On the choice between international capital and labor mobility

This paper examines the choice of international factor mobility. It proves in a two-country, two-factor, one-commodity model that the policy-setter, when it maximizes its own welfare by following the Ramaswami policy of monopsonistic import of its scarce factor, impoverishes the passive country. Furthermore, the paper studies the choice of mobility in a two-commodity model and shows that the optimality of the monopsonistic import policy extends to a situation with trade in goods. Lastly, it addresses the welfare effects in the passive country in the two-commodity model.     

Physical capital,knowledge capital,and the choice between FDI and outsourcing

Abstract There exist two approaches in the literature concerning the multinational firm’s mode choice for foreign production between an owned subsidiary and a licensing contract. One approach considers environments where the firm transfers primarily knowledge‐based assets and assumes that knowledge is non‐excludable. A more recent approach takes the property‐right view of the firm and assumes that physical capital is fully excludable. This paper combines both forms of capital assets in a single model. There are subtleties, and added structure is needed to establish what ex ante seems a straightforward testable hypothesis: relatively physical‐capital‐intensive firms choose outsourcing while relatively knowledge‐capital‐intensive firms choose FDI.     

On the level of optimal capital import in a decentralized competitive economy

In a competitive economy, capital import will affect the distribution of income among domestic economic units. Our main aim is to determine the optimal level of capital import, given that the distribution of income among people is accounted for. In order to consider explicitly the effect of capital import on saving behavior, we shall adopt a simple, two-period life cycle growth model. It will be shown that in order to know if the government can increase everybody's long-run utility, the criterion of the golden rule is important.     

On the optimal choice of capital intensity in LDCs with migration

"Sen's classic work on the choice of capital intensity of investment is generalized in the light of new theoretical developments and empirical findings concerning rural-to-urban migration in LDCs. This is done by explicitly incorporating a migration function into the basic choice model. Revised conditions for maximization of surplus are derived and compared with Sen's original condition. Some justification for the particular migration function used in the presence of risk-aversion is suggested."     

Exchange rate pass-through in Turkish export and import prices

This article investigates the effects of horizontal acquisitions on the performance of target firms in the 1990s. Using French manufacturing firm-level data, we examine two main indicators of performance: the profit and the productive efficiency. We distinguish domestic from cross-border acquisitions. To evaluate the impact of take-overs, we implement appropriate difference-in-difference estimation techniques associated to a matching propensity score procedure. We find that Mergers &?Acquisitions (M&A) do not increase the profit of French target firms, even on the long run. However, they clearly raise the productivity of target firms. These results suggest that firms probably redistribute efficiency gains at the upstream and/or downstream production stage. There is no evidence of an increase in market power. In addition, the consequences of domestic and cross-border M&A significantly differ. Efficiency gains are stronger for cross-border M&A. This conclusion is however true only for extra-European Union operations. The achievement in the European economic integration certainly explains the absence of difference between European and domestic acquisitions. Finally, our results cast some doubt on the frequent discrimination attitude towards foreign takeovers and the fears of their impact on firms’ performance and the host country's welfare.     

LIML estimation of import demand and export supply elasticities

I apply limited-information maximum likelihood (LIML) to estimate import demand and export supply elasticities for a range of eurozone countries. The results highlight inconsistencies in the parameters estimated by LIML relative to an estimator that is robust to heteroskedasticity. The nature of the structural equations reveals complications generated by the limiting behavior of the parameters that can be replicated in finite samples. The results of simulations underscore improvements in parameter estimates in a three-dimensional panel, suggesting that the problem of limiting behaviour can be overcome in larger dataset/panels.     

Long-run relationships between labor and capital: Indirect evidence on the elasticity of substitution

This paper proposes an indirect method for making empirical inference on the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor. The idea is that estimates of the elasticity may be retrievable from theory derived behavioral equations, by conducting comparative statics with respect to this parameter. This approach is readily applicable to more realistic models than those which are commonly used to derive estimates of the substitution elasticity. It is demonstrated that the conventional approach does not yield sensible estimates on quarterly Finnish manufacturing data. By applying the indirect method, a long-run empirical relationship is found that is consistent with an elasticity of substitution below one.     

