CREDIT CONSTRAINTS IN THE MARKET FOR CONSUMER DURABLES: EVIDENCE FROM MICRO DATA ON CAR LOANS*

We investigate the significance of borrowing constraints in the market for consumer loans. Using data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey on auto loan contracts we estimate the elasticities of loan demand with respect to interest rate and maturity. We find that, with the exception of high income households, consumers are very responsive to maturity and less responsive to interest rate changes. Both elasticities vary with household income, with the maturity elasticity decreasing and the interest rate elasticity increasing with income. We argue that these results are consistent with the presence of binding credit constraints in the auto loan market.     

FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS, GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT, AND FIRM SURVIVAL IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: EVIDENCE FROM MICRO DATA

Financial constraints have been found to play an important role on various aspects of firm behavior. Yet, their effects on firm survival have been largely neglected. We use a panel of 61,496 UK firms over the period 1997–2002 to study the effects of financial variables on firms' failure probabilities, differentiating firms into globally engaged and purely domestic. Estimating a wide range of specifications, we find that lower collateral and higher leverage result in higher failure probabilities for purely domestic than for globally engaged firms. This can be seen as evidence that global engagement shields firms from financial constraints.     

地区专业化、产业集中与经济集聚——对我国制造业的实证分析

以新经济地理学模型为基本理论框架,对我国各省区专业化水平、制造业各行业的集中程度和整个制造业的集聚程度进行了实证分析,结果显示1993—2003年间我国各省份的专业化水平呈显著上升趋势,制造业大部分行业集中程度提高,整个制造业集聚程度上升。在制造业各行业集中程度和整个制造业集聚程度的测算中,引入SP指数,结果显示这一指标的引进是非常必要的。     

经济增长与环境质量:来自中国省际面板数据的证据

环境库兹涅茨曲线是经济增长与环境污染之间呈倒U型关系的曲线,即随着经济增长,环境质量先恶化,当经济发展到一定程度,环境质量又会逐渐改善。文章基于中国1991—2003年29个省级区域环境质量与人均GDP的数据,利用工业废水、废气、固体排放物等变量与人均GDP拟合方程验证环境库兹涅茨曲线假说。研究结果验证了环境库兹涅茨假说,人口密度和外商直接投资对不同的污染物有不同的影响,而工业发展对这三种污染物排放的影响比较大,因此加强产业结构的调整将有助于改善环境质量。     

CONVERGENCE IN THE UK SERVICE SECTOR: FIRM LEVEL EVIDENCE, 1988–1998

Bernard and Jones (1996) have previously argued that similarity in the technologies used by firms in the service sector helps to explain evidence of absolute convergence at the cross‐country level. This paper searches for convergence at the firm level using data for the UK service sector over the period 1988–1998. Initial mixed support for this view is partly explained by strong business cycle effects in the data. Upon closer examination we find evidence that convergence was more likely in industries that had high levels of technology investment, greater exposure to new technologies and high levels of absorptive capacity.     

PREFERENCES FOR STATE TAX AND SPENDING POLICIES: EVIDENCE FROM SURVEY DATA ON THE ROLE OF INCOME

Employing a commonly-used method of creating a continuous income variable from categorical data, we obtain results from a fiscal survey that reveal a strong nonmonotonic effect of income on the willingness to pay additional taxes for state expenditures on education and public aid. The existence of income-demand schedules that are U- or inverted U-shaped casts doubt on the appropriateness of assuming that the median income voter is decisive. After investigating the sensitivity of our results to different income measures, we suggest that fiscal surveys should be designed to provide sufficiently detailed information about respondents'incomes, especially for high-income respondents.     

THE CASE FOR PAY-AS-YOU-GO PENSIONS IN A SERVICE ECONOMY

The elderly consume more labour‐intensive services than young individuals. This makes them vulnerable to rising costs of services due to higher wages, which can be caused by increased capital accumulation. This paper shows that in a model with a service sector, the golden‐rule capital stock is lower and dynamic inefficiency is more likely to occur than in the conventional one‐sector model. This implies that in many cases, a positive Pay‐As‐You‐Go tax maximises long‐run welfare in a service economy. Calculations based on data from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands show that the long‐run optimal degree of funding coincides with the current situation in these countries.     

ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY AND INNOVATION IN THE KNOWLEDGE INTENSIVE BUSINESS SERVICE SECTOR

Innovative activity is performed to a considerable extent in the service sector, namely within the so-called knowledge intensive business services (KIBS). Particularly emphasizing the role of absorptive capacity, we analyze possible determinants of incremental and radical firm innovation using firm micro data from the KIBS Foundation Survey. The results show that access to knowledge through networking and cooperation is of utmost importance for innovative activity in the KIBS sector. Access to knowledge from universities and research institutions is particularly important for radical innovation, notwithstanding the degree of formality of cooperation. In contrast, access to knowledge from clients or suppliers only has a significant impact on the probability to innovate if the cooperation with these partners is based on formal cooperation via joint projects or formal cooperation contracts. Furthermore, we find empirical evidence for a positive correlation between KIBS firms and clients from the manufacturing sector: these stimulate in particular incremental, but also radical innovation.     

FIRM BEHAVIOUR AND FINANCIAL PRESSURE: EVIDENCE FROM SPANISH PANEL DATA

This paper examines responses by firms in Spain to the experience of financial pressure. Using panel data methods applied to a large company panel, a number of aspects of corporate behaviour and the response of each to financial pressure are examined. We consider fixed investment, inventories, employment – distinguishing both permanent and temporary contract employees – and dividend policies. Our results include finding significant effects of financial pressure from borrowing costs on each outcome, particularly investment and employment. The effects on temporary employment are also found to be larger and work through more quickly than on permanent employment.     

