An Empirical Study on the Relationship between Diversification and Corporate Performance

Based on the earlier work, this paper re-examines the relationship between diversification and corporate performance and finds a statistically significant U-shape relationship in the Chinese market. The result is tested and confirmed for robustness by controlling for the firm size, age and indusu＇y effects. The findings do not support the notion that diversification is a return-reducing strategy and the understanding in the western economic and financial literature about diversification performance may not be automatically applicable to the case of China.     

The Analysis on the Relationship between Processing Trade and Economic Growth in China

With gradually deepening of international division and frequently developing of transnational corporations, processing trade has been a major trend in international trade. This paper mainly Seeks for the practical and theoretical, supports ,to processing, trade. Meanwhile, it ,shows the developing conditions of processing trade in the world and in China, and analyzes the relationship between processing trade and economic growth in China by linear regression analysis in order to find,the problems and give some suggestions.     

Does the Energy-Efficiency Paradox Exist? Technological Progress and Uncertainty

We explain why firms may choose not to undertake investments inenergy-saving technologies that appear profitable from a net presentvalue perspective. As future technological advances are inherentlyuncertain and investments in new technology are, at least partly,irreversible, it may ``pay' to postpone investments in energy savingand wait for the arrival of improved varieties. This insight casts doubton the existence of so-called ``low hanging fruits in energy saving'(although we do not wish to deny that organisational failures may alsobe important). Failure to appreciate the underlying stochasticity oftechnological progress may obscure the insight that there is value inwaiting, and costs involved in terminating the option to invest. Theappetite for low-hanging fruits will be less when these costs areincorporated in the analysis. We demonstrate that the effect of thearrival rate of new technologies on the adoption lag for a rational firmis ambiguous. The same holds for the effect of the expected ``jump' inefficiency of new technologies. Government policies aimed at enhancingthe adoption of new technologies through stimulation of R&D maytherefore be counterproductive.     

Analysis on the Correlation between Stock Exchange and Economic Growth

The problem considered is the correlation between stock exchange and economy growth. Stepwise regression is being used on the following figures： increasing rate of GDP, the volume of stock market, and liquidity. As a result, we give .an.equation of national economy and stock market. Then, we use Granger＇s Causality test to prove that the stock market has positive effects on the national economy.     

Does Ecological Footprint Impede Economic Growth? An Empirical Analysis Based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis

This paper examines the relationship between income and environmental quality using environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. The hypothesised link is tested using time‐series analysis of 22 countries over the period 1961–2011. The degree of environmental impacts of economic activity is measured using ecological footprint (EF) per capita as explanatory variable, while real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and its quadratic and cubic forms are used as predictor variables in these countries. First, the EKC hypothesis is tested through examining the relationship between EF and GDP using linear, quadratic and cubic functions. Further, the long‐run relationship between EF and GDP is investigated using a vector error correction model. It was found that there is a cointegrated relationship between the variables in almost all countries, which was statistically significant, and EKC supported in 10 countries. Additionally, almost all error correction terms are correct in sign and are significant, which implies that some percentage of disequilibria in EF in the previous year adjusts back to the long‐run equilibrium in the current year. Therefore, an efficient trade‐off between environmental protection and economic benefits should be taken, and EF should be reduced through changing consumption patterns, improving the efficiency of use of resources and cleaner technology choices.     

An Empirical Analysis of the Effects on Firms’ Economic Performance of Implementing Environmental Management Systems

This paper investigates whether environmental management system (EMS) implementation influences a firm’s value added, one of the indices of economic performance. Because it is expected that EMS implementation increases a firm’s value added through an increase in demand and an improvement in productivity, a simple model to identify how these effects influence a firm’s value added is developed and is empirically investigated using panel data for Japanese manufacturing firms in the period 1996–2007. The main findings are as follows. For the full sample, EMS implementation increases a firm’s value added through an increase in demand and improvement in productivity. Among these firms, however, the positive effect of the implementation through an increase in demand mainly exists for export-oriented firms. At the industry level, the effects of EMS implementation vary among different industries. These results empirically prove that there are plural paths for EMS implementation to improve a firm’s economic performance.     

An Empirical Research on the Relationship between Board of Directors Governance and Corporate Performance of Chinese Public Companies

Board of directors is an important component part of corporate governance. As a governance mechanism, we empirically study relationship among the scale of the board of directors, the structure of the board of directors and the duality leadership structure with corporate performance in Chinese public companies. The result shows that the smaller scale of the board of the directors is, the better performance is. With the ownership structure changing better, the structure of the board of directors will change better and promote the performance. The duality leadership structure doesn＇t affect the corporate performance. The fundamental method for the governance effectiveness of the board is to set up the reasonable ownership structure and the marketing mechanism for occurrences in human .     

Is the Relationship between Inflation and Its Uncertainty Linear?

Abstract. We use parametric power ARCH models of the conditional variance of inflation to model the relationship between inflation and its uncertainty using monthly data for Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden over a period ranging from 1962 to 2004. For all three countries inflation significantly raises inflation uncertainty as predicted by Friedman. Increased uncertainty affects inflation in all countries but not in the same manner. For Sweden we find a negative impact in accordance with the Holland hypothesis, whereas for Germany and the Netherlands we find the opposite in support of the Cukierman–Meltzer hypothesis. In a sensitivity analysis we show that an arbitrary choice of the heteroscedasticity parameter influences this relationship significantly.     

