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on Transition Economics |
| By: | Kant, Chander |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between privatization and growth of transition countries in Europe by using relative income and grouping them by ex-ante factors and by ex-post associations. For transition countries with comparable pre-1991 data also - Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania or BHPR countries - privatization/regime change to market economy increased their annual catching-up-to-Germany from 0.90% to 1.50% but the increase was not due to higher TFP. It entirely occurred after they joined the EU, and is entirely due to higher contribution of human capital. Privatization did not impose short run costs on all countries while making CIS countries fell-behind very sharply. The greatly divergent post-transition growth both in the short and the long term cannot be explained by differing emphasis on external versus domestic liberalization. Catching-up of “new” ex-socialist SBCS countries (Slovenia, Baltic countries, the Czech republic and Slovakia) occurred only after they joined the EU. Human capital and TFP explain their growth while for Croatia and Serbia it is physical capital and TFP. Negative contribution of human capital is the sole reason underlying falling-behind of the CIS countries. Based on 1991-2013 catching-up/falling-behind, CIS countries have no prospect of ever equaling German income, pre-2004 EU Western-Europe will reach income equality with Germany in 70 years, BHPR countries in 72; SBCS countries in 104, and Croatia and Serbia in 193 years. |
| Keywords: | Command economy and market economy; “old” ex-socialist countries and “new” ex-socialist countries; accession to EU; factors behind differing post-socialist growth/catching-up; years for full convergence |
| JEL: | O10 O47 |
| Date: | 2018–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:90302&r=tra |
| By: | Fultz, Elaine.; Hirose, Kenichi. |
| Abstract: | Most analyses of Central and Eastern Europe’s (CEE) second-pension pillars focus on Hungary and Poland, the first CEE governments to establish such pillars (1997-1999) and the first to retrench them (2010-2011). However, as the regional front-runners in second-pillar creation and termination, Hungary and Poland differ in some important ways from other CEE countries that adopted this model. This paper concentrates on the other CEE second pillars, a majority of which have matured and begun to pay benefits, although only to small numbers of workers. For seven CEE countries, it describes these private benefits, compares them with public pensions and presents available evidence concerning their durability, adequacy and financing. |
| Keywords: | pension scheme, Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:995005392402676&r=tra |
| By: | Krzysztof Hryszko (The Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics ? National Research Institute); Piotr Szajner (The Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics ? National Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | Pork production in Poland has a significant economic, social and environmental impact. Favourable natural conditions as well as the tradition and consumption patterns have made Poland, producing 2.5-2.8 million tonnes of pig livestock (in liveweight), one of the biggest producers in the EU. The pig sector is not only one of the most important branches of the Polish agri-food economy, but is also considered one of the most sensitive ones (Rowinski, Tereszczuk 2008). What makes it so important is its large share in commercial production and agricultural income, sales revenue and employment, as well as a high level of pork consumption and its share in consumers? food spending. Following Poland?s accession to the EU, the development of the pig sector has been more hindered than the production and processing of poultry, milk and beef. Poland has become a shortage country in pork production, the share of imports in the supply of the domestic market has increased to 40%, and the negative balance of foreign trade in pork reached in 2016 220 thousand tonnes in a meat equivalent and EUR 342 million. The article presents the changes taking place on the pork market in Poland in 2004-2016 and indicates the factors determining them. Problems relating to pork production are mainly due to: fragmented farm structure compared to those in EU-15 Member States, decreasing share of pork in agricultural commercial production und in the total meat production, low price competitiveness, problems with ASF in the eastern regions of Poland and hindered exports due to an embargo imposed by Russia. |
| Keywords: | pig livestock, structure of pig farming, industrial processing, pig market, supply chain, foreign trade, prices and profitability |
| JEL: | Q11 Q13 Q17 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:7010084&r=tra |
| By: | Liu, H. |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to deeply analyse the changes caused by the planting structure of grain crops from the supply perspective between 1993 and 2016.First, the paper introduces the background and progress of the pricing mechanism reform of grain crops. Then, the paper establishes the supply response models of rice, wheat, corn, and soybean based on the Nerlove model. It uses data from 1993 to 2016 to analyse farmers supply responses to the changes in the main influencing factors from three levels: the whole country, the main production areas, and northeast China.Findings are that the short term and long term supply elasticities of the sown area to the prices for rice and soybeans are far less than corn and soybeans in both the main production areas and northeast China. Market price supports for rice should be quickly reformed because of the price marketization of corn and soybeans, or else the problems that happened with corn may happen with rice in northeast China. Acknowledgement : Thank you for Dr Li's advices on the models and my colleague,Zhu's endeavors in colecting data. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277504&r=tra |
| By: | Anna Mironova (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Lidia Prokofieva (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how households of various demographic compositions are involved in private intergenerational transfers in Russia. The authors provide a descriptive analysis of private exchanges using household surveys. The Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey—Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE, 2004, 2008, 2013), The Comprehensive Monitoring of Living Conditions (KOUG, Rosstat), The Survey of the Population Income and the Participation in Social Programs (VNDN, Rosstat). The study demonstrates that the demographic composition of households is an important predictor of household involvement in private exchanges of different goods and services. Single-person households and households represented by couples without children show their particular donor capacity in private intergenerational transfers. The recipients of private material transfers are primarily one-parent families and couples with under-age children. Multigenerational households and other households are also recipients of private material transfers. This paper demonstrates that the role of a household’s private exchange is related to their financial situation, but the role of private intergenerational transfers is not limited to giving assistance to the poor |
