Determinants of HIV Knowledge and Condom Use among Women in Madagascar: An Analysis Using Matched Household and Community Data

Abstract: We estimate the determinants of HIV/AIDS knowledge and related behavior (use of condoms) among women in Madagascar, a country where prevalence remains low but conditions are ripe for a rapid increase in infections. In both rural and urban areas, more educated and wealthier women are more likely to know about means of preventing infection, less likely to have misconceptions about transmission, and more likely to use condoms. Community factors such as availability of health centers and access to roads also are associated with greater HIV knowledge. However, most of the large rural‐urban difference in mean knowledge is due not to location per se but to differences in schooling and wealth; rather than simply being geographically targeted, AIDS education efforts must be designed to target and be understood by uneducated and poor subpopulations.     

Income and Price Elasticities of Demand in South Africa: An Application of the Linear Expenditure System

This paper investigates the expenditure patterns of South African households using detailed cross‐sectional expenditure and price data that varies across region and time. Linear expenditure system parameter estimates are used to calculate income and price elasticities for a number of product categories at different points of the income distribution. We find substantial variation in the price and income elasticities of demand for items across the income distribution, with the bottom quartile being extremely sensitive to increases in the price of food and clothing items, and the top quartile being as sensitive as households in developed countries.     

政府R&D支出对企业R&D支出的影响——基于省际数据的实证分析

技术进步是经济长期增长的源泉,而研究与发展活动是整个科技活动的核心。政府从事R&D活动有可能对企业的研发行为产生两种不同的影响:替代效应和互补效应。基于中国31个省份面板数据的实证研究发现,整体上而言,目前政府R&D支出与企业R&D支出存在互补关系,政府R&D支出能够诱导企业R&D支出。但这种诱导效应随着政府R&D投入强度的提高而递减,这表明随着政府R&D投入强度的提高,挤出效应越来越明显。     

Role of Education in Cigarette Smoking: An Analysis of Malaysian Household Survey Data*

Heckman's sample selection model is used to examine the role of education on household purchase decisions and expenditures of tobacco products in Malaysia. Results of the marginal effects of education, segmented by ethnic and gender groups, suggest that education decreases the probability, conditional levels and unconditional levels of tobacco expenditures amongst Malaysian households. Specifically, an additional year of education of the household head, irrespective of ethnic or gender considerations, decreases smoking probability by 1.5 percent. However, the negative effect of education seems to be higher for Chinese (US$1.07) than Malay (US$0.26) households in terms of conditional expenditures. Furthermore, education significantly decreases conditional tobacco expenditures within male‐headed households.     

The Effectiveness of Vehicle Safety Inspections: An Analysis Using Panel Data

We examined the effectiveness of state automobile safety inspections and present new evidence from a panel of the 50 states for the years 1981-1993. Our approach incorporated several innovations over previous studies of safety inspections; most significantly, we estimated a fixed-effects model that incorporated state-specific shifts in casualty rates. We found no evidence that inspections significantly reduce fatality or injury rates. Our study also provides evidence on the effects of speed limits, seat belts, and Peltzman's offsetting behavior hypothesis.     

The Effect of Household Socioeconomic Status on the Demand for Child Health Care Services

The health of the child is an important factor for proper childhood development. Unfortunately, efforts to improve child health in many countries have not yielded the desired results as many children do not receive appropriate health care, hence contributing to high child mortality and morbidity from avoidable causes. To address this problem, it is important that we understand the factors that drive the demand for child health care services. This study, employing the binary and multinomial logistic regression models, examines the effect of household socioeconomic status on the demand for child health care in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia using data from the 2014 Demographic and Health Surveys. The results indicate that the likelihood of seeking appropriate health care for the child is higher when both parents make decisions. The findings further indicate that the odds of seeking treatment for the child falls with the birth order and age of the child, but increases with household wealth, insurance status and proximity to the health facility. Working women are more likely to demand child health care than their counterparts who are unemployed. Our results, therefore, suggest that improving child health will need the participation of both parents in the household on such decisions. Besides, there is the need to educate parents on the importance of seeking appropriate care for all the children born irrespective of the birth order and age of the child. There should also be deliberate efforts to improve the economic lot of households to enhance their purchasing power and encourage them to participate in health insurance schemes to enable effective utilization of health care services for the child in the efforts to improve child health.     

社会网络与城镇居民的正规和非正规借贷:来自国家统计局城调队样本的证据

基于来自国家统计局的16个省市2006-2014年的城镇住户面板数据,本文研究社会网络对城镇家庭的正规借款和非正规借款是否都具有因果效应。在利用工具变量解决了社会网络的内生性问题后,本文的研究结果显示:社会网络对家庭借款之和、正规借款和非正规借款均具有显著的正向影响;此外,与正规借款相比,社会网络对非正规借款的影响更大。本文的实证结果表明,社会网络能够发挥社会担保作用并增加家庭的借款金额,这一结果有助于我们理解社会网络作为一种非正规制度在发展中国家城市信贷市场中的积极作用,同时还意味着中国城镇金融市场有继续完善的空间。     

Income Distribution across Ethnic Groups in Malaysia: Results from a New Social Accounting Matrix

A new social accounting matrix is constructed for Malaysia for the year 2000 to analyze sources of income inequality among ethnic groups in Malaysia. The analysis reveals that income inequality can be decomposed into the interaction of: (i) hourly wages; (ii) working hours per week; and (iii) number of dependents per household. The results of the analysis suggest that occupational differences are the main factor contributing to wage inequality in Malaysia. Ethnic Malays tend to work in low‐wage industries while ethnic Chinese and Indians are more likely to work in higher‐wage industries.     

