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on Transition Economics |
| By: | Justin Yifu Lin (China Center for Economic Research, Peking University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper I will breifly review the economic performance of China's economic reform starting in 1978, followed by my personal views on the experiences of Korea's economic development and lessons for China's economic reform. In the third section I will explore the prospect of China's future development. I will then review the China-Korea economic relationship since the establishment of diplomatic relations and discuss its future propect. Finally, I would like to share with you my personal feelings for the centennial anniversary of Korea University and the friendship between our two nations. |
| Keywords: | China, Korea, development, economic reform, |
| JEL: | O11 O53 O19 |
| Date: | 2005–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:develo:655&r=tra |
| By: | Guonan Ma |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the questions related to the cost of China’s bank restructuring and how it has been financed. We first propose a framework for recognising losses. Then, we examine the recent major moves by the Chinese government to repair the country’s bank balance sheets. Finally, we explore the implications of the Chinese ways of funding the bank restructuring. We find that the Chinese government has been decisive in confronting the costly task of bank restructuring. Looking through the elaborate funding arrangements adopted so far, the Chinese taxpayers have paid most of the bill. |
| Keywords: | Bank restructuring; recapitalisation; non-performing loans; China |
| JEL: | G21 G28 O53 P34 |
| Date: | 2006–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2006-04&r=tra |
| By: | Pieter Bottelier (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | The World Bank played an important role in China's economic transformation since the late 1970s. China used the World Bank well and the Bank was responsive to China's needs. The Bank did not recommend early or comprehensive market liberalization or learning-by-doing - approach to economic reform. It pushed at the margin for critical institutional and policy reforms, presenting perspective based on international experience, while providing technical assisstance in numerous areas, often through Bank-supported projects. As the Chinese gained expertise, confidence and access to international capital markets, the role of the Bank in China inevitably shrank. China now uses the Bank mainly for selective technical, institutional and conceptual innovations for development. China and the World Bank both gained from their interaction. |
| Keywords: | World Bank, China, innovations, institutional reform, market liberalization , learning-by-doing |
| JEL: | O19 O11 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:develo:691&r=tra |
| By: | J. David Brown; John S. Earle; Vladimir Gimpelson; Rostislav Kapeliushnikov; Hartmut Lehmann; Álmos Telegdy; Irina Vantu; Ruxandra Visan; Alexandru Voicu |
| Abstract: | This paper looks behind the standard, publicly available employment and unemployment statistics that studies of transition economy labor markets have typically relied upon. We analyze microdata on detailed labor force survey responses in Russia, Romania, and Estonia to measure nonstandard, boundary forms and alternative definitions of labor force status. Our estimates show that measured employment and unemployment rates are quite sensitive to definition, particularly in the treatment of household production (subsistence agriculture), unpaid family helpers, and discouraged workers, while the categories of part-time work and other forms of marginal attachment are still relatively unimportant. We find that tweaking the official definitions in apparently minor ways can produce alternative employment rates that are sharply higher in Russia but much lower in Romania and slightly lower in Estonia, and alternative unemployment rates that are sharply higher in Romania and moderately higher in Estonia and Russia. |
| Keywords: | employment, unemployment, Estonia, Romania, Russia |
| JEL: | J21 |
| Date: | 2006–03–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:bworkp:0602&r=tra |
| By: | Jacinto F. Fabiosa (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI)) |
