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on Transition Economics |
| By: | Saebi, Tina (UNU-MERIT); Dong, Qinqin (Wuhan University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper compares the key drivers of Sino-foreign alliance formation from the perspective of both Chinese and Western alliance partners. Our results indicate that Chinese companies enter into alliances with Western companies mainly to get accesses to international markets and to develop their technological and managerial competences further, while Western partners aim to gain access to the local customer and supplier bases of their Chinese counterpart as well as to the complex distribution systems found in the Chinese market. In analyzing the differences among Chinese and Western alliance motives, this paper shows how the initial deficiencies in the Chinese institutional environment has shaped the strategic motives of local companies and consequently lead to the diverging alliance formation motives in Sino-foreign alliances. |
| Keywords: | Strategic alliances, China, Innovation, Internationalization |
| JEL: | F23 L24 O32 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2008030&r=tra |
| By: | Alena Bicáková (Center for Economic Research and Graduate Eduction(CERGE-EI), Charles University, Politickych veznu 7, Praha 1, 111 21, Czech Republic.); Jiri Slacalek (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.); Michal Slavík (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.) |
| Abstract: | We extend the scarce evidence on labor supply in post-transition countries by estimating the wage elasticity of labor force participation in the Czech Republic. Using the household income survey data of 2002, we find that a one-percent rise in the gross wage increases the probability of working by 0.16 and 0.02 percentage points for women and men, respectively. Taking into account the tax and benefit system, these semi-elasticities fall to 0.06 for women and 0.01 for men. We interpret the difference between the estimates from the two specifications as a summary measure of the welfare system disincentives. The estimated wage elasticities lie at the lower end of the range of values reported for mature market economies. This finding is consistent with the stylized fact that the labor supply in countries with high labor force participation rates, such as in the Czech Republic, tends to be less sensitive to wages. JEL Classification: J22, J31, P30. |
| Keywords: | Labor supply, transition, welfare system. |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20080887&r=tra |
| By: | Rueda Maurer, Maria Clara (Swiss National Bank) |
| Abstract: | In this paper I examine how the protection of creditors' rights influence the way in which foreign bank entry affects the access to credit of firms. Using a sample of more than 6000 firms in 22 transition countries I find that as bankruptcy proceedings become more inefficient foreign bank entry is more likely to crowd-out small and opaque firms. Conversely, as the protection of creditors' rights improve, the positive association between foreign banks and firms' credit constraints diminishes. These results are robust to controls for endogeneity of foreign banks. The interaction of foreign banks and the protection of creditors rights would explain the disparity of results obtained by previous studies: In countries with an adequate protection of creditor rights foreign bank entry may benefit all firms; By contrast, in countries with weak protection of creditor rights foreign bank entry is likely to result in a credit crunch. |
| Keywords: | Institutional development; Transition; Foreign Bank Entry; Information asymmetries; Small Business Lending. |
| JEL: | D82 G10 G21 G31 |
| Date: | 2008–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:snbwpa:2008_004&r=tra |
| By: | Andreas Stephan; Oleksandr Talavera; Andriy Tsapin |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the determinants of liability maturity choice in transition markets. We formulate a model of firm value maximization that describes managers' choice of optimal debt structure. The theoretical predictions are tested using a unique panel of 4,300 Ukrainian firms during the period 2000-2005. Our estimates confirm the importance of liquidity, signaling, maturity matching, and agency costs for the liability term structure of firms operating in a transition economy. In addition, we find that companies do not react uniformly to determinants of debt maturity. Firms that mainly rely on external funds are sensitive to signaling and they consider the variability of firm value an important determinant of their debt maturity choice. For less constrained companies that rely more on internal funding, asset maturity is an essential determinant of debt structure. |
| Keywords: | Debt maturity, capital structure, transition period, Ukraine |
| JEL: | G32 G30 D24 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp784&r=tra |
