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on China |
| By: | Sandra Poncet; Walter Steingress; Hylke Vandenbussche |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a unique micro-level data-set on Chinese firms to test for the existence of a "political-pecking order" in the allocation of credit. Our findings are threefold. Firstly, private Chinese firms are credit constrained while State-owned firms and foreign-owned firms in China are not; Secondly, the geographical and sectoral presence of foreign capital alleviates credit constraints faced by private Chinese firms. Thirdly, geographical and sectoral presence of state firms aggravates financial constraints for private Chinese firms (“crowding out”). Therefore it seems that ongoing restructuring of the state-owned sector and further liberalization of foreign capital inflows in China can help to circumvent financial constraints and can boost the investment of private firms. |
| Keywords: | Investment-cashflow sensitivity, China, firm level data, foreign direct investment |
| JEL: | E22 G32 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:22608&r=cna |
| By: | Zhang, ZhongXiang |
| Abstract: | China has been the world’s second largest carbon emitter for years. Recent studies show that China had overtaken the U.S. as the world’s largest emitter in 2007. This has put China on the spotlight, just at a time when the world community starts negotiating a post-Kyoto climate regime under the Bali Roadmap. China seems to become such a Christmas tree on which everybody can hang his/her complaints. This paper will first discuss whether such a critics is fair by examining China’s own efforts towards energy saving, the widespread use of renewable energy and participation in clean development mechanism. Next, the paper puts carbon reductions of China’s unilateral actions into perspective by examining whether the estimated greenhouse gas emission reduction from meeting the country’s national energy saving goal is achieved from China’s unilateral actions or mainly with support from the clean development mechanism projects. Then the paper discusses how far developing country commitments can go in an immediate post-2012 climate regime, thus pointing out the direction and focus of future international climate negotiations. Finally, emphasizing that China needs to act as a large and responsible developing country and take due responsibilities and to set a good example to the majority of developing countries, the paper articulates what can be expected from China to illustrate that China can be a good partner in combating global climate change. |
| Keywords: | Energy saving; Post-Kyoto climate negotiations; Clean development mechanism; China; USA |
| JEL: | Q48 Q53 Q42 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2008–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:12276&r=cna |
| By: | Robert W. Staiger; Alan O. Sykes |
| Abstract: | Central bank intervention in foreign exchange markets may, under some conditions, stimulate exports and retard imports. In the past few years, this issue has moved to center stage because of the foreign exchange policies of China. China has regularly intervened to prevent the RMB from appreciating relative to other currencies, and over the same period has developed large global and bilateral trade surpluses. Numerous public officials and commentators argue that China has engaged in impermissible "currency manipulation," and various proposals for stiff action against China have been advanced. This paper clarifies the theoretical relationship between exchange rate policy and international trade, and addresses the question of what content can be given to the concept of "currency manipulation" as a measure that may impair the commitments made in trade agreements. Our conclusions are at odds with much of what is currently being said by proponents of counter-measures against China. For example, it is often asserted that China's currency policies have real effects that are equivalent to an export subsidy. In fact, however, if prices are flexible the effect of exchange rate intervention parallels that of a uniform import tariff and export subsidy, which will have no real effect on trade, an implication of Lerner's symmetry theorem. With sticky prices, the real effects of exchange rate intervention and the translation of that intervention into trade-policy equivalents depend critically on how traded goods and services are priced. The real effects of China's policies are potentially quite complex, are not readily translated into trade-policy equivalents, and are dependent on the time frame over which they are evaluated (because prices are less "sticky" over a longer time frame). |
| JEL: | F02 F13 F31 K33 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14600&r=cna |
| By: | Hongyi Chen; Olaf Unteroberdoerster |
