India’s Green Revolution: Economic Gains and Political Costs

Research and development (R&;D) promotion policies are critical for economic development in the sense that they contribute to technical progress. Although it is true that policy space is restricted under the World Trade Organization (WTO) system, there are still some R&;D promotion policy measures made available to developing countries. It is thus necessary for developing countries to utilize such available measures. In addition to explaining the R&;D promotion measures available under the current WTO regulations, I provide suggestions for modifying the Uruguay Round Subsidies Code with respect to the R&;D promotion policies of developing countries from the viewpoint of “distributional fairness” in international trade relations.     

The relative contributions of location and preferential policies in China's regional development: being in the right place and having the right incentives

A large part of the literature on provincial inequality in China has found it necessary to include regional dummies in the provincial growth regressions. A smaller but vocal part of the literature has emphasised the granting of preferential policies to explain the faster growth of the coastal provinces. We replace the regional dummies with a measure of the ability to participate in international trade (Geography), and a preferential policy index (Policy). We find that geography and policy had about equal influence on coastal growth (3 percentage points each). Geography affected growth with a much longer lag than policy, however. The policy index was highest for the metropolises (Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin) and lowest for the central and northwestern provinces. The preferential policies are to a large extent “deregulation policies” that enabled marketization and internationalization of the coastal economies and allowed them to become more like their East Asian neighbours (and competitors). The weak (statistically insignificant) support for conditional convergence is in line with the existence of institutions that retard the income convergence process generated by the movement of labor and capital and by the Stolper–Samuelson mechanism. The household registration system ties the peasants to the land, the monopoly state bank system favors borrowing by state enterprises, and local protectionism reduces inter-provincial trade. Clearly, these institutions need to be deregulated. An effective strategy to develop the western provinces must therefore encompass physical capital formation, human capital formation, and institutional capital formation.     

Consumer preferences and employment discrimination

Many American managers are under increasing pressure to base hiring and other employment decisions on consumers' preferences. This study attempts, in exploratory fashion, to identify traits of in-person service workers (IPSWs) that are preferred by consumers and could serve as the basis for employment discrimination. Preliminary results indicate that consumers do have strongly held preferences when a transaction involves significant customer-worker interaction. Females appear to be a more likely source of consumer-based discrimination than males for high involvement purchases. Briefly discussed is the question of whether consumers have stereotypical beliefs about IPSWs as well as the implications of these beliefs.     

Personal vs. non‐personal sources of information used in the purchase of men’s apparel

This study identifies and examines the relationship between several segmentation variables and the personal and promotional (non‐personal) cues used in the information‐gathering step of the purchase decision process. In the context of this study, personal cues refer to family members, coworkers and friends. Promotional or non‐personal cues refer to magazine advertisements, television advertisements, store displays and salespersons. Information regarding the use of personal and promotional cues was gathered from a national, random sample of 440 male consumers. The study found that adult male consumers report using promotional cues more frequently than personal information sources.     

Impact Of Tariff Reduction On Structural Employment In China: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis

The paper studies the effect of tariff reduction on employment in China. Using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis, a model simulates the structural adjustment in the Chinese economy as a result of tariff cuts and predicts their quantitative impacts on structural unemployment during the adjustment period. It is concluded that the structural unemployment in China caused by tariff reduction is not as serious as some have claimed. The technique of study on structural unemployment can be extended to other countries to analyze the impact of trade reform.     

Food availability versus consumption efficiency: causes of the Chinese famine

The Chinese famine of 1958–1961 is characterized not only by its great magnitude but also by the uniqueness of its causes. In this article we present evidence that conventional reasons; including FAD and entitlement failure, fail to offer plausible explanations for the tragedy because of the obvious contradiction between food availability and excessive deaths during the famine period. Our thesis is that the famine is caused by consumption inefficiency, a result of the free food supply in the communal dining system in the famine period. This causal factor is unique and unprecedented in the famine history and theory. Yet the thesis is consistent with a basic economic precept: if property rights for food in a society are not defined, food consumption will be inefficient. This inefficiency mades the previously barely adequate food supply in China inadequate, causing a large-scale famine.     

The effect of macroeconomic news on stock returns: New evidence from newspaper coverage

Previous literature has produced weak evidence to support the hypothesis that real economic news affects stock returns. This is, in part, attributed to the difficulty of measuring how investors interpret macroeconomic announcements in different economic environments. In this paper, we choose a different approach of measuring macroeconomic news to better estimate its effect on stock returns. Since newspaper stories provide an interpretation of the statistical releases, we choose newspaper stories as our measure of news. Our findings indicate that news about GDP and unemployment does affect stock returns.     

In Search of System Understanding and Control

Technology, standardization, and global integration have created a world of ever-increasing financial and economic complexity. However, measurement and modeling have not kept pace with these developments: new approaches to recognize and embrace the complexity of an open social-economic system are necessary. In particular, it is necessary to address five fundamental challenges to system modeling and forward-looking examinations of human behavior: fallibility, reflexivity, time inconsistency, domain inconsistency, and the “Lucas critique.” It is of particular importance to recognize that human life operates in an integrated domain of economic, political, spiritual, family, social, and cultural aspects. To support the needs of analysis, new types of data are necessary. The article presents several specific areas in which modeling and measurement must be improved to meet the demands for economic analysis in the 21st century.     

Thrift Conversions and Windfall Profits: An Empirical Examination

The thrift industry has been studied extensively in recent years due to the enormous costs to resolve failed thrifts during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Almost all of the studies have focused on the causes of these failures. Yet an important but relatively neglected development that merits further study is the conversion of mutual institutions to the stock form of ownership. Such conversions raise questions regarding the appropriate price for the shares in initial offerings, particularly in view of reports that windfall profits have been realized by the initial investors in numerous cases and who should receive the shares. The purpose of this article is to examine mutual thrifts that converted to stock ownership form during 1992 and 1993 to determine whether excess returns were indeed realized and, if so, to identify the determinants of those excess returns. The empirical results indicate the initial investors do indeed benefit from significantly positive abnormal returns during the first few days of trading after conversion. Additional empirical results indicate that both the pro-forma price-to-book ratio and the dollar amount of shares management intends to purchase are significant factors in explaining the variation in the abnormal returns.