Economic growth,telecommunications development and productivity growth of the telecommunications sector: Evidence around the world

This paper studies the relationships between economic growth, telecommunications development and productivity growth of the telecommunications sector in different countries and regions of the world. In particular, this study assesses the impact of mobile telecommunications on economic growth and telecommunications productivity. The results indicate that there is a bidirectional relationship between real gross domestic product (GDP) and telecommunications development (as measured by teledensity) for European and high-income countries. However, when the impact of mobile telecommunications development on economic growth is measured separately, the bi-directional relationship is no longer restricted to European and high-income countries. This study also finds that countries in the upper-middle income group have achieved a higher average total factor productivity (TFP) growth than other countries. Countries with competition and privatization in telecommunications have achieved a higher TFP growth than those without competition and privatization. The diffusion of mobile telecommunications services is found to be a significant factor that has improved the TFP growth of the telecommunications sector in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).     

Farm size and productivity growth in the United States Corn Belt

In recent decades, agricultural production in the U.S. has continued to shift to large-scale operations, raising concerns about the economic viability of small and midsized farms. To understand whether economies of size provided an incentive for the consolidation of production, the study estimates the total factor productivity (TFP) of five size classes of grain-producing farms in the U.S. Heartland (Corn Belt) region. Using quinquennial Agricultural Census data from 1982 to 2012 the study also compares TFP growth rates across farm sizes to gain insight into whether observed productivity differences are likely to persist. The finding of a strong positive relationship between farm size and TFP suggests that consolidation of production has contributed to recent aggregate productivity growth in the crop sector. The study estimates the extent to which sectoral productivity growth can be attributed to structural change versus other factors including technological change. The study also explores some tradeoffs associated with policies that raise the productivity of small versus large farms.     

Total factor productivity growth in Uganda’s telecommunications industry

The telecommunication sector is usually thought to be characterized by high productivity growth rates arising from increasing returns to scale. The actual productivity patterns in the sector, however, need to be empirically determined. A panel data set was assembled and a common set of input and output indicators was constructed to support the estimation of the Malmquist Total Factor Productivity index via input-oriented Data Envelopment Analysis. A general specification encompassing all available input and output data was employed to obtain the average total factor productivity changes for the sector. Over the study period, there was total factor productivity growth in Uganda’s telecommunications industry, which was mainly due to technical or technological progress as opposed to technical efficiency. These results indicate the existence of a potential for tariff reduction via the X-factor in the price cap formula.     

Fertilizer supplies and foodgrain production in China, 1952–1982

Because organic fertilizer is limited, chemical fertilizer supply has to be increased drastically in the next few years if China is to cope with accelerated demands for foodgrain. Nevertheless, the combined application of both types of fertilizer has yielded a coherent trend of constant returns to scale over time. With marginal and average response rates remaining high, there is still room for increased use. Thus, the recent decentralization has led to higher demand for chemical fertilizers from Chinese peasants. However, it is doubtful whether such demand pressures will ever prevail over the established strategy of maximizing growth of heavy industries.     

Effects of agricultural market policy on crop production in China

This paper investigates the effects of Chinese market policy on crop production in the reform process. After a brief review of the policy changes due to the reform, the theoretical significance of Chinese market policies for crop production is demonstrated diagrammatically. It is shown that under the current market system the production of main crops is significantly influenced by both market and quota prices. While relatively high quota reduces the influence of market prices on production, relative price changes between competing crops will lead to shifting farmers’ cultivation preferences if inputs are constant. Empirical analysis, based on cross-section data for the period 1985–1997 from the province of Zhejiang, confirms these hypotheses. The effects of policy variables, however, prove to be crop-specific. If the potential of crop production in China is to be better used, an even more market-oriented agricultural policy is required.     

