Effectiveness of industrial policy on firm productivity: evidence from Thai manufacturing

This paper examines the effects of industrial policy on firm productivity, using a three-year panel data set of Thai manufacturing as a case study. A range of industrial policy tools is defined, including tariff measures, subsidies, and investment incentives through the Board of Investment (BOI), which represent the main industrial policy tools used in Thailand. The effect of ‘water in the tariffs’ and partial trade liberalisation undertaken through free trade agreements (FTAs) signed between Thailand and her trading partners is also examined. The key findings concern the role traditional tools, that is trade openness, R&D, and skills upgrading, play in fostering firm productivity. Promoting a conducive environment, especially within domestic competition, is crucial in encouraging firm productivity. Some industrial policy tools are effective in promoting firm productivity, that is providing investment incentives via the BOI and lowering tariff protection. Subsidies, by contrast, tend to degrade firm productivity. Among trade protection measures, the effective rate of protection, which includes water in the tariffs encountered by exporting firms, has the greatest effect on firm productivity. The FTA-led trade liberalisation fails to add substantial competitive pressure and induce firms to improve productivity. Such statistical insignificance reflects the nature of FTA commitments that Thailand has made so far.     

Expensing Versus Capitalization

We develop a theoretical framework to study the effects of expensing versus capitalization of investment expenditures on capital market asset prices, corporate investment, and investment efficiency. We use a two‐period model in which the financial reports at the end of the first period influence the price of the firm. In the first period, the current owner makes an investment decision that yields returns during the first and the second periods. We highlight the benefits and costs of the matching principle in GAAP and identify conditions under which less disclosure improves investment efficiency. We find that, in terms of investment efficiency, expensing beats capitalization if and only if the expected growth rate is high, the growth volatility is large, or the earnings persistence is small. We also offer testable empirical implications for accounting choice and for real earnings management.     

Machine tools and mass production in the armaments boom: Germany and the United States, 1929–44

This article anatomizes the ‘productivity race’ between Nazi Germany and the US over the period from the Great Depression to the Second World War in the metalworking industry. We present novel data that allow us to account for both the quantity of installed machine tools and their technological type. Hitherto, comparison of productive technologies has been limited to case studies and well‐worn narratives about US mass production and European‐style flexible specialization. Our data show that the two countries in fact employed similar types of machines combined in different ratios. Furthermore, neither country was locked in a rigid technological paradigm. By 1945 Germany had converged on the US both in terms of capital‐intensity and the specific technologies employed. Capital investment made a greater contribution to output growth in Germany, whereas US growth was capital‐saving. Total factor productivity growth made a substantial contribution to the armaments boom in both countries. But it was US industry, spared the war's most disruptive effects, that was in a position to take fullest advantage of the opportunities for wartime productivity growth. This adds a new element to familiar explanations for Germany's rapid catch‐up after 1945.     

Openness,human capital and total factor productivity: evidence from China

This paper examines the drivers behind China's economic growth. In particular, it focuses on the channels of knowledge spillovers: human capital and openness to trade and foreign direct investment. The specific features of the study include using the most recent comprehensive panel data consisting of 29 provinces during the period 1994–2006 and performing unit root and cointegration tests in the panel data framework. The paper finds that human capital, trade and FDI are the significant determinants of total factor productivity, but their importance varies with technological levels of provinces. These findings have important policy implications.     

The saving–investment correlation and origins of productivity shocks

This paper shows how savings and investment can be positively correlated despite capital being perfectly mobile across countries. The saving-investment (SI) correlation depends on the origin and the volatility of macroeconomic (productivity) shocks, the persistence of these shocks and country-size. Simulating a two-country Real Business Cycle (RBC) model we show that as the variance of common shocks increases (relative to country-specific shocks), as the persistence of these shocks decreases and as country-size increases, the SI correlation increases. Using annual data from 1960 to 2002, productivity changes in 11 OECD countries are decomposed into common and country-specific shocks (from which foreign shocks are also constructed). The empirical findings show that the 11 countries share a statistically significant common component in productivity changes and common shocks generally account for at least half of the variations in the countries’ productivity changes. We then use the estimated variances of the shocks, in addition to each country's size, in the RBC model to compute the predicted SI correlation for each country, under the assumption that capital is perfectly mobile. The predicted SI correlation is then compared to the actual correlation to assess the relative degree of capital mobility in the 11 countries. The findings indicate that Norway, the Netherlands and the US have the highest degree of capital mobility whereas in Canada, Sweden, Belgium and Japan capital mobility has been the lowest.     

