Effects of some design factors on the distribution of similarity indices in cluster analysis

This article investigates the effects of number of clusters, cluster size, and correction for chance agreement on the distribution of two similarity indices, namely, Jaccard and Rand indices. Skewness and kurtosis are calculated for the two indices and their corrected forms then compared with those of the normal distribution. Three clustering algorithms are implemented: complete linkage, Ward, and K-means. Data were randomly generated from bivariate normal distributions with specified means and variance covariance matrices. Three-way ANOVA is performed to assess the significance of the design factors using skewness and kurtosis of the indices as responses. Test statistics for testing skewness and kurtosis and observed power are calculated. Simulation results showed that independent of the clustering algorithms or the similarity indices used, the interaction effect cluster size x number of clusters and the main effects of cluster size and number of clusters were found always significant for skewness and kurtosis. The three way interaction of cluster size x correction x number of clusters was significant for skewness of Rand and Jaccard indices using all clustering algorithms, but was not significant using Ward's method for both Rand and Jaccard indices, while significant for Jaccard only using complete linkage and K-means algorithms. The correction for chance agreement was significant for skewness and kurtosis using Rand and Jaccard indices when complete linkage method is used. Hence, such design factors must be taken into consideration when studying distribution of such indices.     

Asymptotic inference in poverty indices: an empirical processes approach

We derive an empirical poverty index containing most of those proposed in the literature. Then, we study its asymptotic behavior by using empirical processes theory. From the results obtained, we derive a Wald-type test for comparing a vector of theoretical poverty indices to a vector of reference indices. We study the test statistic under the null hypothesis of equality, fixed alternatives, and a sequence of local alternatives. A simulation experiment conducted shows that our test performs well for exponential and Pareto data.     

科技力与区域金融综合竞争力的模糊曲线分析

针对区域金融研究现状的不足,利用复杂系统原理,建立了全面、客观的金融综合竞争力指标体系,将其分为显示性指标和解释性指标两部分,选取31个地区作为样本,运用主成分和因子分析法对各个区域的金融成长状况进行计量分析研究和排序,并在此基础上进行聚类分析;在解释性指标的模糊曲线分析中,选取科技力指标,通过分析得出该指标以及构成该指标的各个分力与金融综合竞争力存在显著相关关系。科技力对区域金融综合竞争力的解释力和贡献率很高,因此科技力量对金融的发展水平起着决定性作用。     

全国新农村建设综合评价研究

针对我国各地新农村建设情况，提出一种有效的评价方法。从生产发展、生活保障、文明与环境这3个方面，建立全国新农村建设综合评价指标体系。以31个省、市、自治区为例，运用层次分析法建立综合评价模型，经过运算，确定各地新农村建设的综合发展状况，并给出具体分析。     

大麦籽粒灌浆特性的研究

本文通过对十二个大麦品种籽粒灌浆“S”曲线的描绘,发现决定粒重的关键时期是在开花后22～37天,此期积累的物质占最大粒重的60%以上,单粒体积一般在开花后37天前后达到最大值。籽粒含水量在开花台47天就迅速降到20%左右。     

Discrimination between the complementary log-log and logistic model for ordinal data

An assessment is made of the number of observations on ordinal data necessary for reasonable power in a significance test of the null hypothesis of a logit model versus an alternative of a complementary log-log and vice versa. The conclusion is that quite modest numbers of observations, e.g. 50-100, are adequate provided that the boundaries of the ordinal scale are suitably defined.     

地区间农业生产效率差异研究

本文运用非参数Maimquist生产率指数评价了1990—2005年中国各省农业经济效率逐期变化动态情况，并利用该指数可分解为技术进步、技术效率改进特性，详细考察中国各区域发展不平衡的具体原因，旨在为促进农业经济健康发展提供科学借鉴。     

中国社会发展水平综合评价研究

一、问题的提出自20世纪90年代以来,人类发展问题已成为当代社会人们研究的重大课题。诚然,人类社会是发展了,但发展的现实世界中还有许多不尽如人意之处。如经济发展了,却带来许多产品生产过剩的问题;人口平均寿命提高了,却又伴随着出现老龄人口的社会保障问题;经济发展的速度     

Measuring the impact of prices on inequality: With applications to Thailand and Korea

This paper develops a new methodology to compute social cost of living indices. These indices indicate whether or not price changes have a favourable (or unfavourable) impact on the welfare of the poor. The indices are derived on the basis of two alternative classes of social welfare functions. The methodology developed in the paper is applied to compute social cost of living indices for Thailand and Korea. The empirical results show that changes in prices have generally affected the poor more adversely than the non-poor.     

Marital disruption and economic well-being: a comparative analysis

Summary.  Though there is a considerable literature concerned with the economic consequences of marital breakdown, there is still substantial disagreement in terms of its magnitude. One of the major problems underlying this debate is how economic well-being is defined. We implement several measures of well-being of monetary and multidimensional nature by using data from the European Community Household Panel. Another issue in this literature concerns selection bias of divorcing couples. We tackle this issue by using a propensity score matching technique combined with a difference-in-differences estimator. Results confirm the importance of the definition of well-being. We find a strong gender bias when using monetary measures but a considerably lower bias, and for some countries non-existent, when using non-monetary indices.