Convergence in car prices among European countries

This article contributes to the literature on price convergence in Europe by investigating the existence of stochastic and deterministic convergence of car prices in the EU15 countries. We apply recently developed econometric techniques that allow for multiple structural breaks to an up-to-date dataset. We find considerable evidence of both types of convergence in our sample of countries and car models, therefore suggesting a tendency for relative prices to equalize over time. In addition, we find evidence regarding the importance in this convergence process of both legislative changes taking place in the years 1996 and 2002, and the implementation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).     

The Role of Migration in the Variety and Quality of Trade: Evidence from Germany

We explore the migration‐trade nexus in the case of Germany over the period 2000–09, disentangling the two dimensions of intra‐industry trade (vertical and horizontal). We find that immigration is positively and significantly related to intra‐industry trade. However, the magnitude and statistical significance of migration's impact on trade are considerably higher for horizontal intra‐industry trade and increase with the difference in the level of development between Germany and the partner countries. This pattern is consistent with the view that information flows between migrant communities and their country of origin may be more important for consumer goods (where trade in varieties prevails) and that this information effect is more important if trading countries are very different.     

中国大陆省市经济增长收敛性的空间计量经济分析

基于中国大陆29个省市的面板经济数据,建立空间计量经济学模型,实证研究中国省市经济的收敛性.结果表明,在1994-2004年期间,中国大陆省市经济存在着显著的条件收敛现象;以1998-1999年为界的分两时段考察进一步发现,前一时段的收敛速度远快于后一时段的收敛速度;对控制变量的分析表明,教育、就业水平和非国有率有效地推动地区经济的增长,而第一产业人口比重则对地区经济产生阻碍.     

加工贸易与经济增长关系的实证研究——以我国沿海地区6省市为例

利用我国沿海地区6省市的面板数据,对加工贸易活动与经济增长的关系进行了实证研究。结果表明,加工贸易对沿海地区经济增长有着积极和显著的影响;消费对经济增长的边际影响超过了投资因素已成为拉动经济增长的重要动力。     

Effects of the single market on the Austrian insurance industry

The integration of European services markets and the implementation of associated European Union directives open up formerly closed national markets to competition from the Single Market. The purpose of this study is to measure the effects of liberalization on technical efficiency and the productivity development of the insurance industry. As an example we construct efficiency frontiers for the years 1992 through 1999 for the Austrian insurance industry using Data Envelopment Analysis. We use the resulting efficiency scores also to construct a Malmquist productivity index for the transition period. In search for effects from the Single Market, returns to scale, economies of diversification, and distribution channels we relate efficiency and productivity measures to several firm specific characteristics. For this purpose we use unbalanced and balanced panels of individual firm data.All correspondence to Thomas Url. The authors gratefully acknowledge valuable comments from David Cummins, Finn Forsund, Shawna Grosskopf, Michael Theil, seminar participants at the University of Vienna, the University of Business Administration Vienna, the Austrian Institute of Economic Research, the Austrian Insurance Association, and the SOR-Conference Jena, the EOR Conference Brussels, the 25th EGRIE Conference Vienna, and two anonymous referees. Ursula Glavninger provided valuable research assistance.     

房地产投资在地方经济发展中的影响研究——基于东部10个省市的经验分析

在构建房地产投资与地方经济增长的面板数据模型基础上,利用东部地区10个省市1996～2009年的数据,就房地产投资对地方经济增长的影响进行了实证检验。结果显示,房地产投资通过其投资效应和极强的产业波及效应推动了东部地区各省市的经济增长,但是这种增长效应并不显著,弱于同期的人力资本形成、物质资本投资和外贸发展的推动效应。     

物流业与区域经济一体化协调发展的实证及理论解释——基于中国省级数据的分析

在分析我国物流业发展对区域经济一体化的作用机理的基础上,利用我国29个省(自治区、直辖市)的省级数据,通过相关分析与回归分析,实证研究了我国省级物流业的发展水平,检验了物流业发展水平与区域经济一体化程度之间的相关性。实证结果表明:物流业的发展水平与省际贸易壁垒之间存在负相关关系;区域经济一体化能促进物流业的发展,物流业的发展有助于降低我国省际贸易壁垒、缓解国内市场分割状况、推进省际贸易发展和实现区域经济一体化;东南沿海地区省份与中、西部地区省份在物流基础设施与贸易依存度方面存在明显差别。     

