Timing of endogenous bargaining over costs and firms’ locations

This work analyzes a duopoly in which firms choose their locations and then bargain over wages with their unions. The timing of the bargaining process is endogeously determined. We obtain that bargaining is simultaneous if and only if both firms decide when negotiations take place. Otherwise negotiation takes place sequentially. Under simultaneous or sequential negotiations, the market is equally shared and both firms have the same price-cost margins and profits. When bargaining is sequential firms have higher profits, the leader locates closer to the market than in the simultaneous case, the follower locates further away and the distance between the two firms is greater.      

China’s international trade development and opening-up policy design over the past four decades

ABSTRACT

China’s opening-up in the past four decades has gone through three waves: the extensive margin of opening-up (1978–2001), the intensive margin of opening-up (2001–2017), and all-around opening-up (since 2017). This paper explores these three stages of the country’s economic reform. China’s gains from trade have been inspired by different economic factors. Before the turn of the century, the large trade volume was due to the realization of comparative advantage based on the country’s factor endowment. However, after its accession to the World Trade Organization, China’s gains from trade have been due, in large part, to the realization of economic scale effects associated with the larger market.     

The relationship between start-up motive and earnings over the course of the entrepreneur’s business tenure

We investigate whether the start-up motive is related to the entrepreneur’s earnings, and whether the relationship between the entrepreneur’s business tenure (i.e., the time the entrepreneur is running the business) and his earnings depends on the start-up motive. We employ a unique longitudinal data base providing information on start-up motive and earnings for 7902 entrepreneurs in the EU-15 countries, where 12 different start-up motives are distinguished. We classify these 12 motives in three broad categories of opportunity, necessity and other start-up motives. Our analysis shows that, first, earnings of necessity entrepreneurs are significantly lower than those of opportunity entrepreneurs, irrespective of the type of necessity motive. Second, these differences remain rather stable over the course of the entrepreneur’s business tenure, i.e., these differences are of a permanent nature. Third, we do not find evidence for earnings differences within the broad category of necessity entrepreneurs (i.e., between the different types of necessity motives).     

The effect of science and technology parks on a firm’s performance: a dynamic approach over time

We argue that the benefits provided by locations inside science and technology parks evolve over time. Firms inside parks can improve performance due to certain advantages related to knowledge spillovers and shared resources that can be particularly useful in earlier stages of the industry life cycle. In these industries, local knowledge sharing is particularly useful because no standards are clearly established, as we have confirmed in a sample of 12,800 firms from the PITEC database, located either on- or off-park. We also find that young firms can benefit more from the park than more established businesses in terms of both business growth and innovative capacity. Although older firms have greater experience and investments that would increase their capacity to absorb external knowledge, their associated rigidities prevent them from incorporating changes into their structures.     

What drives idiosyncratic volatility over time?

We document the patterns of market-wide and firm-specific volatility in the Portuguese stock market over the 1991–2005 period and test several explanations for the behavior of firm-level idiosyncratic volatility. Unlike previous studies we find no evidence of a statistically significant rise in firm-specific volatility. On the contrary, the ratio of firm-specific risk to total risk slightly decreases. We show that this result stems from new listings of large privatized companies that display lower firm-specific risk. Our findings are consistent with the idea that changes in idiosyncratic volatility are related to changes in the composition of the market.

How is the worker’s weekly hour related to wage over the life cycle? The U.S. evidence

The current study estimates the relationship between weekly hours and weekly wage over the life cycle of a representative sample of workers. Recognizing the endogeneity of these two variables, the study estimates both equations in a simultaneous equations framework and demonstrates that the relationship between weekly hours and weekly wage is not uniform over the worker’s life cycle. These two variables are negatively related when the workers are young and have a positive relationship when they are matured adults. This conclusion remains valid for both men and women. Our robustness check further confirms that workers respond to wage increases differently at different stages of their working career. This has interesting policy implications. Any policy to influence the worker’s hours decision through wage incentive must consider the stage of his/her working career.     

北方干旱“硬伤’’

“十年九早”，干旱似乎已是我国北方大地冬春季节的常态。切实地走在田间库边，记者才深切的感受到去冬今春的干旱度。眼前的景象早已不是往昔的“北国风光，千里冰封，万里雪飘”，而是皲裂的土地，干涸的水渠，枯黄的麦苗……持续的干旱，将可能终止我国连续七年丰收的好景，更会给北方这片我国冬粮的主产区带来大面积的歉收。     

未来商业空间“黑洞化’’

基于生活方式而出现的商业空间，颠覆了传统工业时代商业空间的存在形态，在未来的商业世界里，商业空间是以一个个的漩涡状的商业黑洞状态存在着[编者按]     

零售业多元化需要“机会主义’’

零售业态所处的生命周期不仅影响、刺激零售商的多元化冲劲，同时直接关系到零售商业态多元化的机会[编者按]     

Are Social Costs the Outcome of Struggles over Truth?

Abstract:

This article critically examines the institutional economics theory of social costs by way of reviewing The Dark Places of Business Enterprise: Reinstating Social Costs in Institutional-Economics (2019). In particular, the article assesses the proposal to re-root institutional economics in the theoretical synthesis of “Veblen-Kapp-Mirowski” to better understand the social costs of neoliberalism. One of the findings is that while such a synthesis seems justified on the grounds of significant commonalities and the merits of deeper insights, it nevertheless runs into difficulties due to divergent philosophical foundations. One of the conclusions is that further philosophic clarification is needed on how an alternative economy would understand the relationship between “social costs” and Truth.     

Large shareholders’ shareholding and earnings’ longitudinal persistence

This paper is the first to adopt longitudinal data analysis methods, such as the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis model, hierarchical linear model and Cox proportional hazards regression model, to investigate the relationship between large shareholders’ shareholding and earnings persistence. We find that large shareholders’ shareholding has a negative effect on corporate longitudinal persistence. The large shareholders’ shareholding will increase the risk of earnings decline and strengthen the declining trend of earnings. The effects of large shareholders’ shareholding on earnings’ longitudinal persistence for SOEs are different from those for non-SOEs, the effects in the pre-crisis period are also different from those in the post-crisis period. These findings contribute to the literature by adopting longitudinal data analysis methods and present new empirical evidence on the economic consequences of large shareholders’ shareholding.     

‘利用’与‘引进’关系谈

对利用外资,引进技术存在着两种认识:一种是把利用外资,引进技术当成一回事。第二种是没有把二者较好地结合起来。弄清楚利用外资对引进技术的作用,对做好利用外资工作和技术引进工作都有利。     

Rawls’ Paradox

Rawls’ theory of justice is paradoxical, for it requires a society to aim directly to maximize the basic goods received by the least advantaged even if directly aiming is self-defeating. Rawls’ reasons for rejecting capitalist systems commit him to holding that a society must not merely maximize the goods received by the least advantaged, but must do so via specific institutions. By Rawls’ own premises, in the long run directly aiming to satisfy the difference principle is contrary to the interests of the poor, though it is meant to aid them.

Practitioners’ forum

This article reviews a number of models of the process of technological innovation and identtities the important elements involved. Although no universal model is applicable to all processes of technological innovation, given the importance of technology in the long-tern strategy of research-intensive trns , a knowledge of the elements involved in the process is essential to today's managers. Models of the process of innovation must be developed contingent upon thejirn's needs. The critical factors, which must be conszdered when developing such a model, are identified.