中国省际区域经济差距演进及协调发展

实现区域协调发展是新时代中国区域高质量发展的必然要求。改革开放以来,中国省际区域经济差距经历了差距拉大—逐渐缩小—缓慢增大—逐渐缩小—维持不变的过程,逐步趋于收敛,其深层原因在于经济发展基础、资本投入、区域要素配置、区域要素使用和制度因素的地区异质性。推进区域经济协调发展,要不断加强对中西部地区的资本投入,优化资源配置,提高全要素生产率,提升开放水平,推进贸易高质量发展,完善与区域协调发展总体战略要求相适应的宏观区域政策和区域管理体制。     

Financial crises,debt overhang,and firm growth in transition economies

ABSTRACT

We examine the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008 and the European debt crisis of 2011 on the relationship between capital structure, investments, and performance for Eastern European companies. While the existing literature documents how firms’ investments are sensitive to the availability of internal funds and to debt holdings, we further investigate whether this investment sensitivity also translates in different levels of performance, and document that capital structure indeed has both a direct and an indirect effect, mediated by the capital expenditure channel. We show that firms with higher financial flexibility experience higher investments and returns on capital. Over-levered firms instead suffer from a debt overhang condition, forcing them to curb investments, and consequently experiencing lower performance. Overall, we provide evidence on the importance of capital structure and financial flexibility on investments and performance, showing the real consequences of the debt overhang condition on firm value creation. Firms should therefore aim at maintaining adequate financial flexibility in order to be able to pursue future profitable investment opportunities, and avoid the under-investment problem arising from a debt overhang situation.     

Residential mobility and the local context: Comparing long-term and short-term spatial trends of population movements in Greece

Residential mobility is a key dimension of population dynamics shaping urban growth and rural development at different spatio-temporal scales. Assuming spatial mobility as increasingly dependent on the intrinsic characteristics of local contexts, the present study investigates long-term and short-term population movements in a European country (Greece), in light of regional urbanization processes and socioeconomic development. A multidimensional analysis of indicators of residential stability and background variables was carried out with the aim at evaluating the influence of local contexts on more general processes of population mobility. Different typologies of spatial mobility associated to factors (directly or indirectly) dependent on demographic dynamics, economic performances and urban cycles were identified. The empirical findings of this study evidence (more or less traditional) paths of internal migration and a latent process of population relocation across metropolitan regions, together with more recent international migrations at both working and retirement age. While short-range population movements were the ultimate result of late suburbanization in Greece, medium- and broad-range mobility consolidated the country's divide in urban and rural areas, evidencing the attractive role of Athens. Spatial direction and intensity of population movements reflect complex socioeconomic transformations, whose knowledge provides innovative visions for a better understanding of future demographic dynamics in Mediterranean Europe.     

Does Airbnb have a homogenous impact? Examining Airbnb’s effect on hotels with different organizational structures

Although a number of studies have examined Airbnb’s impact on hotels, previous studies have yielded mixed results and are limited in their geographical scope. Additionally, the impact of Airbnb on hotels with different organizational structures has not been previously analyzed. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is threefold: 1) to add to our understanding of the impact of an increase of Airbnb inventory by clarifying previously inconclusive results; 2) to examine the extent to which Airbnb listings affect hotel performance measures in the overall U.S. hotel market; and 3) to investigate the influence of Airbnb on key hotel metrics by elaborating the effect of Airbnb on hotels operated under different organizational forms- chain-managed, franchised, and independent. Our results show an adverse impact of Airbnb on hotel RevPAR and ADR metrics across different organizational structures. However, interestingly, Airbnb listings did not negatively affect occupancy numbers. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The non-inclusive nature of ‘all inclusive’ economics: Paradoxes and possibilities of the resort complex

