The impacts of value chain upgrading on the export of processed food

Upgrading in global value chains (GVCs) is an important path for developing countries to move along to capture higher benefits. Several qualitative studies of GVCs have identified two main upgrading types: economic (product, process, functional, and inter-sectoral) and social upgrading. The upgrading concept is widespread in productive sectors such as processed food, which has become a key export for developing countries. However, they have confronted multiple product standards required by global buyers. This study uses a case study of Thailand’s processed food exports (TPFEs). Although Thailand is a leading exporter of processed food, the country needs to upgrade in many areas related to production to meet global product standards and requirements. If Thailand fails to comply with global product standards, it will lose its export competitiveness. This study uses a gravity model to evaluate the impact of economic and social upgrading (EUP and SUP) on TPFEs. Our results show that upgrading types are significant in TPFEs, particularly for exports to developed countries. Process upgrading has a negative impact on TPFEs because of increased production costs to comply with product standards. However, process upgrading can lead to increased producers’ and exporters’ knowledge about how to comply with international standards. Consequently, process upgrading exhibits a lagged positive effect on TPFEs.     

老龄化与碳排放：消费效应还是生产效应？——基于2002-2017年中国省级面板数据的实证研究

人口老龄化是经济增长的一大阻碍,它对碳排放的影响是做出环境政策抉择的关键因素.以中国2002—2017年的省级面板数据为研究样本,从理论与实证两个层面分析人口老龄化与碳排放的关系及影响机制.一方面,构建包含碳排放的世代交叠模型(overlapping generations,OLG),发现老龄化主要通过消费效应和生产效应两个路径对碳排放产生影响;另一方面,从实证层面发现老龄化与碳排放之间存在倒"U"形关系,而且消费效应在人口老龄化与碳排放的关系中起到部分中介作用,生产效应的影响则不显著.     

Bitcoin price and its marginal cost of production: support for a fundamental value

This study back-tests a marginal cost of production model proposed to value the digital currency Bitcoin. Results from both conventional regression and vector autoregression (VAR) models show that the marginal cost of production plays an important role in explaining Bitcoin prices, challenging recent allegations that Bitcoins are essentially worthless. Even with markets pricing Bitcoin in the thousands of dollars each, the valuation model seems robust. The data show that a price bubble that began in the Fall of 2017 resolved itself in early 2018, converging with the marginal cost model. This suggests that while bubbles may appear in the Bitcoin market, prices will tend to this bound and not collapse to zero.     

Macroeconomic consequences of state fragility in sub‐Saharan Africa

Are poor macroeconomic outcomes primarily the result of economic policies, or of deeper underlying state fragility problems in sub‐Saharan Africa? We attempt to answer this question by using carefully specified dynamic panel regression techniques to show how state fragility conditions help to explain the differences in the macroeconomic performance of sub‐Saharan African economies, and to identify the most plausible mechanisms of transmission. We find that countries with greater fragility suffer higher macroeconomic volatility and crisis; they also experience weaker growth. When we disaggregate state fragility into its various components, we find that it is the security and social components that have the strongest causal impact on macroeconomic outcomes, while the political component is, at best, weak. Therefore, we conclude that it is state fragility conditions, and not necessarily macroeconomic policies, that are of first‐order importance in explaining the differences in macroeconomic performance for African countries. The knock‐on effects are mostly mediated through the fiscal channel, the aid channel, and the finance channel. Accordingly, we recommend that interventions in fragile states should best focus on exploiting the potential for using fiscal policy, aid, and finance as instruments to improve macroeconomic outcomes in sub‐Saharan Africa.     

Economic Competition,Policy Interdependence,and Labour Rights

Extant scholarship treats national policies concerning labour rights as a function of economic factors and yet neglects influences of policies among economically competing states. Relying on the policy interdependence theory, this study argues that labour rights policy in a state is dependent on its economic competitors’ labour policy decisions. It specifically maintains that the intensifying competition for foreign direct investment and exports as well as against imports channels negative externalities of deteriorating labour protection in competing states which drives expansive downward policy mimicking and leads to a global decline in labour rights – a race to the bottom. Utilising spatial econometric technique to analyse a new data on labour rights for the period 1994–2009, it finds that labour rights practices are interdependent among economic competitors and experience global deteriorations; whereas labour rights laws remain largely independent due to high policy and reputational costs of lowering them and show more fluctuations.     

