The urbanization-household gender inequality nexus: Evidence from time allocation in China

Urbanization and accompanying socio-economic change, alter intra-household behaviours including paid and unpaid work patterns. China's rapid urbanization raises important questions about the changing nature of gender asymmetries in the household division of labour. Using 24-hour time module data from the China Family Panel Studies, we investigate time allocation of females and males in matched-couples in urban, rural-urban migrant, and rural households. Our model explicitly incorporates the impact of care of young children on time-use. Distinguishing between care and other housework, overall, we find while traditional gendered time-use patterns persist among rural households, urbanization and migration reduces gender differentials in unpaid work. Both urban and migrant fathers engage in more care work than their rural counterparts. We shed new light on the configurations of paid and unpaid work, leisure and self-care; women's burden of a ‘second shift’ of unpaid work; the role of education and income in eroding gender norms; and the impact of grandparents on time-use.     

日本储蓄率的变动及对中国的启示

日本曾经是世界储蓄率最高的国家之一,但从20世纪90年代开始,日本储蓄率发生了显著变化,呈下降趋势。日本储蓄率的变动不但会影响本国经济,还将影响世界经济。通过储蓄理论与最新经济数据分析得出日本储蓄率变动的最主要因素是:收入因素、人口因素及社会保障因素。研究日本储蓄率变动对中国调整高储蓄率有一些有益的启示。     

日本经济结构转型与产业升级路径研究

通过对战后日本经济景气循环的全景考察,发现中国经济现状和日本20世纪70年代具有很大的相似性。1970前后,日本进入大众消费的阶段,经济增长的所有要素贡献率都呈下降趋势,日本政府通过调整产业政策,促进制造业升级换代,实现了经济结构的转型。对比日本的发展历程,中国应加快政府职能转换和产业转型的步伐,扩大国内消费,避免经济的过度虚拟化。     

日本经济持续低迷问题研究

日本泡沫经济崩溃至今已经过去20多年,其间日本政府虽然付出了不懈的努力,但是日本经济依然是增长乏力。为了探寻日本经济长期持续低迷的原因,应从影响人们经济行为的文化入手,以宗教为切入点,分析日本独特的模仿文化对经济发展的影响,从而得出文化是造成日本经济持续低迷的真正原因。     

Changes in gender wage discrimination in the 1990s: A tale of three very different economies

In this paper gender wage decompositions are performed for three very different countries, that is, Japan, Russia and the USA for the years of 1993 and 2000, using the ISSP data set. From the research of this paper, it is shown that the gender wage differential in Japan has narrowed between 1993 and 2000, and the results reveal price and characteristics effects for this country that differ markedly from those observed elsewhere, with female disadvantage being particularly marked. Also, this paper finds that gender wage differentials in Russia and the USA have increased during the years considered here.     

试论政府在经济转型和改革过程中的作用——中、俄、印三国之比较分析

经济改革和转型过程中,政府应该发挥怎样的作用,是学界和决策层多年来一直特别关注的问题。与改革或转型的策略及路径相联系,有关政府职能的讨论可以大致分为以下三类观点:亲善市场论、国家推动发展论和市场增进论。中国、俄罗斯和印度三个国家在改革的初始条件、改革方式及改革进程上既有相似之处,又有完全不同的地方,但这三国都经历了并且仍在继续着经济体制改革和转型,而且三国的经济改革和转型到目前为止都取得了一定成就,三国的经济发展前景也为世界所看好。本文对亲善市场论、国家推动发展论和市场增进论进行了分析比较,考察了中国、俄罗斯及印度改革过程中政府作用的得失,论证了政府在经济改革和发展进程中具有异乎寻常的关键性作用,它是改革和发展的核心内容之一,决定了改革和发展能否顺利地、“帕累托改进式”地向前进行。     

The effect of spouses' relative education on household time allocation

Does spouses' relative education explain their household's distribution of labor? This paper analyzes the effect of spouses' education on time allocated to housework and paid work. To address endogeneity concerns, I exploit changes in spouses' relative education due to remarriage to identify its effects on their time allocation. I find that when a husband marries a wife with a higher relative education than their previous spouse, his share of time on housework increases while his share of time on paid work decreases. In contrast, I find nonsignificant results when a wife remarries a more educated husband than her previous one. I also find that changes in the spouse's education reduce the probability of a spouse staying at home. These findings show that relative human capital plays a role in household labor distribution and motivates a more gender-neutral division of labor within households due to a more evenly distributed time allocation.     