The role of location choice in strategic export promotion policy: capital liberalization incentives of exporting countries

We study an international capital liberalization game where exporting countries choose either to open the domestic market for capital inflow or not. We clarify that if the cost difference is large enough, the less productive country is indifferent between closing or opening for inward direct investment, and the more productive country never has an incentive to open. International coordination to open markets is not always necessary in our capital liberalization game since it may deteriorate the welfare of the more productive country and will make world welfare worse off. The earlier version of this paper is Kiyono and Wei (2002).     

中泰贸易的主要进出口商品构成研究

中泰贸易近年发展迅速,因此,对中泰两国进出口的主要商品构成进行实证分析具有现实意义.研究表明:两国间基于自然禀赋的传统产品的贸易互补性依然突出,并将持续较长时期;电子产品成为中泰两国相互出口的最大类产品,该类产品的生产已逐渐演变成为跨国集团内部的分工协作,两国在主要商品构成上出现趋同化,也存在互补-竞争性.从中泰两国主要进出口商品的构成变化趋势上看,要求中泰两国加强高层次的产业分工协作.     

On the relationship between intermediate input imports and export quality in China

This paper studies the connection between intermediate input imports and firms’ export quality using firm‐level data from 2000 to 2007. Our regression results show that intermediate input imports promote manufacturing firms’ export quality through ‘variety effects’ and ‘innovation effects’, though the effects are significantly different among firms with different characteristics, and the magnitude of these effects differs across import sources and the quality of imported intermediate inputs themselves. Moreover, we find that a good institutional environment is conducive to the strengthening of the positive influence of intermediate input imports on export quality. Furthermore, the dynamic decomposition demonstrates that the reallocation effect is the key force through which imported inputs boost industrial aggregate quality growth. Taken together, these results suggest that product upgrading facilitated by quality embedded in imported intermediate inputs, a good institutional environment and market share reallocation help Chinese firms to improve the quality of their export products.     

Human capital investment with competitive labor search

We study human capital accumulation in the presence of labor search frictions. Given that unemployed workers can default on their education loans, skilled individuals with a larger debt burden prefer riskier but better paid careers than is socially desirable. A higher level of employment risk in turn depresses the skill premium and the incentives to invest in education. The equilibrium allocation is characterized by too low employment, underinvestment by the poor, and too little investment in skill-intensive technologies. A public education system funded by graduate taxes can restore efficiency, and it would also reduce wage inequality.     

On the interaction between public and private capital in economic growth

This paper introduces two forms of interaction between private and public capital in an endogenous growth model in which productive government expenditure takes the form of a stock-variable and public capital is used in part as an input in the production of final output and in part to increase its own supply. While the first form of interaction involves the stocks of the two capital-goods and takes place within the final output sector through the specification of the aggregate production function (Cobb?CDouglas vs. CES), the second one concerns the rates of investment in the two kinds of capital. The share of productive public expenditure devoted to output production can be either exogenous or endogenous. Our results suggest that when this share is exogenous, along the balanced growth path the optimal growth rate of the economy is a positive function of the degree of complementarity between the two forms of investment. When the share of productive public expenditure devoted to output production is endogenous, the public capital share in GDP becomes, along with the model??s preference parameters, an important determinant of the economy??s long run growth. We also find that the optimal growth rate is an increasing function of the elasticity of substitution between public and private capital inputs in goods production, and is independent of the complementarity/substitutability between the two forms of investment.     

Theory of the firm in relation to exchange rates,import substitution and export

Neoclassical theory deals with the profit maximizing beheviour of the firm in a closed economy. Once an open-economy condition is introduced, the impact of the exchange rate on the cost and price parameters of the firm and, consequently, its import substitution and export decisions becomes relevant. A model is presented with case studies in which, given the exchange rate, the firm seeks to determine the optimal level of import substitution, output and export with the objective of maximizing its profit. In today's competitive world when countries are liberalizing and moving towards an open trade regime, the influence of exchange rates on the decision-making processes of firms is bound to be significant. An approach which provides them with a methodology for spelling out their options and making optimal choices is, therefore, of considerable practical interest.     

