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.     

Almost Consistent Estimation of Panel Probit Models with “Small” Fixed Effects

We propose four different GMM estimators that allow almost consistent estimation of the structural parameters of panel probit models with fixed effects for the case of small Tand large N. The moments used are derived for each period from a first order approximation of the mean of the dependent variable conditional on explanatory variables and on the fixed effect. The estimators differ w.r.t. the choice of instruments and whether they use trimming to reduce the bias or not. In a Monte Carlo study, we compare these estimators with pooled probit and conditional logit estimators for different data generating processes. The results show that the proposed estimators outperform these competitors in several situations.     

The Roles Played by the Staff and Workers’ Representative Congress in the Formation of Work Regulations

Article 4 of the Labor Contract Law lays down the right of the Staff and Workers’ Representative Congress (SWRC) to deliberate on the formulation of (intra-enterprise) work regulations, but this has become a “soft” law in judicial practice. The judicial criteria for judging the validity of work regulations are in essence determined by the judge’s judgment on their reasonableness. As an important embodiment of Chinese politics, economics and culture, the transformation of the SWRC that accompanied the market economy has not negated its value as an indigenous traditional resource. The SWRC does not just enjoy deliberative rights in the formation of regulations, as clearly specified in constitutional law, but also has rights under the law in local legislation and practice. Hence the system of work regulations is neither a unilateral decision on the part of management nor a contract, but rather an autonomous norm developed through the SWRC mechanism. Given the mandatory nature of Article 4 of the Labor Contract Law, regulations will only be valid after they have gone through a democratic process. The further development of the theory of normative system formation should endow the SWRC with greater rights and integrate it smoothly with the collective contract system to standardize collective labor relations.     

Personal income taxation under mobility, exogenous and endogenous welfare weights, and asymmetric information

This paper analyses how governments should tax labour income accruing to a group of highly skilled and geographically mobile individuals who divide their time or career between several jurisdictions. The analysis differs from previous models on migration and taxation by addressing optimal regulation when agents work for several principals. Optimal taxation is developed for social welfare functions with exogenous and endogenous welfare weights. Marginal income taxes are applied for screening purposes, and the rates are lower with endogenous than with exogenous welfare weights. Received: 22 January 1998/Accepted: 3 July 1999)     

论WTO《SPS协定》“适用地区”条款及我国的对策

WTO《实施卫生与植物卫生措施协定》(Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosani-tary Measures,简称SPS协定)第六条"适应地区条件"将地区划分为"疫病非疫区"和"低度流行区",由于该条在解释上留有一定的弹性并且国际社会缺乏统一的规范文件,致使适用时出现了许多问题。该条规定的价值取向是既要保护本国或地区内的人员或动植物免受其他地区病虫害之威胁,又要促进成员方国际贸易的发展。要同时实现这两种目标,建立病虫害非疫区并赋予成员方根据其适当保护水平之需要确定合适的贸易地区之权利不失为一种可行的办法。我国应以SPS委员会的各项相关制度为根据,加强与相关国际组织的联系,积极研究我国主要农产品进出口成员之卫生和植物卫生状况和适当保护水平,在此基础上完善对病虫害非疫区或低度流行区承认的法律制度,促进我国对外贸易的发展。     

表见合伙之价值评判——兼析新《合伙企业法》第76条

2007年6月1日开始实施的新《合伙企业法》是一部非常有效地法律,但其最大缺陷是仍然没有规定表见合伙制度。表见合伙与表见代理、与民事欺诈是有明显区别的,不能用表见代理与民事欺诈解决实践中的表见合伙纠纷。新《合伙企业法》第76条的规定让人困惑,像似表见合伙,实则不然。建立表见合伙制度更有利于保障交易公平和安全,彰显善意第三人的利益,充分救济善意第三人的权利。因此,我国应当建立表见合伙制度。     

The debt trap: A two-compartment train wreck… and how to avoid it

We explore sustainable paths out of a debt trap with a highly stylized two-sector differential equations model for the stocks of money in Government and Society. The model fits the data for the U.S. between 1981 and 2012 with a coefficient of correlation of 0.996. The solutions provide detailed “escape conditions” from the debt trap. A primary surplus is required. Then a government can escape its debt trap either through sustained annual monetary outflows from society to the government (taxation) but with a low initial growth rate, or through annual monetary inflows into both sectors (stimulus) with higher initial growth rate. We illustrate the use of our model with simulations which show how five indebted countries can escape their debt trap in 30 (or 70) years.     

THE CHOICE BETWEEN SETS OF REGRESSORS

This paper examines the choice of critical values for testing both non-sequential and nested sequential sets of constraints in the standard linear regression model. Modest increases in (e.g.) t-ratio critical values relative to their one-off values are often sufficient to maintain proper size. A Bayesian decision-theoretic approach, highlighted by the Schwarz (1978) criterion, provides a framework for deriving consistency and asymptotic local power properties of both forms of testing (data mining) algorithms.     

实现TSC51单片机实验仪C语言编程的方法

分析了TSC51单片机实验仪的工作原理,阐述了Keil C51编译器编译工作过程.通过在主程序中增加代码和修改生成的二进制文件,使获得的由C语言编译的程序能在TSC51实验台上运行.