The sources and aims of innovation in services: Variety between and within sectors

Services dominate economic activity, but remain under-researched by analysts of innovation and technological change. The early 'one size fits all' theories of innovation in services have in recent years given way to an appreciation that services are diverse, not least in their innovation activities. This paper draws on recent empirical evidence from large-scale surveys undertaken in 13 western European countries, to investigate the extent and the sources of innovation in five services sectors. The analysis includes the extent to which services innovate, and amongst innovators the extent to which they engage in R&D and collaborative arrangements for innovation. The analysis supports the recent literature which emphasises significant differences between sectors in their pattern of innovation behaviour, but also highlights significant intra-sectoral differences in innovation behaviour. This intra-sectoral variation deserves much fuller investigation in the future.     

1990年代以来我国沿海中心城市服务业特征与趋势比较研究--以北京、上海与广州为例

伴随着工业化进程的加深,服务业发展迅猛,并逐步成为策动经济增长、影响区域和城市发展的新动力。近年来,我国沿海中心城市开始向服务主导型经济转变。文章首先介绍了服务业发展的背景、国内研究概况与研究意义;然后从服务业内部增加值构成、就业结构和基本一非基本分析等方面归纳与比较分析了我国沿海中心城市上海、北京和广州的服务业内部结构特点及其发展趋势,发现生产性服务业与社会性服务业发展迅猛,逐步成为中心城市的主导服务行业,而分配性服务业则出现较为明显的下降趋势,此外,其他服务业的快速发展表明服务业多样化趋势开始出现。同时归纳出三大中心城市的服务业结构特征为：北京市的服务业最具竞争优势,生产性和社会性服务业的地位最突出,上海市的生产性服务业发展水平较高,而广州市则以分配性服务业高度发达而著称。最后总结了中心城市服务业特征、趋势及一般规律。     

THE DETERMINANTS OF EXPORT PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FOR MANUFACTURING PLANTS IN IRELAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND

The dramatic GDP and export growth of Ireland over the last decade forms a marked contrast with that of its nearest neighbour Northern Ireland. In Ireland, export volume growth averaged 15.5% p.a. from 1991 to 1999 compared with 6.3% from Northern Ireland. Using data on individual manufacturing plants this paper considers the determinants of export performance in the two areas. Larger, externally owned plants with higher skill levels are found to have the highest export propensities in both areas. Other influences (plant age, R&D, etc.) prove more strongly conditional on location, plant size, and ownership. Structural factors (e.g. ownership, industry) explain almost all of the difference in export propensity between larger plants in Northern Ireland and Ireland but only around one‐third of that between smaller plants. Significant differences are also evident between plants in terms of their sources of new technology. For indigenously owned plants, in‐house R&D is important. For externally owned plants, R&D conducted elsewhere in the group – typically outside Ireland and Northern Ireland – proves more significant. This external dependency and lower than expected export propensity on the part of small plants in Northern Ireland represent significant policy challenges for the future.     

劳动收入份额的地区差异实证研究——来自中国省级面板数据的证据

劳动收入份额很大程度上决定了收入差距,采用了中国21个省的省级面板数据进行了实证分析,结果表明,劳动收入份额既显著影响了收入差距,又通过GDP、人力资本、开放度等因素影响了收入差距,并且东中西部呈现出显著的差异性。这一结论可为制定缩小收入差距的政策提供了新的视角。     

THE MONEY DEMAND FUNCTION FOR THE EURO AREA: SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

This paper sets out to re‐examine the money demand function for the euro area. Traditional specifications often yield unsatisfactory results: instability of short and long‐term coefficients; relatively large differences between estimated and actual value of variables; and significant changes in the number of long‐term relationships, etc. Using a standard Vector Error Correction Model, we find that the usual specification is indeed unstable. However, introducing a European equity price gives rise to a more stable system. Furthermore, recursive estimates confirm the relative stability of long‐term coefficients. Estimates of the real money gap, based on the money demand equation including equity prices, point to moderate, albeit persistent, excess liquidity in the euro area in recent years. The real money gap contains information about future inflation but this content may have diminished since 2001.     

城乡户籍与人力资本收益——基于广东省截面数据的观察

利用广东省各地区制造业企业劳动力情况的4443个样本截面调研数据,分析城乡户籍就业劳动力人力资本回报情况.研究表明,在社会主义市场经济改革进程中,行政权力和市场力量常常以不同的结合形态相互交织在一起,通过不同的方式改变着劳动力在户籍方面的结构特征和劳动力市场条件,从而决定着当前城乡户籍就业人力资本回报的基本格局及其变化路径.各地区户籍分组的人力资本收益率的变化显著存在差异,劳动力流动和劳动力培训在广东省的市场化收益体现得还不是很明显,尤其是劳动合同的签订情况是在劳动力市场合约谈判和履行中特别需要关注的一个问题.     

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EXCHANGE RATE APPRECIATION AND AGGREGATE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY: THEORY AND EVIDENCE FROM MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRIES

The paper examines the effects of exchange rate depreciation on real output and price in a sample of 11 developing countries in the Middle East. The theoretical model decomposes movements in the exchange rate into anticipated and unanticipated components. Unanticipated currency fluctuations determine aggregate demand through exports, imports, and the demand for domestic currency, and determine aggregate supply through the cost of imported intermediate goods. The evidence indicates that the supply channel attributed to anticipated exchange rate appreciation results in limited effects on output growth and price inflation. Consistent with theory's predictions, unanticipated appreciation of the exchange rate appears more significant with varying effects on output growth and price inflation across developing countries.