Financial System Risk Tolerance Capacity and Economic Growth: Evidence from a Cross-country Analysis

This article develops a new indicator of financial system risk tolerance capacity to see how the financial risk management function mechanism reacts to economic growth by applying a system generalized method of moments estimation technique. Based on a sample of 49 countries for the period 1998–2011, we find that both bank and stock market risk tolerance capacity can significantly promote long-run economic growth through absorbing and bearing real economic risks. These findings indicate that financial system risk tolerance capacity, which provides a powerful trial and error system, has a positive effect on long-term growth. Therefore, the policy implication is that releasing controllable financial risks actively and moderately beforehand may support scientific and technological innovation, maintain financial stability and, finally, promote long-run economic growth.     

The Effects of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on National Fiscal Sustainability

This paper presents a methodology to analyze the responsiveness of fiscal sustainability to the endogenous fiscal discipline that will be strengthened by the EMU. This discipline arises in response to the harmonization of tax systems, the loss of control of current and prospective money financing, and the deepening of financial market-based discipline. The model developed in this paper is a generalization of Blanchard's 1984 model, in which the interest rate is determined endogenously. This provides the framework to analyze more features of the linkage between sustainability and endogenous fiscal discipline. This paper also presents a new intratemporal fiscal sustainability index.     

Economic Integration and Manufacturing Concentration Patterns: Evidence from MERCOSUR

Over the past two decades, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay have implemented unilateral trade liberalization programs and formed MERCOSUR. The effects of these reforms on production structures in these countries have not received a great deal of attention. This paper analyses patterns of relative manufacturing concentration in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay over the period 1985–1998. Our results indicate that localisation of demand and comparative advantages are the main driving forces of these patterns. The establishment of MERCOSUR has fostered the relative importance of factor endowments and production linkages in shaping the spatial distribution of manufacturing in the above three countries. JEL Classification Numbers: F14, F15, L60, C23     

The Contribution of Transportation Infrastructure Investment to Economic Growth - An Empirical Analysis Based on Panel Data

This paper uses panel data models to analyze the contribution to economic growth brought by investment in transport infrastructure in eastern, central and western areas of China. This paper gets the conclusion that the investment in transport infrastructure of central area has the biggest contribution to economic growth.     

Economic Growth and Income Inequality: Evidence from Dynamic Panel Investigation

This paper empirically investigates the effect of income inequality on economic growth using extended panel data covering a broad range of developing and developed countries. We use system generalized method of moments (GMM) techniques in a dynamic panel analysis, which alleviates the possible positive bias in difference GMM due to the persistence of lagged dependent variables as instruments. We find strong evidence of a negative effect on growth from income inequality, which contradicts the findings of Forbes [2000, September. A reassessment of the relationship between inequality and growth, American Economic Review, 90(4), pp. 869–887] and Li and Zou [1998, October. Income inequality is not harmful for growth: Theory and evidence, Review of Development Economics, 2(3), pp. 318–34]. Further analyses using combined Gini coefficients show that the difference can be overall attributed to the problem of omitted control variables and the differences in how the variations in inequality across countries are reflected. We also find that the negative effects of inequality on economic growth can be of great significance when using a sample of less developed countries or more recent inequality data set.     

The Disciplinary Effect of the Single Market on Swedish Firms

In the 1980s it became increasingly clear that the European Community market was still segmented by national borders because of non-tariff barriers to trade. A major objective of the Single Market Program in 1992 was to remove these barriers, thereby enforcing intra-union competition. In this paper, a panel of Swedish firm-level data is used to evaluate whether domestic market power has been curtailed as a consequence of the SMP and of the Swedish membership in the European Union in 1995. Evidence of increased competition emerges, as price-cost margins have declined in industries with high non-tariff barriers prior to 1992. JEL Classification Numbers: F15, L11, C33     

