Tag Archives: research

[Publication] Perhaps...the first publication under BGSE in Chinese

At the end of last month, I was notified that one of my papers co-authored with my previous advisor, Yue Qiao, was accepted. Today I downloaded an electronic version of it and finally confirmed.

That paper is published with the title The Mechanism Evolution and Information Transmission in Online Markets (我国网上交易的机制演化与信息传导) , at the Journal of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, 2012, 192 (03). At the moment when we submitted the paper, I was studying at the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, so interestingly the institution behind my name is BGSE in the published version.

I should say it is an old paper - and I have waited for three years to get it published. It is not a short time period - as I have graduated and have already changed a job. On the other hand, the paper is about mechanisms in online C2C market (Taobao.com as the context), and now I am working at eBay and am committed to C2C behavior analysis. Sounds like a regression, right?

Perhaps it is the version reason why I chose eBay immediately right after I got their offer. Theories need to be examined in the real market environment, and eBay is exactly the right place to do this! I have no reason not to be excited about working here. As the theoretical research is accepted, I should spend more time on the empirical part now. Hopefully, these years of knowledge gaining and work experience will enhance my analytical thinking ability and get a fruitful result afterwards.

I'm going on the way, and there is no word called "give up" in my dictionary.

The print version of this paper in Chinese can be download here: Mechanism_evolution_C2C.pdf

What Do We Pay For Asymmetric Information? The Mechanism Evolution of Reputation, Punishment and Barriers to Entry in Online Markets

Well, in fact it is not a piece of news. It is the title of a paper I wrote last winter. After finishing it, I went on doing something else and forgot it. Now it is already a new spring, I do not want to submit it to any journals since I have nothing fresh to add into it. Without anything new, I don't have the incentive to edit it. Therefore, I share it with you here.

Title

What Do We Pay For Asymmetric Information? The Mechanism Evolution of Reputation, Punishment and Barriers to Entry in Online Markets

Abstract

The appearance of the Internet reduces transaction costs greatly, and brings the boom of online markets. While we are trying to regard it as the most realistic approximation of perfect competition market, the asymmetric information and a series of problems caused by it stop us from dreaming. As the old saying goes, there is no free lunch. This summer witnessed the collapse of the reputation system in Taobao, the biggest online transaction website in China. In fact, during the evolution of mechanisms in online markets, reputation, punishment and barriers to entry have been established in turn. What do we pay for maintaining these mechanisms? In which circumstance will they be effective?

In this paper I try to build a series of models within the principal-agent framework and repeated games to explain why and what we should pay for asymmetric information while enjoying shopping online. Specifically, these mechanisms are considered step by step and their boundary validation conditions are discussed. Finally, as the conclusion indicates, in a larger range that a mechanism is effective, the more opportunity cost should be paid as a rent for information.

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1 hour on the Platform

Last Monday I listened to Peng's (Peng Shige) Lecture about the measure of financial risks. Similar to previous lectures, there are numbers of official news reports. However, I'd like to share my personal feeling with you.

I have no better choice but to admit that Prof Peng is really an authority, not only because of his great contribution to the professional field of mathematics and finance, but also for his zeal of research and the wonderful explanation of his thought.  He has the ability to make the only an hour's lecture magic, to lead us fall in love with his "nonlinear expectation operator". It is a pity for me that after having stayed for numerous years in SDU, I know nothing about Peng's research. I think without long time precipitation of thought, it is impossible to have such deep realizations.

One word he mentioned that night really impressed me, it was: dirty work. Nowadays there are so many dirty works that make us apathetic.

Today I have said too much just because last Wed's afternoon I had an exercise class of intermediate microeconomics for one hour as a TA. I was confident about my knowledge of micro economic theory, since I could understand the book called "microeconomic theory " by Mas-Cololl,Winston,Green as least. But when illustrate these with my words and make them clear to the audience, I learned the hardness of the process. I spent more than 5 hours in front of my computer on making the handout. Since pictures were helpful, I installed Illustrator and Flash to make the visual effects better. I was willing to use these as supplements to help them understand the economic thoughts behind the mathematical formulas. Although time is needed to examine whether I have succeed, I'll work on. Personally speaking, intermediate microeconomics is too important for the whole development of the economic study.  At least, I have already achieved my initial goal, which is also the reason I used to persuade my advisor to leave me this chance: to examine my knowledge of intermediate microeconomics.

The next class will be two weeks after, and I have to work hard to prepare. I just hope that my advisor won't be disappointed about his decision and trust, and also for those who take time to attend the class it is worthy that time. At last, I have no excuse to fail. It is really worthy that much.
In the end, and also on the one-year's memorial day, I want to speak out these words: I'll do whatever in return to your guidance.

Thank you so much, dear Yue, my advisor.

[NEW] You can download all presentations here: http://www.cloudlychen.net/papers.html#impre

memorialmemorial

NO.1 Can Holding More Academic Lectures Lead to More Papers?

  • Introduction:
    Now more and more schools are eager to improve their academic rankings, and one important index is the papers released. Several ways can be helpful, such like employing more stuff and hold more lectures and conferences.
    Here we use data of economic schools from more than 100 top universities in China and estimate the correlation between lectures and papers.
    At present, only 2 simple regressions are made, and more possible advanced researches are mentioned in the last part.
  • Some improvements can be done in the future:
    1.The panel data contains the amounts of papers during a long period, e.g. 20 years from 1989 to 2009
    2.Select data of different provinces or parts of China and compare them.
    3.Calculate not only the quantity but also the quality with using different weighing rates of different journals.
    4.Expand the research to other field, such like schools of biology, history, mathematic, physics, and chemistry and so on, to show that whether it remains the same in all subjects.
    5.Compare to the US, UK and other countries and figure out the differences and reasons.
  • Process:
    First version finished on 2009.3.22.
    PDF (English, 382Kb)
    Preview_Online (English)
    Data (email me if you need)