负债到底是改善了还是恶化了企业的产品市场竞争绩效？——来自中国上市公司的经验研究

负债到底是改善了还是恶化了企业的产品市场竞争绩效？抑或其它？国内外的相关研究一直没有得出一致的结论。本文以我国沪深两市2000—2006年的A股上市公司为样本,进行了实证研究。结果发现：负债对企业产品市场竞争绩效的影响在时间上存在非对称效应,即负债在短期内可能恶化了企业的相对竞争绩效,而在中长期内可能改善了企业的相对竞争绩效。因此,企业在进行负债决策时,需要对短期的产品市场竞争绩效与长期的产品市场竞争绩效进行权衡。     

The Incentive Effects of Inequality: An Experimental Investigation

The effect of inequality on economic growth and efficiency is often debated. Our study investigates a behavioral phenomenon through which inequality might have adverse effects on economic growth. In particular we investigate whether or not individuals exhibit a discouragement effect in the face of inequality that leads to lower work effort. If such an effect exists, it provides a mechanism for converting even idiosyncratic inequality into sustained inequality with adverse consequences for the individuals being affected by the inequality and the economy as a whole. We investigate this phenomenon using an economic experiment to allow us to cleanly vary the nature of inequality and to allow us to directly observe several characteristics of the workers. We find robust support for the existence of a discouragement effect lending credibility to the claims that such an effect would exist in external situations among workers confronted with disadvantageous inequality.     

Factor shares,inequality, and capital flows

I present an endogenous growth model where innovations are factor saving and model the choice of technologies in an Overlapping Generations framework. Markets are competitive and factor prices are determined by marginal productivity of factors; therefore, the income share of reproducible factors increases with the stage of development. Beyond the standard results of this type of model I find that (i) without bequests long‐run growth is not possible, (ii) if the economy presents long‐run growth then intrageneration inequality may last forever but if the economy does not present long‐run growth then in steady state, there is no intrageneration inequality, (iii) when the economy is open, the pattern of capital flows depends not only on the relative abundance of factors but also on the technologies and, for this reason, capital may not flow from rich to poor economies, and (iv) consistently, capital flows may not help to break poverty traps.     

基于企业持续竞争优势的隔离机制研究

隔离机制在企业取得竞争优势后能够形成一道屏障,使其核心能力不易被模仿和移转,从而维持企业在较长时间内的竞争优势。社会网络和制度化的环境促使企业间通过相互模仿与复制,产生异质同形性,使企业难以维持竞争优势,因此建立基于竞争优势的隔离机制变得十分重要。作为企业无形资产的知识、品牌、企业文化、管理能力因其形成过程的不可模仿性与因果模糊性,天然具有隔离机制的特性,企业必须从战略高度予以重视。     

Customs union and technical efficiency

Summary Customs unions are frequently suggested to have a salutary effect upon the efficiency of production. However, this is not part of received customs union theory. It is shown that the essence of the competitive ‘cold shower’ is very difficult to accommodate in standard theory, given its underlying theory of intrafirm behaviour, the assumed nature of competitive firm behaviour and the static framework. Neither can it be satisfactorily worked into X-inefficiency theory. A Schumpeterian view of competitive firm behaviour can explain how the customs union will be perceived by certain firms as an opportunity, causing them to intensify experiments and search for new forms of production, attempt new intrafirm decison rules and change market behaviour. This paper was written while still at the European University Institute, Florence.     

A measure of the synergy in mergers under a competitive market for corporate control

Summary and Conclusion This note developed a possible measure of the anticipated synergy in mergers under the assumption that the market for corporate control is competitive. By applying Tobin'sq theory of investment, a measure which is composed of three potentially measurable variables is derived. The three variables are: the acquisition premium paid by he buying firm, the market value, and the replacement costs of the target firm. This measure may be utilized to do empirical studies involving the synergy in mergers regardless of the type of the merger and the source of the synergy. When the market for corporate control is not necessarily competitive, the inequality version of the measure gives the lower bound of the anticipated synergy and upper bound of the premium. In the special case of conglomerate mergers where economies of scope is the only source of synergy, the measure may also be interpreted as the present value of the anticipated economies of scope.     

Production theory under uncertain inflation

Summary and Conclusions This paper examines Chen's [1980] model of asset valuation under uncertain inflation in order to derive a static and comparative static theory of production by a competitive firm. Given the value maximizing and the price taking assumptions, the firm behaves as a profit-maximizer. The sole effect of uncertain inflation is to distort the price structure. that is, the firm adjusts the expected price of an input or output to reflect the systematic risk of that price. Because a change in circumstances can affect the systematic risk of a given price, assessing the effects of a specific policy or event solely in terms of its effect on expected price can be misleading. Parametric variations affect the structure of certainty equivalent prices. Therefore, the comparative static derivatives of the value maximizing firm emerge as extensions of the comparative static derivatives of the profit maximizing firm under certainty. Many of these comparative static derivatives are of determinant sign. The effects of changes in market uncertainty and in inflation uncertainty, while they can be characterized mathematically, cannot be signed in the general case. Cross-sectional studies indicate wide variation in the effects of inflation, so that the preceding theoretical results appear plausible. Finally, in view of the wealth of static and comparative static results which can be derived from Chen's model, that model provides a convenient benchmark against which to judge other models. Precisely because of its simple nature, Chen's model is ideal for establishing limits of analysis.     

