|
on Transition Economics |
| By: | Tishkov, Victor N. |
| Keywords: | business environment, economic reform, Greater China, special economic zones, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sps:wpaper:177&r=tra |
| By: | Sylviane Guillaumont Jeanneney (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I); Ping Hua (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I); Zhicheng Liang (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I) |
| Abstract: | Financial development may lead to productivity improvement in developing countries. In this paper, based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach, we use the Malmquist index to measure China's total factor productivity change and its two components (i.e., efficiency change and technical progress). We find that China has recorded an increase in total factor productivity from 1993 to 2001, and that productivity growth was mostly attributed to technical progress, rather than to improvement in efficiency. Moreover, using panel data set covering 29 Chinese provinces over the period of 1993-2001 and applying the Generalized-Method-of-Moment system estimation, we investigate the impact of financial development on productivity growth in China. Empirical results show that, during this period, financial development has significantly contributed to China's productivity growth, mainly through its favourable effect on efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Financial Development;total factor productivity;Chinese Economy |
| Date: | 2011–02–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00562630&r=tra |
| By: | Yang, Dennis Tao (Chinese University of Hong Kong); Zhang, Junsen (Chinese University of Hong Kong); Zhou, Shaojie (Tsinghua University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we define "The Chinese Saving Puzzle" as the persistently high national saving rate at 34-53 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the past three decades and a surge in the saving rate by 11 percentage points from 2000-2008. Using data from the Flow of Funds Accounts (FFA) and Urban Household Surveys (UHS) supplemented by the findings from existing studies, we analyze the sources and causes of China's high and rising saving rates in the government, corporate, and household sectors. Although the causes of China's high saving are complex, we suggest that the evolving economic, demographic, and policy trends in the internal and external environments of the Chinese economy will likely lead to a decline in national saving in the foreseeable future. |
| Keywords: | aggregate saving, international comparison, household behavior, demographic structure, China |
| JEL: | D91 E21 J10 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5465&r=tra |
| By: | Vladimir Popov (New Economic School, Moscow) |
| Abstract: | The formal comparison of similarities and differences of Chinese and Western economic models misses the most important point. The uniqueness of China is that it looks very much like a developed country today in terms of institutional capacity of the state, even though it is a developing country according to GDP per capita. Indeed, China should be compared with developing countries today or developed countries a hundred years ago, when their GDP was at the current Chinese level, and this comparison is very much in favour of China. Institutional capacity of the state, according to a narrow definition, is the ability of the government to enforce laws and regulations. While there are a lot of subjective indices (corruption, rule of law, government effectiveness, etc.) that are supposed to measure state institutional capacity, many researchers do not think they help to explain economic performance and instead consider them biased. The natural objective measures of state institutional capacity are the murder rate (noncompliance with the state’s monopoly on violence4) and the shadow economy (non-compliance with the economic regulations). China is rather unique on both measures – one of the lowest indicators in the developing world comparable to developed countries. |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfr:cefirw:w0156&r=tra |
| By: | Bin Dong (The School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology); Benno Torgler (The School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology, CREMA – Centre for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts and CESifo) |
| Abstract: | We explore theoretically and empirically whether social interaction, including local and global interaction, influences the incidence of corruption. We first present an interaction-based model on corruption that predicts that the level of corruption is positively associated with social interaction. Then we empirically verify the theoretical prediction using within-country evidence at the province-level in China during 1998 to 2007. Panel data evidence clearly indicates that social interaction has a statistically significantly positive effect on the corruption rate in China. Our findings, therefore, underscore the relevance of social interaction in understanding corruption. |
| Keywords: | Corruption, Social Interaction, China |
| JEL: | K42 D72 D64 O17 J24 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2011.09&r=tra |
