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on Transition Economics |
| By: | Pawlik, Konrad (Department of Organisation and Management, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | No abstract |
| Keywords: | No keywords; |
| Date: | 2005–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:aardom:2005_005&r=tra |
| By: | Badi H. Baltagi (Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244-1020); Ingo Geishecker (Institute for East European Studies, Free University Berlin) |
| Abstract: | Alcohol consumption in Russia is legendary and has been reported to be the third leading cause of death in the former Soviet Union after heart disease and cancer. Are Russian alcohol consumers rational addicts? This paper uses eight rounds of a nationally representative Russian survey spanning the period 1994-2003 to estimate a rational addiction (RA) model for alcohol consumption. This is done in a panel data setting as well as on a wave by wave basis. Theprofile of the Russian drinker finds a huge difference between males and females and the model is estimated by gender. We do not find support for the RA model in Russia for women. For men, although we find that some implications of the RA model are satisfied, we fail to endore the model impirically on grounds of implausible negative estimates of the discount rate. |
| Keywords: | panel data, liquor consumption, rational addiction |
| JEL: | C23 D12 I10 |
| Date: | 2006–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:max:cprwps:81&r=tra |
| By: | Karsten Giese (GIGA Institute of Asian Affairs) |
| Abstract: | The Chinese Communist Party has chosen to base the legitimacy of its rule on its performance as leading national power. Since national identity is based on shared imaginations of and directly tied to territory – hence place, this paper analyses both heterodox models for identification on the national and potentially competing place-based collective identities on the local level. This analysis, based on communication within a number of popular communication forums and on observation of behavior in the physical reality of today’s urban China, shows that communication within the virtual and behavior in the real world are not separated realities but form a new virreal spatial continuum consisting of imagined places both online and offline. I argue that ties to place are stronger and identities constructed on shared imaginations of place are more salient the more direct the experience of place is – be the place real, virtual or virreal. Hence in China challenges to one-party rule will probably accrue from competing localized collective identities rather than from heterodox nationalism.to explore the variety and complexity of functional antagonisms in the social subsystems. |
| Keywords: | China, Internet, political power, collective identity, nationalism, place, bulletin, board system, online communication, online community |
| Date: | 2006–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:14&r=tra |
| By: | Jean-Yves Duclos; Abdelkrim Araar; John Giles |
| 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 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:0611&r=tra |
| By: | Pawlik, Konrad (Department of Organisation and Management, Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | No abstract |
| Keywords: | No keywords; |
| Date: | 2005–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhb:aardom:2005_011&r=tra |
| By: | Sergio Marchesini (Department of Agricultural Economics and Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna); Huliyeti Hasimu (Xinjiang Agricultural University); Maurizio Canavari (Department of Agricultural Economics and Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | China is the most important pear producing country in the world, and one of the most important as far as it concerns apples. Nevertheless, its international role is not so relevant: traded volume in relation to production is relatively small yet growing fast. Xinjiang is a large and mainly deserted region in northwest China that covers one-sixth of China's land. However, thanks to abundant water resources, good lighting conditions and altitude, this area represents an ideal setting for pomefruit production, and has in fact a very long tradition. Unfortunately, due to a disadvantaged location and a poor economy this province do not attract enough capitals, passing unnoticed despite of its valuable resources. Economic analysis are therefore necessary to assess to which extent this market turns out to be approachable. The aim of this paper is to describe in detail the situation of the fruit growing industry in Xinjiang, as far as it concerns two important pomefruit varieties: Xiang Li pear, a local and very appreciated variety, and Fuji apple. After locating the most vocated producing areas for both species and identifying the productive standards, we then proceed on counting up the production costs, using a well-established methodology adapted to the particular situation. The target of the analysis are small and mid-size farms, since they represent the vast majority of the orchards of the area. The costs aggregates are: base orchard management cost (BOMC), farm full cost (FFC) and total production cost (TPC). These aggregates group together costs related to similar productive factors. The picture of the situation outlined by this survey is that of a marginal area, where however fruit growing, compared to other agricultural activities, grants a good income. It also emerges that fruit growers in Xinjiang (and in China), are hardly coming out of a situation of general backwardness, striving to adapt to a larger business mainly through exportation to other provinces. Farms are however mainly familiar and small, and only a few big local enterprises seem to possess the right requirements to give local production the right impetus to reach successfully outside markets. |