中国进口与经济增长关系的区域差异分析

利用面板数据对中国东、中、西部的进口额和GDP增长关系进行的实证研究。在短期内,GDP增长对进口额影响最小是中部地区,在长期,西部GDP增长对进口额影响最大。中国经济增长对拉动世界经济增长起了十分重要的作用,中国经济增长减速也会影响全球经济。     

The Synergistic Effects Between Insurance and Credit Markets on Economic Growth: Evidence from China

Insurance and credit markets share some common roles in stimulating economic growth, whether they are complementary or not is worth researching further. Based on the generalized method of moments, this paper investigates the synergistic effects between insurance and credit markets on economic growth in Chinese different regions using an interaction term in the regression model. Moreover, to understand the different economic roles of life and nonlife insurance sectors, we include them into estimation model as well. The results indicate that total insurance and credit markets are substituted, life insurance and credit markets are substituted, and nonlife insurance and credit markets are complementary in the whole region. Specifically, the synergistic effects between insurance and credit markets on economic growth vary considerably across different regions. These findings offer several useful insights for policy-makers.     

农村公共物品供给的区域经济增长效应差异性分析

文章运用面板数据模型,考察了我国各区域农村公共物品供给对经济增长影响的差异。研究结果表明：农村公共物品供给对各区域经济增长具有正向作用,并且农村公共物品供给对经济增长的弹性系数在不同区域之间存在明显的差异。针对当前农村公共物品供给存在的问题,提出相关建议。     

经济自由与经济增长:来自各国的证据

本文对美国传统基金会发布的经济自由度指数与各国经济增长水平进行了实证检验.结果表明,在控制了劳动力人口、资本存量以及人力资本等变量后,经济自由度与经济增长水平之间存在非常密切的关系,从而为自亚当·斯密以来的自由经济理论提供了新的证据.本文利用工具变量法,证明了经济自由是经济增长的原因,为这方面的实证研究做出了新的贡献.希望通过上述工作能够更好地理解制度因素(特别是自由经济制度)在推动经济增长中的关键作用以及导致各国之间经济差距的根源.     

Dynamic Effects of Economic Integration: A Survey

This review article discusses recent models investigating the long-run effects of economic integration. Using endogenous growth approaches this literature looks at the channels through which integration policies (trade liberalization, liberalization of factor mobility, free flow of technological knowledge, etc.) might change the long-run growth rates and specialization patterns of countries involved. We distinguish between international integration, referring to the integration of a country in the world economy, and regional integration, i.e., the formation of regional integration blocs.     

Currency unions and trade: The special case of EMU

In this paper, the impact of the adoption of the euro on the commercial transactions of EMU countries is investigated. It seeks to disentangle the effects of eliminating exchange rate volatility — and those of other policy factors that promote integration — from the influence of the emergence of the European currency union. Since EMU is a relatively new phenomenon, a panel estimation of the gravity equation in a dynamic framework is used in order to capture effects like trade persistence. The main finding is that the adoption of the euro has had a positive but not an exorbitant impact on bilateral trade between European countries (ranging between 9 and 10 per cent). The impact is much lower than that shown in the recent literature on a larger and heterogeneous set of countries. One reason for this divergence seems to be that the euro was adopted after decades of integration policies had already worked through in Europe. JEL no. F4, F15, C230     

休闲时间与经济效率——来自OECD国家的证据

本文认为在考察经济增长的过程中，除了需要关注人均变量，更需要关注“时人均”变量，因为后者代表单位时间内的人均变量，可用来衡量经济效率，而经济效率是经济增长潜力的源泉。为此，本文将工作时间、受教育时间和休闲时间引入内生增长模型，并突出考虑了休闲对经济个体效率的积极作用以及休闲对技术水平的外部效应，由此刻画了休闲与经济效率之间的非线性关系。随后，在模型结论的框架下，引用21个0ECD成员国近二十多年来的面板数据研究了上述非线性关系，并具体求解到经济体的最优休闲时间。由此说明，可以通过对休闲时间的合理调整与管理来达成最理想的经济效率。     

