Effects of Free Trade on Women and Immigrants: CAFTA and the Rural Dominican Republic

We construct a disaggregated rural economywide model with a focus on gender and immigration as well as on the allocation of time to wage work, household production activities, and housework (reproduction). We use this model to simulate the impacts of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) on rural incomes and welfare in the Dominican Republic. We find that elimination of agricultural import tariffs hurts both agricultural and non-agricultural households, via adverse factor-market effects, but impacts vary substantially by workers’ gender and country of origin. Females and Haitian immigrants tend to fare better than Dominican males, and there are ramifications for both market and non-market activities.     

Allocation of Time and Household-level Consumption Equivalent Welfare: A Case of South Korea

Using “2014 Time Usage and Quality of Life” of 17th KLIPS (Korean Labour and Income Panel Study), the first and most detailed time use survey of its kind in South Korea, we first document the patterns of time use in market work, nonmarket work (household work), child care, and a variety of definitions in leisure. We find that, while men work longer hours, men’s additional market work is well compensated by more leisure and less hours in nonmarket work and child care. We also find within-household unequal distribution of time use in nonmarket work, child care, and leisure in favour of men. Consistent with the cases of the US and other advanced economies, high-income earners tend to enjoy less hours of leisure while they spend more money on leisure activities. Secondly, we calculate the household-level consumption equivalent measure that considers consumption, leisure, life expectancy, and uncertainty. We find that taking into account non-separable preference over leisure and consumption and the quality of leisure is important and household-level welfare measures based solely on income or consumption are both incomplete and misleading.     

从民生视角探求破解我国房地产问题的对策

我国房地产市场供求关系之外的非市场因素导致房价畸高,广大中低收入群体住房困难。政府要从民生的高度加强对市场的宏观调控,使得有条件的居民能够通过住房市场解决住房问题。同时,要规范政府行为,加大保障性住房建设力度,通过非市场化手段解决困难居民的住房问题,让全体人民尤其是中低收入群体共享改革成果。     

The effect of spouses' relative education on household time allocation

Does spouses' relative education explain their household's distribution of labor? This paper analyzes the effect of spouses' education on time allocated to housework and paid work. To address endogeneity concerns, I exploit changes in spouses' relative education due to remarriage to identify its effects on their time allocation. I find that when a husband marries a wife with a higher relative education than their previous spouse, his share of time on housework increases while his share of time on paid work decreases. In contrast, I find nonsignificant results when a wife remarries a more educated husband than her previous one. I also find that changes in the spouse's education reduce the probability of a spouse staying at home. These findings show that relative human capital plays a role in household labor distribution and motivates a more gender-neutral division of labor within households due to a more evenly distributed time allocation.     

民营企业董事会外部关联特征的非市场战略价值效应研究

国内外诸多研究表明,相比较于市场环境,非市场环境管理对于民营企业发展而言具有更为重要的战略意义.而在现代企业制度下,民营企业董事会因其外部关联特征承担着非市场战略管理职能,文章利用我国沪深两市经验数据实证检验了民营企业董事会政治关联、金融关联特征与非市场战略绩效的关系,研究结果总体表明,相比较于金融关联特征,民营企业董事会政治关联更有助于改善企业非市场战略绩效,但两者在提升各维度非市场战略绩效方面的表现各有差异.研究结论对于指导我国民营企业董事会建设以及提升非市场战略管理水平具有重要参考价值.     

突发事件对风险项目投资时机的影响研究

风险投资项目面临着很大的不确定性,包括市场性的和非市场性的,在以往的文献中大多都针对市场性的不确定性进行研究,文章研究了非市场性的不确定性对风险项目投资时机的影响。文章首先通过构造突发事件对风险项目影响的模型,并进行了推理,最后用数值分析的方法对其进行了模拟,结果表明：在同等情况下,突发事件对风险项目收入流影响越大,其投资的时机也就越晚;突发性事件发生的频率越大,其要求的投资时机也是越晚。     

A study of time allocation of Japanese households

In this study, we compare the patterns of time allocation of the young (age 25–39) and the elderly (age 65 or above), the employed and the unemployed, male and female Japanese households. We examine how economic rationality and the Japanese culture play their roles in determining the patterns of time allocations. Views are proposed that (1) the persisting male–female gap in the non-market domestic working hours observed in Japan is better explained by the Japanese culture than the Japanese tax system or male–female wage differential, (2) the relatively low wage-elasticity of labor supply of Japanese young males is an indication of the fact that young males enjoy considerable amount of on-the-job leisure. Further, we observe that (3) the life-cycle pattern of time allocation to sleep (and other time use for health care) is of the U-type so that the elderly invest more time on health care than the young, (4) sleeping time decreased in 1986 as compared to 1976 in Japan which might be due to the improvement of medical technology, and (5) contrary to US experience, higher wages are associated with longer hours of sleep for the Japanese young. The Appendix Aprovides a restrictive time-allocation model with special reference to time use for health care which provides theoretical support for empirical findings.     

