Minimum Wages and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Vietnamese Manufacturing Firms

ABSTRACT

This paper empirically examines the minimum-wage impact on firm productivity. Using a detailed Vietnamese firm-level dataset from 2010 through 2015, the regression results suggest that firms raise their labor productivity, total factor productivity, capital intensity and revenue in response to increased minimum wage standards. Firms that pay their workers below the minimum wage react more positively in raising their labor productivity than high-wage firms. Minimum wages has had a more pronounced impact on firms’ labor productivity, total factor productivity and capital intensity since the uniform wage rate was introduced for both domestic private and foreign-invested enterprises in 2012.     

分工、协作与企业合作剩余创造——马克思企业理论分析框架的一般化

马克思企业理论有着科学的方法论基础和开放性的理论体系.但由于其企业理论揭示资本主义剥削本质的特殊使命,使其具有一定的特殊性.本文在遵循马克思企业理论科学的逻辑框架基础上,通过引入经济、制度环境和政府权力的相机介入而尝试构建了马克思企业理论的一般化分析框架--分工、协作与企业合作刺余创造范式.该范式内生地解释了企业的产生.融合了企业内效率与公平问题.突出了企业生产性本质和追求合作剩余最大化的目标.     

企业异质性、规模报酬与劳动力空间流动——基于新新经济地理学的理论研究

文章在对新新经济地理学假设进行拓展的基础上,从理论分析和数值模拟两个层面对企业异质性、规模报酬与劳动力空间流动进行了系统的研究,结论是:地区间企业生产技术水平的不同决定了企业与劳动力的转移方向,企业的生产技术水平与固定成本呈正向变动关系;落后地区和发达地区的发展与彼此对外市场开放相互依赖;由于落后地区总有一定的市场需求,棒—棒均衡在现实中存在的可能性很小。     

两种劳动力使用途径下的企业绩效分析

一般来说,企业把充分使用劳动力作为实现利润最大化的内容之一,但由于认识偏差和技术上的障碍,企业"充分"使用劳动力的途径并不相同,导致企业经营绩效上的差别.本文试图从两种使用劳动力的途径("单值核算"和"复合核算")着手来论述这种绩效差别.通过模型的分析,可以比较出,对于劳动者的劳动力稳定存量和企业的最大可持续利润这两个指标,复合核算明显优于单值核算,这也从某种角度揭示了现实中企业制度的演变规律.通过对复合核算的深入分析,本文还探讨了企业的管理难度和劳动力的边际收益对劳动力的使用情况以及企业的生产效率的重要影响.     

风险投资介入与创业企业国际化——基于我国高科技上市公司的实证研究

风险投资对创业企业的成长具有举足轻重的作用;那么,风险投资的介入对其国际化会带来怎样的影响呢?文章基于资源基础观、代理理论和信号传递理论,分析了风险投资影响创业企业国际化的内在作用机理以及风险投资机构特质与创业企业国际化之间的关系,并以我国300家高科技上市公司的非平衡面板数据为样本进行了实证检验.结论表明:(1)风险投资介入不仅能够开拓创业企业国际化的广度,而且也能加强创业企业国际化的深度;(2)不同特质的风险投资机构对创业企业国际化的影响存在差异,有外资背景的、行业专长高的或采取联合投资策略的风险投资机构有利于创业企业在海外市场上的拓展和渗透.文章不仅拓展了现有的企业国际化理论,而且对创业企业的国际化实践也具有借鉴意义.     