| By: | Vladimir Popov (New Economic School, Moscow) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence from cross-regional comparisons that the Russian mortality crisis (mortality rate increased from 1.0% to 1.6% in 1989-94 and stayed at a level of 1.4- 1.6% thereafter) was caused mostly by stress factors (increased unemployment, labor turnover, migration, divorces, income inequalities), and by the increase in unnatural deaths (murders, suicides, accidents), but not so much by the increase in alcohol consumption (even though it also increased due to the same stress factors). Health infrastructure of a region had a positive impact on life expectancy only in regions with high income inequalities (large share of highest income group). |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfr:cefirw:w0157&r=tra |
| By: | Benjamin Elsner (Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics and the Institute for International Integration Studies) |
| Abstract: | The eastern enlargement of the European Union in 2004 triggered a large flow of migrant workers from the new member states to the UK and Ireland. This paper analyzes the impact of this migration wave on the real wages in the source countries. I consider the case of Lithuania, which had the highest share of emigrants relative to its workforce among all ten new member states. Using data from the Lithuanian Household Budget Survey and the Irish Census, I find that emigration had a significant positive effect on the wages of men who stayed in the country, but no such effect is visible for women. A percentage point increase in the emigration rate increases the real wage of men on average by 1%. Several robustness checks confirm this result. |
| Keywords: | Emigration, Labor Mobility, EU Enlargement |
| JEL: | F22 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.151&r=tra |
| By: | James P. Smith; Yan Shen; John Strauss; Zhe Yang; Yaohui Zhao |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the authors model the consequences of childhood health on adult health and socioeconomic status outcomes in China using a new sample of middle aged and older Chinese respondents. Modeled after the American Health and Retirement Survey (HRS), the CHARLS Pilot survey respondents are forty-five years and older in two quite distinct provinces- Zhejiang, a high growth industrialized province on the East Coast and Gansu, a largely agricultural and poor province in the West. Childhood health in CHARLS relies on two measures that proxy for different dimensions of health during the childhood years. The first is a retrospective self-evaluation using a standard five-point scale (excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor) of general state of one's health when one was less than 16 years old. The second is adult height often thought to be a good measure of levels of nutrition during early childhood and the prenatal period. They relate both these childhood health measures to adult health and SES outcomes during the adult years. They find strong effects of childhood health on adult health outcomes particularly among Chinese women and strong effects on adult BMI particularly for Chinese men. |
| Date: | 2010–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ran:wpaper:809&r=tra |
| By: | Nathalie Trudeau; Isabel Murray |
| Abstract: | Russia is sometimes referred to as “the Saudi Arabia of energy efficiency”; its vast potential to reduce energy consumption can be considered a significant “energy reserve”. Russia, recognising the benefits of more efficient use of energy, is taking measures to exploit this potential. The president has set the goal to reduce energy intensity by 40% between 2007 and 2020. In the past few years, the IEA has worked closely with Russian authorities to support the development of energy efficiency indicators in Russia, critical to an effective implementation and monitoring of Russia’s ambitious energy intensity and efficiency goals. The key findings of the IEA work with Russia on developing energy efficiency indicators form the core of this report. |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ieaaaa:2011/1-en&r=tra |
| By: | Harry X. WU |
| Abstract: | Using a "data fundamentalist approach," this study revisits the long debate about China's growth performance by seriously tackling the existing data problems that have been the major obstacles to a proper assessment of China's growth performance. First, this study examines and adjusts the serious break in the official employment statistics in 1990. Second, it provides an adjustment for the numbers employed by a human capital effect. Third, it tests the sensitivity of Maddison's (1998a) "zero labor productivity growth" assumption in gauging the real growth of the so-called "non-material (including non-market) services." Fourth, it further improves the author's earlier physical output-based production index for the industrial sector (Wu, 2002a) by using multiple weights and time-variant value added ratios obtained from the Chinese input-output tables. The likely problem of "product quality" in such a physical measure is examined and rejected. Fifth, it provides a new set of estimates of capital stock for the aggregate economy using alternative deflators and depreciation rates, crosschecked by the author's industry-level capital stock estimates (Wu, 2008b). This completely new data set is used in a Solow-type growth accounting exercise with different factor income share assumptions. The new results-under the full adjustment scenario for the post-reform period using input-output table income weights-show that the estimated annual TFP growth rate is 0.3 percent, which is substantially lower than the estimate of 3.1 percent derived from the official data without any major adjustment. A range of TFP estimates is also provided for each sub-period under different assumptions. |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:11003&r=tra |
