Does superstition help? A study of the role of superstitions and death beliefs on death anxiety amongst Chinese undergraduates in Hong Kong

Past research has shown that traditional Chinese death beliefs, which mostly consisted of superstitious thoughts, are related to death anxiety. However, other studies have shown that superstitions may help people cope with uncertainty and, therefore, reduce uncertainty-induced anxiety. The role of superstitions, whether related to heightened death anxiety or reduced death anxiety, is unclear. This study attempted to address the knowledge gap by examining the relationships among superstitions and Chinese death beliefs on death anxiety in the Chinese context. One hundred twenty-four undergraduates in Hong Kong completed measures of superstition (R-PBS), death anxiety (MFODS), and Chinese death beliefs scale. Superstition was found to be predictor of death anxiety, as expected. With superstitions highly prevalent in Chinese societies, the study has practical implications in end-of-life care, bereavement support, and death education in the Chinese context.     

Relational stability and alliance performance in supply chain

Drawing on the theories of social exchange and goal interdependence, this paper examines the antecedents of relational stability in supply chain alliances and if the stability affects alliance performance in supply chain in the context of manufacturing firms. The results show that both relational commitment and trust of supplier have positive effects on relational stability in supply chain alliance, which in turn positively affects the alliance performance. These results have important implications for researchers investigating the effectiveness of supply chain alliances as well as practitioners seeking to improve alliance performance in supply chain.     

Estimating parameters in autoregressive models in non-normal situations: symmetric innovations

The estimation of coefficients in a simple regression model with autocorrelated errors is considered. The underlying distribution is assumed to be symmetric, one of Student's t family for illustration. Closed form estimators are obtained and shown to be remarkably efficient and robust. Skew distributions will be considered in a future paper.     

Correlates of Quality of Life in New Migrants to Hong Kong from Mainland China

The concept of Quality of life (QOL) has received considerable attention from different disciplines. The aim of this study was to identify what are the correlates of QOL among Chinese new immigrants in Hong Kong. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey among 449 Hong Kong new immigrants from Mainland China. Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the association between immigrants’ QOL and their demographic characteristics, socio-economic factors, optimism, sense of control, perceived social support, perceived neighborhood disorder, collective efficacy, pre-migration planning, depressive symptoms and acculturation stress. Our findings demonstrated that depressive symptom is the most prominent factor in reducing immigrants’ level of QOL, perceived social support and optimism are the two important factors that enhance the QOL of these depressed immigrants. Our results indicate that preventive measures must be developed, and professional counseling and psychological support services must be provided to new immigrants in Hong Kong, especially those who have depressive symptoms.     

An Approximate Bayesian Algorithm for Combining Forecasts*

In this paper we propose a consensus forecasting method based on a convex combination of individual forecast densities. The exact Bayesian updating of the convex combination weights is very complex and practically prohibitive. We propose a simple sequential updating alternative method based on function approximation. Several examples illustrate the method.     

Ethnic assortative matching in marriage and family outcomes: evidence from the mass migration to the US during 1900–1930

Positive assortative matching in terms of traits such as ethnicity and race has been prevalent in marital formation. One possible explanation for this is that spouses in endogamous marriages possess complementary skills and tastes that increase marital surplus. This paper aims to estimate the effects of ethnic assortative matching on a variety of household outcomes by using the exogenous variation in immigrant flows in the USA during the period 1900–1930 to disentangle the selection effect of partners. The major finding is that the complementarities in home production from same ethnic marriage enhances investment in household public goods such as childrearing and home ownership and reduces the market labor supply of wives. The OLS estimates of the sizes of these effects appear to be substantially biased downward, indicating positive selection into intermarriage in terms of unobservable traits that increase marital surplus.     

有信息冲击、无信息冲击与波动率非对称性

本文将金融市场的冲击(innovations)分成有信息冲击和无信息冲击,构建了一种新的非对称GARCH类模型,区间均值GARCH模型(sectional mean GARCH,SM-GARCH).在中国股票市场的实证分析中发现:SM-GARCH模型能够更好地捕捉波动率特征和预测波动率;条件均值预测误差用于描述新到来的冲击对条件方差的影响,所提供的信息是有限的,在无信息冲击的情况下可以忽略它在波动率预测中的作用.     

Corporate social responsibility reporting and firm performance: evidence from China

A series of product safety and child labor scandals in the mid-2000s aroused global concerns over business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in China. The general public expects companies to be socially responsible and to look beyond the maximizing of profits. In this study, we examine the relationship between the issuance of CSR reports and performance, in terms of accounting income, market return, and growth by firms listed in China in 2008–2009. We find that the historical performance of firms has significant and positive effects on the issuance of standalone CSR reports. There is also a positive correlation between current CSR disclosures and subsequent performance. Finally, we find that corporate donations are positively associated with improved performance in the following year. Our results support the view that CSR is a useful business strategy even in a developing country such as China. We call for government authorities in emerging markets to advocate CSR practices and for the market participants to change their perception of and attitude towards CSR.     

银行贷款、商业信用融资及我国上市公司的公司治理

本文讨论了银行贷款以及商业信用融资对我国上市公司公司治理的影响.通过对1995到2000年间上市公司CEO更换的研究,我们得到两个结论:第一,在经营业绩为负的公司中,银行贷款与强制性CEO更换存在负向关系,而商业信用融资与强制性CEO更换存在正向关系;第二,在盈利能力一般的公司中,商业信用融资与强制性CEO更换仍为正向关系,但银行贷款与强制性CEO更换却不存在明显的关系.以上结果表明,商业信用融资在CEO强制性更换中起到了积极的作用,改善了上市公司的公司治理,而银行贷款却没有起到相应的作用,甚至有负面的作用.