| Abstract: | In the decade of the 1990s, China's feed sector became increasingly privatized, more feed mills opened, and the scale of operation expanded. Capacity utilization remained low and multi-ministerial supervision was still prevalent, but the feed mill sector showed a positive performance overall, posting a growth rate of 11 percent per year. Profit margin over sales was within allowable rates set by the government of China at 3 to 5 percent. Financial efficiency improved, with a 20 percent quicker turnover of working capital. Average technical efficiency was 0.805, as more efficient feed mills increasingly gained production shares. This study finds evidence that the increasing privatization explains the improved performance of the commercial feed mill sector. The drivers that shaped the feed mill sector in the 1990s have changed with China's accession to the World Trade Organization. With the new policy regime in place, the study foresees that, assuming an adequate supply of soy meal and an excess capacity in the feed mill sector, it is likely that China will allow corn imports up to the tariff rate quota (TRQ) of 7.2 mmt since the in-quota rate is very low at 1 percent. However, when the TRQ is exceeded, the import duty jumps to a prohibitive out-quota rate of 65 percent. With an import duty for meat of only 10 to 12 percent, China would have a strong incentive to import meat products directly rather than bringing in expensive corn to produce meat domestically. This would be further reinforced if structural transformation in the swine sector would narrow the cost differential between domestic and imported pork. |
| Keywords: | China, feed mill sector, privatization, trade. |
| Date: | 2005–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:05-mrp10&r=tra |
| By: | Jacinto F. Fabiosa (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI)) |
| Abstract: | In the decade of the 1990s, China's feed sector became increasingly privatized, more feed mills opened, and the scale of operation expanded. Capacity utilization remained low and multi-ministerial supervision was still prevalent, but the feed mill sector showed a positive performance overall, posting a growth rate of 11 percent per year. Profit margin over sales was within allowable rates set by the government of China at 3 to 5 percent. Financial efficiency improved, with a 20 percent quicker turnover of working capital. Average technical efficiency was 0.805, as more efficient feed mills increasingly gained production shares. This study finds evidence that the increasing privatization explains the improved performance of the commercial feed mill sector. The drivers that shaped the feed mill sector in the 1990s have changed with China's accession to the World Trade Organization. With the new policy regime in place, the study foresees that, assuming an adequate supply of soy meal and an excess capacity in the feed mill sector, it is likely that China will allow corn imports up to the tariff rate quota (TRQ) of 7.2 mmt since the in-quota rate is very low at 1 percent. However, when the TRQ is exceeded, the import duty jumps to a prohibitive out-quota rate of 65 percent. With an import duty for meat of only 10 to 12 percent, China would have a strong incentive to import meat products directly rather than bringing in expensive corn to produce meat domestically. This would be further reinforced if structural transformation in the swine sector would narrow the cost differential between domestic and imported pork. |
| Keywords: | China, feed mill sector, privatization, trade. |
| Date: | 2005–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:fpaper:05-mrp10&r=tra |
| By: | Jacinto F. Fabiosa (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI)) |
| Abstract: | In the decade of the 1990s, China's feed sector became increasingly privatized, more feed mills opened, and the scale of operation expanded. Capacity utilization remained low and multi-ministerial supervision was still prevalent, but the feed mill sector showed a positive performance overall, posting a growth rate of 11 percent per year. Profit margin over sales was within allowable rates set by the government of China at 3 to 5 percent. Financial efficiency improved, with a 20 percent quicker turnover of working capital. Average technical efficiency was 0.805, as more efficient feed mills increasingly gained production shares. This study finds evidence that the increasing privatization explains the improved performance of the commercial feed mill sector. The drivers that shaped the feed mill sector in the 1990s have changed with China's accession to the World Trade Organization. With the new policy regime in place, the study foresees that, assuming an adequate supply of soy meal and an excess capacity in the feed mill sector, it is likely that China will allow corn imports up to the tariff rate quota (TRQ) of 7.2 mmt since the in-quota rate is very low at 1 percent. However, when the TRQ is exceeded, the import duty jumps to a prohibitive out-quota rate of 65 percent. With an import duty for meat of only 10 to 12 percent, China would have a strong incentive to import meat products directly rather than bringing in expensive corn to produce meat domestically. This would be further reinforced if structural transformation in the swine sector would narrow the cost differential between domestic and imported pork. |
| Keywords: | China, feed mill sector, privatization, trade. |
| Date: | 2005–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:mpaper:05-mrp10&r=tra |
