Trade integration in the European Union: Openness,interconnectedness, and distance

This article presents a set of indicators to measure regional trade integration, focusing on the case of the European Union. We propose measures of openness, connectedness and integration which are tuned to evaluate not only how these components contribute to the advance of international integration, but also to control for the potential threat posed by the proliferation of regional trade agreements to trade globalization. Although this and related questions have been examined from several perspectives, the present article explicitly attempts to quantify how regional trade agreements either intensify or thwart trade globalization. Results show that the process of trade integration has intensified among European Union members, whereas integration with non-members is advancing slowly. Our indicators provide a more complete view of the differing speeds of integration, which depend on whether the component of integration considered is openness or connectedness.     

西南丘陵区农村居民点多功能评价与优化策略*——以重庆市荣昌区为例

[目的]以多功能评价为基础开展农村居民点布局优化,能够有效满足农村居民点的精细化、差异化治理需求。[方法]以西南丘陵区典型代表性的重庆市荣昌区为例,利用分层抽样选择12个样点村域,结合内部用地形态和外部环境适宜性构建指标体系,评价不同类型农村居民点生产功能、生活功能和生态功能的优势度差异,划定农村居民点功能优化分区并制定相应优化策略。[结果]农村居民点内部结构及承载功能表现出显著地域分异规律,其农业生产功能随着与城镇距离缩短而显著衰弱;非农生产功能和生活功能优势度的分布特征均表现为由城镇中心向较远区域递减趋势;生态功能优势度表现为远郊型中心型近郊型。荣昌区农村居民点的分区优化策略可划分为I类产业重构式、Ⅱ类社区营造式、Ⅲ类生态涵养式和Ⅳ类移民搬迁式4种。[结论]综合内部用地特征和外部环境适宜性对农村居民点"三生"功能优势度进行评价,可为西南丘陵区农村居民点布局优化提供新的思路。     

“双重赤字”联动的政府债务作用

政府债务是否影响“双重赤字”联动是国际经济学研究的重要问题。囿于财政赤字与经常账户赤字间往往存在严重的内生性,已有经验研究并未得到与理论研究一致的结论。本文引入义务教育年限作为财政赤字的有效工具变量,采用包括发达经济体、新兴市场和发展中经济体在内的150个国家(地区)2000-2014年的面板数据,得到了与理论预期一致且稳健的政府债务作用证据:(1)“双重赤字”联动倾向随着政府债务水平的提高会趋于减弱,但不会消失;(2)“双重赤字”的政府债务作用主要体现在发展中经济体,在发达经济体稍弱但亦显著;(3)对于中国这样的低债务水平发展中经济体,扩张性财政政策会引致经常账户盈余的显著减少。而对于已经处于高债务水平的发达经济体,通过紧缩性财政政策来调节经常账户失衡的策略要特别注意货币政策和贸易条件等因素的配合。     

Is restaurant franchising capital a substitute for or a complement to debt?

Since Oxenfeldt and Kelly’s 1969 study, the resource scarcity hypothesis has been considered a representative theory to explain franchising motivations. Whether franchising capital is a substitute for or a complement to debt has been discussed in the franchise literature but the relationship remains unclear. Using Frank and Goyal’s (2003) financial deficit model along with trade-off and pecking order theories, this study shed light on whether franchising capital acts as a substitute for and/or to complement debt in the restaurant industry. This study discovered that the adjustment speed of long-term debt leverage was faster for franchise restaurant firms than non-franchise restaurant firms. Further, the average long-term leverage target was lower for franchise restaurants. Consequently, this study revealed that franchising capital functioned as a substitute for long-term debt. In contrast, the adjustment speed of short-term debt leverage was slower for franchise restaurants and, thus, franchising capital complemented short-term debt.     

Financing flexibility: The case of outsourcing

We investigate the relationship between the extent and timing of vertical flexibility and the financial choices of a firm. By vertical flexibility we mean partial/total and reversible outsourcing of a necessary input. A firm simultaneously selects the vertical setting and the financial sources of investment in flexibility, in particular debt and venture capital. A loan may come from a lender that requires the payment of a fixed coupon over time and an option to buy out the firm in certain circumstances. Debt leads to the same level of flexibility of an unlevered firm. Yet investment occurs earlier. The injection of venture capital reduces the quest for vertical flexibility and speeds up investment. Then, there arises a fresh substitutability between a financial (venture capital) and a real variable (vertical flexibility).     

明确目标 防控风险 全力推进边贸结算业务健康快速发展——农行黑龙江省绥芬河市支行发展边贸业务纪实

本文以农行黑龙江省绥芬河支行为雏形,深入剖析银行边贸结算业务面临的发展问题,并从业务管理的视角提出解决对策。     

China's Economic Influence in Latin America

After decades of low‐level commercial interaction, China and Latin America significantly ramped up their economic relationship in the 2000s. China has jumped to first place as an export destination for many countries, and it is a major source of imports for all countries in the Latin America/Caribbean region. While not a major source of foreign direct investment overall, China has built a strong investment presence in certain countries, particularly in the natural resource and infrastructure sectors. China's influence in Latin America has presented a great opportunity for many countries, but it has also brought new risks. Three main challenges face the region: how to mitigate the impacts of increased commodity concentration as a result of China's strong demand for natural resources; how to avoid other natural resource curse effects; and how to manage the tapering of this growth. Latin American countries' relationships with China vary widely, so there is no single, coordinated regional response.     

Financial reporting quality,debt maturity and investment efficiency

This study, conducted with a sample of Spanish listed companies during the period 1998–2008, examines the role of financial reporting quality and debt maturity in investment efficiency. The results show that financial reporting quality mitigates the overinvestment problem. Likewise, lower debt maturity can improve investment efficiency, reducing both overinvestment and underinvestment problems. We further find that financial reporting quality and debt maturity are mechanisms with some degree of substitution in enhancing investment efficiency: firms with lower (higher) use of short-term debt, exhibit higher (lower) financial reporting quality effect on investment efficiency.     

Rules of origin and technology spillovers from foreign direct investment under international duopoly

Using a simple three-country model of international duopoly, this study analyzes the optimal choice of rules of origin (ROO) in a free trade area/agreement (FTA) when firms from outside the FTA must undertake foreign direct investment (FDI) in FTA countries and conduct part of their production process within the FTA to comply with the ROO. FDI causes spillovers of the superior production technology from a non-FTA firm to its competitor within the FTA, depending on how much of the production process is shifted to the FTA area. In this situation, this study predicts that as the degree of multilateral trade liberalization before formation of the FTA is higher, the optimal ROO tends to be less stringent.