中间品进口与中国本土制造企业生产率——基于中国企业微观数据的实证研究

本文使用2000—2005年间中国制造业企业的面板数据和高度细化的海关进口数据,来考察中国本土制造业的中间品进口对企业全要素生产率的影响,并使用OP方法更为准确地估算全要素生产率。研究结果表明,使用进口中间品能促进本土制造业生产率的提高,并存在显著的短期和中长期进口学习效应。因此,在中国制造业的发展过程中应重视进口中间品。     

制造业数字化与服务化转型的耦合交互及其生产率效应研究

制造业转型目前存在数字化与服务化滞后的双重困境，企业数字化与服务化的耦合是实现制造业升级的关键。基于历年的投入产出表，发现中国各省市制造业数字化与服务化发展存在耦合协调的问题。以企业全要素生产率为切入点，从理论和实证方面揭示制造企业数字化与服务化交互对生产率的影响效应与机制。研究结果表明，制造企业数字化与服务化在生产率提升上具有明显的交互效应，且数字化与嵌入式或连续型服务化的交互效应更显著。异质性分析发现，两者的交互效应表现在数字经济发展水平高或知识产权保护力度大的地区、劳动和资本密集型制造业以及成长期企业。进一步的研究显示，制造业数字化与服务化的交互通过促进企业创新，提升了全要素生产率。鉴于此，本文提出了推进制造业数字化和服务化耦合发展的建议。     

进口中间品质量与中国制造业企业全要素生产率

本文基于2000~2007年中国工业企业数据和海关数据,采用A-C-F方法测度制造业企业全要素生产率,进而探讨进口中间品质量对企业全要素生产率的影响,研究发现:进口高质量中间品有助于企业通过"学习效应"机制、研发与进口中间品质量的"互补效应"机制,提高全要素生产率。这两种机制在考虑了企业贸易方式、出口状态、所有制类型、进口来源地差异后皆稳健。在全球价值链环境下,提升中国贸易利得的一个有效途径是进口高质量中间品。     

提高环境规制能促进高端制造业“绿色蜕变”吗

促进高端制造业绿色发展是新时期推动国内工业转型升级的关键。基于环境规制作用机理研究视角,通过分析其对高端制造业绿色全要素生产率的理论影响机制,引入松弛因子的方向性距离函数测度2006—2017年高端制造业绿色全要素生产率,分别就命令-控制型、市场激励型和公众参与型环境规制对高端制造业绿色全要素生产率的作用进行检验。结果表明,在高端制造业绿色全要素生产率整体上呈现稳定提升趋势的背景下,环境规制对其直接效应存在一定的差异性。其中,命令-控制型环境规制为非显著正向促进作用,而市场激励型与公众参与型环境规制则分别表现为“U”型和倒“U”型显著性直接影响;间接效应检验中,环境规制能够引发技术创新、产业集聚和外商直接投资对高端制造业绿色全要素生产率的正向效应。其中,市场激励型和公众参与型环境规制的创新补偿效应更为显著。     

提高环境规制能促进高端制造业“绿色蜕变”吗——来自绿色全要素生产率的证据解释

促进高端制造业绿色发展是新时期推动国内工业转型升级的关键。基于环境规制作用机理研究视角,通过分析其对高端制造业绿色全要素生产率的理论影响机制,引入松弛因子的方向性距离函数测度2006—2017年高端制造业绿色全要素生产率,分别就命令-控制型、市场激励型和公众参与型环境规制对高端制造业绿色全要素生产率的作用进行检验。结果表明,在高端制造业绿色全要素生产率整体上呈现稳定提升趋势的背景下,环境规制对其直接效应存在一定的差异性。其中,命令-控制型环境规制为非显著正向促进作用,而市场激励型与公众参与型环境规制则分别表现为"U"型和倒"U"型显著性直接影响;间接效应检验中,环境规制能够引发技术创新、产业集聚和外商直接投资对高端制造业绿色全要素生产率的正向效应。其中,市场激励型和公众参与型环境规制的创新补偿效应更为显著。     

区域异质性视角下制造业服务化与制造业全要素生产率研究

结合投入产出及中国工业企业数据库,分析了制造业服务化对制造业全要素生产率的影响。从全国层面来看,制造业服务化对制造业全要素生产率的影响呈"马鞍型",在制造业服务化第一阶段深化分工促进了技术效率改进;第二阶段受产品与服务同质化的抑制,陷入"服务化困境";第三阶段刺激技术改进突破困境。当前我国整体尚未跨越"服务化困境",处于第二阶段,内部根源为缺乏龙头企业引领差异化生产,外部阻碍为高端复合型人才缺失。从省域层面来看,我国内地30个省市(西藏地区数据缺失)区域异质性显著,大致呈"马鞍型"、倒"U"型、"U"型及无显著关系型四大类型,"马鞍型"省份优势产业服务化水平不高;倒"U"型省份劳动密集型产业比重较大;"U"型省份大数据应用范围较窄;无显著关系省份现代制造业基础薄弱;北京与浙江已跨越"服务化困境",其余省市未突破困境的原因各异。     

