Selective immigration policies, human capital accumulation and migration duration in infinite horizon

An increasing literature fosters selective immigration policies as a tool to increase human capital in both source and destination countries. These policies are supposed to prompt incentives to education, and–if selection is sufficiently severe–to increase the human capital stock in source countries. Nonetheless, when compared to open migration, selective policies make returns to education uncertain, and they may harm incentives to invest in human capital. As a consequence, they may reduce the human capital stock even though selection is “severe”. Moreover, when repeated migration is possible, they backfire on migration duration. We obtain our results in an infinite-horizon model that, unlike the current literature, places no restriction on the number of possible migration spells and allows for the possibility of a forced emigration.     

Inflation and capital accumulation in an OLG model with money in the production function

This article analyses the consequences of the money supply growth rate on capital intensity and economic growth in an overlapping-generations model with real balances entering the production function. Within this theoretical framework, anticipated inflation generates an ambiguous effect on capital–labour ratio, because two forces work simultaneously in opposite directions: one driving towards a pure Tobin effect (due to the OLG demographic structure of the economy) and the other pushing down the capital stock (due to the productive role of real balances). Despite the unclear effects exerted on capital intensity, higher monetary growth rates unambiguously reduce real money demand, consumption, total wealth and welfare.     

Bank structure, capital accumulation and growth: a simple macroeconomic model

Summary. This paper analyzes the equilibrium growth paths of two economies that are identical in all respects, except for the organization of their financial systems: in particular, one has a competitive banking system and the other has a monopolistic banking system. In addition, the sources of inefficiencies, as a result of monopoly banking, and their relationship to the existence of credit rationing are explored. Monopoly in banking tends to depress the equilibrium law of motion for the capital stock for either of two reasons. When credit rationing exists, monopoly banks ration credit more heavily than competitive banks. When credit is not rationed, the existence of monopoly banking leads to excessive monitoring of credit financed investment. Both of these have adverse consequences for capital accumulation. In addition, monopoly banking is more likely to lead to credit rationing than is competitive banking. Finally, the scope for development trap phenomena to arise is considered under both a competitive and a monopolistic banking system. Received: September 20, 1999; revised version: December 3, 1999     

Austrian persistence? Capital-based business cycle theory and the dynamics of investment spending

Survey data are used to investigate the very long spending lags estimated in neoclassical studies of investment expenditures. Neoclassical investment theory has trouble explaining the length of these lags. By recognizing the Austrian concept of the capital structure and applying it to the problem, the present paper explains the length of these lags as proceeding from interactions between types of capital. Austrian arguments stemming from Austrian business-cycle theory seem to be needed to explain these lags. JEL Code E3, E4, C1     

Housing and the Great Depression

This article considers the structural stability of the relationship between the real housing price and real GDP per capita for an annual sample that includes the Great Depression. We test for structural change in parameter values using a sample of annual US data from 1890 to 1952. The article examines the long-run and short-run dynamic relationships between the real housing price and real GDP per capita to determine whether these relationships experienced structural change over the sample period. We find that temporal Granger causality exists between these two variables only for subsamples that include the Great Depression. For the other subsample periods as well as for the entire sample period, no relationship exists between these variables.     

Capital accumulation and real exchange rate behavior in a small open economy with credit market frictions

Summary. We consider the nature of the relationship between the real exchange rate and capital formation. We present a model of a small open economy that produces and consumes two goods, one tradable and one not. Domestic residents can borrow and lend abroad, and costly state verification (CSV) is a source of frictions in domestic credit markets. The real exchange rate matters for capital accumulation because it affects the␣potential for investors to provide internal finance, which mitigates the CSV problem. We demonstrate that the real exchange rate must monotonically approach its steady state level. However, capital accumulation need not be monotonic and real exchange rate appreciation can be associated with either a rising or a falling capital stock. The relationship between world financial market conditions and the real exchange rate is also investigated. Received: October 3, 1997; revised version: October 23, 1997     

20世纪30年代大萧条中的中国宏观经济

本文对20世纪30年代世界经济大萧条中的中国经济进行历史回顾和经济理论分析,并与西方主要金本位国家进行比较,力图还原历史的本来面目。本文的研究发现,有两个因素在大萧条时期的中国经济中起到了重要作用,一个是银本位,一个是竞争性的银行体系。银本位使中国经济萧条的进程迥然不同于西方金本位国家;不同于西方国家主要通过财政政策度过大萧条,中国由于特殊的银行体系,货币供给始终没有减少,银行危机也没有普遍发生,这是中国经济在整个大萧条中表现较好的一个重要原因。     

Human capital accumulation in an open labour market: Ireland in the 1990s

Large-scale investment in education in Ireland began in 1967 and has led to a dramatic increase in the relative supply of skilled labour over the past four decades. Furthermore the supply of labour in Ireland is traditionally highly elastic through migration, which in the 1990s was predominantly high-skilled. This combination of rising education levels and an open labour market meant that employment and incomes rose rapidly in the 1990s, while Ireland still maintained a strong competitive position in terms of relative labour costs.In this paper we develop a new macro-economic framework to formally analyse these mechanisms. We estimate a small structural model of the Irish labour market, separately identifying high-skilled and low-skilled labour. We find that this model captures key characteristics of the Irish labour market in the 1990s.     

