TRADE QUOTAS AND BUYER POWER,WITH AN APPLICATION TO THE E.U. NATURAL GAS MARKET

We consider a market in which domestic buyers negotiate contracts with foreign sellers, and explore how trade quotas can help to increase the buyers' countervailing power. We use the Shapley value to describe bargaining power and the distribution of the trade surplus in such a bilateral oligopoly. By exploiting strategic externalities among the buyers, bilateral trade quotas can improve the buyers' bargaining positions. In contrast, aggregate trade restrictions on all buyers' trade never improve buyer surplus. Minimum quotas on imports from fringe suppliers can benefit nonaffected buyers, as these enjoy positive externalities. We apply these insights to the E.U. market for natural gas and show that the effects of trade quotas on E.U. gas importers' power can be significant.     

Mapping social and environmental concerns and the acceptability of genetically modified organisms in the European Union

Simultaneous conflicting attitudes towards an object make both predicting and explaining behaviour a complex endeavour. This paper explores the hypothesis of social ambivalence (so called as well or approach-avoidance conflict) as a phenomenon influencing attitudes towards the environmental effects of the introduction of GMOs (Genetic Modified Organisms). If social ambivalence exists it would be suggestive of an interplay between rational models or behaviour and normative or moral models of behaviour. This paper provides some quantitative analysis based on a representative sample of the European Union, using unique data from the Eurobarometer 58.0 (2002) examining public perceptions of environmental risks. Our findings suggest that GMOs are perceived as having a non-neutral impact on the environmental and social life and that as hypothesized there is evidence of social ambivalence, which appears to be more significant when environmental effects of GM foods are taken into account. Consistently with the hypothesis of interplay between rational and normative models of behaviour, respondents perceive some risks while benefits are not perceived by the public and moral concerns regarding technologies being developed by international corporations are important. A specific type of social ambivalence is found, namely GMO are not accepted for Europeans but they are in less developed countries.     

Tobin Q反映了企业价值吗——基于市场投机性的视角

Tobin Q被国内外财务学界广泛应用于企业价值的相关研究.本文提出,尽管Tobin Q与企业价值的内在关系得到了国外理论模型和经验证据的支持,但是我国暂时不具备全面应用Tobin Q的条件.对2002-2005年我国上市公司的实证研究表明,Tobin Q未能对全体上市公司的市场价值提供可靠度量,这一结论在控制了亏损的影响后没有发生改变.进一步,本文基于对我国资本市场现实背景的分析提出,股票市场的投机性可能对Tobin Q的应用存在一定影响.实证结果发现,投机性对Tobin Q的适用性问题提供了一定的解释.     

《阿Q正传》艺术谱系析解

《阿Q正传》的艺术谱系可从叙事与形象两方面采用作品细读的方法来查考。《阿Q正传》的叙事手法与中国小说的史传式叙事手法恰相反对,而与《红楼梦》紧密相承;阿Q的精神气质是《庄子》“圣人”形象经历史积淀后的粗卑化呈现。     

Breaking the Perverse Health-debt Cycle in Sri Lanka: Policy Options

This paper proposes a finite mixture model to examine how health adversities influence indebtedness of Sri Lankan households. After accounting for unobserved heterogeneity, our empirical analysis reveals that households headed by ill-health members and those with hospitalization are inevitably more vulnerable to indebtedness. The ill-health status of other working-age members also creates milder effects on household indebtedness. We confirm that the health-debt cycle is more severe for urban households, compared to their rural counterparts. The study is testimony to re-emphasizing the role of government in providing much-needed financial protection to vulnerable households and implementing differentiated-policy packages for urban and rural sectors in order to effectively break the health-debt cycle.     

