Managing leverage of infrastructure projects: Aggregate and sectoral risk effect

Funding for infrastructure projects recently shows that debt has a portion more than equity, triggering public debates. Therefore, leverage as an instrument to measure the ability and willingness of project sponsors to fund becomes the utmost importance to discuss. Relating to leverage, risk and government participation are two main factors that can explain the choice of funding decisions by the project sponsors. For this reason, this study would analyze the effect of risk and government participation on leverage through the two main sectors of infrastructure projects, namely the transportation sector and the energy sector, and derivating risk to political risk and financial risk. The objects of research were 976 infrastructure projects listed in the Asian Development Bank during 2007−2016. We use censored regression to examine the model by infrastructure sectors, both as individual and through interaction effects. The analysis showed that overall, leverage of infrastructure projects was rather influenced by financial risk than by political risk. However, the leverage of infrastructure projects in the transportation sector was more vulnerable to risk than that in other sectors.     

Unlocking the potential of advanced manufacturing technologies

This research examines whether investments in advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) such as flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), computer aided design (CAD), computer aided manufacturing (CAM), robotics, etc., are more likely to lead to improved performance if they are supported by improvements in the manufacturing infrastructure of the company. This question is evaluated using data gathered from 202 manufacturing plants chosen from industries generally considered to have relatively high investments in technology.Multiple item scales are developed and adapted from sources in the literature to measure investments in technology, infrastructure, and the performance of the plant. Evidence supporting the reliability and validity of these scales is provided. Hierarchical regression is used to analyze the relationship between technology, infrastructure, and performance. The results suggest that there is an important interaction between the adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies and investments in infrastructure. Firms that invest in both AMTs and infrastructure perform better than firms which only invest in one or the other. Separate analyses on sub-samples of firms with the highest and lowest investments in AMTs show that infrastructural investments have a stronger relationship with performance in the high investment group. Thus, the data indicate that infrastructural investments provide a key to unlocking the potential of advanced manufacturing technologies.     

突发公共卫生事件的 应急医疗资源配置研究——基于网格化管理和大数据平台

应急医疗资源是应对突发公共卫生事件最重要的物质基础和保障。在对前人研究进行总结的基础上,分析了目前我国在突发公共卫生事件时应急医疗资源调配机制的不足和网格化管理应用到资源配置中的可行性和优越性,以此将大数据平台和网格化管理模式引入到应急医疗资源的配置研究中。在对应急医疗资源的配置过程进行网格化模型设计的基础上,根据我国应急医疗资源配置的需要和特点,确定了网格系统中的基本单元,即网格划分,并选择五层沙漏模型作为突发公共卫生事件时应急医疗资源配置的网格模型架构,以期完善我国的应急资源管理体系,进一步提高我国在突发公共卫生事件时应急医疗资源的调配和管理水平。     

天津市城市基础设施需求弹性测度研究

通过对相关文献和城市基础设施投资决策的政绩、寻租、效率以及需求导向进行分析,并利用修正的鲍莫尔模型,可为分析居民需求弹性对基础设施投资倾向的影响提供了一个微观的理论框架。结合天津市基础设施建设的实证分析,从经济性基础设施和社会性基础设施两方面,探讨基础设施需求弹性反映出的结构差异。     

Deregulating Network Industries: Dealing with Price-quality Tradeoffs

This paper examines the effects of introducing competition into monopolized network industries on prices and infrastructure quality. Analyzing a model with reduced-form demand, we first show that deregulating an integrated monopoly cannot simultaneously decrease the retail price and increase infrastructure quality. Second, we derive conditions under which reducing both retail price and infrastructure quality relative to the integrated monopoly outcome increases welfare. Third, we argue that restructuring and setting very low access charges may yield welfare losses, as infrastructure investment is undermined. We provide an extensive analysis of the linear demand model and discuss policy implications.     

天津物流业基础设施及发展水平统计分析

物流业是天津市重点发展的支柱型产业.本文旨在介绍天津物流业的现状,并对物流产业水平进行系统的统计分析,为宏观物流政策的制定提供依据.     

基础设施与制造业发展关系研究

本文从历史与实证的角度 ,以中国改革开放 2 0年的实践为案例 ,用计量分析的方法测算基础设施与制造业发展之间的相互关系及相互影响的方向及程度 ,在此基础上提出了促进基础设施与制造业协调发展的建议     

On the Relationship between Japanese Manufacturing Firms and their Domestic Subsidiaries

Much past research on ownership policy has dealt with foreign subsidiaries. In this paper, we study the ownership relationship between Japanese firms and their publicly-traded domestic subsidiaries. Using a transaction cost framework, we find that benefiting from high subsidiary profitability is not the sole motivation behind parent firms' decisions regarding equity control of their subsidiaries. Our results indicate that different policies are adopted by Japanese firms with respect to domestic and foreign subsidiaries.     

Texas 9-1-1: Emergency telecommunications and the genesis of surveillance infrastructure

Infrastructures of surveillance—everyday, taken-for-granted, institutionalized and technically mediated practices which identify, observe, and analyze individual actions—permeate society. These infrastructures mediate the production of social knowledge and action toward individuals. This article examines the genesis of one such infrastructure, namely the coordinated practices of identifying and locating mobile phone users during emergency (9-1-1) calls. Implementing this infrastructure has entailed creating and coordinating systems to locate wireless phones, to deliver the emergency calls to the appropriate service agency, and to deliver appropriate services to the emergency event. This implementation has occurred within historically specific regulatory, political, cultural, technological, and economic contexts and has specific implications for general surveillance practice. Focusing primarily on the state of Texas, this article examines the development of systems which store and deliver individuals’ geographic location. It argues that, despite privacy laws tightly restricting the use of information generated in the 9-1-1 process, and despite the special purpose to which the 9-1-1 system is dedicated, the wireless 9-1-1 initiative has created the infrastructure for a general purpose locational surveillance infrastructure capable both of surveilling broad patterns of activities and of responding to particular individuals. Moreover, the infrastructure is more available to police agencies and to well-established and well-funded corporate entities than to grass roots organizations. This trend is driven by the need to coordinate a national emergency response system within a fractured telecommunication industry, by the desire of marketers to understand and address their customers’ habits of mobility, and by an increasing willingness of police agencies to include widespread surveillance under the rubric of “emergency services.” Policy responses such as greater ability to opt out of the surveillance system, public oversight of emergency operations, and greater public access to the infrastructure itself might mitigate the most harmful potential social effects of this infrastructure, while distributing its benefits in a more democratic and egalitarian way.     

抢抓成渝“双圈”机遇打造川南渝西联动发展新支点的思考

根据中央成渝双城经济圈建设的战略决策和四川省、泸州市相关部署,结合天华公司"十四五"规划和现实情况,认真学习贯彻落实上级部署要求和讲话精神,学以致用,融会贯通,抢抓自身优势,科学谋划,主动融入双城经济圈建设,积极推进公司高质量发展,实现天华的二次腾飞和再塑辉煌。