内地与香港CEPA经济效应的实证分析

本文从实证分析的角度出发,运用区内贸易比重、巴拉萨模型、区内贸易流量、格鲁伯-劳艾德指标等工具,对祖国内地与香港CEPA的经济效应进行系统研究。CEPA的实施对香港、祖国内地的贸易影响不尽相同,就建立区域经济一体化的成本而言,香港比内地要低。     

论我国高新技术产品对外贸易与经济增长

本文在我国高新技术产品对外贸易大幅增长的背景下,以1991-2005年高新技术产品进出口额数据为基础,运用计量经济学方法,对高新技术产品对外贸易对经济增长的作用进行了实证研究。通过分析发现,高新技术产品对外贸易已成为我国经济增长的一个亮点,最后对未来如何更好地发展高新技术产品对外贸易提出了政策建议。     

长江经济带多极网络空间发展格局研究——“经济网络—多增长极—共生关系”分析框架的构建与应用

在区域经济发展过程中,空间极化与空间经济网络发育共进,多个增长极与空间经济网络有机结合和共生形成多极网络空间组织。实施长江经济带发展战略,要把构建和优化多极网络空间发展格局作为一个重点。基于“经济网络—多增长极—共生关系”的分析框架,利用2000—2017年A股上市公司的总部—分支数据构建长江经济带空间经济网络,通过节点度、网络密度、点度中心度、网络连通度等分析其发育水平,并根据城市综合指数（标准化后的节点度与规模加权经济增长率之和）判定增长极范围及其核心城市,进而运用共生度模型检验增长极与空间经济网络之间的共生关系,结果发现：长江经济带的空间经济网络发育水平稳步上升并趋于成熟,同时已形成长三角、长江中游、成渝三大增长极;三大增长极之间的经济联系持续增强,其中,长三角增长极与长江中游增长极的联系强度最大,长三角增长极与成渝增长极次之,而长江中游增长极与成渝增长极的联系强度较小;增长极与空间经济网络之间存在正向非对称互惠共生关系,增长极对空间经济网络的促进大于空间经济网络对增长极的促进,空间经济网络对增长极的促进作用不断增强,而增长极对空间经济网络的促进作用呈现先减弱后增强的趋势。可见,多极网络空间组织在长江经济带已初步形成,应在进一步推动三大增长极加快发展的同时,加强增长极之间的互动,建立多维度多层次的更加紧密的空间经济联系,提升空间经济网络的现代化水平,促进长江经济带多极网络空间发展格局的持续优化。     

The effect of foreign trade and investment liberalization on spatial concentration of economic activity

I examine the varying responses of countries to foreign trade and direct investment liberalization on spatial concentration of their economic activity by taking into consideration moderating factors such as their market size and level of economic development. I argue that liberalization increases the concentration under normal conditions but large market size, and underdevelopment can disperse economic activity. Using data from 168 countries for the period of time starting in 1980s, I found support for all hypotheses.     

Economic contribution of essential air service flights on small and remote communities

The Essential Air Service Program (EAS) has attracted considerable criticism and has been a target for either modification or complete termination almost since its inception through the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978. Although its opponents emphasize the program's inefficiency, its supporters claim that the program is crucial to accessing small and remote communities, which helps them develop economically and socially. This paper demonstrates the economic contributions of EAS flights to small and remote communities. Using a two-stage least squares estimation, the major findings indicate that a 1% increase in air passenger traffic in EAS airports with a minimum annual air passenger traffic of 1000 likely leads to a 0.12% increase in per capita income of the community served by that airport. Our results also suggest that EAS communities that are able to sustain their subsidized flights experienced higher per capita income growth in the 1999–2011 period than did ex-EAS communities that lost their flights as a result of non-eligibility.     

Vacationers and the economic “double dip” in Europe

The subject of this study concerns individual vacationers' reactions to the global economic crisis. This crisis is lasting longer than expected, resulting in Europe in a “double dip”. Vacationers can use different strategies to cope with this crisis: from pruning (giving up the vacation) via cheese-slicing (economizing on vacation attributes) to non-economizing. Based on a theoretical framework, it was predicted that over time the pruning segment would become larger than the cheese-slicing segment. A longitudinal study in The Netherlands, covering 4 years, shows economic developments having a relatively minor effect on vacationers' holiday plans and intentions, with no increase in the size of the pruning segment. Six vacationer segments were found, three of which can be considered to be crisis-resistant. Each segment pursues different economizing strategies, with each requiring a customized marketing strategy. Five explanations are proposed for the relatively limited influence of the economic “double dip” on Dutch vacationers. Future research can be directed to comparing vacations with other consumer products, in order to explain the crisis-resistance of vacation planning during this economic crisis.     