| Keywords: | private intergenerational transfers, households, family support system, government transfers |
| JEL: | J1 D64 J18 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:18/psp/2018&r=tra |
| By: | Deng, H. |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the impact of Chinese government policies on private R&D investment in biotechnology. We apply survey data from 160 major agribusinesses to analyze the effects of various factors on firm R&D activities. Our findings provide evidence of inducement effects of government policy on firms R&D investment. Significant drivers of Chinese agribusiness firms decisions to invest in biotechnology R&D are public R&D subsidies, owning patents by firms, selling biotechnology products, and expectations of positive profit from commercialization of biotechnology crops. Firms collaboration with universities has no significant impact. Government R&D subsidies also significantly increase firms' biotechnology R&D investment spending. Acknowledgement : We thank the MOA, Seed Industry Association, and Agricultural Department of Zhejiang Province for helping with data collection. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71210004).This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (71210004). |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277117&r=tra |
| By: | Mite Miteski (National Bank of Republic of Macedonia); Ana Mitreska (National Bank of Republic of Macedonia); Mihajlo Vaskov (National Bank of Republic of Macedonia) |
| Abstract: | The last global crisis brought the monetary policy risk-taking channel to the fore, arguing that lingering low interest rates might affect not only the quantity, but the quality of credit extended as well. In line with this debate, this paper is the first effort to empirically investigate the potential existence of the monetary policy risk-taking channel in Macedonia. For this purpose we use a rather unique database of corporate loans, taken from the Credit Registry of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia (NBRM), which is complemented with data from banks’ balance sheets. By using pooled OLS on semi-annual data for the 2010-2017 period, our study points to an inverse relationship between the policy rate and the ex-ante risk rating assigned by the banks, a finding that is supportive to the existence of the risk-taking channel, although the effect is relatively small. The results prove to be robust after controlling for several bank, loan and time specific variables. We also test for possible difference in the risk-taking by banks conditioned on the capitalization level, but the results do not confirm difference in the reaction. The findings of the study are policy-relevant, as they confirm the need for policy makers to be mindful on financial stability impact when making monetary decisions. |
| Keywords: | Monetary policy, risk taking, ex-ante credit risk, leverage, POLS |
| JEL: | E43 E44 E52 G21 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mae:wpaper:2018-07&r=tra |
| By: | Polakowski, Michał.; Hagemejer, Krzysztof. |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the reversal of pension privatization and the reforms that took place in the 1990s and 2000s in Poland. The report analyses the political economy of different reform proposals, and the characteristics of the new pension system, including laws enacted, coverage, benefit adequacy, financing and contribution rates, governance and social security administration, social dialogue, positive impacts and other key issues of Poland’s pension system. |
| Keywords: | pension scheme, social protection, Poland |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:995005392802676&r=tra |
| By: | Elena Grigorieva (RUDN University); Darya Karpova (RUDN University) |
| Abstract: | The article presents an analysis of the foreign experience of the mechanism of tax increment financing (TIF) in the financing of infrastructure projects and assesses the possibility of implementing this mechanism in the Russian investment practice.Investment in infrastructure development is an important factor in the socio-economic development of the country and has a multiplier effect. In the world practice, the involvement of private capital in the creation and subsequent operation of infrastructure facilities contributes to the sustainable growth of the national economy, the introduction of promising technological, organizational and institutional innovations, resource saving and energy independence, improving the quality of services provided to the population.The problem of efficiency of joint investment activity of private and public capital owners in infrastructure projects is due to the complexity of taking into account the interests of all participants. The format of joint activities should be based on the principles of risk sharing, connection of projects with the target socio-economic characteristics of the development of territories, obtaining benefits from the results of projects.The authors studied the most successful practices of infrastructure development financing, taking into account possible future benefits from the creation of these facilities in the form of additional revenues from taxes, fees, access rights to the operation of infrastructure and other privileges. One of these tools is the mechanism of tax increments of financing.The paper analyzes the conditions for the implementation and fulfillment of this mechanism in different countries of the world, studied the experience of the TIF mechanism, taking into account industry specifics and other features of the projects, describes the specific models of the TIF mechanism.The comparative approach and macroeconomic analysis were used to compare the conditions of implementation of the TIF mechanism and project financing, and to identify fundamental similarities and differences. The conclusion is made about the possibility of embedding (diffusion) of individual elements of the TIF mechanism in project financing in Russia.The use of institutional and statistical analysis, as well as the methodology for assessing the effectiveness of investment projects, allowed the authors to form a comprehensive assessment of the possibility of using the TIF mechanism in the Russian environment. |
| Keywords: | tax increment financing, TIF, investments, project finance, infrastructure development, public-private partnership |
| JEL: | E62 O22 O18 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:7010124&r=tra |
| By: | Yimeng Du (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University); Kenji Takeuchi (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effectiveness of regionally differentiated feed-in tariffs (FIT) for the development of renewable energy in China. By using a spatial regression discontinuity design, we estimate the impacts of regionally differentiated FITs on the outcome indicators of wind and solar power generation, such as utilization rate, installed capacity, power generation, and hours of operation. Our findings show that FIT implementation plays a role in promoting renewable energy development in resourcepoor regions. A small difference in the tariff rate leads to statistically significant differences in outcome indicators among regions. Our results suggest that regionally differentiated FITs might help mitigate the overproduction of wind electricity in regions with abundant wind resources but low electricity demand. |
| Keywords: | Feed-in Tariff; Renewable Energy; Renewable Curtailment; Spatial Regression Discontinuity Design |
| JEL: | Q42 Q48 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:1828&r=tra |
