ECONOMIES OF SCALE AND SCOPE AND THE ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF CHINA'S AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SYSTEM*

This article investigates economies of scale and scope and other potential sources of improvements in the economic efficiency of China's crop breeding, an industry at the heart of the nation's food economy. Using data covering 46 wheat‐ and maize‐breeding institutes from 1981 to 2000, we estimate cost functions for the production of new varieties at China's wheat‐ and maize‐breeding institutes. Our results indicate strong economies of scale, along with small to moderate economies of scope related to the joint production of new wheat and maize varieties. Cost efficiency increases significantly with increases in the breeders' educational status and with increases in access to genetic materials from outside the institute.     

Restructuring China's Petrochemical Enterprises: A Case Study of the Fushun Petrochemical Company

This article presents a case study of Fushun Petrochemical Company (FPC), which is a large state-owned enterprise (SOE) in Liaoning province under the control of China National Petroleum Corporation. In the first part of the article we argue that China's approach to the reform of large-scale SOEs in upstream industries such as petroleum has a sound economic logic. In the second part we use the recent restructuring of FPC to illustrate China's approach to reforming the petrochemical sector. We draw on interviews with managers and local government officials to discuss both the difficulties that the enterprise faced prior to reform and the main measures that were implemented during restructuring to address these problems. While the restructuring process at FPC has just been completed, we argue that the outcome provides some support for China's decision to promote large SOEs in upstream industries.     

Economic and Cultural Implications of China's One Belt One Road Initiative for the Film Industry: Cultural Distance and Taste Preference

China's official One Belt One Road (OBOR) strategy has aroused considerable interest worldwide. This grand concept is potentially of great significance for China's film industry, among others, which has been included as an important part of the national drive to expand China's cultural influence overseas. OBOR represents a great opportunity for China's film industry to shift the emphasis of its market segmentation from reliance on Western influences to a more Eastern orientation. Its promise of closer economic and cultural ties brings great international marketing potential. China's film industry should embrace this significant opportunity by further addressing the cultural variables in its overseas distribution, creating detailed national taste profiles. The synergic development of the Asian film industries can unlock resources, technology and a very large market, presenting both opportunities and challenges. This study quantifies the cultural distances (CDs) and differences in genre preference between China and other countries involved in the OBOR initiative, based on 2016 box‐office data. The analysis reveals an absence of systematic and persistent correlation in CD and genre preference from country to country. In addition, the clustered distribution of genre preference within geographical boundaries makes cultural integration more directional.     

中国参与北极国际合作研究综述

1925年 《斯匹茨卑尔根群岛条约》的签订，标志着中国开始参与北极国际合作。当前，北极问题正逐步成为一个全球性问题，我国作为近北极国家，北极地区的气候、环境的变化将对我国的生态、经济等各方面产生重大影响，我国参与北极国际合作刻不容缓。本研究主要从参与北极科研、经济、治理合作三个方面对已有文献进行整理分析，以对我国参与北极国际合作进行整体概述。可以发现，当前对北极国际合作研究的相关文献有逐年增长趋势，但对北极国际经济合作进行综合分析的文献并不多，随着冰上丝绸之路建设提出及《中国的北极政策》颁布，对中国参与北极国际经济合作的研究将会是以后的一个重要方向。     

A great wall of patents: What is behind China's recent patent explosion?

China's patent surge, documented in this paper, is seemingly paradoxical given the country's weak record of protecting intellectual property rights. Using a firm-level data set that spans the population of China's large and medium-size industrial enterprises, this paper explores the factors that account for China's rising patent activity. While the intensification of research and development in the Chinese economy tracks with patenting activity, it explains only a fraction of the patent explosion. The growth of foreign direct investment in China is prompting Chinese firms to file for more patent applications. Amendments to the patent law that favor patent holders and ownership reform that has clarified the assignment of property rights also emerge as significant sources of China's patent boom. These results are robust to alternative estimation strategies that account for over-dispersion in the patent counts data and firm heterogeneity.     