人民币汇率升值对义乌市进出口贸易的影响

从2005年7月21日开始，中国人民银行宣布人民币汇率机制进行改革．我们通过研究，分析此次人民币升值后义乌市的进出口企业所面临的主要问题，以及它给义乌市进出口贸易所带来的影响，文章最后指出只要企业和有关的管理部门及时的调整对策，共同合作，就能够把人民币升值的不利影响缩小到最小，而把其有利影响扩大到最大。     

Competing for capital when labor is heterogeneous

This paper investigates the impacts of capital mobility and tax competition in a setting with imperfect matching between firms and workers. The small country attracts less firms than the large one but accommodates a share of the industry that exceeds its capital share—a reverse home market effect. This allows the small country to be more aggressive and to set a higher tax rate than the large one, thus implying that tax competition reduces international inequalities. However, the large country always attains a higher utility than does the small country. Our model thus encapsulates both the “importance of being small” and the “importance of being large”. Last, tax harmonization benefits to the small country but is detrimental to the large one.     

International portfolio diversification and endogenous labor supply choice

This paper presents a multi-country general equilibrium model driven by productivity shocks, where labor supply and consumption are chosen endogenously. We use this framework to study the effect of labor supply for optimal international diversification. We find that the model's ability to help explain home-bias depends crucially on the level of substitutability between consumption and non-working time. Quantitatively, the non-separability in the preferences helps in a nonnegligible way, but it cannot entirely explain the extreme degree of home-bias in U.S. portfolios.     

关于完善我国进出口检验检疫制度的思考

结合社会实践,分析我国检验检疫面临的新问题与新挑战,提出要加快检验检疫制度标准化的进程,促进有关检验检疫法律法规的完善,加强政策制度的建设,填补法律空白,弥补法律漏洞,提高政策执行的可行性与科学性;加大检验检疫部门的行政监管力度,做到科学监管、依法监管、人性监管;完善我国检验检疫机构的行政配置,提高检验检疫机构的职能设置与国际标准的融合度,进而推进我国检验检疫事业的可持续发展,维护国家在进出口贸易中的经济利益,捍卫国家主权与形象尊严。     

Public capital formation and labor productivity growth in Chile

Following the lead of the endogenous growth literature, this article analyzes the impact on labor productivity growth of public and private investment spending in Chile. Using cointegration analysis, the results of the dynamic labor productivity function for the 1960–95 period show that (lagged) public and private investment spending, as well as the rate of growth in exports, has a positive and highly significant effect on the rate of labor productivity growth. The estimates also indicate that increases in government consumption spending have a negative effect on the rate of labor productivity growth, thus suggesting that the composition of government spending may also play an important role in determining the rate of labor productivity growth. The findings call into question the politically expedient policy in many Latin American countries of disproportionately reducing public capital expenditures to meet targeted reductions in the fiscal deficit as a proportion of GDP.     

Globalizing labor and the world economy: the role of human capital

We develop a dynamic model of the world economy that jointly endogenizes individual decisions about fertility, education and migration. We then use it to compare the short- and long-term effects of immigration restrictions on the world distribution of income. Our calibration strategy replicates the economic and demographic characteristics of the world, and allows us to proxy bilateral migration costs and visa costs for two classes of workers and for each pair of countries. In our benchmark simulations, the world average level of income per worker increases by 12% in the short term and by approximately 52% after one century. These results are highly robust to our identifying strategy and technological assumptions. Sizable differences are obtained when our baseline (pre-liberalization) trajectory involves a rapid income convergence between countries or when we adjust visa costs for a possible upward bias. Our quantitative analysis reveals that the effects of liberalizing migration on human capital accumulation and income are gradual and cumulative. Whatever is the size of the short-term gain, the long-run impact is 4 to 5 times greater (except under a rapid convergence in income).     

南非的对外贸易与环境

世界可持续发展峰会（WSSD）将于2002年9月2日至11日在南非约翰内斯堡召开。这次峰会被称为“里约+10”的峰会,引起了世界各国的高度重视,同时也引起了国际经济界对南非环境保护状况的关注。由于新南非实行出口导向型经济发展战略,国际环境政策的任何变化都对南非出口贸易产生重要影响,进而影响到南非的经济发展。南非贸易与环境的基本特征南非成功地完成了政治转型,面临着巨大的经济和社会建设任务。1985—1993年,经济增长率很低,约为1.2%。1993年后,南非经济开始复苏,1995年经济增长率为3.5%,1996年为3.6%。1997年后,新政府…