企业:一种人力资本使用权交易的粘性组织

本文沿着科斯的思路 ,把企业理解为一种人力资本使用权交易的粘性组织。企业用权威关系替代价格机制 ,而权威关系能够减少交易费用的原因在于“组织粘性”的存在。企业是一种有粘性的契约 ,而市场是一种无粘性的契约。企业的组织粘性把关键员工和企业联在一起 ,并使企业在引入企业家才能时有更低的临界交易效率。企业的边界由交易费用和组织粘性共同决定。     

从控制到协调：企业治理目标的演进

企业的治理目标可以理解为企业的价值取向,即企业应该为谁服务,为谁而存在？企业治理目标也体现在维护企业内创造价值的关键性资源的完整性,并通过价值分配来激励这些关键性资源。传统的物质资本密集型企业其关键性资源具有产权特性,控制企业产权便可以维持企业的价值创造能力,同时也可以获得相应的价值分配权,因此物质资本密集型企业的治理目标便是控制企业的关键性物资资本,并为其服务。而在人力资本密集型企业中,创造价值的关键性资源无法通过产权加以控制,需要凭借关系型契约来协调。此时,只有妥善协调企业内的关键性资源,才能维持企业的价值创造能力,所以人力资本密集型企业的治理目标由控制转变为协调企业内的关键性资源。企业家通过关系型契约协调关键性人力资本的关键是让人力资本感知与企业合作的收益要大于不合作的收益,切实保证人力资本有权参与分享与企业合作所产生的收益,从而提高关系型契约自我实施的能力。     

The dynamic impact of intellectual capital on firm value: evidence from China

We examine the dynamic relationship between intellectual capital (measured by human capital and organizational capital) and firm value of Chinese listed firms. We do causality identification using system GMM and IV estimation, and find no significant relation between human capital and firm value, but organizational capital positively affects firm value with a lag. Our findings are robust to firms with different property rights, of different sizes, or in different industries, with the only exception of capital-intensive firms, in which human capital has a significant influence on firm value. The results imply that the improvement of organizational system plays a more important role in raising the value of a firm in a typical developing country, like China.     

Does the stock market affect investment by Chinese firms? Some new evidence

During the 1990s, the Chinese government increasingly relied on the stock market as the major tool for state‐owned enterprise (SOE) reform and for the allocation of investment resources. This paper investigates the impact of stock market development in China on firm‐level capital investment by using a panel data set constructed by the author of all Chinese listed firms for the period 1992 to 1999. The results show that stock market valuation, as measured by Tobin’s q, has a highly independent, significant and positive influence on listed firms’ investment decisions, particularly during the stock market boom from 1996 to 1999. Given the sizable real effects of the stock market, deviations of stock prices from fundamentals can have substantially negative consequences. As a result, this study suggests that sensible regulation of the Chinese stock market is needed in order to enhance the efficiency of stock prices and facilitate an effective channeling of investment funds.     

Teams, Firms and the Evolution of Profit Seeking Behavior

Even as advances in information theory over the last quarter century have cast increasing doubt on the proposition that firms successfully maximize profits, the objective of profit maximization continues to be an axiomatic feature of the neoclassical theory of the firm. This paper attempts to improve our understanding firms by treating the objective function as an open question. Specifically, an ontogenetic thought experiment is undertaken to address the question of what differentiates production teams from firms by asking why team members would sell their control rights to a principal, thereby transforming the team into a firm. What results is an account of the emergence of the objective of profit seeking. Profit seeking emerges endogenously as a more fit alternative than the objective of value maximization, which is less capable of coping with uncertainty through purposive adaptation.     

R&D expenditures and firm growth – is small beautiful?

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how efficiently different groups of firms use their R&D expenditures. To this end, it investigates how the empirical relationship between firms' R&D expenditures and their sales growth varies with different values of firm size, firm age, and the number of firms in the respective industry. Using panel data for Switzerland ranging from 1995 to 2012, the paper finds that smaller, more mature firms show a more positive relation between R&D expenditures and sales growth than both relatively larger or younger firms. The paper argues that, on the one hand, these firms can benefit from various small size advantages in the R&D process, such as more motivated researchers, caused by a stronger connection to the firm's fate. On the other hand, these firms can also benefit from a well-established R&D department that allows absorbing the latest technological developments. The paper further finds that industries consisting of many small firms show a more positive relation between R&D expenditures and sales growth than industries consisting of only a few large firms. The intuition behind this result is that industries consisting of many small firms imply more independent innovative trials, which then together result in a higher probability of discovering successful innovations. In sum, the paper finds that groups consisting of a large number of small, more mature firms spend their R&D in the most efficient way.     