Japanese foreign direct investment and regional trade

We examine the relationship between Japanese FDI outflows, domestic and foreign fixed investment, and the exchange rate. The results indicate that aggregate FDI outflows have been driven by investment in Japan and the exchange rate, while the geographic distribution of such investment has been influenced by foreign economic conditions. We also find that FDI outflows have a temporary impact on exports but a permanent effect on imports. We find no evidence that behavior with respect to East Asia differs from that with respect to North America or Europe.     

日美经济摩擦的"小宫理论"及其启示

第二次世界大战以来,随着日本经济实力的提高,日美之间出现严重的经济摩擦问题。小宫隆太郎教授一直关注这一问题,并对这一问题进行了理论分析。小宫教授的理论与方法对于我们正确地认识中国涉外经济贸易摩擦具有重要的意义。     

Japanese industrial development Lessons for South Africa?

This paper is critical of the scenario planning approach which attempts to offer a formula for development for South Africa in the 1990s based upon the success of Japan, amongst other economic ‘winners’. It is argued that the complexities and debates surrounding Japanese modernization make the application of ‘lessons’ extremely problematical. Points of controversy arising out of the two ‘miracle’ periods of Japanese economic growth, the Meiji era of the nineteenth century and post World War Two era, are examined in some detail. The Tokugawa legacy, Japanese ethics and in particular Confucianism, capital formation and investment spurts, the agricultural contribution, militarism and economic gains from warfare, the role of the state, the zalbatsu and business structures, dualism, labour supplies, export performance and finally education are all factors central to the debate on causes of economic growth in Japan. The paper concludes with some suggestive and very tentative ideas about ‘lessons’ for South Africa.     

Information technology and the Japanese economy

In this paper we compare sources of economic growth in Japan and the United States from 1975 through 2003, focusing on the role of information technology (IT). We have adjusted Japanese data to conform to US definitions in order to provide a rigorous comparison between the two economies. The adjusted data show that the share of the Japanese gross domestic product devoted to investment in computers, telecommunications equipment, and software rose sharply after 1995. The contribution of total factor productivity growth from the IT sector in Japan also increased, while the contributions of labor input and productivity growth from the non-IT sector lagged far behind the United States. Our projection of potential economic growth in Japan from for the next decade is substantially below that in the United States, mainly due to slower growth of labor input. Our projections of labor productivity growth in the two economies are much more similar. J. Japanese Int. Economies 19 (4) (2005) 460–481.     

跨国公司主导的职能型国际分工格局对美国国际收支的影响

本文结合跨国公司内部组织职能分工的理论,从微观角度对国际分工的理论框架进行了扩展,揭示了新的国际分工特点,并以此为基础,着重分析美国的要素优势决定了其在全球跨国公司分工中集中于核心管理职能,在新的国际分工格局中成为全球金融的枢纽,进而主导了资源在全球的分配。这从根本上造成了美国当前国际收支上的表现,并支持着这种状况在一定时期的持续。     

中国对外直接投资与对外贸易关系的实证研究——基于美国、中国香港、越南的合成数据回归分析

由于人民币升值、外汇储备飙升，更多的中国企业选择以对外直接投资的方式参与国际经济分工，对外贸易与对外直接投资的关系也变得愈加紧密和复杂。选取1996-2006年中国对美国、中国香港、越南的FDI流量，进、出口量做合成数据回归分析，结果表明：中国对外直接投资与对外贸易的关系在空间上存在不同，二者关系以及关系强弱因东道国（地区）经济发展水平不同而不同。最后，提出了有关的对策建议。     

Gender norms and marriage satisfaction: Evidence from China

This paper examines the association between the traditional gender division norm — “men are breadwinners, and women are homemakers” — and the marriage satisfaction of each gender using Chinese couple-level data. The results reveal that married couples tend to be less satisfied with their marriage if the wife earns more than the husband. Moreover, it seems that the drop in the husband's marriage satisfaction matters more for the drop in the couple's overall marriage satisfaction. By exploring the difference between husbands and wives in their attitudes in terms of economic contribution and housework contribution, we confirm that husbands may have a specific self-image regarding the traditional gender division norm, and can also respond to the wives' gender role preference.     

