Analysing Perceived Downside Risk: the Component Value‐at‐Risk Framework

Multinational companies face increasing risks arising from external risk factors, e.g. exchange rates, interest rates and commodity prices, which they have learned to hedge using derivatives. However, despite increasing disclosure requirements, a firm's net risk profile may not be transparent to shareholders. We develop the ‘Component Value‐at‐Risk (VaR)’ framework for companies to identify the multi‐dimensional downside risk profile as perceived by shareholders. This framework allows for decomposing downside risk into components that are attributable to each of the underlying risk factors. The firm can compare this perceived VaR, including its composition and dynamics, to an internal VaR based on net exposures as it is known to the company. Any differences may lead to surprises at times of earnings announcements and thus constitute a litigation threat to the firm. It may reduce this information asymmetry through targeted communication efforts.     

The Impact of Cannabis Use on Health

Summary Chronic daily cannabis use has been shown to have long term harmful health effects, which in turn is expected to reduce labour market productivity. The evidence is less clear on the health impact of less frequent consumption, which is the more typical mode of use, and previous empirical studies fail to find robust evidence of an adverse impact of these modes of use on labour market productivity. This paper attempts to shed some light on this issue by directly estimating the impact of cannabis consumption in the past week and past year on health status using information on prime age individuals living in Australia. We find that cannabis use does reduce self-assessed health status, with the effect of weekly use being of a similar magnitude as smoking cigarettes daily. Moreover, we find evidence of a dose-response relationship in the health impact of cannabis use, with annual use having roughly half the impact of weekly use.Helpful comments on an earlier draft were received from Jan van Ours, Rosalie Pacula, two anonymous referees and participants at the 81st Annual Conference of the Western Economic Association International.     

Multilateral Comparison of Cost Structures in the Input–Output Tables of Japan,the US and West Germany

This paper presents a multilateral comparison of relative levels and structures of costs of production in Japan, the US and West Germany. The analysis is carried out by using harmonized input–output tables, which are converted at US prices by using adjusted sectoral purchasing power parities. A new accounting methodology is derived from recent developments of index number theory, whereas the chosen multilateral comparison procedure gives results that are invariant with respect to the order of the pairs of countries examined.     

Localized Innovation and Productivity Growth in Asia: An Intertemporal DEA Approach

Recent contributions to growth theory stress the importance of localized innovation for the performance of more backward countries. In earlier papers, analyses by means of DEA techniques confirmed this intuition. In this paper, we extend this type of analysis by relaxing the macroeconomic viewpoint adopted until now. New databases on output, labor and capital input in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors are developed for 40 countries. Using intertemporal DEA, it is found that changes in the global production frontier are localized at high levels of capital intensity. This result is stronger in agriculture than in manufacturing. Further, a decomposition of labor productivity growth in eight Asian countries for the period 1975–1992 into the effects of capital intensification, learning and innovation is made. The results suggest that there is a particular development path in which increases in capital intensity appear to be a prerequisite to benefit from international technology spillovers.JEL Classification: O14, O30, O40, O47     

Productivity and Welfare

Technical change is generally characterized by a rate and biases, both evaluated for given producer prices. This paper examines the potential discrepancy between this rate and the corresponding rate of consumer welfare change as measured by Allais distributable surplus. We postulate a general equilibrium context with various market failures (taxes, quotas, imperfect competition, and “poorly priced” commodities), and use comparative statics to express the rate of welfare change in terms of the rate and biases of the technical change. An elementary simulation model of a taxed economy suggests that the rate of welfare change may differ from the rate of technical change by as much as 50% under plausible circumstances.     

How Fast Do Banks Adjust? A Dynamic Model of Labor-Use with an Application to Swedish Banks

This paper deals with a dynamic adjustment process in which adjustment of a key variable input (labor) towards its desired level is modeled in a panel data context. The partial adjustment type model is extended to make the adjustment parameter both firm- and time-specific by specifying it as a function of firm- and time-specific variables. Desired level of labor use is represented by a labor requirement function, which is a function of outputs and other firm-specific variables. The catch-up factor is defined as the ratio of actual to desired level of employment. Productivity growth is then defined in terms of a shift in the desired level of labor use and the change in the catch-up factor. Swedish banking data is used as an application of the above model.     

Applying efficiency measurement techniques to the measurement of productivity change

Deterministic frontier analysis (DFA), stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), and data envelopment analysis (DEA) are alternative analytical techniques designed to measure the efficiency of producers. All three techniques were originally developed within a cross-sectional context, in which the objective is to compare the efficiencies of producers. More recently all three techniques have been extended for use in a panel data context. In the latter context it is possible to measure productivity change, and to decompose measured productivity change into its sources, one of which is efficiency change. However when efficiency measurement techniques, particularly SFA, have been applied to panel data, it has infrequently been made clear what the objective of the analysis is: the measurement of efficiency, which may vary through time as well as across producers, or the measurement and decomposition of productivity change. In this paper I explore the use of each technique in a panel data context. I find DFA and DEA to have achieved a more satisfactory reorientation toward productivity measurement than SFA has.     

中国OFDI影响出口的质量效应与成本效应研究——基于异质性产品价格分解模型

基于异质性产品价格分解模型，运用联合国UN Comtrade 2003-2016年产品-目的国层面出口数据，考察中国OFDI影响本国出口的质量效应和成本效应。研究发现：中国OFDI显著提升了出口产品质量，并对出口产品成本产生降低作用。从目的国收入看，金融危机前，中国OFDI对出口质量的提升以及对出口产品成本的降低作用，主要通过对高收入和中高收入国家的投资实现；而金融危机后，则主要通过对中低收入国家的投资实现。从产品类型看，中国OFDI显著提高了差异性产品和中间产品的出口质量，并对两类产品的成本产生降低作用；但对同质性产品和最终产品，只对其出口产品成本存在显著降低作用，对出口质量的提升作用不显著。因此，以投资带动贸易仍然是推动中国外贸高质量发展的有效举措。     

中国乡镇企业产出增长来源实证分析

本文简要介绍了中国乡镇企业的发展概况和影响其发展的主要因素 ,以实际总产值作为产出指标 ,对乡镇企业产出增长与全要素生产率增长率、资本投入、劳动投入和规模损益之间的联系进行了详细的实证分析 ,分别考察了技术进步 (全要素生产率增长率 )、资本投入、劳动投入和规模损益对乡镇企业产出增长的绝对拉动作用和相对贡献份额 ,并分别考察了乡镇企业产出增长的波动程度、乡镇企业的资本生产率、劳动生产率及有机资本构成情况。在此基础上 ,提出了保证乡镇企业健康、稳定、持续增长的若干政策建议     

中国能源强度变动的主导效应分析——一项基于指数分解模型的实证研究

应用Refined Laspeyres指数分解模型，对中国能源强度变动的主导效应进行研究。研究结果显示，产业内部尤其是工业部门能源强度的下降是1980～2005年总能源强度显著改进的主因，但是由于存在二元经济结构转换特征，产业结构变动无法从整体上对能源强度改进产生积极的影响。计量检验结果也显示，重工业比重的上升对分解模型所分析的强度效应以及总能源强度具有很大的负面影响，这也是2001～2004年能源强度出现反弹的诱因。