Cognitive abilities,self-efficacy,and financial behavior

This paper investigates the effect of cognitive abilities on financial behavior among older adults. Using the U.S. Health and Retirement Study, I find that cognitive abilities significantly affect financial behavior through two channels: ability and self-efficacy. People with higher cognition scores achieve better financial outcomes. This positive association is especially strong in tasks having high demand of cognitive abilities, which confirms the ability channel of the cognitive ability effect. In addition, there is evidence for the self-efficacy channel as a secondary source of cognitive influence. Lower cognitive abilities decrease people’s sense of self-efficacy, which, in turn, significantly decreases financial management efficiency. The findings have important policy implications, specifically that more effort is needed to assist the growing older population through the cognitive aging process and that noncognitive skills, as a secondary source of influence, also warrant attention.     

Exploring Strengths of Gay Men in 12-Step Recovery

The purpose of this study is to qualitatively explore the strengths of gay men in 12-step recovery for substance abuse. To advance this line of inquiry, an interview guide comprised of open-ended interview questions was used to investigate cognitive, emotional, behavioral, social, community, and spiritual characteristics among a snowball sample of urban gay men (N = 15) in Los Angeles, California.

Active participation in 12-step recovery reflected an abundance of identifiable strengths. Themes included (1) strong social support, (2) viable coping mechanisms, and (3) personal strengths that are indicative of persons experiencing high self-esteem.     

Consumer bankruptcy and default: The role of individual social capital

In this paper, we empirically assess the role of individual social capital on personal bankruptcy and default outcomes in the consumer credit market. After controlling for a borrower’s risk score, debt, income, wealth, and legal and economic environments, we find that default/bankruptcy risk rises and then falls over the lifecycle, while a borrower who owns a home or is married has a lower risk of default/bankruptcy. Moreover, a borrower who migrates 190 miles from his “state of birth” is 17% more likely to default and 15% more likely to file for bankruptcy, while a borrower who continues to live in his state of birth is 14% and 10% less likely to default and file for bankruptcy, respectively. A borrower who moves to a rural area is 9% and 7% less likely to default and declare bankruptcy, respectively. We also find that measures of social networks, norms, and cooperation and trust (i.e., aggregate social capital) are inversely related to consumer bankruptcy.     

Simple inference in multinomial and ordered logit

This paper provides some simple methods of interpreting the coefficients in multinomial logit and ordered logit models. These methods are summarized in Propositions concerning the magnitudes, signs, and patterns of partial derivatives of the outcome probabilities with respect to the exogenousvariables. The paper also provides an empirical example illustrating the use of these Propositions.     

雾霾治理中的“政治性蓝天”——来自中国地方“两会”的证据

目的/意义合理的环境政策工具是保障可持续发展的重要依据。设计/方法运用双重差分法（DID）和基于倾向得分匹配后的双重差分法（PSM-DID）,分析了2016年杭州召开“G20峰会”前实行的命令控制型环境政策对空气质量的影响。结论/发现（1）长期政策有效改善了空气质量,其效果明显好于短期政策,保障了“G20峰会”前后杭州市空气的优良品质;（2）长期政策创造的蓝天是稳定持续的,“G20峰会”前后空气质量未出现大的波动或反弹现象;（3）“G20峰会”长期政策具有长期效应,长期内空气质量保持良好水平,未出现恶化趋势。在考虑了共同趋势、不同污染物形式、更换不同样本以及选择不同模型后仍然稳健。     

Optimal consumption and portfolio selection with negative wealth constraints,subsistence consumption constraints,and CARA utility

We consider the optimal consumption and portfolio selection problem with constant absolute risk aversion (CARA) utility. The economic agent in this model receives constant labor income, and her economic behavior is restricted on consumption and wealth, which are called the subsistence consumption constraint and the negative wealth constraint. We use the convex duality method to derive the value function and the optimal policies in closed-form solutions. Also we illustrate some numerical examples.     

The Beta Product Distribution with Complex Parameters

The family consisting of the distributions of products of two independent beta variables is extended to include cases where some of the parameters are not positive but negative or complex. This “beta product” distribution is expressible as a Meijer G function. An example (from risk theory) where such a distribution arises is given: an infinite sum of products of independent random variables is shown to have a distribution that is the product convolution of a complex-parameter beta product and an independent exponential. The distribution of the infinite sum is a new explicit solution of the stochastic equation X = (in law) B(X + C). Characterizations of some G distributions are also proved.     

Toward a teacher solidarity lens: former teachers of color (re)envisioning educational research

Based on a two-year self-study by a group of early-career scholars of color, we explore and purposefully name our role, within the contemporary context of neoliberal reform, as educational researchers of color who are former K-12 teachers. We capture the insights that emerged from our self-study through a close reading of dominant neoliberal educational reform discourses, particularly through an examination of the writings of Michelle Rhee and Wendy Kopp. Along three dimensions of: (1) experience as teachers; (2) solidarity with teachers; and (3) analyses of racism in schooling, we characterize prominent discourses through which educators, researchers, and the public describe teachers and teaching. We name these discursive frames to make explicit the assumptions that are embedded in each and the intentional or inadvertent consequences of each. Finally, we propose a teacher solidarity lens through which we strive to approach our research and work with teachers.     

新中国民族理论研究特色论——构建中国民族理论话语体系研究系列之一

在中国民族学的理论来源及其发展上,无论是舶来说、本土化,还是中国化,都是把西方民族学作为中国民族学研究的理论出发点和立足点,难免会陷入一种以经典诠释现实、以今套古、以外导内的研究困境。坚持中国民族理论的中国特色论,就在于从我国统一多民族国家的历史以及几千年的民族传统文化的解读和研究出发,以中国各民族的发展史来作为中国民族理论研究的主干思想,中学为主西学为用,这样才能促进中国特色社会主义民族理论体系的完善和发展。     

屠隆与普陀十二景

普陀山雄奇幽灵的自然景观，经历代文人题咏，便有了人文品格，成为山水风景社会化的显著标志。明代戏剧家屠隆首题普陀山十二景，并且是《普陀十二景诗》的始作俑者，对后世有较大影响。