Longitudinal analysis of entrepreneurship and competitiveness dynamics in Latin America

This study analyzes the relationship between entrepreneurial dynamics in Latin-American countries and the level of competitiveness these countries show. Based on the research conducted by Wennekers et al. [Small Business Economics, 24(3):293–309, 2005] that demonstrates a U-shaped relationship between the country’s rate of entrepreneurship and its level of competitiveness and economic development, we hypothesize that Latin-American countries have a descending behaviour under the U-shaped curve approach. The results from three regression models support this hypothesis and suggest that competitiveness and economic growth deter entrepreneurial dynamics on Latin-American countries. We discuss that Latin-American countries need to improve some structural factors to achieve a high level of entrepreneurial dynamics.

History Repeats Itself: Child Labor in Latin America

Child labor occurs on almost every continent in the world. Very few countries seem to escape this exploitative phase as they develop into fully industrialized countries. Child labor began during the eighteenth century in Great Britain and it continues in the twenty-first century in Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras. This paper offers an explanation for the persistence of child labor through history. The increase in the employment of children during industrialization is caused by an increase in the supply of children from poor and working-class families and an increase in the demand for child labor by the factory owners. Parents trapped in poverty have no other choice but to send their children off to work to contribute to the family income. Children’s wages, moreover, often make the difference between starvation and survival. Employers are happy to oblige the parents because children are more productive than adults in the new industrial regimen. As the principle of the division of labor has been applied to the production process, unskilled children replace skilled adults in factories, mills, and mines. Children are preferred to adults because they are cheap, submissive, uneducated and nimble. These economic forces are so strong that neither child labor laws nor mandatory schooling legislation are an effective deterrent against employers or families. Since history is repeating itself in the developing world by industrializing on the backs of children, alternative policies are recommend to cut this stage short so that the future generations of Latin America will become educated instead of exploited.

Corruption, Growth, and Income Distribution: Are there Regional Differences?

This paper uses panel data from 61 countries at different stages of economic development over a 20-year period to investigate regional differences in the effect of corruption on economic growth and income distribution. Using two measures of corruption, we find that there are statistically significant regional differences in the growth and distributional impacts of corruption. The largest growth impact of corruption is found in African countries while OECD and Asian countries have the lowest growth impact. On the other hand, the largest distributional impact of corruption in found in Latin America. A 10% decrease in corruption increases the growth rate of income by about 1.7% in OECD and Asian countries, 2.6% in Latin American countries, and by 2.8% in African countries. A one standard deviation decrease in corruption decreases the gini coefficient of income distribution (0–1 scale) by 0.05 points, 0.14 points, 0.25 points, and 0.33 points in OECD, Asian, African, and Latin American countries, respectively. The results are robust to various specifications, measurement of corruption, measures of investment, as well as the conditioning variables. The results have interesting policy implications for economic growth, especially in low income countries with high rates of corruption.     

The finance-growth nexus: The role of banks

We contribute to the finance-growth nexus literature by showing that credit origin, bank ownership, type of credit, and bank type matter in economic growth. We use a unique dataset covering 5555 cities in Brazil, with granular information on credit characteristics. We find that non-earmarked credit to the corporate sector is associated with municipal economic growth more strongly than earmarked credit, despite the increase in the relevance of the latter after the global financial crisis. We also find that the type of credit—whether the loans are general purpose or for a specific purpose—is associated with economic growth in different ways. Overall, credit provided to the corporate sector by domestic private banks is correlated with higher economic growth rates. In contrast, the relationship between credit from state-owned banks and economic growth becomes statistically significant only after the crisis. Although we follow the finance-growth literature in our empirical exercises using internal instruments in generalized method of moments (GMM) estimations, we also conduct robustness tests using two additional external instruments: the number of complaints filed against each bank and local credit accessibility. Our findings with external instruments are the same with respect to the use of traditional internal instruments in GMM estimations.     

International Business Environment in Mercosur Nations

Abstract

Mercosur is the latest common market in Latin America with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay as its full members, along with Bolivia and Chile as associate members. Mercosur is an acronym for Mercado Comun Del Sur meaning the Southern Cone Common Market. Mercosur, with its original four member nations, has a total population of 200 million and a combined GDP of $1,000 billion (Fidler 1997, Pilling 1997). If Mercosur were a single country, this would make it the world's fourth most populous nation with the seventh largest economy.

