Agricultural development in industrialising Japan, 1880–1940

This study reviews research examining agricultural development in industrialising Japan. We focus on the (dys)functioning of markets for land, finance, labour and agricultural commodities. We cover topics including land (mis)allocation, size-productivity relationships, tenancy contract choice and Marshallian inefficiency, property rights, microfinance, shock-coping strategies, rural–urban migration and agricultural market integration. The literature reveals that market failures often observed in developing economies were not prominent, except for possibly labour markets. The literature also highlights the roles and administrative capacities of central and local governments. Tight local communities served to reduce transaction costs.     

农户地租契约选择的经济逻辑:预期效用抑或损失规避

随着收入水平和社会保障水平的提高,农户的经济决策动机逐渐从风险(成本)最低转变为收益最大。但是,地租契约的不完全性等因素,可能使农户在选择地租契约时,需要在收益(租金)的可靠性和收益最大化之间进行权衡。文章理论分析表明,农户在选择地租契约时,其经济逻辑是损失规避而非预期效用理论。进而,文章利用中国家庭金融2015年调查数据,通过probit、IVprobit和似无相关回归模型检验了这一理论假说。研究结果显示,租金水平越高,农户越倾向于选择固定地租契约;消除内生性后的边际效应显示,租金提高每万元,农户选择固定租金契约的概率提高28.3%。机制分析发现,土地流转契约期限的增加会强化租金对农地转出户选择固定租金契约的影响。运用工具变量估计、交叉项和费舍尔组合检验三种方法进行稳健性检验后,该结论仍然成立。进一步的异质性分析结果表明,租金对固定地租契约的促进效应,在低收入农户中相对更高;在低收入农户中,契约期限不具有调节作用。研究结果为地租领域农户财产性收入的增加与政策预期的不一致,提供了理论解释与经验证据。基于此,文章提出为使农户通过地租获得更多的财产性收入,需要进一步完善农地流转契约治理机制等政策建议。     

Transaction costs and crop marketing in the communal areas of Impendle and Swayimana,KwaZulu-Natal

High transaction costs are detrimental to the efficient operation or existence of markets for inputs and outputs. The cost of information and the costs associated with the search for trade partners, the distance to formal markets and contract enforcement are likely to influence the marketing of food crops. This study hypothesises that the level of income generated from food-crop sales by small-scale farmers in the Impendle and Swayimana districts of KwaZuluNatal is influenced by transaction costs and certain household and farm characteristics. Regression analysis shows that the depth of marketing methods is significantly influenced by transaction cost proxies, such as cooperation with large commercial farmers and ownership of means of transport. Results from a block-recursive regression analysis show that the level of crop income generated is determined by the depth of marketing methods, the size of allocated arable land and off-farm income. Households with lower transaction costs, sizeable allocated land and off-farm income can be expected to generate higher income from food crops. Investment in public goods such as roads, telecommunications and an efficient legal system (to uphold commercial contracts), as well as farmer support services (input supply, extension, marketing information and research), would probably raise farm and non-farm income by reducing transaction costs. This would increase the effective demand for locally produced goods and services, thus contributing to rural employment and livelihoods within rural communal areas.     

Contract Engagement in the Small-Scale Tuna-Fishing Economies of East Java

We examine the informal contractual relationships formed by artisanal fishers (AFs) and intermediaries in the small-scale tuna-fishing economies of East Java, Indonesia, using data from a survey of 436 boat captains. Our exploration of the factors motivating AFs to engage in such contracts uses instrumental-variable probit regressions to control for endogeneity in our transaction-cost economics model. This model incorporates the importance of household characteristics, transaction characteristics, transaction costs, risk behaviour, and trust in the choice of contract between AFs and their intermediaries. These intermediaries play an important role in facilitating transactions and contractual relationships between AFs and processors in the marketing value chain. We find that social capital is a statistically significant instrumental variable in our model. We also find that risk behaviour and trust are not statistically significant in influencing the choice of governance structure.     

产品内分工的生产组织模式选择——基于中国产业角度的实证研究

本文基于不完全契约和交易成本的视角,构建了产业层面的产品内分工生产组织模式选择的理论模型,对跨国公司在选择中间品供应商时的生产组织模式进行了分析,并运用中国制造业的数据加以实证检验。结论表明:中间品行业的有形资本密集度越高,跨国公司使用垂直FDI的倾向越高;中间品行业的人力资本密集度越高、行业的市场厚度越大、沉没成本越大以及中间品市场环境越完善,跨国公司使用外包获取中间品的倾向越高。基于此本文通过实证分析指出:我国作为东道国在吸引垂直FDI和跨国外包时,资本密集度高的产业应优先吸收FDI;人力资本丰富、市场厚度大且沉没成本大的产业在吸收外包方面有优势,应优先发展跨国外包,这对中国目前新兴起的OFDI也提供了一定的借鉴意义。     

