Economic progress and skill obsolescence with network effects

Summary. We construct an OLG model with network effects to examine skill obsolescence when individuals can choose technological vintages. In the absence of transfer payments, some regions of the parameter space have unique stationary equilibria, others have unique cyclical equilibria, and others have multiple stationary equilibria. All equilibria are Pareto efficient. However, rat race equilibria can exist in which all agents currently alive prefer a slower rate of progress than occurs in equilibrium. When contemporaneous transfers are allowed, equilibria are unique everywhere, but a cycle still exists, and a rat race can still arise in equilibrium. Allowing intertemporal transfers (debt) ensures that all equilibria are stationary. In the relevant parameter range, the introduction of debt can eliminate cycles and increase the long-run growth rate. No rat race equilibria exist when debt is allowed.Received: 3 January 2002, Revised: 3 June 2004, JEL Classification Numbers: 041, J24, O33. Correspondence to: Ian P. KingEarly versions of this paper were presented at the West Coast Macro Workshop, the Mid-West Macro Meetings, the Canadian Macroeconomics Study Group Meetings, and the Society for Economic Dynamics Meetings. We would like to thank V. V. Chari, Merwan Engineer, Don Ferguson, John Hillas, John Knowles, Dan Peled, Dan Usher, Linda Welling and Julian Wright for helpful comments. We are especially grateful to an anonymous referee for some very useful and substantive comments.     

外商直接投资对中国劳动力技能升级的作用机制

外商在华直接投资（FDI）对中国经济发展的积极作用之一是促进中国劳动力技能升级。本文揭示了FDI通过各种途径促进劳动力技能升级的作用机制。FDI流向有很强的区域集中性，同时也揭示了FDI区域集中对劳动力技能升级的影响。     

浅析联想并购的技巧

联想并购IBMPC业务后良好的市场表现表明了联想并购的初步成功。探析联想并购成功的原因,可以发现从并购前的聘请国际级中介机构到进行公关游说消除政治化责问,从设法留住管理层和员工队伍到提早实施文化整合,从吸引战略投资到采取灵活的并购策略都表现了联想高超的并购技巧,这些技巧可以为中国企业跨国并购提供借鉴。     

高职院校人才培养亟待加强审美教育

2006年,我国高等教育规模已跃居世界第一,其中,高职教育占据了半壁江山.高职人才培养水平的高低,会直接影响我国高等教育的质量和竞争力.高职院校人才培养中"重视技能、虚化人文素养"的倾向,将直接影响人才培养的质量.高职院校的人才培养只有"技能"是远远不够的,还必须加强"人文素养"的培养.而加强人文素养培养的关键着力点和基本途径就是审美教育.     

Performance and learning in an ambiguous environment: A study of cryptocurrency traders

We investigate the performance and learning ability of traders in an environment governed by ambiguity, such as the cryptocurrency market. Using a profit decomposition methodology, we find significant cross-sectional and temporal heterogeneity in performance. Traders do not learn to progressively increase the magnitude of returns; however, they are able to improve on their ability to realise profits as a mechanism of adaptation to survive through ambiguity. This adaptation increases as traders progress through their career. Moreover, we find evidence in support of the gambler’s fallacy. We argue that learning in ambiguous environments has limitations, allowing traders primarily to survive.     

Economic convergence: Policy implications from a heterogeneous agent model

In this paper we study the effectiveness of different types of cohesion policies with respect to convergence of regions. A two-region agent-based macroeconomic model is used to analyze short-, medium- and long-term effects of policies improving human capital and fostering adoption of technologies in lagging regions. With fully integrated labor markets the human capital policy positively affects the economically stronger region but reduces production in the targeted weaker region. Subsidies for high technology investment in the weaker region have a positive local output effect and a negative effect on the neighboring region, thereby fostering convergence. When labor markets are not integrated both policies support convergence.     

IMPORTED SKILL‐BIASED TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This paper discusses the occurrence of skill‐enhancing technology import, namely, the relationship between imports of embodied technology and widening skill‐based employment differentials in low‐ and middle‐income countries. Generalized method of moments (GMM) techniques are applied to an original panel dataset comprising 28 manufacturing sectors for 23 countries over a decade. Econometric results provide robust evidence of the determinants of widening employment differentials in low‐ and middle‐income countries. In particular, the proposed empirical evidence indicates capital–skill complementarity as a possible source of skill bias, while imported skill‐enhancing technology emerges as an additional driver of increasing demand for the skilled workers in these countries.     

技能型人力资本及其转化与积累路径探讨

随着技能型劳动在企业生产中的重要性逐渐提高,技能型人才市场变得越来越火热。然而,在当前我国企业技能型人才奇缺、人力资源开发迫在眉睫的情况下,确认技能型人力资本的性质与特点,明确技能型人力资本短缺的原因及转化积累模式具有重大现实意义。本文分析了高技能人才供需不平衡的原因,探讨了技能型人力资本转化与积累的途径。     

The aesthetic fidelity effect

Product aesthetics is a powerful means for achieving competitive advantage. Yet most studies to date have focused on the role of aesthetics in shaping pre-purchase preferences and have failed to consider how product aesthetics affects post-purchase processes and consumers' usage behavior. This research focuses on the relationship between aesthetics and usage behavior in the context of durable products. Studies 1A to 1C provide evidence of a positive effect of product aesthetics on usage intensity using market data from the car and the fashion industries. Study 2 corroborates these findings and shows that the more intensive use of highly aesthetic products may lead to the acquisition of product-specific usage skills that form the basis for a cognitive lock-in. Hence, consumers are less likely to switch away from products with appealing designs, an effect that is labeled as the ‘aesthetic fidelity’ effect. Study 3 addresses an alternative explanation for the ‘aesthetic fidelity effect’ based on mood and motivation but finds that the ‘aesthetic fidelity’ effect is indeed determined by usage intensity. Finally, Study 4 identifies a boundary condition of the positive effect of product aesthetics on product usage, showing that it is limited to durable products. In sum, this research demonstrates that the effects of product aesthetics extend beyond the pre-consumption stage and have an enduring impact on people's consumption experiences.     

Cultural determinants of human capital accumulation: Evidence from the European Social Survey

Although economists commonly view the accumulation of human capital as a key driver of economic development, what drives cross-country differences in human capital accumulation remains poorly understood. I use an epidemiological approach involving second-generation migrants to test for a possible cultural gradient in individuals’ propensity towards human capital accumulation. Results indicate a strong relationship between country-of-origin culture and human capital accumulation and are robust to using years of education instead of individuals’ engagement in human capital accumulation as the dependent variable. Drawing on dimensions of cultural differences identified in culture frameworks developed by cross-cultural researchers, results further suggest that cultural emphasis on intellectual autonomy helps explain part of the observed differences in human capital accumulation. However, further work is needed to complete our understanding of the cultural roots of individuals’ propensity towards human capital accumulation.