Changing household patterns of young couples in low- and middle-income countries

While young couples in Western societies generally form a new household, in low-income societies new unions are often incorporated into existing households. However, there is a growing tendency in the nuclearization of households as intergenerational co-residence is undermined by growing wage labour opportunities that provide incentives for rural–urban migration and because small nuclear families adapt better to urban societies characterized by high geographic and social mobility. The objective of this paper is therefore to jointly study for a selection of low- to middle-income countries the socioeconomic and demographic conditions of women aged 15–34 and their partners in relation to their household patterns with particular interest in the comparison of nuclear and extended households. The analysis will mainly rely on data from the Integrated Public Use of Microdata Series International database (https://international.ipums.org/international/) from which census samples for the last two or latest available census rounds for 18 countries have been extracted. Results showed that women being of older age (within the 15–34 range) and at the same time having attained at least primary school education, having a husband who does not work in the primary sector and who is neither much older nor much younger were all associated with living in a nuclear household. However, individual factors explained only a small part of the overall variation in the household arrangements of young couples, suggesting that differences between countries in these dimensions do not explain much of the difference in household structure. Rather, societal indicators like economic development and the average age at marriage – that were significant in our models – may explain better the overall slow transition towards the nuclear family.     

Differences in health care spending across countries: statistical evidence

The empirical evidence available for OECD countries suggests that economic factors play a major role and that demographic factors play a minor role in explaining differences in health care spending across countries. When countries are grouped on the basis of their health care systems, some significant cross-country differences result: countries with higher transfer rates (a larger share of collective financing) are not generally characterized by higher health care expenditures, and conversely, countries with a larger share of private financing (including higher coinsurance rates) do not have lower expenditures. Rather, the opposite holds true. Similar conclusions apply to the share of public versus private production of health goods. Furthermore, the results do not support the claims of those critics of universal public insurance systems who consider the expansion of the coverage to be a major source of expenditure growth. These findings cast serious doubt on the claim that cost containment can be achieved via market reforms that rely heavily on direct consumer payments and cost sharing as instruments of financing. A comparative analysis of the historic record of the United States, Canada, and the Federal Republic of Germany generally supports these conclusions; it also suggests that a greater degree of public penetration offers a better chance for control of health spending, particularly in periods of austerity. There is a strong presumption that health care systems relying on some overall control of spending generally are more cost-effective than those relying more on decentralized mechanisms of control. Services are more equitably distributed in relation to health and payment for health services is far more progressive in the former type of system.     

Knowledge transfer from universities to low- and medium-technology industries: evidence from Italian winemakers

The Journal of Technology Transfer - The aim of the study is to explore the links that firms from low and medium technology (LMT) industries establish with universities for innovative purposes....     

公务员制度的健全完善与政府职能转变

1993年8月14日《国家公务员暂行条例》的颁布,标志中国特色的国家公务员制度的建立,而《中华人民共和国公务员法》的实行,将进一步健全与完善这一制度。笔者认为,公务员制度健全与完善的重大意义是促进我国政府职能转变。本文将从三个方面比较分析,未来中国政府将凸显向法制型、服务型与责任型转变。     

University knowledge and firm innovation: evidence from European countries

In recent decades, firms have intensified the exploration of external sources of knowledge to enhance their innovation capabilities. This paper presents an empirical analysis of the factors that affect the importance of academic knowledge for firms’ innovation activities. An integrated approach that simultaneously considers country- and firm-level factors is adopted. Regarding the former factors, the analysis shows that the entrepreneurial orientation of university and the quality of academic research increase the importance of knowledge transfers from universities to firms. This suggests that the environmental and institutional context contributes to cross-national disparities in university-industry interactions and the effectiveness of knowledge transfer. In regard to the latter factors, the results indicate that firms oriented toward open search strategies and radical innovations are more likely to draw knowledge from universities. Furthermore, firms belonging to high technology sectors and firms with high absorptive capacity place greater value on the various links with universities. With respect to firm size, the estimates show an inverted U-shaped relation with the importance of universities as a source of knowledge.     

美国“法庭之友“制度中的外国和美国政府

美国"法庭之友"制度是美国诉讼程序中的一项重要制度,本文在对此制度进行相关介绍的基础上,阐明了外国作为"法庭之友"参与美国法院诉论程序的由来、规则与实践,同时也论述了美国联邦政府作为"法庭之友"的规则和特殊性.     