Exchange‐rate Effects on China's Trade*

Though China's share of world trade exceeds that of Japan, little is known about the response of China's trade to changes in exchange rates. The few estimates available have two limitations. First, the data for trade prices are based on proxies for prices from other countries. Secondly, the estimation sample includes the period of China's transformation from a centrally‐planned economy to a more market‐oriented one. We address these limitations with an empirical model explaining the shares of China's exports and imports in world trade in terms of the real effective value of the renminbi. The specifications control for foreign direct investment and for the role of imports of parts to assemble exports. Parameter estimation uses disaggregated monthly trade data and excludes China's decentralization period. We find that a 10 percent real appreciation of the renminbi lowers the share of aggregate Chinese exports by nearly one percentage point. However, the estimated response of imports is negligible and lacks precision.     

"双循环"格局下基于价值网络重构的中国纺织业转型升级路径

摘要：在“双循环”新发展格局下，为推进在我国经济社会发展中发挥重要民生作用的纺织业转型升级，破解其“低端化”与“高碳化”双重锁定困境，立足双重价值链视角，基于价值星系理论重组产业链、供应链和价值链，形成双重价值链嵌入范式，选取波司登作为分析对象，采用纵向探索性案例分析方法，演绎新发展格局下纺织业在双重价值链分工中转型升级的实现路径并揭示其背后逻辑。研究发现，以顾客需求为导向，在价值星系成员的协同合作下创造具有竞争优势的系统集成产品，是我国纺织业破解双重锁定困境的关键；对纺织业产业链、供应链、价值链进行重组获得高水平自主转型升级能力，是我国纺织业采取主动战略参与国际分工的重要前提；基于重构的“产业链—供应链—价值链”三维度价值网络找到自身优势节点进行升级，是我国纺织业摆脱陷入线性升级动力不足和“交互锁定”困境的重要路径。     

Use it or lose it

We examine the optimality of budget policies imposed by a funding authority on a bureaucrat who operates under a fixed budget. In particular, we study a “use‐it‐or‐lose‐it” (UILI) policy under which the bureaucrat has to return any unspent budget without being able to “roll over” any part to the next period. Instead of returning the unspent budget, the bureaucrat can go on a spending spree and engage in policy drift, which is inversely related to his motivation. The bureaucrat's motivation represents how well matched he is with the bureaucracy's mission. We show that a UILI policy is complementary to motivation as it has stronger ex ante positive incentive effects on more motivated bureaucrats. Such ex ante positive effects can overcome the ex post inefficiency of the policy and make a UILI policy optimal when the bureaucrat is well matched with the bureaucracy's mission or when its budget is large.     

产学研合作主体参与新产品开发的研发投入行为——基于竞赛模型

基于竞赛模型,针对具有一定市场风险的产学研合作主体共同参与新产品开发时各参与主体的研发投入问题建立博弈模型。通过数值模拟,深入分析了科研院所参与数量、分配收益方式以及新产品效用函数形式等对参与主体研发投入的影响。研究发现:除了产学研合作团队以跨功能形式组成且科研院所按研发投入费用比例分配收益以外,产学研合作团队的总研发投入量和科研院所的总研发投入量都随着科研院所数量的增加而减少;按研发投入比例分配收益有助于促进参与主体增加研发投入;跨功能形式下参与主体的研发投入高于混合功能形式下的研究投入。     

China's emerging market for property rights: Theoretical and empirical perspectives1

his paper contrasts state–directed and market–mediated reform of enterprise ownership rights in transition economies. We evaluate China's emerging market for enterprise ownership rights from the perspective of conditions underpinning the Coase Theorem: the assignment of property rights, the degree of competition, and the nature of transaction costs. China's recent experience suggests that policies designed to expand and support the scope of decentralized, market–based restructuring of ownership rights, even under conditions that deviate widely from the ideal assumptions underlying the Coase Theorem, may prove more beneficial than direct official intervention. JEL classification: G34, K11, L1 and P3.     

