Institutional Diversity and Performance in African Cotton Sectors

This article analyses the performance of cotton sectors across East, Southern, and West Africa, paying particular attention to the wide diversity of institutional arrangements that they now exhibit. It finds strong support for earlier contentions regarding trade‐offs between competition and coordination, and between the roles of public and private sectors. New insights provide concrete and context‐specific guidance to policy‐makers and stakeholders regarding the key challenges they will face and the risks they will need to manage as they work to improve productivity and ensure an equitable division of benefits within cotton sectors.     

服务补救模型的构建及策略

服务的特性决定了服务失误不可完全避免,服务补救对于企业进行服务失误管理以及重新获得顾客忠诚有着重要意义。首先对归因理论、公平理论以及关系品质在服务补救中的运用作简要分析,然后在理论分析的基础上构建服务补救模型,最后提出企业实施服务补救的具体策略。     

Stock Returns and Expected Business Conditions: Half a Century of Direct Evidence

Using survey data, we characterize directly the impact of expected business conditions on expected excess stock returns. Expected business conditions consistently affect expected excess returns in a counter-cyclical fashion. Moreover, inclusion of expected business conditions in otherwise-standard predictive return regressions substantially reduce the explanatory power of the conventional financial predictors, including the dividend yield, default premium, and term premium, while simultaneously increasing R². Expected business conditions retain predictive power even when including the key nonfinancial predictor, the generalized consumption/wealth ratio. We argue that time-varying expected business conditions likely capture time-varying risk, whereas time-varying consumption/wealth may capture time-varying risk aversion.     

The Patient Transit Assistance Scheme: A case for social work advocacy!

Abstract

The Patient Transit Assistance Scheme is one of Queensland Health's initiatives designed to facilitate equity of access for Queensland residents to essential health care services. The purpose of the scheme is to help all Queenslanders, irrespective of where they live, to have access to specialist medical services. It provides direct financial assistance to patients and in some cases their carers, to facilitate access to specialist medical services irrespective of geographic location.

The findings of recent research conducted on social worker involvement with PTAS for patients diagnosed with leukaemia and associated haematological disorders will be used to argue that the problems in relation to the administration of this scheme require serious attention at the level of patient care and health policy.     

Who Lives Near Coke Plants and Oil Refineries? An Exploration of the Environmental Inequity Hypothesis

Facility-specific information on pollution was obtained for 36 coke plants and 46 oil refineries in the United States and matched with information on populations surrounding these 82 facilities. These data were analyzed to determine whether environmental inequities were present, whether they were more economic or racial in nature, and whether the racial composition of nearby communities has changed significantly since plants began operations.The Census tracts near coke plants have a disproportionate share of poor and nonwhite residents. Multivariate analyses suggest that existing inequities are primarily economic in nature. The findings for oil refineries are not strongly supportive of the environmental inequity hypothesis. Rank ordering of facilities by race, poverty, and pollution produces limited (although not consistent) evidence that the more risky facilities tend to be operating in communities with above-median proportions of nonwhite residents (near coke plants) and Hispanic residents (near oil refineries). Over time, the racial makeup of many communities near facilities has changed significantly, particularly in the case of coke plants sited in the early 1900s. Further risk-oriented studies of multiple manufacturing facilities in various industrial sectors of the economy are recommended.The authors are all affiliated with the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis     

市场社会主义评析

市场社会主义在理论上渊源于现代西方福利经济学,它经历了"早期"和"当代"两大时期、"初创-发展-突破-最新发展"四个阶段的发展,并在其发展中形成了"计划-市场二元机制"和"市场为主导"两大类型的理论模式.从本质上说,市场社会主义是一种社会改良主义思潮且具有很大的空想色彩,但同时,它又以其对市场效率的推崇、对社会主义价值目标的追求,坚持和发展了马克思的科学社会主义学说,尤其是最新发展阶段诸种新模式通过对苏东社会主义模式的反思,提出了许多颇有价值的思想观点,对于正处于攻坚和完善阶段的我国社会主义市场经济建设不无启发和借鉴意义.     

基于顾客资产价值提升的营销策略

基于企业与顾客互动关系内化而成的顾客资产正日益成为企业培育核心竞争力、构建竞争优势的关键资源。从研究顾客资产的内涵和构成着手。分析了影响顾客资产价值的系列驱动因素，从营销策略角度，提出了提升顾客资产价值的可操作性的建议。     

我国刑事简易程序的完善——从简易程序的价值谈起

在探讨刑事简易程序的概念、意义、价值等基础理论的前提下,对我国现行刑事简易程序的立法及司法实践进行评价。并提出规范、完善我国刑事简易程序是我国的刑事诉讼改革的方向之一。     

Redressing Inequity in Parent Care Among Siblings

When inequities occur in the division of labor among adult siblings caring for older parents, conflict may result. This paper uses equity theory as a framework for understanding the processes used by siblings to rectify imbalances in their parental responsibilities. The study is based on a sample of 40 focus group participants who described caregiving relationships among siblings. Consistent with equity theory, these participants used two approaches to redress inequities in their sibling caregiving relationships: requesting behavioral changes from siblings and making cognitive changes. The findings suggest that these two approaches can result in more perceived equity but may also lead to even greater perceived inequity and distress.     

AN ANALYSIS OF THE DEBATE ON INTERGENERATIONAL EQUITY AND FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY IN AUSTRALIA

The authorities in a number of advanced countries have produced intergenerational reports that seek to determine the fiscal sustainability of current policy parameters. The Australian government will publish its Intergenerational Report in May 2002. This paper attempts to place these reports in analytical perspective. We examine the notion of intergenerational equity, the conceptual basis for generational accounting, Australian efforts at constructing generational accounts, and then review the intergenerational reports of several other countries. The paper concludes with a brief synoptic discussion of various policies that can help Australian governments achieve intergenerational balance in future.