Economic slowdowns,hazard rates and foreign ownership

This paper evaluates the link between foreign ownership and firm exit during crises, using a longitudinal micro dataset over an 18-year period. We address two main questions: first, if foreign affiliates have different failure rates than domestic firms during economic downturns, and second if the foreignness effect differs between two different economic downturns. The results partially confirm the liability of foreignness argument, suggesting that when the crisis was more pronounced at home than abroad, the differences in hazard rates between foreign and domestic firms reduce. The footloose argument is also only partially confirmed. For policy makers, our results on survival dynamics during crises are not against policies stimulating inward investment. There is no need to fear that foreign firms destabilize more than usual the host economy during economic slowdowns by immediately closing down operations.     

Cost-effectiveness of rivaroxaban compared with enoxaparin plus a vitamin K antagonist for the treatment of venous thromboembolism

Background:

Venous thromboembolism (VTE), comprised of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), is commonly treated with a low-molecular-weight heparin such as enoxaparin plus a vitamin K antagonist (VKA) to prevent recurrence. Administration of enoxaparin?+?VKA is hampered by complexities of laboratory monitoring and frequent dose adjustments. Rivaroxaban, an orally administered anticoagulant, has been compared with enoxaparin?+?VKA in the EINSTEIN trials. The objective was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of rivaroxaban compared with enoxaparin?+?VKA as anticoagulation treatment for acute, symptomatic, objectively-confirmed DVT or PE.

Methods:

A Markov model was built to evaluate the costs, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios associated with rivaroxaban compared to enoxaparin?+?VKA in adult patients treated for acute DVT or PE. All patients entered the model in the ‘on-treatment’ state upon commencement of oral rivaroxaban or enoxaparin?+?VKA for 3, 6, or 12 months. Transition probabilities were obtained from the EINSTEIN trials during treatment and published literature after treatment. A 3-month cycle length, US payer perspective ($2012), 5-year time horizon and a 3% annual discount rate were used.

Results:

Treatment with rivaroxaban cost $2,448 per-patient less and was associated with 0.0058 more QALYs compared with enoxaparin?+?VKA, making it a dominant economic strategy. Upon one-way sensitivity analysis, the model’s results were sensitive to the reduction in index VTE hospitalization length-of-stay associated with rivaroxaban compared with enoxaparin?+?VKA. At a willingness-to-pay threshold of $50,000/QALY, probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed rivaroxaban to be cost-effective compared with enoxaparin?+?VKA approximately 76% of the time.

Limitations:

The model did not account for the benefits associated with an oral and minimally invasive administration of rivaroxaban. ‘Real-world’ applicability is limited because data from the EINSTEIN trials were used in the model. Also, resource utilization and costs were based on the US healthcare system.

Conclusion:

Rivaroxaban is a cost-effective option for anticoagulation treatment of acute VTE patients.     

An application of data envelopment analysis to evaluate the efficiency level of the operational cost of Brazilian electricity distribution utilities

This paper shows efficiency indices for 60 Brazilian electricity distribution utilities. The efficiency scores are gauged by three DEA models. For both models, these quantities are evaluated under different contexts. One treats with respect to the regulator perspective. The others examine an alternative approach based on cluster analysis and restrictions on factor weights. It is worth pointing out that these developments can reduce the information asymmetry and improve the regulator's skill to compare the performance of the utilities, a fundamental in incentive regulation schemes.     

Economic convergence: Policy implications from a heterogeneous agent model

In this paper we study the effectiveness of different types of cohesion policies with respect to convergence of regions. A two-region agent-based macroeconomic model is used to analyze short-, medium- and long-term effects of policies improving human capital and fostering adoption of technologies in lagging regions. With fully integrated labor markets the human capital policy positively affects the economically stronger region but reduces production in the targeted weaker region. Subsidies for high technology investment in the weaker region have a positive local output effect and a negative effect on the neighboring region, thereby fostering convergence. When labor markets are not integrated both policies support convergence.