产业集群外部性的产权问题探析

本文将立足于集群经济的外部性进行考察,运用产权理论的内生交易费用和外生交易费用理论对其进行分析和初步研究探讨。产权清晰性或是模糊性的设定和安排的本质是一个费用问题,由于内生交易费用与外生交易费用的两难冲突,只有内生费用和外生费用的总和最小时,才是有效率的。最后,提出了产业集群的发展在清晰产权和模糊产权这两种制度安排的选择问题。     

“日本型风险投资模式”的合理性分析

"日本型风险投资模式"是在"日本型经济体制"的基础上形成的,是雇日本经济条件下为降低风险投资交易成本的合理选择.政府的介入、规制和大企业控制对"日本型风险投资模式"的形成产生了很大的影响.通过与"美国古典型风险投资模式"对比得知,日本政府的适当介入和"日本型风险投资模式"用"组织"代替了"美国古典型风险投资模式"中的主体--"个人"的合理性,说明风险投资是一个相对的概念,是一种制度的创新,只有根据各国的国情建立的风险投资模式,才能最大限度地实现对创新的支持.     

工资集体协商制度形成的交易成本决定机制研究

文章从交易成本的角度考察了工资集体协商制度形成机制,认为交易成本是工资集体协商制度形成的决定性因素,尤其"风险交易成本"在其中起着举足轻重的作用。文章先分析了职工与企业就工资进行一对一协商交易成本过高,缺乏现实可行性。一般情况下,企业单方提供工资合约的行政决定     

逆向选择条件下农业技术产权交易价格契约分析

从农业技术产权交易市场信息不对称现象着眼,通过将不同类型农业技术使用者类比并结合实例,分析了各交易主体的行为逻辑,并在此基础上对不同类型农业技术使用者在逆向选择条件下交易价格契约的决定进行探讨,揭示了不同类型农业技术使用者交易价格契约的设计与选择,最后从逆向选择角度对农业技术产权交易市场的发展提出一些可操作性的建议。     

Does Immigration Help to Explain Intra-Industry Trade? Evidence for Spain

This paper argues and provides evidence that the stock of immigrants in a country has a positive effect on the share of its bilateral intra-industry trade (IIT). The paper links the literatures about immigration and trade and about IIT determinants. The key is that immigration contributes to trade transaction costs reduction and this would benefit the trade in differentiated products, i.e. IIT, more than the trade in homogeneous products, i.e. inter-industry trade. We test this hypothesis using Spanish data and departing from the models developed by Helpman. Results are robust to different IIT measures, estimation methods and specifications. JEL no. F10, F22, F14     

基于佃农理论的农地产权制度效率评价

本文在分析分成制效率的基础上,认为土地使用是否具有效率取决于各项权能的拥有者之间形成的产权关系的明晰化。通过交易成本、监督成本以及使用权深入分析现存农地产权制度低效率的原因,指出国有永佃制是目前理想的改革方向,并提出相应的具体措施。     

Greasing the Wheels of Trade: A Profile of the Dutch Transaction Sector***

How many resources does a nation spend on transactions costs to ‘grease the wheels of trade’? To examine this question the Dutch economy is used as a case study. The Netherlands are known as a nation of traders and this image was derived in the seventeenth century from successes in long distance trade, shipping and financial innovations. Despite its historical background the trading sector has never been adequately measured. In this paper, we present a first attempt in measuring and describing the Dutch transaction sector. Measurement by means of occupational data points out that approximately 25% of Dutch workers is employed in transaction jobs, and 29% if one includes transport tasks. We make the case that traditional industrial sector categories overestimate the true transaction character of an economy. Traditional ‘trade’ sectors employed 13% of the workers in 1807 and 39 percent in 1998, but these figures conceal the fact that all organizations employ jobs which have transformation and transaction tasks. A counterfactual exercise suggests that the growth of the transaction sector share in employment over two centuries was not 200% but 42%.     

商务成本对资本聚集及区位选择的影响分析

一个地区的商务成本构成及其变动影响资本区位选择,资本区位选择等级体系则促进了集聚经济的形成和发展;集聚经济在强化资本区位选择的同时,还降低了该地区要素成本和交易成本等商务成本,这进一步吸引了资本的区位选择,从而形成了商务成本、资本集聚的自加强机制。     

The impact of data snooping on the testing of technical analysis: An empirical study of Asian stock markets

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the validity and predictability of technical analysis in eight Asian equity markets. We employ the bootstrap tests of White (2000) and Hansen (2005) to determine whether any superior trading rule is found to exist amongst the ‘universe’ of technical trading rules identified by Sullivan et al. (1999). We use these powerful bootstrap tests to ascertain the profitability of technical analysis, along with two institutional adjustments for non-synchronous trading and transaction costs. The empirical results indicate that these three elements, data snooping, non-synchronous trading and transaction costs, have significant impact on the overall performance of technical analysis; indeed, the results for these eight Asian stock markets support the efficient market hypothesis, demonstrating that the generation of economic profits through the use of technical analysis is extremely unlikely with these particular markets.     