财政分权视角下的支出竞争和中国经济增长: 基于中国省级面板数据的经验研究

本文利用1994～2005年中国省级面板数据,研究了政府竞争、公共支出、经济增长三者之间的关系。主要研究发现包括:其他地区的总体财政支出或文教科学卫生事业财政支出水平的增加能够显著地促进本地区的经济增长,而其他地区的基本建设财政支出或行政管理费财政支出的水平或比重的增加的作用截然相反;本地区更低的预算外财政支出水平、更多的人力资本积累或更高的贸易开放度都对本地区的经济增长有着显著的积极作用;地区财政分权程度的空间策略性互动以及地区财政分权本身对本地区的经济增长没有显著且稳定的影响。     

中国农村地区消费收敛的证据:家庭调查数据

本文的目的在于提出研究消费收敛的经济模型，将模型应用到中国的一系列数据中；并且讨论研究结果的各种含义。本论文的主要发现有(a)全部谷物、精细谷物、食用油、家禽、水产品和糖证实为条件收敛；(b)动物脂肪和红色肉食品是消费分散；(c)收入增长的不平衡和市场的不发达是消费收敛的障碍；(d)收敛商品的收敛速度比较慢。     

信贷约束下中国农户信贷缺口的估计

在信贷约束存在的条件下,农户的实际的借款数额并不能反映他们的真实贷款需求。本文重新评估了我国农户受到正规信贷约束的情况,并通过Heckman选择模型调整信贷约束对农户贷款需求造成的制约性影响,从而获得一个更接近农户真实愿望的贷款需求估计。研究的结果显示,在所有农户中,有借贷需求的农户比重超过70%,平均信贷缺口达到4420元,农户未被满足的信贷需求缺口占到其贷款需求总额的56.72%。     

An Examination of the Government Spending and Economic Growth Nexus for Malaysia Using the Leveraged Bootstrap Simulation Approach

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to re-examine the government spending-growth nexus for Malaysia from the perspective of disaggregated government spending. The yearly data from 1960 to 2007 is used in this study. This study applied the bounds testing for co-integration and the leveraged bootstrap simulation approaches to examine the relationship between three different categories of government spending and national income in Malaysia. It is found that government spending on education and defence are co-integrated with national income. Nevertheless, there is no evidence of co-integrating relation between government spending on health and national income. The MWALD causality test shows strong evidence of unidirectional causal relationship running from national income to the three major government spending in Malaysia. However, bilateral causality evident exists only between government spending on health and national income.     

基于PANEL DATA模型的江苏医药产业研发投入效率实证研究

医药产业是我国重要的支柱产业之一,关系到国计民生和社会稳定,同时又具有高投入、高风险、高效益等特点,对经济增长的贡献不断提升。本文比较分析了江苏与山东等五省市医药制造业的科技创新总体情况,并在此基础上根据1997-2012年的面板数据对江苏等省市医药制造业研发经费的产出弹性进行测算,定量分析江苏医药产业研发经费投入的产出效率。     

Macroeconomic Variables and Stock Prices in Malaysia: An Empirical Analysis

The article investigates the dynamic interactions between seven macroeconomic variables and the stock prices for an emerging market, Malaysia, using cointegration and Granger causality tests. The results strongly suggest informational inefficiency in the Malaysian market. The bivariate analysis suggests cointegration between the stock prices and three macroeconomic variables – consumer prices, credit aggregates and official reserves. From bivariate error-correction models, we note the reactions of the stock prices to deviations from the long run equilibrium. These results are further strengthened when we extend the analysis to multivariate settings. We also note some evidence that the stock prices are Granger-caused by changes in the official reserves and exchange rates in the short run.     

The Demand for Money in Brunei

Based on data for the 1974–95 period this paper estimates demand for narrow money and broad money in Brunei using the error-correction specification. Short-run and long-run elasticities are estimated with respect to real income, interest rate, expected price level and liquidity. Narrow money is quite responsive to changes in real income and interest rate in both the short and long terms. Broad money is income inelastic regardless of the time horizon, however, it is interest inelastic in the short run but interest elastic in the long run. Price elasticity of money demand is negligible in the short run but quite significant in the long run. Changes in the proportion of commercial bank assets placed in foreign money markets do not seem to affect demand for narrow money but their effect on the demand for broad money is both direct and significant.     

The Stability of European Money Demand: An Investigation of M3H

The paper assesses the stability and predictive performance of a European money demand function as compared to national money demand functions. With respect to the explanatory accuracy, the national functions perform better than the aggregated function. Examination of the residuals of the national money demand equations indicates that currency substitution is not the major cause for the stability of the aggregated money demand function. The aggregate relation mainly seems to reflect German money demand. This conclusion is supported by the instability of aggregated money demand resulting from the exclusion of Germany from the aggregate.