Why do commercial banks hold government bonds? The case of Japan

We investigate the determinants of the demand for Japanese government bonds (JGBs) by commercial banks in Japan. In particular, by estimating portfolio equations for JGB demand and bank loans, based on a panel data set from the late 1990s to the 2000s, we rigorously test the popular assertion that the long stagnation of the real economy caused a shift in the portfolios of commercial banks from bank lending to JGBs. We find that the popular assertion is not empirically supported. Rather, the portfolio shift from loans to JGBs has been caused by a fall in the ratio of the loan rate to unit lending costs, or the bank’s price–cost margin for lending.     

The new goods margin in new markets

We analyze the role of the new goods margin in the Baltic countries’ exports and imports growth during the 1995–2008 period. Using the methodology developed in Kehoe and Ruhl (2013), we define the set of least-traded goods as those that account for the lowest 10% of total exports and imports in 1995, and then trace its growth in several markets including the Baltics’ main trade partners, the European Union and Russia. We find that, on average, by 2008 least-traded goods accounted for nearly 50% of total Baltic exports to their main trade partners. Moreover, we find that increases in the share of least-traded exports coincided with the timing of the trade liberalization reforms implemented by the Baltic countries. Least-traded imports also grew at robust rates, but their growth was lower than that of exports, accounting for slightly less than a quarter of total imports, that is, about half of the exports value. Moreover, we find that the shares of least-traded imports from the EU 15 and from Russia started diverging around the time the Baltic countries joined the EU, with the EU 15 share increasing and the Russian one declining. We also find that the Baltics’ share of least-traded exports outpaced that of other economies in Central and Eastern Europe. Finally, exports of new goods from the Baltic countries suffered noticeably during the Global Financial Crisis. After the crisis ended, the restart in new goods exports growth displayed mixed patterns.     

The 2009 Recovery Act: Stimulus at the extensive and intensive labor margins

This paper studies the effect of government stimulus spending on a novel aspect of the labor market: the differential impact of spending on the total wage bill versus employment. We analyze the 2009 Recovery Act via instrumental variables using a new instrument, the spending done by federal agencies that were not instructed to target funds towards harder hit regions. We find a moderate positive effect on jobs created/saved (i.e., the “extensive margin”) and also a significant increase in wage payments to workers whose job status was safe without Recovery Act funds (i.e., the “intensive margin”). Our point estimates imply that roughly one-half of the wage payments resulting from the act were paid at the intensive margin. To provide a theoretical underpinning for the estimates, we build a micro-founded dynamic model in which a firm meets new government demand with a combination of new hiring and increasing existing workers׳ average hours. Faced with hiring costs and an overtime premium, the firm responds by increasing hours along both margins. Our model analysis also provides insight into how government spending policy should be structured to lower the cost of generating new jobs. Finally, we catalogue survey evidence from Recovery Act fund recipients that reinforces the importance of the intensive labor margin.     

Land prices and unemployment

We integrate the housing market and the labor market in a dynamic general equilibrium model with credit and search frictions. We argue that the labor channel, combined with the standard credit channel, provides a strong transmission mechanism that can deliver a potential solution to the Shimer (2005) puzzle. The model is confronted with U.S. macroeconomic time series. The estimation results account for two prominent facts observed in the data. First, land prices and unemployment move in opposite directions over the business cycle. Second, a shock that moves land prices also generates the observed large volatility of unemployment.     

融资融券试点的制度安排和制度完善——基于投资者权益保护视角的分析

融资融券交易试点正面临制度完善的重大课题。本文从投资者权益保护的视角对融资融券交易试点制度进行了案例分析,研究我国融资融券业务试点的制度安排、制度缺陷和政策建议。本文率先尝试评价了融资融券业务试点的制度体系,发现其制度机制基本保障了投资者融资融券交易的市场准入权、资产安全权、广泛知情权、公平交易权、服务保证权和投资收益权六项合法权益;从投资者权益保护角度看,虽然试点制度层次清楚、基本完整,但结构失衡,效率不足;建议出台长远规划,推进转融通制度,调整市场准入制度,完善投资者权益保护评价制度,并扩大试点范围,提高效率。     

融资融券试点对我国股票市场波动性的影响实证研究

融资融券交易正式启动对我国股票市场将产生什么样的波动性影响,是学术界和理论界共同关注的焦点。本文在前人研究基础上,从我国实际情况出发,以标的证券指数——上证50指数与深证成指指数作为影响我国股票市场的代表展开实证,运用GARCH族模型,引入虚拟变量D,其中D用来刻画融资融券推出前后对我国股票市场的影响。通过建模,得出融资融券试点一年多时间以来有利于减小我国股票市场波动性的结论。     

Entry,trade costs,and international business cycles

Are firm entry and fixed exporting costs relevant for understanding the international transmission of business cycles? We revisit this question using a model that includes entry, selection to exporting activity, physical capital accumulation and endogenous labor supply. We determine that once the stochastic process for exogenous productivity is calibrated to consider the endogenous dynamics in TFP created by the number of firms and the time series volatility of entry is calibrated to the data, our model yields minimal departures from the Backus et al. (1992) benchmark. The richer model shares all of the successes of the previous model in terms of the volatilities of aggregate quantities, as well as its failures, in terms of replicating patterns of international co-movement and the volatility of international relative prices.     

How to estimate market concentration given grouped data

A novel method is proposed of estimating market concentration for the census case in which firms are grouped into size classes and all that is known about the firms in each category is their number and aggregate size. The formula arises as a way of applying an alternative expression for the concentration ratio based upon the original and first moment size distributions of firms. The semi-parametric technique, which includes a method of interval as well as point estimation, is derived, applied and validated using actual and simulated data. It is anticipated that the estimator will be of use in competition analysis as well as in academic research.     

WTO反倾销协议日落复审条款及美国反倾销日落复审国内法之比较研究

依照WTO反倾销日落复审制度，反倾销税在征收5年后应该终止。但事实上我国的出口产品在美国被采取反倾销措施5年后，并没有因此规定而被停止征收反倾销税，这种无限期地实施反倾销措施偏离了世界贸易组织设置反倾销日落复审初衷。文章对WTO反倾销协议中的日落复审条款和美国反倾销日落复审的国内法进行了详细的分析，并指出美国反倾销日落复审的国内法存在违背WTO协议的可能，进而为我国企业提供有针对性的对策。