| By: | Jesús Rodríguez López (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide); José Luis Torres Chacón (Departamento de Teoría e Historia Económica, Universidad de Málaga) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a combination of VAR and bootstrapping techniques to analyze whether the exchange rates of some New Member States of the EU have been used as output stabilizers (those of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland), during 1993-2004. This question is important because it provides a prior evaluation on the costs and benefits involved in entering the European Monetary Union (EMU). Joining the EMU is not optional for these countries but mandatory, although there is no definite deadline. Therefore, if the exchange rate works as a shock absorber, monetary independence could be retained for a longer period. Our main finding is that the exchange rate could be a stabilizing tool in Poland and the Czech Republic, although in Hungary it appears to act as a propagator of shocks. In addition, in these three countries, demand and monetary shocks account for most of the variability in both nominal and real exchange rates. |
| Keywords: | EMU, exchange rate, Structural VAR, stationary bootstraps. |
| JEL: | C31 F31 F33 |
| Date: | 2006–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:06.12&r=tra |
| By: | Jacinto F. Fabiosa (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI)); Dinghuan Hu; Cheng Fang |
| Abstract: | In China, with the cost of improved technology rising, surplus labor shrinking, and demand for food quality and safety increasing, it will be just a matter of time before the country's hog production sector will be commercialized like that of developed countries. However, even if China's cost of production converges to international levels, as shown in this case study, China may continue to retain some competitive advantage because of the labor-intensive nature of the marketing services involved in hog processing and meat distribution. The supply of variety meats offers the most promising market opportunity for foreign suppliers in China. The market may open further if the tariff rate for variety meats is reduced from 20% and harmonized with the pork muscle meat rate of 12%, and if the value-added tax of 13% is applied equally to both imported and domestic products. The fast-growing Western-style family restaurant and higher-end dining sector is another market opportunity for high-quality imported pork. |
| Keywords: | commercial, cost structure, imports, pork value chain. |
| Date: | 2005–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:05-mrp11&r=tra |
| By: | Jacinto F. Fabiosa (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI)); Dinghuan Hu; Cheng Fang |
| Abstract: | In China, with the cost of improved technology rising, surplus labor shrinking, and demand for food quality and safety increasing, it will be just a matter of time before the country's hog production sector will be commercialized like that of developed countries. However, even if China's cost of production converges to international levels, as shown in this case study, China may continue to retain some competitive advantage because of the labor-intensive nature of the marketing services involved in hog processing and meat distribution. The supply of variety meats offers the most promising market opportunity for foreign suppliers in China. The market may open further if the tariff rate for variety meats is reduced from 20% and harmonized with the pork muscle meat rate of 12%, and if the value-added tax of 13% is applied equally to both imported and domestic products. The fast-growing Western-style family restaurant and higher-end dining sector is another market opportunity for high-quality imported pork. |
| Keywords: | commercial, cost structure, imports, pork value chain. |
| Date: | 2005–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:fpaper:05-mrp11&r=tra |
| By: | Orla Doyle; Paul Patrick Walsh |
| Abstract: | Many theoretical models of transition are driven by the assumption that economic decision making is subject to political constraints. In this paper we empirically test whether the winners and losers of economic reform determined voting behaviour in the first five national elections in the Czech Republic. We propose that voters, taking stock of endowments from the planning era, could predict whether they would become “winners” or “losers” of transition. Using survey data we measure the percentage of individuals by region who were “not afraid” and “afraid” of economic reform in 1990. We define the former as potential “winners” who should vote for pro-reform parties, while latter are potential “losers” who should support left-wing parties. Using national election results and regional economic indicators, we demonstrate that there is persistence in support for pro-reform and communist parties driven by prospective voting based on initial conditions in 1990. As a result, we show that regional unemployment rates in 2002 are good predictors of regional voting patterns in 1990. |
| Keywords: | Political Constraints, Prospective Economic Voting, Initial Conditions. |
| JEL: | D72 E24 E61 |
| Date: | 2006–04–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp117&r=tra |
| By: | Frank H. Fuller (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI); Midwest Agribusiness Trade Research and Information Center (MATRIC)); Jikun Huang; Hengyun Ma; Scott Rozelle |
