Emigration intentions in a post-conflict environment: evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina

In this study we analyse intentions to emigrate from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), focusing not only on typical individual and household determinants, but also on post-conflict specific influences. We investigate cross-sectional survey data collected over the period from 2002 to 2010. Our findings indicate that higher intentions for emigration are indeed linked to the typical individual and household conditions: the young, educated and low-family income respondents report the highest intentions to emigrate. In addition, the post-conflict environment characterised by economic and political instability, as well as by conflict and post-conflict related migration, increases these intentions further, both independently and in different combinations. Although determinants such as employment status, household income and perception of economic development are relevant, their effect is of second-order importance. This contradicts the conventional thinking that economic factors are the main driving forces of emigration intentions. We provide evidence that the conflict and post-conflict related migration experiences, and the political situation, may surpass individual and societal economic influences in importance.     

教育工资升水率的微观计量分析

文章运用现代微观计量经济学的分析方法,估计了我国大学教育的工资升水率。文章在研究中从选择偏差及异质性着手,论证了OLS与传统IV估计量的非一致性,进而采用了平均政策效应以弥补两者缺陷。研究结果表明,我国劳动力市场上大学教育的工资升水率已经比20世纪80年代与90年代有显著提高。     

Unemployment and Migration: Does Moving Help?

The migration behaviour of the unemployed in Finland is analysed in terms of the causal effect of moving on individual employment status. In 1994, 17 percent of the labour force was unemployed and the unemployment rate exhibited a very slow decline in 1994–1996. Over half of those who were unemployed at the end of 1994 were still unemployed two years later. The propensity to find a job is somewhat greater among migrants. However, the positive effect of moving diminishes once other personal characteristics are accounted for. Moreover, when controlling for endogenous migrant selectivity, an insignificant or even negative effect on employment status emerges. This indicates that the relatively better "quality" of the migrants (e.g. age, education, human capital and unobserved ability), rather than the act of moving itself, causes an improvement in re–employability. Hence, migration alone may not be a very effective mechanism for alleviating individual unemployment.
JEL classification : J 61; J 64     

The role of corruption and risk aversion in entrepreneurial intentions

The literature on entrepreneurship has suggested that an individual’s entrepreneurial intention depends on three types of factor: personal characteristics, the individual’s expertise and professional background, and external factors. Our study investigates how corruption, an external factor, and risk aversion, a personal characteristic, may simultaneously affect individuals’ entrepreneurial intentions. With data on 76 203 individuals in 53 countries, our estimation results indicate that risk aversion decreases the individual’s probability of having an entrepreneurial intention by 6.67 percentage points. In addition, an increase in 1 SD in the perceived level of corruption in a country decreases the individual’s probability of having an entrepreneurial intention by 0.96 percentage points.     

对影响我国大学生创业倾向的因素分析

大学生自主创业在20世纪末的世界各国已经成为一种趋势。近年来,在我国由于社会竞争的日益加剧和就业形势的日益严峻,尤其是20世纪90年代大学扩招的规模日益加大,创业正在成为越来越多的大学生在被动就业之外的另一项重要选择。大学生的创业倾向越来越明显,这说明中市场经济发展的日益成熟和大学生就业理念的转变。立足于对培养大学生创业倾向的建立以及对其影响因素的分析,探讨了大学生个体因素及家庭、学校、政府等各种不同的外部环境对当代大学生创业倾向的影响,力求通过对其提出合理化建议,以培养和促进大学生创业倾向的建立和不断发展。     

Application of Sample Selection Model to Double-Bounded Dichotomous Choice Contingent Valuation Studies

Modeling households' behavior with the data from a contingentvaluation (CV) survey is often complicated by samplenon-response, which can cause non-response bias and sampleselection bias, leading to inconsistent parameter estimates and adistorted mean willingness-to-pay estimate. This paper reportsthe results of empirical tests for both biases using householdsurvey data in which the double-bounded dichotomous choice CVquestion involved the benefit of a tap water quality improvementpolicy in Korea. No non-response bias, but sample selection bias,is detected in the sample. To correct for sample selection bias,a sample selection model is employed. The authors also discusshow failure to correct for bias may distort aggregate benefitestimates.     