The Stability of the Japanese Banking System: A Historical Perspective

In this paper we study the stability of the Japanese banking system in the prewar period. First, we review the development of the Japanese banking system from the Meiji Restoration until the Second World War. It will be shown that government policy toward the banking industry changed drastically after the 1927 banking panic. Second, we examine the causes of bank closings in 1927. We test whether or not such bank closings were due to their unsound management, which was reflected in the structure of assets and liabilities and bank performance, using a qualitative model. Our empirical results conclude that bank closings occurred more for banks with unsound management and inefficient operations. J. Japan. Int. Econ., December 1993, 7(4), pp. 387–407. School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, 6-1 Nishiwaseda 1-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160, Japan; and University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.     

Determinants of Smallholder Farmers' Marketing Channel Choice: Evidence from the Vietnamese Rice Sector

Cash crops such as specialty rice and other high‐value varieties produced for domestic and international markets are considered an increasing source of income for smallholder farmers in many Asian countries. The present study focuses on the factors affecting Vietnamese specialty rice farmers' choice of marketing channel and how their choice influences farm performance. The analysis has been conducted using multinomial logit and linear regression models on quantitative data collected from 280 specialty rice farmers in the Red River Delta, one of the main rice production regions in Vietnam. Results reveal that even though local collectors and wholesalers are still the most common recipients of farmers' goods in rural areas, reduction in transaction costs with regard to uncertainty influences farmers to choose modern marketing channels through collective action (via specialty rice farmer associations). This collective marketing channel helps farmers increase average prices received by US$0.028 per kg of paddy. Based on the results, manifold political implications are derived.     

Trade liberalization induced profitability enhancement? The impact of intermediate input imports on firm profitability

Using the detailed data on production and transaction of Chinese manufacturing firms, we investigate how the input tariff liberalization affects firm profitability and explore the underlying channels of this effect. We find that input tariff reduction significantly increases firms’ profitability. Our finding is robust to a variety of specifications. We further find that the quality upgrading of imported intermediate inputs and the reduction of inventory costs are the main reasons for the profit-enhancing effect of input tariff reduction. Our study has important policy implications for the economic growth in the long run and the economic recovery during the epidemic of COVID-19.     

Contract Farming,Smallholders, and Rural Development in Latin America: The Organization of Agroprocessing Firms and the Scale of Outgrower Production

This paper demonstrates how contract farming functions as an economic institution and explores the causes of the observed variation in the scale of outgrower production in Latin America. We outline how market imperfections and transaction costs influence the decision of agroprocessing firms to contract-out, vertically integrate, or use spot markets to obtain raw product. The paper demonstrates how market conditions are likely to be associated with particular outgrower characteristics under contract farming. An analysis of the Mexican frozen vegetable industry illustrates determinants of successful and unsuccessful small-scale contracting and suggests alternative policies to promote contract farming with smallholders.     

Economic calculation and transaction costs: The case of the airline oversales auction system

According to Nobel Laureate Edmund Phelps (2013, p. 123), Mises's critique of economic calculation under socialism renders him the originator of the economic analysis of property rights. This paper also suggests that implicit to Mises's impossibility theorem was also the origins of the theory of transaction costs. This raises the following question: what is the relationship, if any, between the process of economic calculation and the concept of transaction costs? Filtered through a Misesian lens, we argue that transaction costs are the costs of engaging in economic calculation. We illustrate our theoretical point utilizing the case of airline oversales auction system first proposed by Julian Simon (1968). In doing so, we reframe the problem of airline oversales from a transaction-cost approach, one in which property rights in airline seats are initially poorly defined. By doing so, we illustrate that resources expended to discover the valuable attributes of a good (in this case airline seats), the terms of exchange between potential trading partners, as well as enforcing the terms of an exchange, all of which are transaction costs, are also, by definition, the costs of calculating the exchange value of goods. Thus, the airlines oversales auction system is illustrative of an institutional solution to the problem of economic calculation via a reduction of transaction costs.     

Renting Goodwill in International Marketing Channels: An Analysis of Pricing Strategies and Bargaining Power

This paper investigates the pricing decisions of foreign manufacturers in international markets within a bargaining framework with asymmetric information and the rental of goodwill. The key findings are: first, the foreign manufacturer follows a mark-up pricing strategy in which its gross margin and the quality premium over the domestic product are shared with the importer. Second, a manufacturer–importer contract occurs only when the manufacturer’s bargaining power is within an admissible range which shrinks as transaction costs increase. Third, the domestic consumer will only purchase the foreign product if the importer’s goodwill in the domestic market is sufficiently large to signal quality. The paper contributes to the literature on exchange relationships between foreign manufacturers and importers.