Competition and Coordination in Two‐Tier Public Service Systems under Government Fiscal Policy

As a result of government budgetary limits and rapid market growth, many public service systems—such as health care—are characterized by extensive customer wait times that have become a serious problem. This problem might be solved by allowing private firms to enter these markets, which would provide customers with a choice between a free (governmental) public service provider (SP) and a fee‐charging (or “toll”) private SP. In such a two‐tier service system, the two SPs are differentiated by service quality and cost efficiency. This study focuses on the competition and coordination issues for two‐tier service systems with customers who are sensitive to both service quality and delay. The free system attempts to maximize its expected total customer utility with limited capacity, whereas the toll system attempts to maximize its profit. Neither goal is aligned with the social welfare goal of the public service. To achieve the social welfare goal, the government plays a crucial role in coordinating the two‐tier service system via the budget, the tradeoff of social members' goals, and tax‐subsidy policies. Using a mixed duopoly game, we establish Nash equilibrium strategies and identify the conditions for the existence of the two‐tier service system. We employ several interesting and counter‐intuitive managerial insights generated by the model to show that the public service can be delivered more efficiently via customer choice and SP competition. In addition, we show that a relatively low tax‐subsidy rate can almost perfectly coordinate the two SPs to achieve most of the maximum possible benefit of the two‐tier service system.     

Sovereignty at What Scale? An Inquiry into Multiple Dimensions of Food Sovereignty

Abstract

Food sovereignty has struggled to make inroads into changing the structures and processes underlying the corporate food regime. One reason is that scale is still underspecified in the politics, strategies, and theories of food sovereignty. We suggest that much can be learned from examining the multiple dimensions of scale inherent in ongoing food sovereignty struggles. A gap exists between these in vivo experiments and the maturing academic theory of scale. The concept of ‘sovereignty’ can be opened up to reveal that movements, peoples, and communities, for example, are creating multiple sovereignties and are exercising sovereignty in more relational ways. Relational scale can aid movements and scholars to map and evaluate how spatial and temporal processes at and among various levels work to reinforce dominant agri-food systems but could also be reconfigured to support progressive alternatives. Finally, we apply relational scale to suggest practical strategies for realizing food sovereignty, using examples from the Potato Park in the Peruvian Andes.     

Translating the Politics of Food Sovereignty: Digging into Contradictions,Uncovering New Dimensions

Abstract

Food sovereignty, as a movement and a set of ideas, is coming of age. Rooted in resistance to free trade and the globalizing force of neoliberalism, the concept has inspired collective action across the world. We examine what has changed since food sovereignty first emerged on the international scene and reflect on insight from new terrain where the movement has expanded. We argue that to advance the theory and practice of food sovereignty, new frameworks and analytical methods are needed to move beyond binaries—between urban and rural, gender equality and the family farm, trade and localism, and autonomy and engagement with the state. A research agenda in food sovereignty must not shy away from the rising contradictions in and challenges to the movement. The places of seeming contradiction may in fact be where the greatest insights are to be found. We suggest that by taking a relational perspective, scholars can begin to draw insight into the challenges and sticking points of food sovereignty by training their lens on shifts in the global food regime, on the efforts to construct sovereignty at multiple scales, and on the points of translation where food sovereignty is articulated through historical memory, identity, and everyday life.     

Parental constructions of masculinity at the transition to parenthood: the division of parental leave among Austrian couples

Men and masculinity are considered a key factor in changing gender inequality at the transition to parenthood. Prior research on gendered division of parental leave concentrated on fathers’ perspectives. This paper includes perspectives of fathers and mothers who make use of parental leave in different ways and asks how masculinity is jointly constructed, how these constructions are linked to the use of parental leave, and if and how they are oriented towards hegemonic masculinity. The analysis is based on 44 qualitative interviews with 11 Austrian couples before and after birth when decisions concerning parental leave were made. Our case reconstructions reveal that parents considered parental leave a central element of masculinity as long as it suited fathers’ needs and circumstances permitted. The decisions for sharing parental leave were father-centred as both partners valued father’s leave higher than mother’s.     

