Housing Demand with Random Group Effects

This paper examines the random group effect, which has usually not been considered in traditional housing demand studies. Frequently, group level variables are used in housing demand estimation due to the data constraint. For instance, the US Index of Housing Price per administrative area is often used to measure the housing price when estimating the US price elasticity of demand for housing, and the average household income is often used as a proxy for the individual income in Taiwan when estimating the income elasticity of demand for housing. Econometricians argue that the traditional OLS estimation, when the random group effect is ignored, has been considered to have a downward bias in the estimated standard error. By following Amemiya (1978) and Borjas and Sueyoshi (1994), we propose a two-stage estimation technique to estimate housing demand with the random group effect. Using Taiwan’s cross-sectional survey data, we found that the standard error of the estimated coefficient for the group level income variable is underestimated in the traditional unadjusted OLS specification. This finding suggests that there may be a danger of spurious regression in the traditional OLS housing demand estimation.Housing Demand, Random Group Effect, Two-stage Estimation

BELGIAN TRADE-ORIENTED INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL AND ITS EXPERIENCES

China should abandon the Big Country and Big Company complex, promote trade and economic cooperation with the other small European countries and European middle or small enterprises. Belgian trade-oriented industrial development model----namely to support middle and small high-tech enterprises, government—NGO—financial institutions direct communication, to set up high efficiency economy, to support and prosper economy through foreign trade, to engage in economic adjustment in proper time, trade expansion accompanying technical innovation----can offer certain beneficial experiences to China’s trade and economic cooperation with other middle and small European countries, to China’s ongoing economy transformation, and also to construct an innovative strong China. Key words: Belgian trade-oriented industrial development model, high-tech trade cooperation, strong trading Chin

Three-Dimensional Finite Element Study on Li Diffusion Induced Stress in FIB-SEM Reconstructed LiCoO2 Half Cell

In this study, the diffusion induced stress of LiCoO2 half cell with a realistic 3D microstructure has been studied using finite element method. The electrochemical properties under various C rates were studied. The discharged curves under various C rates were simulated. Results show that the potential drops significantly with the increase of C rates. The lithium ion concentration distribution under high discharging rates shows strong inhomogeneity. At high C rates, the small LiCoO2 particles near the separator have higher lithium ion concentration because of the shorter lithium migration and diffusion paths. The diffusion induced stress inside LiCoO2 particles was calculated coupled with lithium diffusion. The results show that the stress near the concave and convex regions is the highest. The neck regions of the connected particles will break first and form several isolated particles. For isolated particles, cracks are more likely to form on the surface rather than inside the particle. Failure may occur in large grains ahead of small grains