Wage inequality and firm performance: Professional basketball's natural experiment

The purpose of this inquiry is to utilize a natural experiment from professional basketball to examine how wage inequality impacts the productivity of the firm. The literature suggests that wage inequality may promote firm productivity if higher wages are necessary to limit the damage potential of certain workers. In contrast, other writers have trumpeted the productivity gains from worker cooperation and thus, argued that wage disparity lowers firm output. During the 1990s, the National Basketball Association experienced dramatic increases in the level of wage inequality. The empirical evidence reported here supports a third possibility. Specifically, wage inequality and firm productivity are not related.     

The political economy of income distribution in South Korea: The impact of the state's industrialization policies

A number of previous studies of economic growth and income distribution in South Korea, based largely on 1960s data, concluded that South Korea was an exception to Kuznets' ‘inverse U-pattern’ of income inequality. Also, it was regarded as an exception to the usual negative consequences predicted by dependency theory for an economy so dependent on foreign capital and world markets. This author presents more recent data — for the 1970s and early 1980s — in order to support his claim that the trend toward income equality that appeared in the 1960s was reversed in the 1970s. The author develops a thesis that stresses the role of the state in shaping the Korean political economy. He argues that it has been the strong South Korean developmentalist state in firm control of both domestic and foreign capital and its export-oriented industrialization policies that have been the principal determinant of the pattern of income distribution. He contests the usual explanation related to the level of economic development or external dependency per se.     

Strategic Intrafirm Innovation Adoption and Diffusion

A theory of oligopolistic innovation adoption is developed in which intrafirm diffusions occur because the marginal cost of adoption is increasing in the rate of adoption. The equilibrium intrafirm diffusion curve is S-shaped or concave, as are empirically observed ones. This diffusion curve is more likely to be S-shaped the more competitive the industry, the larger the marginal cost of adoption or the pre-innovation unit cost of production, or the smaller the demand. The diffusion is longer, and so the extent of adoption at any date is lower the more competitive the industry, the larger the marginal cost of adoption or the pre-innovation unit cost of production, or the smaller the demand. A surprising result is that an increase in the unit cost reduction from the innovation has an ambiguous effect on diffusion. Obviously, a larger cost reduction allows each firm to earn a larger flow profit at every date from the same rate of adoption. However, a more subtle effect is that it also allows the firm to earn the same flow of profit with a slower rate of adoption, and so lower adoption costs. That is, the firms also have an incentive to spread out the diffusion over a longer period of time to save on adoption costs.     

Do Market Pressures Induce Economic Efficiency? The Case of Slovenian Manufacturing, 1994–2001

Using a unique longitudinal data set on all manufacturing firms in Slovenia from 1994 to 2001, this article analyzes how firm efficiency changed in response to changing competitive pressures associated with the transition to market. Results show that the period was one of atypically rapid growth of total factor productivity (TFP). The rise in firm efficiency occurs across almost all industries and firm types: large or small, state or private, domestic or foreign owned. Changes in firm ownership type have no direct impact on firm efficiency. However, increased market competition related to rising market share of private firms, new market entrants, foreign‐owned firms, and international trade raises TFP across all firms in an industry, whether private or state owned. In addition, competitive pressures that sort out inefficient firms of all types and retain the most efficient, coupled with the entry of new private firms that are at least as efficient as surviving firms, prove to be the major source of TFP gains. Results strongly confirm that market competition fosters efficiency.     

江苏制造业的关键竞争策略及其演变

以216家江苏制造业企业为样本,运用问卷调查的方法,识别波特基本竞争战略中对企业绩效有显著正向影响的关键竞争策略,同时考察关键竞争策略随企业生命周期的演变。研究结果表明,企业实施的每种竞争战略都有一种或多种关键竞争策略;企业为取得竞争优势需重点关注处于价值链不同环节的关键竞争策略。如果企业目标以财务绩效为中心,应侧重价值链制造环节的效率提高、流程创新和成本费用控制;如果企业目标以市场绩效为中心,则应重点关注价值链研究与开发环节的产品创新、品质和性能提升;不论那种绩效目标,对营销环节的顾客服务、广告的重视都是必须的。这些关键竞争策略随企业生命周期演变,多数关键竞争策略的强度存在显著差异,并呈现不断增强的趋势。     

Capital market distortion,firm entry and wage inequality

Distortions in the capital market are notable in developing economies like China. By building up a dual production structure with oligopolistic competition in urban manufacturing, this paper investigates the distributional and welfare effects of capital market distortions. We find that in the short run, an increase in the capital market distortion in favor of urban firms can lower both the skilled and unskilled wages. However, in the long run, the preferential policy on reducing capital cost to the urban sector attracts new entry of firms, which can worsen the skilled-unskilled wage inequality in the economy. This firm-entry effect of the capital market distortion on wage inequality is empirically confirmed for China.     