Regional Interest Rate Premia in the American Railroad Bond Market from 1876 to 1890

A pattern of higher interest rates in the South and West of the postbellum United States has been well established in the literature. Kenneth Snowden has examined their effects on home and farm mortgages (1987a). Lance Davis has tracked similar patterns in bank-financed projects (1965). This work complements that of Snowden and Davis by establishing that similar interest rate premia existed in the railroad bond market—the most institutionally mature capital market of the era. Hence a broad range of investment opportunities of the era were subject to capital market imperfections. In this paper I examine the offering yields of long-term, railroad bonds issued from 1876 to 1890. I use a risk-neutral model of a bond's value that incorporates both the likelihood and severity of default to solve for the interest rate premia paid by the South and West—0.97 and 1.02%, respectively.     

如何应对欧美等国反倾销的措施策略

我国出口产品屡遭反倾销,原因是欧美等国采取贸易保护,把我国视为"非市场经济"国家,我国出口市场混乱,许多企业为快出口、多出口,对外竞争低价,抢占国际市场造成产品浪费,外商坐收渔利、调整出口产品价格,争取市场经济地位待遇,应对反倾销采取策略,海外投资规避反倾销,企业联合应诉。     

Towards a better measure of income inequality in Indonesia

Indonesia has experienced significant economic growth in recent years (on average, 5% in 2000–08), but many people are still living in poverty. Income inequality, as measured by the official Gini coefficient, has also increased. This paper evaluates household income and income inequality in Indonesia, assessing both market and non-market income to reach a more accurate measure of how actual income affects living standards. We find that if household income considers non-market income, income distribution is significantly more balanced, the coefficient of income inequality falls from 0.41 to 0.21 and the income share of the population's poorest deciles increases more than fivefold. The results suggest that market income alone is a misleading measure of income distribution in Indonesia.     

Financial literacy,housing value and household financial market participation: Evidence from urban China

Using data from the 2012 consumer finance survey in China, we extend the literature on household finance by examining the effects of both financial literacy and housing value on household financial market participation, the role of which has been examined separately in the existing literature. The results show that financial literacy significantly improves the probability of household financial market participation, while the housing value has an obvious “crowding-out effect” on household financial market participation in urban China. Further research finds that the role of financial literacy in household financial market participation in households with a low housing value is stronger than that in households with a high housing value. Furthermore, the study of the regional differences shows that among households with a high housing value, financial literacy plays a more significant role in household bond market participation in less-developed cities. Among households with a low housing value, improvement in financial literacy plays a more significant role in household fund market participation in less-developed cities and under-developed cities. Our findings remain robust after alleviating potential bias due to endogenous problems by applying the instrumental variable (IV) method and propensity score matching (PSM) method. Finally, the paper proposes corresponding policy recommendations.     

A Summary of Mineral Resource Economics Study in China

The history of theory development indicates that the study on the price theory of the mineral resources has moved from the mineral resources paid use to the property of value and pricing mineral resources. The core of the study of mineral resources management system is in fact the analysis on the system changes of the mineral resources paid use and resources marketization. We have formed a mainstream view of the system change that is based on the value, capitalization and marketization. Besides, we must use policies made by the government to eliminate market failures, improve and perfect mineral resources accounting system, make mineral resources planning, and control investment direction and finally bring about the sustainable development of mineral resources.     

价值略论与技术资产价值探析

技术资产有别于技术商品。使用价值的形成不专决于生产要素的投入;且同一物品的使用价值随不同的使用目的而呈多样性。因此,价值仅是表达使用价值的度量体系,它可依评价角度的变化表达物品不同属性的内涵。物品价值是物品特定效用与获致该效用之难易性的多元函数。其衡量尺度为当地社会平均劳动时间。技术资产价值通常可区分为:边际价值、市场价值和成本价值。市场价值在特定交易条件下的货币表现即是技术商品的价格。     

The urbanization-household gender inequality nexus: Evidence from time allocation in China

Urbanization and accompanying socio-economic change, alter intra-household behaviours including paid and unpaid work patterns. China's rapid urbanization raises important questions about the changing nature of gender asymmetries in the household division of labour. Using 24-hour time module data from the China Family Panel Studies, we investigate time allocation of females and males in matched-couples in urban, rural-urban migrant, and rural households. Our model explicitly incorporates the impact of care of young children on time-use. Distinguishing between care and other housework, overall, we find while traditional gendered time-use patterns persist among rural households, urbanization and migration reduces gender differentials in unpaid work. Both urban and migrant fathers engage in more care work than their rural counterparts. We shed new light on the configurations of paid and unpaid work, leisure and self-care; women's burden of a ‘second shift’ of unpaid work; the role of education and income in eroding gender norms; and the impact of grandparents on time-use.     

