Job growth in early transition: Comparing two paths*

Small start‐up firms are the engine of job creation in early transition. We ask about differences in their growth across two different transition economies: Estonia, which experienced rapid destruction of pre‐existing firms, and the Czech Republic, which reduced the old sector gradually. We find that the majority of job growth corresponds to within‐industry reallocation. The within‐industry growth of small start‐up firms is similar in the two countries, in line with the convergence to Western industry firm‐size distributions. We also find similar patterns in the evolution of wage differentials between start‐ups and old firms and small differences in the extent of low‐wage employment in start‐ups across the two transition paths. JEL Classifications: J2, J3, J4, L1, O1, P2.     

Effect Sizes in Qualitative Research: A Prolegomenon

The American Psychological Association Task Force recommended that researchers always report and interpret effect sizes for quantitative data. However, no such recommendation was made for qualitative data. Thus, the first objective of the present paper is to provide a rationale for reporting and interpreting effect sizes in qualitative research. Arguments are presented that effect sizes enhance the process of verstehen/hermeneutics advocated by interpretive researchers. The second objective of this paper is to provide a typology of effect sizes in qualitative research. Examples are given illustrating various applications of effect sizes. For instance, when conducting typological analyses, qualitative analysts only identify emergent themes; yet, these themes can be quantitized to ascertain the hierarchical structure of emergent themes. The final objective is to illustrate how inferential statistics can be utilized in qualitative data analyses. This can be accomplished by treating words arising from individuals, or observations emerging from a particular setting, as sample units of data that represent the total number of words/observations existing from that sample member/context. Heuristic examples are provided to demonstrate how inferential statistics can be used to provide more complex levels of verstehen than is presently undertaken in qualitative research.     

葡萄球菌肠毒素B抗肿瘤作用的实验研究

探讨了葡萄球菌肠毒素B(SEB)对动物移植性肿瘤的抑制作用。以小鼠移植性肿瘤肝癌(Heps)、L2网织细胞瘤和肉瘤180(S180)为模型,环磷酰胺为阳性对照组,生理盐水为阴性对照组,观察不同剂量(5、10和20ng·Kg-1·d-1)SEB的抗肿瘤作用。不同剂量的SEB对小鼠肝癌(Heps)有明显抑制作用,抑瘤率分别为44.6%、46.7%和51.8%(P值均<0.05),对小鼠L2网织细胞瘤也有一定的抑制作用,抑瘤率分别为17.4%、44.7%(P<0.05)和44.1%(P<0.05)。SEB对小鼠S180的抑制作用不显著。结论是葡萄球菌肠毒素B(SEB)具有抗肿瘤效应,可作为一种有前途的抗肿瘤制剂进行研究。     

服务业集聚与产业结构优化关系探究

随着全球化进程的不断加快，服务业集聚已经成为人们普遍关注的话题。产业集聚在获得规模效应的同时避免了垄断现象的产生，服务业集聚不但拥有这样的优势，而且还有自己独特的形成和发展特点。从产业结构的优化角度切入，借助区位商和专门化率等分析指标，以江苏省和上海市为例，对服务业集聚的形成进行理论和实证分析，提出产业结构的优化对于服务业集聚的形成和发展有着积极的作用。合理的产业结构能够为服务业集聚提供坚实的基础，各地区应该根据各自的产业特点积极的进行优化，催生服务业集聚，加快本地区经济的进一步发展。     

社会主义市场经济的矛盾和问题

市场经济的主要矛盾是生产与消费的矛盾，它决定商品与货币、供给与需求、总供给与总需求的矛盾。社会主义市场经济的主要矛盾是社会主义制度与市场经济体制的矛盾。当前存在的主要问题是生产相对过剩、消费需求不足，分配不够公平、贫富差距过大，市场秩序混乱、腐败现象严重，资源消耗过度、环境状况恶化，等等。只有正确处理社会主义市场经济的矛盾和问题，处理好公有制和私有制、计划与市场、效率与公平、自力更生与对外开放等各方面的关系，才能促进国民经济又好又快地发展。     

我国入境旅游发展现状、趋势预测及策略分析

通过对1997—2006年我国旅游服务贸易出口国际市场占有率指数、旅游服务贸易竞争优势指数和显示性比较优势指数的比较，可以看出我国旅游服务贸易国际竞争力尚不强。结合1978—2007我国历年入境旅游人次和外汇收入数据，通过建立时间序列模型，可以对未来五年我国入境旅游发展趋势进行预测。建议根据我国入境旅游消费结构特征，采用从宏观上实行差异化引导等策略。     

香港发行人民币债券的效应与对策分析

在香港发行人民币债券，既是香港特区政府多年来的愿望，也是人民币国际化的重要一步，因此具有极其重要的意义。本文通过在香港发行人民币债券对内地和香港的积极作用和消极作用的分析，提出了在港发行人民币债券应注意的问题以及相关对策建议。     

中国郑州棉花期货市场的国际定价功能研究

本文借助计量经济学的分析方法,对郑州商品交易所、纽约期货交易所期棉价格与国内棉花现货价格这三者的关系进行了研究,并测算了郑州商品交易所与纽约期货交易所在价格发现中的贡献份额。研究结果表明,三者之间存在协整关系,纽约期货市场在国际棉花定价体系中占有主导地位,而导致郑州棉花期货市场国际定价功能弱化的原因则是国内棉花期货市场与现货市场缺乏有机联系。     

How to measure mutual fund performance: economic versus statistical relevance

In the present paper a comprehensive assessment of existing mutual fund performance models is presented. Using a survivor‐bias free database of all US mutual funds, we explore the added value of introducing extra variables such as size, book‐to‐market, momentum and a bond index. In addition to that we evaluate the use of introducing time‐variation in betas and alpha. The search for the most suitable model to measure mutual fund performance will be addressed along two lines. First, we are interested in the statistical significance of adding more factors to the single factor model. Second, we focus on the economic importance of more elaborate model specifications. The added value of the present study lies both in the step‐wise process of identifying relevant factors, and the use of a rich US mutual fund database that was recently released by the Center for Research in Security Prices.     

The “swing of the pendulum” from public to market support for science and technology: Is the U.S. leading the way?

The structure and financing of science and technology activities are undergoing a slow, but profound, change. This change can be briefly characterized as a shift from relying and supporting public science to a stronger emphasis on “market-based” incentives for science and technology. In this paper we analyze this shift in a historical perspective, discussing both the theoretical explanations and the empirical trends of the ongoing change. While we do not claim to provide a comprehensive and exhaustive identification of the causes of this shift, we argue that it is largely driven by the perception of a shift of the U.S. policy towards market-based, rather than publicly supported, incentives for science and technology. This, in turn—given the strong economic performance of the United States over the 1990s—has influenced policies in most OECD countries, especially in Europe.We conclude by analyzing the evolution of research in U.S. higher education and find two major trends: an increasing diversity in the number of institutions of different types other than universities and a steady and continuous public funding of the leading U.S. universities. This has allowed the construction of an infrastructure now used largely by the private sector, but it also noted that the United States has not compromised public support for core areas or in those fields in which there is a clear perception that market incentives are not sufficient for meeting the strategic targets of the U.S. policy. The implication is that there is a considerable policy diversity in the U.S. practice and that all aspects of this diversity should be considered when using the United States as a reference.