Slotting Allowances and Manufacturers' Retail Sales Effort

A manufacturer's incentives to undertake noncontractible investments depend on the profit margin on her sales to the retailer, and slotting allowances can facilitate such incentives by increasing unit wholesale prices. At first glance it is tempting to conclude that slotting allowances should be particularly prevalent for product categories where the manufacturer's scope for undertaking noncontractible sales effort is relatively large. At odds with this, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) among other organizations, reports that slotting allowances are more commonly used for product categories where the scope for noncontractible effort by the manufacturer is presumably relatively small. To scrutinize this puzzle we set up a simple model with one manufacturer and one retailer, where the manufacturer undertakes noncontractible demand‐enhancing investments. The predictions from the model are consistent with market observations.     

Global Retail Chains and Poor Farmers: Evidence from Madagascar

Global retail companies (“supermarkets”) have an increasing influence on developing countries, through foreign investments and/or through the imposition of their private standards. The impact on developing countries and poverty is often assessed as negative. In this paper we show the opposite, based on an analysis of primary data collected to measure the impact of supermarkets on small contract farmers in Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world. Almost 10,000 farmers in the Highlands of Madagascar produce vegetables for supermarkets in Europe. In this global supply chain, small farmers’ micro-contracts are combined with intensive farm assistance and supervision programs to fulfill complex quality requirements and phyto-sanitary standards of supermarkets. Small farmers that participate in these contracts have higher welfare, more income stability and shorter lean periods. We also find significant effects on improved technology adoption, better resource management and spillovers on the productivity of the staple crop rice. The small but emerging modern retail sector in Madagascar does not (yet) deliver these benefits as they do not (yet) request the same high standards for their supplies.     

State Firearm Sales and Criminal Activity: Evidence from Firearm Background Checks

The FBI has reported the number of monthly firearm background checks in every state since November 1998. This article uses data on background checks at the state level to explore the relationship between guns and crime. The background checks capture an individual's intention to purchase a firearm and explain 96% of the variation in gun manufacturing at a national level. Fixed effect negative binomial regressions show a positive, but insignificant, relationship between background checks and violent crimes. Property crimes are negatively related to background checks and statistically significant at the 10% level. The results suggest that gun control policies should be coupled with other initiatives if policy makers intend to reduce gun‐related crime.     

Customer Concentration and Public Disclosure: Evidence from Management Earnings and Sales Forecasts

This study examines the association between customer base concentration and corporate public disclosure policy. When the customer base is more concentrated, large customers face lower costs of accessing the supplier firm's private information, reducing customers' overall demand for the supplier's public information, suggesting a negative association between customer concentration and the amount of public disclosure. Alternatively, large customers have greater bargaining power and may demand that the supplier firm provide more public disclosures. Consistent with customer concentration facilitating private information flow from the supplier to customers, we find that the frequencies of management earnings and sales forecasts are negatively associated with customer concentration among firms with major corporate customers. These associations are stronger when the supplier and customers are engaged in more relationship-specific investments, when customers' private information acquisition costs are lower, and when it is less costly for customers to find another supplier.     

中国企业海外并购与产业竞争力——来自行业层面的证据

如何从产业层面解释中国企业大规模海外并购?是否因产业竞争力增强而推动了中国企业海外并购热潮?针对该问题,文章将2002~2012年BVD的中国企业海外并购数据与37个工业行业合并,实证检验了产业竞争力与海外并购的关系。通过检验主要有以下发现:第一,生产率越高的产业海外并购规模越大;第二,资本越密集和规模越大的产业海外并购规模越大;第三,产业出口竞争力和盈利能力越强,海外并购规模也越大;第四,国有股份越多的产业并不必然增加海外并购。文章还发现,产业竞争力增强有助于中国企业在高收入国家并购,但在发展中国家并购时,尤其在能源和矿产行业,可能是由产业竞争力以外的非市场因素推动。总之,文章从产业层面解释了中国企业海外并购的影响因素,加深了我们对该问题的认识。     

基于半参数广义可加模型的社会消费品零售总额影响因素研究

基于半参数广义可加模型的思想,对全国社会消费品零售总额的影响因素进行了研究。首先运用灰色关联分析和单变量分析筛选出2个非线性因素和3个线性因素,发现两个非线性项之间存在交互效应,最终建立含有交互项的半参数广义可加模型,且模型的R²达到97.7%,说明模型具有极高的解释能力。结果表明,M1、GDP和农村家庭居民人均可支配收入对全国社会消费品零售总额具有正线性影响;M2和全国人均可支配收入具有非线性影响;人均可支配收入较低时,M2越大会使得社会消费品零售总额越低。     

Productivity Gains from Offshore Outsourcing: Evidence from the Chinese Manufacturing Industry

Using the Cobb–Douglas production function and vertical specialization share, the present paper measures the productivity spillover effects of offshore outsourcing in the Chinese manufacturing industry. We examine different production factors and the degree of openness by dividing the Chinese manufacturing industry into five major categories: capital‐intensive business, technological‐intensive business, labor‐intensive business, open business and non‐open business. The results show that offshore outsourcing is positively associated with productivity in the Chinese manufacturing industry as a whole, but less so in labor‐intensive industries and more in capital‐intensive industries. Moreover, the positive impact of outsourcing on productivity is slightly higher in open industries than in non‐open industries. These results shed light on the differential spillover effects of offshore outsourcing on productivity. Our findings suggest that outsourcing structure is important to China's long‐run competitive advantage. China's policy‐makers should encourage further offshore capital‐intensive and technology‐intensive activities and focus more on outward‐oriented offshore businesses.     

