Modelling Intercontinental Tourism Consumption in South Africa: A Systems‐of‐Equations Approach

This paper investigates the pattern of inbound tourists' consumption in South Africa, examining four main intercontinental markets and five different tourism goods. The empirical investigation develops an almost ideal demand system (AIDS) model and it extends recent research by allowing tourists to base their spending decision on the real effective price differences between South Africa and their home country. The results show that tourist spending in South Africa is a luxury good, and tourists react normally to a change in the relative price of goods. The cross‐price elasticities suggest that the preferences of different markets influence their view of substitutability and complementary effects between various products in South Africa.     

The effect of bank account ownership on credit and consumption: Evidence from the UK

This article examines the causal effects of bank account ownership on credit access and consumption by isolating an exogenous change in account ownership produced by an electronic transfer mandate in the universal UK Child Benefit program. Comparing households with and without children finds that the mandate substantially affected banking behavior, with an 8.6% relative increase in transaction account ownership. When households transition into account ownership, results indicate large increases in credit card ownership (89%), and household durable goods (55%). Similar changes are not seen in loan use, weekly expenditures, or vehicle ownership. Additional evidence from a panel data set indicate declines in the use of fringe bank credit, informal loans, and debt after households transition into bank account ownership. In total, evidence suggests that an important effect of owning a bank account is improved access to credit cards which enables durable good consumption.     

How do trust and property security influence household contributions to public goods?: The case of the sloping land conversion program in China

Trust and property rights are generally considered to influence farmers' behavior regarding resource use and environmental management. Previous studies show that higher trust levels may enhance contributions to public goods. This paper investigates how trust and (land) property rights security influence the provision of one concrete public good: land protection through the Sloping Land Conservation Program in China. The analysis is based on household survey data from Ningxia Autonomous Region in China. From our questionnaire two trust factors are derived and distinguished, using factor analysis: general trust and kinship trust. Farm households are less likely to contribute to public goods when they perceive more secure land rights, but trust has mixed effects on public goods. The results show that general trust and kinship trust may rely on two opposite effects for influencing public goods provision. On the one hand, high levels of general trust may directly enhance people's willingness to provide contributions to public goods (by reduced likelihood to reconvert forest land) when farmers are aware of the positive environmental effects of the program, that's the public goods effect. On the other hand, general trust may also make it more likely that people invest more in their own private goods to pursue their own welfare (a more likely reconversion of forest land to arable land), that's the private goods effect. The final outcome depends on the size and direction of both effects. Compared to general trust, kinship trust is more inward-looking and self- or group-interested compared to more reciprocal general trust. Thus, unlike general trust, kinship trust may have no significant public goods effect on the provisioning of public goods.     

Tariff pass‐through in the middle products model

I use the middle products model of Sanyal and Jones to study the pass‐through of a tariff on the price of non‐traded final goods. I extend their analysis by comparing the short‐run effect of the tariff, when all factors are immobile, with the effects when labor is mobile between all sectors. It is shown that the short‐run pass‐through may vary from zero to a magnified effect on the price of the final product, depending on the elasticities of substitution in consumption and production. The relative magnitude of these elasticities determines whether the pass‐through with labor mobility is greater or less than the short‐run pass‐through.     

Japanese Joint Ventures in the UK: Does Product Classification Matter?

This paper investigates the factors that determine the choice of Japanese companies between part and full ownership of their UK subsidiaries. This choice may very well depend on the product classification of the firm. This study extends a previous paper which dealt only with aggregate manufacturing. Here the sample size has been increased and manufacturing split into consumption goods and investment goods industries. Also, the service sector has been included in the analysis. The result of the analysis suggest that the choice is governed by transaction costs considerations and that product classification does matter in the ownership strategy of Japanese MNEs in the UK.     

