Does Ethnicity Matter for Access to Childhoodand Adolescent Health Capital in China? Evidence from the Wage-Height Relationship in the 2006 China Health and Nutrition Survey

This paper considers whether ethnicity conditions the return and access to health capital in China. Given that the wage-height relationship reflects the labor market earnings returns to childhood and adolescent health capital, differences in the labor market returns to height by ethnicity reflect ethnic differences in access to health capital during childhood and adolescence. We theoretically motivate the role of height in earnings by providing a Bioeconomic rationale for stature and height determining individual wages, and estimate height-augmented Mincerian earnings functions with data from the 2006 China Health and Nutrition Survey. Our results show that when the effects of unobserved genetic influences on adult height are accounted for, the labor market return on height is higher for Chinese ethnics. This suggests that in China there are ethnic disparities in access to the inputs that produce childhood and adolescent health capital.     

行业关联、外资进入与出口质量——来自中国企业的微观证据

外资合理利用对实现我国本土企业技术进步和转型升级具有重要意义,文章聚焦外资的行业关联从出口升级的视角再次探讨这一问题。文章运用中国工业企业数据库、海关统计数据库和投入产出表的匹配数据,从行业内水平溢出、产业间垂直关联等多个维度系统研究了外资进入对我国企业出口产品质量的影响。文章发现:(1)外资进入显著促进企业出口产品质量升级,外资水平溢出、前向关联和后向关联的质量提升效应均显著,其中后向关联效应最大。(2)外资水平溢出、前向关联和后向关联对企业出口产品质量提升的影响渠道分别通过研发效应、中间品投入效应和市场规模效应得以实现。(3)异质性结果表明,外资进入对非国有企业、一般贸易企业、东部地区企业以及与外资技术差距较小企业的出口质量提升作用更为突出。文章为外资利用与企业出口质量关系提供了更为丰富的微观证据和理论依据,能够为当前中国新一轮高水平对外开放下引资政策调整和优化提供一定的政策启示。     

Beauty premium in China's labor market: Is discrimination the main reason?

Based on data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), this paper analyzes the effects of the height as well as other appearance characteristics of workers on their wages. Regression results show that after controlling for social network, human capital, and other endowment characteristics, the effects of the appearance characteristics become smaller and statistically insignificant. The decomposition results of the wage-appearance differentials show that higher wages for good-looking workers are mainly attributable to differences in individual characteristics. Among them, the lower wages for shorter males and higher wages for thinner females are mainly attributable to the unexplained parts of discrimination. Males suffer more from “shortness penalty”, whereas females may earn from “pretty face”. Further results showed that height may influence blue-collar workers’ wages through the effect on physical strength. Empirical evidence also demonstrates that there are strong correlations between appearance and working ability (social network and human capital). Thus, our results confirmed the little beauty premium in the Chinese labor market and the relatively wages differentials are not mainly due to discrimination from consumers or employers, instead attributable mainly to differences of individual endowment characteristics.     

FDI,labor market flexibility and employment in China

This paper discusses the influence and underlying mechanisms of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the labor market on Chinese employment. We analyze data from 30 Chinese provinces and municipalities over the period 2000–2015, in the first instance to examine employment effects of both FDI and labor market flexibility through the moderating effect; here we verify the moderating effect with respect to labor market flexibility. Second, using subsamples, we explore the effects of regional and skill differences on the employment. Finally, to test the three mechanisms, we employ a mixed model of moderating and mediating effects. Contrary to previous studies, we observe a positive employment effect of FDI, with labor market flexibility playing a significant positive moderating role, a 1% increase in FDI is associated with an expected employment increase of 0.216. Additionally, wages, human capital, and R&D investment play positive mediating roles when labor market flexibility moderates the employment effect of FDI.     