制造业投入服务化与女性就业

随着"工业型经济"向"服务型经济"的转变,制造业投入服务化水平不断提高,势必会对服务业就业结构产生重要影响。本文利用OECD投入产出数据和国际劳工组织数据分析制造业投入服务化对服务业女性就业的影响。结果表明:总体而言,制造业投入服务化通过创造效应和转移效应对服务业女性就业具有显著的促进作用。制造业投入服务化使从事家庭生产的女性减少,服务部门的女性就业增加(创造效应);同时使女性劳动力从农业部门和工业部门转移到服务部门(转移效应)。进一步的研究发现,分销、金融、电信和研发投入服务化对服务业女性就业具有显著的正向影响;进口服务要素投入对女性就业的促进作用超过国内服务要素投入;制造业投入服务化对受教育年限较长的女性群体的就业影响更大,并且提高了女性的创业动力。     

中国装备制造业国际贸易是否促进了其技术发展——基于DEA的面板数据分析

机械设备作为资本品,其出口增长被视为产业结构和出口结构升级的标志;其进口被视为获得国际RD溢出的重要载体。本文采用DEA法将中国6个装备制造业的全要素生产率增长分解为技术进步和技术效率增长。实证分析发现,1993—2010年期间,装备制造业的全要素生产率呈现先上升后下降的趋势,其增长主要依赖于技术进步增长而不是技术效率增长;装备制造业出口对其技术发展有抑制作用,中间品和成套设备进口对其技术发展都有积极效应。可见,装备制造业进口国外高端设备获取知识和技术溢出的同时,却疲于占据国外中低端市场,把自己锁定在低端分工水平上而抑制了技术发展。因此,需要同时调整装备制造业现有的国际贸易模式和自身发展模式。     

中间品进口能提高企业全要素生产率吗——基于倾向评分匹配的经验分析

本文基于2000—2005年中国工业企业数据库和海关数据库的匹配数据,使用倾向评分匹配的方法分析了进口中间品对企业全要素生产率的因果效应。研究结果表明,总体而言,进口中间品促进了企业全要素生产率的提高。进一步的研究显示这一因果效应在不同规模的企业中表现不同,其中对中大型企业的因果效应要高于全样本企业,而对小企业的因果效应则不显著。这说明在当今形势下,"十二五"规划提出的"扩进口"的基本政策的正确性。本文的结论也说明了在坚持这一政策的同时,应把"扩进口"的对象进一步向中大型企业倾斜。     

开放经济下知识资本与全要素生产率——国际经验与中国启示

本文就知识资本对全要素生产率的影响效应进行比较分析,文中把国内知识资本分为研发资本、人力资本、创新设施资本和技术资本以及国外知识资本分为进口和FDI溢出知识资本,以130个经济体1981—2010年间的面板数据,依据系统聚类法将130个经济体划分为创新领导型、创新追赶型和创新缓慢型三类俱乐部样本,运用宏观知识生产函数模型对知识资本与全要素生产率的影响效应进行了实证检验。结果显示:国内知识资本和国外知识资本的溢出都是影响全要素生产率提升的重要因素,但是不同知识资本要素对不同创新经济体全要素生产率的影响存在明显差异:研发资本、技术资本和FDI渠道对创新领导俱乐部的促进作用大于创新追赶和创新缓慢俱乐部;人力资本和进口渠道对创新追赶俱乐部的促进作用大于创新领导和创新缓慢俱乐部;创新设施资本和技术差距对创新缓慢俱乐部的促进作用大于创新领导和创新追赶俱乐部。我国正处在创新追赶型国家向创新领导型国家转变的重要阶段,创新政策的重点应促进国内外各创新资源的有效配置,增强知识资本投入产出能力,加快提高全要素生产率。     

Pleasure and belief in Hume's Decision Process

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to introduce explicitly pleasure and belief in what aims at being a Humean theory of decision, like the one developed in Diaye and Lapidus (2005a). Although we support the idea that Hume was in some way a hedonist – evidently different from Bentham's or Jevons' way – we lay emphasis less on continuity than on the specific kind of hedonism encountered in Hume's writings (chiefly the Treatise, the second Enquiry, the Dissertation, or some of his Essays). Such hedonism clearly contrasts to its standard modern inheritance, expressed by the relation between preferences and utility.