Semistatic hedging and pricing American floating strike lookback options

We price an American floating strike lookback option under the Black–Scholes model with a hypothetic static hedging portfolio (HSHP) composed of nontradable European options. Our approach is more efficient than the tree methods because recalculating the option prices is much quicker. Applying put–call duality to an HSHP yields a tradable semistatic hedging portfolio (SSHP). Numerical results indicate that an SSHP has better hedging performance than a delta-hedged portfolio. Finally, we investigate the model risk for SSHP under a stochastic volatility assumption and find that the model risk is related to the correlation between asset price and volatility.     

一种级联两箱通用数字预失真器及其辨识算法

提出了一种由单形规范线性分段(SCPWL)函数与记忆多项式级联的数字预失真器，并给出了复数域两步最小二乘参数辨识算法。不同于以往一种预失真器适用一种功放模型的情况，所提的预失真算法利用SCPWL函数的分段特性以及记忆多项式的非线性记忆特性，在完成参数辨识的同时自动地调整结构，可适用于传统以及强非线性新型功放模型的线性化补偿。将所提预失真器分别应用于传统记忆多项式、两箱模型以及新型包络跟踪功放。经过计算机仿真，功放输出的幅频特性和频谱曲线表明所提预失真器能够有效地补偿多种功放的非线性特性。算法仿真比较结果也表明，针对包络跟踪功放，所提复数两步最小二乘算法的邻道泄漏比(ACLR)可改善约35 dB，性能优于最小均方(LMS)类算法约30 dB。     

乌蒙山片区绿色减贫指数分析

[目的]通过分析2012年和2014年乌蒙山片区绿色减贫指数,评价该地区不同年份扶贫效果,这也为今后各项扶贫政策的实施提供理论参考。[方法]文章依据中国绿色减贫指数指标体系,从经济增长绿化度、资源利用与环境保护程度、社会发展能力和扶贫开发与减贫效果4个方面,以人均地区生产总值、单位地区生产总值能耗等27个因子作为评价指标,利用线性加权综合法分析2012年和2014年经济增长绿化度、资源利用与环境保护程度、社会发展能力和扶贫开发与减贫效果指标值,最终确定绿色减贫指数。同时,分析片区内各贫困县波动较大的第三产业增加值比重、单位耕地面积化肥施用量、城乡收入比和农村人均纯收入增长率等指标。[结果]2014年相比2012年,乌蒙山片区经济增长绿化度、资源利用与环境保护程度和扶贫开发与减贫效果指标值上升,社会发展能力指标值降低,绿色减贫指数提高了15.40%。各县第三产业比重均降低,但农村人均纯收入都有提高。四川省10个县单位耕地面积化肥施用量增加。四川省除叙永县和美姑县,贵州省除赤水市,片区内的各贫困县城乡收入比降低。[结论]2014年,乌蒙山区在落实国家扶贫规划上取得了较好的成效。但各县之间差距较大,在今后的扶贫攻坚中,需要从不同地区的实际情况出发,了解贫困类型和贫困程度,考察当地资源储备和环境现状,统筹区域发展。     

互联网下高校外卖物流配送的现状与发展

随着互联网的快速发展,我国的手机愈发成为一部掌上电脑,通过手机进行外卖订餐已经成为现代高校大学生的日常状态,外卖的物流配送大大改变了学生的生活饮食方式。但是高校周围的外卖物流配送也容易导致很多问题,影响大学生的生活。针对高校外卖的特殊性,文章以互联网下逐渐形成的O2O模式来研究高校外卖物流配送的现状与发展,并且针对存在的问题提出相关建议。     

A truly global crisis? Evidence from contagion dependence across international REIT markets

This study examines the global nature of the recent crisis under bivariate Markov-switching models for pre- and post-crisis periods using the breakpoint of August 9, 2007. It quantifies international synchronization of boom-bust regime switches to investigate contagion-type dynamic comovements of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Global REIT markets display persistent bust regimes from September 2008 to May 2009, whereas the regime-switching patterns are not significant in the pre-crisis period. The results provide new evidence for global REIT contagion phenomena and suggest greater difficulties in diversifying risks across global REIT markets during the post-crisis period.