The Impact of Work-Life Balance Policies on the Time Allocation and Fertility Preference of Japanese Women

We analyse the impact of work-life balance policies enacted by the government of Japan on the share of time allocated by Japanese women to paid employment, home production and leisure on a typical working day. Using panel data and employing fixed effects to control for unobserved individual heterogeneity, we find that these policies have had some success in increasing married women’s share of time spent in paid employment. However, the increase in the share of time spent in paid employment is not largely compensated by cutting down the share of time spent in home production. This necessitates the need to cut down the share of time spent for leisure, implying a “double burden” of work for women. Further, work-life balance policies in married men’s firms do not appear to significantly influence their time allocation between various activities on a typical working day. We find that although work-life balance policies do not appear to influence the desirability of having a child for all women, they help women with children younger than six years raise the share of time spent in paid employment by largely cutting down their time allocation to home production.     

The Contribution of Childcare to Local Employment: Poor Work or Work for the Poor?

In recent years local economic development and regeneration agencies have begun to examine how locally based childcare can contribute to economic and social regeneration. This paper is based on current research by the authors and reports on the expectations and current realities of community based childcare as part of an economic regeneration strategy. It suggests that whilst the incorporation of childcare into urban regeneration strategy holds the potential to reduce the barriers to labour market involvement by mothers in low income households, less positive effects are also identifiable. Early evaluation is used to show that the commodification of care within urban regeneration policies reinforces care work as low paid, insecure gendered employment. It concludes by arguing that a more critical evaluation of both the economic and social impact of childcare on area regeneration is necessary.     

政治资本、企业评级与政企纽带

在中国的市场化进程中,各类非市场力量究竟起到了什么作用以及通过哪些渠道去发挥作用的,这是两个极其重要的问题。本文试图从民营企业家的政治身份的回报角度对此进行分析,利用2007年温州市715家民营企业的问卷调查数据,考察了民营企业家的政治资本跟在政府主导下的企业评级结果之间的关系,我们发现：民营企业家的政治资本会显著地影响企业的星级评选结果,进而增强企业跟更高一级政府之间的联系与纽带。这有助于我们更好地理解并把握民营企业家参与政治活动的经济动机。     

我国企业资本运营存在的问题及对策分析

资本运营是市场经济发展到一定阶段的必然要求,是实现资本有效配置和提高资本运行效率的重要方式。本文针对我国企业改革的实际情况,对目前我国企业资本运营存在的运营主体非市场化、多元化扩张盲目、缺乏规范化的中介组织、整合不到位等问题进行了深入分析,并在此基础上提出了提高我国企业资本运营效率的相应对策。     

Helping Those With Mental Health Problems Access Open Employment - A Glasgow Case Study

Mental health problems are relatively common within the population. For some, the problems February be so severe that they have to give up paid work. However, there is evidence that, not only do the mentally ill have a strong desire to return to paid work but, such work can improve mental health. This paper looks at the varied ways that have evolved to help the mentally ill return to work. Drawing on research undertaken in Glasgow, it finds that mental health projects have developed in isolation from one another and from the wider local economic development network. It argues that a more effective service can be provided if there is improved networking between projects and if they concentrate upon interventions which make optimum use of their particular knowledge and skills. This would involve mental health projects providing the social and therapeutic aspects of support, whilst the economic development projects dealt with vocational training and labour market links.     

Income inequality between one-earner and two-earner Households: Is it real or artificial

Summary Most welfare comparisons between countries or between household types are made on the basis of monetary income only. Taking into account the value of income in kind may change these comparisons considerably. In this paper we focus on one type of income, viz., home production. We estimate the monetary value of home production in Dutch one-earner and two-earner households. We find that if we account for this forgotten income component, income inequality between the groups of one-earner and two-earner households is almost reduced to nil. In most of the world the share of income in kind via non-market production may be assumed to be much higher than in a Western-type economy. Application of this analysis to less developed countries may be particularly revealing.He is now with SWOKA, Institute for Consumer Research.He is also a member of the Scientific Council for Government Policy, The Hague.