Building an Efficient Financial System in China: A Need for Stronger Market Discipline

China has built a very comprehensive financial system, but has not let the market mechanism work freely. This unique pattern, rooted in China's dual‐track reform strategy between state and non‐state sectors, did not prevent a strong economic performance in the past, but is now a main cause of economic inefficiency and financial risks. The rapid development of digital finance is a back‐door way of financial liberalization, responding to both old repressive policies and new technologies. To accomplish the mission of building an efficient financial system, the government needs to take at least three further steps in financial reform: creating a level‐playing field; freeing up the market mechanism; and improving regulation. The key test lies in the effective enforcement of market discipline for corporate and financial institutions.     

COMMUNITY PROPERTY AUCTION,NASH BIDDING RULE AND CHINA'S RURAL ECONOMIC REFORM

In this paper we present a model based on the auction theory for community properties and its possible application to China's economic reforms. We derive the Nash bidding rule for the first price sealed‐bid auction of a community‐owned object, and compare it with the bidding rule for auctions of a privately‐owned object. Moreover, we argue that in the process of China's economic reforms, auctioning off the community‐owned properties to private owners is the optimal way to achieve economic efficiency together with social equity. This paper has obvious implications for China's reforms relating to commercializing its rural land and other community property.     

Aiding regional instability? The geopolitical paradox of Japanese development assistance to China

During the past decade, Japan established itself as the largest bilateral donor of development aid in the world, with more of it directed toward projects in China than any other recipient. Japan sees its aid flows to China as maintaining economic stability in East Asia, particularly as China's raw material and energy resources are articulated into regional markets. In this article, I argue that Japan's aid to China may unintentionally diminish Japan's and the East Asian region's long‐term security for two reasons. First, similar to other nations receiving such assistance, this aid may allow China to reallocate scarce capital to military modernisation. Such military modernisation may enable China to both better suppress internal dissent and carry out a more aggressive foreign policy. Second, this aid does not address the fundamental structural aspects of China's present instability. Long‐term structural instability has many sources, but the two discussed here are socio‐economic inequality (both interregional and intraregional), and sustainable production and environmental problems. Taken together these have important regional and geopolitical implications and repercussions. This article fills a gap in the existing literature on East Asian geopolitics. Namely, that by attending only to relatively short‐term corporate and perceived state interests of China and Japan, Japanese aid to China does little to ameliorate and potentially exacerbates long‐term structural social and environmental problems for China's vast majority living in rural hinterlands. The potential for internal turmoil springing from this uneven and unsustainable development inside China is the real basis for China's ‘threat’ to East Asian security. Thus what appears to make good development and geopolitical sense at first look, Japan's current aid regime with China, paradoxically may actually be the worst path to follow.     

MODELLING THE TRANSITION TOWARDS THE RENMINBI'S FULL CONVERTIBILITY: IMPLICATIONS FOR CHINA'S GROWTH

There is a widespread consensus that China needs to rebalance its export‐driven growth paradigm towards a more consumption‐based one and that such process is to be accompanied by the transition towards the renminbi's full convertibility. However, the Chinese authorities have so far acted with great caution because this transition cannot but accelerate the slowdown of China's growth which will likely occur because of other structural factors. We address these issues by means of a two‐country two‐stage (before and after the renminbi's full convertibility) model, which reproduces some qualitative features of China's growth pattern and its relationship with the United States. We analyse the extent to which altering the Chinese exchange rate regime, as well as other policies affecting sensitive social and economic issues, may impact on the short‐, medium‐ and long‐term evolution of the Chinese economy. The paper shows that by lifting the controls on the capital account and letting the currency float, the Chinese authorities will renounce those policy instruments for controlling the allocation of the national resources and the dynamics of China's economy.     