| Abstract: | With the rapid growth in China's dairy industry, a number of recent papers have addressed either the supply or the demand trends for dairy products in China. None, however, presents a systematic explanation for the recent growth in both the supply and demand for dairy products. The goal of this paper is to sketch a more comprehensive picture of China's dairy sector and to assess the nature of the sector's development in the coming decades. Drawing upon several empirical studies, we examine the trends in dairy product consumption to create a composite picture of the factors underlying the recent growth. We also empirically investigate the sources of production gains in milk supply and assess the relative importance of expanding herd size, changes in the nature of production, technological change, and improvements in efficiency to the overall growth of milk production. |
| Keywords: | China, consumption, dairy, milk supply, stochastic production frontier, total factor productivity. |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:05-wp394&r=tra |
| By: | Frank H. Fuller (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI); Midwest Agribusiness Trade Research and Information Center (MATRIC)); Jikun Huang; Hengyun Ma; Scott Rozelle |
| Abstract: | With the rapid growth in China's dairy industry, a number of recent papers have addressed either the supply or the demand trends for dairy products in China. None, however, presents a systematic explanation for the recent growth in both the supply and demand for dairy products. The goal of this paper is to sketch a more comprehensive picture of China's dairy sector and to assess the nature of the sector's development in the coming decades. Drawing upon several empirical studies, we examine the trends in dairy product consumption to create a composite picture of the factors underlying the recent growth. We also empirically investigate the sources of production gains in milk supply and assess the relative importance of expanding herd size, changes in the nature of production, technological change, and improvements in efficiency to the overall growth of milk production. |
| Keywords: | China, consumption, dairy, milk supply, stochastic production frontier, total factor productivity. |
| Date: | 2005–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:fpaper:05-wp394&r=tra |
| By: | Eirik Lund Sagen and Marina Tsygankova (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Gazprom, the dominant gas company in Russia, is widely believed to be the key supplier of gas to Europe in the foreseeable future. However, there are numerous uncertainties and challenges within the Russian and European gas industry that may alter the allocation of Gazprom´s gas sales between domestic and export markets. In this paper we use both theoretical and numerical models to study potential effects on Russian gas exports from changes in Russian domestic gas prices and the production capacities in 2015. We also investigate whether the liberalization of the European gas markets may provide incentives for Gazprom to induce monopoly power in its export markets. Our main findings suggest that both increased domestic gas prices and sufficient production capacities are vital to maintain Gazprom´s market share in Europe over the next decade. At low domestic prices, Gazprom may even have difficulties to carry out its long-term export commitments. However, if export possibilities are ample due to both lower domestic demand at higher prices and high overall production capacities, a large share of spot trades in Europe may encourage Gazprom to exercise market power in its export markets. |
| Keywords: | Russia; Natural gas; production capacity; export; Western Europe; price; numerical model |
| JEL: | F17 D42 Q31 Q38 |
| Date: | 2006–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:445&r=tra |
| By: | Justin Yifu Lin (China Center for Economic Research, Peking University); Peilin Liu (Development Research Center of the State Council) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we propose that a flawed development strategy is responsible for the increasing disparities in economic development among provinces in China. Since the founding of the PRC, the government has pushed a "leap forward" strategy emphasizing the development of capital-intensive heavy industries. In most provinces, however, the priority industries under this strategy were inconsistent with the comparitive advantage determined by the factor endowments in those provinces. Many enterprises in the priority industries were not viable in the competitive market and required interventions in the merkets by the government to support and protect them. Consequently, this leap-forward strategy retarded the functions of market, impeded capital accumulation and hindered technology and productivity progress in the provinces. The provinces in the central and western provinces continue to follow the leap-forward strategy and have poor growth performance Therefore, it is imperitive to replace tha comparitive advantage-defying leap-forward strategy with a comparative advantage-following strategy and restructure the existing industries in each province according to the princple of comparitive advantage. This latter strategy would enhance coordinated development among regions and provinces and, in effect, work more effectively to create sustainable national economic development. The regional effects of economic strategies in China are the subject of this paper. |