Racial Inequality and Segregation Measures: Some Evidence from the 2000 Census

How much of the observed segregation between black and white Americans can be attributed to income disparities between the two groups? We adopt an approach to the decomposition of segregation measures that combines the method of indirect standardization with the idea that some degree of segregation is the outcome of purely random processes. Using the dissimilarity index as a measure of segregation and data on race and income from US metropolitan areas for 2000, we find that the role played by racial income inequality in accounting for segregation is modest but varies significantly across cities.     

“互联网+”模式下零售业全渠道运营策略的比较研究

中国零售企业在网络零售的冲击下,正在困境中探索“互联网+”模式的全渠道运营之路。量化分析全球领先的12家零售企业的全渠道运营策略的各项因素,将这些企业的全渠道运营策略分成五个类别：技术导向型高端百货、物流中心型大型超市、便利店、一体化专业店和追随型。通过比较分析各个策略类别的最佳实践,尝试形成一个完整的分析框架,用于构建和完善国内零售企业的全渠道运营策略。     

Exchange Rate Forecasting: Results from a Threshold Autoregressive Model

Structural models of exchange rate determination rarely forecast the exchange rate more accurately than a naive random walk model. Recent innovations in exchange rate modeling indicate that changes in the exchange rate may follow a self-exciting threshold autoregressive model (SETAR). We estimate a SETAR model for various monthly US dollar exchange rates and generate forecasts for the estimated models. We find: (1) nonlinearities in the data not uncovered by the standard nonlinearity tests and (2) that the SETAR model produces better forecasts than the naive random walk model.     

中外零售企业的优势比较及我国零售商业应对WTO的对策

加入世贸组织，中国将进一步对外商开放国内零售市场，这意味着我国零售企业将面临着外资零售企业的严峻挑战。应对这种挑战，首先要认真分析中外零售企业各自的优势，找出不足，从实际出发，采取相应的战略对策。本文比较分析了中外零售企业的主要优质，就我国零售商业企业借鉴外国零售企业的经验，发挥自己的优势，以应对外国零售商业企业的挑战提出了几点战略性意见。     

日本销售业市场竞争战略创新管窥

日本销售业务在长期平成不景气经营维艰,但那些先行企业特别是日式便利店则把市场竞争创新定位在按买方逻辑发挥独创力以最大限度地方便顾客上,追求销售服务准确、迅速、方便化;努力简化销售渠道,降低成本;积极与ｅ时代对接;适应环境变化,重构企业文化,开拓共生经营,为传统销售业打破长期低迷局面提供了借鉴。     

Price Rigidity and Industrial Concentration: Evidence from the Indonesian Food and Beverages Industry

This paper investigates the relationship between industrial concentration and price rigidity in the Indonesian food and beverages industry. A Cournot model of firm behavior is used in which prices adjust according to a partial adjustment mechanism. The model is applied to panel data of the Indonesian food and beverages industry over the period 1995–2006. The results suggest that industrial concentration has a positive effect on percentage price changes. Furthermore, the speed of price adjustment is higher when the per unit cost of production rises.     

外包与工资差距——基于工业行业数据的经验研究

本文首先检验了国际外包对我国熟练劳动力与非熟练劳动力工资差距的影响.计量结果表明,与斯托尔帕-萨缪尔逊定理所揭示的相反,外包贸易降低了我国相对丰裕的非熟练劳动力的相对工资.微电子设备的使用也加大了对熟练劳动力的需求,进一步加大熟练劳动力与非熟练劳动力的工资差距.为了检查是否是因为贸易形态的变化所导致的结果,我们进一步检...     

产业集聚、贸易开放与全要素生产率：来自中国省际的证据

文章基于Melitz理论模型,通过引入产业集聚变量,分析了贸易开放与贸易封闭条件下产业集聚对均衡生产率的影响,并使用非线性的门槛回归方法对不同贸易开放条件下产业集聚与全要素生产率的关系以及产业集聚促进全要素生产率提高的具体渠道（技术进步、技术效率）进行了实证检验。结果发现,产业集聚水平的提高对要素生产率的贡献与一国所处的外部经济环境有关。在我国产业集聚促进全要素生产率增长的过程中,有贸易开放的门槛效应的存在,只有在贸易开放水平达到一定阶段之后,产业集聚才会推动全要素生产率的显著提高。在不同省际间,不但产业集聚促进全要素生产率提高的效应大小有所差异,其具体作用渠道也有所不同。在贸易开放水平较高的省份,虽然产业集聚在推动技术进步上的作用十分明显,但其却限制了技术效率的提高,产业集聚对全要素生产率提高的影响主要是通过推动技术进步来实现的。     

Differential Tariffs and Income Inequality in the United States: Some Evidence from the States

Open Economies Review - This paper explores the macroeconomic and distributional consequences of consumption tariffs and materials tariffs. It highlights the contrasting effects of consumption and...