The analysis of economic performance of China’s garment industry during the first half of 2008

During the first half of 2008, snow havoc, earthquake, the yuan appreciation, together with the rising material and labor costs has made the main economic benefit index in China’s garment industry decreased synchronously.     

The role of microcredit in older children’s nutrition: Quasi-experimental evidence from rural China

This article evaluates the causal impact of rural households’ borrowing, through formal microcredit, on child nutrition in poor northwest China. The analysis exploits the panel data in rural Gansu between 2000 and 2004. Unobserved differences between borrowers and non-borrowers are controlled for in a dynamic fuzzy regression-discontinuity design creating a quasi-experimental environment for causal inference. Both anthropometric and micronutrient measures of child nutrition are investigated. Borrowing formal microcredit improves parent-reported health status and weight, and alleviates anemia and zinc deficiency. All effects nevertheless appear to exist in the short-term only.     

Growth in the “new economy”: US bandwidth use and pricing across the 1990s

An acceleration in the growth of communications bandwidth in use and a rapid reduction in bandwidth prices have not accompanied the US economy's strong performance in the second half of the 1990s. Overall US bandwidth in use has grown robustly throughout the 1990s, but growth has not significantly accelerated in the second half of the 1990s. Average prices for US bandwidth in use have fallen little in nominal terms in the second half of the 1990s. Policy makers and policy analysts should recognize that institutional change, rather than more competitors of established types, appears to be key to dramatic improvements in bandwidth growth and prices. Such a development could provide a significant additional impetus to aggregate growth and productivity.     

Liberalisation policy,industry structure and productivity changes in Korea’s telecommunications industry

The paper examines the efficiency implications of the liberalisation policy in Korea’s telecommunications industry. The paper develops a contextual understanding of the Korean evolutionary path and discusses various transitional difficulties and additional complications posed by business conglomerates that Korea confronted. Examining factors affecting efficiency, the paper shows how the government commitment to the liberalisation schedule imposed a credible competitive threat to the incumbent carriers and enhanced dynamic efficiency of the industry.     

The economic impact of the Food and Drug Administration’s Final Juice HACCP Rule

Using 1998–2008 data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on foodborne illnesses and outbreaks, we examine the economic impact of the Food and Drug Administration’s final rule titled “Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP); Procedures for the Safe and Sanitary Processing and Importing of Juice” (the Final Juice Rule). Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that the rule led to an annual reduction of between 462 and 508 foodborne illnesses associated with juice-bearing products. Furthermore, our reevaluated estimate of the rule’s benefits compares favorably to its estimated cost.     

ICT investment-specific technological change and productivity growth in Korea: Comparison of 1996–2005 and 2006–2015

This paper analyses the impact of information and communications technology (ICT) on the productivity growth in Korea with the dynamic general equilibrium (DGE) model including investment-specific technological change. According to the balanced growth path analysis, ICT investment-specific technological change accounts for 18.8% to labor productivity growth in 1995–2005, then 14.3% in 2006–2015, and the decline in the rate of ICT investment-specific technological change has contributed to the slow productivity growth since the mid-2000s. In cyclical fluctuations, ICT investment-specific technological shocks were significant in output variance in 1996–2005, but neutral technological shocks and non-ICT investment specific shocks became dominant in 2006–2015. In sum, it can be concluded that the impacts of ICT investment-specific technology have diminished in the growth path and cyclical fluctuations. The result that increased (decreased) ICT investment intensity with faster (slower) ICT investment-specific technological change lead to higher (lower) productivity growth indicates that Korea has been a case against the productivity paradox, and sustained technological progress in ICT and expansion of ICT usage could have boosted the productivity growth. Therefore, this study implies that facilitating ICT progress and ICT usage outside of the already well-performing ICT manufacturing can help Korean economy raise the productivity growth rate.     

Keyword analysis of the mass media’s news articles on maker education in South Korea

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - The goal of this study was to investigate—using text network analysis—how key Korean mass media outlets present issues of...     