MBO:完善上市公司管理层约束与激励的新思路

本文从企业投资角度且以团队为基础 (传统的分析基本上是以边际工人为基础的 ,研究企业人力资本投资客体与投资主体共同进行企业人力资本投资决策问题 ,建立了利润分享式契约下企业人力资本投资模型 ,对企业利润分享式契约下专用人力资本和通用人力资本进行了投资博弈分析。     

Chinese Investment in the US and the EU is Declining –for Similar Reasons

Since peaking in 2016, Chinese outward investment, primarily to the US but also to the European Union (EU), has declined dramatically, especially in response to changes in China's domestic rules for capital outflow. Concern over growing Chinese influence in other economies, the ascendant role of a Communist Party‐led government in Beijing and the possible security implications of Chinese dominance in the high‐tech sector have put Chinese outward investment under international scrutiny. This paper analyzes the recent trends in Chinese investment in the US and the EU and reviews recent political and regulatory changes both have adopted toward Chinese inward investment. It also explores the emerging transatlantic difference in the regulatory response to the Chinese information technology firm, Huawei. Concerned about national security and as part of the ongoing broader trade friction with China, the US has cracked down far harder on the company than the EU.     

Does China Transfer Productivity Enhancing Technology to Sub‐Saharan Africa? Evidence from Manufacturing Firms*

Abstract: This paper considers whether trade between China and sub‐Saharan Africa results in productivity‐enhancing technology transfers to sub‐Saharan African manufacturing firms. As trade flows between countries potentially results in interactions that lead to technological improvements in the production of goods and services, we parameterize the level of total factor productivity for African manufacturing firms as a function of foreign direct investment flow, and for the country in which it operates, trade openness with China, and its interaction with foreign direct investment. With micro‐level data on manufacturing firms in five sub‐Saharan African countries, we estimate the parameters of firm‐level production functions between 1992 and 2004. Our parameter estimates reveal that across the firms and countries in our sample, there is no relationship between productivity‐enhancing foreign direct investment and trade with China. In addition, increasing trade openness with China has no effect on the growth rate of total factor productivity. To the extent that total factor productivity and its growth is a crucial determinant of economic growth and living standards in the long run, our results suggest that increasing trade openness with China is not a long‐run source of higher living standards for sub‐Saharan Africa.     

“两岸三通”对福建经济的影响与对策研究——基于l998--2009年数据的分析

文章首先基于新贸易理论解释两岸贸易的发展趋势,处于相同发达程度的国家或地区贸易同样发展迅速,即＂两岸三通＂的完全开放是大势所趋,会带来规模报酬递增;其次,截取1998-2009数据,期间覆盖＂两岸三通＂前后过程,定义经济水平变量与各贸易变量,在数据分析基础上建立福建与台湾经济水平与贸易水平的模型,得出变量间的关系方程式为研究两岸未来政策提供定量的依据。研究结果表明,第一,福建经济总量受两岸贸易影响比大陆整体经济总量受两岸贸易影响来得更大、更显著;第二,福建经济总量与台湾对福建投资总额呈现S型曲线或倒U型曲线,表明福建在把握台湾的投资上作用效果并不显著,应制定更多的外商投资政策与激励措施,促进外资投资更好更快地转化为生产力。文章最后针对问题给出几点对策建议。     

Effects of presidents’ characteristics on internationalization of small and medium firms in Japan

Recent heterogeneous-firm models of international trade suggest that productivity determines whether firms engage in export activity and foreign direct investment. In practice, however, many productive firms are not internationalized, whereas many unproductive firms are, which suggests that there are factors other than productivity that influence firms’ internationalization. This study uses a unique panel data set for Japanese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to examine whether the personal characteristics of a firm’s president are factors in firm internationalization. We find that SMEs with a risk-tolerant, forward-looking president are more likely to be internationalized. These effects are large in magnitude, as is the productivity effect, which provides a partial explanation as to why many productive firms are not internationalized. In addition, we find that productivity has an insignificant effect on firms exiting export markets, whereas presidential myopia increases the probability of exit. The evidence further suggests that a firm’s initial export costs become sunk following its entry into export markets, which explains why many unproductive firms are internationalized.     