| By: | Lorenzo Cappiello (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.); Gianluigi Ferrucci (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.) |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with two related issues: the sustainability of China’s exchange rate regime and the opening up of its capital account. The exchange rate discussion deliberately passes over the issue of the “equilibrium” value of the renminbi and its alleged undervaluation – typically at the heart of the current policy debate – and focuses instead on the domestic costs of the current regime and the potential risks to domestic financial stability in the long run. The paper argues that the renminbi exchange rate should be increasingly determined by market forces and that administrative controls should be progressively relinquished. The exchange rate is obviously linked to well-functioning and efficient capital markets, which require no barriers to capital flows. Thus, exchange rate reform has to be correctly sequenced with reform of the capital account to avoid disruptive capital flows. The paper discusses China’s twin surpluses of the current and capital accounts and attempts to identify the drivers of this “anomalous” external position. The pragmatic strategy pursued by the Chinese authorities in the aftermath of the Asian crisis encouraged FDI inflows and favoured the accumulation of a large stock of foreign exchange reserves. Combined with a relatively weak institutional setting, these factors have been important determinants of the pattern and composition of the country’s capital flows and international investment position. Finally, the paper speculates on the outlook for Chinese capital flows should barriers to capital movements be lifted. It argues that whether China continues to supply capital to the rest of the world or eventually becomes a net borrower in international capital markets – as was the case for most of its recent history – will depend on the evolution of its institutions. JEL Classification: F10, F21, F31, F32, P48. |
| Keywords: | China, exchange rate policy, international investment position, capital account liberalisation, institutions. |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbops:20080082&r=tra |
| By: | Jurgen Von Hagen (University of Bonn); Iulia Siedschlag (Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)) |
| Abstract: | The countries of Central and Eastern Europe went from being largely closed to being largely open to international capital flows. This paper discusses their experience with capital account liberalization and coping with large capital inflows. We start with a discussion of basic economic characteristics and the real convergence achieved so far, and then discuss the pace and sequencing of capital account liberalization and the degree of international financial integration over the past decade. We then analyze trends and patterns of capital inflows in these countries in recent years. These stylized facts are useful for understanding the macroeconomic implications and policy challenges of coping with large capital inflows, which we discuss next. Finally we conclude with policy implications for emerging Asian economies. |
| Keywords: | International financial integration, Macroeconomic policy, Central and Eastern Europe, Emerging Asian economies |
| JEL: | E44 F36 F41 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp234&r=tra |
| By: | David Roodman |
| Abstract: | The Commitment to Development Index (CDI) ranks 21 of the world’s richest countries on their dedication to policies that benefit the five billion people living in poorer nations. Moving beyond simple comparisons of foreign aid, the CDI ranks countries on seven themes: quantity and quality of foreign aid, openness to developing-country exports, policies that influence investment, migration policies, stewardship of the global environment, security policies and support for creation and dissemination of new technologies. This year for the first time, CGD research fellow David Roodman extended the environment component of the Index to cover four of the biggest developing countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China, a group Goldman Sachs dubbed the “BRICs.” This working paper explores the indicators that make up the environment component (global climate, sustainable fisheries, and biodiversity and global ecosystems) and explains how the BRIC countries stack up to their right-country counterparts. He finds that the BRICs score remarkably well compared to the 21 rich countries covered by the Index: when thrown in with the usual 21, they rank second, fourth, fifth, and eleventh. They generally perform well on the greenhouse gas emissions, consumption of ozone-depleting substances, and tropical timber imports. And the BRICs have joined important international environmental accords. As a group, their major weakness is low gas taxes. In addition, Amazon deforestation and heavy fossil fuel use pull Brazil and Russia, respectively, below the CDI 21 average on greenhouse emissions per capita. China’s abstention from the U.N. fisheries agreement puts it a half point below the other BRICs. |
| Keywords: | environment, Commitment to Development Index (CDI) |
| Date: | 2007–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:128&r=tra |