FDI部门流向、Mazumdar假说与经济增长:基于中国数据的实证分析

根据Mazumdar（1996）的观点,贸易增长机制的发生取决于一国的贸易结构：进口资本品出口消费品将降低资本品价格和折旧率,从而加速资本积累并促进经济增长。围绕这一问题,本文认为．Mazumdar的贸易增长机制能否发挥作用依赖于一国所吸引的FDI的部门流向,FDI流向资本品生产,将减少资本品进口和降低资本品价格并改善一国贸易条件,这时折旧率的降低在更大程度上促进经济增长。Mazumdar假说才得以成立;FDI流向消费品生产,将强化消费品出口并相对恶化一国贸易条件。从而抵消了资本品价格的下降带来的好处。运用中国数据和VAR模型检验。结果显示：中国的贸易结构符合Mazumdar的观点。却没有对经济增长产生显著影响。原因之一在于FDI主要流向劳动密集型消费品生产和加工贸易型机电产品生产,使得FDI所带来的贸易条件相对恶化效应大于资本品价格下降效应。     

EMU, EU, Market Integration and Consumption Smoothing

By taking a new approach to the study of the impact of EMU on consumption smoothing, centering on consumption volatility and therefore on smoothing more directly, we find that even though EMU tends to smooth consumption, it is not through cross-country property and claims. Rather it comes through the promotion of the tradability of goods, capital in particular: specifically, the encouragement of price competition, contestable home markets, ability to borrow and buy insurance at home, and the harmonization of regulations. Some of the consumption smoothing may also depend on EU membership rather than EMU as such but EMU adds to it. As a fundamental part of the analysis, the paper uses a new index of currency union which focuses on the ratio of trade with other countries sharing the same currency relative to total foreign trade.     

东亚区域内最终产品需求的影响因素分析——基于面板数据的引力模型研究

本文利用东亚十国(或地区)1991～2010年间数据,运用引力模型,分析影响东亚区域内最终产品需求的因素。研究结果表明:区域性贸易协定(RTA)、经济总量、2008年金融危机和人均GDP差额绝对值,对区域内最终产品需求起显著促进作用;人口规模、地理距离对区域内最终产品需求起显著阻碍作用。1997年金融危机也对区域内最终产品需求起阻碍作用,但不显著。从行业差别来看,除了距离变量之外,各解释变量对资本品需求的影响均大于对消费品需求的影响。因此,为扩大东亚区域内的最终产品需求,区域内各经济体应该降低物流成本、发展区域性贸易合作组织、稳定汇率、扩大各自经济规模。     

Dynamic consistency and monopoly

A wide variety of papers study the time consistency issues and commitment problems associated with imperfectly competitive durable goods manufacturers who sell their output. Using a simple two-period model the authors show that this sort of commitment problem may occur even if the monopolist produces non-durable output. The model assumes consumers maximize their utility through the choice of a non-durable consumption good and saving through an asset that provides future returns and consumption flow. The analysis indicates that non-durable goods manufacturers with market power will wish to announce future prices that are sub-optimal (dynamically inconsistent) when the period is reached due to the impact on consumers' wealth constraint and current purchasing behavior. Thus, the so-called durable-goods monopoly commitment problem may also occur in non-durable goods industries. The model suggests that any type of intertemporal linkage may lead to time consistency and commitment problems for imperfectly competitive firms.     

补贴资源性产业的扭曲效应研究——基于开放经济下的经济增长视角

本文在索洛—斯旺模型的基本框架下引入了资源中间品部门和资源中间品的国际贸易,构建了一个开放的经济增长模型。在此基础上进一步分析了补贴资源中间品部门引发的市场扭曲及其福利效应。本文的研究指出,在开放经济中,资源中间品的国际价格水平会影响经济增长的模式。当资源中间品的国际价格低于某一临界值时,经济增长是可持续的,否则经济增长将进入稳定状态。补贴资源中间品部门所产生的扭曲效应会受到资源中间品国际价格水平的影响,资源中间品的国际价格越高,补贴的福利损失越大。     

Do imports crowd out domestic consumption? A comparative study of China,Japan and Korea

A decline in the relative price of imported goods compared to that of domestically produced goods, e.g., caused by domestic currency appreciation, may have different effects on domestic consumption. Such effects may not be accurately detected and measured in a classical permanent-income model without considering consumption habit formation as pointed out by Nishiyama (2005). To resolve this problem, this paper employs an extended permanent-income model which encompasses consumption habit formation. Both cointegration analysis and GMM are used to estimate the (modified) intertemporal elasticities of substitution (IES) between imports and domestic consumption and the parameters of habit formation as well as the (modified) intratemporal elasticities of substitution (AES). We find that import and domestic consumptions are complements in China, but substitutes in Japan and Korea. Different per capita incomes and consumer behaviors between China and the other two countries are two possible reasons for different relationships between import and domestic consumptions.     

