Exploring the linkage between human capital and economic growth: A look at 141 developing and developed countries

As a factor of production, human capital is defined both in its health and educational dimensions, incorporating qualitative and quantitative aspects. Using a panel of 141 countries (93 developing and 48 developed), we attempt to explore and compare the impact of human capital on economic growth at different development stages. For our estimation, we employ the System Generalized Methods of Moments (SGMM) for the period 1980–2008. Our findings reveal that all aspects of human capital positively influence growth in developing countries, especially life expectancy gain, which may be explained by the demographic transition these countries are going through. However, the scenario is different for developed countries, where increased life expectancy posits a drag on economic growth, probably because of the increasingly aging population and dependency ratio. Only when life expectancy is omitted does health expenditure, along with other educational measures of human capital, help sustain growth in developed countries.     

Quantitative easing and credit rating agencies

This paper investigates the behaviour of credit rating agencies (CRAs) using a natural experiment in monetary policy. We exploit the corporate QE of the Eurosystem and its rating-based specific design which generates exogenous variation in the probability for a bond of becoming eligible for outright purchases. We show that after the launch of the policy, rating activity was concentrated precisely on the territory where the incentives of market participants are expected to be more sensitive to the policy design. Our findings contribute to better assessing the consequences of the explicit reliance on CRAs ratings by central banks when designing monetary policy.     

Bank loans during the 2008 quantitative easing

We examine the effect of quantitative easing on the supply of bank loans. During the Fed’s quantitative easing programs, lending banks reduced relatively more loan spreads, offered longer loan maturities, provided larger loans, and loosened more covenants for firms whose long-term bond ratings were below BBB and were lower than those with investment-grade bond ratings. Furthermore, we find that new bank loans in this period were associated with a reduction in a firm’s value and an increase in default risk. These results indicate that banks took greater risk during the 2008 quantitative easing by relaxing lending standards to relatively riskier borrowers.     

遵从科创规律：再谈科创成果与年龄的关系

本文回顾了“成果-年龄”研究的历史和逻辑，系统梳理了相关研究，讨论了该理论模型存在的问题和下一步发展方向。认为“成果-年龄”理论模型在宏观和中观层次上具有一定同构性，可以借鉴“介尺度”思想方法，将威布尔分布统计规律在微观层次尝试。建议要遵从科创规律，保障科创群体工作时间和专注力，在最适合出成果的年龄专心搞研究。     

科技创业孵化生态环境协同效应及空间分布

区域科技创业孵化生态环境的健康性有赖于生态系统内部各子系统间的有机、高效协同发展。以我国27个省（自治区、直辖市）为研究单位，在构建科技创业孵化生态环境评价体系的基础上，采用熵权—TOPSIS—耦合协调度模型定量评价2013—2019年各省域科技创业孵化生态环境的动态协同效应，基于泰尔系数和变异系数法分析省际科技创业孵化生态环境协同水平，结合各省域协同水平进行类型划分并揭示其时空演变特征。研究结果表明，我国大多数省份科技创业孵化生态环境协同发展水平较低，仅有极少数省份实现良好协同；排名靠后省份与全国平均水平存在较大差距，反映出我国科技创业孵化生态环境存在较严重的区域失衡现象；区域科技创业孵化生态环境协同水平呈现出东—中—西—东北部的阶梯式下降特征，并具有一定的空间集聚效应。最后，提出相应政策建议。