Does Environmental Economics Produce Aeroplanes Without Engines? On the Need for an Environmental Social Science

In this paper we first critically review conventional environmental economics. We conclude that the standard theory offers too narrow a perspective for many real world problems and that many theories are not empirically tested. Consequently, environmental economics is at risk of producing aeroplanes without engines. Next, we welcome and discuss some recent trends, particularly the rapid developments of behavioural and new institutional economics as well as the increased interest in empirical analysis. Yet, we conclude that more ‘logical duels’ between competing theories, more interaction between theory and empirics, and more integration between the social sciences are needed to achieve a better understanding of real world environmental problems and the development of adequate policy handles. Finally, we present an outline of steps towards the development of an environmental social science and briefly present the papers that make up this special issue as important building stones of such a discipline.     

A Nonlinear Relationship: Unemployment and Economic Growth (Construction Sector) in Spain, 1995.1–2012.2

A quadratic version of the first-difference Okun’s Law model was estimated for Spain (1995.Q1-2012.Q2). An accelerationist version of Okun’s Law was obtained, which allowed us to calculate variable Okun coefficients as well as critical points in the relationship between construction sector growth and the variation in overall unemployment. The optimal economic growth rate was determined to be 7.38 %. By applying principal components, it is demonstrated that this sector led the economic process after 1995.     

Was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act an Economic Stimulus?

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 envisaged a fiscal stimulus of approximately $800 billion, the largest in American history. Chodorow-Reich et al. (2012a) show that the state fiscal relief that was part of this stimulus increases employment. The other objective of ARRA was to “promote economic recovery”. We therefore examine its effect on states’ economic growth. Since the stimulus each state received is endogenous to a state’s economic environment, ordinary least squares underestimates the effect. This endogeneity problem is addressed by using a state’s pre-recession Medicaid spending level to instrument for the ARRA fiscal relief each state receives. We find that the ARRA state fiscal relief has indeed had a positive effect on gross state products.     

Can a Focus on Breakthrough Technologies Improve the Performance of International Environmental Agreements?

In a recent paper, Barrett (Am Econ Rev 96(2):22–25, 2006) reaches the conclusion that in general the answer to the question in the title is no, except for a special case in which technology adoption involves increasing returns (network externalities). We show in this paper that a focus on the R&D phase in the development of breakthrough technologies can also increase the possibilities for cooperation.     

Equity Markets and Economic Development: Does the Primary Market Matter?

This article examines the role played by primary and secondary equity markets in economic growth. It departs from standard literature to integrate both markets and to explicitly acknowledge the primary equity market. By employing a variety of dynamic panel estimators for 54 countries over the period 1995‐2010, we show that the primary equity market is not an important determinant of economic growth, although it facilitates the development of the secondary market. This study also confirms the importance of liquidity provided by the secondary market. The evidence here calls for further investigation into the capital‐raising function of equity markets.     

What Implications Does COVID-19 Have on Sustainable Economic Development in the Medium and Long Terms?

Given the enormous impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on China’s economy, helping companies to revitalize post-pandemic economic activities promptly is a priority for the whole society. This necessitates the smooth circulation of production-factors among different economic entities, departments, and regions. The pandemic’s huge impact on the economy is evident in the severely hampered flow of these factors, including labor, materials, and capital. Therefore, using data and digital technology, combined with a contact-free allocation of labor, capital, and materials, to accelerate the flow of production-factors is critical to the post-pandemic economy’s restoration. Such a policy can not only provide a short-term stimulus but also a momentum for China’s mid- and long-term sustainable economic development.     

The Systematic Analysis on the Relationship between Population and Agricultural Sustainable Development in Hebei

Regional agricultural sustainable development is the basement and important component of sustainable development system. In view of the relationship between population and regional agricultural sustainable development, this paper proposes some countermeasures on coordination development between population and sustainable agriculture in Hebei Province.     

Where Does the Good Shepherd Go? Civic Virtue and Sorting into Public Sector Employment

Several studies have analyzed motives to work in the public versus private sector. However, research on prosocial motivation in the context of public sector employment has largely neglected civic virtue, the motive to contribute to society. This study considers civic virtue in addition to other possible motives, using a representative, longitudinal dataset of employees in Germany including 63,180 observations of 13,683 different individuals. We find that civic virtue relates positively to public sector employment beyond altruism, risk aversion, laziness and (low) financial motivation. The result holds within different branches and is explained by sorting into the sector.     

Led on the Wrong Track? A Note on the Direction of Technical Change under Environmental Liability Law

This note shows that polluters might opt for technical change which is inferior to other innovations from a social standpoint under environmental liability law. Polluters choose what is socially optimal under strict liability. However, we show that it is possible to have not only too little or too much technical change of a given kind but, importantly, also the wrong kind of technical change under negligence.     

Measuring the Effect of Economic Growth on Countries’ Environmental Efficiency: A Conditional Directional Distance Function Approach

Using a recently developed probabilistic approach of a conditional directional distance function, we measure the effect of economic growth on countries’ environmental efficiency in carbon dioxide emissions for a sample of 99 countries over the period of 1980–2010. Our approach directly accounts for the exogenous factors influencing countries’ environmental production; therefore, we do not impose the separability condition on the estimated environmental efficiencies. When examining the entire sample as well as the sample of developed countries, our results reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between countries’ GDP per capita and environmental efficiency. However, when examining the relationship for the sample of developing countries, the results reveal an N-shaped form. Moreover, our results show that countries ratifying the Kyoto Protocol tend to have higher efficiency scores, implying that their mitigation activity is less costly.