Asset Accumulation: An Alternative Approach to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are unlikely to be achieved by 2015, owing to conceptual flaws in their design as well as the structural and political constraints faced during implementation at the country level. While criticism of the MDGs is widespread, innovative ideas on addressing these operational challenges are still scanty. By reviewing a number of experiences, including those of the Foundation for the Promotion of Local Development (PRODEL) in Nicaragua and the Ministry of Cities in Brazil, this article highlights the importance of incorporating an asset‐accumulation perspective into MDG‐related policies and programmes as a way of generating an enabling environment that opens up new opportunities for poverty reduction in the cities of low‐ and middle‐low‐income countries.     

Recovery From Mental Health Problems: Scratching The Surface Without Ethnography

This article examines a central plank of mental health policy (‘recovery’) in societies which have attempted to reverse the long-term warehousing of those with a diagnosis of mental disorder (de-institutionalisation). The emergence of the concept is traced in relation to the shift from an institutional to a more dispersed and community-based form of service organisation. Different usages of the term ‘recovery’, each with distinct implications for practice are considered on the part of three main interest groups (traditional bio-medical psychiatrists; social psychiatrists emphasising social skills training; and dissenting service users). These different usages suggest that ‘recovery’ is a polyvalent concept that creates an uneasy consensus point to define the management philosophies of local services enacting mental health policy. Also mental health work is about more than the group of patients mainly considered in relation to recovery (those with ‘severe and enduring mental health problems’). Practice-near research strategies are now required to investigate the varied practical scenarios these contradictions generate and ethnographic research is therefore indicated. Without multiple ethnographies, we will be left with competing rhetoric about recovery and its meaning or meanings may be rendered worthless.     

学人与光复初期台湾教育事业的推进

通过探讨学人在台湾光复初期教育重建中的奠基性作用,分析他们在教育界开展的以"启蒙"为导向的文化建设,以及他们在去除日本殖民教育影响基础上大力推广国语等活动,可以看到学人们在台湾教育事业推进过程中发挥了历史性的重要作用.     

Time‐Varying Risk Premium in Large Cross‐Sectional Equity Data Sets

We develop an econometric methodology to infer the path of risk premia from a large unbalanced panel of individual stock returns. We estimate the time‐varying risk premia implied by conditional linear asset pricing models where the conditioning includes both instruments common to all assets and asset‐specific instruments. The estimator uses simple weighted two‐pass cross‐sectional regressions, and we show its consistency and asymptotic normality under increasing cross‐sectional and time series dimensions. We address consistent estimation of the asymptotic variance by hard thresholding, and testing for asset pricing restrictions induced by the no‐arbitrage assumption. We derive the restrictions given by a continuum of assets in a multi‐period economy under an approximate factor structure robust to asset repackaging. The empirical analysis on returns for about ten thousand U.S. stocks from July 1964 to December 2009 shows that risk premia are large and volatile in crisis periods. They exhibit large positive and negative strays from time‐invariant estimates, follow the macroeconomic cycles, and do not match risk premia estimates on standard sets of portfolios. The asset pricing restrictions are rejected for a conditional four‐factor model capturing market, size, value, and momentum effects.     

Using Panel Data to Understand the Dynamics of Human Behavior in Response to Flooding

Insights into the dynamics of human behavior in response to flooding are urgently needed for the development of effective integrated flood risk management strategies, and for integrating human behavior in flood risk modeling. However, our understanding of the dynamics of risk perceptions, attitudes, individual recovery processes, as well as adaptive (i.e., risk reducing) intention and behavior are currently limited because of the predominant use of cross-sectional surveys in the flood risk domain. Here, we present the results from one of the first panel surveys in the flood risk domain covering a relatively long period of time (i.e., four years after a damaging event), three survey waves, and a wide range of topics relevant to the role of citizens in integrated flood risk management. The panel data, consisting of 227 individuals affected by the 2013 flood in Germany, were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA and latent class growth analysis (LCGA) to utilize the unique temporal dimension of the data set. Results show that attitudes, such as the respondents’ perceived responsibility within flood risk management, remain fairly stable over time. Changes are observed partly for risk perceptions and mainly for individual recovery and intentions to undertake risk-reducing measures. LCGA reveal heterogeneous recovery and adaptation trajectories that need to be taken into account in policies supporting individual recovery and stimulating societal preparedness. More panel studies in the flood risk domain are needed to gain better insights into the dynamics of individual recovery, risk-reducing behavior, and associated risk and protective factors.     

