Towards Uniformly Efficient Trend Estimation Under Weak/Strong Correlation and Non‐stationary Volatility

In this paper, we consider the deterministic trend model where the error process is allowed to be weakly or strongly correlated and subject to non‐stationary volatility. Extant estimators of the trend coefficient are analysed. We find that under heteroskedasticity, the Cochrane–Orcutt‐type estimator (with some initial condition) could be less efficient than Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) when the process is highly persistent, whereas it is asymptotically equivalent to OLS when the process is less persistent. An efficient non‐parametrically weighted Cochrane–Orcutt‐type estimator is then proposed. The efficiency is uniform over weak or strong serial correlation and non‐stationary volatility of unknown form. The feasible estimator relies on non‐parametric estimation of the volatility function, and the asymptotic theory is provided. We use the data‐dependent smoothing bandwidth that can automatically adjust for the strength of non‐stationarity in volatilities. The implementation does not require pretesting persistence of the process or specification of non‐stationary volatility. Finite‐sample evaluation via simulations and an empirical application demonstrates the good performance of proposed estimators.     

Efficient Estimation in Heteroscedastic Partially Linear Varying Coefficient Models

This article considers statistical inference for the heteroscedastic partially linear varying coefficient models. We construct an efficient estimator for the parametric component by applying the weighted profile least-squares approach, and show that it is semiparametrically efficient in the sense that the inverse of the asymptotic variance of the estimator reaches the semiparametric efficiency bound. Simulation studies are conducted to illustrate the performance of the proposed method.     

Humor and satire in politics: Introducing cultural sociology to the field

The landscape of political humor and satire is changing rapidly, and it is becoming an increasingly relevant aspect of our culture. Although scholars have been actively trying to capture this change, majority of the existing frameworks for understanding humor and satire in politics still reduce these phenomena to mere genres or rhetoric tools. In addition, they provide insufficient accounts concerning the reception of humor and satire, and neglect to interpret and explain what they communicate. In the article, a general understanding of humor and satire outside of a political context, followed by an overview of studies discussing humor and satire in politics through their applications in social movements, as leadership tools, and through their manifestations in mass media has been presented. Lastly, a cultural sociological perspective to the field has been introduced. It has been argued that approaching humor and satire in politics through a structural hermeneutic method of the Strong Program will enable us to recognize and treat political humor and satire as autonomous and complex cultural systems which carry an internal power to move people.     

Conditional time-dependent nonparametric estimators with an application to healthcare production function

ABSTRACT

By using the probabilistic framework of production efficiency, the paper develops time-dependent conditional efficiency estimators performing a non-parametric frontier analysis. Specifically, by applying both full and quantile (robust) time-dependent conditional estimators, it models the dynamic effect of health expenditure on countries’ technological change and technological catch-up levels. The results from the application reveal that the effect of per capita health expenditure on countries’ technological change and technological catch-up is nonlinear and is subject to countries’ specific income levels.     

试论强化国家创新体系

我国现有的国家创新系统存在效率低下和创新活力不强的问题。强化我国的创新工作应该采取适应市场 ,及时调整创新系统中各因素的角色 ;实现创新组织网络化达到资源共享 ;政府推动创新文化建设 ,营造创新氛围这三项措施 ,从而提高我国整体创新能力和国家创新系统效率。     

土地利用管制制度效率探讨

对于公共管理,管制是重要的管理手段。文章用经济学的观点阐述管制政策的效率原理,并在此基础上分析我国土地利用管制政策的效率,最后提出我国管制政策改进的建议和实施的条件。     

绍兴市贷款产出效率分析

通过对1991-2004年绍兴市实现的GDP与占用贷款变动关系的统计分析,指出贷款产出效率持续走低存在的问题,在分析了贷款产出效率下降的主要原因后,提出了相应的对策建议.     

高校德育低效的内因分析

高校德育低效除社会大环境的负面影响外,高校德育自身的问题也不可忽视。智德分离;不尊重学生的主体地位;忽视培育和发展学生的情感、忽视学生的差异和个性;德育与学生的生活和需要脱节;育德者的人格不适应德育的要求等德育自身的缺陷是德育低效的内在原因。     

权力机关撤销具体行政行为探析

从抽象行政行为和具体行政行为二者的关系及权力机关的职能诸方面看 ,权力机关撤销具体行政行为十分必要 ,撤销具体行政行为的原则方法必须适当     

语言问题的理论思索

从功能的角度考察语言的本质 ,是诸多著作理解语言性质的哲学基础。功能论固然看到了语言对于人类社会的决定性作用 ,然而却丝毫未触及语言自身的结构特征和机制。仅从功能的角度认识语言是不够的 ,还必须深入到语言结构内部 ,对语言的特征、机制及结构体系进行多角度观察 ,才能较为完整地揭示语言的本质