The Introduction of Automatic Switching into the Bell System: Market versus Institutional Influences

The use of height data to measure living standards is now a well-established method in the economic literature. While much is known about nineteenth century Southern black legal and material conditions, less is known about how their nineteenth century biological conditions were related to institutional change and the physical environment. Average Southern black statures ironically increased during the antebellum period and declined — at least temporarily - after emancipation. On the other hand, average Southern white statures declined throughout the nineteenth century. It is geography and direct sunlight (insolation) that present an additional attribute of nineteenth century black and white stature, and greater insolation is documented here to be associated with taller black and white statures.     

Socioeconomic Effects on the Stature of Nineteenth-Century US Women

Using a new source of nineteenth-century state prison records and robust statistics, this study contrasts the effects of social conditions on the stature of comparable African American and white women during the economic development of the United States. Across the stature distribution, Great Lakes, Plains, and Southern women were taller than women with other US and international nativities. Women from the Northeast and Middle Atlantic were the shortest within the US, but were taller than British and European immigrants. White women were consistently taller than black women. Stature also varied over time with industrialization and emancipation. Across the stature distribution, women in outdoor, unskilled occupations were taller than women in indoor, skilled occupations. These results show that US women's average statures reflect net nutritional conditions that are not available in traditional measures of economic well-being.     

社会生态环境视域下电子政务发展的制约因素探讨

电子政务作为社会大系统中的一个子系统,必然会和其它子系统进行持续不断的能量交换,以保持自身的动态平衡。基于生态环境视角,从政治、经济和文化等几个方面进行深入分析,探讨了制约电子政务发展的各种因素,为我国电子政务的进一步发展寻找理论支撑。     

Child height,health and human capital: Evidence using genetic markers

Height has long been recognized as being associated with better outcomes: the question is whether this association is causal. We use children's genetic variants as instrumental variables to deal with possible unobserved confounders and examine the effect of child/adolescent height on a wide range of outcomes: academic performance, IQ, self-esteem, depression symptoms and behavioral problems. OLS findings show that taller children have higher IQ, perform better in school, and are less likely to have behavioral problems. The IV results differ: taller girls (but not boys) have better cognitive performance and, in contrast to the OLS, greater height appears to increase behavioral problems.     

Stunting and selection effects of famine: A case study of the Great Chinese Famine

Many developing countries experience famine. If survival is related to height, the increasingly common practice of using height as a measure of well-being may be misleading. We devise a novel method for disentangling the stunting from the selection effects of famine. Using data from the 1959-1961 Great Chinese Famine, we find that taller children were more likely to survive the famine. Controlling for selection, we estimate that children under the age of five who survived the famine grew up to be 1 to 2 cm shorter. Our results suggest that if a country experiences a shock such as famine, average height is potentially a biased measure of economic conditions during childhood.     

内蒙古城市化水平地域差异分析

文章从城市化的丰富内涵出发,构建评价指标体系,运用复合指标法、层次分析法、模糊综合评判法和聚类分析法等,对内蒙古城市化水平地域差异进行定量分析.结果显示:内蒙古城市化水平地域差异显著,整体上呈偏中西部高、东部低的宏观分布格局和"呼包鄂"金三角区综合城市化水平凸起的空间分异特征;在此基础上从经济、社会、人口、地域、基础设施等的发展、集聚、优化角度,将内蒙古综合城市化水平梯度划分为五个区,即相对高度综合城市化区(呼和浩特市和包头市)、经济-人口城市化水平较高区(乌海市)、综合水平较高新城市化区(鄂尔多斯市)、人口-产业结构城市化区(阿拉善盟)和低城市化区(锡林郭勒盟、乌兰察布市、通辽市、巴彦淖尔市、赤峰市、兴安盟和呼伦贝尔市).     

Black and white female body mass index values in the developing late 19th and early 20th century United States

When traditional measures for economic welfare are scarce or unreliable, stature and the body mass index (BMI) are now widely-used measures that reflect economic conditions. However, little work exists for late 19th and early 20th century women’s BMIs in the US and how they varied over time. Women’s BMIs stagnated throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After controlling for characteristics, African-American women had higher BMIs than lighter complexioned mixed-race and white women. Women from the Southwest were taller and had lower BMIs than women born elsewhere within the US. Alternatively, women’s BMIs did not vary by socioeconomic status.     

