The impact of banks' statewide economic power on their political power: An empirical analysis

Conclusions The empirical evidence presented in this paper supports the hypothesis that the level of banking concentration does not have a significant impact on banks' political influence. This average bank size appears to be negatively related lated to political power within the state.Because of the difficulties of defining and measuring political and economic power, the conclusions presented here should be considered to be tentative. However, the results do demonstrate the need for further research in this area.     

Special economic zones and growth in China and India: an empirical investigation

This paper investigates the role of special economic zones (SEZs) in liberalizing the Chinese and Indian economies and their impact on economic growth. The policy change to a more liberalized economy is identified using SEZ variables as instrumental variables. The results indicate that export and FDI growth have positive and statistically significant effects on economic growth in these countries. The presence of SEZs increases regional growth but increasing the number of SEZs has negligible effect on growth. The key to faster economic growth appears to be a greater pace of liberalization.     

Methodological aspects of the 1984 Hungarian microcensus

The methodology used in the 1984 microcensus of Hungary is described. The main innovation involved the use of preprinted personal data from the National Population Registration Office, which meant that enumerators had prepared questionnaires available before undertaking census interviews. A trial census held in 1984 in Gyor County is also described.     

Export performance and economic growth causality: An empirical analysis

The cointegration and causal relationship between export growth and economic growth is investigated for the Nordic economies. On the basis of Johansen's technique and the augmented Granger causality tests, the evidence shows that these macroeconomic aggregates are causally related in the long run for each economy. Granger causality is unidirectional, running from economic growth to export growth in Denmark, and bidirectional in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The established bidirectional causality suggests that the expansion of exports is an integral part of the economic growth process.     

The impact of ECOWAS on intraregional trade flows: An empirical investigation

There is a scarcity of published statistical analysis that examines the impact of economic integration schemes in Africa. This study fills the gap in the literature. The impact of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on trade flows of its member countries is examined applying an econometric analysis. The parameters of a multivariate trade-flows model are estimated using a panel data of the 1975 to 1991 period. The results suggest that the regional integration scheme has succeeded in increasing trade flows between member countries. The general view in the literature is that African integration schemes have failed to increase trade flows.     

The influence of tax and expenditure policies on economic growth in The Netherlands: An empirical analysis

Summary This paper explores the influence of government policies in explaining output, emploment and investment in The Netherlands during the period 1966–1989. The paper develops an empirical macroeconomic model estimated with annual data relating to the period 1958–1989. It finds that restrictive fiscal policies in the eighties have had adverse short-term effects on output and employment. Furthermore, the drop in the rate of increase in tax and social security contribution rates in this period has boosted output, employment and investment. However, the shift in public expenditure from investment to consumption has exerted a negative impact on these variables, largely offsetting the positive impact of the tax policies.At the moment of writing, Ed W.M.T. Westerhout was a staff member of the Directorate for Economic Policy, Ministry of Economic Affairs. Currently the is affiliated to the Central Planning Bureau, P.O. Box. 80510, 2508 GM The Hague.We thank Peter van Bergeijk, Lans Bovenberg, Rob Mulder, Pieter Waasdorp and two anonymous referees for uselfut suggestions and comments.     

Some aspects of employment in Indian agriculture

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of structural differences (due to size of holding) on employment in Indian agriculture. Translog cost function is applied, and restrictions are tested using a likelihood ratio test. For small- and medium-size farms, joint estimation of a non-homothetic cost function with cost share equations is conducted, and Allen elasticities of substitution and price elasticities of demand for eight different inputs are derived. Inputs are classified as substitutes and complements using Slutsky-Hicks-Allen-Schultz definition. Each source of labor against hired labor is a substitute for small farms (0–5 hectares). Some policy analysis of rural employment and a fertilizer subsidy scheme is presented using price elasticities of demand for small and medium farms.     

三元结构条件下中国农业投入问题研究

二元结构条件下基于农业辅助型战略 ,中国农业投入不足问题严重。信息经济的出现 ,中国社会逐步确立了三亓结构的经济和社会形态。研究三元结构条件下的农业投入规律 ,对于实现农民增收 ,无疑具有极强的现实性。     

The relationship between an electricity supply ceiling and economic growth: An application of disequilibrium modeling to Taiwan

Using a disequilibrium model, we investigate the relationship between the supply constraint of electricity generation capacity and electricity demand in Taiwan. We find that electricity consumption faced supply constraints in Taiwan between 1959 and 1972, but that generation capacity grew rapidly after 1973, such that economic growth came to be the major determinant of electricity consumption. Our experience in fitting this disequilibrium model suggests that simple causality tests are not a proper means to understand the relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth. Our results also suggest, at least for developing countries, that an electricity supply constraint sometimes plays an important role when investigating the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth.     

The economic impact of the Russian import ban: a CGE analysis

The aim of this paper is to assess the economic impact of the Russian embargo from 7 August 2014 on certain agricultural food products from the EU, the USA, Norway, Canada and Australia. The effects of this economic sanction are analysed in the framework of a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model with a particular focus on bilateral and total exports, production and welfare. The detailed, based on real trade data, calibration of the model allows for an exact identification of the sectoral shares and prohibitive tariffs aggregated to match the CGE model’s sectoral level of aggregation. In addition, the paper carries on a validation exercise to compare the model’s predictions with real trade data developments. The modelling simulation results show that the impact of the ban on total exports of the EU, the USA, Norway, Canada and Australia is limited. Nevertheless at a disaggregate level there are sectors – ‘vegetables and fruits’, ‘other meat’ and ‘dairy products’ – which experience two digit percentage change declines.     

Regional disparity and economic growth in China: The impact of labor market distortions

The paper tries to analyze China's regional disparity in a framework of convergence in neoclassical theory of growth. We employ comparative productivity of agricultural labor as an index of labor market distortion to see the impact of difference of labor market maturity among regions on regional growth performance, controlling for a set of variables determining growth rate. The finding is that (1) there is an evidence of conditional convergence in China's growth, namely, per capita GDP in the initiative year is negatively related to growth rates in following years, (2) labor market distortion negatively impacts regional growth rates, and (3) many other variables used at previous studies impact growth performance, as is expected by neoclassical theory of growth.     

A Ricardian analysis of the economic impact of climate change on agriculture: Evidence from the farms in the central highlands of Afghanistan

This paper provides evidence on the economic impact of climate change on agriculture in the Central Highlands of Afghanistan by exploring the climate sensitivity of crop net revenue per unit of land. A Ricardian model and a novel 2017 dataset for 1502 farmers in three central provinces along with 34 years of weather information are used to study the impact of variations in seasonal precipitation and annual temperature. The findings suggest a significant and nonlinear effect of climate factors on crop net revenue. The impact of seasonal precipitation is found to vary across space and time. The effect of increased annual temperature is found to be generally positive and significant—both statistically and economically. The predicted impact of future climate change is largely beneficial, mainly due to warming.