金融发展、融资约束与中国本土企业出口绩效——基于省际面板数据的经验研究

通过纾缓融资约束提高企业出口能力是开放条件下金融发展影响一国(地区)经济增长的重要渠道之一。本文利用1999～2006年省际面板数据,构建衡量金融发展的综合指标体系,运用系统广义矩估计方法进行实证研究发现:我国金融发展有限地促进了本土企业的出口增长;尽管非国有本土企业和中小企业对出口贡献呈上升趋势,但难以从正规金融体系中获取充分的融资支持,国有银行寡头垄断的金融市场结构抑制了本土企业出口绩效的持续增进。本文得出的政策建议是进一步深化金融改革,为企业改善贸易竞争力提供合理有效的外部环境。     

Economic geography and inequality in China: Did improved market access widen spatial wage differences?

New economic geography (NEG) models predict that costly transport and the spatial distribution of demand affect the profits firms can earn in different locations, leading to higher wages for workers employed in cities with better geographic access to markets. In light of the ongoing economic integration and market reforms that occurred in China after 1995, we use three waves of Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) data to measure the extent to which the influence of market access on wages changed and affected wage dispersion across Chinese cities over the next 12 years. Employing the gravity-based method of Redding and Venables (2004) to calculate the market access available to firms located in each city, we test whether the elasticity of the wage with respect to local market access increased over time. We find that in all three years market access of the worker's location has a positive and significant influence on the wage. Consistent with extensive labor market reforms of the late 1990s, the estimated wage elasticity doubles between 1995 and 2002 and is stable thereafter. Our estimates indicate that wages of all workers become more responsive to market forces in a manner consistent with NEG predictions, both skilled and unskilled and those working for state as well as private enterprises. We also provide evidence that these results are not driven by omission of other forms of agglomeration or by selection bias. Estimated spatial differences in nominal wages are large: a worker moving from an inland location to the coast in 2007 would have doubled his or her nominal wage. Counterfactual analysis indicates that spatial differences in market access contribute to wage inequality, but less so over time.     

Direct or indirect? The impact of political connections on export mode of Chinese private enterprises

The learning-by-exporting effect can vary by mode of export (direct or indirect via intermediaries), which raises the importance of understanding factors associated with how firms export. This paper investigates the effect of political connections, one form of informal institutions particularly important in China, on the choice of export mode by Chinese private enterprises. By using firm-level survey data and addressing endogeneity, we find that having political connections significantly increases the probability of direct exporting, while it has no effect on indirect exporting through trade intermediaries. We further test the underlying mechanisms behind these findings. The results show that corporate political connections can help alleviate financial constraints by promoting the (external) access to bank credits and by reducing the (internal) extra-tax burdens, which are disproportionately important for direct exporting relative to indirect exporting. In addition, we find limited evidence supporting the importance of contract enforcement and managerial efficiency as channels though which political connections affect the choice of export mode.     

公共政策、要素积累与经济增长——港台的经验

我们认为公共政策是通过影响经济增长的源泉来促进经济增长的。本文通过比较研究香港和台湾在其快速增长的年代里的政策实践，来分析不同的公共政策对于物质资本、人力资本和劳动这三种投入要素积累的作用，并试图得到一些经验性的结论。     

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.     

Financial Structure,Technology, and Economic Growth: A Structural Matching Perspective

Different types of capital are better suited to financing technologies with different risk profiles, and structural matching between finance and technology may critically influence economic growth. Using cross-province panel data from China, we estimated the impact of the matching relationship between regions' financial structure and technology level on economic growth. We show that: (i) the matching relationship had a statistically significant positive impact on economic growth; (ii) structural mismatching reduced economic growth in comparison with the optimal matching point; (iii) structural matching better facilitated economic growth in more developed regions; and (iv) capital accumulation and technological progress were two of the main channels through which matching influenced economic growth. We address potential endogeneity concerns and perform robustness checks, and our results remain valid. Our findings provide convincing evidence for the optimal financial structure theory and explain China's rapid growth despite its comparatively underdeveloped securities market.     

