INSTABILITY OF THE U.S. MONEY DEMAND FUNCTION

Abstract. The paper surveys the two major episodes of instability of the U.S. money demand function known respectively as 'the mystery of missing money' and 'the great velocity decline'. It also assesses the recent literature on open economy money demand models and their usefulness in explaining the puzzling behaviour of money demand manifested shortly after the transition to floating exchange rates.     

SBA筑牢美国经济金字塔底

在美国一般的经济文献中,只有大小企业之分,很少使用中型企业这一概念.按照美国官方--美国小企业管理局的定义,小企业是指雇员不超过500人的企业.但为了区别制造业和服务业的不同情况,他们把制造业的小企业定在500人以下,把服务业的小企业定在100人以下.     

OFFSHORING, MULTINATIONALS AND LABOUR MARKET: A REVIEW OF THE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE

Abstract.  This paper reviews the empirical literature on the effects of offshoring and foreign activities of multinational enterprises on developed countries' labour markets. Results suggest that material offshoring worsens wage inequality between skilled and unskilled workers; it also seems to make employment more volatile, by raising the elasticity of labour demand and the risk of job losses. Service offshoring exerts at most small negative effects on total employment, and changes the composition of the workforce in favour of high-skilled white-collar employees. Multinationals tend to substitute domestic and foreign labour in response to changes in relative wages across countries; substitutability is weak, however, and mainly driven by horizontal, market-seeking foreign direct investments.     

ON THE U.S. BUDGET DEFICIT

By the end of 1985 the USA will bo the most heavily indebted nation on the planet. Professor G. K. Shaw of the University of Buckingham and Geoffrey Wood of the City University Business School differ on Reagan's budgetary policy.     

THE DETERMINANTS OF CAPITAL INTENSITY IN FOREIGN-OWNED MANUFACTURING ACROSS U.S. REGIONS

This paper empirically tests hypothesized influences on the capital intensity of foreign direct investment (FDI) among the 48 contiguous United States. A theoretical profit maximizing model of the firm is developed linking capital intensity to traditional variables (the prices of labor and capital services); the model also takes account of the price of energy, agglomeration effects, educational levels, the importance of labor unions, and state and local public capital. The main focus is on the effects of public capital on the capital intensity of FDI. Public capital is disaggregated as follows: highway, sewer and water, and other (primarily buildings). The operational model defines FDI as the 1986 gross value of property, plant, and equipment of manufacturing affiliates of firms with headquarters in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Findings are reported both for total manufacturing and for manufacturing disaggregated into five industry groups. Generally, the results emphasize that highway infrastructure and sewer and water public capital act as powerful incentives to attract capital-intensive FDI across the 48 contiguous United States.