Growth and welfare effects of stabilizing innovation cycles

We consider a simple model of innovation where equilibrium cycles may arise and show that, whenever actual capital accumulation falls below its balanced growth path, subsidizing innovators by taxing consumers has stabilizing effects, promotes sustained growth and increases welfare. Further, if the steady state is unstable under laissez faire, the introduction of the subsidy can make the steady state stable. Such a policy has beneficial effects as it fosters output growth along the transitional adjustment path, and increases the welfare of current and future generations.     

动物福利壁垒及其对国际贸易的影响

近年来,动物福利壁垒作为一种新的贸易壁垒开始出现,并已对动物源性产品的国际贸易产生了现实的影响。本文分析了动物福利壁垒的主要特征、动物福利壁垒的主要应用措施,并探讨了动物福利壁垒对国际贸易的影响。     

New Labour at work: long-term unemployment and the geography of opportunity

New Labour has placed great faith in active labour market policiesto address problems of long-term unemployment and poverty. Thispaper considers the effectiveness of welfare-to-work programmesin light of persistent regional employment disparities withinthe UK. It is argued that the government has proceeded froma flawed analysis of the causes and magnitude of long-term unemployment,framing the issue in terms of ‘worklessness’ andneglecting demand-side concerns of job availability and jobquality.     

Testing for multivariate volatility functions using minimum volume sets and inverse regression

We propose two new types of nonparametric tests for investigating multivariate regression functions. The tests are based on cumulative sums coupled with either minimum volume sets or inverse regression ideas; involving no multivariate nonparametric regression estimation. The methods proposed facilitate the investigation for different features such as if a multivariate regression function is (i) constant, (ii) of a bathtub shape, and (iii) in a given parametric form. The inference based on those tests may be further enhanced through associated diagnostic plots. Although the potential use of those ideas is much wider, we focus on the inference for multivariate volatility functions in this paper, i.e. we test for (i) heteroscedasticity, (ii) the so-called ‘smiling effect’, and (iii) some parametric volatility models. The asymptotic behavior of the proposed tests is investigated, and practical feasibility is shown via simulation studies. We further illustrate our methods with real financial data.     

对国际卡特尔的有效惩罚额度研究

对国际卡特尔行为实施有效威慑的一个关键问题是如何确立惩罚额度。本文认为，无论是以美国为代表的3倍损失赔偿，还是以欧盟为代表的单倍损失赔偿，都不是合理的惩罚标准。对国际卡特尔的合理的惩罚额度应使卡特尔成员承担其非法行为所带来的全部社会成本，包括国际卡特尔的超高定价、社会净损失、调查诉讼成本以及监禁成本。     

开放条件下的R＆D与比较优势的动态变化

文章探讨了比较优势实现动态变化的路径问题，并着重讨论专业化的研发投入（R＆D）对比较实现动态变化的影响，认为绝对的研发效率是比较优势实现动态转化的条件。在此基础上，讨论了动态比较优势与福利增长之间的关系，结论表明，比较优势实现动态变化对于保证福利水平的长期增长来说是必不可少的。     

Trade and the distribution of human capital

We develop a two-country, two-sector model of trade where the only difference between the two countries is their distribution of human capital endowments. We show that even if the two countries have identical aggregate human capital endowments the pattern of trade depends on the properties of the two human capital distributions. We also show that the two distributions of endowments also completely determine the effects of trade on income inequality. We also look at a simple majority voting model. It turns out autarky and free trade with and without compensation may be the voting outcome.     

Spurious welfare reversals in international business cycle models

Several papers have documented spurious welfare reversals: incomplete-markets economy produces a higher level of welfare than the complete-markets economy. This paper first demonstrates how conventional linearization can generate approximation errors that can result in welfare reversals. Using a two-country production economy, we argue that spurious welfare reversals are not only possible but also plausible under reasonable values for model parameters. This paper then proposes an approximation method that modifies the conventional linearization by a bias correction. This method can be easily implemented and approximates welfare as accurately as a second-order perturbation method.     

中国—东盟自由贸易区“10 1”方案的福利效应分析

中国—东盟自由贸易区的建立是双方加强经济合作的必然要求,同时也顺应了经济全球化和区域经济一体化的趋势,有利于双方更好地分享区域经济一体化所带来的好处。然而,当前我国和东盟各国的比较优势都集中在劳动密集型产品上,各成员国之间存在着较强的竞争性,自由贸易区建成后我国和东盟各国能否从中获得更大的利益?本文从福利经济学的角度出发,分析了建立“10 1”自由贸易区所可能产生的各种福利效应。     

Technological advances in digital cameras: Welfare analysis on easy-to-use characteristics

This paper examines the characteristics attributed to the success of digital cameras by studying both the demand and the supply sides of the digital-camera market. A discrete choice model is employed to investigate consumer preferences over digital camera characteristics during the period 1996–1998. The empirical findings reveal that Sony’s ‘Easy-to-Use’ storage system contributes significantly to Sony’s demand advantage and profitability. Also, the welfare analysis demonstrates that ‘Easy-to-Use’ attributes significantly contribute to social welfare improvement.