| Keywords: | economic strategies, China, regional effects, development, PRC, leap-forward approach, capital-intensive, heavy industries, comparitive advantage |
| JEL: | R11 R12 R58 O12 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:develo:656&r=tra |
| By: | Guillaume Gaulier; Francoise Lemoine; Deniz Unal-Kesenci |
| Abstract: | The emergence of China has intensified the international segmentation of production processes within Asia, but has not created an autonomous engine for the region’s trade, as Asia still depends on outside markets for its final goods exports. The reorganisation of production has weakened the position of the advanced economies (Japan and the US) in Asia’s trade, but up to now has not severely affected the position of the emerging Asian economies (Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand). However, the surge of China’s exports and the decline of its export prices, suggest the risk of a downward spiral of cost-competition, while the deterioration of China’s terms of trade raises the question of the sustainability of its recent growth strategy. |
| Keywords: | China; Asia; trade; regional integration; specialisation |
| JEL: | F14 F15 F2 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2006-05&r=tra |
| By: | Mark R. Rosenzweig (Yale University); Junsen Zhang (Chinese University of Hong Kong and IZA Bonn) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use a new data set describing households with and without twin children in China to quantify the trade-off between the quality and quantity of children using the incidence of twins that for the first time takes into account effects associated with the lower birthweight and closer-spacing of twins compared to singleton births. We show that examining the effects of twinning by birth order, net of the effects stemming from the birthweight deficit of twins, can provide upper and lower bounds on the trade-off between family size and average child quality. Our estimates indicate that, at least in one area of China, an extra child at parity one or at parity two, net of birthweight effects, significantly decreases the schooling progress, the expected college enrollment, grades in school and the assessed health of all children in the family. We also show that estimates of the effects of twinning at higher parities on the outcomes of older children in prior studies do not identify family size effects but are confounded by inter-child allocation effects because of the birthweight deficit of twins. Despite the evident significant trade-off between number of children and child quality in China, however, the findings suggest that the contribution of the one-child policy in China to the development of its human capital was modest. |
| Keywords: | family size, birthweight, twins, schooling, China |
| JEL: | J13 I12 I21 |
| Date: | 2006–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2082&r=tra |
| By: | Maican, Florin G. (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Sweeney, Richard J. (McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents unit-root test results for real exchange rates in ten Central and Eastern European transition countries during 1993:01-2003:12. Because of the shift from controlled to market economies and the accompanying crises, failed policy regimes and changes in exchange rate regimes, appropriate tests in transition countries require allowing for both structural changes and outliers. In both single-equation tests and panel tests with SUR techniques, the data reject the unit-root null for the CEE countries. Accounting for structural breaks and outliers gives much faster mean-reversion speeds than otherwise. <p> |
| Keywords: | Purchasing power parity; real exchange rate; Monte Carlo; unit root; transition countries; panel data |
| JEL: | C15 C22 C32 C33 E31 F31 |
| Date: | 2006–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0202&r=tra |
| By: | Shuna Wang (Department of Economics, University of Virginia); Yang Yao (China Center for economic Research, Peking University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impacts of village election on the accountability of the elected village committee, local fiscal sharing, and state taxation in rural China using panel data of 48 villages during the period of 1986-2002. Election is found to substantially increase the share of public expenditures in the village budget and reduce the shares of administrative costs and income handed to the township government. This shows that election enhances the accountability of the village committee, but weakens local fiscal sharing, and thus, may hurt public goods provision beyond the village boundary. In addition, election also reduces the amount of tax paid by each person in the village, which means that election does lessen the state's grip on the grassroots society. Finally, no significant evidence is found to support the claim that the role of a more competitive election is different from that of a closed election. |