企业家的变革开放性如何影响战略?——意愿和能力情境的家族企业战略变革研究

基于资源观和利益相关者理论，文章探讨了家族企业中企业家的变革开放性对战略变革发起的影响机制，尤其是研究了长期导向在二者间的中介作用以及家族承诺和家族所有权的调节作用。实证研究发现：第一，家族企业中企业家的变革开放性对战略变革发起具有显著的正向预测效果，长期导向在其中起到了中介作用；第二，家族承诺作为控股家族经营过程中的意愿，能够对变革开放性与长期导向之间关系起到显著的正向调节效应；第三，家族所有权水平体现了家族对企业的控制能力，能够对长期导向与战略变革之间关系起到显著的正向调节效应。文章对于家族企业战略领导者特质与战略行为关系的研究有一定的理论意义和实践指导价值。     

Tracking wage inequality trends with prices and different trade models: evidence from Mexico

Mexican wage inequality rose following Mexico’s accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization in 1986. Since the mid-1990s, however, wage inequality has been falling. Since most trade models suggest that output prices can affect factor prices, this paper explores the relationship between output prices and wage inequality. A Salter–Swan trade model with firm heterogeneity driven by variations in the relative price of tradable relative to non-tradable goods can explain the decline in wage inequality. The paper compares this model’s predictions with Mexican inequality statistics using data on output prices, census data, and quarterly household survey data. In spite of the model’s simplicity, the model’s predictions match Mexican variables reasonably well during the years when wage inequality fell.     

Wage growth and inequality in urban China: 1988–2013

We investigate the evolution of wage levels, wage inequality, and wage determinants among urban residents in China using China Household Income Project data from 1988, 1995, 2002, 2007, and 2013.Average wage grew impressively between each pair of years. Wage inequality had long been on the increase, but between 2007 and 2013 no clear changes occurred. In 1988, age and wages were positively related throughout working life, but more recently older workers' wages have been lower than those of middle-aged workers. The relationship between education and wages was weak in 1988 but strengthened rapidly thereafter—a process that came to a halt in 2007.During the period in which China was a planned economy the gender wage gap was small in urban China, but it widened rapidly between 1995 and 2007. We also report the existence of a premium for being employed in a foreign-owned firm or in the state sector.     

Economic growth and equity: Complements or opposites?

There is no automatic mechanism in a market economy to guarantee reduced inequality of income with growth. Some theories lead us to expect just the opposite. At best, there are self-limiting cyclical effects, associated with changes in unemployment. U.S. economic growth has actually been quite slow since the 1950s. Besides, there are structural barriers to reduced inequality that operate with or without growth. Historical evidence for different countries presents a mixed picture. For the U.S. economy, postwar growth has been associated with an upturn in measured inequality. Government intervention has been mildly equalizing, through transfers and expenditures but not through taxes.     

Competitiveness and Subsidy or Tax Policy for New Technology Adoption in Duopoly

We consider a problem of subsidy or tax policy for new technology adoption by duopolistic firms. The technology is developed in and transferred by a foreign country to the domestic country. It is free but each firm must expend some fixed set-up cost for education of its staff to adopt and use it. Assuming that each firm maximizes the weighted average of absolute and relative profits, we examine the relationship between competitiveness and subsidy or tax policies for technology adoption, and show that when firm behavior is not competitive (the weight on the relative profit is small), the optimal policy of the government may be taxation; when firm behavior is competitive (the weight on the relative profit is large), the optimal policy is subsidization or inaction and not taxation. However, if firm behavior is extremely competitive (close to perfect competition), taxation case re-emerges.     

Trade,technology, and the labour market: impacts on wage inequality within countries

This paper focuses on the widening wage inequality between skilled and unskilled workers within countries and discusses whether trade and technology have contributed to this trend. The paper develops an analytical framework for wage inequality that traces the determinants and their relative roles in wage inequality in different stages of the development of trade theory, especially those considering new evidence after 2011. We find that technology plays a key role in the rise of wage inequality in most countries, while trade plays an increasingly crucial and more complex role in recent years. Skill supply institutions, such as education systems supplying skilled labour or unions participating in wage‐setting processes, suppress the rise of wage inequality in some countries. The paper further outlines the mechanisms through which trade affects wage inequality, including offshoring, firm heterogeneity, labour market frictions and global value chains. We find that trade has indirect effects on technology, which further enlarges the wage inequality among skills. The paper also discusses the policy implications of the impacts of trade and technology on wage inequality.     

Economics versus politics in trade policy

Do economies of scale contribute to our understanding of trade policy or is ideology and inequality sufficient? We develop a unified theoretical framework that encompasses both strategic economic and political variables deemed to be important in explaining trade policy. We predict that an increase in the scale effect leads to restrictive trade policies in labor-abundant countries and liberal trade policies in capital-abundant countries. Using cross-country data on economies of scale, ideology, inequality and various measures of trade barriers we confirm our predictions and establish that a unified framework, which incorporates economies of scale in production, performs better in explaining trade policy than existing political economy models.