and foreign exchange risks of those firms. We also report that stock markets react significantly, not only to rating downgrades, but also to upgrades in the ADR markets.

Modeling the factors affecting rural consumers’ purchase of organic and free-range produce: A case study of consumers’ from the Island of Arran in Scotland,UK

This paper investigates the roles of personal, product related and economic factors in predicting rural consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions towards organic and free-range produce. A conceptual model is derived and tested via structural equation modeling on a sample of 222 rural consumers. The results show that attitude is explained by consumers’ food safety concern, ethical lifestyle and price perceptions. Attitude partially mediates the effects of ethical lifestyle and price on intention to purchase organic produce as well as the effect of ethical lifestyle on intention to purchase free-range produce. Attitude assumes a more central role in fully mediating the effect of food safety concern on intention to purchase organic produce, as well as the effect of price on intention to purchase free-range produce. Overall the conceptual model of consumer decision making performs well in both organic and free-range contexts yielding similar results.     

Credit risk modeling strategies: the road to serfdom?

This paper aims at presenting some practical issues in modeling default risk of a single commercial credit counterparty from the perspective of a large retail bank. We define default risk as the probability that a counterparty’s intrinsic credit quality deteriorates within a given time horizon such that contractual agreements cannot be honored. This work gives an insight into using scoring/rating models in a credit environment of a large European bank. Contrary to many banks, we did not define the segments in a first step with a view to developing the rating tools in a second step. Our approach has, to some extent, followed a different path. Iteratively, we both defined the borders for a particular segment and selected an appropriate rating tool. More particularly, customer segmentation has been carried out on the basis of various rating tools’ goodness-of-fit criteria. The topics cover customer segmentation using goodness-of-fit measures, data measurement levels and optimization algorithms, rating tool calibration to the central default tendency and communication to the end user. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An investigation of consumer intention to use pick-up point services for last-mile distribution in a developing country

Pick-up point services are one response to last-mile distribution challenges in the e-commerce growth scenario. However, in large cities in developing countries where the low-income and high-income groups are clearly divided, differences in consumer behavior between income groups may affect service distribution. The literature shows that most consumers may use pick-up points when available. However, the service implementation is facing huge inertia. A survey was carried out with 396 consumers in São Paulo, and a conceptual framework was proposed to expand the Diffusion of Innovation Theory to reveal these behaviors. Data were accessed using advanced structural equation modeling techniques (Multigroup and IPMA) to conduct a case study. The findings suggest that ‘Trialability’, ‘Compatibility’, and ‘Relative advantage’ constructs most affect consumer behavior. Location security and accessibility are matters of great concern. The higher preference to use the pick-up point system comes from low-income consumers (social classes D and E); almost 96% of them reported being affected by delivery issues. They also prefer personal attendance and supermarkets as safe and accessible locations. Higher social classes (A and B) still prefer home delivery. This research will help retailers to understand how to operate in a given market to provide an effective, fair, and sustainable service, promoting its diffusion.     

Protecting the Most Vulnerable in Consumer Credit Transactions

There are two key ways in which the Australian Uniform Consumer Credit Code seeks to protect consumers in relation to consumer credit transactions. The first is by means of disclosure regulation where information is required to be disclosed to the consumer before the credit contract is entered into and the second is by way of “safety net” provisions, where contracts can be varied or set aside in the event of hardship, a finding that the transaction was unjust, or a finding of unconscionable fees or charges. This article explores the limitations of both of these means of protection, particularly in the case of vulnerable, low-income consumers. In order to highlight the inadequacies of these forms of consumer protection and the need for regulatory reform, we draw on interviews conducted with 30 low-income consumers who had recently signed a credit contract, focusing on their understanding of information disclosed in the contract, as well as their responses to hypothetical unfair terms and their understanding of their rights, for example in the event of an unjust transaction. These interviews were conducted as part of a joint research project between Brotherhood of St Laurence and Griffith University’s Centre for Credit and Consumer Law, funded by Consumer Affairs Victoria.

市场细分的新方式：产品知识——以手机产品为例

随着互联网等信息技术的发展．消费者获取知识和信息的成本将越来越低。消费者在搜集资料阶段总是通过种种手段获取相关的产品知识．并用于购前评估和购买过程两个阶段。本研究以手机产品为例,通过聚类分析的统计方法．依据顾客对产品知识的情况对消费者市场进行了细分研究。     

劳动力市场分割加剧了工资扭曲吗?--来自中国省际工业部门的经验证据

本文基于超越对数生产函数的随机前沿分析( SFA)方法测算中国省际工业部门的工资扭曲指数,通过可有效控制内生性问题的系统广义矩估计方法考察劳动力市场分割等因素对工资扭曲程度的影响,发现中国省际工业部门的工资扭曲程度要比现有研究结论严重得多,工资扭曲程度呈加重态势;西北偏远地区的劳动力市场分割程度较重,东部沿海省份的劳动力市场分割程度较轻;在控制相关因素后,劳动力市场分割将加剧工资扭曲程度。因此,逐步消除各省市之间的劳动力市场分割现象,可有效缓解中国工业部门的工资扭曲程度。