| Keywords: | Xiang Li fragrant pear, Fuji apple, Production cost, China, Fruit growing |
| JEL: | Q11 Q13 Q17 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bag:deiawp:5003&r=tra |
| By: | John Whalley |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the impact thus far that the termination of trade restrictions under the Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA) which up to the end of 2004 applied to exports of clothing and textiles in key OECD markets has had on Asian suppliers. The speculation prior to MFA termination had been that large increases of Chinese exports would ensue, and at the expense of other Asian suppliers. Using data from US, EU Chinese and other sources, the picture that emerges is only small impacts on aggregate US and EU imports of clothing and textiles, and equally only small impacts on aggregate Chinese exports of clothing and textiles. There are, however, large changes in the country pattern of trade, and also within more narrowly defined product categories. There are large increases in shipments from China to both the US and the EU, and for the US proportionally more so in textiles than in clothing. But the US accounts for only 20% of China's exports of clothing and textiles, and exports to Japan (comparable in size to the US) hardly change, and to Hong Kong fall sharply. There are also large price falls for shipments to the US and to certain EU countries (Germany). The shares of other Asian suppliers in US markets generally hold up well, with the largest falls occurring in preferentially treated non Asian suppliers such as Mexico. In EU markets, with the exception of India, all non Chinese Asian suppliers experience falls in their market share. |
| JEL: | F00 F13 O24 |
| Date: | 2006–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12178&r=tra |
| By: | J. David Brown; John Earle; Vladimir Vakhitov |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effects of privatization on worker separations and wages using retrospective data from a national probability sample of Ukrainian households. Detailed worker characteristics are used to control for compositional differences and to assess types of observable "winners" and "losers" from privatization. Pre-privatization worker-firm matches are used to control for unobservables in worker and firm selection. The results imply that privatization reduces wages by 5 percent and cuts the layoff probability in half. Outside investor ownership reduces separations but leaves wages unaffected. Winners from privatization tend to be higher-skilled employees of larger firms, but there is no discernable relationship with gender, education, or experience. |
| Keywords: | privatization, layoffs, wages, Ukraine |
| JEL: | D21 G34 J23 J31 L33 P23 P31 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hwe:certdp:0601&r=tra |
| By: | Alexei Karas; William Pyle; Koen Schoors |
| Abstract: | In nascent markets with relatively immature institutions, do depositors have the capacity to discipline banks with poor fundamentals? If so, what information specifically guides their response? Using a database from post-communist, pre-deposit-insurance Russia, we present evidence for quantity-based sanctioning of weaker banks by both firms and households, particularly after the 1998 financial crisis. More notably, the discipline that we observe is surprisingly sophisticated. Specifically, our evidence is consistent with the proposition that depositors interpret a bank’s deposit rate and capital as jointly reflecting its subsequent stability. In estimating a deposit supply function, we show that, particularly for poorly capitalized banks, interest rate increases run into diminishing, and eventually negative, returns in terms of deposit attraction. |
| Keywords: | banking, market discipline |
| JEL: | G21 O16 P2 |
| Date: | 2006–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:0607&r=tra |
| By: | Julian Fennema |
| Abstract: | Our understanding of the effect of investment-financing constraints in transition economies faces significant problems, both in terms of choice of the underlying theoretical model of investment behaviour and in the estimation framework adopted. These problems drive the choice in this paper of implementing a double hurdle estimation routine based on the Abel and Eberly (1998) investment model. We find evidence that a model incorporating intermittent adjustment of capital stock and using rates of capacity utilisation captures different effects compared to a standard accelerator model. Application of this methodology to sample of firms from Romania and Spain suggests that firms in Romania may be more financially constrained than previously estimated. |
| Keywords: | investment, financing constraints, double hurdle, transition |
| JEL: | D21 D92 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hwe:certdp:0602&r=tra |
| By: | Bert Hoffmann (GIGA Institute for Ibero-American Studies) |
| Abstract: | The ‘Cuban safety-valve theory’ explains sustained survival of Cuban socialism in part through the high levels of emigration, following Hirschman’s model of ‘exit’ undermining ‘voice’. The article argues that this remains insufficient in two important ways. Taking a closer look at the crisis years since 1989, at least as important as the opening of exit options was the Cuban state’s capacity to rein in uncontrolled emigration and to reassure its ‘gatekeeper role’. In addition, the transnationalization of voice and exit must be taken into account as a crucial factor, as much in feeding the regime’s anti-imperialist discourse as, paradoxically, by generating sustained economic support from the emigrants. |
| Keywords: | Emigration, Regime Stability, Transnational Networks, Cuba, USA |
| JEL: | D31 H5 O15 |
| Date: | 2005–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:02&r=tra |