| By: | Madalina Tocan (Ecological University of Bucharest) |
| Abstract: | Local authorities’ corruption, garbage companies’ violation of laws, the lack of a mandatory waste collection infrastructure and the disinterest of part of the population for environmental protection are the reasons for recycling only 3% of municipal waste in Romania. A report from the European Environment Agency shows that our country is a quaint for the recovery of waste. The first part of the paper tries to present the state of recycle in Romania and the reasons why Romania is in the last place in Europe to recycle. At the end of the paper, as conclusions, are presented some possible solutions for the Romanian recycling challenges. |
| Keywords: | waste, recycling, zero waste |
| JEL: | Q50 Q53 Q59 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eub:wpaper:2018-02&r=tra |
| By: | Zhu, J. |
| Abstract: | This paper presents evidence in favor of the hypothesis that agricultural legacy matters for shaping the equilibrium level of current innovations. The rice theory (Talhelm et al., 2014) provided a micro foundation for the proposition that people in rice cultivating areas are more inclined toward holistic thinking while wheat cultivating biases one toward analytical thinking. By taking advantages of homogeneity among Han Chinese, this paper proposes and tests the hypothesis that regions that grow rice (the suitability of land for rice production is used as a proxy) tend to inculcate values which promote weak innovations. Using multilevel (province, prefecture, county, and individual level) data within China, the results lend strong support to the proposed idea. Our findings are robust with alternative measures of rice cultivation, with alternative estimation strategies, and with the inclusion of various geographical, socioeconomic, and potentially confounding correlates. Acknowledgement : The authors thank Tang Zhong, Thomas Talhelm, and Ng Yew-Kwang for helpful discussions and comments, and Liu Meng and Aatishya Mohanty for providing competent research assistance. The usual disclaimers apply. |
| Keywords: | Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277219&r=tra |
| By: | Gagalyuk, T. |
| Abstract: | The agricultural sector in transition economies is marked by the prominence of agroholdings, i.e., conglomerates of agricultural enterprises controlling up to hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland. Drawing on a mix of primary and secondary information from Ukraine, this paper explores the hypothesis that membership in an agroholding presents a strategy for agricultural enterprises to remain resilient in the midst of the severe institutional turbulence characteristic of a transition economy. Institutional shocks and uncertainties disrupt the access of Ukrainian agricultural enterprises to critical finance, land, and labor resources. Enterprises are shown to cope with these disruptions by joining agroholdings, which facilitates access to these resources and creates a kind of protected enclave in which the enterprises can concentrate efforts on the organization of production. Notably, the rationale for agroholding membership is centered on resilience rather than efficiency. The focus on resilience rather than efficiency thus provides a tentative explanation of why the remarkable growth of agroholdings fails to be accompanied by evidence of their superior efficiency. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277115&r=tra |
| By: | Anna Demianova (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses indicators which describe the employment of disabled people in Russia and the position of this group in the Russian labour market. Special attention is given to disabled workers skills in the sphere of information and communication technologies. The analysis is based on data from the Rosstat population surveys and administrative data. The analysis shows that the information on the disabled people employment is limited due to an underrepresentation of the disabled in the data from population surveys and the methodological approaches used in administrative data. Available statistics demonstrate that the disabled are in a weak position in the Russian labour market: low employment rates, high unemployment rates, widespread employment in the informal sector, and the concentration of employment in low-skilled occupations. Furthermore, disabled people of working age in Russia possess markedly weaker digital skills than non-disabled, which further worsens their position in the labour market |
| Keywords: | Disability statistics, Employment of persons with disabilities, Digital skills, Russian Labour force survey, Russia. |
| JEL: | J21 J24 I14 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:91sti2018&r=tra |
| By: | Chen, X.; Ye, J. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the existence and magnitude of air pollution spillovers in Chinese cities. Estimation of this spillover effect is complicated because neighboring cities share similar business/pollution cycles and changes in wind direction can be fairly frequent. To circumvent these empirical challenges, we exploit spatial and temporal variations in PM10 concentrations for 108 major cities in China s Eastern Monsoon Region during the East Asian winter and summer monsoon seasons. We find large pollution spillover effects: a city s average PM10 concentration increases by 0.09-0.21 units during the winter monsoon season and by 0.06-0.10 units during the summer monsoon season, if PM10 concentrations in cities upwind of this city increase by one unit. The percentage contributions of PM10 pollution from upwind cities to local PM10 levels vary by region and can be as large as 30%. These findings are comparable to the existing atmospheric evidence. Our findings suggest that pollution control policies must be coordinated between cities to abate urban air pollution. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277146&r=tra |
| By: | Lin, Carl (Bucknell University); Sun, Yan (Beijing Normal University); Xing, Chunbing (Beijing Normal University) |
| Abstract: | We use several datasets to study whether son preference prevails in the human capital investment among Chinese rural-urban migrant households. We find that son preference exists among the rural migrants' households and that it caused lower probabilities relative to that of their boy counterparts that school age girls will migrate with their parents - a difference that is absent for children of preschool age. We also find that (1) boys are more likely to migrate following the reduction in the number of rural primary schools, (2) migrant households with multiple children tend to take their sons to migrate more than they take their daughters, and (3) the fact that parents of boy students spend more on their children's education can be largely explained by the extra costs of schooling for migrant households. Finally, we show that the parents of rural children have higher expectations for boys than they do for girls. Our results suggest that son preference is detrimental to the human capital investment in girls in contemporary China when institutional arrangements result in high costs of schooling for migrants. |
| Keywords: | rural-urban migration, China, children, son preference, human capital |
| JEL: | J13 J17 J61 J24 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11930&r=tra |
| By: | Ye, C.; Zhuo, N. |
