Do Germans Save to Leave an Estate? An Examination of the Bequest Motive

I investigate whether a bequest motive for savings influences the post-retirement wealth trajectories of German households. Two measures of the bequest motive are studied: the existence of children as the main group of potential heirs and the respondents' declared intention to bequeath. While having children has no significant impact on households' wealth trajectories, stated bequest intentions are associated with considerable heterogeneity in wealth holdings. The main conclusion from this study is that both the pure life-cycle model and the life-cycle model with bequest motives provide a valid basis for a theory of household wealth accumulation once the heterogeneity of preferences is acknowledged.
JEL classification : D 91; J 14     

我国建筑业全生命周期价值链的应用研究

长期以来,我国建筑业缺乏对全生命周期价值链管理的整体关注,价值链中各个环节相互脱节,没有共同的价值目标,导致了成本较高的现状。本文旨在通过对建筑业全生命周期价值链的分析,拓展我国建筑业成本管理的关注面。并通过工程总承包模式对现有价值链进行优化,把勘察、设计、施工归集在同一个主体下管理,提高用户对建筑产品的满意度,降低产品成本。     

基于产业集群生命周期理论的研究与探讨

对产业集群生命周期的正确认识与划分在区域产业集群的持续发展中有着重要的意义。本文首先对产业集群的概念及产业集群生命周期的理论进行了系统的回顾，接着重点对其相关研究成果进行了归纳，主要从产业集群发展动力与演进路径进行了阐述，最后提出了有待深入的相关研究与展望。     

Life-cycle funds: Much Ado about Nothing?

The core idea of life-cycle funds or target-date funds is to decrease the fund's equity exposure and conversely increase its bond exposure towards the fund's target date. Such funds have been gaining significant market share and were recently set as default choice of asset allocation in numerous defined contribution schemes or related old-age provision products in several countries. Hence, an assessment of life-cycle funds’ risk-return profiles – that is, the probability distribution of returns – is essential for sustainable financial planning of a large group of investors. This paper studies the risk-return profile of life-cycle funds in particular compared to simple balanced or lifestyle funds that apply a constant equity portion throughout the fund's term instead. In a Black–Scholes model, we derive balanced funds that reproduce the risk-return profile of an arbitrary life-cycle fund for single and regular contributions. We then analyze the accuracy of our results under more complex asset models with stochastic interest rates, stochastic equity volatility and jumps. We further show that frequently used ‘rule of thumb approximations’ that only take into account the life-cycle fund's average equity portion are not suitable to approximate a life-cycle fund's risk-return profile. Our results on the one hand facilitate sustainable financial planning and on the other hand challenge the very existence of life-cycle funds since appropriately calibrated balanced funds can offer a similar (often dominating) risk-return profile.     

产品生命周期成本的演进及其对成本管理的启示

本文重点分析了产品生命周期成本概念的演进过程，提出了产品的企业生命周期成本、用户生命周期成本和社会生命周期成本，并在此基础上分析了这三者之间的关系及其对企业成本管理的启示。     

经济条件、人口特征和风险偏好与城市家庭的旅游消费——基于国内24个城市的家庭调查

旅游者的旅游消费支出对旅游产业的发展至关重要。它是旅游者的经济条件、人口特征和行为特征等因素共同作用的结果。但国内现有的研究由于多采用宏观数据,缺少描述旅游者人口和行为特征的微观数据,对旅游消费支出的影响因素分析有失偏颇。文章采用2010年对中国24个城市的居民家庭进行调查收集到的旅游消费数据,综合考虑家庭的经济条件、人口特征和行为特征,以家庭为单位,采用广义线性模型定量研究了影响家庭旅游消费支出的影响因素。研究表明:除家庭资产和收入外,家庭对收入的预期显著影响家庭的旅游消费,这解释了旅游产业对宏观经济的变动比较敏感的原因。它折射的宏观经济意义是显而易见的:当经济不景气时,旅游业可能是率先遭受冲击的产业。反之,当经济向好发展时,旅游业也往往蒸蒸日上。以户主年龄作为代理变量,调查还发现城市家庭的旅游消费与家庭生命周期密切相关,当户主年龄在25~34岁时家庭旅游消费支出达到高峰。此外家庭的风险偏好也显著影响家庭的旅游消费支出。借鉴美国消费金融调查用分类变量测度风险厌恶的方法,文章发现风险厌恶程度越高的家庭越愿意将大部分收入用于储蓄,从而相应地减少旅游消费支出。由于家庭承受的风险多数无法对冲,因此提高风险厌恶程度较高的家庭的旅游消费,恐怕单靠旅游产业自身还无法解决,需要保险业等相关产业共同努力来创造一个较好的旅游产业发展环境。     

变电站主设备LCC招标评标动态模型及应用

基于变电站主设备服役周期长、运维费用高、故障风险大、残值高等特点,在变电站主设备全寿命周期费用结构分解的基础上,结合动态成本计算模型,重点构建了变电站主设备LCC招标评标动态模型,并应用于变电站主设备的招标评标打分计算。最后,通过特高压工程1000KV变压器招标采购算例,验证说明了LCC招标评标动态模型能全面反映变电站主设备的全寿命周期成本费用,有助于从源头上统筹处理好安全、效能和周期成本三者的关系,有助于最优采购方案的选取。     

钢铁工业发展周期及中国钢产量饱和点预测

通过对美国、日本钢铁工业发展阶段的分析和产量曲线拟合,总结钢铁工业发展规律,验证产业生命周期理论的可行性。基于目前我国钢铁工业处于成长期向成熟期过渡阶段的判断,使用产业生命周期曲线拟合预测,得到中国粗钢产量预计在2020年前后达到饱和,饱和值水平约7.7~8.5亿吨。     

江苏民营制造企业竞争战略演化中组织资源的影响

文章以江苏272家民营制造企业为样本,探讨处于生命周期不同阶段企业取得竞争优势的竞争战略所构成的演化路径,以及组织资源对竞争战略演化的影响。研究表明,处于初创期、成长期、成熟期的企业,竞争战略呈现“没有明确战略一供应链和低成本战略一差异化战略”的演化路径。在竞争战略演化中,有形资源对竞争战略演化影响不显著,无形资源对差异化战略演化有显著影响,人力资源对低成本战略演化有显著影响。总体来看,人力资源是江苏民营制造企业竞争战略演化的主要推动力,无形资源的作用逐步增强。提升江苏民营制造企业竞争优势,需要加大对员工培训、技术、品牌等的投入,更好地发挥有形资源的作用。     

Social Security and personal saving: 1971 and beyond

Feldstein (1996, 1974) reported that Social Security in the U.S.A. reduced personal saving (“saving”) in 1992 (1971) by $416 ($61) billion. I reestimate his life-cycle consumption specification using data from the latest NIPA revision, correct his calculations, and find that the implied reduction in 1992 (1971) saving is now $280 ($22) billion, 48% (16%) of actual net private saving, with a standard error of $114 ($14) billion. If structural breaks around WWII and the 1972 Social Security amendments (which raised real per capita SSW by 22%) are allowed, and the market value of Treasury debt included in the specification, the reduction in 1971 and 1992 saving attributable to Social Security is at most 0.55 times its standard error, and 12% of net private saving. I then reestimate the preferred specification of Coates and Humphreys (1999), allowing for these structural breaks and relaxing other restrictions. The implied effect of Social Security on saving is again statistically zero. First version received: September 2000/Final version received: September 2001 RID="*" ID="*"  I thank Les Oxley for pointing out that correcting for AR(1) residuals is not a categorical imperative but a cultural relative, in which case common factor restrictions are crucial.