| Keywords: | Multinational model, East Asian interdependency, exchange rates, asymmetric shocks |
| JEL: | C52 F15 F17 F42 |
| Date: | 2006–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:govern:680&r=tra |
| By: | Hermes, N.; Smid, P.; Yao, L. (Groningen University) |
| Abstract: | This paper compares the use of capital budgeting techniques of Dutch and Chinese firms, using data obtained from a survey among 250 Dutch and 300 Chinese companies. Our main aim is to analyse the use of capital budgeting techniques by companies in both countries from a comparative perspective to see whether economic development matters. The empirical analysis provides evidence that Dutch CFOs on average use more sophisticated capital budgeting techniques than Chinese CFOs do. At the same, however, our results suggest that the difference between Dutch and Chinese firms is smaller than might have been expected based upon the differences in the level of economic development between both countries, at least with respect to the use of methods of estimating the cost of capital and the use of CAPM as the method of estimating the cost of equity. |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:rugsom:06e02&r=tra |
| By: | Jean-Yves Duclos (Université Laval, CIRPÉE and IZA Bonn); Abdelkrim Araar (Université Laval, CIRPÉE); John Giles (Michigan State University) |
| Abstract: | The paper contributes to the measurement of poverty and vulnerability in three ways. First, we propose a new approach to separating poverty into chronic and transient components. Second, we provide corrections for the statistical biases introduced when using a small number of periods to estimate the importance of vulnerability and transient poverty. Third, we apply these tools to the measurement of chronic and transient poverty in China using a rich panel data set that extends over approximately 17 years. We find that alternative measurement techniques yield significantly different estimates of the relative importance of chronic and transient poverty, and that precision of estimates is enhanced with simple statistical corrections. |
| Keywords: | poverty dynamics, transient poverty, chronic poverty, permanent poverty, China |
| JEL: | C15 D31 D63 I32 |
| Date: | 2006–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2078&r=tra |
| By: | Stepan Jurajda; Teodora Paligorova |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the gender gaps in employment and wages among top- and lowerlevel managerial employees in a recent sample of Czech firms. Unlike the existing analyses of managerial gender pay gaps, we acknowledge the adverse consequences of the low and uneven representation of women for the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and offer an alternative set of results based on a matching procedure. Only 7% of top-level Czech managers are women and their wages are about 20 percent lower even when compared only to their comparable male colleagues. |
| JEL: | J31 J71 P31 |
| Date: | 2006–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp296&r=tra |
| By: | Kokko, Ari (European Institute of Japanese Studies); Kravtsova, Victoria (MERIT, Maastricht, Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the determinants of innovative capability in a sample of multinational company (MNC) subsidiaries in four transition economies: Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia. It finds that capability in product and process technology appears to be determined by a different set of variables than capability related to marketing and management knowledge. The most independent affiliates – those that are diversified, oriented towards the local market, established through acquisitions rather than greenfield investments, and where the foreign MNCs’ only hold minority ownership – are also those that acquire the strongest innovative capability in product and process technology. For marketing and management capability, the pattern is nearly the opposite. The highest levels of capability are recorded in subsidiaries that are closely tied to the parent company, with high foreign ownership shares and substantial exports back to the parent company. These differences can be expected to have some impact on the kinds of spillovers different kinds of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects may generate. |
| Keywords: | FDI; MNC subsidiaries; innovative capability; spillovers |
| JEL: | F23 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2006–04–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:eijswp:0224&r=tra |
| By: | Peter Toth; Petr Zemcik |