契约型农产品渠道中专有资产投入、人际信任与关系稳定

文章探讨了收购商与农户构成的契约型农产品渠道关系中,收购商与农户双方的专有资产投入对农户信任的影响,以及农户信任对关系稳定性的影响作用.实证研究发现,收购商专有资产投入会促进农户信任,而农户专有资产投入会强化上述关系;同时,农户信任会提升其续约意愿,降低其违约倾向.此外,政府支持会强化农户信任对其续约意愿的正向影响,但会削弱农户信任对其违约倾向的负向影响.研究结论拓展了传统渠道中专有资产投入对信任影响的适用范围,指出了双方锁定的渠道关系对信任的重要作用,为农产品渠道中契约稳定性的研究提供了新视角.研究还发现,政府支持对提高契约型农产品渠道关系稳定性具有重要作用,这对制定契约型农产品渠道的管理政策具有一定的启发意义.     

资产专用性对确权后农地流转的影响

农地确权后,农户对农地转出多持中立或否定的态度,这与产权明晰促进交易的产权理论大相径庭。文章探讨了资产专用性对确权后农地流转的作用机理,并运用吉林省9市1444个农户数据对其进行实证分析。结果表明：农地确权后,土地资产、农业资产、地理位置以及人力资本等专用性抑制农户转出农地,农业资产和人力资本专用性抑制农户提高农地租金,而社会资本专用性则分别存在促进作用;农业资产、地理位置以及人力资本等专用性抑制农户更长时间转出农地;农业资产专用性对转出农地须要签订合约具有抑制作用,而地理位置专用性则存在促进作用。     

基于内生交易费用的农村集体资产股份制改革

以内生交易费用的视角考察现阶段集体资产股份合作制改革,发现股权集体股的设置导致部分资产产权不清晰,股权封闭和政经不分带来合作社的内部监督失效和激励机制不足,从而引起村干部管理者寻租、偷懒等机会主义行为,增加了合作社治理的内生交易费用。苏州市通过集体股确权到户和股权固化,实施合作社“代理记账”,建立村集体财务监管平台和资产交易平台,实现“政经分离”及开放治理等一系列改革措施,明晰了集体资产产权主体,建立了有效的激励约束机制,有利于减少合作社代理人机会主义行为,降低了合作社治理的内生交易费用。苏州经验表明,在农村集体资产股份合作制改革过程中,政府主导力量的恰当发挥是改革的成功前提,同时也要尊重合作社治理的内生动力;通过赋予农民清晰完整的股权,建立顺畅的股权流转体系,有利于合作社内部治理体制的完善;合作社管理者的行为规范还有赖于政府实施的外部监督机制。     

表面摩擦驱动收卷的玻纤布卷驱动力特征

与传统股权相比,扶贫股在出资、股权类型、权利内容、收益分配、退出机制、风险防范等方面形成了许多创新做法,但存在制度回应弱、效益吸引力不够、相关利益协调不足、长效的收益分享机制缺失、平台治理参与局限等深层次问题。据此,应立足中国实践,在集体股的框架内,明确扶贫股的法律属性,以集体股制度创新为路径,从制度层面规范扶贫股。     

法院执行效果的真实改善和非真实改善——影响判决执行效果的两种机制

本文希望解释什么原因造成中国法院近十年来的“执行难”。对某法院大约5000个审判和执行数据的实证研究表明,造成法院“执行难”的原因既包括法院内部的执行不力,也包括法院外部因素,比如国有资产管理对当事人选择司法执行程序的刚性约束。被研究法院执行效果的相对改善,既反映了近年来司法改革和法院努力的成果,同时也包含了法院外部因素变化使“质量”更好的案件进入执行程序从而带来的执行效果“改善”。法院内部和外部两种因素的作用对象和机制完全不同,外部因素带来的执行效果的改善是不真实的改善：虽然某些执行效果的司法统计指标变得更好看了,但实际执行效果并未真正提高。与之相反。司法改革带来的执行效果的改善是真实的改善：它不是司法统计指标的简单变化,而是实实在在的司法效率的提高和执行结果的改善。