Food accessibility,diversity of agricultural production and dietary pattern in rural China

The market-oriented reform in China in the past 4 decades has greatly reshaped the consumption pattern in rural areas. In particular, farmers’ diets are more likely to depend on food market development such as food accessibility. This study investigates the role of food accessibility in the transition of dietary pattern in rural China by using the China Health and Nutrition Survey data (1997–2011) and whether food accessibility helps alleviate the deviation between farmers’ dietary pattern and the recommended dietary pattern according to China Food Pagoda 2016. The primary results indicate that food accessibility contributes to improvements in quality. In particular, food accessibility increases the consumption of oil and decreases the consumption of cereal, potatoes, and beans; fruits; vegetables; and salt. Further estimation finds evidence that along with increasing food accessibility, fruit is converging to the recommended dietary pattern in China Food Pagoda 2016, and the deviations of legumes, nuts, and oil are increasing. We also observe that the impact of food accessibility on dietary quality is stronger for those not engaged in agriculture production. Our study provides valuable implications for rural development and nutrition security in the developing world.     

Reaping digital dividends: Digital inclusive finance and high-quality development of enterprises in China

The digital economy is progressively emerging as a new driving force for high-quality development in China and has been paving a new avenue for enterprise development through the progress of the digital inclusive finance (DIF) system. Under this paradigm of development, this research examines whether and how DIF exerts an influence on the China's economy which is currently experiencing a transition development of enterprises (HQDE). Using a sample of China's listed companies from 2011 to 2019, the results demonstrate that DIF has a significant favorable impact on HQDE. Furthermore, our analysis finds that reducing financial leverage and alleviating financial constraints are intermediary mechanisms of the effect. Moreover, the beneficial effect of DIF varies in terms of different regions, enterprise property rights, and industrial nature—it is observed to be more pronounced in the eastern region, non-state-owned enterprises, and tertiary industry enterprises. Our results provide empirical evidence that DIF enables enterprises to achieve high-quality development.     

Agricultural productivity growth in Brazil: Large and small farms excel

The long-standing debate on the relationship between farm size and productivity has been generally limited by the range of farm sizes evaluated and the definition of productivity. In this paper we use data from three Brazilian agricultural censuses to address these issues. In particular, we introduce a wider distribution of farm sizes than presently available from the literature and we employ total factor productivity (TFP) as our performance measure. In doing so, we test which farm size class had the highest TFP levels in 1985 and 2006, how factor productivity growth varied within and across farm size classes between those years, and which policy or factor had the greatest productivity enhancing effect. When examining TFP growth, we move beyond the common decomposition into technical and efficiency changes by identifying the complete distribution of farm productivity performances. We find that by 2006 a U-shaped distribution of productivity over farm sizes had emerged. Considerable 1985–2006 TFP growth differences are prevalent; positive rates for the majority accompany stagnant or negative rates for some. Public education investments were associated with faster productivity growth regardless of farm size, while technical assistance’s positive effect and credit’s negative effect were associated with larger farm sizes. The role of specialization varied by size.     

Contribution of productivity and firm size to value-added: Evidence from Vietnam

A new indexing method is developed to decompose the contributions of productivity, prices and firm size to a firm's value-added. The method introduces an error term into the decomposition equation to capture measurement biases which are caused by using the deflator instead of the observed price and all other sorts of measurement error. An application of the method is given using private small and medium manufacturing firm level data in Vietnam from 1996 and 2001. The error index decomposition method provides a comparison of performance of all firms to the hypothetical representative firm. The analysis allows firms and policy makers to realize the key factors contributing to the success or failure of a firm and suggest strategies to improve firm economic performance.     