| Abstract: | Air pollution is a very serious problem facing hznaghou of China. The local government in Hangzhou has implemented lottery system for license plate application, traffic ban in rush-hours and investment in subway system to decrease automobile exhaust. The main research objective of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of these policies on the air pollution. The data analyzed in this paper include four pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2) daily concentration (unit: ?g/m ), which is provided by the Environmental Protection Bureau of Zhejiang province. We use both OLS regression and regression discontinuity analysis to check the effects of the three policies memtion above. From the regression results, we find that the "lottery license plate", "rush hour traffic quota" , and subway system expansion all policies improved air quality in Hangzhou. Acknowledgement : Chunhui Ye gratefully acknowledges China National Science Foundation (Project 71773113) as well as Zhejiang University for financial support. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277527&r=tra |
| By: | Mihovil An?elinovi? (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb); Ana Pavkovi? (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb); Livija Valenti? (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the performance of equity funds relative to the diversification of their portfolios. The main objective of the research is to determine how the allocation of investment in individual sectors affects the yield of equity funds in the Republic of Croatia. Six equity funds which were selected, invested more than 50% of their assets in sectors in the Republic of Croatia. An unbalanced dynamic panel model is estimated for the period from January 2012 to August 2017. Investing in tourism and industry has proved to be the most significant investment and it has a positive effect on the fund yields, whereas significant negative impact has been discovered in consumer goods, funds and conglomerates and the state sector. The macroeconomic environment was studied in order to put the conclusions of econometric analysis into the actual context. The conducted empirical analysis suggests that portfolio managers should pay more attention to macroeconomic conditions and trends in economic sectors if they want to achieve higher returns. |
| Keywords: | asset liability management, equity funds, sector diversification, panel data model, Croatia |
| JEL: | C33 G11 G23 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:6710018&r=tra |
| By: | Zhu Liu; Bo Zheng; Qiang Zhang |
| Abstract: | Global achievement of climate change mitigation will heavy reply on how much of CO2 emission has and will be released by China. After rapid growth of emissions during last decades, China CO2 emissions declined since 2014 that driven by decreased coal consumption, suggesting a possible peak of China coal consumption and CO2 emissions. Here, by combining a updated methodology and underlying data from different sources, we reported the soaring 5.5% (range: +2.5% to +8.5% for one sigma) increase of China CO2 emissions in 2018 compared to 2017, suggesting China CO2 is not yet to peak and leaving a big uncertain to whether China emission will continue to rise in the future. Although our best estimate of total emission (9.9Gt CO2 in 2018) is lower than international agencies in the same year, the results show robust on a record-high energy consumption and total CO2 emission in 2018. During 2014-2016, China energy intensity (energy consumption per unit of GDP) and total CO2 emissions has decreased driven by energy and economic structure optimization. However, the decrease in emissions is now offset by stimulates of heavy industry production under economic downturn that driving coal consumption (+5% in 2018), as well as the surging of natural gas consumption (+18% in 2018) due to the government led coal-to-gas energy transition to reduce local air pollutions. Timing policy and actions are urgent needed to address on these new drivers to turn down the total emission growth trend. |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1811.09475&r=tra |
| By: | Kinga Rozalia STOICA-GRAMA (Faculty of Financial Management (Student), Ecological University of Bucharest) |
| Abstract: | In the paper we propose to test various forms of the consumer function for the Romanian economy: the linear function and the consumption function constructed in the hypothesis of the present inertial phenomenon. The analysis was carried out over a period of ten years between 2008 and 2017; the data, on total income and total expenditure, allow us to assess the opportunity of estimating a linear - model; the results of the model are analyzed using: (Econometric Views 10) & (Excel 2016). |
| Keywords: | consumer function, linear function, inertial phenomenon |
| JEL: | B22 C01 C51 D12 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eub:wpaper:2018-09&r=tra |
| By: | Le Ngoc, H. |
| Abstract: | Improving farming technical efficiency for smallholders by applying contract farming is an interesting topic nowadays. A cross sectional sample of 250 Vietnamese export-oriented rice households was employed to investigate how contract farming improves farming technical efficiency in the country. The Stochastic Frontier Analysis is applied to estimate the production frontier, the technical inefficiency determinants and Propensity Score Matching is used to control self-selection bias. The results show an average technical efficiency score is of 87.33 percent and suggests convincible opportunities for farmers to increase productivity of export-oriented rice in the country by nearly 13 percent. The expenditures on seed, land, and fertilizer are the key determinants of the technical efficiency level in this region. The results reveal the positive relationship of contract farming participation on technical efficiency improvement. Acknowledgement : The authors acknowledge financial support from the Stiftung Fiat Panis and the Vietnamese Educational and Tranning scholarship. We are also grateful to the Nha Trang University, Vietnam for their support in fieldwork coordination. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277409&r=tra |
| By: | JUSTYNA GÓRAL (Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics - National Research Institute); W?ODZIMIERZ REMBISZ (Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics - National Research Institute); MARCIN KRAWCZAK (Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics - National Research Institute) |
| Abstract: | Value-added is understood as an increase of the value of goods as a result of a specific production process. It means the difference between the retail selling price of a product and the material cost. It is calculated on the basis of financial statements. The objective of this paper is to assess the level and structure of value--added on an example of the selected branches of the food industry in Poland. The authors carry out comparative analysis of these branches and also indirectly refer to the assessment of the level of their modernity. The results show that remuneration plays a significant role in the value-added structure. Remunerations represent approx-imately 50 percent of the value. Structure of the value creation depicts the level of innovation of the sector. |
| Keywords: | value creation, value-added, food industry, food marketing chain |
| JEL: | D46 D24 Q13 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:6910102&r=tra |