中间组织崛起的原因

协调经济活动有不同的制度形式:经济理论主要关注通过价格机制这只"看不见的手"来进行的市场协调;组织理论则更注重通过等级制这只"看得见的手"来协调企业的内部行为.市场和企业被视为两种最重要的协调制度形式,即被认为呈一种"双峰分布".但现实中,大量的交易却在中间组织中进行,即"中部隆起"而不是"双峰分布".在探讨中间组织的性质和生成机理的基础上,本文试图通过一个简单的模型对中间组织崛起的原因给出解释.     

分析师预测信息来源的新发现:会计师事务所

文章通过检验券商与公司聘任同一家会计师事务所对券商旗下分析师预测行为的影响,研究了证券分析师的预测信息是否可能来源于会计师事务所.研究发现:(1)分析师更愿意跟踪与所属券商聘任同一家会计师事务所的上市公司,对其发布的盈余预测更准确,也更倾向于额外发布现金流预测.(2)券商与公司从非同聘会计师事务所变更为同聘会计师事务所,其分析师预测的准确性提高,反之则降低.分析师对与所属券商聘任同一家会计师事务所的公司在年报披露前最后一次盈余预测的准确性有更大幅度的提高.(3)同聘会计师事务所对预测准确性的促进作用集中在分析师跟踪少和收入变化大的公司以及非明星分析师发布的预测.文章的研究有助于理解同聘会计师事务所对分析师预测行为的影响,也有助于资本市场上的投资者更好地利用同聘会计师事务所的券商旗下分析师发布的预测报告,拓展了分析师预测信息来源的研究.     

科斯《企业的性质》之质疑

企业是资源所有者的取得更多的收益而建立起来的经济组织，交易成本的存在并不是企业存在的根本原因，科斯将企业定义为不同于价格调节机制的企业家计划调节机制，源于其错将企业计划混同于计划经济，事实上，企业是以市场合约为基础形成的，按市场运行原则运作的市场性组织，其资源配置并不独立于市场价格机制之外，价格调节机制与企业家调节机制是不可分割的两个方面，任何企业作为市场参与者与市场都是互动的。     

Global Production Networks and the Private Organization of World Trade

As John R. Commons understood, the role of the firm in providing employment and income distribution is a form of public power (Munkirs and Knoedler 1987). This public power of firms is supported by the laws of the state, which protect private property and enforce market transactions. The Global Production Network (GPN) is a new form of the firm, influenced by information technology to lower “transaction costs” (Coase 1937), as well as international trade regimes, such as the Washington Consensus to improve the ease of world trade and investment. The GPN is globe-scanning, yet private and able to shape the economies and policies of countries. Under the banner of branded products, the lead firm in a supply chain exercises considerable power over subsidiaries, contractors, workers, communities, and countries. By influencing trade relations, GPNs also influence international finance, foreign currency reserves and exchange rates, as well as trade deficits and “race to the bottom” of taxes and environmental protection. Drawing on interdisciplinary research, this topic benefits from an alliance of sociology, business, history, law, and international as well as institutional economics in the AFEE tradition. I draw on the work of leading scholars in the field (Antras 2016; Baldwin 2016; Gereffi 2013; Milberg and Winkler 2013) and analyze the implications for the world trade system, as well as the ongoing political resistance to globalization. These GPNs are no longer “of” their country of origin (Tyson vs. Reich).     