The licensing of telecommunication suppliers: Beyond the EU’s Directive

The WTO agreement on basic telecommunication services does not provide detailed guidance for giving effect to member country commitments, especially in regard to the licensing reform which will be required to permit easier market access. This is where the EU’s recent Licensing Directive takes on special significance beyond its application to Europe since it is likely to be closely examined as a potential model for multinational licensing reform. For this reason, it is important to draw attention to the shortcomings of the EU directive to help ensure that they are not transported into any model/principles of licensing reform developed to give effect to the WTO Agreement.     

The analysis of economic performance of China’s industrial textiles and nonwovens industry during the first half of 2008

The yuan appreciation, together with the rising material and labor costs, China's industrial textiles factories feel the squeeze during the first half of 2008. But, the year of 2008 also witnessed a fast growing of industrial textiles after the snow havoc and earthquake.     

The (future) role of China in ICT standardisation – A European perspective

The paper argues that the Chinese standardisation system should not be perceived as a threat to international ICT standardisation and that the rather more relaxed attitude adopted by the EU is an adequate way forward. It claims that a co-operation based approach to the increasingly powerful relative newcomer is much more appropriate than one based on competition. These arguments are based on a discussion of the European and Chinese standardisation systems and on a subsequent SWOT analysis.     

The performance implications of power–trust relationship: The moderating role of commitment in the supplier–retailer relationship

The current research examines how coercive power and non-coercive power affect trust and how these relationships are affected by affective and calculative commitment. It also expands the understanding of the role of an under-researched dimension of performance, i.e., strategic performance, and studies it as a mediating variable in the relationship between trust and financial performance. The proposed model is empirically tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS) in supplier–retailer channel in Taiwan. The findings reveal that affective commitment has a positive moderating effect on the negative relationship between coercive power and trust, while calculative commitment has a negative moderating effect on the positive relationship between non-coercive power and trust. The results also indicate that strategic performance partially mediates the effect of trust on financial performance. The research advances theoretical understanding on the complex power–trust relationship and provides insights into the role of commitment in both enabling and undermining channel relationships. The findings highlight the importance of building affective commitment in channel relationships and the critical role of strategic performance in the trust–financial performance relationship.     

Broadband׳s contribution to economic growth in rural areas: Moving towards a causal relationship

This paper uses recent data on both broadband availability and adoption to empirically gauge the contribution of broadband to the economic growth of rural areas of the United States over the past decade. Availability data from the National Broadband Map aggregated to county level is used in conjunction with county-level adoption data from Federal Communication Commission. Economic variables of interest include median household income, number of firms with paid employees, total employed, percentage in poverty, and the percentage of employees classified as either creative class or non-farm proprietors. A propensity score matching technique (between a “treated” group associated with various broadband thresholds and a control group) is used to make preliminary causal statements regarding broadband and economic health. Growth rates between 2001 and 2010 for different economic measures are tested for statistical differences between the treated and non-treated groups, restricting the analysis to non-metropolitan counties. Results suggest that high levels of broadband adoption in rural areas positively (and potentially causally) impacted income growth between 2001 and 2010, and negatively influenced unemployment growth. Similarly, low levels of broadband adoption in rural areas lead to declines in the number of firms and total employment numbers in the county. Broadband availability measures (as opposed to adoption) demonstrate only limited impacts, suggesting that future broadband policies should be more demand-oriented.     

The cyclical behavior of the Department of Justice’s antitrust enforcement activity

We study the cyclical behavior of antitrust enforcement as measured by the number of cases initiated by the US Department of Justice. The key result is that antitrust case activity is countercyclical. This finding is robust across alternate indicators of economic activity which include stock prices, corporate profits and business cycles, and across different types of cases. The finding of countercyclical case activity does not appear to lend support to interest-group theories that predict greater regulatory protection towards producers during economic contractions. One interpretation of our result would be that antitrust violations tend to increase during economic downturns, leading to an increase in the number of cases initiated, the broad implication being that the Antitrust Division primarily acts as an antitrust law enforcement agency. Our results show that politics, as measured by the party of the President and the Republican versus Democrat composition of the House and Senate, does not have a clear impact on case activity. Finally, the number of cases initiated are significantly affected by the extent of funding.     