| By: | Belyaeva, Maria |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of Russian grain production, to determine country’s production potential and its possibility to remain one of the major grain producers on the world market. On the one hand we estimate the technical efficiency during the period of transition to the market economy. By applying a novel approach to the estimation of production efficiency on a regional level, we assess the grain production potential and determine factors that influence productivity beyond the control of the farmers. On the other hand we conduct a detailed analysis of the climate change impact on grain production. We base our study on panel fixed-effect regressions of grain yields on a set of crop specific weather indicators. Furthermore, we use climate change projections for the medium and long terms to estimate the effect of global warming on grain productivity in different regions of the country. Empirical results of the production efficiency model are based on a balanced panel of Russian regions which were involved in grain production during the period 1995-2011. We rely on a production function that accounts for the effect of labour, land, capital, and variable inputs. In addition, we construct specific variables to control for factors that remain outside of the farmers’ control, i.e. the level of human and infrastructure development and climate and soil conditions. In the climate change model we use yields of three the most popular grain types – winter wheat, spring wheat, and spring barley – on a regional level to determine their relation to indicators that account for climate conditions during the vegetation period, specific for each grain type. Specifically, we approximate the distribution of daily temperatures using a trigonometric sine curve to construct measures of growing and heat degree days. The data covers the period from 1955 to 2012. In order to estimate the effect of future climate change we rely on the latest available projections, provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2014) for the medium and long terms. The analysis of technical efficiency demonstrates that an average farm in a Russian region is functioning at its full production capacity, and further development and productivity increases depend on factors that are not directly related to technical aspects of production and that remain beyond the control of farmers, namely the level of human and institutional development, access to infrastructure and climate conditions. We indicate that further exploitation of natural production possibilities has a positive impact on the process of agricultural improvement. We then conduct an examination of the climate effect to analyse the historical dependence of grain production on temperatures and precipitation levels, and project this dependence to estimate the productivity of studied grain types in the medium and long terms, given four different greenhouse gas concentration pathways. We find that altering temperatures have an equivocal effect on agriculture. The most productive zones of the southern black soil belt is projected to face considerable declines in yields, due to insufficient precipitation levels and high probability of heat waves during the summer vegetation period. The northern part, on the contrary, can experience increases in productivity as a result of milder and drier winters and warmer springs. Obtained empirical results allowed us to determine that climate plays a major role in grain production in Russia. Although northern regions will experience considerable increases in yields in the medium and long terms, projected falls in productivities in the southern part of the country cannot be compensated by production increases in the North: insufficiently developed infrastructure, low productivity of soil and lack of investments to safely reintroduce the abandoned lands into the agricultural process prevent substantial agricultural growth. Accordingly, in order to maintain sufficient production levels more efforts should be concentrated on adaptation measures to breed more drought-resistant grain varieties and to adopt soil moisture accumulating and preserving technologies. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iamost:280713&r=tra |
| By: | Lin, J.; Z.; Zhang, Z. |
| Abstract: | Transportation is important for tobacco production in the mountain area in China. Agricultural cooperatives have been established to provide transportation services. In this paper, we assess whether receiving transportation services from agricultural cooperatives affect the technical efficiency of tobacco producers, using 346 household data from Guizhou Province, China. The results show that receiving transportation services result in an increase in household income of tobacco planting by 143.7% or 291.4% or 300.6% with different estimation approaches. Moreover, we also find that inclusion of membership can enhance the impact of transportation on household income. We conclude that agricultural cooperatives should be encouraged to better transportation and rural infrastructures. Acknowledgement : We are grateful for comments from Pro. Hongdong Guo, Markus Hanisch and staff from Division of Economics of Agricultural Cooperatives of Humboldt University zu Berlin. This work was supported by Guizhou Tobacco Monopoly, China. |
| Keywords: | Marketing |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276998&r=tra |
| By: | Judit Ricz (Institute of World Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Two important trends can be observed during the last years (at the latest since the 2008-9 Global Financial Crisis) in the global political economy scene: state involvement in the economy has been on the rise worldwide and democracy has been backsliding globally. The rise of new developmentalism in some large emerging economies dates back even earlier, but by 2018 the ongoing tendencies show towards rising illiberalism both in the political and economic realms all around the world. Along with the rise of political populism, we can observe a tendency towards heterodox economic policy answers, revealing unique specificities and characteristics in different countries, demonstrating however a common tendency towards attacking institutional checks and balances, restraining the autonomy and independence of core agencies and institutions. We are convinced that the current rise of state capitalism in emerging economies can be analysed via the systemic approach (Kornai, 2016) – and thus a research program for analysing the varieties of state capitalism is highly in place. In this paper (which shall be followed by a series of country case studies), we merely aim to provide the analytical framework for such a research agenda, by reviewing existing theoretical approaches, highlighting some potential cornerstones of analysis and finally by formulating research questions and hypotheses. |
| Keywords: | new developmentalism, state capitalism, emerging economies, developmental states, varieties of capitalism, system paradigm |
| JEL: | B4 O1 P5 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwe:workpr:245&r=tra |
| By: | Renwick, A.; Ma, W.; Nie, P.; Tang, J. |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the impact of participation in off-farm work on smartphone use, using an endogenous switching probit model and a survey of 493 rural Chinese households. The joint impacts of off-farm work participation and smartphone use on household income are also analyzed using a control function method. The results show that participation in off-farm work increases the probability of smartphone use significantly. Furthermore, we find that the household heads who engaged in off-farm activities and who were smartphone users earned 3,430 Yuan and 2,643 Yuan more per capita annual income, respectively, compared to their full-time farming and smartphone-free counterparts. Acknowledgement : The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from Lincoln University within the seed fund project (INT5056). |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/ Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277304&r=tra |