The reason for such a difference with the usual approach lies in the mental process that Hume puts to the fore in order to explain the way pleasure determines desires and volition. Whereas pleasure is primarily, in Hume's words, an impression of sensation, it takes place in the birth of passions as reflecting an idea of pleasure, whose “force and vivacity” is precisely a “belief”, transferred to the direct passions of desire or volition that come immediately before action. As a result, from a Humean point of view, “belief” deals with decision under risk or uncertainty, as well as with intertemporal decision and indiscrimination problems.

The latter are explored within a formal framework, and it is shown that the relation of pleasure is transformed by belief into a non-empty class of relations of desire, among which at least one is a preorder.     

Globalization,Neoliberalism and the attack on social security

Neoliberal political movements advocate privatization of public pension systems. Globalization imposes pressure on nations to conform to neoliberal policy views with respect to the design and structure of social insurance, including public pension systems. The paper begins with an investigation of the economic, ethical and ideological dimensions of the privatization debates in the U.S.; it argues that privatization advocates may be largely moved by ideology, since the other reasons advanced appear weak or unfounded. The second part discusses the history of Social Security, the purposes for its creation, and some of its economic effects. Differences between public and private pension systems are considered. A brief international comparison of some aspects of public pension system finance and benefit structures is presented. The final section considers the ethical, macroeconomic and distributional implications of privatization, prefunding and payroll tax funding, and argues for a pay as you go system financed with income taxes. In order to promote equity, economic security, community, and social cohesion, public pension systems should be universal in coverage. In order to reduce the inequality, income insecurity, and aged poverty generated by market economies, public pension systems ought to be progressive: benefit/contribution ratios should be inversely proportional to income, and progressive income taxes should finance the system. To promote economic growth, the systems should be financed on a pay-as-you-go basis, and should not be prefunded except for an emergency reserve. The fiscal policy recommendations partially depend upon the theory developed by Abba Lerner in the 1940s, and recently advanced by Wynne Godley and Randy Wray: Lerner's “principle of functional finance.”     

Forecasting the price of gold

This article seeks to evaluate the appropriateness of a variety of existing forecasting techniques (17 methods) at providing accurate and statistically significant forecasts for gold price. We report the results from the nine most competitive techniques. Special consideration is given to the ability of these techniques to provide forecasts which outperforms the random walk (RW) as we noticed that certain multivariate models (which included prices of silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium, besides gold) were also unable to outperform the RW in this case. Interestingly, the results show that none of the forecasting techniques are able to outperform the RW at horizons of 1 and 9 steps ahead, and on average, the exponential smoothing model is seen providing the best forecasts in terms of the lowest root mean squared error over the 24-month forecasting horizons. Moreover, we find that the univariate models used in this article are able to outperform the Bayesian autoregression and Bayesian vector autoregressive models, with exponential smoothing reporting statistically significant results in comparison with the former models, and classical autoregressive and the vector autoregressive models in most cases.     

Planned adaptation in risk regulation: An initial survey of US environmental, health, and safety regulation

In principle, we want regulatory programs to be based on current realities, as reflected for example in the best knowledge of relevant experts. That would imply that old rules now on the books should be consistent with today's knowledge base, not just what was known when a rule or standard was originally set. This paper reports on a survey of US programs, examining how often existing rules are actually updated in light of better knowledge, and identifies five programs that attempt to make policy routinely adaptive. These programs exhibit what we term Planned Adaptation: they both revise rules when relevant new knowledge appears, and take steps to produce such improved knowledge. While Planned Adaptation is rare, it is used in several nationally prominent programs, including air pollution, airplane safety, and drug safety. Planned Adaptation is a policy tool that deserves more attention.     

Interest on reserves and inflation

The payment of interest on reserves has been a common practice in inflationary economies. This policy may seem paradoxical since it involves returning part of the seigniorage, generated by the inflation process, with the intention to finance the fiscal deficit. This paper argues that the motivation for this policy can be captured by the discretionary regime, where the policymaker pays interest on reserves because he is concerned with the erosion of real liquidity by inflation, which is in part beyond his control. However, this policy is an unlikely outcome in the commitment regime, where the policymaker is in full control of inflation.     