Exchange rate volatility and United Kingdom trade: evidence from Canada,Japan and New Zealand

This paper investigates the influence of exchange rate volatility on the real imports of the United Kingdom from Canada, Japan and New Zealand during the period 1980–2003. The Johansen multivariate cointegration method and the constrained error correction (general-to-specific) method are applied to study the relationship between real imports and its determinants (including exchange rate volatility). Conditional variance from the GARCH(1,1) model is applied as exchange rate volatility. Both nominal and real exchange rates are employed in the empirical study. Results indicate a significant effect of the exchange rate volatility on real imports. These exchange rate volatility effects are mostly positive. The author thanks an anonymous referee, the editor and Myles Wallace for several useful comments and suggestions. Any remaining errors and omissions are the author’s responsibility alone.     

A prototype model of the foreign exchange market of Canada: Forecasting capital flows and exchange rates

A balance-of-payments structural model of the foreign exchange market of Canada, endogenizing capital flows, the spot and forward exchange rates and the entities of the monetary sector, is developed using quarterly data for 1971–81. The capital flows have been disaggregated into ten categories and the exchange rates of the Canadian dollar have been analysed against five major currencies. While the model does not adhere strictly to purchasing power or interest rate parity, it does recognize them and it also incorporates other economic fundamentals, expectations and risk. Government interventions, although generated endogenously, are quantified implicitly and globally. The model tracks the post-Bretton Woods in-sample experience and generates ex post predictions reasonably well.     

Some Observations on the Great Depression in Germany

Abstract. This paper evaluates the role of preference shocks during the Great Depression in Germany. From Euler equation residuals, I am able to identify a series of contractionary shocks that struck the German economy from 1929 to 1932. I apply the sequence of these taste innovations to a dynamic general-equilibrium model and find that the size and the order of shocks can generate a pattern that can explain the lion's share of the decline in economic activity. The artificial economy also predicts a swift recovery after 1932, thereby questioning any significant effects of Nazi economic policy.     

中国工业增长因素的实证研究

使用参数估计法与隐型变量法估算了1952-2009年中国工业的增长因素。研究发现,1952-2009年我国工业总体上表现为典型的粗放型增长方式,但在不同时期各增长因素的重要性表现出阶段性特征,特别是1996年后,智力要素对产出增长的贡献度第一次超过了初级要素投入的贡献度,成为推动中国工业产出增长的首要因素,表明中国工业的增长方式开始由粗放型向集约型转变。要进一步推动我国工业的集约型增长,需要遏制资本产出弹性的下降趋势,并充分发挥人力资本的作用。     

资源大国的可持续经营——加拿大循环经济发展对中国的借鉴

加拿大是世界资源大国,并致力于成为清洁资源能源大国。其在资源和环境方面的可持’续经营值得学习借鉴．主要表现在以下几方面：资源利用和环境保护中权力和责任的相当匹配;尊重民意,建立广泛的利益相关方协调机制;在法律框架下,充分发挥排污权交易制度、生态补偿机制和废弃物回收押金制度等市场机制作用;消费者环保意识对生产者行为产生重大影响;促使跨国公司在资源利用和环境保护方面起引领作用;强烈的忧患意识和强大的科技投入共同促动了资源环境的可持续经营等。这启示我们,要善于将先进的科学理念及时转化为有效的政策工具,更好地促动资源环境工作的开展。当然,由于中国和加拿大所处经济发展阶段不同,在产业结构和人口城市化等方面的国情存在很大差异,在借鉴加拿大经验时,要注意结合中国国情。     

Economic growth and poverty traps in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of education and TFP shocks

This paper investigates the “education-total factor productivity trade-off” in explaining income per worker differences between sub-Saharan (unlucky) and G7 (lucky) economies. First, we examine the dynamics of average years of schooling (i.e. education), capital per worker, income per worker, and total factor productivity (TFP) across sub-Saharan and G7 countries. We confirm that physical capital and education levels partially explain income per worker differences between lucky and unlucky economies. Second, we undertake a novel examination of the impact of technology shocks on income per worker, with the goal of understanding the role of technology variation in causing cross-country income per worker differences, and as a potential contributor to overall slow growth in the sub-Saharan region. In a vector autoregressive (VAR) framework, we show that the impact of “ad hoc” TFP shocks on income per worker is larger in unlucky economies than in lucky ones. We observe that average TFP volatility in the “unlucky world” is eight times higher than in the “G7 world”. We argue that the order of magnitude of the impact heavily depends on the level of the TFP volatility. Last, we suggest that the documented differences in the amount of physical capital and in the productivity of human capital between these two regions add conceptual support for the existence of poverty traps for sub-Saharan Africa.     