旅游产业与区域经济增长研究

旅游产业作为一个新兴产业,其发展在我国已形成一定的规模,对国民经济增长的影响也越来越大。运用Cobb-Douglas生产函数和空间计量模型,实证研究了中部地区旅游业发展与经济增长的关系。基本的结论是:从固定效应模型的分析来看,旅游产业不仅能通过自身直接的收入效应带动经济增长,而且更为主要的是其具有的产业关联性,通过乘数效应扩大经济增长效应,从而有力地推动了拥有丰富旅游资源的六省经济增长。     

Real Convergence and European Integration: The Experience of the Less Developed EU Members

This study aims at providing an assessment about real convergence across countriesand regions in the EU, focusing more specifically on the four cohesion EU members.The results show that in the course of the last few years a process of convergence hastaken place between the per capita income levels of the EU regions and also, to a largerextent, of the Member States. Nevertheless, advances in real convergence are largelydetermined by the growth strategy implemented by the countries themselves. Lastly,our study suggests that the Community's regional policy has played a significant rolein favor of real convergence between the Member States of the EU. One importantlesson to be drawn is that the accession is likely to contribute significantly to improvingthe possibilities of the current Central and East European countries (CEECs) candidatesin aligning their per capita income levels with those of the EU members.     

Economic freedom–growth nexus in European Union countries

This study examines the economic freedom and economic growth nexus in a panel of 28 European Union countries. We investigate the relationship between growth and different components of economic freedom, measured in five major areas of the Economic Freedom of the World index. The aim of the article is to assess which aspects of economic freedom – and to what extent – contribute to economic growth in the EU. Our empirical analyses suggest that the results are sensitive to the method of estimation. Using the Generalized Method of Moments estimator which allows addressing endogeneity, we found a positive relationship between economic growth and four of the five aspects of economic freedom: security of property rights, quality of monetary policy, freedom to trade and regulatory policies.     

地方财政科技投入与经济增长关系的面板协整分析

基于面板数据的协整分析方法,对江苏13个地级市的地方财政科技投入与地方经济增长的关系进行了实证分析。结果表明,1996～2008年间,地方财政科技投入对地方经济增长存在长期稳定正相关关系,但财政科技投入对经济发展的影响在各个地区存在着较大的差异。因此,提出实行倾斜的政策可以提高江苏科技资源的使用效率,从而促进江苏经济的进一步发展,为缓解区域经济的差异提出一些政策建议。     

The Impact of Agricultural Import Tariff on Economic Growth： Evidence From Mercosur Countries

This research paper attempts to determine the relationship between agricultural import tariff and economic growth of Mercosur countries over the period 1996-2007 using regression analysis as well as evaluates the gains and losses from the group＇s trade policy over the same period. The introductory part of this paper focuses on the dynamics of changes in economic growth, trade, and import tariff of these countries over the last two decades. The results of the performed regression analysis of panel data suggest that trade liberalization has a quantitatively significant positive effect on growth. By using the coefficient estimates on tariff, the authors perform a quantitative evaluation of gains and losses from trade policy, for which tariff measures to trade （imports） are used as a proxy.     

Public Capital and Economic Growth: A Convergence Approach

This paper estimates dynamic effects of public capital on output per capita. Based on an open economy growth model, I derive a version of the income convergence equation augmented with public capital. This equation is estimated using panel data of United States and Japanese regions. Sensible results are obtained when public capital is disaggregated into components. In both countries, the infrastructure component of public capital turns out to have significantly positive effects. The implied elasticity of output with respect to infrastructure is somewhere around 0.1 to 0.15. This suggests a modest contribution of infrastructure to postwar growth of the two countries.     

我国省级公共资本经济效应分析——基于面板VAR模型的实证分析

在现有文献研究的基础上,利用1999—2010年我国29个省(自治区、直辖市)的面板数据,基于内生增长理论构建计量经济模型,检验了公共资本存量、私人资本存量与经济增长之间的面板Granger因果关系。构建面板VAR模型度量公共资本存量对经济的冲击。结果表明:公共资本存量的冲击对人均私人资本存量和人均GDP都产生正向影响,但长期看该影响不具有持续效应。     

Measuring the end of the European financial crisis

In 2013 it was declared that ‘the eurozone crisis is over’. However, in fact, the series of financial crises since 2008 may have interrupted the process of EMU enlargement, which in turn triggered a continuing crisis of confidence in the euro. In this paper we extend the sigma‐convergence test to provide a more precise understanding of real interest rate parity (RIP) convergence. On the basis of this, we predict the timing for eliminating the cost of economic asymmetric shocks. Our estimation indicates the RIP among EMU members and accessions were still valid after the disruptions of the 2008 financial crisis. However, the situation has been even worse since the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis, and ceteris paribus, symmetry cannot be achieved without further policy actions. This implies that the EMU authority must do its best to strengthen symmetry and thereby solidify the EMU, at which point it will be better able to re‐start the process of enlargement.     