The greenhouse effect: Damages,costs and abatement

The buildup of so-called greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — CO₂ in particular-appears to be having an adverse impact on the global climate. This paper briefly reviews current expectations with regard to physical and biological effects, their potential costs to society, and likely costs of abatement. For a worst case scenario it is impossible to assess, in economic terms, the full range of possible non-linear synergistic effects. In the most favorable (although not necessarily likely) case (of slow-paced climate change), however, it seems likely that the impacts are within the affordable range, at least in the industrialized countries of the world. In the third world the notion of affordability is of doubtful relevance, making the problem of quantitative evaluation almost impossible. We tentatively assess the lower limit of quantifiable climate-induced damages at $30 to $35 per ton of CO₂ equivalent, worldwide, with the major damages being concentrated in regions most adversely affected by sea-level rise. The non-quantifiable environmental damages are also significant and should by no means be disregarded.The costs and benefits of (1) reducing CFC use and (2) reducing fossil fuel consumption, as a means of abatement, are considered in some detail. This strategy has remarkably high indirect benefits in terms of reduced air pollution damage and even direct cost savings to consumers. The indirect benefits of reduced air pollution and its associated health and environmental effects from fossil-fuel combustion in the industrialized countries range from $20 to $60 per ton of CO₂ eliminated. In addition, there is good evidence that modest (e.g. 25%) reductions in CO₂ emissions may be achievable by the U.S. (and, by implication, for other countries) by a combination of increased energy efficiency and restructuring that would permit simultaneous direct economic benefits (savings) to energy consumers of the order of $50 per ton of CO₂ saved. A higher level of overall emissions reduction — possibly approaching 50% — could probably be achieved, at little or not net cost, by taking advantage of these savings.We suggest the use of taxes on fossil fuel extraction (or a carbon tax) as a reasonable way of inducing the structural changes that would be required to achieve significant reduction in energy use and CO₂ emissions. To minimize the economic burden (and create a political constituency in support of the approach) we suggest the substitution of resource-based taxes in general for other types of taxes (on labor, income, real estate, or trade) that are now the main sources of government revenue. While it is conceded that it would be difficult to calculate the optimal tax on extractive resources, we do not think this is a necessary prerequisite to policy-making. In fact, we note that the existing tax system has never been optimized according to theoretical principles, and is far from optimal by any reasonable criteria.During the academic year 1989–90 Dr. Ayres was at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria.During the summer of 1989 Mr. Walter was a member of the Young Scientists' Summer Program at IIASA.     

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY: TRACING THE FLOW OF BASIC RESEARCH THROUGH MANUFACTURING AND TRADE

This paper describes flows of basic research through the US economy during the late 20th century. In addition, the paper studies the effect of the flows on scientific papers in industries and fields. This article differs from others in its use of measures of science rather than technology. Together, its results present a picture of the structure of basic research flows in a modern, science-intensive economy. Basic research flows are large within petrochemicals and drugs, and within software and communications. Flows of chemistry, physics, and engineering are common throughout all industries – biology and medicine are almost confined to petrochemicals and drugs; and computer science is nearly as restricted to software and communications. In general, basic research flows are more concentrated within scientific fields than within industries. Our findings concerning the production of scientific papers indicate that the effect of a 1% change in academic R&D spillovers significantly exceeds that of industrial spillovers. In addition, within-field effects exceed effects between-fields, while within- and between-industry effects are roughly equal. It follows that scientific fields limit basic research flows more than industries do, perhaps because large firms implicitly span a range of industries.     

Bayesian estimation of duration models: An application of the multiperiod probit model

The multiperiod probit model is presented and Bayesian estimation using the Gibbs sampler with data augmentation is described. As an empirical illustration, the multiperiod probit model is then used to estimate a duration model using employment duration data for the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Bayesian estimation with unobserved heterogeneity is shown to be a simple extension of estimation of a duration model with no unobserved heterogeneity. More importantly, perhaps, some numerical problems encountered by other authors using Maximum Likelihood are avoided.I would like to thank M. Baker, G. Koop, A. Melino and D. Poirier for helpful comments and discussions. I would also like to thank M. Baker for providing his data.     

Scenarios and creativity: Thinking in new boxes

To be creative and make change happen, leaders must do more than simply ‘think outside the box’, as the traditional business manuals suggest, using the popular American expression. After all, the space outside the box is infinitely expansive. Moreover, there can be no guarantee that a solution to the problem will be found. The answer: ‘Think in new boxes.’ This requires developing the right new box; in other words, useful new models, a helpful new approach to a problem. That is the real art of practical creativity. This short article outlines the approach (Thinking in New Boxes) and its application to classic scenario planning with a few examples. The authors also present the ‘Expressway to Scenarios’, an approach that wins in impact and practicality what it loses in deep analysis, by having top executives involved in key steps.     

On the Role of Paradigms in Understanding Economic Globalization

Any adequate analysis of economic globalization necessarily requires fundamental understanding of the worldviews underlying the views expressed with respect to the nature and role of economic globalization. This paper is based on the premise that any worldview can be associated with one of the four basic paradigms: functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist, and radical structuralist. It argues that any view expressed with respect to economic globalization is based on one of the four paradigms or worldviews. It, therefore, discusses four views with respect to the nature and role of economic globalization which correspond to the four broad worldviews. The paper emphasizes that the four views expressed are equally scientific and informative; they look at the nature and role of economic globalization from a certain paradigmatic viewpoint. Emphasizing this example in the area of economic globalization, the paper concludes that there are opportunities for each paradigm to benefit from contributions coming from the other three paradigms.