Not all high-alexithymia individuals are risk-takers: private self-consciousness moderates the relationship between alexithymia and risk-taking behaviours

This article concerns the influence which alexithymia exerts on risk-taking. In particular, alexithymia is seen as a factor which encourages risk-taking as it allows high-alexithymia individuals to feel emotions which are sufficiently intense to compensate for their deficit of emotional awareness. In this connection, we make the hypothesis that alexithymia’s influence is moderated by private self-consciousness (SC). This is because private SC increases the likelihood that high-alexithymia individuals become aware of their risk-taking tendency and that this tendency is discrepant with their pro-safety standards (‘putting someone in danger is bad’) or self-schemas (‘I am a responsible person’). Thus, private SC is likely to enable and motivate them to consciously regulate their behaviour in a safer direction. This hypothesis was empirically tested by a questionnaire amongst 372 French drivers, whose SC, alexithymia, as well as their current adoption of eight risky behaviours (with a more detailed analysis of speeding). The use of conditional process analyses reveal no main effects of alexithymia and private SC but strong interaction effects, while controlling for other predictors. More precisely, when private SC is low high-alexithymia individuals break more the speed limits and adopt more frequently risky behaviours than low-alexithymia drivers. Conversely, when private SC is high, they are less risk-prone. As practical implication, we recommend the use of techniques increasing private SC amongst high-alexithymia persons.     

Investment, uncertainty and irreversibility

This paper investigates the irreversibility of investments and the impact this has on the nature of the relationship between investment and uncertainty. The empirical analysis uses firm‐level data and is based on a survey of 210 rice‐milling firms in the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam, which was carried out during the year 2000. We show that uncertainty reduces investment of rice millers in the presence of irreversibility, as is predicted by the real options approach to investment. We do not find evidence that the negative association between uncertainty and investment is influenced by the degree of irreversibility.     

Pareto optimal chains of reinsurance

Extending Arrow (1963), we show that coinsurance is the optimal insurance scheme if all companies belonging to a chain of reinsurance are risk averse. The extent to which Borch's (1960) theorem and corollary are still valid in this context is investigated.     

What Prompts the People＇s Bank of China to Change Its Monetary Policy Stance？ Evidence from a Discrete Choice Model

In the present paper, we model the policy stance of the People＇s Bank of China （PBC） as a latent variable, and the discrete changes in the reserve requirement ratio, policy interest rates, and the scale of open market operations are taken as signals of movement of this latent variable. We run a discrete choice regression that relates these observed indicators of policy stance to major trends of macroeconomic and financial developments, which are represented by common factors extracted from a large number of variables. The predicted value of the estimated model can then be interpreted as the implicit policy stance of the PBC. In a second step, we estimate how much of the variation in the PBC＇ s implicit stance can be explained by measures of its policy objectives on inflation, growth and financial stability. We find that deviations of CPI inflation from an implicit target and deviations of broad money growth from the announced targets, but not output gaps, figure significantly in the PBC＇s policy changes.     

中国农业银行多业务光纤城域网建设

城域网是与局域网和广域网相对应的计算机网络的概念，数据通信和电信技术的发展赋予城域网新的内涵，将城域网的概念延伸到整个通信网络，泛指在城市及其郊区范围内提供多种业务的所有网络。城域网覆盖大约2公里到150公里的范围，是城市中作为局域网互连的高速网络，它以宽带光传输为开放平台。各个城市的城域网最终将透过更大范围的广域网络骨干相互衔接，最终形成一个全国或全世界规模的无所不在的网络。     

Syndicated Loan Announcements and Borrower Value

Announcements of syndication loans increase borrowers' shareholder wealth if they are revolving credit agreements but not if they are term loans. Share price responses to revolving credit announcements are positive and significant, whereas the wealth effect for term loans is negative and significant. The results show that announcements from both the financial press and commercial information providers can affect borrower share price reaction. Overall, single syndication announcements appear to be more newsworthy than multiple announcements reported in the financial press, and we find evidence of information leakage, post‐announcement drift, or both.     

COMMERCIAL ART MUSIC

A commercial environment is clearly good for contemporary popular music but can ‘art’ music flourish in such an environment? In the past art music has prospered on a commercial basis and there are advantages in exposing art to commerce. For example, commercial patronage is likely to be more diverse and allow more room for experimentation than a single patron or subsidising body. Moreover, commerce encourages two‐way communication between artist and audience.     

证券法上的民事责任功能研究

我国证券市场在短短十几年的时间内,在募集资金、推动国有大中型企业改制、优化资源配置等方面发挥了不可替代的重要作用.但不容乐观的是伴随着证券市场的发展各种违法违规现象在不断发生.尽管我国对证券违法行为明令禁止,并对严重的违法行为加以行政处罚甚至刑事制裁,然而证券市场上的违法行为仍然禁而不止.究其原因,除了管理层对证券市场发展的总体政策摇摆不定,监管者对违法行为处理不力等因素外,证券法上未建立完善的民事责任制度是重要的原因.本文从证券法上的民事责任功能的探讨入手,阐述了证券法上的民事责任具有的功能是证券刑事责任、行政责任所不能替代的原因,进而论证了建立完善的证券民事责任的必要性.     

基于异构数据库的企业产品质量控制模型设计

企业产品质量控制是一项复杂的系统工程,来自不同生产单元的数据具有较强的异构性,不利于质量控制系统的整合。基于XML的数据集成方案为解决这一问题提供了可能。文章探讨了基于XML的质量控制模型的架构,为产品质量控制提供了一个较好的平台。