China’s house price: Affected by economic fundamentals or real estate policy?

Many theory and empirical literature conclude that house price can reflect economic fundamentals in the long-term. However, by using China’s panel data of 35 main cities stretching from 1998 to 2007, we find that there is no stable relationship between house price and economic fundamentals. House price has deviated upward from the economic fundamentals since government started macro-control of the real estate market. We consider that the mechanism between the house price and economic fundamentals is distorted by China’s real estate policy, especially its land policy. Meanwhile the policy itself is an important factor in explaining the changes of China’s house price. Then we estimate the dynamic panel data model on house price and the variables which are controlled by real estate policy. The result shows: land supply has negative effects on house price; financial mortgages for real estate have positive effects on house price; and the area of housing sold and the area of vacant housing, which reflects the supply and demand of the housing market, has negative effects on house price. We also find some differences in house price influence factor between eastern and mid-western cities. Finally, we propose policy suggestions according to the empirical results.     

Thresholds in finance–growth nexus: Evidence from G‐7 economies

This study explores the finance and economic growth nexus in G‐7 economies as these countries experience significantly higher levels of financial development. Using a balanced panel of 31 years from 1983 to 2013, we provide new evidence on the finance–growth relationship. We show the presence of nonlinearity as there is an inverted U‐shaped relationship between finance and growth in the long run. Estimating the thresholds in the finance–growth nexus, we notice that there exists a threshold effect of finance at 109% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). We observe that exceeding the threshold would hinder the countries instead of furthering economic growth as too much finance is harmful. Based on the panel Granger causality test results, we claim that financial development should be associated with optimal growth performance. Our findings for the G‐7 economies offer some useful policy inferences to the emerging and developing economies in designing their financial development strategies.     

Is R&D always growth-enhancing? Empirical evidence from the EU countries

This study provides empirical evidence regarding the effects of R&D on economic growth in a panel of 28 European Union (EU) countries over the period 1997–2014. In particular, we investigate whether the impact of business and government R&D stocks on economic growth depends on the country’s distance to the world technology frontier. The main findings are that in the EU (i) there is positive, statistically significant business R&D stock–economic growth nexus in countries that are relatively close to the frontier and (ii) no statistically significant relationship was found to exist between government R&D stock and economic growth. From the policy perspective, the results suggest that designing proper national policies that allow switching from investment-based to innovation-based strategies at appropriate moments may be far more important than a simple call for increase in R&D expenditures and setting common numerical targets for all EU-member states.     

Shedding light on the convergence debate: Using luminosity data to investigate economic convergence in Ecuador

The objective of this research is to analyze convergence in incomes per capita in Ecuador over the period 1992–2013. Using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s satellite data capturing nighttime luminosity by region to proxy income, we undertake an analysis of economic convergence between provinces and cantons in Ecuador over the period 1992–2013. Traditional regression analysis alongside dynamic distribution analysis is used to verify the existence and determine the nature of convergence among Ecuadorian territories. What is found is that economic convergence across Ecuador’s provinces can be confirmed with a speed of convergence approximating Barro’s iron‐law of 2% per annum. In contrast to the expectations of finding convergence over recent years, the major progress in economic convergence was made over the 1992–2002 period. This was the period with the highest political and economic uncertainty. Investigating convergence in human development indicators such as infant mortality rates suggests that the boom‐financed period of economic prosperity did however coincide with a significant catchup of provinces lagging in human development achievements to leaders in this dimension.     

Regional versus global production networks: where does Latin America stand?

This article quantifies the effects of the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) on the trade of intermediate goods and also on the trade of final goods. It is the first article to investigate whether increasing imports of intermediate goods from different regions to Latin America have led to higher exports of final and intermediate goods. The article uses sectoral data for trade in goods between 11 LAIA members over the period 1991–2008. The main results indicate evidence of increasing regional production networks, which have strengthened in the 2000s. Moreover, the findings show evidence of the emergence of global production networks, especially with respect to intermediate imports from China.