The distribution of personal income: Revisited

In a recent paper, Majumder and Chakravarty (1990) propose a four-parameter model which they find provides a better fit to some income data than the lognormal, gamma, Singh-Maddala, Dagum, and generalized beta of the second kind (GB2) distributions. This note (1) demonstrates that the model proposed by Majumder and Chakravarty is a reparameterization of the GB2 and (2) reconciles the corresponding contradictory empirical findings reported by Majumder and Chakravarty.     

Manufacturing Industry and the Balance of Payments Adjustment: The United Kingdom Case

The thesis of this essay is that it is unlikely that economic growth in the UK during the rest of the 1990s will be balance-of-payments constrained in any significant sense. Our conclusion is that manufacturing industry does not and will not play a unique role in Britain's economic future. These propositions are not to be confused with two distinct and related ones. The first is that the fact that the balance of payments need not be seen as a constraint does not rule out the possibility of other problems associated with the balance of payments such as we have seen in the recent past. Secondly, the fact that manufacturing industry is not in any sense a unique part of economic activity in no way lessens its importance as a major and significant sector. This paper is in no sense a critique of manufacturing industry.     

Briefing Paper Import Penetration in the United Kingdom

There is widespread concern about the growth of imports in the United Kingdom. British industry is said to be ‘bleeding to death’ as a result of foreign competition and calls are heard for protective measures such as import controls to save the economy. There are three elements in the case for protection. The first is that trends in Britain's foreign trade in manufactured goods have been extremely adverse and that there are no good grounds for believing that they will change spontaneously. The second is that the growth of the economy is constrained by the balance of payments and that consequently a serious and growing depression will develop throughout the 1980s which could reach catastrophic proportions towards the end of the decade when North Sea oil production declines. The third is that import controls are an effective way of coping with the problem. It is recognised that the second two elements are controversial. As it happens we disagree with both of them. However, it is generally assumed that the first element - the view that increasing import penetration will destroy British industry - is common ground and that no-one disagrees with it. Our aim in this Briefing Paper is to challenge this view. There is no doubt that import penetration (which we measure as the share of imports in GDP) has growth rapidly, especially over the past two decades. In 1960 imports amounted to 25 per cent of GDP. By 1970 this proportion had risen to 28 per cent and in 1979 it had risen to 35 per cent. However, we shall argue that the economic processes that have been responsible for this development have on the whole been poorly understood. We reject the popular view that Britain is structurally unable to compete in world markets. Instead we propose an alternative interpretation of import penetration which explains UK trade performance in terms of the broader pattern of the world trade order. In the light of this theory we argue that import penetration in the UK is not an inexorable trend reflecting the relative weakness of the UK in international trade. On the contrary, UK import penetration has been adjusting to a new world trading environment and now that this process of adjustment is nearing completion the rate of increase of import penetration seems likely to abate. Moreover, the British people have benefited from this greater degree of free trade and any protective measures designed to inhibit the economic forces that we describe below would damage the economic welfare of the British public as a whole.     

我国城镇居民收入分配差距探源

分析了当前城镇居民个人收入分配的现状 ,探讨了收入分配差距拉大的原因 ,指出了城镇居民收入分配中存在的问题 ,给出了解决对策     

The cyclical nature of family income distribution in the united states: An empirical note

This note utilizes a cubic polynomial to model the cyclical behaviour of income inequality in the U.S. from 1947 to 2000. Linear and quadratic models have been used to explain the pattern, but they are not capable of detecting more than one extreme point. The simplest model capable of detecting a cycle is a cubic polynomial. By detecting the inflection points, the model can “predict” the turning points, from convergence to divergence. The model performs better with nominal data than with real data. (JEL 015, 040)     

Explaining the postwar suburbanization of population in the United States: the role of income

The author uses data on household heads from the Public Use Sample of the 1950 U.S. census to analyze the relationship between household income and the probability of suburban residence. The results indicate that "slightly less than half of population suburbanization between 1950 and 1980 can be attributed to rising household incomes."     