信息技术与上海全要素生产率关系研究

总结回顾了信息技术与生产率相关的研究,估算上海市资本存量并应用参数估计方法估算上海的劳动力和资产产出弹性,用劳动者报酬进行核实;根据估算的劳动力和资产产出弹性,使用增长核算方法计算出上海全要素生产率;在此基础,建立线性回归模型,分析信息技术与上海全要素生产率的关系,对结果进行分析并提出政策建议。     

信息技术革命与生产率悖论

信息技术革命无疑是人类经济史上一次意义深远的技术进步,但是统计上的观察表明,自20世纪六七十年代美国爆发信息技术革命以来,经济不仅没有得到更快的增长,而且与此前的年份相比,劳动生产率、全要素生产增长水平反而呈现出一种下降的趋势。理论上,一般把这种现象称作为“生产率悖论”。本文试图对这一悖论的几种解释进行考察和评析,以期为国内相关研究提供一个理论基础。     

The co‐evolution of capabilities and transaction costs: explaining the institutional structure of production

This paper proposes that transaction costs and capabilities are fundamentally intertwined in the determination of vertical scope, and identifies the key mechanisms of their co‐evolution. Specifically, we argue that capability differences are a necessary condition for vertical specialization; and that transaction cost reductions only lead to specialization when capabilities along the value chain are heterogeneous. Furthermore, we argue that there are four evolutionary mechanisms that shape vertical scope over time. First, the selection process, itself driven by capability differences, dynamically shapes vertical scope; second, transaction costs are endogenously changed by firms that try to reshape the transactional environment to increase their profit and market share; third, changes in vertical scope affect the nature of the capability development process, i.e., the way in which firms improve their operations over time; and finally, the changes in the capability development process reshape the capability pool in the industry, changing the roster of qualified participants. These dynamics of capability and transaction cost co‐evolution are illustrated through two contrasting examples: the mortgage banking industry in the United States, which shows the shift from integrated to disintegrated production; and the Swiss watch‐manufacturing industry, which went from disintegration to integration. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The formation and evolution of non-equity strategic alliances in China

Contractual joint ventures (CJVs) are a major form of non-equity strategic alliance in China, employed mainly by Hong Kong firms in the south China province of Guangdong. Due to their ambiguous legal status and the lack of conceptualisation and of their contractual nature, there has been little empirical research on CJVs. By theorising CJVs as a relational subcontracting arrangement and drawing on data from structured interviews with managers from both sides, this paper reveals the managerial decisions pertaining to the formation and evolution of the CJV non-equity alliances in Guangdong.

Private production and income distribution in a Chinese commune

This article is concerned with the extent of inequality between production teams and between households in one commune in the People's Republic of China, and particularly with the effect of income from private production on the distribution of total household income. The authors briefly describe the history and role of private production within the commune system, and report the findings of household a survey conducted to discover the flows of food commodities from both private and collective sources. The authors conclude that private production is not a source of inequality in this commune.     

Intangible capital,ICT and sector growth in China

This paper explores how intangible capital affects the growth of ICT-intensive sectors in China by examining 29 sectors in 30 regions for the years 2003–2015. It is shown that the value added in ICT-intensive sectors in China will grow faster in regions with faster development of intangible capital. This effect is robust to alternative measures of intangible capital and ICT intensity indicators, and even if other region-level determinants of sector growth such as human capital, non-ICT physical capital and financial market development are taken into consideration. The findings imply that Chinese policy makers should aim for not only more ICT investment but also the development of intangible capital.     

Assessing farm performance by size in Malawi,Tanzania, and Uganda

Many Sub-Sahara African countries have long endured sluggish agricultural productivity growth and a farm structure dominated by smallholders. This prevailing structure has led to public policies focusing on access to land and its distribution as ways to boost agricultural supply. Drawing on data from the Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) for three East African countries (Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda), our purpose is to: test whether smaller farms in these countries are more productive than larger ones; examine how managerial performance varies with farm size; and assess how public policy may improve farm performance. We adopt the Random Parameters Stochastic Production Frontier model to estimate and then decompose Total Factor Productivity (TFP) across different farm size classes. In doing so, we test for possible measurement errors of farmer self-reported land area using Global Positioning System (GPS) data, and explore the imperfect factor markets hypothesis. The results show that across the three countries TFP is higher for smaller farms than for larger ones. Overall, managerial performance is low suggesting that programs designed to enhance managerial capacity would promote farm productivity across all sizes. Other policies are size specific. Access to agricultural input markets improves the productivity of the small farms, while greater spending on transportation infrastructure and extension services enhances the productivity of the large.     