Racial/Ethnic disparities in high return investment ownership: a Heckman selection model

This study investigates racial/ethnic differences in high return investment ownership in the U.S. Households with low levels of financial assets might not be able to meaningfully make investment choices, so a Heckman two-stage selection model was used to separate the minimum asset level status from the allocation decision, specifically in whether households owned at least one high return investment. We found that households with White respondents were more likely than households with Black and Hispanic respondents to have adequate financial assets for investment. Conditional on having adequate financial assets, and controlling for household characteristics and financial literacy, White households were more likely to own high return investments than Black, Hispanic and Asian/other households. Policies to nudge households to invest some wealth in high return investment assets would benefit minority households.     

The return to education and its distribution in urban China: evidence from quantile regression analysis

Based on Chinese Households Income Projects in 2002, this paper discusses the relationship between the return to education and the quantiles of income distribution. The findings in this paper show that the return to education is lower for the higher quantiles, while the estimators also depend on the choice of control variables. The methodology of the quantile regression might be helpful in adjusting the ability bias in the estimation on return to education. The policy implications of the paper highlight the impact of the education expansion in boosting the income growth for those in lower quantiles.     

International stock return predictability: on the role of the United States in bad and good times

In this article, we document the asymmetric role that the US stock market plays in the international predictability of excess stock returns during recession and expansion periods. Most of the positive evidence accrues during the periods of recessions in the United States. During the expansions, there is only a limited evidence supporting the importance of lagged US returns in predictability of stock returns in 10 industrialized countries.     

中国人口迁移流动现状及发展趋势

根据第五次人口普查,我国人口迁移率达9.74%,人口流动率达12.33%。人口的迁移流动,以经济因素为主,以女性为多,且迁移流动者的文化程度普遍高于其他人口。由于城乡经济社会发展的差异,会有越来越多的人口向城市迁移。按城市化发展规律,城镇化发展需要的新增人口数量,低于农村人口外出迁移数,农村人口迁移对城市发展带来很大压力。为了实现人口顺利迁移流动,需要相应的配套策略。     

Transaction costs and recorded remittances in the post-Soviet economies: Evidence from a new dataset on bilateral flows

Labour migrants' remittances are a rapidly growing phenomenon in the countries of the former Soviet Union. The size and growth of remittances in the countries of the recipients brought the issue under the scrutiny of researchers and policymakers. In this paper we investigate the main factors behind the growing volume of remittances in the post-Soviet space. By applying panel data techniques we found that a reduction in transaction costs and a depreciation of the currency in the host country were the main factors that influenced the growth of recorded remittances. The size of transaction costs remains a significant predictor of the volume of formal remittances, even after correcting for endogeneity using an instrumental variable estimator. The inverse relationship between transaction costs and recorded remittances suggests that migrants switch from informal channels to formal channels to send remittances when costs are low. Thus lower transaction costs may help curb the proportion of informal flows and lead to increased use of remittances in the formal economy.     

On the simultaneity bias in the relationship between risk attitudes,entry into entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial survival

We consider the simultaneity bias when examining the effect of individual risk attitudes on entrepreneurship. We demonstrate that entry into self-employment is related to changes in risk attitudes. We further show that these changes are correlated with the probability to remain in entrepreneurship.     

农村—城市移民率的变动与中国城市化的关系

在我国的经济发展过程中,城市化水平不断提高,并伴随有大量的农村人口向城市转移。本文通过构建一个理论分析框架,在城市化水平与农村—城市移民率的变动之间建立一个模型,发现在农村—城市移民率和城市化水平、农村人口与总人口自然增长率之间存在着联系。通过城市化数据分析我国的农村—城市移民率的变化情况,并应用城市化的logistic方程对城市化水平以及农村—城市移民率进行进一步的估计,最后预测它们未来的发展趋势。     

Female entrepreneurship in transition economies: the case of Lithuania and Ukraine

Abstract

To date, little research has focused on female entrepreneurship in the context of transitioning countries. This paper compares from an institutional perspective two countries at different stages in the process of transformation. Lithuania followed a rapid transitional path leading to European Union membership, while Ukraine is on a much slower development path. Women entrepreneurs in Lithuania and Ukraine share many common features and problems; however, there are important differences in the experiences of women in these two countries. This indicates a need to recognize the diversity that exists among transition countries, reflecting different inheritances from the Soviet past as well as differences in the pace of change during the transition period.     