The impact of foreign variables on domestic money demand: Evidence from the United Kingdom

This paper contributes to the existing money demand literature by developing and estimating a shopping-time model in an open economy framework. Based on this microfoundations-of-money model, United Kingdom quarterly data for the period 1973:2–1997:2 are analyzed in the empirical study. After accounting for nonstationarity in the time series processes, I find three long-run relationships among the relevant variables. Estimation of the error-correction representation implied by the model shows that the foreign exchange rates and the imports consumption, in addition to the domestic variables, have significant effects on British demand for real money. I am grateful to Kenneth D. West, Donald D. Hester, James M. Johannes, Hung-Neng Lai, two anonymous referees, and seminar participants at the University of Alabama and the University of Wisconsin for helpful comments. I also thank the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for its financial support. Naturally, all remaining errors are mine.     

英国城市化进程的阶段性借鉴

人类已进入城市化的新阶段,全球70亿人口中超过半数生活在城市里.英国作为世界上率先实现城市化的国家,拥有250余年的城市化实践.英国城市走过了集群化、郊区化、逆城市化、城乡一体化的道路,英国城市化经历了自发蔓延、先放任后治理、法制管理、规划先行、城乡一体的进程,为包括中国在内的城市化高速发展的新兴国家,提供了研究城市化发展进程及其内在规律的启示.通过文献搜集、比较研究、案例分析等研究方法,总结英国城市化各阶段特征,详列英国应对“城市病”的具体举措,尤其是英国目前通过城市化缩小城乡差别,普及公共服务的经验,以资借鉴.     

On the optimal distribution of income among cities

In a competitive land market, different consumers will bid differing amounts to be located at one or another points in space. This article demonstrates that consumers fare better by competing in land markets where other competitors have different bid structures than they. Since income has a strong effect on one's bidding, the paper formally proves that poor consumers would, ceteris paribus, prefer to locate in cities with rich consumers and vice versa. With respect to the market for urban land, the inference is that cities heterogeneous in income are preferred by all to homogeneous ones.     

Developments in the structure of financial reporting regulation in the United Kingdom

The paper has three purposes. First, to consider how the audit task was undertaken in independent Lithuania during 1918–40. Second, to consider the conceptions and execution of that task when Lithuania was incorporated into the USSR. Third, to provide an assessment of the developments since the restoration of independence.     

The efficiency of interprovincial migration in Canada, 1961-1978

A programming model is used to analyze the impact of the efficiency of migration flows on regional income disparities in Canada. A new method to measure such efficiency is presented in an attempt to show that occupations involving high-level skills and training have efficient migration patterns. The relationship between income differentials and internal migration is discussed.     

Reflections on the relative economic decline of the United Kingdom

This paper considers the apparent paradox that while wage levels in the UK are not high by international standards they form a conspicuously high proportion of value added. As a consequence there are constraints placed on the servicing and use of capital. These result in reduced innovation and growth from socio-political factors embracing both the wage-setting process and individual incentive.     

The evolving role of trade associations in negotiated environmental agreements: the case of United Kingdom Climate Change Agreements

Voluntary and negotiated agreements are becoming increasingly popular instruments for regulating industry's environmental performance. Although their main purpose is to modify the behaviour of individual firms, the coordinating role of trade (or industry) associations is often critical to their environmental effectiveness. Thus, a clear and mutually agreed understanding of associations' role in the agreement process is essential. This paper examines the nature of trade associations' input into the negotiation and implementation of environmental agreements, using the case study of United Kingdom Climate Change Agreements. Results show associations serving a range of coordinating roles, including the aggregation of members' viewpoints, negotiation of agreements, provision of regulatory and technical knowledge and collation of performance data. We conclude that further involvement of trade associations in negotiated and voluntary agreements can bring appreciable, though not uncontested, benefits in terms of environmental effectiveness. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Development dynamics: Pre and Post Brexit analysis of United Kingdom

Quality & Quantity - The main prospective of this research is to analysis the industrial development (IDV) nexus for a sample of Pre Brexit Polling and After Brexit Polling in the economy of...     

基于预测价值的中期财务报告编制方法的探讨

中期财务报告能否帮助信息使用者预测未来期间收益,一直是人们十分关注的问题。对中期财务报告的预测价值进行研究,有助于提高上市公司中期财务报告的披露质量和保护投资者的利益。文章通过分析中期财务报告的编制方法对预测价值的影响,认为我国应侧重于整体观编制中期财务报告。