Term Structures in the Office Rental Market in Stockholm

This paper contains an empirical study of the rental term structure in a property market that included a dramatic boom and bust cycle. The study is applied to office leases in commercial properties located in Stockholm CBD, Sweden. The time period under study is 1977–1991. The number of observations (lease contracts) that we were able to make full use of in the regression analyses is n=861. For seven out of fifteen years studied, a significant term structure was observed. The estimated hedonic rent equation was also used to construct an office rental index.     

Reserves and cash flows under stochastic retirement

Uncertain time of retirement and uncertain structure of retirement benefits are risk factors for life insurance companies. Nevertheless, classical life insurance models assume these are deterministic. In this paper, we include the risk from stochastic time of retirement and stochastic benefit structure in a classical finite-state Markov model for a life insurance contract. We include discontinuities in the distribution of the retirement time. First, we derive formulas for appropriate scaling of the benefits according to the time of retirement and discuss the link between the scaling and the guarantees provided. Stochastic retirement creates a need to rethink the construction of disability products for high ages and ways to handle this are discussed. We show how to calculate market reserves and how to use modified transition probabilities to calculate expected cash flows without significantly more complexity than in the traditional model. At last, we demonstrate the impact of stochastic retirement on market reserves and expected cash flow in numerical examples.     

Quantitative Analysis of Foreign Trade and Environmental Efficiency in China

This article analyzes the relationships among trade, the economy, and environmental quality in China. First, in the context of these relationships, the Super-SBM model is used to calculate the environmental efficiencies of thirty Chinese provinces and cities to obtain the degrees of regional disparity. Second, China’s provincial panel data from 2003 and 2012 are used to establish an influential factor indicator system of environmental efficiency. A section-weighted fixed effect model then provides insights about influential factors such as spatial heterogeneity. Third, the article establishes a variable coefficient model to identify the relationships among the objects of the study and divides the Chinese regions into four types. The suggestions include enhancing environmental and business regulations to ensure equilibrium between trade, the environment, and local economies.     

京沪高速铁路生态现代化的思考——基于区域生态系统项目的技术经济评价模型

京沪高速铁路生态系统建设将是中国东部六省市率先实现生态现代化的重大契机,正外部性效应是京沪高速铁路生态系统项目技术经济评价的主要特征,管理部门有必要定量测算其复合生态系统的生态正外部性并使正外部效应内部化.根据京沪高速铁路生态系统的收益应该等于其具有私人品属性的正产品收益和具有正公共品属性的副产品收益之和这一原理,可以设计京沪高速铁路生态系统技术经济评价的三个主要指标,它不仅可以用于其项目评价,而且从理论上为政府最大限度地支持生态系统的发展,提供一个定量测度的工具.     

考虑环境因素的中国电力能源效率测度与改进

在界定全要素电力能源效率概念的基础上,构建了考虑环境因素的非径向全要素电力能源效率DEA模型。利用相关数据,从省际、区域两个层面对我国30个省(自治区、直辖市)的电力能源效率进行测度分析。结果显示:在全国30个省(自治区、直辖市)中,只有14个省区的电力能源效率是有效的,且这些省区不存在电力节能潜力;北京、天津、上海三大城市的平均电力能源效率最高,西部地区的该均值最低;我国省际电力能源效率存在显著的区域性差距,且4大区域的电力能源效率存在一定的梯度差距;对省区进行投入、产出调整,可使全国的电力消费量缩减6309.08亿千瓦小时。最后提出提高我国电力能源效率的政策建议。     

Time and process in business network research

This Special Issue of Industrial Marketing Management brings together a range of articles by authors who have undertaken the difficult task of researching time and process in business networks. Understanding interaction processes within a business relationship and network perspective requires the elaboration of time, the central construct by which humans grasp and comprehend change. As an introduction to the articles we present the concept of human time and delineate accordingly three methodological approaches available for the study of network processes. We also introduce the authors' contributions to the special issue that broadly divide into two groups: those that deal with methodological issues concerning the study of processes in business networks and those that consider the role of time and timing for studying business processes.     

Globalization and Uncertainty: Earnings Volatility in Sweden, 1985–2003

Earnings volatility has been linked to economic integration only through contradictory conjectures. We assess globalization’s role by examining volatility trends in manufacturing, private services, and public services. If trade increases uncertainty, volatility trends should differ markedly across industries since manufacturing, in contrast to especially public services, is exposed to international competition. We analyze earnings trajectories in Sweden 1985–2003, a country and period evincing accelerating trade, finding no indications of greater volatility increases in manufacturing.     

FLOWS OF THE PACIFIC: ASIAN FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKETS THROUGH TRANQUILITY AND TURBULENCE

Using the longest data set on foreign exchange (FX) order flow to date, along with the broadest coverage of currencies to date, we examine the effect of FX order flow on exchange rates across small and large currencies, currencies with floating or fixed regimes, and across both tranquil and turbulent periods. Over our 15 years of data for 11 Asian and Australasian currencies, we find that order flow has a potentially strong impact on all exchange rates in the sample. The effect is strongest on floating exchange rates, both economically and statistically, but is sizeable also on the other exchange rates, especially during periods of turbulence. By creating a measure of regional order flow, we show that all exchange rates depreciate as flows are moved out of Asia/Australasia and into US dollars. This is true both across regimes and if their own flow is not included in the structure of the regional flow.