A myopic adjustment process leading to best-reply matching

We analyze a myopic strategy adjustment process in strategic-form games. It is shown that the steady states of the continuous time limit, which is constructed assuming frequent play and slow adjustment of strategies, are exactly the best-reply matching equilibria, as discussed by Droste, Kosfeld, and Voorneveld (2000. Mimeo, Tilburg University). In a best-reply matching equilibrium every player ‘matches’ the probability of playing a pure strategy to the probability that this pure strategy is a best reply to the pure-strategy profile played by his opponents. We derive stability results for the steady states of the continuous time limit in 2×2 bimatrix games and coordination games. Analyzing the asymptotic behavior of the stochastic adjustment process in discrete time shows convergence to minimal curb sets of the game. Moreover, absorbing states of the process correspond to best-reply matching equilibria of the game.     

Long-run matching relationship in the Japanese labor market

This paper investigates the long-run relationship among new hiring, unemployment (job seekers), and unfilled vacancies in Japan, using an annual panel data on 47 prefectures for 1972-1999. We find that these three variables are I(1) processes, and are cointegrated in our panel data. Further, we estimate the panel cointegration equation derived from a Cobb-Douglas matching function by the heterogeneous fully modified OLS and heterogeneous dynamic OLS. The estimation results reveal that conventional within estimates could have non-negligible biases.First version received: November 2002/Final version received: October 2003All correspondence to Shigeki Kano. The authors are grateful to the associate editor and two anonymous referees of this journal for helpful comments. Doctor Stephen J. Turnbull (University of Tsukuba) is also acknowledged for correcting English errors in this paper. Remaining errors are due to the authors. The data set and GAUSS programming code used in this paperare available upon request.     

转移支付优化审计策略研究——以事权和支出责任相适应改革为背景

中央与地方财权与事权的不对称使转移支付制度成为实现地方政府财力与事权匹配的基本手段,以弥补政府间纵向财政失衡和横向财政失衡。但目前我国财政转移支付因体制的诱致性变迁、设计理念缺陷、事权与支出责任分离等原因,存在效能不彰、运行效率漏损、结构不合理、规范性水平低、程序规制失范等问题。在全面深化财税体制改革下,国家审计机关可以发挥＆quot;免疫系统＆quot;功能和国家治理作用,对转移支付从审计内容、审计导向、资金流向等方面提升审计层次,把问效、问绩、问责贯穿转移支付审计过程始终,关注转移支付资金的安全性、效率性、经济性,实现政府支出责任随事权转移、各级政府财力与事权相匹配,优化转移支付,完善政府治理。     

Vacancy posting, job separation and unemployment fluctuations

What is the relative importance of hiring and separation in driving unemployment fluctuations? This paper presents a framework to decompose the moments of unemployment and study the respective contributions of vacancy posting, a measure of firms’ hiring efforts, and separation. Separation accounts for about 40% of unemployment's variance, compared to 60% for vacancy posting, and contributes to about 60% of unemployment steepness asymmetry, the fact that unemployment increases faster than it decreases. Further, while vacancy posting is, on average, the most important contributor of unemployment fluctuations, the opposite is true around business cycle turning points, when separation is responsible for most of unemployment movements.     

产品质量认证能否提高农户技术效率——基于山东、河北典型蔬菜种植区的证据

本文基于河北廊坊、山东寿光两地典型蔬菜种植区的1388份微观数据,利用超越对数随机前沿生产函数构建技术效率微观分析框架,在此基础上运用倾向得分匹配法构建反事实假设,估计三种不同类型的产品质量认证对农户技术效率的平均处理效应,并基于回归调整方法对产品质量认证影响农户技术效率的内部机制进行分解,评价产品质量认证对技术效率提升的具体作用路径。研究结果表明:有机农产品认证与绿色食品认证对农户技术效率具有显著的提升作用,农户的技术效率分别提高0.218和0.196;而无公害农产品认证没有显著提升农户的技术效率。考虑到某些不可观测的因素并采用稳健性估计后,该结论仍然稳健成立。此外,对效率增长的分解结果显示,有机农产品认证和绿色食品认证对技术效率的提升作用按贡献率大小依次来源于溢价激励的提升、成本压力的作用、组织支持的增强。     

Endogenous job destructions and the distribution of wages

This paper considers a matching model with both idiosyncratic productivity shocks that hit jobs at random and heterogeneity of workers according to ex ante unobservable abilities. We argue that firms' decisions about reservation productivity can help explain the shape of wage distributions. This is shown from numerical experiments, calibrated to French data, by considering alternative ranges of productivity shocks.     

Value and liquidity under changing market conditions

Papers studying the liquidity of a market tend to focus on decisions involving the trade-off between the selling price and the time-till-sale for a given set of market conditions. This paper characterizes market conditions using a price-probability locus; a change in market conditions is some combination of changes in the level and/or slope of this locus. I show how the effect of either type of change on price and on the probability-of-sale can be decomposed into those commonly associated with an increase in the value and those which involve a substitution between price and probability. Two adding-up conditions restrict the set of possible predictions. Though the discussion focusses on real estate market, where scarcity is rationed by a mechanism which combines search and bargaining, the same ideas apply to markets with other types of selling mechanisms.     

Globalization and imperfect labor market sorting

This paper focuses on the ability of the labor market to efficiently match heterogeneous workers to jobs within a given industry and the role that globalization plays in that process. Using matched worker–firm data from Sweden, we find strong evidence that openness improves the matching between workers and firms in industries with greater comparative advantage. This suggests that there may be significant gains from globalization that have not been identified in the past — globalization may improve the efficiency of the matching process in the labor market. These results remain unchanged after adding controls for technical change at the industry level or measures of domestic anti-competitive regulations and product market competition. Our results are also robust to alternative measures of the degree of matching, openness, and the trade status of an industry.     

对外直接投资提高了中国经济增长质量吗

中国企业对外直接投资是否有利于促进经济增长质量的提升,已成为中国学者及政策制定者迫切需要深入研究的命题。本文利用2009—2013年的省级数据和工业企业数据,采用倾向得分匹配法,分别从地区和企业两个维度实证考察了对外直接投资对经济增长质量的影响效应,研究发现:(1)总体上,对外直接投资能够有效促进经济增长质量水平的提升;考虑控制变量后,对外直接投资仅对经济增长效率产生抑制作用;(2)相较于未实施对外投资的企业,对外投资企业对自身经济增长质量具有显著的正向效应;(3)考虑到企业异质性特征后,不论企业的投资深度如何,向发达国家进行的投资行为都更有利于提高企业的经济增长质量。以上这些发现不仅为全面理解中国企业的对外直接投资行为提供了经验证据,也为中国发展“质量型”经济提供了有现实意义的参考依据。     

Labour market recruiting with intermediaries

We consider a Rothschild–Stiglitz–Spence labour market model and employ a centralised mechanism to coordinate the efficient matching of workers to firms. This mechanism can be thought of as operated by a recruitment agency, an employment office or head hunter. In a centralised descending-bid, multi-item procurement auction, workers submit wage-bids for each job and are assigned stable jobs as equilibrium outcome. We compare this outcome to independent, sequential hiring by firms and conclude that, in general, a stable assignment can only be implemented if firms coordinate to some extent.