Increasing cooperation among plants,symbionts, and farmers is key to past and future progress in agriculture

The collective welfare of crop plants, their microbial symbionts, farmers, and society can be undermined by tragedies of the commons. A crop could increase resource allocation to grain if each plant invested less in sending roots into soil already explored by neighbors and less in stem growth. But evolutionary fitness depends on which plants capture the most soil resources and light (e.g., by growing taller than their neighbors), not just on the efficiency with which those resources are used. As for symbionts, with several strains infecting each plant, only host-imposed sanctions limit the fitness of strains that divert more resources to their own reproduction, at the expense of activities that benefit their host plant. Similarly, individual farmers do not necessarily benefit from pest- and resource-management practices that benefit farmers collectively or society as a whole. Plant breeders have increased crop yields by reversing past selection for individual fitness and they could breed for crops that would favor more-cooperative microbial symbionts. Better aligning interests among farmers and society may be more difficult.     

The Biological Standard of Living in the Two Germanies

Abstract. Physical stature is used as a proxy for the biological standard of living in the two Germanies before and after unification in an analysis of a cross-sectional sample (1998) of adult heights, as well as among military recruits of the 1990s. West Germans tended to be taller than East Germans throughout the period under consideration. Contrary to official proclamations of a classless society, there were substantial social differences in physical stature in East Germany. Social differences in height were greater in the East among females, and less among males than in the West. The difficulties experienced by the East German population after 1961 is evident in the increase in social inequality of physical stature thereafter, as well as in the considerable gap relative to the height of the West German population. After unification, however, there is a tendency for East German males, but not of females, to catch up with their West German counterparts.     

Remittances channels and the physical growth of Honduran children

Ensuring the availability of food and other resources for young children is important for sustaining physical growth. We examine the role of remittances and its associated implications in determining heights and weights of 4459 children aged 0–5 years in Honduras in 2004. To address the endogeneity problem with household remittance receipt, we take advantage of the timing of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 to construct instrumental variables that are exogenously related to migration decisions made before children included in the later survey were conceived. We find that children are significantly taller and heavier for their age and gender in households receiving remittances. Further investigation of household spending indicates significant changes in food purchases and dietary diversity. Households receiving remittances are more likely to include fish, fruits, and meats in their diets. Additional findings also indicate that households receiving remittances spend absolutely more on food, health care, education, and durable goods. Overall, the findings provide strong evidence that remittances change household consumption and increase children’s body sizes.     

Impact of firm size and industry type on R&D efficiency throughout innovation and commercialisation stages: evidence from Korean manufacturing firms

Technological innovation through R&D is a critical element in enhancing and fostering firm performance. In particular, measurement of R&D efficiency throughout the innovation and commercialisation stages is important. However, almost of R&D efficiency-related studies assumed that R&D is a single stage. This study aims at analysing relative efficiency scores throughout the stages of the R&D process using a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model with a sample of 1039 Korean manufacturing firms. Based on our preliminary results, this study was extended by comparing subsample groups categorised by firm size and industry type. The key findings include: (1) firms show imbalanced R&D efficiency throughout the two stages and (2) R&D efficiency is different by firm size and industry type. The empirical results and findings may assist policy- and decision-makers to enhance R&D efficiency at the firm level. Moreover, introduction of the two-stage DEA model and comparative analysis methods to firm-level data contributes to scholars.     

Imported Technology and R&D in the Taiwanese Electronic Industry

The paper identifies the R&D status of the Taiwanese electronics industry by employing a bivariate probit selectivity model to examine the relationship between imports of technology and inhouse R&D at the firm level. A complementary relationship between imported technology and inhouse R&D is observed, which implies that imported technology does not inhibit inhouse R&D in the Taiwanese electronic industry. However, technology-importing enterprises have a higher average level of R&D expenditure than nonimporting ones, indicating that the R&D conducted in the industry is dominated by the adaptive R&D of the technology-importing enterprises.     

Research and development and trade policies for product innovation in the presence of foreign competition

This paper examines two policy instruments — a matching grant and import tariffs — for encouraging research and development (R&D) in product innovation by a domestic firm when it faces foreign competition. We do so by developing a theoretical model of product innovation where R&D effort is endogenous and its outcome uncertain. We examine the effects of a reduction in import tariffs on private expenditure on R&D, on public support for such R&D, and on total R&D expenditure. We find that in response to a reduction in import tariffs, the domestic firm always reduces its private R&D investments, but the total level of R&D expenditure (i.e., including public support) might go up depending on the level of tariffs. In particular, we find that it will go up if the initial level of tariff is higher than a critical level. When tariff is endogenous, we find that the socially optimal level of tariffs is positive. One finding that is of particular interest is that supporting private attempts to product innovate in the form of a matching grant program leads to a socially optimal level of product R&D.     