| Abstract: | We use a panel of Czech firms to enhance existing literature where the dependent variable is foreign ownership. In our estimation, we control for endogeneity and unobserved effects using standard methods complemented by tests for heterogenous Granger-causality. We also model foreign ownership as a response variable in a hazard model and consider sorting by foreign owners rather then by domestic firms. We find that foreigners target firms with a greater ownership concentration in industries’s with higher level of risk, in countries with lower labor costs and corporate income taxes. |
| Keywords: | foreign ownership, endogeneity, causality, fixed effects, hazard model, truncated sample |
| JEL: | G3 F21 |
| Date: | 2006–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp294&r=tra |
| By: | Eiji Ogawa; Michiru Sakane |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate the actual exchange rate policy conducted by the Chinese government after the Chinese exchange rate system reform on July 21 2005. Also, we investigate long-run effect (Balassa-Samuelson effect) on the Chinese yuan. We found that the Chinese government had a statistically significant but small change in exchange rate policy during our sample period to January 25, 2006. It is not identified that the Chinese monetary authority is adopting the currency basket system because the change is too small in the economic sense. On one hand, higher growth rate of productivity will appreciate the Chinese yuan in terms of the US dollar and the Japanese yen while higher growth rates of productivity in Chinese tradable good sector tend to give the Balassa-Samuleson effect, that is undervaluation bias, to the Chinese yuan. |
| Date: | 2006–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:06019&r=tra |
| By: | Carlo Carraro (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari); Barbara Buchner (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei) |
| Abstract: | Despite the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol, the US decision not to comply with its Kyoto commitments seems to drastically undermine the effectiveness of the Protocol in controlling GHG emissions. Therefore, it is important to explore whether there are economic incentives that might help the US to modify its current decision and move to a more environmentally effective climate policy. For example, can an increased participation of developing countries induce the US to effectively participate in the effort to reduce GHG emissions? Is a single emission trading market the appropriate policy framework to increase the signatories of the Kyoto Protocol? This paper addresses the above questions by analysing whether the participation of China in the cooperative effort to control GHG emissions can provide adequate incentives for the US to re-join the Kyoto process and eventually ratify the Kyoto Protocol. This paper analyses three different climate regimes in which China could be involved and assesses the economic incentives for the major world countries and regions to participate in these three regimes. The main conclusion is that the participation of the US in a climate regime is not likely, at least in the short run. The US is more likely to adopt unilateral policies than to join the present Kyoto coalition (even when it includes China). However, a two bloc regime would become the most preferred option if both China and the US, for some political or environmental reasons, decide to cooperate on GHG emission control. If the US decides to cooperate, the climate regime that provides the highest economic incentives to the cooperating countries is the one in which China and the US cooperate bilaterally, with the Annex B-US countries remaining within the Kyoto framework. |
| Keywords: | Agreements, Climate, Incentives, Negotiations, Policy |
| JEL: | C72 H23 Q25 Q28 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:07_06&r=tra |
| By: | Simla Tokgoz (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD); Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI)) |
| Abstract: | The European Union (EU) accomplished its biggest enlargement process in 2004 in terms of the number of countries, area, and population. This study focuses on the impact of enlargement, the resulting technology transfer on the grain sectors of the New Member States (NMS), and the consequent welfare implications. The study finds that EU enlargement has important implications for the EU and the NMS, but its impact on the world grain markets is minimal. The results show that producers in the NMS gain from accession because of higher prices, whereas consumers in most NMS face a welfare loss. Incorporating technology transfer into the accession increases the welfare gain of producers despite falling prices because of the larger supply shift. The loss of welfare for consumers in most NMS is lower in this case because of the decline in grain prices. |
| Keywords: | EU enlargement, technology transfer, welfare. |
| JEL: | F15 Q17 D6 |
| Date: | 2005–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:cpaper:05-wp414&r=tra |