Uncertainty and technological innovation: evidence from developed and developing countries

Economic Change and Restructuring - Uncertainty will not only harm the economy but may also provide an opportunity for technological innovation. It is well established from past studies that...     

Justice in Medicare: recent changes to the public health care system

This article sets out and examines a number of changes proposed by the Commonwealth Government to the Australian Medicare system as part of the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 federal budgets, and the 2004 federal election campaign. In assessing the suitability of these reforms, the idea of justice is discussed. Health, as a basic good, is argued to be a matter of distributional and rectificatory justice. A number of popular material principles of justice are also examined and shown to be unsuited as sole determinants of health care resource allocation decisions. In light of this, various problems with the reforms are identified and improvements suggested.     

On the finance-growth nexus: additional evidence from Central and Eastern Europe countries

We investigate the finance-growth nexus for a sample of thirteen transition economies over the period 1995–2007 using panel cointegration tests and a panel error-correction model. By combining results for models with alternative dependent variables and several measures of financial development, we find that the relationship between financial deepening and real growth is largely positive in the long-run, and it develops its full potential when funds are directed towards private enterprises. In the short-run, however, the growth effects of an expansion of financial markets are weaker and negative, supporting the idea that financial development has also a dark side, as it exacerbates fragility and destabilizes the economy through recurrent crises.     

Nonlinear convergence in Asian interest and inflation rates: evidence from Asian countries

We examine the dynamics of convergence in seven Asian countries for nominal and real interest rates, and inflation rates. We test for convergence relative to the U.S. and Japan, using quarterly data 1973:2–2011:3, employing nonlinear unit root tests. The linearity test shows evidence of nonlinearity in all the cases. In most cases, we find evidence of logistic smooth transition autoregression-type non-linearity. Moreover, nonlinear unit root tests reveal evidence of nonlinear stationary nominal and real interest rates and inflation differentials in all cases. We interpret these results as convergence in inflation rates and real and nominal interest rates.     

公共服务市场化中的政府职能探析

公共服务市场化的成功运作是以西方发达国家成熟的市场机制，对契约、形式、规则重视的理性主义，大量的非政府组织,强有力的政府调控能力为前提条件的。而我国法制不健全、市场体制发展不成熟、第三部门还难以担负起公共服务重任的现实要求我国政府在政策法规的建设、服务资源的公平配置、市场化过程的监管和非政府组织自治、自理能力的培育方面发挥积极的功能，建立起企业家型政府。     

Pandemic and public health controls: toward an equitable compensation system

There is increasing global concern about the potential impact of pandemic infections, including influenza, SARS and bioterrorist attacks involving infectious diseases. Many countries have prepared plans for responding to a major pandemic. In Australia, the Federal and State pandemic plans include measures such as contact tracing, ensuring availability of antimicrobials, quarantine and social distancing. Many of these measures would involve severe restrictions on individual citizens and small businesses. Issues of compensation for cooperation and compliance with pandemic plans need to be addressed in policy discussion. The instrumental benefits of compensation in the event of a pandemic have not been sufficiently recognised. Greater attention paid now to mechanisms to compensate individual and business costs associated with compliance would increase trust in government pandemic plans, encourage compliance and reduce the health and economic impact of a pandemic.     

Eurozone debt crisis and bond yields convergence: evidence from the new EU countries

The present article examines 10-year bond yields convergence between each of the new EU countries and Germany, including a structural break that embodies the effects of the current sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone. The analysis is based on a new definition of bond yields convergence that can be interpreted either as strong or weak monetary policy convergence, depending on whether the conditions of uncovered interest-rate parity and ex-ante purchasing power parity hold or are violated, respectively. The empirical results provide evidence of either strong or weak monetary policy convergence to Germany only for five new countries, namely Croatia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia. In contrast, for the rest of the new EU countries the empirical evidence suggests lack of monetary policy convergence to Germany. The latter result could be probably explained by the increased risk premia in these countries, as a result of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis.     

论提升司法公信力的路径——源自实证调研和数据挖掘的启示

司法公开是司法公信力的基础,但司法公开并不自动实现公众对司法活动过程和结果的信任与认同。通过对9省市的实证调研和数据挖掘,课题组发现除了司法公开以外,司法公信力还与司法独立、司法工作作风、司法过程、司法结果等方面密切相关。因此,建议可从以下几个方面重点着手来提升司法公信力:夯实司法公开以增加司法透明度,增强司法机关的独立性以保证司法权威,转变司法工作作风以提升司法权力主体的公信力,并更加注重司法过程的程序公正和司法结果的实体公正。