Favor in exchange for trust? The role of subordinates’ attribution of supervisory favors

Favor exchange is known to be essential for building personal relationships (guanxi) in China. In two studies, we explore the effect of supervisory favors on subordinates’ trust in supervisor; we further explore how subordinates’ attributions of supervisory favors affect trust in supervisor independently and in interaction with supervisory favors. We find evidence that supervisory favors has a positive effect on trust in the supervisor; merit attribution of supervisory favors has a positive effect on trust in the supervisor but personal favor attribution has a negative effect; merit attribution also moderates the effect of supervisory favors such that supervisory favors has a stronger positive effect on trust in the supervisor for subordinates who make higher merit attribution than for those who make lower merit attribution. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The role of epistemic communities in the “constitutionalization” of internet governance: The example of the European Commission High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence

In the last few years, digital constitutionalism has emerged as a novel, alternative, Internet Governance approach aiming at ordering and limiting the exercise of power by both states and private operators, as well as at promoting people's control over digital technology development.Although digital constitutionalism is encountering growing popularity, the prevalent non-binding nature of its initiatives, the discrepancy between the jurisdictional border and transnational digital processes, and the technological embedment of governance mechanisms, have hindered the effectiveness of its impact.This paper identifies epistemic communities as a crucial factor for the constitutionalization of the digital technologies since they have the necessary technical expertise and policy commitment to create norms and standards at transnational level, informing the policy choices of both state and non-state actors.In order to illustrate this nexus, the article performs an in-depth investigation on the case of the European Commission High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (HLEG-AI). The analysis revealed that the HLEG-AI effectively gathered an epistemic community strongly committed with fundamental rights promotion and capable to influence the following policy-making activities of the European Commission, as well as of other non-state stakeholders, whose involvement is essential in order to embed digital constitutionalism principles within the design of AI systems.     

Women’s empowerment and nutrition status: The case of iron deficiency in India

In this paper we study the relationship between women’s empowerment in agriculture and their iron deficiency status in Maharashtra, India. This is the first time the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) has been used in association with explicit measurement of medical biomarkers for women’s iron deficiency status. Using primary data for 960 women we find that the log odds of a poor iron status in women decline as women’s empowerment levels in agriculture improve. Further, this decline is seen in the presence of multiple dietary diversity measures (dietary diversity score, share of rice and wheat in the diet, total iron intake and iron intake from iron-rich food groups – all for 24-h and 30-day recalls) suggesting that in addition to dietary pathways women’s empowerment can play a role in addressing micronutrient deficiencies like those of iron in a vulnerable sub-group of the population. It also reinforces the need to move away from the ‘staple grain fundamentalism’ that has characterized agricultural policy in India, towards more nutrition-sensitive food systems.     

Regional differences in business ethics in the People’s Republic of China: A multi-dimensional approach to the effects of modernisation

This paper investigates the influence of modernisation on the moral judgements of 211 managers in the People’s Republic of China, based on their responses to a series of vignettes depicting potentially unethical behaviour in organisations. Since modernisation can take many forms, this paper takes a multi dimensional approach to examining levels of modernisation in different provinces in China. Three different measures are used, believed to represent different aspects of the modernisation process. These include the level of industrialisation of various provinces, the level of marketisation, or progress toward a market-based economy, and a new measure of Westernisation, or the extent to which individuals adopt aspects of Western lifestyle and materialism. This latter measure is developed and tested in the present study. Statistically significant associations between these three measures of modernisation and managers’ moral judgements were observed and the implications of these findings are discussed.     

Standing out in the crowd: How unique are the lobbying patterns of the broadcast and wireless industries?

This study examines if, in addition to increasing lobbying expenditure amounts, corporations in the broadcast and wireless industries are also attempting to change lobbying strategies in order to gain competitive advantage. This study examines possible changes in lobbying strategies though the lens of institutional isomorphism, a mechanism of institutional theory. Using institutional isomorphism, the study examines if the broadcast and wireless industries have altered lobbying strategies in the face of competition. This examination is conducted through the construction and analysis of an original data set of lobbying expenditures for the broadcast and wireless industries from 1998 to 2012.     

Production Remains Stable and Investment Shows Recovery Signs The analysis of economic performance of China’s cotton textile industry

Indeed,there is some evidence the government's stimulus package is producing results.Investment of cotton textile industry shows recovery progress and production remains stable.