Optimal Contracts when Enforcement is a Decision Variable

This paper analyzes choice‐theoretic costly enforcement in an intertemporal contracting model with a differentially informed investor and entrepreneur. An intertemporal contract is modeled as a mechanism in which there is limited commitment to payment and enforcement decisions. The goal of the analysis is to characterize the effect of choice‐theoretic costly enforcement on the structure of optimal contracts. The paper shows that simple debt is the optimal contract when commitment is limited and costly enforcement is a decision variable (Theorem 1). In contrast, stochastic contracts are optimal when agents can commit to the ex‐ante optimal decisions (Theorem 2). The paper also shows that the costly state verification model can be viewed as a reduced form of an enforcement model in which agents choose payments and strategies as part of a perfect Bayesian Nash equilibrium.     

Deliberate Trust and Intuitive Faith: A Dual‐Process Model of Reliance

Drawing on the dual process framework from social and cognitive psychology, this paper reconciles two distinct conceptualizations of trust prevalent in the literature: “rational” calculative and irrational “affective” or normative. After critically reviewing previous attempts at reconciliation between these distinctions, we argue that the notion of trust as “reliance” is the higher order category of which “deliberate trust” and “intuitive faith” are subtypes. Our revised approach problematizes the conflation of epistemic uncertainty with phenomenological uncertainty while providing sound footing for a key sociological insight: that reliance on the routine social order is both the cognitive default and based on substantial practical evidence. We develop two broad suggestions for future research from these implications: (1) sociological research should examine the role of intuitive faith—as opposed to deliberate trust—in late modern societies, and (2) analysts should challenge the role of deliberate trust as the “modal” form of reliance in contemporary research.     

自主探究模式下英语学习目标定向的统计研究

通过对自主探究学习模式的实证研究,分析、总结了学习者在该模式下的英语学习目标定向的构成,探讨各种学习目标定向与教学绩效的关系,发现自主探究模式可以显著提高外语教学绩效。在此模式下,学习者的学习目标定向以成绩目标定向为主。与掌握目标定向相比,成绩目标定向的确可以显著提高教学绩效。     

Estimation of a Conditional Copula and Association Measures

Abstarct. This paper is concerned with studying the dependence structure between two random variables Y ₁ and Y ₂ conditionally upon a covariate X. The dependence structure is modelled via a copula function, which depends on the given value of the covariate in a general way. Gijbels et al. (Comput. Statist. Data Anal., 55, 2011, 1919) suggested two non‐parametric estimators of the ‘conditional’ copula and investigated their numerical performances. In this paper we establish the asymptotic properties of the proposed estimators as well as conditional association measures derived from them. Practical recommendations for their use are then discussed.     

Empirical nonparametric control charts for high-quality processes

For attribute data with (very) small failure rates often control charts are used which decide whether to stop or to continue each time r failures have occurred, for some r?1. Because of the small probabilities involved, such charts are very sensitive to estimation effects. This is true in particular if the underlying failure rate varies and hence the distributions involved are not geometric. Such a situation calls for a nonparametric approach, but this may require far more Phase I observations than are typically available in practice. In the present paper it is shown how this obstacle can be effectively overcome by looking not at the sum but rather at the maximum of each group of size r.     

A reverse form of welfarism: some reflections on Australian housing policy

In this paper I argue that we have been amiss in diagnosing the role played by government, which has exacerbated the housing problems afflicting low‐income households in Australia. However, I argue further we have placed too much faith in the capacity of managerial interventions to ameliorate what are far more deep‐rooted and systemic challenges. It is suggested that researchers need to adopt a more critical account of the conduct of contemporary government policy making, one that casts aside a view of the State as a benevolent agency whose primary objective is to ameliorate the conditions of the disadvantaged. Instead, the State should be understood as an agency that sustains the conditions necessary for the finance industry, developers and real estate agents, along with well‐off householders and landlords, to reap profits. The political economy of Australian housing, in its current incarnation, performs a form of reverse welfarism that exacerbates social inequality.     

Employers' attitudes towards long‐term unemployed people and the role of activation in Switzerland

Over the last few years, most OECD countries have extended their activation policy to new groups of non‐working people, including the long‐term unemployed (LTU). However, it is widely known that employers tend to regard LTU people as potentially problematic persons. This is likely to constitute a major obstacle for long‐term unemployed jobseekers. On the basis of a survey among employers in a Swiss canton (N = 722), this article aims to shed light on the perception employers have of the long‐term unemployed and whether this may matter for their recruitment practices. It also asks what, from the employer point of view, may facilitate access to employment for an LTU person. A key finding is that large companies have a worse image of the long‐term unemployed and are less likely to hire them. Furthermore, independent of company size, a test period or the recommendation of a trustworthy person is seen as the factors most likely to facilitate access to jobs for LTU people.     

气候变化背景下中国低碳制造发展研究

制造业是我国经济发展的重要支柱,也是实现低碳减排的主要战场。建立低碳制造评价指标体系,结合主成分分析法和层次分析法,可对我国制造业的低碳发展进行定量的研究评价,并从制造业低碳经济、低碳技术和低碳环境三方面分析对碳排放的影响。我国的低碳制造水平整体呈上升趋势,未来,我国的制造业既要保持高速发展,同时也要向低碳经济转型,发展低碳技术,调整能源结构。     

A new generation of process capability indices based on fuzzy measurements

Process capability indices (PCIs) provide numerical measures on whether a process conforms to the defined manufacturing capability prerequisite. These have been successfully applied by companies to compete with and to lead high-profit markets by evaluating the quality and productivity performance. The PCI C_p compares the output of a process to the specification limits (SLs) by forming the ratio of the width between the process SLs with the width of the natural tolerance limits which is measured by six process standard deviation units. As another common PCI, C_pm incorporates two variation components which are variation to the process mean and deviation of the process mean from the target. A meaningful generalized version of above PCIs is introduced in this paper which is able to handle in a fuzzy environment. These generalized PCIs are able to measure the capability of a fuzzy-valued process in producing products on the basis of a fuzzy quality. Fast computing formulas for the generalized PCIs are computed for normal and symmetric triangular fuzzy observations, where the fuzzy quality is defined by linear and exponential fuzzy SLs. A practical example is presented to show the performance of proposed indices.     

Valuation of Equity-indexed Annuities with Stochastic Interest Rate and Jump Diffusion

This article considers the pricing of equity-indexed annuity (EIA). By employing the change of measure technique, we derive the closed-form solutions for the prices of both point-to-point and annual reset equity-indexed annuities. We also provide numerical results to illustrate the method and computational efficiency of our simulation scheme and the effects of various model parameters on the participation rate.