Financial Globalization and the Governance of Domestic Financial Intermediaries

We model a small open economy in which both domestic financial intermediaries and entrepreneurs face incentive constraints, as in Holmstrom and Tirole (1997) , to study the general equilibrium impact of various types of capital inflows on the efficiency and governance of domestic banks. Banks have an advantage in monitoring firms, but the latter can collude with banks and offer side‐payments to reduce the intensity of monitoring. Opening up to international capital flows makes domestic banks’ capital scarcer relative to uninformed capital, thus increasing the relative cost of monitoring. We show that capital account liberalization has ambiguous effects on the governance of the domestic financial system by sometimes increasing firms’ incentives to collude with banks. We characterize the conditions under which governance is more likely to deteriorate after opening up the capital account, and discuss the effects on investment, productivity and output. We also analyze the effects of foreign direct investment in the corporate and banking sectors. Stylized facts are consistent with the predictions of the model.     

“呀呀语”音高母语倾向之实验研究

本项研究通过对2名长沙儿童的长期跟踪调查研究得来的实验数据进行语音实验和量化分析对比,发现儿童呀呀语阶段的音高模式呈现目标语成人语言的声调特征。实验证明了声调语言环境中的儿童呀呀语音高发展受目标语声调的影响并呈现一定的规律,有力的反驳了雅柯布森非连贯性假设。     

CRITICAL PERIODS DURING CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE

We identify the ages that constitute sensitive (or critical) periods in children's development towards their adult health status, skills, and human capital. For this, we use data on families migrating into Sweden from countries that are poorer, with less healthy conditions. Late‐life health is proxied by adult height and other adult outcomes. The relation between siblings’ ages at migration and their adult outcomes allows us to estimate the causal effect of conditions at specific childhood ages. We effectively exploit that, for siblings, the migration occurs simultaneously in calendar time but at different developmental stages (ages). We find evidence that the period just before the puberty growth spurt constitutes a critical period for adult height and we find related critical periods for adult cognition, mental health, and education.     

明末清初西学东渐史上的《穷理学》

南怀仁编纂的《穷理学》在明末清初西学东渐史上具有重要的地位及意义，它所传入的学科知识体系基本上是南怀仁早年在欧洲耶稣会学校所学到的学科知识体系，主要包含亚里士多德的形式逻辑学、16—17世纪以欧几里得几何学为核心的西方数学以及各门自然科学技术知识。这种学科知识体系具有重视系统性、突出亚里士多德所阐述的形式逻辑的重要作用、强调数学乃一切科学技术的理论和应用基础等基本特征。把《穷理学》置于明末清初西学东渐的历史脉络和文化语境中进行考察，有助于揭示该书所传入的学科知识体系的基本特征及意义，对认识明末清初西学东渐跨文化交流所具有的某些特点也不无裨益。     

A GLOBAL VIEW OF CROSS‐BORDER MIGRATION

This paper evaluates the global welfare impact of observed levels of migration using a quantitative multi‐sector model of the world economy calibrated to aggregate and firm‐level data. Our framework features cross‐country labor productivity differences, international trade, remittances, and a heterogeneous workforce. We compare welfare under the observed levels of migration to a no‐migration counterfactual. In the long run, natives in countries that received a lot of migration—such as Canada or Australia—are better off due to greater product variety available in consumption and as intermediate inputs. In the short run, the impact of migration on average welfare in these countries is close to zero, while the skilled and unskilled natives tend to experience welfare changes of opposite signs. The remaining natives in countries with large emigration flows—such as Jamaica or El Salvador—are also better off due to migration, but for a different reason: remittances. The welfare impact of observed levels of migration is substantial, at about 5% to 10% for the main receiving countries and about 10% in countries with large incoming remittances.