| By: | Li, J.; Chavas, J.-P. |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the effects of pricing policy on the distribution of agricultural prices, with an application to China. It investigates the effects of China s price support programs on price enhancement and price stabilization in two key Chinese markets: rice and corn. The analysis relies on Quantile autoregression (QAR) which provides a refined and flexible way to capture the effects of pricing policy on price distributions (including mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis). Based on monthly data over the period 2000-2014, the econometric analysis documents the price effects of policy interventions and shows how such effects can vary across markets. The paper finds slow adjustments in the price distribution and important differences between short run and long run effects. The empirical evidence shows that the Chinese price support program increased the price of corn and shifted its price distribution to the right. The analysis also finds that China s price support for rice contributed to stabilizing the domestic rice market without much price enhancement for rice. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277557&r=tra |
| By: | Mao, R. |
| Abstract: | Matching firm- and country-level data with a panel dataset of China s agricultural exports at the firm-product-country-level, a measure of firm-level exposure to exchange rate undervaluation has been proposed based on estimates of the bilateral undervaluation of yuan versus other currencies. Empirical models find that a firm s agricultural exports significantly and positively increase with its exposure to undervaluation. The result remains robust to alternative sample selections, measurement choices, and model specifications. The elasticity, however, differs across firms for their productivity, financial constraint, ownership, trade mode, and subsidy status. With the mediation role of increased exports, the undervaluation exposure further accelerates the firm-level growth in both productivity and scale according to the path analysis. This mediation effect takes almost a half of the acceleration effect of undervaluation on labor productivity and employment growth. It takes even the entire effect as to the growth of total factor productivity, sales, value added, and capital stock. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Financial Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276987&r=tra |
| By: | Tommaso Agasisti (Politecnico di Milano School of Management); Aleksei Egorov (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Daria Zinchenko (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Oleg Leshukov (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the link between the efficiency of regional higher education systems and the rates of regional economic development between 2012 and 2015 in Russia. The efficiency scores are calculated at the institutional level using a double-bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) procedure, taking into account the different internal characteristics of universities which may affect their production process, and the scores are then aggregated at the regional level. We formulate a regional economic growth model that considers the efficiency of regional higher education systems as one of the explanatory variables. As an econometric method, we employ a robust GMM estimator. The model also includes spatial interactions between regional economies and between regional higher education systems in neighboring regions. The findings highlight a positive, substantial and statistically significant effect of HEI efficiency on the regional economic growth rate. We also found negative spillover effects indicating that efficient regional higher education systems may extract resources from neighboring regions |
| Keywords: | Regional economic development; efficiency in higher education; knowledge spillovers; economic growth; Russia. |
| JEL: | I25 I21 E02 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:203/ec/2018&r=tra |
| By: | Fujii, Hidemichi; Managi, Shunsuke |
| Abstract: | Sustainable green technology is an important contributor to creating a sustainable society by simultaneously promoting environmental conservation and economic development. This study examines the determinants of sustainable green technology invention in China, with a focus on the differences in green technology development priorities in each five-year plan period. This study uses patent publication data in a patent decomposition analysis framework. We find that sustainable green patent publications increased due to efficiency improvements, the prioritization of sustainable green patents, an increased R&D expenditure share and economic growth, especially during periods of gradual economic development in China. Additionally, we find that the relative priority of R&D shifted from renewable energy technology to pollution abatement and other sustainable green technology in the 12th five-year plan. The different R&D priority trends for sustainable green technologies among the five-year plans can be used to formulate effective policies that promote sustainable green technology invention. |
| Keywords: | sustainable green technology; patent data; decomposition analysis; China; priority change |
| JEL: | O32 O44 Q55 Q56 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:90251&r=tra |
| By: | Szikra, Dorottya. |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the reversal of pension privatization and the reforms that took place in the 1990s and 2000s in Hungary. The report analyses the political economy of different reform proposals, and the characteristics of the new pension system, including laws enacted, coverage, benefit adequacy, financing and contribution rates, governance and social security administration, social dialogue, positive impacts and other key issues of Hungary’s pension system. |
| Keywords: | pension scheme, social protection, Hungary |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:995005393002676&r=tra |
| By: | Wang, J.; Bi, S.; Lyu, K.; Zhang, C. |
| Abstract: | This study adopts econometric models to link the formal credit constraints with agricultural output and short-term investment in rural China. The empirical results show that formal credit constraint does impinge significantly on agricultural production, and credit-constrained farmers mostly depend on family endowment. In case where the formal credit demand is fully met, the average output per mu will increase by 14.6%. According to further analysis, formal credit constraints have a differential impact on short-term agricultural inputs. Demand-side credit constraint restrains the purchase to agricultural machinery service, while supply-side credit constraint has negative effects on fertilizer inputs, but not on seed, pesticide inputs and labor hiring. Acknowledgement : The paper was supported by the Programs of National Natural Science Found of China (NSFC) (71573262), China Agriculture Research System (CARS-02), as well as the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program (ASTIP-IAED-2018-03). |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277536&r=tra |
