Silencing youth sexuality in Senegal: intersections of medicine and morality

This article reports on recent research funded by international development actors which explored how Senegalese youth acted as ‘active citizens’ and claimed their education and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) rights. Our analysis is framed by a review of contemporary international development discourses that seem to offer fertile possibilities for more plural understandings of sexuality. After describing the research methodology and methods, we draw on post-structural theory to analyse the discourses youth deployed to talk about sex and their sexualities. Rather than a source of pleasure, youth’s talk of sex and sexuality was dominated by discourses of morality and medicine, in ways that sustained a heteronormative gender regime permeated by entrenched hegemonic masculinities. We conclude that rather than the fertile possibilities identified in our opening review, the SRH lens re-inscribed a negative framing of sexuality which was compounded by both family and religious norms.     

How School Choice Is Framed by Parental Preferences and Family Characteristics: A Study of Western Area,Sierra Leone

This research set out to investigate how, in a post-conflict area, parental preferences and household characteristics affect school choice for their children. A multinomial logit is used to model the relationship between education preferences and the selection of schools for 954 households in Freetown and neighboring districts, Western Area, Sierra Leone. The increased economic well-being of a family tends to increase the likelihood of choosing a nongovernment school. As a child gets older parents are more likely to select government over nongovernment schools. For girls, parents are twice as likely to select a nongovernmental organization (NGO) school than a government one. Where parental preference for girls is a “safe environment” government is the preferred choice over a private proprietor school. Interestingly, the level of household education does not affect the likelihood of attending any school management type.     

Estimating scale economies and the optimal size of school districts: A flexible form approach

This paper investigates estimation methods to model the relationship between school district size, costs per student and the organisation of school districts. We show that the assumptions on the functional form strongly affect the estimated scale economies and offer two possible solutions to allow for more flexibility in the estimation method. First, we introduce a model by adding higher‐degree district size polynomials, allowing for multiple optima. Second, we develop a Fourier cost function, innovative in the literature on scale economies in education. We then compare both models to classical approaches in the literature. We illustrate how a minor change in the estimation method can alter policy conclusions significantly using Flemish school district data. In doing so, we find sizeable potential cost savings from the consolidation of school districts, especially at the lower tail of the district–size distribution. The organisational transition from small to large school districts is characterised by an interval between two optima. Beyond an apparent slowdown in cost savings in medium‐sized school districts, cost savings from school district consolidation increase again, up to the optimal size of around 6,500 students. Beyond this optimum, school districts incur diseconomies of scale. The commonly used quadratic form (‘U’‐shaped cost function) overestimates scale economies, and fails to identify the interval between both optima.     

交易费用、聚集经济与跨国公司区位

对跨国公司区位选址变化趋势的分析表明，聚集经济已经成为跨国公司新的区位优势来源。以此为基础，本文进一步分析了作为中间组织的产业集群的交易特质，指出聚集经济交易费用节约的性质，然后从静态和动态两个方面分析了其对跨国公司区位选择的意义，并据此考察了跨国公司集群区位选择的收益。     

Becoming a teacher: Experiences of female trainees in initial teacher education in Nigeria

This article foregrounds the experiences of female trainees on a scholarship programme for initial teacher education aimed at increasing the number of qualified female teachers from rural northern Nigeria, and boosting female pupil enrolments. Challenging conditions in colleges of education, including curricular shortcomings, overcrowding, limited resources and inadequate learning support were compounded by non-academic factors – especially financial, and gendered constraints. Collectively, they threatened student retention, learning and attainment, and the programme’s gender equity goals. Findings highlight the need to move beyond increasing numbers of female student-teachers, to improving quality in teacher education, paying attention to out-of-college conditions too.     

知识溢出的规模经济、范围经济与联结经济

新经济增长理论强调知识溢出对经济增长的贡献,知识溢出对区域经济的共同增长具有重要意义。知识溢出不仅具有规模经济,而且还具有范围经济和联结经济。知识溢出的规模经济根源于知识的MAR和Porter外部性,知识溢出的范围经济根源于知识的Jacobs外部性,联结经济则来源于知识的租金外部性。知识溢出的经济效应的发挥受到空间距离、市场结构、接受能力和社会网络等因素的影响。     

移动通信行业的规模经济性检验——基于105家运营商面板数据的研究

使用34个国家105家运营商1999～2004的季度面板数据,通过利润率分析法检验了移动通信行业的规模经济性,结果表明移动通信行业的用户规模与利润率之间存在倒U型关系,规模经济性只在一定范围内存在,过大的规模反而会降低利润率。同时根据估计参数给出了最优经济规模。     

新兴经济体国家工业化水平测度的实证分析

为推动新兴经济体的工业化进程,探讨科技全球化背景下的各国工业化发展模式和路径,急需构建一套适合新形势的工业化水平测度体系。本文基于国家创新系统国际化理论、新增长经济理论和新制度经济学理论,构建"新兴经济体工业化水平测度"的五维模型,即"发展阶段-工业竞争力-工业化效益-国际化程度-可持续发展制度"的测度模型,并运用层次分析、聚类分析、主成分分析、DEA分析等方法,测算以广义"一带一路"沿线国家为代表的新兴经济体的工业化水平。本文构建的新兴经济体工业化测度五维模型,理论上拓展了经典工业化测度理论和国家创新体系国际化理论;实践上也为中国"一带一路"战略和国际产能合作的策略提供了政策启示。     

论金融危机背景下我国高等教育的规模与质量

在规模经济理论的影响下,我国的高等教育规模近年来快速扩张。范围经济理论的优点在于能够制约单纯依靠规模扩张带来的负面影响。在金融危机的影响下,我国的高等教育规模发展将受到限制,同时也迎来了由注重规模向注重质量转变的良好契机。当前我国的高等教育应在稳定规模的同时,通过优化高等学校结构、合理配置资源等措施,努力提高高等教育质量。     

齐鲁服饰文化与山东服装产业发展研究

当前,世界金融危机对我国服装业造成了严重的负面影响,服装业作为山东省重要的传统支柱产业,在全球性的金融危机中也受到较大的冲击．文中通过分析山东服装产业面临的问题,提出通过行选择地开发齐鲁传统服饰文化,提升山东服装产业的竞争力,以区域传统特色文化的创新推动山东服装业的健康发展．