| By: | Alpaslan Akay (IZA and Gothenburg University); Olivier Bargain (School of Economics and UCD Geary Institute, University College Dublin and IZA); Klaus F. Zimmermann (IZA, Bonn University and DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | How the income of "relevant others" affects well-being has received renewed interest in the recent literature using subjective data. Migrants constitutes a par- ticularly interesting group to study this question: as they changed environment, they are likely to be concerned by several potential reference groups including the people "left behind", other migrants and "natives". We focus here on the huge population of rural-to-urban migrants in China. We exploit a novel dataset that comprises samples of migrants and urban people living in the same cities, as well as rural households mostly surveyed in the provinces where migrants are coming from. After establishing these links, we fi nd that the well-being of migrants is largely af- fected by relative concerns: results point to negative relative concerns toward other migrants and workers of home regions - this status effect is particularly strong for migrants who wish to settle permanently in cities. We fi nd in contrast a positive relative income effect vis-à-vis the urban reference group, interpreted as a signal effect: larger urban incomes indicate higher income prospects for the migrants. A richer pattern is obtained when sorting migrants according to the duration of stay, expectations to return to home countries and characteristics related to family cir- cumstances, work conditions and community ties. |
| Keywords: | China, relative concerns, well-being. |
| JEL: | C90 D63 |
| Date: | 2011–01–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201102&r=tra |
| By: | Martina Mysíková (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic; Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences, Prague) |
| Abstract: | This study analyses the income distribution within couples in the Czech Republic and ten European countries using the EU-SILC 2005 database. Data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) database supplement the analysis with previous period (1986–2000). Women, on average, contribute less to a couple’s income than men. Among the included countries, within-couple income inequality tends to be lower in the new EU member states than in the old ones, with the Czech Republic being the exception. Within-couple income inequality has two crucial factors: employment of female partners and, subsequently, their wages. In the context of the first, the inter-generational transmission of the traditional model of the family proved to have a significant negative impact on the female employment decision mainly in the old EU member states. Finally, gender wage gaps between men and women who live in a couple were examined and compared with the gender wage gaps for single individuals. The gender wage gap proved to be higher for cohabiting individuals than for singles even after adjusting for gender differences in individual and job characteristics. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, traditional family model, within-couple inequalities |
| JEL: | D19 J31 J79 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2011_04&r=tra |
| By: | Semenov, Andrey A. |
| Keywords: | history of management in Russia, scientific systems of labour organization, social consequences of the use of the taylorism, ways of increasing productivity, |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sps:wpaper:181&r=tra |
| By: | AKAY Alpaslan; BARGAIN Olivier; ZIMMERMANN Klaus F. |
| Abstract: | How the income of "relevant others" a¤ects well-being has received renewed interest in the recent literature using subjective data. Migrants constitutes a particularly interesting group to study this question: as they changed environment, they are likely to be concerned by several potential reference groups including the people "left behind", other migrants and "natives". We focus here on the huge population of rural-to-urban migrants in China. We exploit a novel dataset that comprises samples of migrants and urban people living in the same cities, as well as rural households mostly surveyed in the provinces where migrants are coming from. After establishing these links, we ?nd that the well-being of migrants is largely affected by relative concerns: results point to negative relative concerns toward other migrants and workers of home regions ?this status e¤ect is particularly strong for migrants who wish to settle permanently in cities. We ?nd in contrast a positive relative income e¤ect vis-à-vis the urban reference group, interpreted as a signal e¤ect: larger urban incomes indicate higher income prospects for the migrants. A richer pattern is obtained when sorting migrants according to the duration of stay, expectations to return to home countries and characteristics related to family circumstances, work conditions and community ties. |
| Keywords: | China; relative concerns; well-being |
| JEL: | C90 D63 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2011-12&r=tra |
| By: | Polanec, Sašo; Ahčan, Aleš; Verbič, Miroslav |