| By: | Vasilev, Aleksandar |
| Abstract: | We introduce government production of both output-augmenting and utility-enhancing public services into an exogenous growth model with a detailed government sector, and calibrate the model to Bulgarian data for the period following the introduction of the currency board arrangement (1999-2016). We show that in contrast to the case without government output, e.g., Vasilev (2009), when the economy features saddle-path stability, the presence of a second sector leads to equilibrium indeterminacy in the model. When public sector production adds to private sector output, the setup exhibits "sink" dynamics, and equilibrium paths are determined by "animal spirits." These results are in line with the findings in the literature, e.g., Benhabib and Farmer (1994, 1996) and Farmer (1999), and have major implications for policy-making and welfare. |
| Keywords: | Equilibrium indeterminacy,animal spirits,two-sector model,government production |
| JEL: | E32 E37 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:184666&r=tra |
| By: | Jin, Y.; Jin, S. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the heterogeneous impacts of exchange rate volatility on Chinese food exporters. Previous researches that employed country or sector-level aggregated data has yielded controversy conclusions in estimating effects of exchange rate uncertainty on agricultural trade. In this paper, we construct highly disaggregated Chinese food firm-level census data with destination-specific export data from 2000 to 2013 (215,783 sample firms), to discuss the influence based on firm-level characters. In general, this empirical research illustrates that the exchange rate fluctuation has significant negative effects on both trade prices and volumes. More importantly, we find that different firm-level characters (performance and scale) may reinforce or weaken the impact of this volatility on each firm. And this result is robust to different measures and econometric specifications. Acknowledgement : The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC-71273233, 71333011), the Major Program of the Key Research Institute of Chinese Ministry of Education (No. 15JJD790032). |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277197&r=tra |
| By: | Maltseva, Elena.; Janenova, Saltanat. |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the reversal of pension privatization and the reforms that took place in the 1990s and 2000s in Kazakhstan. The report analyses the political economy of different reform proposals, and the characteristics of the new pension system, including laws enacted, coverage, benefit adequacy, financing and contribution rates, governance and social security administration, social dialogue, positive impacts and other key issues of Kazakhstan’s pension system. |
| Keywords: | pension scheme, social security reform, privatization, Kazakhstan |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:995005392902676&r=tra |
| By: | Bilgili, Faik; Mugaloglu, Erhan; Koçak, Emrah |
| Abstract: | This paper observes the possible co-movements of oil price and CO2 emissions in China by following wavelet coherence and wavelet partial coherence analyses to be able to depict short-run and long-run co-movements at both low and high frequencies. To this end, this research might provide the current literature with the output of potential short run and long run, structural, changes in CO2 emissions upon a shock (a change) in oil prices in China together with the control variables of World oil prices, fossil energy consumption, and renewables consumption, and, urban population in China. Therefore, this research aims at determining wavelet coherencies between the variables and phase differences to exhibit the leading variable in potential co-movements. By following the time domain and frequency domain analyses of this research, one may claim that the oil prices in China has considerable negative impact on CO2 emissions at high frequencies for the periods 1960-2014 and 1971-2014 in China. Besides, one may underline as well other important output of the research exploring that the urban population and CO2 emissions have positive associations, move together for the period 1960-2014 in China. Eventually, this paper might suggest that authorities follow demand side management policies considering energy demand behavior at both shorter cycles and longer cycles to diminish the CO2 emissions in China. |
| Keywords: | Wavelet coherence, wavelet partial coherence, oil price, CO2 emissions, urbanization, China |
| JEL: | C1 C32 C49 C61 C63 E32 E37 I0 J11 J18 Q2 Q21 Q31 Q32 Q40 Q52 Q53 Q56 Q57 R0 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:90170&r=tra |
| By: | Ruoxi Lu; David A. Bessler; David J. Leatham |
| Abstract: | This is the first study to explore the transmission paths for liquidity shocks in China's segmented money market. We examine how money market transactions create such pathways between China's closely-guarded banking sector and the rest of its financial system, and empirically capture the transmission of liquidity shocks through these pathways during two recent market events. We find strong indications that money market transactions allow liquidity shocks to circumvent certain regulatory restrictions and financial market segmentation in China. Our findings suggest that a widespread illiquidity contagion facilitated by money market transactions can happen in China and new policy measures are needed to prevent such contagion. |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1811.08949&r=tra |
| By: | Wang, W. |
| Abstract: | This paper assess the China s rural labor market by exploring the role of education playing in the wage premium among different job location by using samples covering more than 2000 households in 100 villages which are nationally representative. The results indicate that the rural labor markets are functioning and reflect as follows: (i) Whether the definitions of migration are, there are obvious wage premiums of migrants and with the boundary that we defined gradually away from the home township of rural labor, the wage premium becomes more obviously. At the same time, we find the return to education of migrants is significantly higher than those work locally. (ii) Compared to the labor force employed in his/her township, those who worked in other job locations all have a significant wage premium when we have a more comprehensive division after considering the employment distance and cost of living. (iii) Only work in the big cities has a consistent significantly higher return to education than work within labor s home township. Acknowledgement : Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71333012]. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276942&r=tra |
| By: | Pham, Binh T.; Sala, Hector; Silva, José I. |