| Abstract: | Hong Kong SAR's economic integration with the Mainland has primarily taken place in the Pearl River Delta (PRD). Taking stock of integration trends, this paper discusses key implications for ensuring economic benefits of further integration are sustained and associated costs minimized. Besides further investments in infrastructure, Hong Kong SAR's role as a producers services and finance hub will depend on frictionless movements of goods, services, people and know-how, requiring policy coordination to further promote trade and investment and developing a common human skills base with the PRD. Regional cooperation will also be needed to minimize the costs of rising levels of cross-border pollution. |
| Keywords: | Economic integration , Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China , China, People's Republic of , Financial sector , Trade integration , Investment policy , Infrastructure , Services sector , Human capital , |
| Date: | 2008–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:08/273&r=cna |
| By: | Chen, Jie (nstitute for Housing and Urban Research, Uppsala University); Zhu, Aiyong (Department of Word Economy) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the long-run and short-run relationship between housing investment and economic growth in China using the quarterly province-level panel data for the period 1999 q1 to 2007 q4. Recently developed econometric techniques for panel unit root testing and heterogeneous panel cointegration analysis are employed. The empirical results provide clear support of a stable long-run relationship between housing investment, non-housing investment and GDP in China. We then estimate the long-run elasticity of GDP with respect to housing investment for the whole country as well as three sub regions. The variations across regions are detected and reasons for this fact are discussed. Based on the panel ECM, we show that there is bidirectional Granger causality between housing investment and GDP in both short run and long run for the whole country, while the impacts of housing investment on GDP behave strikingly differently in the three sub-regions of China. |
| Keywords: | Housing investment; Economic growth; Panel cointegration; Granger causality |
| JEL: | E22 L74 R31 |
| Date: | 2008–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2008_017&r=cna |
| By: | William R. Kerr (Harvard Business School, Entrepreneurial Management Unit); William F. Lincoln (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI) |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the impact of high-skilled immigrants on US technology formation. Specifically, we use reduced-form specifications that exploit large changes in the H-1B visa program. Fluctuations in H-1B admissions levels significantly influence the rate of Indian and Chinese patenting in cities and firms dependent upon the program relative to their peers. Most specifications find weak crowding-in effects or no effect at all for native patenting. Total invention increases with higher admission levels primarily through the direct contributions of ethnic inventors. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Research and Development, Patents, Scientists, Engineers, Inventors, H-1B, Immigration, Ethnicity, India, China, Endogenous Growth. |
| JEL: | F15 F22 J44 J61 O31 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:09-005&r=cna |
| By: | Nathaniel John Porter; Dennis P. J. Botman |
| Abstract: | With much healthcare publicly funded, Hong Kong's rapidly aging population will significant raise fiscal pressure over coming decades. We ask what the implications are of meeting these costs by public funding, or private funding voluntarily or through mandates. Our simulations suggest that without early reform, these costs quickly become unsustainable. Prefunding is key. Whether this is done through the public system or through mandatory private provision is less important. Voluntary schemes are likely to result in insufficient savings without tax incentives. Even then, voluntary accounts are unlikely to yield better macroeconomic outcomes, while mandates tend to produce more equitable consumption. |
| Keywords: | Health care , Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China , Public finance , Aging , Fiscal reforms , Tax incentives , |
| Date: | 2008–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:08/272&r=cna |
| By: | Nathaniel John Porter; Francis Vitek |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of a minimum wage on business cycle volatility, depending upon its coverage and adjustment mechanism. As with other small open economies, Hong Kong SAR is vulnerable to external shocks, with its exchange rate regime precluding active monetary policy. Adjustment to past shocks has relied on flexible domestic prices. We find that a minimum wage affecting 20 percent of employees would amplify output volatility by 0.2 percent to 9.2 percent, and employment volatility by ?1.2 percent to 7.8 percent. A fixed wage or indexation to consumption price inflation increases volatility most. Indexation to wage inflation or unit labor cost growth is preferable, largely preserving labor market flexibility. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wage , Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China , Business cycles , External shocks , Exchange rate regimes , Monetary policy , Inflation , Wage indexation , Labor market policy , Economic models , |
| Date: | 2008–12–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:08/285&r=cna |