Imported Capital Goods and Manufacturing Productivity: Evidence from Botswana's Manufacturing Sector

This article examines the effects of imported capital goods on manufacturing productivity growth in Botswana. Despite consistent efforts aimed at diversification, Botswana's economy has remained heavily dependent on diamond exports, and the country's productivity remains a point of concern. The ability to apply foreign technologies to increase productivity and spur diversification is limited by the foreign exchange gap. This study uses an imported input growth model to analyse how the importation of capital goods contributes to enabling productivity growth and export diversification. With a panel of 340 manufacturing firms, the study also analyses the effects of imported capital goods on firm productivity growth and skills development. The results show that imported machines and equipment have increase manufacturing productivity after 1‐2 years following the investment. Additionally, foreign‐owned firms were found to enjoy more productivity growth than their domestic counterparts.     

Enhancing productive capabilities through intra-regional trade and cross-border investments in Southern Africa

Regional integration is an important factor for enabling knowledge flows between economies and enhancing the capacity of firms within the integrated block to benefit from local knowledge spillovers. This study analyses data on economic interactions between Botswana and its technologically more advanced southern neighbour, South Africa, to examine the extent to which knowledge flows facilitated by geographical proximity translate into fostering technological learning and productivity of manufacturing firms. Industry- and firm-level data on bilateral capital goods trade and investments over the period 1991–2013 are used to assess the technological learning of the manufacturing sector in Botswana. This study also applies the Hunt, J, &; Tybout, J (1999. Does Promoting High-Tech Products Spur Development? FEEM Working Paper REG 42. Milan: Fondazione Eni EnricoMattei) technological sophistication framework to analyse the role played by regional trade and investment flows between the economies of South Africa and Botswana in the skills intensification of manufacturing firms. Skills intensity decomposition reveals that Botswana’s manufacturing technical intensity has been positively influenced by the extent of capital goods trade and investment linkages with South African economy.     

中国对外反倾销措施的产业救济效果研究（1997～2007）

本文在理论机理分析的基础上,全面实证评估了我国对外反倾销措施的产业救济效果。通过选取1997～2007年全体、国有和外资企业加总的行业面板数据,搜集在此期间我国发起的所有对外反倾销案件,采用系统GMM动态面板估计方法,实证检验了措施对于行业出口、产值、就业人数、利润、企业数目以及劳动生产率的救济作用。结果发现,中国对外反倾销的产业救济效果良好,尤其明显地提高了行业利润、产值、企业数、生产率以及就业人数,但对出口影响较微弱;同时效果主要体现在行业总体和私营企业上,对国有和外资企业基本无显著影响;比较而言,行业利润和生产率的救济效果最突出,其次是产值、就业和企业数目。出口基本无显著影响。由此政策上应进一步强化和完善我国的反倾销申诉与执行机制。     

Wages,Productivity and Labour's Declining Income Share in Post‐Apartheid South Africa

The Marikana incident in 2012, as well as the protracted strikes by platinum miners, metal and postal workers in 2014 suggest that not all is well in the South African labour market. Even though those in employment are better off than the unemployed poor, macroeconomic data indicate that labour's share in gross value added has declined significantly during the first two decades following the first democratic election in 1994. A falling share of labour in income also means, by definition, that average labour productivity growth outstrips real wages growth. Data for South Africa suggest that productivity has indeed increased faster than wages in South Africa. This article argues that financialisation and more aggressive returns‐oriented investment strategies applied by for instance large investment institutions translated into higher required rates of return on capital, which in turn caused an increased implementation of capital‐augmenting labour‐saving technology that reduces labour's share in income.     

The impact of real exchange rate movements on firm performance: A case study of Taiwanese manufacturing firms

Taiwan experienced large depreciations of its currency, the New Taiwan (NT) dollar, in the late 1990s. The largest real depreciation, 13 per cent, occurred during the East Asian Financial Crisis. Since Taiwan was subjected neither to the economic turmoil of the crisis itself nor to the subsequent reforms, its experience provides a good opportunity for studying the effects of exchange rate changes on firm performance. This paper empirically examines the exchange rate effects on firm exports, domestic sales, total sales, value-added and productivity, by using data on firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange merged with customs trade data covering the period of 1992–2000. Our findings indicate that the real depreciation of the NT dollar led to an increase in exports, domestic sales, total sales, value-added, and productivity. In addition, we find that the productivity improvement induced by real currency depreciation may be a result of firm scale expansion.     