产业空洞化:野田政权面对的经济困局

"3·11"大地震之后,日本国内经济产业环境发生了重大变化:巨大震灾不仅使日本经济遭受重创,而且,还带来了供应链断裂、福岛核危机以及因核电停运而导致的电力紧张。这些新的问题又与内需不足、财政失衡、增长低迷等日本经济长期未能解决的"沉疴"交织在一起,导致日本国内经济产业环境急剧恶化。此外,严峻的全球经济形势更让日本经济雪上加霜:欧债危机、美国经济复苏乏力、新兴经济体增长减速,危机四伏的全球经济环境导致日元不断升值。在上述三重压力的打击之下,是否"离开日本",已经成为日本企业战略重构的关键,所以,日本政府正在面临史无前例的产业空洞化困局。     

A Tale of Two Tails: Establishment Size and Labour Productivity in United States and German Manufacturing at the Start of the Twentieth Century

This paper studies the importance of establishment size for the German/US labour‐productivity gap in manufacturing at the start of the twentieth century. First, we show that the left tail of the employment distribution by establishment size was larger in Germany than in the USA. Second, using US state data for 1909, we find a positive correlation between establishment size and labour productivity. Third, imposing the coefficients of these estimates on establishment‐size differences between Germany and the USA, we calculate that a redistribution of German employment to larger establishments, as in the USA, reduces the labour‐productivity gap by about 25 per cent.     

中美日货币流通速度比较及启示

中国的货币流通速度和M2/GDP的特殊表现引发了众多文献的讨论。本文阐释了货币流通速度在微观和宏观中的不同含义,分析和比较了中国、美国和日本的货币流通速度,指出中美货币流通速度的特征差别是两国不同增长方式的反映,中国货币流通速度的走向会伴随中国经济增长方式转变;日本货币流通速度的变化,是中国经济增长方式的前车之鉴;宏观政策应当着力于实现逆货币化过程,加快经济增长方式转变。     

Credit crunch and its spatial differences in Japan's lost decade: What can we learn from it?

In this paper, we aim to elucidate whether effects related to supply or demand contributed to the Japanese “credit crunch” in the 1990s. Using prefectural panel data, we estimate loan supply and demand functions and calculate their shifts. Our analysis reveals that demand-side effects contributed to the Japanese credit crunch to an equal or greater degree than supply-side effects. Further, we show that the credit crunch was not uniform across Japan, but was more severe in urban relative to rural prefectures. These findings suggest that traditional countermeasures in the banking sector that similarly affect all prefectures may not induce economic recovery. Given this, we assert that region-specific policies may be more appropriate.     

日俄经贸合作发展滞后的原因分析及前景展望

日本和俄罗斯同属世界上具有重要影响力的国家,两国经贸合作进展始终为世界所瞩目。但是,由于两国产业结构布局和贸易结构特点以及对外贸易取向存在巨大差异,使两国在近20年的经贸合作中,始终裹足不前,少有建树。不但落后于日中、日美、日韩等国家,也落后于日本与欧洲其他一些经济大国。在开放经济条件下,世界各国经济融合已经成为不可逆转的大趋势,日俄之间的经贸合作如何能走出若即若离的"矜持",人们将拭目以待。2010年,日俄两国分别为中国第二和第四大贸易伙伴,因此分析两国经贸发展走向对中国经济发展十分重要。了解其经济发展脉络,总结双方贸易得失,可对我国经济发展提供一些有价值的参考。     

The Impact of Work-Life Balance Policies on the Time Allocation and Fertility Preference of Japanese Women

We analyse the impact of work-life balance policies enacted by the government of Japan on the share of time allocated by Japanese women to paid employment, home production and leisure on a typical working day. Using panel data and employing fixed effects to control for unobserved individual heterogeneity, we find that these policies have had some success in increasing married women’s share of time spent in paid employment. However, the increase in the share of time spent in paid employment is not largely compensated by cutting down the share of time spent in home production. This necessitates the need to cut down the share of time spent for leisure, implying a “double burden” of work for women. Further, work-life balance policies in married men’s firms do not appear to significantly influence their time allocation between various activities on a typical working day. We find that although work-life balance policies do not appear to influence the desirability of having a child for all women, they help women with children younger than six years raise the share of time spent in paid employment by largely cutting down their time allocation to home production.