医疗卫生财政支出对经济增长贡献的时空差异-基于1997-2012年30个省级地区面板数据分析

文章基于1997-2012年30个省级地区数据构建固定效应模型，选用“医疗卫生财政支出决算额”测算医疗卫生财政支出水平，研究分析医疗卫生财政支出对经济增长贡献的时间、空间差异及原因。结果显示：医疗卫生财政支出对经济增长存在明显时空差异，空间上表现为西部地区医疗卫生财政支出的贡献度最高，东部次之，中部最低，时间上呈现出“由低到高，日趋平稳”的变化趋势。政府应明确自身职能责任，通过加大西部地区医疗卫生财政支出力度，提高财政支出效率等途径，整合全社会卫生资源，完善医疗卫生资源分配机制。     

Regional Economic Integration and the Location of Multinational Firms

A theoretical model of international location is applied to a process of regional economic integration in which a set of countries mutually removes barriers to trade and investment, thus overcoming the traditional ‘hub and spoke’ setup of regional agreements. The theoretical results are matched with actual trade and foreign investment data from a sample of some 4,200 multinational firms who have invested in Central and Eastern Europe over the 1990–1999 period. Controlling for the effects of the reduction in trade barriers through a proper specification of a gravity model, it is found that the conventional outcome of an agglomeration of economic activities in the centre of the integrating area does not necessarily hold. Multilateral regional integration agreements can act as an important dispersion force significantly driving the location of multinational firms. A panel probit econometric exercise confirms the findings. JEL no. F12, F15, F21     

2000年来四个直辖市经济增长与空气环境质量变化的实证分析

本文选取2000年－2006年的北京、上海、天津、重庆四个地区大气环境质量及经济增长率的统计资料,运用面板数据建立了相应的计量模型,实证结果表明,经济的快速增长,并不必然伴随着环境质量的持续下降,市场经济发展也可创造改善环境质量的内生动力,并且政府环保政策在环境质量的改善方面也起到了重要的作用。     

经济增长、环境治理与环境质量改善——基于动态面板数据模型的实证分析

文章通过建立省际动态面板数据模型,实证分析了经济增长、环境治理对环境质量改善的潜在影响。结果显示:经济增长与污染排放之间不存在固有的倒U型关系,仅当综合考虑其他潜在因素的影响时,二者之间的关系才呈现出显著倒U型曲线,这意味着经济增长本身不能促使环境质量改善。为缓解当前环境污染问题,在促进经济增长的同时应着力加大环境治理力度,削弱污染排放的累积效应,抑制环境污染,改善环境质量。     

制度质量与中国区域经济增长差异的格兰杰因果分析——基于中国区域面板数据

文章以中国31个省市1994-2012年的经济增长和制度质量指标构成的面板数据为基础进行单位根、协整检验及格兰杰因果检验,实证检验了制度质量与中国区域经济增长差异之间的关系。结果表明,制度质量差异是中国区域经济增长差异的重要原因,同时经济增长差异也会致使区域间的制度环境不同。为此,各级政府应加强制度建设,促进市场化发展,为经济主体提供公平的竞争环境,改善产权关系,提高政府效率,使经济增长和制度环境得以良性循环发展,同时这也是缩小区域经济增长差异以及经济落后地区实现赶超最根本的途径之一。     

Economic and Geographical Distance: Explaining Mercosur Sectoral Exports to the EU

The objective of this paper is to apply a modified gravity model to annual exports disaggregated by sector, from MERCOSUR + Chile to the 15 current members of the EU. In doing so, we aimed to classify sectors according to their sensitivity to geographical and economic distance and to identify which commodities enjoy export strength even without further progress in trade liberalisation with the EU. In the estimation we made use of two additional explanatory variables which are found to be relevant when explaining trade, namely, infrastructure and exchange rates. An exchange rate index is built that takes into account protection. Our results support the view that different sectors have a different sensitivity to distance and highlight the importance of using disaggregated data when analysing international trade flows.