Since the Treaty of Mercosur, also known as the Asuncion Treaty, the four full members have made tremendous strides towards achieving most of their objectives within the specified time periods. However, the agreement which called for the full implementation of a customs union by January 1, 1995, has not been fully realized. This has given rise to some concern among foreign investors about the practicality, and the attractiveness of the proposed Customs Union. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the general business environment of the four Mercosur-member nations through an examination of the agreement itself, followed by a brief investment risk assessment using a country risk assessment model, and conclude with some implications for prospective investors. The analysis is limited to the economies of the four full member nations mainly because of two reasons: (1) the study focuses on issues concerning this group's transition to a customs union and eventually to a common market, and (2) there are continuing negotiations with countries such as Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Venezuela for their accession into Mercosur as associate members. Therefore, the term Mercosur Nations in this paper refers to the four nations who are full members of Mercosur.     

The impact of the US on Latin American business cycles: A new approach

Business cycles in Latin America have tended to be more volatile than those in wealthier nations such as the US. Accordingly, much research has been conducted on Latin business cycles, as well as the impact of the US on such fluctuations. Some research seeks to find how “integrated” cycles are in the US and Latin America, yielding conflicting results. We apply a new method to the question of business cycle synchronization between the US and nine Latin nations. We find that in the majority of cases integration has been rising in recent years. We also find, contrary to some previous studies, that integration does not appear to be affected by either the level of trade or of capital account openness. Finally, we find that the two countries that are dollarized – Ecuador and El Salvador – appear least integrated with the US. This last finding has potentially troubling implications in terms of the ability of these nations to adjust to asymmetric shocks vis-à-vis the US.     

面板数据非线性阈值协整的检验方法

非线性阈值协整是线性协整的后续发展。本文使用两机制TR模型对Westerlund和Edgerton(2005)的面板数据协整向量结构突变模型进行扩展,提出截距项具有阈值效应、截距项和斜率系数都具有阈值效应的面板数据非线性阈值协整模型。在此基础上,本文进而分别构造Zc、Ztc、Zr、Ztr统计量检验阈值协整,并对上述统计量的极限分布进行了数学推导,发现它们都收敛于随机泛函。仿真实验结果表明,有限样本下上述检验统计量具有较小的水平扭曲和较高的检验势。     

城市经济对住宅价格影响研究--以35个大中城市为例

住宅市场具有很强的地域特性,不同城市由于经济发展等因素的影响,造成住宅价格具有较大的差异。将城市经济分为城市经济规模、城市产业结构和城市经济效率,以35个大中城市为例,运用静态面板数据模型研究城市经济对住宅价格的影响。结果表明,城市经济对住宅价格具有很强的正相关作用,尤其是城市经济规模和城市产业结构。城市经济规模方面,GDP、地方财政支出对住宅价格具有显著的正面影响;城市产业结构方面,第三产业增加值占GDP比重越高,住宅价格越高;城市经济效率方面,人均地方财政收入和第二、三产业增加值与建成区面积之比都对住宅价格具有显著的正相关性。因此,城市在区域经济一体化的带动下将追求创新高效率的发展,同时优化城市空间结构和产业结构,有助于住宅市场的健康发展。     

Individual, organizational and environmental determinants of new firm employment growth: evidence from Latin America

New ventures are increasingly playing an important role in Latin American economies. However, little is known about the determinants of new firm growth in this context. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the factors influencing new firm growth in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Peru. Individual, organizational and environmental factors are included in an empirical model, which is tested using data collected by face-to-face interviews with 582 entrepreneurs. Different specifications of employment growth and regression approaches are employed. Results suggest that growth strongly depends on the characteristics of the entrepreneur. National environment and firm-related factors are also important factors in determining growth.

