Hidden underemployment among Irish farm holders 2002–2011

This article examines the scale of hidden underemployment on Irish farms from 2002 to 2011. We provide a measure of hidden underemployment that is not captured by the national-level statistics. Hidden underemployment can be attributed to a number of factors relating to inadequate employment situations as described at the 16th International Conference of Labour Statisticians such as low productivity, the poor utilization of skills and other factors specific to agriculture. We place particular attention upon the potential role of off-farm labour supply in solving the underemployment problem. We utilize a two-stage residual inclusion model and a random effects probit model to examine the forces behind farm underemployment. We utilize a fixed effects model to examine the factors driving the severity of farm underemployment. Our findings suggest that instances of hidden underemployment increased between 2002 and 2011. Hidden underemployment appears to be a stubborn problem and is related to the absence of off-farm employment, low yield, livestock intensity and smaller than average farm size in the sheep and drystock cattle sectors in particular.     

FDI技术溢出渠道与中国制造业生产率增长研究:基于面板数据的分析

This paper analyses total factor productivity (TFP) of China’s manufacturing sector and its decomposed indexes, i.e., technological progress and technological efficiency by employing Malmquist productivity index based on the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. Using panel data of domestic manufacturing sector in China from 2000 to 2005, we estimate the influences of horizontal and vertical linkages on TFP and its decomposition indexes by controlling R&D and exports indexes of domestic manufacturing sector. The empirical results show that R&D and exports have a positive effect on TFP and that FDI inflows lead to positive spillovers significantly in general mainly through technological progress resulting from backward linkages; however, forward linkages have no technology spillover effect while horizontal linkages promote TFP through technological efficiency which has quite different influencing modes compared to that of backward and forward linkages. The grouping regression results also show that FDI technology spillovers have different conductive mechanisms under different technological levels, industry concentrations and export dependency indexes. Translated and Revised from Shijie Jingji 世界经济 (The Journal of World Economy), 2008, (8): 20–31     

Learning-by-doing in R&D, knowledge threshold, and technological divide

This paper presents a simple R&D-based growth model of the “technological divide,” in which learning-by-doing (investing) in R&D and a threshold level of technological knowledge jointly determine the pattern of economic growth. Specifically, the model generates differences in the growth pattern primarily by modifying the underlying parameters that govern the evolution of economy-wide technological competence or dynamic R&D productivity. The technological divide arises at the threshold level of technological knowledge, which is largely affected by the quality of socio-technological infrastructure. Government policies aimed at enhancing the quality of socio-technological infrastructure can help countries escape from the “technology divide” trap by lowering the knowledge threshold. While the model preserves the spirit of the R&D-based endogenous growth model in the sense of its policy effects and the endogenous evolution of technological competence, the model does not need to reach the scale effect directly, where an increase in the size of an economy generates more rapid growth.     

The influence analysis on public expenditure to the technique efficiency of China

In this paper, we use SFA to estimate the time-variant stochastic frontier model of 31 cities in China. The results tell us that raising the proportion of public expenditure in GDP can lower the technological efficiency, but raising some parts of public expenditure in GDP can promote the technological efficiency. Its realistic meaning is that it is excellent to turn the public expenditure structure to promote the technological efficiency. We computed the technological efficiency of 31 provinces/cities and the results show that the gap between the eastern region and western region is growing much. Finally, we decompose total factor productivity (TFP) and get the following result: from three regions, the biggest influence factor on technological efficiency is the scales economy. Technological progress and allocation efficiency have a smaller influence. From our results, we suggest that technological progress and allocation efficiency from public expenditure and income be raised to influence the TFP rate of change, and have a more efficient public expenditure. __________ Translated from Journal of Finance and Economics (财经研究), 2005, (12) (in Chinese)     

An Equity-based Redefinition of Underemployment and Unemployment and Some Measurements

An attempt is made in this article to redefine underemployment and unemployment without making reference to an excess supply of labor or any causal mechanism of unemployment. Instead, underemployment and unemployment are defined in terms of equity which draws upon the individual's preferences. A specific proposal is that underemployment be defined by the presence of contribution inequity relative to at least half the persons employed in a field that the underemployed person might prefer to move into. Empirically, most recent survey data on preferences for contingent and other nontraditional employment are used to illustrate the application of the concept. The major finding is that nearly 10 million Americans in the nontraditional workforce are underemployed.     

