Rebalancing China's Economy: Domestic and International Implications

This paper considers interactions between China's domestic and external imbalances and their global implications. We present scenarios detailing how a rebalancing of China's growth pattern from investment‐driven growth towards more consumption‐driven growth may occur in practice. Using input–output tables for 2012, we illustrate the knife‐edged nature of Chinese rebalancing, the linkages between expenditure‐side and production‐side rebalancing, and how an internal rebalancing could exacerbate external imbalances. A policy implication for China is that for rebalancing to be fast, consumption must be exceptionally resilient and the efficiency of investment must increase sharply. If rebalancing is too slow, the capital‐to‐output ratio will rise to potentially unsustainable levels and consumption will fail to attain levels of contemporary upper middle‐income economies by 2030. Global input–output tables (1995–2011) suggest that the patterns of Chinese rebalancing considered in our scenarios may generate substantial headwinds for exports to China by its trading partners.     

Board meetings,committee structure,and firm value

In this study, we examine the determinants of board monitoring activity and its impact on firm value for a broad panel of firms over a six-year period from 1999 to 2005. During this period, Congress and the exchanges promulgated regulations that increased pressure upon firms for more independent and active boards. Economists have debated whether board activity and externally imposed regulations benefit or harm firms. We develop and examine several proxies for board monitoring and examine the relationship between board monitoring activity, firm characteristics, and firm value in a structural equation framework. One set of our proxies is based on the number of annual board and Audit Committee meetings. We show that prior performance, firm characteristics and governance characteristics are important determinants of board activity. We also show that the board monitoring is driven by corporate events, such as an acquisition or a restatement of financial statements. We find that board activity has a positive impact on firm value. Our results also indicate that the external pressure has had a salutary effect and recent regulations have led to some increase in firm value. A second set of proxies is based on the shift to a fully independent Audit, Compensation and Nominating Committees. We find that firms increased the independence of these Board committees following the enactment of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act.     

Protecting Watershed Ecosystems through Targeted Local Land Use Policies

Land use change is the most pervasive force driving the degradation of watershed ecosystems. This article combines an econometric model of land use choice with models of watershed health indicators to examine the effects of land use policies on watershed ecosystems through their effect on land use. Our results suggest that incentive-based land use policies and property acquisition programs can have relatively large positive impacts on watershed health, while policies that change the returns to land use are less effective. The results suggest that there is potential for targeting these policies because their impacts vary across watersheds with different land use mixes.     

From feudal colonization to agrarian capitalism in Mallorca: Peasant endurance under the rise and fall of large estates (1229–1900)

The colonization of Mallorca gave rise to a late‐feudal agrarian society that evolved towards capitalism based on large estates owned by noblemen who hired large numbers of wage labourers from among smallholders living in agro‐towns, the dispossessed remnants of a formerly wealthier peasantry. These well‐off peasants originated from when the colonization frontier was open in the 13th and 14th centuries, but had been defeated when three peasant–plebeian revolts were crushed. Afterwards, Mallorca followed a latifundist transition towards agrarian capitalism similar to southern Italy or Spain, in sharp contrast with the middle‐peasant paths seen in Catalonia or Valencia. The land rent rose, while agricultural wages fell from 1659 to 1800. Peasant families could not survive, and had to supplement wages with the products of their own plots. This set a socio‐agroecological limit to growth in this agrarian class structure. The agrarian crisis at the end of the 19th century bankrupted the Mallorcan nobility. Bankers bought much of the land and sold it on as small allotments. This expanded the intensive cropping formerly limited to agro‐town belts, giving rise to a new “peasantization”. Despite their subordination, Mallorcan peasants had survived and created complex agroecological landscapes endowed with a rich biocultural heritage.     

The determinants of Italian domestic tourism: A panel data analysis

In this study, a GMM panel data estimation is used to investigate the main determinants of Italian domestic tourism demand as measured by regional bilateral tourism flows. The analysis is developed both at aggregate level and for the two traditional macro-areas of the country, namely Centre-North and South. For the whole nation, the importance of traditional economic variables in determining domestic tourism flows is confirmed. However tourist actual choices appear also to be influenced by past experiences and by regional differences in the quality of the wider environment. Additionally it appears that, for Italian tourists, domestic and international destinations behave as substitutable goods. The sub-sample analysis highlights some interesting differences between macro-areas. In particular, southern tourists appear more responsive to income variations, and less sensitive to prices differentials than their northern counterparts. Moreover, the degree of competition between domestic and outbound trips is higher in the South. Finally, southern tourists seem to be more influenced by environmental attributes while northern tourists are more sensitive to cultural activities.     

Spillover Effects from Inward FDI on the Exporting Decisions of Chilean Manufacturing Plants

We study the presence of spillover effects on three exporting decisions (likelihood, quantity, propensity) of Chilean manufacturing firms during the period 2001–2004. Evidence suggests that Chilean firm’s export likelihood is positively affected by other domestic firms’ exports. In contrast, exports by MNEs operating in Chile negatively affect Chilean firm’s export likelihood, although MNE-employment generates positive spillover effects, suggesting externalities in human capital. We also find evidence of spillovers from MNE activity on the proportion of production the firm exports (export propensity), but not on how much they decide to export (export quantity).     

Tragedy of the Partnership: A Critique of Elinor Ostrom

Elinor Ostrom thinks she has discovered a third way apart from private and government property: the commons. In her view, there is no “tragedy” associated with this third option. The present article takes strong issue with her. Our claim is that she has not properly distinguished between a commons and partnership arrangements. In the former case, outsiders cannot be excluded from entry; in the latter, they can. The reason for this confusion between the commons and private property in Ostrom's work is that she believes private property is possible only if government protects and enforces it. We show by using various historical examples that this assumption is wrong, and hence the central tenet of Ostrom's model of the commons fails.     

Measuring business cycles: Empirical Mode Decomposition of economic time series

This paper continues discussion on the issue of time series decomposition by presentation of the Empirical Mode Decomposition technique. This technique outperforms well-known time-series filters by providing a deeper insight into the structure of time series.