Financial development and governance: A panel data analysis incorporating cross-sectional dependence

This study investigates bidirectional causality between governance and financial development using panel data of 101 countries from 1984 to 2013. The financial development–governance nexus is explored using econometric methods robust to cross-sectional dependence, and the relationship between different levels of development and openness is analyzed. Long-run equation estimates show clear evidence that financial development positively affects governance, and this positive impact is found to be robust to three different measures of governance. Further analysis shows that improving governance quality has a positive effect on financial development, while Granger causality tests demonstrate bidirectional causality between financial development and the governance measures. Finally, the impact of financial development on governance is dependent on a country’s level of development and openness. These findings underscore the crucial role of financial development in bringing about good governance reforms and economic growth that, in turn, can further develop the financial sector. As such, a symbiotic and synergistic relationship can persist between good governance, growth, and financial development. The findings provide significant motivation for policymakers to encourage openness and financial sector development to lift the standard of living, especially in emerging economies.     

How can manufacturers make decisions on product appearance design? A research on optimal design based on customers’ emotional satisfaction

With changing customer attitudes toward consumption and function homogenization, product appearance designs have an increasing influence on the purchase decision. Customer characteristics and emotional factors play an important role here. This study proposes a novel approach for modelling satisfaction and accomplishing a configuration that overcomes the limitations of conventional methods to precisely predict satisfaction, provide optimal product recommendations, and advise manufacturers on product appearance design. The newly proposed approach considers satisfaction, clusters customers through the Kansei perspective, and constructs a satisfaction model for each cluster. Additionally, the study employs data mining to understand the basic design principles and conflicted combinations that must be followed and avoided, respectively. The bidirectional association rules-constrained genetic algorithm is presented to limit configuration freedom, ensuring that results are in the range of control. Comparing prediction errors and recommended sample votes between the novel and conventional approaches revealed the presented approach’s efficiency and accuracy, thereby providing suggestions for manufacturers to make precise decisions on launching new product appearance designs through predicting customer emotional satisfaction.     

基于二向性的创意产业价值研究

创意是创意产业的核心生产要素,创意与文化、创新既相互联系又相互区别,创意是介于两者之间的变量,具有明显的二向性特征,这一典型特征奠定了分析创意价值属性及创意产业价值结构的基础。创意的其它特征决定了创意产业的规模报酬递增性、外部性及价值演化规律。     

Asymmetric causality in-mean and in-variance among equity markets indexes

The aim of this study is to research asymmetric causality in-mean and variance among financial markets. The methodology used has several advantages: the estimation is jointly and not by pairs of variables, it identifies whether the causality is asymmetric (different effects from positive and negative returns), and, in the case of bidirectional relationships, it allows us to test whether the effect is the same in both directions. This study provides evidence of causality in-mean and variance among the daily returns of stock markets indexes from January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2014. The indexes are grouped by geographical areas to avoid problems of asynchrony with partially overlapping markets. The main results show that the causalities in-mean and in-variance are asymmetric with a different effect from positive and negative returns. Notably, by geographical areas, the Indian index SENSEX (symmetric) and the Chinese Shanghai Stock Exchange (asymmetric) are causatives in-mean for Asia, The Italian MIB 30 (asymmetric) is causative in-variance for Europe, and the USA DOW JONES 100 (symmetric) and STANDARD&POORS 500 (asymmetric) indexes are causatives in-mean and in-variance for America. Also, the bidirectional relationships between the DOW JONES 100 and STANDARD&POORS 500 in-mean and in-variance have the same effect in both directions.     

新型城镇化进程中我国农村老年保障创新发展研究

完善的老年保障体系是保障老年人基本生活需要,维护老年人权益,提升老年人幸福感的重要保障。我国城镇化飞速发展造成农村老年保障供需关系严重失衡,农村老人需要更多的生活照顾以及医疗服务。通过对我国农村老年保障体系的研究,本文认为未来发展需要采取城乡一体化的体制机制,推动城乡双向互动老年保障模式建设,均衡城乡老年保障公共服务发展,让城乡老年保障资源在城乡之间合理流动和平等交换,实现城乡老年保障的互动协同发展。     

基于双向期权契约的零部件供应链协调

原材料具有多种用途且更新换代较快,若将其提前加工为零部件或者持有大量库存,必然会产生较为昂贵的机会成本,因此,上游供货商往往要求下游生产商与其共担原材料备货风险:下游生产商确定零部件常规订货量的同时,购买一部分具有双向属性的期权;下游生产商组织加工产成品前夕获得更为准确的需求数据后,确定期权的执行性质及数量;若需要执行看涨期权补货,供应商启动准时制供应模式对其供货。模型求解及算例分析表明:双向属性的期权价格机制能够实现零部件供应链整体利润的最大化,也能够使上下游成员均获得利润改进;随着原材料备货机会成本的上升,常规订货量批发价和看跌期权执行价格都呈现下降趋势,上游供应商利润增量不断减少,而下游加工商利润增量却不断上升。     

The volume–volatility relationship and the opening of the Korean stock market to foreign investors after the financial turmoil in 1997

This paper investigates the stock volatility–volume relation in the Korean market for the period 1995–2001. Previous research examined the impact of liberalization on the Korean stock market up to the period before the financial turmoil in 1997 although the crucial measures of the liberalization were introduced after the crisis under the International Monetary Fund program. One of the major features of the reformation was the financial opening to foreign investors. In this study the ‘total’ trading volume is separated into the domestic investors’ and the foreign investors’ volume. By doing this the information used by two different groups of traders can be separated. Further, in addition to the absolute value of the returns and their squares we use the conditional volatility from a GARCH-type model as an alternative measure of stock volatility. The following observations, among other things, are noted about the volume–volatility causal relationship. First, for the entire period there is a strong bidirectional feedback between volume and volatility. In most cases this causal relationship is robust to the measures of volume and volatility used. Second, volatility is related only to ‘domestic’ volume before the crisis whereas after the crisis a bidirectional feedback relation between ‘foreign’ volume and volatility begins to exist. In other words, ‘foreign’ volume tends to have more information about volatility in recent years, which suggests the increased importance of ‘foreign’ volume as an information variable.      

城市紧凑度与区域创新能力 ——以江苏省为例

城市规划作为城市发展过程中不可避免的问题,成为影响城市长远高效发展的重要因素。而创新能力作为城市竞争力的内在表现,也日益成为城市向前发展的重要推手。基于此背景,本文首先从理论机制层面分析城市紧凑度与创新能力之间是如何发生作用的,然后构建衡量城市紧凑度的指标体系,并通过极值熵值法对江苏省各城市的城市紧凑度进行测度,最后利用双向固定效应回归方法对城市紧凑度与创新能力发生作用的理论机制进行实证检验。结果显示：城市紧凑度对创新能力具有非常显著的影响作用,城市紧凑度的提高可以促进创新能力的增加。因此政府应该采用紧凑型城市规划,提高城市紧凑度进而推动创新能力的提升。