投射偏差视角下的服务类品牌消费--以农村信息消费支付意愿为例

现将投射偏差模型框架引入服务类耐用品消费者均衡中,从理论上阐述投射偏差如何会导致消费者在服务类商品消费时无法达到效用最大化。研究采用实验和实地调研的方法,一共有251名人员参与了实验与调研,分析上网体验对于未来一年宽带的支付意愿影响。研究结果发现,人们在体验上网前后对于信息的认知状态有显著差异,没有上过网的人会基于当前的认知状态而低估未来一年宽带的效用,其支付意愿明显低于上过网的人,投射偏差在服务类耐用品的消费均衡中发挥了重要作用。     

农业合作社的经济均衡——基于新古典框架的分析

在完备市场和经济理性人假设下,采用新古典框架对合作社进行经济均衡分析,是对合作社的性质及其在农产品市场中所起作用研究的重要方面。在整理已有文献的基础上,将合作社视为追求单一目标的特殊企业组织形式,分别构建了传统购买、销售合作社及新型深加工合作社的经济均衡模型。研究发现,传统购买销售合作社为生产资料的卖方垄断和农产品买方垄断市场增加了竞争性因素,使农业生产效率提高,均衡产量增加。新型深加工“合作社—农户社员”系统存在一种自我调节机制,使系统在偏离均衡状态时自动向均衡方向调节。这一模型解释了“新一代合作社”中“股份—交易份额”同一的规定,如何使其保持在最大生产效率下经营。     

心理期望：政治认同生成的内隐机制

政治认同是公民对国家政治诸要素所产生的一种心理上的归属感。心理期望作为政治认同的内隐机制,从需要因素看,可分为自发性政治认同需要和引致性政治认同需要。而对需要的满足,则取决于主体的自我政治期望和社会政治期望的契合程度及运行路向。现实问题往往因对期望的认知错位而产生各异的政治认同距离进而给个体和政府等带来心理压力。如何把这种压力保持在一定的安全阈值范围内而使政府和个人在期望心理供求方面处于大体均衡,成为优化政治认同效果的现实选择。     

Handling Missing Values in Longitudinal Panel Data With Multiple Imputation

This article offers an applied review of key issues and methods for the analysis of longitudinal panel data in the presence of missing values. The authors consider the unique challenges associated with attrition (survey dropout), incomplete repeated measures, and unknown observations of time. Using simulated data based on 4 waves of the Marital Instability Over the Life Course Study (n = 2,034), they applied a fixed effect regression model and an event‐history analysis with time‐varying covariates. They then compared results for analyses with nonimputed missing data and with imputed data both in long and in wide structures. Imputation produced improved estimates in the event‐history analysis but only modest improvements in the estimates and standard errors of the fixed effects analysis. Factors responsible for differences in the value of imputation are examined, and recommendations for handling missing values in panel data are presented.     

或有可转换债券的定价和公司资本结构

假设公司收益流服从算术布朗运动,考虑包含或有可转换债券(CCB) 的公司资本结构问题,计算公司证券均衡价格,分析公司破产概率、公司收益风险与公司资本结构之间的数量关系． 结果表明: CCB 不但显著降低破产概率,减小管理者“资产替代”动机,而且吸收公司大部分风险,大幅提升公司总价值; CCB 的收益率差价明显高于普通债券; 公司收益流与市场正(负) 相关程度越高,公司总价值越小(大) ．     

A survey on multivariate chi-square distributions and their applications in testing multiple hypotheses

We are concerned with three different types of multivariate chi-square distributions. Their members play important roles as limiting distributions of vectors of test statistics in several applications of multiple hypotheses testing. We explain these applications and consider the computation of multiplicity-adjusted p-values under the respective global hypothesis. By means of numerical examples, we demonstrate how much gain in level exhaustion or, equivalently, power can be achieved with corresponding multivariate multiple tests compared with approaches which are only based on univariate marginal distributions and do not take the dependence structure among the test statistics into account. As a further contribution of independent value, we provide an overview of essentially all analytic formulas for computing multivariate chi-square probabilities of the considered types which are available up to present. These formulas were scattered in the previous literature and are presented here in a unified manner.