Foreign direct investment and economic growth: Is more financial development better?

We investigate the extent to which an increase in financial development affects the positive effect of foreign direct investment on economic growth. Although the financial sector is beneficial for economic growth, the effect of further financial development on growth is found to become insignificant. Using a dynamic panel threshold model on 62 middle- and high-income countries spanning the period 1987–2016, we re-examine the possible nonlinearity between finance, foreign direct investment, and growth. Consistent with the “vanishing effect” of financial development, we find significant evidence that foreign direct investment fosters growth in general, but the growth effect of foreign direct investment becomes negligible when the ratio of private sector credit to gross domestic product exceeds 95.6%. This finding is robust to different econometric methods, various subsamples and interaction analyses, and distinct financial development indicators.     

TFP growth in Chinese cities: The role of factor-intensity and industrial agglomeration

This article estimates agglomeration effects via calculating EG (Elilsion & Glaeser) and TFP growth (Total Factor Production) by considering the undesired output of the industrial enterprise database and the entropy weight method. Using panel data of 207 county-level cities in China and 28 two-digit manufacturing industries from 2003 to 2013 based on SIC codes, this paper analyzes the relationship between agglomeration and TFP growth through the smooth transition model under different regions and factor-intensity. The results are as follows. (1) A negative relationship appears in manufacturing productivity. The agglomeration effect changes to the crowded effect. Environmental pollution is also generated by transportation and inadequate pollution treatment technology. (2) The excessive agglomeration phenomenon of developed areas (eastern region) is less than the less developed areas (central and western regions). (3) Resource-intensity industries present two thresholds that indicate complex regional features. For various intensive industries in different regions, the relationship between GML and agglomeration is different. High agglomeration does not always promote TFP growth. (4) At different levels of urban industrial agglomeration, the influences of efficiency change and technical change on GML are different. Overall, moderate agglomeration in all regions helps promote economic development.     

基于行为—结果—反馈的粤西北山区“十二五”高标准农田建设绩效评价及低效因子诊断

[目的]弥补现有绩效观的不足,提出并解析了基于行为—结果—反馈的土地整治绩效评价内涵,开展粤西北山区"十二五"高标准农田建设绩效评价及低效因子诊断。[方法]从实施行为、效益结果、调查反馈3个方面建立指标体系,采用熵权改进的TOPSIS法和障碍度模型量化评估绩效水平并诊断低效因子。[结果]粤西北山区各县市在组织实施、综合效益和调查反馈方面各有不足,"十二五"高标准农田建设绩效水平总体有待进一步提高,绩效评价结果具有显著的区域差异,罗定市绩效值最高,绩效水平为良好;英德市、蕉岭县、南雄市、仁化县的绩效水平为中级;郁南县、龙川县、始兴县、云安县的绩效水平为低级;对于粤西北山区大多数县(市),实施行为作为首位低效因子,对高标准农田建设绩效的贡献度最小。[结论]基于行为—结果—反馈的绩效观,采用熵权改进的TOPSIS法和障碍度模型的绩效评价,能够客观衡量研究区高标准农田建设绩效水平。增加田间道路建设、提高土地流转面积、加强专项工作经费落实对于提高粤西北山区高标准农田建设水平具有普适性。     

中国区域农业科技资源配置能力及比较优势研究*——基于省级农业科学院视角

[目的]通过测算各地区农业科技资源的配置能力,分析其比较优势并找出不足以便弥补差距,促进各区域农业科技配置能力的提高,为各地区农业经济的发展提供支持。省级农业科学院作为各省市规模最大、综合实力最强的农业科研机构,是农业科技创新的重要主体之一,分析其科技资源配置能力具有重要的现实意义。[方法]基于2009—2016年相关数据,遴选了有代表性的评价指标体系,运用突变级数法计算农业科技资源配置能力,运用NRCA模型定量分析农业科技资源配置效益的比较优势。[结果]山东农业科学院科技资源配置能力位居全国第一,甘肃、江苏、青海农业科学院分别在农业科技人力、物力、财力资源方面具有明显的比较优势。[结论]省级农业科学院科技资源配置能力区域差异十分明显,但区域格局变化不大,且大致与各地区经济实力相吻合;农业科技资源配置能力较高的农业科学院大多在农业科技物力资源配置效益方面具有比较优势,在农业科技人力、财力资源配置效益方面不具备比较优势。     

The Investment Performance of Art in Mainland China

This article investigates price determinants and investment performance for paintings from mainland China using hedonic regression analysis applied to a new dataset from over 190,000 auction transactions. The price index obtained indicates that from 2000 to 2015, the average annual appreciation in value of Chinese art was 8.42% in real USD. Compared with American artwork, global artwork, and traditional financial assets, Chinese art possesses a comparatively better risk and return profile and a low correlation with other assets. Finally, regarding the masterpiece effect, the conclusion is that highly priced Chinese art does not underperform the market.     