Adoption of Pollution Prevention Techniques: The Role of Management Systems and Regulatory Pressures

This paper investigates the extent to which firm level technological change that reduces unregulated emissions is driven by regulatory pressures, and firms’ technological and organizational capabilities. Using a treatment effects model with panel data for a sample of S&P 500 firms over the period 1994–1996, we find that organizational change in the form of Total Quality Environmental Management leads firms to adopt pollution prevention practices, after controlling for the effects of various regulatory pressures and firm-specific characteristics. We find that the threat of anticipated regulations and the presence of ‘complementary assets’ is important for creating the incentives and an internal capacity to undertake incremental adoption of pollution prevention techniques.     

Analysis on total factor productivity of Chinese provincial economy

This paper applies the nonparametric DEA-Malmquist index approach to estimate total factor productivity growth, efficiency change and the rate of technological progress from 1979 to 2003. This is done to conduct analysis on the total factor productivity of China’s provincial economy. Analysis on the evolution of distribution dynamics of relative labor productivity, relative total factor productivity, relative efficiency and relative technological progress is done by using kernel density estimation for the period from 1979 to 2003 in 29 provinces of China. Our analysis indicates that disparities of provincial economic growth are large and have been increasing owing to the relatively large and increasing disparities of total factor productivity growth especially the rate of technological progress. __________ Translated from The Journal of World Economy (世界经6D4E;), 2005, (5) (in Chinese)     

The Role of Governments in Aligning Functional Income Distribution with Full Employment

Demand is an incentive for investment. The latter is necessary to create employment. If demand lags behind supply, then unemployment and underemployment rise. Persistent unemployment and underemployment indicate a dysfunctional price mechanism. Then, only governments can stimulate demand. They may equalize ex ante saving and investment by public investment, income redistribution, or market regulation.     

A demand system for input factors when there are technological changes in production

In a system with n input factors there are n − 1 independent cost shares. An often-used approach in estimating factor demand systems is to (implicitly or explicitly) assume that there is a (independent) cointegrating relationship for each of the n − 1 independent cost shares. However, due to technological changes, there might not be as many cointegrating relationships as there are (independent) cost shares. This article presents a flexible demand system that allows for both factor neutral technological changes as well as technological changes that affect the relative use of the different factors. The empirical tests indicate that there are fewer cointegrating relationships than usually implied using conventional estimation approaches. This result is consistent with technological changes that affect the relative use of the different input factors. I argue that, since such unexplained technological changes are likely to affect input factor decisions, a demand system that allows for such changes should be preferred.     

International Emissions Trading and Induced Carbon-Saving Technological Change: Effects of Restricting the Trade in Carbon Rights

This paper examines the implications of restricting the tradability of carbon rights in the presence of induced technological change. Unlike earlier approaches aimed at exploring the tradability-technology linkage, we focus on climate-relevant “carbon-saving” technological change. This is achieved by incorporating endogenous investment in carbon productivity into the RICE-99 integrated assessment model of Nordhaus and Boyer (2000). Simulation analysis of various emission reduction scenarios with several restrictions on emissions trading reveals a pronounced dichotomy of effects across regions: Restrictions to trading raise the investments in carbon productivity in permit demanding regions while reducing them in permit supplying regions. In terms of per capita consumption, permit demanding regions lose and permit supplying regions gain from restrictions. In scenarios that involve “hot air,” restrictions to trade lower overall emissions, which results in reduced climate damage for most regions. Reduced damage, in turn, reduces the incentive to invest in carbon productivity.     

A Schumpeterian model of equilibrium unemployment and labor turnover

This paper constructs a general equilibrium model of equilibrium unemployment by combining an endogenous growth model with a variant of equilibrium search theory. The analysis offers two explanations for the causes of widening wage gap between skilled and less-skilled labor, and rising unemployment rate among the less skilled: technological change in the form of an increase in the size of innovations or skilled labor saving technological change in R&D activity. In addition, the model identifies two distinct effects of faster technological progress on the aggregate unemployment rate. First, it increases the rate of labor turnover and therefore increases the aggregate unemployment rate – the creative destruction effect. Second, it creates R&D jobs, which offer workers complete job security, and consequently reduces the aggregate unemployment rate – the resource reallocation effect.     

On technological objects and the adoption of technological product innovations: rules, routines and the transition from analogue photography to digital imaging

We extend the transformational model of social activity proposedin recent realist social theory by importing into it a theoryof technological objects and technological change. The paperbegins with an account of the transformational model, focusingparticularly on the relationship between routines and socialrules. We then outline a theory of what we call the ‘technicalidentity’ of technological objects, drawing on the notionof collective assignments of agentive functions proposed bythe philosopher John Searle. Finally, we link this theory tothe transformational model and derive three broad categoriesof technological change. The framework as a whole is illustratedwith empirical material drawn from a recent study of the shiftfrom analogue photography to digital imaging in consumer photography.     