金融市场、FDI与全要素生产率增长

本文主要研究金融市场对外商直接投资的影响及其作用渠道。本文运用我国28个省、市、自治区的面板数据进行实证分析,研究结果表明,当前我国金融市场发展不平衡,金融市场影响FDI促进经济增长以及其作用渠道在我国东、中、西部各有不同。在完善的金融市场支撑下,FDI外溢效应得以释放,FDI通过提高TFP推动经济增长;在金融市场发展落后的地区,物质资本的积累依然是经济增长受益于FDI的主要渠道。     

Health investment,physical capital accumulation,and economic growth

This paper analyzes the effect of health investment, and hence of health capital, on physical capital accumulation and long-run economic growth in an extended Ramsey model with an Arrow–Romer production function and a Grossman (1972) utility function. The paper concludes that economic growth is related to both the health growth rate and the health level. While growth in health capital always facilitates economic growth, the gross effect of health level on the rate of economic growth depends on how it affects physical capital accumulation. If the negative effect of health on economic growth through its influence on physical capital accumulation is not taken into consideration, then health level has a positive effect on the rate of economic growth by improving the efficiency of labor production. However, since health investment may crowd out physical capital investment and thus influence physical capital accumulation, excessive investment in health may have a negative effect on economic growth. Empirical tests of these theoretical hypotheses using panel data from individual provinces of China produce results that are consistent with our theoretical conclusions.     

外资准入如何影响中国相邻城市间生产率差距？

区域发展不平衡不充分是我国当前面临的社会主要矛盾之一，同时坚持"制度型开放"有助于增强地区间产业关联，带动欠发达地区相关产业发展，进而促进地区间的平衡发展。文章将"开放"和"协调"议题结合，以中国2002年《外商投资产业指导目录》的重新修订作为案例，研究外资准入政策对相邻城市间管制放松行业生产率差距的影响和作用机制。文章结论表明，外资准入政策显著减小了管制放松行业在相邻城市间的生产率差距。异质性检验发现，在中部和西部地区以及较低创新水平、盈利水平和外资进入程度行业的样本组，外资准入政策可以更显著地减小相邻城市间管制放松行业的生产率差距。作用机制检验发现，外资准入政策显著降低了相邻城市间管制放松行业的创新水平差距和盈利水平差距，上述变化是促使减小生产率差距的重要影响渠道。拓展性分析发现，贸易自由化加强了外资准入政策减小相邻城市间管制放松行业生产率差距的积极作用。地区之间的市场分割程度越高，外资准入政策减小管制放松行业生产率差距的作用反而越强。     

Transition and Enterprise Restructuring: The Development of Individual Farming in Romania

Economic reforms have induced enterprise restructuring in transition countries. In agriculture, the most dramatic form of restructuring is the break-up of state and collective farms into individual farms. The development of individual farming varies strongly between countries, regions and households. This paper uses household-level data from a 1996 survey in Romania to analyze which household and regional characteristics determine the shift to individual farming. Individual farming is influenced by several household characteristics, such as the human capital (education, age, farming experience), physical capital endowments (ownership of land, buildings, machinery, livestock) and access to other finance sources (off-farm wages, pensions). Furthermore, environmental factors, such as infrastructure, local access to inputs, and the pre-reform importance of individual farming in the region, all affect the development of individual farming.     

上市促进了企业创新吗?——来自创业板制造业企业的经验证据

本研究利用手工收集的2009-2013年在创业板市场申请上市的制造业企业样本以及企业创新专利变量,经过对成功上市企业与终止上市企业的样本匹配,运用双重差分模型考察了上市是否促进我国创业板制造业企业创新,研究结果表明,上市显著促进了企业专利创新。进一步地,我们探讨了上市促进企业创新的机制,结果发现,上市通过改善融资约束显著促进了企业创新,而上市没能通过影响代理问题作用于企业创新。该结果意味着直接金融发展有助于推动企业创新;资本市场的风险分担及融资机制能够降低企业融资约束、进而促进企业创新。这不仅为直接金融促进企业创新提供了新的证据,也为我国进一步发展与完善资本市场,进而促进经济转型、创新发展提供了新的政策启示。     