Methodology and application of price analysis

Summary This paper deals with the relationship between the development of unit costs and prices of production factors and the development of the prices of final products. The investigation of these relationships during the various stages of production in the economic process, an activity called price analysis, may contribute to the analysis of inflation. In this respect the influence of the wage rate on the development of the prices of final expenditure is more considerable than the influence of the prices of imports of goods and services. However, taking into account the modifications in the structure of production, particularly regarding labour productivity and import substitution, the main explanation of the price increase in 1976 compared with 1970 of three categories of final expenditure,viz. exports of goods and services, private consumption expenditure and gross fixed capital formation of enterprises is to be found in the unit costs of imports of goods and services rather than in the unit labour costs. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 17th General Conference of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, Gouvieux, France, August 17–22, 1981. The author thanks C.B.S. staff members for many fruitful discussions and he is grateful to a referee for his helpful comments.     

Price dispersion across and within countries: The case of Japan and Korea

This paper analyzes the price difference between Japan and Korea by using goods-level consumer price data. The national border has a large effect on price dispersion in both time-series volatility analysis and cross-sectional difference analysis. By categorizing goods by their perishability, I find that absolute purchasing power parity (PPP) applies to a greater extent for durable goods. Although perishables deviate more from absolute PPP, the difference is due to distance. This implies that the source of price dispersion depends on the characteristics of goods. J. Japanese Int. Economies 21 (2) (2007) 237–259.     

Characteristics and performance of institutional and foreign investors in Japanese and Korean stock markets

This study examines the characteristics of the stock ownership by institutional and foreign investors, as well as their effects on stock price performance in Japan and Korea. The main results of this study are summarized as follows. First, foreign investors have a clearer preference for stocks with large capitalization and low book-to-market ratios than do institutional investors in both Japanese and Korean stock markets. Second, foreign investors prefer stocks with a high return on equity, especially in Korea. Third, average returns have more apparent differentiation among institutional (foreign) ownership portfolios than among foreign (institutional) ownership portfolios in Japan (Korea). Fourth, the stocks that are preferred simultaneously by both institutional and foreign investors show statistically significant positive abnormal returns in both Korea and Japan, whereas those preferred by either institutional or foreign investors show statistically significant positive abnormal returns only in Korea. The institutional investors' incentive for stock holding, the extent of stock market efficiency, and stock price polarization could be the possible explanations for the different empirical results observed for Japan and Korea. J. Japanese Int. Economies 21 (2) (2007) 195–213.     

房价压力会刺激文化消费吗?

文章应用CFPS2010、2012、2014年的调查数据,以房价收入比指数作为"房价压力"的代理变量,探讨了房价压力对文化消费的影响机制。在我国房价收入比畸高的社会环境下,消费者同时受到"释放压力型"消费需求的驱使和可支配收入减少的预算约束,为了缓解生活压力,获得心理慰藉,增加了对相对廉价且非必需的文化消费品的需求,即口红效应成为房价压力影响文化消费的传导机制。研究发现：控制户主受教育水平、家庭其他生活压力、地区经济发展水平和文化消费氛围等因素,在城镇中仅拥有一套及以下住房资产的家庭中,高"房价压力"显著提升了居民文化消费需求。在影响机制研究中,首先,通过验证房价压力对总消费的抑制作用剥离了财富效应的影响,其次,通过验证房价压力对大额消费品和小额消费品影响的异质性,证实了房价压力对文化消费影响口红效应的存在性。进一步将研究样本按照消费文化类型、收入阶层和受教育阶层分组后发现：开放的消费文化下高"房价压力"对居民文化消费的促进作用更强,中等收入阶层在高"房价压力"下进行"释放压力型"文化消费的需求最强烈。高学历层次居民在面对"房价压力"时更倾向选择文化消费作为释放压力的渠道。     