FDI对我国电子工业生产率的行业内溢出效应研究——以1996—2001年43个细分行业为例

本文考察了外资对中国电子工业劳动生产率的影响。利用1996—2001年期间电子行业的9大部门和43个细分行业的面板数据,并按照无形资产比率、出口比率和国有资本比率对43个细分行业进行了分组检验,我们发现,1996—2001年期间中国电子工业的劳动生产率呈现明显的外商直接投资的溢出效应,并且在不同的行业呈现较大的波动。在无形资产比率高、出口比率高、国有资本比率高的行业,外资对劳动生产率的促进作用显著,而在国有资本比率低、技术含量低的行业,外资对劳动生产率的促进作用不显著。国有企业在促进劳动生产率提高方面具有积极作用,说明国营企业引进外资是一种长期有效的学习跨国公司经验的途径。而且,跨国公司通常被高生产率的电子行业所吸引,在这些行业溢出效应明显存在,但对于一些外资比率低的电子行业,这种正溢出效应不显著。

Abstract：

This paper examines the effect of foreign direct investment（FDI）on the labor productivity of China’s electronics industry. Using panel data of 9 major sectors and 43 sub-sectorsof the electronics industry during the period 1996—2001,and doing group test according to the ratio of intangible assets,the export ratio and the state-owned capital ratio of the 43 sub-sectors,we find that during 1996—2001,labor productivity of the Chinese electronics industry showed significant spillover effects of FDI and large fluctuations in different industries. In industries that have high intangible assets ratio,high export ratio and high state-owned capital ratio,FDI played a more significant role in promoting labor productivity than in industries that have low state—owned capital ratio and low technology contents. State-owned enterprises has a positive effect in promoting labor productivity,indicating that introducing foreign investment is an effective long term route to learn transnational corporations’ experience for state-owned enterprises. Moreover,transnational corporations are always attracted to higher productivity sub-sectors,implying significant spillover effects in these industries,while in sub-sectors with low rate of foreign invest-ment,the spillover effect is not significant.     

Firm Productivity and Mode of Foreign Expansion: Evidence from Taiwanese Manufacturing Firms

This paper builds on the recent literature on firm heterogeneity in international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), and aims to empirically examine how firm productivity affects a firm’s foreign market entry strategy beyond the simple binary choice between exporting and FDI. Utilizing the panel data of Taiwanese manufacturing firms during 2002–2012, we further classify FDI methods by whole ownership or a joint venture to investigate a firm’s foreign expansion decision. By performing Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS) tests, we find that if a firm is more productive, it is more likely to choose FDI rather than exporting. However, productivity of firms choosing whole ownership is not so different from choosing a joint venture. Furthermore, a more productive firm is more likely to conduct both whole ownership of the foreign subsidiary and a joint venture formation in the case of FDI.     

外商直接投资、进口贸易与全要素生产率——基于省域制造业的实证研究

本文以2000-2011年的省域制造业面板数据为基础,考察了外商直接投资和进口贸易对全要素生产率的影响。通过对全要素生产率的地区变化的横截面及不同时期的分解对比,本文的实证分析结果发现进口贸易和外商直接投资对全要素生产率的提高均具有正的促进作用,这表明,在不损害国家总体贸易政策的前提下加强进口和引进FDI是一种提高全要素生产率的较好方式。     

美国重振制造业战略动向及影响

美国实施重振制造业战略存在产业、科技及金融等方面的优势;面临的主要困难和挑战是,全球化对制造业全球分工的影响不会根本逆转,低端制造业会继续向更低成本的国家和地区转移,而不可能大量回归美国。当前,对其效果全面进行评估为时尚早。美国重振制造业战略对中国吸收美资有如下影响:一是存量美资中有少数不稳定迹象,主要局限于加工贸易订单的分流;二是大型跨国公司对华投资态度仍较积极,对美投资政策的变化相对平淡;三是不少外资高科技企业有扩大在华业务的意愿,但存在一些疑虑;四是美资在华中低端领域的整体布局已初步形成,但向高端领域的转型升级受到诸多因素的制约;五是成本上升影响外资稳定,不利于转型升级。     

比较优势与制造业企业全要素生产率:行业比较优势真的很重要吗

在新-新贸易理论的基础上,利用我国2002-2011年的企业微观数据,通过倾向评分匹配和倍差法,研究企业转向比较优势行业对制造业全要素生产率的影响。研究结果表明：企业转向比较优势行业能够显著的提高制造业企业全要素生产率,采用不同的方法进行研究结果仍然是稳健的;从企业异质性的估计结果来看,民营企业、加工贸易为主的企业以及出口产品多样性的企业转向比较优势行业更有利于全要素生产率的提高;在企业转向比较优势行业时,全要素生产率随着出口阅历的增加而提高,但是出口强度的影响不显著;研发投入的影响不明显,但是人力资本是企业创新要素实现的决定性因素。