Does educational diversity of managers matter for the performance of team‐managed funds?

We study the effect of the educational diversity of managers on the performance of team‐managed mutual funds using a large sample of U.S. equity funds from 1994 to 2013. We consider diversity in terms of both final educational degree and field of educational specialisation. We find that, in general, both types of diversity have a positive impact on fund performance, and our results are robust over a wide range of performance metrics and changes in market conditions.     

Trade networks and economic fluctuations in Asian countries

The paper presents a new methodology, based on tensor decomposition, to map dynamic trade networks and to assess its strength in forecasting economic fluctuations at different periods of time in Asia. Using the monthly merchandise import and export data across 33 Asian economies, together with the US, EU and UK, we detect the community structure of the evolving network and we identify clusters and central nodes inside each of them. Our findings show that data are well represented by two communities, in which People's Republic of China and Japan play the major role. We then analyze the synchronisation between GDP growth and trade. Furthermore we apply our model to the prediction of economic fluctuations. Our findings show that the model leads to an increase in predictive accuracy, as higher order interactions between countries are taken into account.     

Do pensions foster education? An empirical perspective

The paper examines the effect of population ageing on public education spending. On the one hand, ageing is expected to have a negative effect on education, as an increasing number of retirees results in ‘intergenerational conflict’ and, hence, the condemnation of education expenditure. On the other hand, ageing, in combination with pay-as-you-go pension systems, offers incentives for the working-age generation to invest in the public education of the young in order to ‘reap’ the benefits (that is, higher income tax/contributions) of their greater future productivity. Empirical evidence derived from the application of a fixed effects approach to panel data for OECD countries shows that the increasing share of elderly people has a non-linear effect on education spending. This indicates a certain degree of intergenerational conflict. Nevertheless, we find that future population ageing, which reinforces the mechanism linking public education and pensions, reflects positively on education expenditure. Furthermore, by disaggregating total education expenditure by educational levels, we observe that this effect is led by levels of non-compulsory education, probably as a reflection of the direct connection to labor productivity.     

Optimal immigration, education and growth in the long run

The paper extends Manning's model on education and balanced growth to include labour immigration. Each immigration unit is assumed to consist of one skilled worker and some unskilled members. The optimal immigration policy which maximizes the per capita steady-state consumption of the host country is derived. We show that optimal immigration policy can reduce the steady-state skilled labour ratio. More interesting still, contrary to the widespread belief that immigration of skilled workers hurts local skilled workers, it is the unskilled local workers whose interests are threatened by optimal immigration policy.     

高等职业技术教育专科学制改为二年的探讨

高等职业技术教育专科学制由三年改为二年是教育部根据市场需要、提高高等教育毛入学率的要求以及从减轻家长负担的角度考虑所做出的综合发展战略。我们要紧紧把握高等职业技术教育培养高技能型紧缺人才这一目标，重新定位，坚持以服务为宗旨、以就业为导向，进行广泛的校企合作。通过课程调整，实现与岗位的高匹配、零接轨，提高高等职业技术专科学生的就业率。     

高等教育大众化的认识突破及措施建构

高等教育大众化既有积极意义又有负面影响。如何看待大众化，笔者认为要突破认识障碍，接受大众化，包容多样化，树立大众高等教育观念，并建构新的高等教育应对措施。     

多媒体技术在数学教学中的应用

要深化教学改革必须充分发挥信息技术的优势，采用多媒体技术进行数学教学势在必行。文章从激发学习兴趣、提高学习效率、优化教学过程等方面阐述了运用多媒体技术进行数学教学的必然性、可行性、优越性。     

浅谈会计教育改革

会计队伍素质的提高有赖于会计教育水平的提高，如何培养出适应社会发展的高素质的会计人才，已成为会计教育面临的课题。客观上对高级会计人员需求不断增长与落后的会计教育的矛盾越来越突出，会计教育改革势在必行。     

品牌共同体:企业与消费者沟通的新方式

品牌共同体是国外兴起的一种新型的企业与顾客互动的方式。品牌共同体的构建有助于增加顾客的社交利益，对于顾客间互动以及体会品牌的内涵意义重大。本文通过介绍品牌共同体的定义、特征、意义，从而向企业提出创建品牌共同体的建议。