| Abstract: | In this article, we analyse old-age retirement decisions of Slovenian men and women, eligible to retire in the period 1997-2003. In comparison to established market economies, we find relatively high hazard rates of retirement that decline with age. This unusual pattern can partly be attributed to weak incentives to work, inherent in the design of the pension system and reflected in predominantly negative values of accruals, and to transition-specific increase in wage inequality in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This is reflected in low wages and relatively high pensions of less productive (skilled) workers and vice versa. We find that the probability of retirement decreases with option value to work and net wages, although the response to the former, when controlling for the latter, is rather weak. Our results also imply that less educated individuals and individuals with greater personal wealth are more likely to retire. |
| Keywords: | option value; retirement decisions; transition |
| JEL: | H55 J26 J20 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:28460&r=tra |
| By: | Alain de Crombrugghe (University of Namur, Department of Economics); Gregory de Walque (National Bank of Belgium, Research Department; University of Namur) |
| Abstract: | Most transition countries used tax-supported wage norms in the early 1990's, as a part of their market liberalization programs. This paper analyses how a firm-level tax (or subsidy) on deviations from a pre-set wage norm may promote employment by rotating the labor demand curve perceived by the workers' union around the value of the norm. We derive the conditions such that it yields a positive employment effect. We test the effect of the norm on the wages on a sample of Polish firms in 1990 and 1991. The data support the role of the wage norm on the position of the perceived labor demand and the role of the tax rate on its slope. |
| Keywords: | transition economies, labor market, unions, excess wage tax, employment |
| JEL: | H23 J23 J5 P31 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbb:reswpp:201101-209&r=tra |
| By: | Felix Hüfner |
| Abstract: | Given the deterioration in public finances, there is now very little scope for higher spending. Raising public sector efficiency would free up resources and yield better outcomes with the same inputs, helping to stimulate productivity and thus potential growth. Raising efficiency in tax collection (notably VAT) is urgently needed, plans to unify the collection of tax and social security contributions should be implemented swiftly and drawing on EU funds needs to become more efficient. In addition, raising the efficiency in healthcare should be a priority. This involves dealing with the high out-of-pocket payments and reforming the remuneration structure of doctors. Pharmaceutical spending is excessive and can be reduced, notably by further fostering generic substitution. Impediments to competition among health insurance funds should be reconsidered and the risk-equalisation system should be improved. This paper relates to the 2010 OECD Economic Review of the Slovak Republic (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/slovakia).<P>Accroître l'efficacité du secteur public en Slovaquie<BR>Étant donné la dégradation des finances publiques, il n’est guère possible désormais d’augmenter les dépenses. En améliorant l’efficacité du secteur public, on dégagerait des ressources et on obtiendrait de meilleurs résultats avec les mêmes intrants, ce qui contribuerait à stimuler la productivité et donc la croissance potentielle. Il est urgent d’améliorer l’efficacité de la collecte des impôts et taxes (notamment de la TVA) ; des plans visant à unifier le recouvrement de l’impôt et des cotisations de sécurité sociale doivent être mis en oeuvre rapidement et les dispositifs de tirage sur les fonds de l’UE doivent devenir plus efficaces. En outre, améliorer l’efficacité des soins de santé devrait être une priorité. Cela implique de s’attaquer au problème du montant élevé des paiements directs et de réformer le mode de rémunération des généralistes. Les dépenses pharmaceutiques sont excessives et peuvent être réduites, notamment en encourageant le recours aux génériques. Il faudrait réexaminer les entraves à la concurrence entre caisses d’assurance-maladie et améliorer le système de répartition équitable des risques. Ce document se rapporte à l’Étude économique de la République slovaque de l’OCDE, 2010 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/slovaquie). |
| Keywords: | public sector efficiency, Slovakia, health policy, efficacité du secteur public, Slovaquie, politique de santé |
| JEL: | H21 H51 I11 |
| Date: | 2011–02–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:839-en&r=tra |
| By: | Ghiba, Nicolae |
| Abstract: | Connection between interest rate and foreign exchange is important because of the economic volatility of the two variables, which has an impact on several macroeconomic indicators: inflation, real income, exports and imports. This papers aims to establish a series of characteristics regarding the impact of interest rate in exchange rate volatility. This kind of analysis regarding the link between the interest rate differential and the exchange rate is called Uncovered Interest Parity. In Romania, the currency regime of managed floating with no preannounce path for the exchange rate and the inefficiency of exchange rate channel involves a poor relationship between exchange rate differential and exchange rate. |
| Keywords: | exchange rate; volatility; depreciation; appreciation; interest rate |
| JEL: | C51 F0 F3 E4 F31 |
| Date: | 2010–10–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:28451&r=tra |