半参数趋势阈值面板模型及其参数估计

半参数趋势面板数据模型在社会经济问题的实证分析中具有很强的适用性,但现有的研究中,半参数趋势面板模型考虑了时间趋势的非线性,但没有考虑政策等因素对参数的影响。本文将结构突变理论引入截面相关下的半参数趋势面板模型,并基于PPLE方法,建立了有效估计量和识别程序。通过仿真实验和实证应用,验证了对于含有突变点的半参数趋势面板模型,EPPLE方法的参数估计是有效的。     

中国转型期通货膨胀对城乡收入差距的影响——基于省际面板数据的分析

本文利用我国31个省市区1979～2009年的面板数据,在运用面板数据门限模型检验我国的通货膨胀率、预期到的通货膨胀率和未预期到的通货膨胀率对城乡收入差距的影响都不存在门限效应的基础上,采用面板数据可行广义最小二乘进行估计。结果发现,我国的通货膨胀率和未预期到的通货膨胀率都扩大了城乡收入差距且是稳健的,但扩大的程度因所用数据的时间长短而异;而预期到的通货膨胀率影响城乡收入差距系数的符号和大小都因数据的时间长短而变化。     

Why ‘Good Governance’ Fails: Lessons from Regional Economic Development in Colombia

By critically reviewing different strands of literature on institutional change and development, this essay argues that, in order to fully understand subnational economic development, we need to move away from ‘good governance' explanations in which geography‐specific analyses of power structures and elite interests are largely absent. Using findings for Colombia and insights from economic geography and heterodox political economy theories, this essay gives theoretical and conceptual guidelines and approximations for future studies on regional economic development. The contribution provides a place‐based discussion of how the historically evolved distribution of power balances, context‐specific elite interests, and the interaction between place‐bound actors and place‐less dynamics affect subnational institutional arrangements shaping policies and development outcomes. The conclusions drawn are not limited to Colombia and will prove beneficial to researchers studying regional economic development in subnational contexts elsewhere in the world.     

The impact of ADR activity on stock market liquidity: Evidence from Latin America

This paper examines the impact of ADR activity on liquidity of four major Latin American stock markets. We construct a measure of ADR activity in U.S. markets for a sample of ADRs trading during January 2003–December 2010, which is subsequent to the financial liberalization episodes and currency crises that shocked emerging markets in the 1990s. The sample lists 164 depositary receipt programs (Levels I, II, and III): 16 from Argentina, 81 from Brazil, 19 from Chile, and 48 from Mexico. Using System GMM methods to handle the potential effects from stock market development on economic growth and ADR issuance, we find that higher ADR turnover in U.S. markets has positive effects on domestic market turnover, particularly for issuance of exchange-listed (Levels II and III) ADRs. This positive relationship is not a statistical artifact created by the global financial crisis of 2008.     

中国经济增长与能源消费空间面板分析

近年来面板数据广泛应用于各类统计分析,但变量的空间相关并没有引起足够的重视。本文引入空间面板回归模型研究中国各省市区经济增长和能源消费的关系。利用matlab软件及其spatial econometric模块建立和比较传统面板回归模型与空间面板回归模型,结果表明空间面板回归模型较传统面板回归模型优越,本文的研究为空间面板数据分析提供了一个应用实例。     

Firms’ linkages with public research organisations in Argentina: Drivers, perceptions and behaviours

This paper analyses firms’ drivers for linking to public research organisations (PRO) (first goal) and compares perceptions and behaviours of linked vs. unlinked firms (second goal). We used an original firm database constructed from a representative survey with information for linked and unlinked firms for year 2005 in Argentina. Drivers were estimated using a Probit model, while differences in perceptions and behaviours between linked and unlinked firms were assessed with propensity score matching techniques. For our first goal we found that (i) firms’ knowledge bases were not drivers for linking to PRO and (ii) networking capabilities matter but there is a substitution effect between interacting with PRO and interacting with other economic agents in the market when firms aim at exchanging information rather than doing joint research. These findings may imply that current linkages are not exploiting properly their knowledge potential; it may be worth designing a division of labour among PRO in their functions in PRO-industry interactions. For our second goal: we found that (i) linked firms invest more in innovative activities; (ii) they are more prone to patenting; (iii) both groups of firms value similarly PRO research outputs available at arm length (i.e. without direct linking). Given the asymmetric development on appropriability tools between PRO and firms and the fact that all firms benefit from PRO research outputs, the higher predisposition of linked firms towards patenting, suggests that special attention should be placed at analysing the risks of a private appropriation of publicly created knowledge.