Blockholder Exit Threats and Financial Reporting Quality

Recent theoretical and empirical studies suggest that blockholders (shareholders with ownership ≥ 5 percent) exert governance through the threat of exit. Blockholders have strong incentives to gather private information and sell their shares when managers are perceived to underperform. To prevent blockholders from selling their shares and the firm from suffering a stock price decline, managers align their actions with the interests of shareholders. As a result of the greater manager‐shareholder alignment, managers' actions are more likely to be in shareholders' best interest, and consequently there is less need for managers to manipulate earnings. Consistent with these predictions from economic theory, we find evidence that as exit threat increases, firms have higher financial reporting quality. Theory also predicts that the impact of blockholders' exit threat on financial reporting quality (FRQ) should increase as the manager's wealth is tied more closely to the stock price, and this is what we find. Our study contributes to the research on the impact of shareholders on FRQ and to an emerging literature on the impact of blockholders in financial markets. Blockholders play an important role in managers' reporting outcomes through their actions as informed investors.     

Gentlemen and shopkeepers: supplying the country house in eighteenth‐century England

The country house is well recognized as a site of elite patronage, an important vehicle of social and political ambition, and a statement of power and taste. Yet we know relatively little about the networks of supply and purchasing patterns of rural elites, or about how their practices related to broader changes in material culture. Drawing on a large sample of bills and receipts of the Leigh family of Stoneleigh in Warwickshire, this article recreates the processes through which the material culture of the family home was constructed. These reveal London as the source for many high‐quality goods, although the pattern of supply was not a simple dichotomy of local–everyday and metropolitan–luxury purchases. They also show the large number of shopkeepers patronized as the Leighs spread their purchases through choice, convenience, and expediency. Relating this to wider conceptions of consumption, the Leighs emerge as engaging in layered and sometimes conflicting consumer cultures. They were concerned with fashion as novelty and a marker of rank; but they also valued traditional markers of status. Social distinction was achieved through a continued emphasis on title and lineage as much as fashion or taste—value systems that were unavailable to the middling sorts.     

The effects of the social norm on cigarette consumption: Evidence from Japan using panel data

Using Japan's prefecture-level panel data from 1989 to 2001, this paper examines the influence of the social norm on a person's smoking behavior when the complementary relationship between smoking and drinking is taken into account. The key findings through a dynamic panel model controlling for unobserved prefecture-specific fixed effects are as follows: (1) influence from others is stronger when people live more closely and cohesively. A tightly knit society results in a reduction of smoking through smoking-related interaction. (2) Smoking and drinking have a complementary relationship: greater initial consumption of alcohol results in larger consumption of cigarettes. (3) The complementary relationship between smoking and drinking is attenuated if the cost of committing the annoying conduct (i.e., smoking) is high.Overall, this empirical study provides evidence that the psychological effect of the presence of surrounding people has a direct significant effect upon smoking behavior and, furthermore, that it attenuates the complementary relationship between smoking and drinking, thereby reducing cigarette consumption. These results indicate that not only formal rules but also tacitly formed informal norms are effective deterrents to smoking.     

因子分析的SPSS应用--以2010年1-9月全国零售商品价格分类指数分析为例

首先,可以找到三个因子来综合反映全国十六个类别零售商品的价格分类指数的绝大多数信息。根据较有实际意义的第三个因子的分析结果来看,第6、3、1月份和＂食＂＂衣＂＂药＂的价格指数综合变化较大,从而说明普通百姓的生活成本较大,尤其是低收入阶层。其次,分析还表明,因子分析在损失很少的信息量的情况下,可以起到很好的简化变量个数的作用,当然,对于越多的变量个数及变量之间相关性越强的数据,这种作用也就越是明显。     

Asymmetric Price Adjustment: Cross‐Industry Evidence

Several studies document asymmetric price adjustment in gasoline and agricultural markets. Do these results extend to other subsectors of the economy? This paper investigates the existence of asymmetric price adjustment in 269 6‐digit North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) industries using quarterly financial data from 1966–2006. Results, which are consistent with the previous literature, show that positive price asymmetry is frequent in nondurable goods and natural resource manufacturing. However, price asymmetry is not readily evident in mining, durable goods manufacturing, and service sectors. The differing results may best be explained by theoretical explanations of price asymmetry based on inventory management.