Transport development and the evolution of economic geography

In this paper, based on the recent advances in the new economic geography (e.g., Fujita et al. [12]), we analyze impacts of transport costs on the spatial patterns of economic agglomeration. We first identify prototypes from the existing models, and explain the mechanism of how transport costs influence the balance between economic forces of agglomeration and dispersion. We then investigate the transformation of the agglomeration/dispersion patterns given gradually decreasing transport costs for different goods.Received: Received: July 2004 / Accepted: January 2005, Accepted: Received: July 2004 / Accepted: January 2005, JEL Classification: R12Tomoya Mori: Correspondence toThe authors are grateful to David Bernstein, Tatsuo Hatta, Komei Sasaki, Tony E. Smith, and two anonymous referees for their valuable comments. This research is partly supported by The Grant in Aid for Research 08403001 of Ministry of Education, Science and Culture in Japan, the Murata Science Foundation, and WESCO Civil Engineering Technology Foundation.     

高管层内部的级差报酬研究

本文通过对我国上市公司2004年度数据的实证研究发现, (1)随着高成长公司竞争者人数的增加、公司所处地区发达程度的提高和公司规模的扩大,公司高管层级差报酬会随之增加;随着低成长公司竞争者人数的增加和公司所处地区发达程度的提高,公司高管层级差报酬会随之增加。(2)高成长公司和低成长公司在赋予高管层级差报酬影响因素的权重上没有显著差别。(3)高成长公司的高管层级差报酬与公司市场业绩之间存在正相关关系,低成长公司的高管层级差报酬与公司每股收益指标之间存在正相关关系;竞赛理论在我国上市公司中成立。     

Public–private partnerships in Social Impact Bonds: facilitating competition or hindering transparency?

ABSTRACT

The use of Social Impact Bonds (SIBs), which introduces the potential for investor profit in public service provision, has been widely discussed. Some argue that SIBs might promote government transparency because outcome data collection and evaluation are part of contractual terms. On the other hand, some argue that SIBs might hinder government transparency because more contractual parties might lead to more uncertain data ownership and because the profit motive transforms information into a competitive advantage. This paper looks at SIBs in five countries, examining how transparency differed between SIB and non-SIB financed programmes at the same social service provider. On the positive side, SIBs led to more and longer collection of outcome data and the publication of evaluations. On the negative side, it was found that SIBs tend to generate significant obstacles to the release of data to academic researchers and that sponsored evaluations do not measure impacts.     

浅析Apple Pay在华发展阻碍及其未来使用场景探究

近日,苹果公司推出Apple Pay夏日促销补贴活动,但其收效甚微。自Apple Pay进入中国以来,已有近一年半的工夫,而各种原因导致其在第三方移动支付市场中所占份额连1%都未到。但从最近苹果公司对Apple Pay的推广举措可以看出,Apple Pay正在探寻发展城市交通服务的消费使用场景。     

Increasing pay transparency: A guide for change

The gender pay gap is an important issue today in the U.S. The lack of transparency surrounding pay in businesses is viewed as one cause of this gap. The first section of this article explores the origins of the gender pay gap and presents a brief history of pay transparency. Then, I propose a framework built from three continua that breaks the concept of pay transparency into types and levels. Using this framework, I offer guidance to organizations that want to increase pay transparency. The article concludes with a discussion of the risks associated with increased pay transparency and suggestions for future research.     

Recentralization as an Alternative to Urban Dispersion: Transformative Planning in a Neoliberal Societal Context

Growing dissatisfaction with the prevailing dispersed urban form and its generalized reliance on the automobile has resulted in the formulation of planning models seeking to substitute dispersed development with recentralization. A survey of 301 planning documents with a metropolitan focus, originating from the 58 US and Canadian urban regions with a population exceeding one million, reveals widespread support for urban recentralization. But interviews with 55 planners, involved in the preparation of these plans and/or the implementation of their proposals, highlight actual and foreseen barriers to the implementation of recentralization strategies. The article interprets the popularity of recentralization in planning documents as the outcome of planners' attempts to reconcile their commitment to sustainable development with societal factors affecting planning possibilities. Still, we anticipate serious problems in achieving large‐scale recentralization due to urban development path dependencies emanating from the prevailing urban form and dynamics, institutional structures, and from the limited urban transformative potential afforded by neoliberalism.     

基于分形理论的特大城市新型产业空间发展演变研究——以广州商务办公空间为例

本文借助分形理论和集中指数测算,从街道和均一分析单元两种空间尺度对广州办公业空间集中与分散的演变趋势进行了定量研究。研究结果表明,无论是在街道还是在均一分析单元层面,广州商务办公空间的空间分维值呈逐渐上升趋势,广州商务办公空间的集中程度逐年降低,办公空间的空间垄断性已不明显,空间分散化趋势得到了确立。但集中指数仍然处于较高的水平,表明广州商务办公空间虽然出现了分散的态势,但总体上仍然处于集中阶段。     

The problem with pay flexibility: changing pay practices in the UK health sector

This paper critically assesses models and policies of pay flexibility as applied to the public sector. Examination of the arguments for greater pay flexibility across three dimensions - external labour market flexibility, organizational flexibility, and macroeconomic flexibility - reveals a number of weaknesses, rooted in a failure to problematize the conflicting motives for greater pay flexibility in the context of pressures internal and external to the organization. An alternative 'model' of changing pay systems is developed and applied to the case of the UK health sector where there have been attempts to introduce various forms of flexible local pay arrangements. Drawing on interviews conducted during the mid-1990s with personnel and HRM managers at fifteen NHS Trusts, a number of issues are examined, such as: the impact of differential external labour market conditions of workers on the development of strategies designed to tie local pay to improved performance; the introduction of performance-related pay as a means to institutionalize wider earnings differentials within the organization; and the potential conflict between pressures to link local pay structures with local labour market conditions, on the one hand, and customary employee-held norms that link pay to occupational skills and professional status, on the other.     

CEO Pay,Shareholder Returns,and Accounting Profits

We assess the impact on CEO pay (including salary, cash bonus, and benefits in kind) of changes in both accounting and shareholder returns in 99 British companies in the years 1972-89. After correcting for heterogeneity biases inherent in the standard specifications of the problem, we find a strong positive relationship between CEO pay and within-company changes in shareholder returns, and no statistically significant relationship between CEO pay and within-company changes in accounting returns. Differences between firms in long-term average profitability do appear to have a substantial effect on CEO pay, while differences between firms in shareholder returns add nothing to the within-firm pay dynamics.These findings call into question the rationale for explicitly share-based incentive schemes.