Purpose: This study examines the heterogeneous correlations between rural farmers' land renting behavior and their grain production when they experienced a significant price decline. Design/methodology/approach: We used well-timed panel data obtained from a two-round survey held in 2013 and...

This paper finds that compared with non-state-owned firms, Chinese state-owned enterprises controlled by province, city, and county governments (local SOEs) are more likely to hire small auditors within the same region (small local auditors). In regions with less developed institutions, SOEs...

In the current economic climate, budgets for the maintenance of public buildings are unlikely to meet the ever-increasing maintenance needs. Although it is unlikely that this problem can be overcome completely without an injection of further resources, it is possible for government maintenance...

It is shown that the government, in privatizing state owned enterprises, can use partial privatization as a screening mechanism to elicit private information from the manager about the firm's value. Although some new owners do not have maximum incentives, this screening contract allows the...

In this paper, no-wait job shop problems with makespan minimization are considered. It is well known that these problems are strongly NP-hard. The problem is decomposed into the sequencing and the timetabling components. Shift timetabling is developed for the timetabling component. An effective...

This article focuses on part-time work, which is now regulated in a separate section of the recently passed Labour Contract Law. By comparing the new legislation with a former regulation from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MoLSS), the article discusses in detail issues related to...

A novel GAHP-TSU (gravity-assisted heat-pipe thermal storage unit) is presented, in which the composite granular solid–liquid PCM (phase-change material) is piled up as the porous-medium layer. The composite PCM, which melts over a temperature range of 200–250 °C, is composed of a mixed...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically test information asymmetry and agency conflicts hypotheses, as to firm's choices in selling preferred stock in public and private markets. Design/methodology/approach – Using firm-level preferred stock issue data, the author uses a...