FAMILY PLANNING AND WOMEN'S EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT: EVIDENCE FROM THE ONE‐CHILD POLICY

This paper exploits China's one‐child policy (OCP) to study the relationship between fertility and educational attainment of the mothers of China's “sibling‐less generation.” I take two difference‐in‐differences approaches to estimate the OCP's effect on women's education: one compares gender difference among the ethnic majority group and the other compares ethnicity differences between ethnic majority women and ethnic minority women. I also explore the heterogeneity of the policy's effects by parent's status at the Communist Party. I find that the OCP has a positive and significant effect on women's education and explains about half of the increase in educational attainment for women born between 1960 and 1980. Their increased educational attainment associates with delayed entry into first marriage, delayed entry to parenthood and increased labor supply. (JEL I20, J13, J16, J18)     

Shareholding structure, depoliticization and firm performance

In this study we use a dataset that provides information on Chinese Communist Party grassroots organizations’ political control over decision‐making in China's listed firms. Specifically, we examine how different types of shareholders affect (1) the party's level of decision‐making power and (2) the implications of party control for firm performance. We obtain two major results. First, we find that the proportion of shares held by domestic individual shareholders is negatively related to the party's level of decision‐making power. Second, we find that the existence of large institutional investors is associated with a reduced negative performance effect of party control. Our results suggest that both the exit and the voice channels may offer mechanisms for depoliticizing China's listed firms and improving their performance. This study both addresses an important corporate governance issue relevant to China's listed firms and offers interesting information in terms of comparative studies of corporate governance and reform strategies in transitional economies.     

Practitioners' forum perestroika and soviet biotechnology

This article summarizes the findings of a UK Department of Trade and Industry 'Overseas Science and Technology Expert Mission' on Biotechnology to the USSR, made over the period 15-24 September 1989. The mission visited some of the most important basic research institutes working in biotechnmology in the Moscow region, including the 'Biocity' of Poushchino, and Kiev in the Ukrainian SSR. These institutes ranged from primarily basic research to ones which had strong links with industrial production. We report on the scientific and technical level of some of the most advanced Soviet centres, such as the Shemyakin Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, the most important and prominent biotechnology institute in the USSR. The peculiar problems which best Soviet research in the field are described in the context of perestroika, the current restruing of Soviet society.     

技术进步对外资进入影响的实证分析

随着全球经济形势的飞速变革,科学技术水平对经济发展的影响作用愈加明显.通过对中国各省市面板数据进行实证分析,以探讨中国不断提高的技术水平对外资进入的作用方向.研究结果发现:技术水平对外资进入具备显著的抑制作用,且技术水平越高其对外资进入的抑制作用越强,两者具备显著的正相关关系,表明随着中国先进技术水平的不断提高对于外资的依赖程度将不断降低.研究结论对提升中国外资进入质量及完善外资引进政策有一定帮助.     

The sequencing of reform policies in China's agricultural transition*

This paper provides evidence regarding gains due to agricultural market liberalization in China. We empirically identify the different effects that incentive and farm restructuring reforms and gradual market liberalization have on China's agricultural economy during its transition period. We find that average gains within the agricultural sector due to reforms that improved incentives and increased decision‐making authority of producers exceed gains due to market liberalization by a large margin. Our method of analyzing the effects of transition policies on economic performance can be generalized to other reform paths in other transition economies.     

The Sleeping Giant Awakes: Projecting Global Implications of China's Energy Consumption

China's rapid economic growth has generated a surge in energy demand that is reallocating global fuel balances. We employ a global energy computable general‐equilibrium model to analyze alternative scenarios for economic growth, Chinese currency appreciation, and oil price shocks, with a special focus on China energy markets. Imports from the Middle East, Central Asia, Russia, and Sub‐Saharan Africa are found to comprise a growing share of China's energy. Imports to China grow from 12% of world energy imports in 2010 to 17% by 2050 when over 80% of China's oil demand will be imported.