Modeling society with statistical mechanics: an application to cultural contact and immigration

We introduce a general modeling framework to predict the outcomes, at the population level, of individual psychology and behavior. The framework prescribes that researchers build a cost function that embodies knowledge of what trait values (opinions, behaviors, etc.) are favored by individual interactions under given social conditions. Predictions at the population level are then drawn using methods from statistical mechanics, a branch of theoretical physics born to link the microscopic and macroscopic behavior of physical systems. We demonstrate our approach building a model of cultural contact between two cultures (e.g., immigration), showing that it is possible to make predictions about how contact changes the two cultures.     

New technology and the urban environment

Technology has always had an influence on the form of settlements, but only since the coming of Information Technology has it aroused much interest from academics and planners. The impact that IT is likely to have on urban areas is debated, some foreseeing decentralisation and the end of place, while others see evidence of the centralisation of control in a global economy. Other new technologies may also affect cities as new materials provide the opportunity for different styles of building. As we enter the 21st century, however, we do so with the largest stock of urban capital ever, much of which is ageing and in need of maintenance. Technology is part of a complex interrelationship of influences on urban areas and much of it will have to be retrofitted on to the pre-existing environment.     

Noise traders,firm-specific uncertainty and technical trading effectiveness

This is the first study to document evidence of technical trading effectiveness at firm level in the Chinese A-share market by investigating the relationship between excess profits of technical trading rules and firm-specific characteristics. Our results reveal that firms with higher excess profits from technical trading have more noise traders and higher institutional ownership and that those firms tend to be growth firms with lower liquidity and higher firm-specific uncertainty. Further analysis shows that the profitability of technical trading rules is unsustainable and the excess profits of the highest technical trading profit quintile portfolio disappear in the following year.     

Effects of location on Airbnb apartment pricing in Málaga

The relatively recent social movement known as the “sharing economy” is becoming increasingly visible in online peer-to-peer platforms. One such platform is Airbnb; an accommodation marketplace which provides access to tourist accommodation. These platforms are having an important social and economic impact on tourist destinations such as Málaga, Spain. This paper presents a spatial econometric hedonic model that explains the pricing strategy of Airbnb tourist apartments in Málaga using factors such as host, guest, structural characteristics, and location. In relation to locational factors, the model in this study confirms the impact of spatial spillover effects, accessibility to certain amenities, traffic noise, walkability, and the ethnicity of residents in the neighborhood where the listing is located.     

哈尔滨城市发展阶段与城市规划关系分析

城市是一个随生产力和社会经济发展而不断演进的客观存在,与之对应的城市规划也是处于不断演进的过程中.本文对不同城市发展阶段与城市规划的关系进行了研究,利用迈克尔·波特(M.Porter)的发展阶段理论来分析哈尔滨所处的发展阶段,并且探讨得出在"十二五"期间哈尔滨的城市发展转变方向以及城乡规划对不同城市发展阶段的作用.     

Real call options to enlarge foreign subsidiaries – The moderating effect of irreversibility on the influence of economic volatility and political instability on subsequent FDI

This paper develops a real option model to explain the decision of enlarging a new foreign subsidiary by subsequent investment. The model is tested on a panel of 1148 subsidiaries in 22 host countries. The findings complement the traditional process model of firm internationalization. Rather than abiding by an incremental pattern of investment, internationalizing firms seem to keep foreign investment strategies flexible and build up their subsidiaries contingent upon the interaction of economic volatility and irreversibility of investment. However, the moderating effect of irreversibility on the relationship between uncertainty and investment may not hold for downside risks such as political instability.     

Ruin Problems for Phase-Type(2) Risk Processes

In this paper we consider a risk process in which claim inter-arrival times have a phase-type(2) distribution, a distribution with a density satisfying a second order linear differential equation. We consider some ruin related problems. In particular, we consider the compound geometric representation of the infinite time survival probability, as well as the (defective) distributions of the surplus immediately prior to ruin and of the deficit at ruin. We also consider explicit solutions for the infinite time ruin probability in the case where the individual claim amount distribution is phase-type.     

多委托代理关系、政策的选择性执行与农村税费改革

农村税费改革在全国全面推行后,在目前的条件下这一政策出现的一些问题能否得到全面深入的贯彻执行的问题引起了学术界的关注.本文运用多委托代理理论来分析中国多层级垂直行政管理体系中的政策执行问题,认为地方基层政府利用政策存在无法执行的可能性以及信息传递中的噪音,从事违背税费改革精神的行为,地方政府出于自身的利益以及要求地方基层政府完成各种政策任务的考虑默许、袒护这一行为,并提出了全面贯彻执行农村税费改革政策所要采取的对策.