中国粮食虚拟水驱动效应与空间联动分析

以中国粮食虚拟水为主要研究对象,运用LMDI指数分解法,对粮食生产用水量的驱动效应进行分解,从结构、粮食产量、经济发展和人口规模4个重点驱动效应方面实行量化研究,并利用geoda软件求得莫兰指数,分析粮食用水量的空间相关性以及其各种驱动效应在省际间的影响,并针对中国粮食生产用水的现状提出建议。     

广西农业生态脆弱性评价及区划研究

［目的］随着经济的快速发展，我国各地区都面临着不同程度的农业生态脆弱性，通过研究特殊地形和气候下的农业生态脆弱性，有助于为农业生态环境的综合治理提供参考。［方法］文章以广西为例，通过构建评价指标体系，采用层次分析法和熵权法确定综合权重，通过构建综合评价模型对广西农业生态脆弱性程度进行评价，利用ArcGIS对生态脆弱性进行分级，以期探究广西农业生态脆弱性的空间分布情况。［结果］权重分析结果表明水蚀面积的权重值最高为0134，年平均降水量的权重值为0113，自然环境指标相对于农业生产和经济指标对农业生态脆弱性的影响更大。区划研究结果表明广西农业生态脆弱性区域大致可分为5个区域，分别是桂西峰丛洼地带、桂东山地丘陵地带、桂中低山丘陵地带、桂东北山地、桂南沿海丘陵地带。［结论］广西农业生态环境整体来看较为脆弱，处于轻度和中度脆弱等级，但生态环境问题仍不容忽视。为了改善农业生态脆弱性，政府应实行区域的联合防治，加大对农业生态环境的监督和治理，积极探寻生态、环保的农业发展方式，调整产业结构，改善农业生态环境的状态，促进广西农业的可持续发展。     

Research on a stock-matching trading strategy based on bi-objective optimization

In recent years, with strict domestic financial supervision and other policy-oriented factors, some products are becoming increasingly restricted, including nonstandard products, bank-guaranteed wealth management products, and other products that can provide investors with a more stable income. Pairs trading, a type of stable strategy that has proved efficient in many financial markets worldwide, has become the focus of investors. Based on the traditional Gatev–Goetzmann–Rouwenhorst (GGR, Gatev et al., 2006) strategy, this paper proposes a stock-matching strategy based on bi-objective quadratic programming with quadratic constraints (BQQ) model. Under the condition of ensuring a long-term equilibrium between pairedstock prices, the volatility of stock spreads is increased as much as possible, improving the profitability of the strategy. To verify the effectiveness of the strategy, we use the natural logs of the daily stock market indices in Shanghai. The GGR model and the BQQ model proposed in this paper are back-tested and compared. The results show that the BQQ model can achieve a higher rate of returns.     

Using a Delphi approach to identify the most efficacious interventions to improve Indonesia’s forest and land governance

Improvements to forest and land governance are key to addressing deforestation and degradation of peatlands in Indonesia. While this is a priority area, the steps to achieving good forest and land governance have been under-researched. There is a need for better links between theoretically informed academic analysis and work in the field. This study drew together a panel of experts on forest and land governance using a Delphi method to discuss the underlying drivers of deforestation and peatland degradation, and correspondingly, to identify interventions to improve land and forest governance in Indonesia. Seventeen panelists with an average of more than 12 years’ experience reached agreement over four governance interventions: increasing the capacity of local communities to manage and monitor forests and natural resources (65% of panelist’s votes); identify strengths and weaknesses of community organisations and institutions, and develop strategies to improve their performance (65% of panelist’s votes); gazetting forests to clarify land boundaries and determine which areas should be village, community and state forest zone (59% of panelist’s votes); and, integrating participatory community maps into spatial plans to protect local communities and indigenous peoples’ development needs (53% of panelist’s votes). They also supported action research involving the government, private sector and communities, and political economy approaches to researching forest and land governance issues. Panelists indicated that community level approaches such as securing community forest tenure through clarifying land claims and integrating local land tenure into spatial planning had an important role in sustainable forest management.     

Intergenerational Earnings Inequality: New Evidence From Italy

Using an innovative dataset built by merging survey and administrative data, we provide new estimates of intergenerational earnings’ inequality between fathers and sons in Italy, extending previous evidence in several directions. We rely on the TSTSLS method to predict fathers’ earnings and compute intergenerational elasticities and imputed rank–rank slopes, trying to reduce estimation biases. Confirming previous evidence, we find that Italy is characterized by a high intergenerational inequality in cross-country comparison. Extending previous analyses, we show that the intergenerational association increases when sons at older ages and multi-annual averages of pseudo-fathers’ and sons’ earnings are considered. We also find that the intergenerational persistence differs across geographical macro-areas and is high also for daughters, especially when family earnings are considered. Furthermore, estimates where possible mediating factors of the parental influence are included among the covariates show that a high intergenerational association persists when sons’ education and occupation are controlled for.