The ‘All Inclusive’ (AI) concept has revolutionized package hospitality services and captured the attention of many industry stakeholders. Scholars have mostly investigated AI from the marketing perspective, whereas the economic ramifications of this type of product, for both hospitality operators and local communities, are still a barren landscape. Using a mixture of quantitative analysis techniques, including a two-step cluster analysis and econometric modeling, the study aims to enhance our conceptual capital pertaining to the economic impact of AI for local communities. The study focuses on overall tourists' spending, both within and outside their accommodation, with expenditure segmented into seven study-specific categories that highlight the economic specificities of AI. Findings, of interest to industry stakeholders, revealed the problematic and ambiguous status of AI provision in Cyprus, whereas actions, espousing the principles of cluster theories, that could maximize the economic contribution of AI to local economies are suggested.     

Is heterogeneous capital depreciation important for estimating firm-level productivity? Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms

This paper contributes to the existing literature on estimating firm-level production functions. Using Chinese manufacturing survey data, we employ the firm-level heterogeneous capital depreciation rate to measure firms’ investment and assess its role using Olley and Pakes (1996) (OP) production function estimation technique. Although there is some ongoing debate on the econometric soundness of the OP technique, we argue quantitatively that the heterogeneous depreciation rate muffles the measurement error associated with the key input demand investment. In our sample, it significantly narrows the gap of total factor productivity (TFP) estimates between the OP technique and a state-of-the-art estimation method that works without investment. We further reveal that the improved performance primarily originates from the dynamic evolution in the distribution of the capital depreciation rate.     

Asymmetric volatility spillovers between economic policy uncertainty and stock markets: Evidence from China

This study explores the spillovers between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and stock market realized volatility (RV). The monthly index of Chinese and US EPU and RV are used to analyze the pairwise directional spillovers. We find that RV is a net receiver that is more vulnerable to shocks from U.S. EPU than to shocks from Chinese EPU. We further decompose the RV into good and bad volatility to test the asymmetric spillover effect between the stock market and EPU. The results suggest that EPU has a bigger effect on bad volatility in the stock market throughout most of the sample period. However, we find that good volatility spillovers become larger during periods of stimulated reform, whereas bad volatility spillovers become larger during periods of international disputes. We show that Chinese stock market volatility is sensitive to both U.S. and Chinese EPU and that the spillover is asymmetric in different periods.     

Uncovering the global network of economic policy uncertainty

This study uncovers the static and dynamic network of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) across 17 developed and emerging economies. We build a centrality network using the minimal spanning tree (MST) as well as a dependency network using partial correlations. Results from the MST show that EPU exhibits some degree of geographical connections with EPUs in seven countries in the sample directly linked to the US EPU. Evidence from dynamic time-varying MST reveals that the nature and dominance of the EPU network have changed significantly over time. Further, the US and German EPUs dominate a close-knit global policy uncertainty network with the highest net (To and From) transmitter of information flow in the dependency network. Greece, Russia, and Brazil are the top three net receivers of information in the global network of EPU. The policy implication of these results relates to the renewed and ongoing international debate on policy coordination.     

Females' perspectives on tourism's impact and their employment in the sector: The case of Petra,Jordan.

This study aims to explore the trend towards gender equality in the tourism sector of the Petra region, Jordan. To do so, a mixed methods design including a questionnaire and in-depth interviews was employed for female residents of rural and urban areas in the region. The results show that women do not have favourable view of tourism's economic impacts and that several barriers exist to their employment in the tourism sector. The findings' implications and future studies are addressed.     

本世纪以来的西方经济增长理论

中国经济正处于动能转换的关键时期,需要来自增长理论研究的支持。21世纪以来,经济增长理论的研究取得了显著进步。本文旨在评述增长理论的最新发展,进一步梳理理论脉络和主流观点,为学术研究和经济实践提供参考。本文认为,经济增长理论已逐渐形成制度决定理论、结构转变理论和人口过渡理论三大主流观点。同时,本文指出了增长理论存在的不足。在总结现有文献贡献与不足的基础上,对未来研究方向进行了展望。