A simple approximation to the average effect of the treatment on the treated in panel settings with selective enrolment

This article shows that, in panel settings when the probability of receiving a treatment is low, simple comparisons of outcomes between those who are treated in a given period and those who are untreated in that period, but receive the treatment in some other period, approximately identify the average effect of the treatment on the treated. Monte Carlo simulations reveal that this approximate selection-correction substantially reduces selection bias relative to naive comparisons of outcomes between treated and untreated units.     

Forecasting volatility in the Indian equity market using return and range-based models

In this article, we assess the time-varying volatility of the National Stock Exchange in the Indian equity market using unconditional estimators and asymmetric conditional econometric models. The volatility estimate and forecast is computed from the interday return and intraday range-based data of the exchange’s flagship index, CNX NIFTY, for the time period spanning 1 January 2009 through 31 December 2013. These are our findings: First, we determine that the time-varying volatility of the index is asymmetric with qualities of stationarity and leptokurtic distribution. Second, the one-step-ahead volatility forecast derived from the univariate time series parameters through the GJR-GARCH ?????process indicates that the model evaluation criteria of the autoregressive process tends towards range-based models vis-à-vis a return-based model. The validity of this methodology is further analysed with the superior predictive ability test, the outcome of which supports the use of range-based conditional models. Finally, among the evaluated range-based model variants, the model confidence set procedure favours the Yang–Zhang estimator as being better suited to forecast the exchange’s volatility than the ones by Parkinson, Garman–Klass and Rogers–Satchell.     

失败学习对失败归因与再创业意愿关系的影响研究

基于成败归因与经验学习理论,构建失败学习调节下失败归因对再创业意愿的影响模型.通过珠三角区域155份有创业失败经历创业者的一手数据实证研究发现:创业失败的内部性归因、可控性归因对再创业意愿有显著正向影响,稳定性归因对再创业意愿无显著影响.失败学习作为调节变量,加强了稳定性归因对再创业意愿的影响,但削弱了可控性归因与内部性归因对再创业意愿的正向促进.相应的管理启示对创业者的进一步创业实践具有参考价值.     

FDI,taxes and agglomeration economies in the EU15

This article provides an empirical analysis of the impact of tax differentials and agglomeration economies on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The article departs from most previous work on FDI and tax competition in a number of ways. First, it incorporates several measures of agglomeration in order to investigate whether agglomeration economies mitigate the downward spiral in tax rates. As the strength of agglomeration economies may vary with the degree of integration, we use a panel of bilateral FDI flows for a highly integrated region including countries with similar economic structure – the EU15 – from 1986 to 2004. Second, the empirical analysis explicitly deals with the problem of selection bias by using the Heckman sample selection approach. Also, by focusing on the EU15, we are able to provide additional information on the determinants of FDI between similar, higher-income countries. The empirical analysis provides some evidence of corporate marginal effective tax rates having an impact on FDI. This result, however, is sensitive to the inclusion of agglomeration economies. In particular, we find both Marshall types of technological externalities and overall concentration of economic activity to have an influence on FDI flows and, moreover, mitigating the negative impact of taxes.     

Linear and non-linear transmission of equity return volatility: evidence from the US, Japan and Australia

This paper models the transmission of shocks between the US, Japanese and Australian equity markets. Tests for the existence of linear and non-linear transmission of volatility across the markets are performed using parametric and non-parametric techniques. In particular the size and sign of return innovations are important factors in determining the degree of spillovers in volatility. It is found that a multivariate asymmetric GARCH formulation can explain almost all of the non-linear causality between markets. These results have important implications for the construction of models and forecasts of international equity returns.