METROPOLITAN HOUSE PRICES IN SOUTH AFRICA: DO THEY CONVERGE?

The question this paper investigates is whether or not different metropolitan areas each constitute a separate housing market or whether or not there is a single South African housing market. Theory on the Law of One Price suggests that if products or geographic areas belong in the same market, their absolute prices must converge, so that their relative prices are stationary. By using cross-sectional time series data of five metropolitan areas, the paper tests for the Law of One Price by applying the Im, Pesaran and Shin panel unit root test. The paper finds strong evidence of convergence in large middle-segment house prices and weaker support for convergence in medium middle-segment house prices. In addition, the paper finds no evidence for convergence in small middle-segment house prices. This suggests the existence of a national market for large and possibly middle-segment houses in metropolitan areas, but separate metropolitan markets for small middle-segment houses. In addition, the paper estimates the speed of convergence and finds that large middle-segment house prices converge within two to seven quarters, while the speed of convergence for medium middle-segment house prices in three of the five areas is five to eight quarters.     

美国会计目标研究的历史考察及其对我们的启示

会计目标不仅是一个重要的理论问题,亦是一个重要的实际问题。美国是世界上研究会计目标最早、取得研究成果最丰富的国家之一。从美国会计学会1966年发表基本会计理论研究公告算起,美国从事会计目标研究已有30余年的历史。美国会计学会、会计原则委员会、特鲁布罗德委员会、财务会计准则委员会都对会计目标的研究作出过重要贡献,形成了像基本会计理论公告、APB第4号报告、特鲁布罗德报告和企业财务报告的目标等一系列研究成果。通过对美国会计目标研究历史的分析,我们从中可以得到如下三点启示: 第一,会计目标的研究与对会计本质的认识密不可分; 第二,会计目标研究应密切联系一定的社会经济环境; 第三,会计目标研究应采取理论分析与实证研究相结合的方法。     

Wage and Price Inflation in Poland in the Period of Transition: The Cointegration Analysis

The paper focuses on the long run relationships between wages, prices and labour productivity in the Polish economy by applying recent developments in the field of multivariate cointegration analysis. We followed modeling strategy which is suggested by Greenslade et al. (1999) and present all stages of the analysis which leads to the fully economically identified system of equations representing long run relationships. The investigation is based on the quarterly data from 1992.1 to 1999.2 which covers the period of transition of the Polish economy from the centrally planned system towards the market one. Basing on the empirical results we can argue that wages (costs) were one of the main forces driving inflation in Poland during that period. Also labor productivity proved to be stimulated by the increase of the real wages. On the other hand the hypothesis concerning the relationship between wages and unemployment was rejected by the data.     

Optimal Patent Protection in a Two-Sector Economy

This article addresses the issue of optimal patent protection in an economy with a downstream and an upstream sector. The key insight is that higher patent protection in the downstream sector raises the incentives of agents to do R&D in that sector but discourages innovation in the upstream sector because of a market size effect. Hence, higher patent protection in the upstream sector accelerates growth whereas higher patent protection in the downstream sector slows it down. If some innovation is socially desirable, optimal patent protection is necessarily higher in the upstream than in the downstream sector.     

会计准则国际趋同的报告

全球六家主要的国际会计师事务所在2003年2月12日发布了一份最新的国际财务报告准则(IFRS)调查报告:《会计准则的国际趋同报告——2002年全球调查》。该项调查的目的是评价世界各国采纳《国际财务报告准则》的情况和完备程度。调查背景介绍随着国际投资者越来越多地在全球范围内考虑其投资决策,对一个全球一致的财务会计框架的要求也越来越强烈。2001年4月,国际资本市场提出,改组后的国际会计准则委员会应该担负起制定全球统一的、高质量会计准则的使命。世界上主要的会计师事务所对国际会计准则委员会在制定全球统一的会计准则方面所作出…     

反腐败之"高薪养廉"对策辨误

“高薪养廉”是很多人极力推崇的对策之一，无论是从理论上还是实践上看，“高薪养廉”都不适合中国国情，不能从根本上解决腐败问题。腐败问题的解决是一项系统工程。