Macroeconomic Policy and Ownership Structure in a Mixed Transition Economy

Both state and non-state sectors have important roles in the Chinese economy. A dynamic model to analyze capital accumulation in state and non-state sectors is constructed and the fiscal and monetary policy requirements for the coexistence of a state sector and a non-state sector are derived. Our findings suggest that the effects of fiscal and monetary policies on ownership structure depend on which government subsidization policy is implemented. The results indicate that lowering tax rates and tightening the money supply can speed up the transition pace, but these policies do not necessarily contribute to developing an economy with a greater share for the non-state sector.J. Comp. Econom., December 2000, 28(4), pp. 762–785. College of Economics, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1, Gakuen-Cho, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531, Japan.     

Bayesian analysis of a Markov switching temporal cointegration model

This paper introduces a Bayesian approach to a Markov switching cointegration model that allows the cointegration relationships to be switched on and off depending on the regime. Unlike a classical method for nonlinear cointegration model that uses the cointegrating vector based on a linear cointegration model, the proposed Bayesian method allows for estimation of the cointegrating vector within a nonlinear framework conditional on the regime variables through the Gibbs sampling so that it generates more reliable estimation. The Bayes factors are applied to test for Markov switching and model specifications. The purchasing power parity (PPP) relationship between UK and US is investigated using the proposed model for illustration.     

Business process semi-automation based on business model management

It is important to respond to customers' requirements more rapidly than ever before due to the recent trend in e-business and its technologies. In order to achieve an agile response, we have to manage business models, to reflect the changes in the models and to develop or modify IT systems for further chances. This paper proposes a management framework of layered enterprise models. The proposed framework consists of a business model repository and a software repository, and defines three different grain sizes of modeling layers, namely business modeling, business process modeling and business application modeling, in order to support business modeling and application development. This framework helps us to develop business application in incremental deployment of analysis, design, and implementation to execute business processes. We have implemented a prototype environment using Java. Each repository's contents are described using XML so that the repositories are interoperable. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The analysis of research and development efficiency in Japanese companies in the field of fuel cells using patent data

Using patent data, a new quantitative analytical method categorizes the degree of integration of leading edge technologies in order to examine the current research & development (R&D) status and strategies of companies focusing in the fuel battery field, an area showing great potential as an alternative to fossil fuels. Specifically, this paper presents three types of categorization reflecting the International Patent Classification (IPC) of patent data, and introduces the concept of 'innovation positions', which is based on this categorization. Application purposes can be different between various industrial sectors, even within the same technological field; therefore, the progress status of R&D varies and that fact is reflected in innovation positions. Additionally, this paper makes clear that innovation positions reflect differences in companies' core competences, even in the same industry. Furthermore, by conducting an analysis based on F-terms, it has been shown that dissimilarities exist in the focus of companies in the technological development of elements, even for those with identical innovation positions. This analytical method provides an original approach to comprehend technological linkages and innovation.     

Integrating Smart Glasses with Question-Answering Module in Assistant Work Environment

Recently, smart glasses have been applied in the field of maintenance, with which a worker goes well during work by contacting a support operator from a remote location. The worker, however, cannot go well if the support operator is not there. To solve the issues, this paper discusses how a work system should be developed by integrating smart glasses with a question-answering module. We design the work knowledge acquired from skilled people and manuals as a workflow for when type of question, rule base for how, goal tree for why, domain ontologies, and its RDF data for what. Workers can receive answers from the question-answering module incorporated with multiple knowledge bases for four types of question. The authors conducted a demonstration experiment and found that workers could perform the work more autonomously by importing the system.     

Are regional asymmetries detrimental to tax coordination in a repeated game setting?

This paper reexamines the main findings of Cardarelli et al. [Cardarelli, R., Taugourdeau, E., Vidal, J.-P., 2002. A repeated interactions model of tax competition, Journal of Public Economic Theory 4, 19-38], and Catenaro and Vidal [Catenaro, M., Vidal, J.-P., 2006. Implicit tax co-ordination under repeated policy interactions, Recherches Economiques de Louvain 72, 1-17], who show that regional asymmetries undermine the implicit collusion of tax coordination in a repeated game model of capital tax competition. In particular, this paper investigates how increased regional differences in per capita capital endowments and/or production technologies affect the willingness of each region to cooperate in achieving tax coordination. It is shown that there may exist cases where as regional asymmetries in net capital exporting positions increase, regions are more likely to cooperate on capital taxes and thereby achieve tax coordination.     

DEBT FORGIVENESS AND STOCK PRICE REACTION OF LENDING BANKS: THEORY AND EVIDENCE FROM JAPAN

We provide a simple model for analyzing how debt forgiveness affects the stock price of a lending bank. Our model shows that although debt forgiveness increases shareholder wealth of a bank in healthy financial condition, it decreases shareholder wealth of a bank in unhealthy financial condition. We empirically investigate the announcement effect of debt forgiveness on bank stock prices in Japanese markets. On average, lending banks experience a significant negative announcement effect with respect to debt forgiveness. Consistent with the prediction of the model, we find a negative relation between the announcement effect and the net bad loan ratio as a proxy of the unhealthiness of the financial condition of the bank.     

Career progression and comparative advantage

This paper constructs and estimates a structural dynamic model of occupational choice in which all occupations are characterized in a skill requirement space using data from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and the NLSY79. This skill requirement space approach has its merit in computational simplicity as well as ease of interpretation: it allows the model to include hundreds of occupations at the three-digit census classification level without a large number of parameters. Parameter estimates indicate that wages grow with the skill requirements of an occupation and that educated and experienced individuals are better rewarded in a cognitive and interpersonal skill demanding occupation. They also suggest that ignoring self-selection into occupations and individual heterogeneity may result in counter-intuitive and biased estimates of the returns to skill requirements.