| Abstract: | We examine Vietnam’s economy together with its closest trade partners. We show that capital accumulation has been the primary growth engine since the start of its transition to the pro-market economy in 1986–the Doi Moi. We also show that the cyclical behavior of its macro-aggregates is similar to the one of its ASEAN-5 peers and other developing countries. We extend the standard small-open-economy RBC model by considering habit persistence and government consumption which allows a close match of the moments of the growth variables. At the business cycle frequency, transitory productivity shocks account for approximately one-half of Vietnam’s output variance, while country-risk and non-transitory productivity shocks account to close to one-fifth each. Regarding Solow residual's volatility, we find that the trend component merely accounts for 12% of this variance in Vietnam, while in Thailand it is only 6%. These findings refute “the cycle is the trend” hypothesis in Aguiar and Gopinath (2007), and align to those in García-Cicco, Pancrazi, and Uribe (2010) and Rhee (2017), in which the stationary component is overwhelmingly dominant. We claim that technological progress and productivity-enhancing measures are fundamental for Vietnam's economy to sustain a high growth. |
| Keywords: | Vietnam, ASEAN, DSGE, RBC, trend shock, growth |
| JEL: | E0 E13 E3 E32 E60 |
| Date: | 2018–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:90297&r=tra |
| By: | Tita-Nicolescu Gabriel (Trasilvania University of Brasov) |
| Abstract: | When the new Romanian Civil Code entered into force (in 2011), both legal regulations on partnerships and joint ventured were expressly abolished, as the two regulatory documents (meaning the Civil Code of 1864 and the Business Code of 1887) were repealed in full (express repealing according to art. 230 of Law no. 71/2011 for the application of the new Civil Code).However, by means of a similar regulation, the new Civil Code took over the two types of companies without legal personality in Chapter VII (Company Contracts) of Book V (On Obligations), Title IX (Various Special Contracts). The chapter concerning company contracts consists of three distinct sections of which we will hereby approach the 2nd Section (Partnerships) and the 3rd Section (Joint ventures).In fact, in the chapter on company contracts, the new Civil Code includes special provisions referring only to the two types of companies without legal personality. Therefore, the two sections of Chapter VII (the 2nd and the 3rd Section) are the legal framework for the companies without legal personality in Romania and, at the same time, they are a special legal regulation in the matter, that is no other law may govern in this field. As we have previously shown, the Tax Code may rule on various aspects concerning the organization of this type of companies, as a special legal regulation (which applies with preference against the provisions of the Civil Code); nevertheless, we believe that, in legal terms, the tax regulations should not be allowed to change significantly the legal requirements set by the Civil Code for the establishment and operation of the companies without legal personality. Unfortunately, the regulatory contradictions between the two legal instruments (the Civil Code and the Tax Code) are obvious and of essence in some cases, therefore they cannot be overlooked; this is why we have thought it appropriate to approach such matter, namely the interference of civil and tax regulations, as this interesting topic may give rise to many debates in practice. |
| Keywords: | Contract, joint venture, company contract, partnership, companies |
| JEL: | K00 K12 K20 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:6709973&r=tra |
| By: | Nozomu Kawabata |
| Abstract: | This study discusses the development of the Vietnamese iron and steel industry under international economic integration. In particular, this study investigates what type of enterprise was responsible for this development, as well as the economic and managerial logic that can explain this development. The analysis provides suggestions for industrial development under international economic integration in developing economies. Under trade and investment liberalization, private enterprises and foreign capital firms have been the main participants in the development of the Vietnamese iron and steel industry. However, such development did not occur via a simple laissez-faire approach. Each enterprise type and the government faced challenges. Ownership and management reform were required of state-owned enterprises, and local private enterprises had to ensure market creation through innovation, by making full use of the local condition. Foreign enterprises had to introduce the huge funds and state-of-the-art technology. Moreover adaption to local society influenced their projects' progress. Thus, the government should review and monitor large-scale projects from both economic and social viewpoints. The Vietnamese iron and steel industry recorded steady growth because some of these conditions were met, while some unachieved conditions caused problems. This case suggests that industrial development under international economic integration is possible. In addition, such integration requires not only a market mechanism but also an entrepreneurial spirit that encourages market creation and government policies that complement the market's role and resolve social issues. |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:toh:tergaa:396&r=tra |
| By: | Wang, L. |
| Abstract: | The aim of the paper is to assess how consumers evaluate quality certificate and to what extent they are willing to pay a premium for fresh fruits with certificate. A double-hurdle model is applied to data obtained by interviewing 407 fresh fruit consumers in nine cities, China. Willingness-to-pay a premium was modeled as a function of a series of socio-economic variables, plus fruit attributes, perceptions on fruit safety, and risk attitudes. Results indicate that the most important factors influencing willingness to pay a premium involve in positive attitudes toward quality certificate, degree of attention to fruit safety, perception of importance on fruit attributes. The recorded consumer interest in safety and quality of fresh fruits reveals that a promising market for certified fruits could be developed by an adequate knowledge on fruit certificate and an effective market monitoring system. Acknowledgement : The research was funded by the China Agriculture Research System [grant numbers CARS-28]. The authors would like to thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that greatly improved the manuscript. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277413&r=tra |
| By: | Mehmet Balcilar (Department of Economics, Eastern Mediterranean University); Firat Emir (Department of Economics, Eastern Mediterranean University); Muhammad Shahbaz (Montpelier Business School, Montpelier, France) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the dynamics of the energy intensity convergence in the EU-28 countries using panel data for the period from 1990 to 2016. We use Phillips and Sul’s (PS) (2007) approach to test for the energy intensity convergence and identify convergence clusters. In addition to the EU-28 members, EU-15 and the new EU members joined after 2004 are analysed as distinct groups for the periods 1990–2016, 1990–2004 and 2005–2016. Our results show convergence amongst the EU countries during the full and two subsample periods considered. However, the convergence takes place within clusters and there is no evidence of all members converging to a single club. Indeed, after the expansion of the EU, and depending on the decoupling of energy intensity levels amongst EU countries, convergence became more common and diverse. The study also makes policy recommendations based on the empirical findings. |
| Keywords: | Energy Intensity, Convergence Test, European Union |
| JEL: | O13 O47 O5 Q52 C22 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emu:wpaper:15-37.pdf&r=tra |