Corruption, efficiency and productivity in OECD countries

Over the last decade there has been growing interest in understanding the relationship between corruption and economic performance. The principal motivation of this work is to analyze whether corruption affects the economic results of OECD countries from a productivity-based perspective. To this end, we shall adopt a frontier approach which will allow us, on the one hand, to study whether corruption conditions the efficiency levels at which the economies perform and, on the other, to determine the channels through which it can affect productivity growth, whether by influencing improvements in relative efficiency levels or by shifting the production frontier.     

十一届三中全会以来我国民族地区的对外开放

本文论述了党的十一届三中全会以来,我国边疆民族地区对外开放局面形成、发展的主要历程,以及对外开放对边疆民族地区经济发展、人民生活改善、观念更新、民族团结和睦等方面带来的深刻影响。     

On maximum likelihood estimation of the semi-parametric Cox model with time-varying covariates

Including time-varying covariates is a popular extension to the Cox model and a suitable approach for dealing with non-proportional hazards. However, partial likelihood (PL) estimation of this model has three shortcomings: (i) estimated regression coefficients can be less accurate in small samples with heavy censoring; (ii) the baseline hazard is not directly estimated and (iii) a covariance matrix for both the regression coefficients and the baseline hazard is not easily produced.We address these by developing a maximum likelihood (ML) approach to jointly estimate regression coefficients and baseline hazard using a constrained optimisation ensuring the latter''s non-negativity. We demonstrate asymptotic properties of these estimates and show via simulation their increased accuracy compared to PL estimates in small samples and show our method produces smoother baseline hazard estimates than the Breslow estimator.Finally, we apply our method to two examples, including an important real-world financial example to estimate time to default for retail home loans. We demonstrate using our ML estimate for the baseline hazard can give much clearer corroboratory evidence of the ‘humped hazard’, whereby the risk of loan default rises to a peak and then later falls.     

Family Financial Management and Individual Deprivation

A core assumption in conventional poverty measurement is that household members share equally in total household income. This paper focuses on heterosexual couple households and asks to what extent male and female partners may derive different benefits from total couple resources. Drawing on the 2010 Irish Survey on Income and Living Conditions module, we examined the couple financial regime, by which we mean which partners received income, whether the income was from work, the extent to which income was contributed for the benefit of other household members and responsibility for decision-making. We explored whether the couple’s financial regime was associated with different living standard outcomes for the partners. Among the findings was the beneficial impact of having income from work and of shared responsibility for decision-making. The paper concludes by pointing to some implications for our understanding of power and bargaining in couples.     

文本性:一种开放的文学研究

本文论述了20世纪文学理论的一个基本问题:文本性,它代表了文学研究一种开放模式.作者认为,文学研究从文学性走向文本性表明开放的研究格局代替了文学研究的封闭局面,因为文本性的性质是文本的生产性,其特征是开放性、无主性和复义性.     

论文艺本质问题研究的方法论原则

关于文艺的本质问题,古往今来众说纷纭,观点各异.究其根源,研究方法的差异不能不说是一个重大的原因.以往那种或是把审美反映等同于一般的科学反映,或是把审美反映与科学反映割裂开来、对立起来,甚至用文艺的审美本性来否定其认识本性的观点和方法,都不符合文艺的实际情况.对文艺的研究,一方面要在辩证唯物论的反映论原则的指导下,运用审美反映的特殊方法来科学地把握文艺的本质.另一方面,也必须看到文学艺术活动不但与人的认识活动相联系,同时也与人的实践活动相联系.而审美建构论,则主要是揭示以实践为基础的"实践--精神"的艺术掌握世界的方式或艺术存在的具体方式的本质内涵,侧重从文艺主体精神创造性的角度把握文学艺术的本质.文艺活动是一个多层面的整体结构,对现实生活的审美反映是它的基础和核心,而艺术生产和艺术接受则是在审美反映的基础上,对艺术活动过程的具体展现.因此,对文艺这一整体结构的研究,在方法上也应该是一个辩证统一的整体,即审美反映与建构的辩证统一和综合.     

青海文化产业构建研究

2006年,青海文化产业发展取得初步成效,各类节庆文化非常活跃,主流社会文化产业略有起色,民族民间文化产业异军突起,体育和旅游业蓬勃兴起,还积累了宝贵经验。但我省的文化产业发展仍处在层次较低的起步阶段。存在观念不新、体制不顺、机制不活、发展不平衡、人才奇缺、资金匮乏、导致跟东部地区差距拉大等问题,本文对此进行了深入调研和分析,并提出了加快构建青海文化产业的具体对策和建议。     

论社会心态:概念辨析及其操作化

"社会心态"是近几十年在我国学术界使用非常广泛的一个概念,然而,在多数文献中却缺少对其内涵的明确界定.从社会心理学的研究传统看,社会心态属于社会学的社会心理学的研究范围,是与特定的社会运行状况或重大的社会变迁过程相联系的.在一定时期内广泛地存在于各类社会群体内的情绪、情感、社会认知、行为意向和价值取向的总和.它属于社会心理的动态构成部分.社会心态测量的基本纬度包括社会情绪、社会认知、社会价值观和社会行为意向.     

铁人精神面临的挑战及其时代价值

由于铁人精神产生的时代背景已经发生重大转换,以铁人为题材的比较多的传记文学作品的问世,铁人话剧影视上演的逐年增多,特别是社会主义核心价值体系建设的积极推进的迫切要求,这些原因必然引起人们对铁人精神的积极思考,也必然在思考过程中产生一些对铁人精神的质疑。笔者以铁人精神面临的三大质疑作为讨论问题的起点,对质疑问题进行比较深入的理论分析,并为回答这些质疑从宏观和微观两个方面对铁人精神的时代价值进行比较详细的诠释。     

Economic Stress and the Great Recession in Ireland: Polarization,Individualization or ‘Middle Class Squeeze’?

Following an unprecedented boom, since 2008 Ireland has experienced a severe economic and labour market crisis. Considerable debate persists as to where the heaviest burden of the recession has fallen. Conventional measures of relative income poverty and inequality have a limited capacity to capture the impact of the recession in terms of social exclusion. This is exacerbated by a dramatic increase in the scale of debt problems including significant negative equity issues. Our analysis provides no evidence for individualization or class polarization of risk. Instead, while economic stress level is highly stratified in class terms in both boom and bust periods, the changing impact of class is highly contingent on life course stage. An income based classification showed that the affluent income class saw its advantage relative to the income poor class decline at the earliest stage of the life-course and remain stable across the rest of the life course. At the other end of the hierarchy, the income poor class experienced a relative improvement in their situation in the earlier life-course phase and no significant change at the later stages. For the remaining income classes, life-course stage was even more important. At the earliest stage the precarious class experienced some improvement in its situation while the outcomes for the middle classes remain unchanged. In the mid-life course the precarious and lower middle classes experienced disproportionate increases in their stress levels while at the later stage it is the combined middle classes that lost out. Additional effects over time relating to social class are restricted to the deteriorating situation of the petit bourgeoisie at the middle stage of the life-course. The pattern is clearly a good deal more complex than that suggested by conventional notions of ‘middle class squeeze’ and points to the distinctive challenges relating to welfare and taxation policy faced by governments in the Great Recession.