Endogenous human capital accumulation, comparative advantage and direct vs. indirect redistribution

Recently, several papers have reexamined the so-called production efficiency theorem and the Atkinson and Stiglitz theorem on commodity taxes in the optimal taxation literature. Naito [J. Public Econ. 71 (1999) 65] showed that indirect redistribution through production distortion or consumption distortion can Pareto-improve welfare and that the two theorems do not necessarily hold when different factors are imperfect substitutes and factor prices are endogenous. On the other hand, Saez J. Public Econ. (2002) forthcoming argued that in the long run, where human capital accumulation is endogenous, the two theorems are still valid. This paper develops reasonable alternative models where individuals accumulate human capital based on their comparative advantage. The present paper shows that the production efficiency theorem is not necessarily valid and that indirect redistribution from the able to the less able such as tariffs and production subsidies can increase efficiency even when skill accumulation is endogenous.     

Is racial salary discrimination disappearing in the NBA? evidence from data during 1985–2015

This study re-examines the racial salary gap of National Basketball Association players by constructing a long unbalanced panel covering the 1985–1986 to 2015–2016 seasons. Contrary to the results of previous studies, we find that non-white players are paid equally to white players with similar characteristics in the 1980s and 1990s, but that white players started to be paid about 20% more than non-white players in the last 10 years. Our results are robust to all specification checks, such as quantile regressions, controlling sample selection, different contract types, and player nationality. We find that neither employer preference nor income gap of white and black residents explains this increasing salary gap.     

Tariff Revenue, Government Expenditure and Growth in a Small Open Economy

I develop a small open endogenous growth model with domestic and foreign intermediate goods. The Marshallian external economies in the domestic intermediate goods sector work as the engine of sustained growth. The model offers two arguments. First, imposing a trade distortion is growth- and welfare-improving if the government uses the tariff revenue for correcting the domestic distortion. Second, comparing the tariff with a lump-sum tax as a financing device, the former is certainly worse than the latter with respect to both growth and welfare if the two intermediate goods are substitutes.
JEL Classification Numbers: F43, H20.     

A larger country sets a lower optimal tariff

We develop a new optimal tariff theory that is consistent with the fact that a larger country sets a lower tariff. In our dynamic Dornbusch–Fischer–Samuelson Ricardian model, the long‐run welfare effects of a rise in a country’s tariff consist of the direct revenue, indirect revenue, and growth effects. Based on this welfare decomposition, we obtain two main results. First, the optimal tariff of a country is positive. Second, the optimal tariff of a country is likely to be decreasing in its absolute advantage parameter, implying that a larger (i.e., more technologically advanced) country sets a lower optimal tariff.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Regulation and Development by Jean‐Jacques Laffont, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005, xxiii + 268 pp. The Economics of Microfinance by Beatriz Armendáriz de Aghion and Jonathan Morduch, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 2005, xiv + 346 pp. Asian States: Beyond the Developmental Perspective edited by Richard Boyd and Tak‐Wing Ngo, London, RoutledgeCurzon, 2005, xv + 224 pp. Growth, Structural Change and Regional Inequality in Malaysia by Asan Ali Golam Hassan, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2004, xiv + 245 pp. The Monetary Geography of Africa by Paul R. Masson and Catherine Pattillo, Washington, D.C., Brookings Institution Press, 2005, xx + 217 pp.     

Redistribution, production inefficiency and decentralized efficiency

This paper analyzes the role of production distortion in income redistribution in an international trade model. In particular, it examines the role of the Stolper and Samuelson effect on efficient income redistribution. It first shows that production inefficiency can be part of a Pareto-efficient tax system for a small country when there is an asymmetric information problem between the government and individuals. Second, the paper shows that such production inefficiency is not only Pareto-improving for a small country, but is also essential in achieving worldwide tax-constrained Pareto-efficient allocation. These two results suggest important implications for commercial policies. The original version of this paper was circulated in 1996 as No. 391 of the Discussion Paper Series of Research Seminars in International Economics at the University of Michigan (http://www.fordschool.umich.edu/rsie/workingpapers/wp.html), with the title “Tariffs and production subsidies as devices to relax the incentive problem of a progressive income tax system”. Since the distribution of the working paper version, this paper has been cited and used in several papers, such as Guesnerie (2001) and Spector (2001). I hope that this updated version of the paper is useful for researchers.     

Aid for Trade and Global Growth

Aid for trade increases a recipient's public services, which lower its import and export transport costs. Formulating a two‐country endogenous growth model, we obtain two main results. First, a permanent increase in the donor's aid/gross domestic product (GDP) ratio raises the steady‐state growth rate as well as both countries' long‐run fractions and cost shares of imported varieties if and only if it lowers the product of transport costs. Second, under a plausible condition, there exists a unique interior growth‐maximizing aid/GDP ratio. These results are robust to alternative specifications for congestion and stock‐flow nature of public goods.     

Aid for trade, infrastructure, and growth

Aid for trade is a new foreign aid initiative to assist recipient countries to build trade-related infrastructure. We formulate a small-country, two-good (i.e., investment and consumption goods), two-factor (i.e., capital and labor) endogenous growth model with learning by doing and intersectoral knowledge spillovers, where the import transport cost depends inversely on public infrastructure. Focusing on the case where the country is incompletely specialized and imports the investment good, we show that a permanent increase in the recipient’s aid/GDP ratio raises the steady-state growth rate if and only if the investment good is more labor-intensive.     

Development of a model to estimate the economic impacts of R&D output of public research institutes

This paper proposes a modeling framework to estimate the economic impacts of R&D output of public research institutes. The framework models the process of R&D output generating the economic impacts. The authors collect case data of market‐creation economic impacts originating from R&D output of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan. On the basis of the case studies, the process of R&D output generating economic impacts is modeled in the following four stages: (1) R&D output, (2) technology transfer, (3) commercialization, and (4) market impacts. The model describes these stages using six parameters. This paper presents the model and case studies, and discusses the application of the model.