Bankers at the gate: Microfinance and the high cost of borrowed logics

In this paper we examine how the interaction between influences of commercial banking and poverty alleviation shaped the evolution of modern microfinance. Using institutional theory as a lens, we observe that the commercial banking logic increasingly displaced the microfinance field's foundational poverty alleviation and development principles over time. We argue that this process of displacement can occur inadvertently as organizations that embody multiple logics draw disproportionately on only one of those logics when developing legitimating accounts of their activity to stakeholders. Furthermore, we introduce the concept of permeability – the extent to which the elements of a logic are ambiguous and loosely coupled – to explain why some logics may be more or less open to the influence of other logics. We conclude by discussing implications for entrepreneurship and poverty alleviation more generally.     

Microfinance,the long tail and mission drift

Poor people were excluded from financial services until microfinance institutions (MFIs) emerged. The mission of MFIs is to alleviate poverty, contributing to women empowerment, especially in rural communities. Microcredits can be analyzed under Pareto's 80/20 Principle. Their clients are situated in the long tail of the wealth distribution function. This niche market is not very attractive, because of its high administrative costs, lack of deposits and the need for compensating low revenues with fluctuating subsidies. Some MFIs have drifted from their mission. This paper presents a model to explain microfinance mission drift, tested with hypotheses. The results from the empirical study show a pattern of mission centered MFI: a small NGO, with labor productivity, receiving donations and obtaining a high yield. It can be concluded that there is a need for reducing interest rates. According to the long tail theory, this could be done by using efficient technology, as it has been achieved in the e-commerce sector.     

中国服务业技术效率变化的实证分析

本文使用1990-2003年省级面板数据,尝试性地运用随机前沿生产函数方法来考察中国服务业技术效率的变化状况,并进一步分析了中国服务业技术效率的收敛性。研究结果表明:中国服务业技术效率呈逐渐上升的趋势,且东中西部三大地区的服务业技术效率也表现出逐渐上升的趋势,但东西部地区服务业技术效率要低于中部地区;同时,中国各省服务业技术效率表现出显著的收敛性。     

Microfinance Intervention in Poverty Reduction: A Study of Women Farmer-Entrepreneurs in Rural Ghana

This paper examines microfinance intervention in rural poverty reduction in Ghana by surveying 100 rural women farmer-entrepreneurs. The findings reveal that microfinance interventions that emphasize both credit provision and social intermediation improve access to credit, improve business performance, and contribute to a higher standard of living for female farmer-entrepreneurs and their families. The results show that the microfinance scheme has been successful due to a strong social network and group relationships among the farmers. An implication of the study is that poverty reduction programs in developing countries need to emphasize social and human development components in microfinancing policies.     

技术引进与制造业技术变迁偏向:全国、安徽省、广东省的比较研究

本研究发展并检验了诱导创新假说。揭示欠发达经济在依靠技术引进启动现代制造技术发展的背景下,生产要素相对价格诱导技术变迁偏向的机制。为验证假说,研究中选取了1992-2006年全国、安徽省、广东省的制造业相关数据,采用SUR方法估计与超越对数成本函数相对应的成本份额方程,并计算要素相对价格不变下的劳动、资本、能源要素的投入比例,得出结果认为,安徽省制造业由于工业化发展层次较低不具备诱导创新假说成立的条件,而广东省及全国总体制造业支持诱导创新假说。在此基础上,本研究认为我国应该实行控制工资-利率低速稳定增长、适当提高能源价格、加大科教投入、完善要素市场等政策,以促进技术变迁偏向更好地适应要素禀赋特征。     

中国商业银行规模经济实证分析——基于超越对数成本函数法

商业银行成本结构、规模经济的研究,是世界上商业银行研究的一个重要研究领域,国外有关的研究文献很多,而中国国内的这方面的研究才刚刚开始,相关的研究还很滞后。本文在前人研究的基础上,采用生产法确定银行的产出,利用超越对数成本函数法,选取14家中国商业银行(包括4家国有商业银行、10家股份制商业银行)1999-2003年的数据,对中国银行业的规模经济进行了实证检验,得出了区别于其他学者的一些结论,并指出了今后银行规模经济研究的主要方向。     

国际贸易、技术变动对我国工业部门劳动收入份额的影响

文章较为系统地分析了国际贸易、技术进步等因素对中国工业部门劳动收入份额的影响。研究显示在1999～2009年期间,我国工业部门的劳动收入份额总体上呈现出缓慢下降的趋势,工业部门劳动收入份额变动主要是行业内部劳动力再配置的结果;利用中国工业部门21个细分行业的面板数据,通过系统广义矩方法对国际贸易、技术变革对行业劳动收入份额的影响进行计量分析表明,国际贸易具有较为显著的提高我国工业部门行业劳动份额的效应,而技术进步则存在显著降低工业行业劳动份额的效应,这与我国工业部门在研究期内的技术进步具有劳动节约型特征有关。     

国外技术性贸易壁垒研究述评

技术性贸易壁垒已成为国际贸易领域关注的焦点。本文对20世纪90年代中期以来国外关于技术性贸易壁垒研究的新进展进行了述评,结果显示,现实中技术性贸易壁垒的基本属性仍然表现为贸易保护主义的重要手段,其制定和实施不仅会造成贸易扭曲进而降低社会福利,而且由于技术标准难以在双边和多边层次进行协调,从而极易引发国际间的贸易冲突。     