| By: | Marek Tiits (Institute of Baltic Studies) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to review the dynamics of economic development in the Baltic Sea region surrounding the last two waves of European Union enlargement, assessing the quality of economic change and prospects for future development. We observe the emergence of a closely integrated economic system in the Baltic Sea region, and notice that the Nordic countries and Germany specialise in "good trade" while the Baltic States and Poland have been increasingly specialising in "bad trade", not conductive for a sustained longer-term increase of living standards. |
| Keywords: | Baltic Sea region, industrial and trade dynamics, integration |
| JEL: | F14 F15 F4 O32 O52 |
| Date: | 2006–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ibs:wpaper:01-2006&r=tra |
| By: | Giovanni Favero (Department of Economics, University Of Venice Cà Foscari) |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the problem of family links among individuals when separated, using the memoirs of an Italian emigrant in Russia and Canada during the first decades of 20th century and his letters home. |
| Keywords: | memoirs, emigration, family |
| JEL: | N33 N34 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:04_06&r=tra |
| By: | Gross, Dominique M. |
| Abstract: | From less than 5 percent in 1980, the share of residents from the former Republic of Yugoslavia in the total foreign population in Switzerland rose to almost 25% in 2000, to become one of the largest foreign communities. The largest increase occurs mostly between 1985 and 1998 and represents a unique development in the composition of immigration to Switzerland, as it coincides with a new policy, which from 1995 gives priority to workers from the European Union for new permits and sev erely restricts work permits for migrants from the rest of the world. The empirical analysis shows that when there is no discriminatory treatment by immigration policy, immigrant workers from the former Yugoslavia respond to financial and cultural incentives in the same way as their unskilled counterparts from Southern European countries. The restriction on permit availability in the mid-1990s appears to have weakened the financial and cultural attractiveness of Switzerland for immigrants from the former Yugoslavia. This may signal a change in the characteristics of migrants from the region toward higher skill levels. |
| Keywords: | Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement,Human Migrations & Resettlements,International Migration,Labor Markets,Gender and Social Development |
| Date: | 2006–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3880&r=tra |
| By: | Michel Lelart (LEO - Laboratoire d'économie d'Orleans - http://www.univ-orleans.fr/DEG/LEO - [CNRS : UMR6221] - [Université d'Orléans] - []) |
| Abstract: | Ce Forum organisé par l'Assistance au Développement des Echanges en Technologie Economique et Financière (ADETEF) près du Ministère des Finances a abordé plusieurs aspects du financement de l'économie vietnamienne. Le micro-crédit est aussi très développé dans ce pays où une loi vient d'être votée à son sujet. Ma contribution fait le point des différentes expériences menées actuellement au Vietnam et fait apparaître quelques-uns des problèmes qu'elles soulèvent. |
| Keywords: | micro-crédit ; micro-finance ; institution de micro-finance ; Vietnam |
| Date: | 2006–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00009839_v1&r=tra |
| By: | Gang Liu (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes travelers’ choice behavior by using data from a stated preference survey on work-trip mode choice in Shanghai. Several versions of a multinomial choice model are specified and estimated. According to the estimation results the utility function with money cost divided by income adjusted by an equivalence scale is chosen as the preferred model. Based on the estimation results from the preferred model, value of time, elasticities of aggregate mode choice with respect to income, cost, travel and waiting time, are computed. The conditional elasticities given low, middle and high adjusted income levels are calculated and discussed as well. The results obtained may be useful for transportation policy makers in Shanghai. |
| Keywords: | work-trip mode choice; stated preference survey; multinomial choice model; choice probability and elasticity |
| JEL: | C25 C42 C52 R41 |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:444&r=tra |
| By: | Paul Makdissi (GREDI, Département d'économique, Université de Sherbrooke); Dorothée Boccanfuso (GREDI, Faculte d'administration, Université de Sherbrooke); Mathieu Audet (GREDI, Faculte d'administration, Université de Sherbrooke) |
| Abstract: | To better understand the geographic determinants of poverty in Albania, this article proposes a methodology similar to that developed by Ravallion and Wodon (1999). Our methodology’s main contribution resides within how we utilize the entirety of a household’s joint distribution of demographic characteristics as opposed to averages when simulating regional poverty levels. |
| Keywords: | Poverty, Albania |
| JEL: | I31 I32 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shr:wpaper:06-12&r=tra |