中国服务业开放对区域创新的影响

通过使用中介效应检验法,系统考察了中国服务业开放对区域创新的影响,发现中国服务业开放有助于促进区域创新。中国服务业开放的研发资本投入效应、服务业开放的研发劳动投入效应、服务业开放对制造业进出口贸易的推动效应在服务业开放对中国区域创新的影响中存在中介效应,而服务业开放对人均GDP的拉动效应在服务业开放对中国区域创新的影响中不存在中介效应。东部地区通过服务贸易进口获得的国外研发资本存量能显著促进区域创新,而中部、西部和东北地区通过服务贸易进口获得的国外研发资本存量不能显著促进区域创新。     

Access to Finance,Financial Development and Firm Ability to Export: Experience from Asia–Pacific Countries

With particular reference to Asia–Pacific countries, the present study examines how access to finance and financial development affects firms’ ability to enter export markets. Using firm‐level data from the World Bank Enterprises Survey, we found that access to finance plays a significant role in improving firms’ ability to export. In addition, development of the financial sector fosters export market entry. Among the financial development indicators, reach of the banking sector variable is most prominent. The present study suggests that improvements in access to finance and financial development (increases in the reach of the banking sector) enable firms operating away from capital or major cities to enter export markets easily. The present study supports policy intervention to strengthen access to the financial sector, which would encourage firms to export, and to facilitate export market entry for remotely located firms.     

FDI投资区位的决定因素的实证研究——来自中国对外直接投资的经验数据

选取35个国家2001—2008年间的面板数据,以东道国市场、双边贸易、东道国劳动力成本以及教育水平等指标,采用固定效应分析方法对我国对外直接投资区位选择的决定因素进行实证检验。结论表明：我国对外直接投资区位选择受东道国市场规模的影响显著,但两者呈负向相关,即东道国市场规模越大,我国对其投资越少;同时,我国对出口及东道国的成人识字率也较为敏感。出口于东道国的贸易额度越大,东道国的成人识字率越高,我国对其直接投资就越多;东道国的工资水平与我国呈负弹性关系,东道国工资水平越高,我国对其直接投资就越少。     

市场分割、地区异质性与经济增长质量

市场分割已成为影响我国经济实现高质量增长的重要因素。以往的研究多以经济增长速度作为经济增长的变量,未将经济增长质量纳入研究范围。通过对市场分割对经济增长质量的影响机制的理论分析,以及就不同类型市场分割对我国地区经济增长质量的影响的实证分析,结果显示:东部地区商品市场的分割对经济增长质量的不利影响程度较大,资本市场的分割是中部和东北地区经济增长质量的主要影响因素,西部地区则受到多类型市场分割的共同影响。为此,我国应当健全区域协调发展的政策体系,把基本经济制度优势转化为区域协调发展的治理效能,落实公平竞争审查制度、市场准入负面清单制度,建立统一开放、竞争有序的市场体系;各地区应当发挥自身比较优势,合理分工,在聚集过程中走向新的平衡,进一步优化营商环境,减少对资源配置的直接干预,实现区域高质量发展。     

要素禀赋、贸易成本与中国出口产品多元化的目标国差异——以“一带一路”沿线国家为例

文章基于2005-2014年中国对“一带一路”沿线国家HS-6出口产品数据,采用洛伦兹曲线和固定效应面板数据分别从理论和实证两个层面考察了要素禀赋和贸易成本对中国出口产品多元化的影响,在此基础上,进一步考虑了近年来中国对外直接投资（OFDI）的迅速增加对出口产品多元化的交互性影响。结果表明,中国与目标国之间的要素禀赋差异越小、地理距离越近、贸易一体化程度越高,中国出口到目标国的产品多元化水平越高;有形资本对出口产品多元化的影响最为显著,远远超过了人力资本和土地等其他要素禀赋;而OFDI的快速增长在一定程度上抑制了出口产品多元化水平的提高,意味着中国“走出去”战略应充分权衡出口多元化与OFDI的关系。