The effect of social distancing on the reach of an epidemic in social networks

How does social distancing affect the reach of an epidemic in social networks? We present Monte Carlo simulation results of a susceptible–infected–removed with social distancing model. The key feature of the model is that individuals are limited in the number of acquaintances that they can interact with, thereby constraining disease transmission to an infectious subnetwork of the original social network. While increased social distancing typically reduces the spread of an infectious disease, the magnitude varies greatly depending on the topology of the network, indicating the need for policies that are network dependent. Our results also reveal the importance of coordinating policies at the ‘global’ level. In particular, the public health benefits from social distancing to a group (e.g. a country) may be completely undone if that group maintains connections with outside groups that are not following suit.

     

The geographic extent of global supply chains: evidence from Southeast Asia

We study the extent to which inter‐firm relationships are locally concentrated and what determines firm differences in geographic proximity to domestic or foreign suppliers and customers. From micro‐data on self‐reported customer and supplier data of firms in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, we measure the distances between firm pairs, that is, the distance to the main supplier and the distance to the main customer for the surveyed firms. The distances to suppliers and customers are shorter for indigenous firms in these Southeast Asian countries; but the arm's length differs across countries. The distance between firm pairs differs widely across firms within narrowly defined industries and countries. We find that both firm‐level transaction costs and capabilities affect the distances between customers and suppliers. The distance to suppliers is longer for firms that have accepted guest engineers from the main supplier to maintain production processes. Further, we find that the distances to suppliers and customers are longer for firms that have undertaken organisational change or improved marketing practices.     

Sustainable Production: Practices and Determinant Factors of Green Supply Chain Management of Chinese Companies

This paper explores the green supply chain management (GSCM) of companies based in the Yangtze River Delta, China. The companies' overall GSCM practice level (L_GSCM) is measured by using the data from 165 valid respondents in a questionnaire survey conducted during April and May 2009. The relationships between L_GSCM and the classified determinant factors are analyzed. It is indicated that Chinese companies are still at a preliminary stage of GSCM practices. Their environmental management in cooperation with external members of the supply chain is very marginal. A company's L_GSCM is significantly and positively associated with the external pressures from regulatory, domestic clients and business competitors. As an internal factor, a company's learning capacity greatly determines L_GSCM. We also confirm that the internal factors function as intermediate variables of external pressures in influencing a company's GSCM. A company's environmental management capacities will be strongly enhanced by frequent internal training of employees to increase its involvement in GSCM practices. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Sequential payments and optimal pricing in payment systems

This paper studies the intraday payment behaviour between heterogeneous banks as well as optimal intraday pricing schemes. The paper shows the social optimality of payment sequencing, which allows a bank to delay payments until the bank receives payments from the counterparty. The payment sequencing allows a bank with high liquidity cost to ‘recycle’ payment inflow from another bank with lower liqudity cost, reducing the aggregate cost of funding of banks to settle all payments. But we also see that the banks have an incentive to delay payments more than the payment sequencing requires. This underscores the importance of social planner’s role reducing settlement delay, while leaving socially efficient payment sequencing. In this context, we compare two different pricing schemes, a standard throughput guideline and a time-varying intraday tariff, to discuss the optimal incentive mechanisms in payment systems for the ‘socially efficient sequential settlement’.     

Country size,technology, and Ricardian comparative advantage

We develop a Ricardian model with heterogeneous firms in which country size and technology play a crucial role in the firm‐level variables. We show that a country with larger size and better technology exhibits higher productivity and lower price–cost margins even under assumptions of C.E.S. preferences and monopolistic competition. Welfare is higher in this country, not only due to the increased product variety but also due to increased competition in a domestic market. We also show that country size and technology impact critically on the intensive margin as well as the extensive margin in the gravity equation.     

GLOBALIZATION AND PRODUCTIVITY: A SURVEY OF FIRM‐LEVEL ANALYSIS

Abstract Recent empirical studies which utilize plant‐ or establishment‐level data to examine globalization's impact on productivity have discovered many causal mechanisms involved in globalization's impact on firms’ productivity. Because these pathways have been broad, there have been few attempts to summarize the several and detailed mechanisms of self‐selection and learning at the same time. This paper examines seven pathways so that the clear‐cut consequences of the broad picture of globalization become visible. This strategy is useful for detecting missing links within and across the existing studies as well as for finding possible synergy effects among different mechanisms. Insightful policy implications may be derived from the comprehensive comparisons between the seven different pathways of globalization.     

Policy trade-off in the long run: A new Keynesian model with technological change and money growth

In this study, we introduce a constant rate of technological change and money growth into the standard new Keynesian model, in which both prices and nominal wages are supposed to be sticky. Using such a model, we examine whether a policy trade-off exists between curbing inflation and stabilizing the welfare-relevant output gap in the steady state. If we take only price stickiness into consideration, a policy trade-off does not occur. However, if both nominal wage stickiness and price stickiness are taken into consideration, a policy trade-off occurs.     

The Economic and Environmental Consequences of Automobile Lifetime Extension and Fuel Economy Improvement: Japan's Case

The presenft paper develops a structural decomposition analysis with cumulative product lifetime distributions to estimate the effects of both product lifetime shifts and energy efficiency changes on the embodied energy consumptions. The empirical analysis focuses on automobile use (ordinary passenger vehicles, small passenger vehicles, and light passenger vehicles) in Japan during the period 1990–2000. It reveals that the lifetime extension of existing old vehicles during the study period was more beneficial to the environment than purchasing new passenger vehicles with a relatively high fuel economy, because the lifetime extension empirically contributed to reducing the embodied energy consumption at the production and end-use stages. We also found that the energy-saving impact of a one-year lifetime extension was approximately 1.3 times larger than that of the most significant technological improvement in the electric power generation sector.     

Measuring Search Frictions Using Japanese Microdata

This paper estimates individual‐level matching functions to measure search frictions in the Japanese labour market and presents the determinants of search duration. We employ administrative microdata that track the job search process of job seekers who left or lost their job in August 2005 and subsequently registered at their local public employment service. Our finding is that the matching function exhibits decreasing rather than constant returns‐to‐scale for job seekers and vacancies. We also find that after controlling for the benefits period, job seekers who lost their job involuntarily were more likely than those quitting voluntarily to exit from unemployment.     

REGIONAL WATER FOOTPRINTS OF THE YANGTZE RIVER: AN INTERREGIONAL INPUT–OUTPUT APPROACH

Recently, researchers have applied the multi-regional input–output (MRIO) approach to water footprint (WF) analysis. The concept of interregional input–output (R-MRIO) was developed to analyse regional issues. Researchers have concentrated on the development of global or international input–output (N-MRIO) tables. Using the N-MRIO and the R-MRIO approach allows the study of global and regional issues, respectively. The WF is an indicator influenced by trade among nations and regions. However, the treatment of imports in an R-MRIO approach differs in whether international imports are separated or combined. We evaluate the effects of the difference between these models and discuss policy implications for the Yangtze River, China. The WF calculated using the combined type model is 11% larger than that by the separated type model. This difference can be ascribed to international imports, mainly internal consumption and interregional trade. We find that this difference affects social equity in water-abundant areas.