技术性贸易措施影响中国制造业出口的实证分析——基于企业异质性视角的研究

文章在企业异质性视角下,利用修正后的引力模型,分析了影响2004～2007年中国制造业29个子产业出口的因素。研究表明多数子产业同质性程度较高,产出和出口主要集中于众多中小企业。考虑企业异质性情形下,产业内出口规模对贸易壁垒引起的贸易成本变化更加敏感。研究也发现较之距离缩短,技术性贸易措施减少引起的贸易成本降低有更明显的贸易促进效应。     

全球贸易视角中的技术性贸易壁垒

在全球自由化的浪潮下 ,有人认为贸易保护主义将不会存在 ,而对技术性贸易壁垒也由于《技术性贸易壁垒协议》以及《卫生与植物检疫措施协议》的制定而认为壁垒将会走向终结。但是自国际贸易产生开始 ,贸易就成为一国经济的重要组成 ,与一国的利益紧密相关 ,只要国家间存在利益上的差异 ,保护主义就不会消失 ,而TBT、SPS协议的制定并未实际约束到非技术贸易壁垒 ,所以很有必要对此进行研究 ,把握今后贸易的发展 ,以便能制定合适的贸易政策 ,并积极参与全球贸易规则的制定。     

Optimizing Job Scheduling in the Service Sector

No abstract available for this article.     

行业协会在应对技术性贸易壁垒中的作用

应对技术性贸易壁垒要充分发挥行业协会的作用,以行业协会牵头建立一套技术性贸易壁垒系统的预警、应对机制,对下协调各会员企业之间的关系、保护会员企业利益,对上沟通与协调与政府有关部门的关系,对外代表行业进行贸易诉讼,建立与国外相关组织与企业的沟通。达到这一效果的关键在于行业协会的自身建设。     

Structural Change and Evolution of the Services Sector in the OECD

The aim of this article is to present the results of research on the structural changes that have been taking place in all the OECD countries from 1960 to 1985. The services sector continued to grow after the recent economic crisis but some different approaches are used in order to explain this.

First, the analysis tries to show the general trends of the structural changes and the behaviour differences of the OECD economies before and after the beginning of the international crisis. The article goes on to examine the intensity of the sectorial changes by countries, the aim being to investigate the coincidences and the important differences existing between them. In spite of some interesting points that come out of the research, the article offers a clear criticism of current ideas about what has been called ‘the tertiarisation process'.     

Persistence and Change at the Top of the IT Sector

We use the DATAMATION index of the top 50 domestic IT companies (1975–1995) to track persistence and change at the top of the sector. The trends that we uncover are increasing instability, rejuvenation (declining average age of entrants coupled with increasing average age of quitters), democratization (diminishing revenue inequality at the top) and growing supply‐side intertwining of sub‐sectors and industries within IT due to diversification by long‐term survivors.     

产业集群条件下技术标准联盟形成的动因探析

技术标准联盟是产业集群发展到一定阶段的必然产物,是产业集聚的高级形式。产业集群与技术标准联盟实质上都是中间体组织,二者既有本质区别又有密切联系。产业集群产生技术标准联盟的动因主要包括四方面:在产业集群内外建立最佳的竞争秩序;共享企业间资源,分散技术研发与标准运作风险;争夺标准主导地位,打造事实标准;利用网络效应获取竞争优势。     

Technical efficiency and human capital in the retail sector

The performance of the British retail sectors in terms of productivity growth is not brilliant. This paper focuses on a specific component of productivity growth (technical efficiency) and tests the extent to which its variance across the sector can be explained by the differences in the educational attainment of the pool of workers to which retail firms have access. The empirical analysis is carried out on a sample of 1061 retail firms from the Annual Respondents Database, 1997–2005. The results confirm that the county-level differences of the stock of human capital can explain the technical efficiency differentials across the sector.     

Transitional Change in Poland

No abstract available for this article.     

空间面板随机前沿模型及技术效率估计

随机前沿模型是测算技术效率的重要方法之一.通常,模型假设生产单元之间彼此独立,然而在技术扩散过程中,空间外部性起着重要作用.文章结合随机前沿模型理论与空间经济计量分析方法,构建空间面板随机前沿模型,同时考虑空间滞后因变量和空间误差自相关,并逐步放松模型设定条件,首先考虑技术效率时变,接着引入技术无效率项的异方差性,之后考虑观察数据中潜在的截面异质性,分别以引入随机截面特有项和设定随机系数的形式来表示截面异质性.针对各种模型设定提出相应的参数估计方法,最后给出技术效率的估计.     

要素、技术能力与技术赶超方式的演变

技术能力决定了后发技术赶超的成败,而技术能力又是由企业要素所决定的。通过拓展的A-J模型,建立基于技术能力的后发技术赶超方式演变模型,比较模仿创新、合作创新和自主创新的绩效后发现:企业的技术赶超方式是随着企业的要素和技术能力而变化的,当要素有限、技术能力参数较低时,企业应该采取模仿创新的技术赶超方式;当要素和技术能力上升到一定的程度之后,企业可以采取合作创新的赶超方式;只有要素和技术能力上升到较高的程度时,企业才有可能实施自主创新的赶超方式。     

WTO技术性贸易壁垒的法律思考 --从中国贸易壁垒调查第一案谈起

WTO框架下的《技术性贸易壁垒协议》,对当今国际贸易中的技术性贸易壁垒作出规范。文章以中国贸易壁垒调查第一案为例,从法律角度出发,就上述协议中的最惠国待遇原则、WTO成员方的自主权与国际制约等重要问题进行深入的探讨和分析,同时就我国的对策提出建议。