Expert Views on Their Role as Policy Advisor: Pilot Study for the Cases of Electromagnetic Fields,Particulate Matter,and Antimicrobial Resistance

This perspective presents empirical data to demonstrate the existence of different expert views on scientific policy advice on complex environmental health issues. These views are partly research‐field specific. According to scientific literature, experts differ in the way they provide policy advice on complex issues such as electromagnetic fields (EMF), particulate matter (PM), and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Where some experts feel their primary task is to carry out fundamental research, others actively engage in the policy dialogue. Although the literature provides ideas about expert roles, there exists little empirical underpinning. Our aim is to gather empirical evidence about expert roles. The results of an international study indicated that experts on EMF, PM, and AMR differ in the way they view their role in the policy dialogue. For example, experts differed in their views on the need for precaution and their motivation to initiate stakeholder cooperation. Besides, most experts thought that their views on the risks of EMF/PM/AMR did not differ from those of colleagues. Great dissensus was found in views on the best ways of managing risks and uncertainties. In conclusion, the theoretical ideal–typical roles from the literature can be identified to a certain extent.     

HiTrapQ柱FPLC快速纯化人血清白蛋白(HSA)

为研制新型三、四天线半乳糖肝受体功能显像剂,须将三、四天线半乳糖与人血清白蛋白(HSA)偶联,故必须制备较纯净人血清白蛋白(HSA)。在FPLC上用HiTrapQ柱快速纯化人血清白蛋白(HSA)。经PAGE和SDS-PAGE鉴定只有一条带。在FPLC上用HiTrapQ柱纯化HSA有速度快、纯化量大且方法较为简便等特点。     

略论鲁迅笔下阿Q的人格变异

鲁迅名作《阿Q正传》展示的阿Q的人格变异 ,反映了中国农民对传统的困守 ,其缘由在于中国封建经济依然占据着统治地位 ,在此基础上构成的宗法制度的严酷、政治经济上的压迫 ,以及辛亥革命未能在中国广大农村造成真正意义上的剧烈变动。对阿Q人格变异的探究 ,体现了鲁迅对民族性的思考、批判和对独立自由的现代人格精神的向往与追求     

Expected utility, μ-σ preferences,and linear distribution classes: A further result

This article is an extension of Meyer and Sinn's results on the representation of arbitrary von Neumann-Morgenstern functions in - space when the probability distributions to be compared belong to a linear distribution class. It shows that, when absolute risk aversion decreases, stays constant, or increases not too fast, an increase in , given , increases the indifference curve slope: increased riskiness increases the required marginal compensation for risk when risk is measured by the standard deviation of wealth or income.I gratefully acknowledge useful comments by Wolfgang Buchholz, Kai Konrad, Jack Meyer, Hans Schneeweiß, Dominique Thon, and Bengt Arne Wickström.     

Rurality discourses and the role of the social enterprise in regenerating rural Scotland

Social enterprises are businesses with primarily social objectives that reinvest their surplus in the community rather than seeking to maximise profit for shareholders. However, there is a debate regarding the drivers and the role of the social enterprise, the outcome of which is expected to have serious implications for the future of the institution [Brady, C., 2003. Social Enterprise development and the Role of the Social Economy in Scotland. CBS Network, Edinburgh]. A ‘reformist’ view supports the position that social enterprises are simple extensions of existing economic systems, whereas a ‘radical’ stance sees them as the embodiment of an alternative vision of running local economies. Development Trusts (DTs) are social enterprises that focus on community regeneration. Our research explored DT stakeholder views regarding the role of DTs in regenerating rural Scotland. Using Q methodology [Barry, J., Proops, J., 1999. Seeking sustainability discourses with Q methodology. Ecological Economics, 28, 337–345], we drew on ‘rurality’ discourses [Frouws, J., 1998. The contested redefinition of the countryside. An analysis of rural discourses in The Netherlands. Sociologia Ruralis 38(1), 54–68] expressed by DT stakeholders in order to investigate how these discourses informed their views. Radical positions were mostly associated with a hedonist rurality discourse and were split into three sub-discourses, whereas reformist positions mostly reflected a utilitarian rurality discourse. There was consensus between discourses in rejecting a primary DT contribution to rural regeneration by substituting state and local authority functions in rural Scotland. Results suggest that stakeholders prefer that DTs develop their own agendas and activity rather than try to substitute unsuccessful state or local authority provision of rural services. Social enterprise strategies and support policies promoting a service-providing role for DTs in rural Scotland should consider this issue if they are to avoid stakeholder objection and contribute to the success of DTs in becoming active vehicles of rural regeneration.