Firm selection and industry evolution: the post-entry performance of new firms

A dynamic framework based on the process of firm selection and industry evolution is used to analyse the post-entry performance of new firms. In particular, it is hypothesized that, based on the stylized fact that virtually all new firms start at a very small scale of output, firm growth and survival are shaped by the need to attain an efficient level of output. The post-entry performance of more than 11,000 U.S. manufacturing firms established in 1976 is tracked throughout the subsequent tenyear period. Firm growth is found to be negatively influenced by firm size but positively related to the extent of scale economies, capital intensity, innovative activity, and market growth. By contrast, the likelihood of survival is identified as being positively influenced by firm size, market growth, and capital intensity, but negatively affected by the degree of scale economies in the industry. When viewed through the dynamic framework of firm selection and industry evolution, the empirical results shed considerable light on several paradoxes in the industrial organization literature, such as the continued persistence over time of an asymmetrical firm-size distribution consisting predominantely of suboptimal scale firms, and the failure of capital intensity and scale economies to substantially deter the entry and start-up of new firms.     

替代、互补及互嵌:企业与市场关系的新考察

在现实世界中,企业市场关系呈现出替代、互补及互嵌等多种特征,使得单一的“替代”说或“互补”论均缺乏足够的解释力。本文从交易费用角度将交易关系分为三种类型并指出企业和市场谁更有利于交易费用的节约,主要取决于交易品的特征以及交易本身的具体职能。企业其实是一种通过非人力资本和人力资本、人力资本和人力资本间相互交易以实现生产功能的特殊履约机制。这样就不难理解,只有部分交易可以通过企业与市场间的相互替代来提高效率,而更多的交易则须通过改善企业内部管理或改进市场制度本身来提高其效率。     

多种要素扭曲是否推动了中国企业出口

本文使用1999-2007年工业企业数据样本分析了包括资本、劳动及中间品在内的要素市场相对扭曲程度,并考察其是否能解释中国企业出口的独特成本优势。结论认为：中国制造业企业存在严重要素价格扭曲,不同要素的价格扭曲程度差异化较大。劳动力价格扭曲现象普遍存在,经济发展以牺牲劳动力价格市场化为代价。国有企业比重较大的行业资本价格相对较低,而私营企业比重较大的行业则资金成本较高。能源、原材料相关行业以及外资企业比重较大的行业中间品价格偏低;经过实证检验,要素市场扭曲的确对企业出口倾向起到推动作用,企业将获得的成本优势转化为出口优势,这表明低廉的要素价格是中国产品在国际市场中具有竞争力的重要原因。     

Corporate profit tax,firm entry with unemployment,and income inequality

In this paper, we provide a general equilibrium analysis of corporate profit tax on income distribution, unemployment, and wage inequality. With firm dynamics in industrial sector, we identify a new channel through which profit tax affects income and wage inequality: profit tax cut will widen not only the wage gap between skilled and unskilled labor, but also exacerbate the wage inequality of unskilled labor among different sectors. The welfare effect of profit tax cut depends on unemployment deepening (labor-distortion effect) and more manufacturing firms enter the market (business-creation effect), eroding the market share of incumbent firms (business-stealing effect).     

Does R&D spending boost tangible investment? An analysis on European firms

This article investigates the relationship between firm’s R&D intensity, expressed as R&D expenditure over sales, and investment intensity in tangible assets. It is commonly acknowledged that R&D requires additional physical investment to be implemented. R&D increases a firm’s productivity and return to tangible investments, thus, providing to the firm incentives to bear high tangible capital costs and to invest more. This represents a crucial issue for a firm’s growth, particularly considering the strong interaction between physical capital accumulation and technological progress. The analysis is based on a large sample of manufacturing firms across seven European countries in the period 2007–2009. Since the sub-sample of firms performing R&D might not be random, there may potentially be an endogeneity issue. The analysis also considers that firms may decide to spend on R&D and investment in physical capital simultaneously. The questions of both endogeneity and simultaneity are dealt with by employing an instrumental variable two-step procedure. We find a positive and significant impact of R&D intensity on firms’ tangible investment intensity. The econometric results highlight the importance of financial factors, particularly with respect to firms’ internal resources. Exposure to international trade has a negative impact on investment, possibly depending on the time-span of the sample used.

Abbreviations: Technological Innovation and R&D; Investment Capital; Industry Studies; Firm Behavior; Empirical Analysis