The Green Solow model

We argue that a key empirical finding in environmental economics—the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC)—and the core model of modern macroeconomics—the Solow model—are intimately related. Once we amend the Solow model to incorporate technological progress in abatement, the EKC is a necessary by product of convergence to a sustainable growth path. We explain why current methods for estimating an EKC are likely to fail; provide an alternative empirical method directly tied to our theory; and estimate our model on carbon emissions from 173 countries over the 1960–1998 period.     

Innovation and Employment: Evidence from Italian Microdata

The microeconomic empirical literature devoted to the link between innovation and employment tends to suggest that technological change has a positive effect on jobs, at least at the firm-level. The main purpose of this paper is to see whether this result still holds in a situation where intermediate technologies are implemented mainly through non R&D expenditures, as in Italian manufacturing. Applying GMM-SYS to an employment equation augmented for technology and using a unique longitudinal dataset of 575 Italian manufacturing firms over the period 1992–1997, this paper finds a significant – although small – positive relationship between innovation and employment.     

Organisational change, technology, employment and skills: an empirical study of French manufacturing

This paper analyses the correlations between technological change,organisational change and skill change using a survey on organisationalchange in manufacturing firms conducted in 1993. Considerablediversity is allowed for in terms of the measure of technologicaland organisational change, and the analysis shows a positivecorrelation between technological change and reorganisations,whatever their types. The paper then analyses the relationshipsbetween these changes and the employment behaviour of firms.It shows that changes in the required skills and in the occupationalstructure of firms are more closely connected to organisationalthan to technological change. Although organisational changeaffects the work content and skill requirements of blue collarworkers, it is mainly indirect workers that are affected interms of the number employed. Finally, the analysis shows thattechnology tends to stabilise the workforce whereas the movetowards the model of ‘flexible enterprise’ favoursits renewal.     

Optimal employment contracts with bankruptcy constraints

Consider the optimal incentive compatible contract offered by a firm with private information to its risk-averse employees. If the firm is subject to a binding limited liability or bankruptcy constraint then the contract will yield underemployment in low productivity states (relative to full-information efficiency). Such contracts either yield underemployment in all states, or excessively high variability in employment.     

Demand competition and investment heterogeneity in industries based on systemic technologies: evidence from the US long-distance telecommunications services industry, 1984–1996

Industries based on systemic technologies are often characterized by a dynamically evolving market structure. The market structure that provides the context for firms’ investment choices itself evolves due to the feedback effect of firms’ investments. In such cases, analyses of investment-performance relationship, purporting to explain sustainable competitive advantages, should ideally account for the endogeneity of the determinants of market structure—technology, demand, and policy—and firms’ investment choices. This paper focuses on the endogeneity of the demand-side determinants of market structure and firms’ demand-side investments under the assumed conditions of constant technology and policy environment. In doing so it contradicts the extant depiction of the evolution of industrial market structure in the above context as primarily caused by the evolution of underlying technological system in response to firms’ endogenous technological investments that generate sustainable competitive advantage for the dominant firms. A dynamic evolutionary model of demand competition captures the competition in the downstream market for basic industry product and its complements in an industry based on systemic technology during its post-interoperability stage. A natural experiment drawn from the US Long-distance telecommunications services industry during 1984–1996 allows testing the hypotheses drawn from the above model in a panel data setting.     

Underemployment in Australia: a panel investigation

This 2001–2013 panel study finds 33% of part-time employees to be underemployed, disproportionately affecting males, immigrants, youth, the blue-collared and new to our study, those on casual contracts. Within the underemployed sample, we report that the gap between preferred and actual hours (working hour tension) also varies by personal and labour characteristics, largely consistent with that found for the determinants of underemployment. The continued growth of part-time employment and casualization in recent years has been more pronounced among males, raising their rates of underemployment as they disproportionately prefer to work more hours vis-à-vis their part-time female peers.     

Multinational enterprises and technological spillovers: An evolutionary model

This paper analyses the determinants of the impact of foreign multinational enterprises on the technological development of domestic firms. It argues that the consequences of the foreign presence change according to market and technological conditions. An evolutionary model of technological competition between foreign and domestic firms is developed which is able to generate both vicious and virtuous circles of development in locations affected by foreign MNE activities. Theoretical analysis is tested against the empirical evidence for the UK economy (1983–1989).     

FDI and growth in transition economies: Does the mode of transition make a difference?

The countries of Central and Eastern Europe are a unique group of countries. In the process of transformation to market economies, some of them adopted the “shock therapy” while others the “gradualism” mode. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) plays an important role in economic growth through the addition of physical capital, technological know-how, management skill and marketing network. This paper empirically demonstrates that the mode of transformation definitely affects the effectiveness of FDI in promoting growth. (JEL: P3, P33)