李嘉图等价定理及其在中国的适用性分析

李嘉图等价定理认为,政府的财政收入形式的选择,不会引起人们经济行为的调整。但是,现代经济学家们并非完全同意李嘉图的见解,无论是对其必要条件的检验还是对其结论的检验都存在着争论。而通过实证分析我国1989—2004年的政府发债分别与消费和投资的关系,可以得出结论：从历史数据来看,李嘉图等价定理在我国并不适用。     

转型经济中劳动力迁移对非农就业的影响——中国农户调查数据的分析

基于2009年中国农村金融调查数据,本文建立多项Logit就业选择模型,识别劳动力迁移对返乡农民工非农就业的影响,并利用2008年9月之后返乡农民工样本考察劳动力迁移的潜在内生性及可能导致的估计偏误.本文发现:由于内生性的存在,导致劳动力迁移效应被高估约8.5个百分点.相比从未迁移的农村劳动力,劳动力迁移促使农民工返乡后更多地受雇于非农工作,而对自主创业的影响不大.在中国转型经济中,农村剩余劳动力向城市迁移后提高了非农产业技能,为农村非农产业的发展积累了人力资本.返乡农民工具有更多的金融资本和人力资本,将在中国独特的城市化建设中起到重要作用.     

美国的资本积累与家庭经济的衰落:历史关联与“大萧条”

美国的经济大萧条暴露了家庭经济的发展与资本积累之间的矛盾。根据积累理论,通过制度分析和时间序列分析,可以揭示家庭经济恶化与资本积累之间的历史关联。资本积累的良性运转必须以家庭消费支出的不断增长为前提,但是政府却仅为之提供了十分有限的保障,在前所未有的债务负担下,家庭经济恶化就成为不可避免。     

Saving–investment correlations, capital mobility and crowding out: some further results

This study attempts to reassess the evidence on the degree of capital mobility and crowding out by applying a varying coefficients model to data on 19 OECD countries over the 1971–1999 period. Our period-specific results strongly support the crowding-out effect as well as the low capital mobility argument for this group of countries as a whole. However, the strength of the crowding-out effect appears to weaken and the degree of capital mobility to increase in the 1990s as compared to the 1970s and 1980s. We also classify countries into five groups according to the relative size of the government sector. Our group-specific results indicate that the degree of capital mobility is generally lower and the crowding-out effect generally stronger, in country groups with smaller governments. The differences are especially evident when we compare the group with largest government size with all other groups, those differences between the latter being much more modest. However, significant differences in the country-specific results suggest that it is prudent to be cautious when we draw conclusions about crowding-out and capital mobility for specific countries from the period-wise or group-wise results. This is particularly important in drawing policy implications for specific countries.     

Income shifting, investment, and tax competition: theory and evidence from provincial taxation in Canada

We study corporate income taxation when firms operating in multiple jurisdictions can shift income using tax planning strategies. Because income of corporate groups is not consolidated for tax purposes in Canada, firms may use financial techniques, such as lending among affiliates, to reduce subnational corporate taxes. A simple theoretical model shows how income shifting affects real investment, government revenues, and tax base elasticities, depending on whether firms must allocate income to provinces or not. We then analyze data from administrative tax records to compare the behavior of corporate subsidiaries that may engage in income shifting to comparable firms that must use the statutory allocation formula to determine their taxable income in each province. The evidence suggests that income shifting has pronounced effects on provincial tax bases. According to our preferred estimate, the elasticity of taxable income with respect to tax rates for “income shifting” firms is 4.9, compared with 2.3 for other, comparable firms.     

Technology adoption and accumulation in a vintage-capital model

We present a model of capital accumulation and technology adoption in a vintage-capital framework. The model is an infinite-horizon/infinite-dimensional optimal control model: the firm employs a continuum of technologies (a continuum of heterogeneous capital goods). Capital goods are technology specific, their technology is related to vintage and technology progress. The entrepreneur maximizes the profits obtained by employing a continuum of technologies under the assumption of constant returns to scale and bearing adjustment costs for gross investments. The diffusion of a new technology is established by allowing the entrepreneur to invest in vintage capital goods.