The evolution of telecommunications policy-making: Comparative analysis of China and India

This paper is a comparative analysis of the telecommunications policy-making process in China and India. Adopting an institutionalist perspective and multi-streams framework, the paper analyzes the formal structures, rule-making procedures and interest groups involved in telecommunications policy-making in the two countries, in terms of their evolution over the last two decades. Though the two systems began this period with a somewhat similar ministerial-bureaucratic decision-making model, and faced similar problems of assimilating new interest groups and responding to international pressures, the paper finds that the decision systems in the two countries evolved in significantly different directions. China's telecommunications decision-making is significantly affected by the macro level political rearrangement and is more likely to be non-incremental. On the other hand, confronted by an increasingly litigious environment and a more fractious interest group culture, India represents a somewhat classical textbook case of incremental policy making. Nevertheless, numerous challenges remain in both countries, including institutional capacity and excessive regulatory deference to political authority.     

中国纺织行业出口增长：一个微观视角

文章首先对中国纺织工业近七年来出口增长进行了定性和定量分析。在对相关指标计算的基础上,详细考察了中国纺织行业出口和行业全要素生产率、行业规模、行业赢利情况等的关系,结果表明我国纺织品出口尽管规模较大,但是效率并不高。然后,借用Bernard,Eaton,Jensen和Kortum（2003）所建立的模型,清晰地阐明了中国纺织企业扩大出口和企业效率之间的关系,指出我国纺织品出口的扩大关键在于企业自身效率的提高。最后,提出中国纺织行业的升级和出口竞争力的提高更多地应该注重企业加强自身建设,充分挖掘国内市场,努力提高创新能力。     

The evolution of the internet of things industry and market in China: An interplay of institutions,demands and supply

This paper seeks to provide some explanation as to how demand-, supply- and institutions-related factors in China have affected the creation and diffusion of Internet of Things (IoT)-related products and services. Concerning demand side factors the paper demonstrates how potential market size and existing technology trajectory work in favor of IoT diffusion. As a related demand side factor the paper argues that, in terms of the technological trajectory, China has started farther from the frontier than most industrialized countries. The degree of incremental benefit from the IoT is thus higher in the country. As to the supply side factors, the article promotes an understanding of how Chinese technology companies have capitalized on a huge user base to develop IoT-based applications. It also suggests that technologies and expertise provided by foreign multinationals have also played crucial roles. Regarding formal institutions, the government's proactive policies have been a major factor in the IoT's evolution. It is also in the Chinese government's interest to develop IoT products to make censorship and surveillance more effective. Regarding informal institutions, Chinese consumers are less concerned than Westerners about being tracked and monitored, which provides a favorable condition for the adoption of IoT-enabled devices. Nonetheless, this condition is changing due to increasing abuse of consumer privacy. China and the U.S. are compared in terms of diffusion, key determinants, performance indicators and impacts of the IoT in order to understand the areas that China outperforms—and underperforms—the U.S. Some indicators are proposed to gauge the IoT-related performance and the impacts of the IoT.     

A Taxonomy of Sourcing Strategic Types for MNCs Operating in China

This paper presents a taxonomic study of sourcing strategy types and their relationships to subsidiary profitability. Using the taxonomic approach, this study identifies five sourcing strategy types based on the decision rules of direction and volume of sourcing activities, namely market access, offshore platform, offshore manufacturing, local sourcing, and complex sourcing. We validated these sourcing types by linking them to a set of business and investment strategic factors. Based on a sample of 319 foreign subsidiaries in China, the results confirm the taxonomy of sourcing types indicating that sourcing strategy types indeed vary along the strategic factors including wage rates, R&D intensity, subsidiary size, capital commitment, ownership control and partner type.