How social comparison influences reference price formation in a service context

What is the influence on reference price when the source of price information is anonymous versus social? This article investigates the formation of reference prices given an observed sequence of past prices in a service context. An experimental study suggests that, considering the same price information, if the source is social (i.e., the prices paid by colleagues), then consumers want to pay less. More specifically, social comparison changes the way individuals weigh information, attributing more importance to the lowest historical prices and to the range in price variations.     

众数测算的一种新方法及其应用

针对传统众数估计值会因为组距的改变而不稳定,在已有的半极差(样本)众数估计方法上,提出多比例极差(样本)众数估计新方法。模拟研究显示,相对于半极差(样本)众数估计方法,该方法估计结果更稳定、准确。在实证分析中,基于2014、2015年国家一体化住户调查数据,使用新方法计算了新疆兵团居民人均可支配收入众数。结果表明,众数可以作为居民人均可支配收入平均数、中位数的有益补充,众数在政府统计中的推广及应用具有一定的可行性与必要性。     

Sampling schemes for price index construction: a performance comparison across the classification of individual consumption by purpose food groups

Five sampling schemes (SS) for price index construction – one cut-off sampling technique and four probability-proportional-to-size (pps) methods – are evaluated by comparing their performance on a homescan market research data set across 21 months for each of the 13 classification of individual consumption by purpose (COICOP) food groups. Classifications are derived for each of the food groups and the population index value is used as a reference to derive performance error measures, such as root mean squared error, bias and standard deviation for each food type. Repeated samples are taken for each of the pps schemes and the resulting performance error measures analysed using regression of three of the pps schemes to assess the overall effect of SS and COICOP group whilst controlling for sample size, month and population index value. Cut-off sampling appears to perform less well than pps methods and multistage pps seems to have no advantage over its single-stage counterpart. The jackknife resampling technique is also explored as a means of estimating the standard error of the index and compared with the actual results from repeated sampling.     

Getting Real About Food Prices

The 2008 spike in world grain prices is widely recognised to have had serious impacts on food security and poverty, but these high grain prices are commonly described as low in historical terms – an inconsistency resulting from the use of advanced‐ and global‐economy price indices in calculating real prices. This ignores the high share of food in poor people's expenditures and the indirect effects of income growth on expenditure patterns of rich consumers. Poor consumers have not experienced the same falls in real food prices and are more vulnerable to price shocks. Different price indices must be developed to take account of differences between consumer groups.     

谈建设工程造价的全过程控制

建设项目工程造价管理的基本内容就是合理确定和有效地控制工程造价．本文对如何做到“事前把关、过程与动态管理为特征”的全过程控制进行了论述．     

1988年费孝通南岭行

1988年12月,费孝通参加庆祝广西壮族自治区成立30周年活动之后,不顾78岁高龄,进入南岭山脉瑶族聚居区考察,并就瑶族的历史与文化、中华民族多元一体格局、我国的民族政策和建立南岭瑶族经济开发协作区等做了深刻的论述。本文记录了费老此行谈话的内容,并探讨了其意义。     

Inventory‐Based Dynamic Pricing with Costly Price Adjustment

We study an average‐cost stochastic inventory control problem in which the firm can replenish inventory and adjust the price at anytime. We establish the optimality to change the price from low to high in each replenishment cycle as inventory is depleted. With costly price adjustment, scale economies of inventory replenishment are reflected in the cycle time instead of lot size—An increased fixed ordering cost leads to an extended replenishment cycle but does not necessarily increase the order quantity. A reduced marginal cost of ordering calls for an increased order quantity, as well as speeding up product selling within a cycle. We derive useful properties of the profit function that allows for reducing computational complexity of the problem. For systems requiring short replenishment cycles, the optimal solution can be easily computed by applying these properties. For systems requiring long replenishment cycles, we further consider a relaxed problem that is computational tractable. Under this relaxation, the sum of fixed ordering cost and price adjustment cost is equal to (greater than, less than) the total inventory holding cost within a replenishment cycle when the inventory holding cost is linear (convex, concave) in the stock level. Moreover, under the optimal solution, the time‐average profit is the same across all price segments when the inventory holding cost is accounted properly. Through a numerical study, we demonstrate that inventory‐based dynamic pricing can lead to significant profit improvement compared with static pricing and limited price adjustment can yield a benefit that is close to unlimited price adjustment. To be able to enjoy the benefit of dynamic pricing, however, it is important to appropriately choose inventory levels at which the price is revised.     

中国是否拥有原油的国际定价权？——基于油价间独立性与传导性视角

在目前国际原油以期货市场定价的格局下,如何判别中国原油期货价格是否已经拥有了国际定价权是一个亟待解决的理论和现实问题。本文基于多变量单方向因果测度统计分析方法,聚焦原油期货市场定价的独立性与传导性,以上海国际能源交易中心的原油期货价格（INE）为例进行实证分析。研究发现：第一,INE在短、中期内未受到WTI、Brent等原油期货价格的因果影响,具有价格发现功能,但是尚不具备长期独立性;第二,在本文的样本区间与美元兑人民币汇率条件下,上海原油期货采用人民币计价可以增强其对WTI、Brent的影响力,同时减弱二者的影响力,彰显出人民币计价的双重定价优势;第三,WTI和Brent油价作为基准油价指标,INE作为非基准油价指标满足本文所创建的国际基准油价之间应长期相互独立、基准油价对非基准油价应具有传导性的研判标准,反映了该标准的科学性。     

中国价格水平的国际比较：差距及影响因素

基于世界银行2011年国际比较项目（ ICP）数据结果,分析中国价格水平的国际差距,研究其影响因素,剖析世界银行推算的中国购买力平价和价格水平指数的合理性和局限性。研究表明,中国价格总水平相对较低,但在多重因素作用下,呈大幅上升趋势,与国际的差距缩小,价格的国际竞争优势逐渐减弱。在现阶段,中国价格水平与经济发展水平大体相适应。从长期趋势看,中国价格水平继续上升的压力较大,须控制通胀预期,稳定人民币汇率,谨防价格水平上升超出经济发展水平的正常范围。