不同经营形式下的私有林经营规模效率研究——以福建为例

研究林业经营效率是林业经营管理与林业政策的重要议题,对不同经营形式下的私有林经营规模效率进行研究具有重要的现实意义。本文以林农的经营形式为切入点,通过对福建省三大林区的调查,运用DEA方法测算与分析了自留山经营、家庭承包经营、股份合作经营等三种形式的私有林规模经营效率,得出了总体规模效率有待提高、股份合作经营规模效率相对较高、生产要素配置不太合理等结论,最后对提升私有林林地经营规模效率提出了因地制宜,选择多形式的林地经营形式;完善林地流转制度,提高林业整体规模效率;优化资源配置,提高林业生产效率等建议。     

Intersectoral and International R&D Knowledge Spillovers and Total Factor Productivity

Disaggregate panel data estimates are presented of equations that relate a set of OECD countries' sectoral total factor productivity to domestic and to foreign R&D capital. The estimates indicate that there are both important international and national R&D knowledge spillovers and that these spillovers are intersectoral and intrasectoral in nature. They show that the influence of domestic R&D is stronger in the large economies and that this is caused by more important domestic intersectoral R&D spillovers. There is also evidence of a greater influence of domestic and of foreign R&D in research intensive industries and of an interaction between the domestic economy scale and the research intensity effects.     

Becoming an acquirer and becoming acquired

This paper considers mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Finland. We explain the likelihood that a firm acquires or is acquired by another firm. We try to find out whether the incidences of M&A are influenced by the firms' R&D activity, measured by the calculated R&D stock. We obtained a very robust result, which says that R&D stock increases the probability that a firm acquires in all industries. In the nonprocessing industries, R&D stock similarly increases the probability that a firm is acquired by another. In the processing industries, the firm's own R&D stock has, however, zero impact on the likelihood that another firm buys a firm concerned. We interpret these results indicating that M&A are used as instruments to transmit knowledge from one firm to another. In the nonprocessing industries, it is evident that knowledge capital cumulated in the target is the main motivation for the purchase. Then a buyer's own R&D—which also increases the probability of the trade—signals that a buyer is efficient in absorbing the purchased new technology. In the processing industries, the motive for acquisition is different. We discovered that in the processing industries, technology is rather transmitted from the buyer's firm than to the purchased firm. It looks like that, in these industries, the firms have decreased their unit costs by means of their R&D activity, and so through M&A, the appeared unit cost differences have been levelled.     

Assessing the influence of differentiation strategy and R&D subsidies on R&D cooperation

This paper explores the R&D cooperation determinants of the innovative companies belonging to the Spanish manufacturing sector. Our findings suggest that the variable R&D subsidy is endogenous, significant, and has a strong positive influence on R&D cooperation. This is a clear indication that the achievement of public aid is often conditioned by the obligation for companies to cooperate in R&D. We have also found that the differentiation strategy variable is significant and has a negative influence on R&D cooperation. Companies positioned in a differentiation strategy probably own and use some different knowledge from other companies. Consequently, they will not have much interest in taking advantage of the spillovers generated by other companies. It is therefore logical that they are reluctant to establish cooperation agreements on R&D. Therefore, companies positioned in the differentiation strategy need public policies to support R&D that are not conditioned to the establishment of cooperation agreements.     

Spillover, Competition and Better R&D Organization

This paper examines several types of R&D organization, including one noncooperative (independent R&D) form and three cooperative ones (R&D coordination, an R&D consortium and a research joint venture (RJV)). We consider the sharing of both research inputs and outputs in an R&D consortium and an RJV. We show that the superiority of a form of R&D organization cannot be determined uniquely, but should be judged by four parameters. In addition, it is shown that there exist possible mixes of these parameters in which an R&D consortium is superior to either R&D coordination or an RJV in terms of technological improvement and social welfare.
JEL Classification Numbers: L13, L41.     

R&D Returns,Spillovers and Firm Incentives: Evidence from China

Using a new data set of 12,000 firms in China, this paper estimates the returns to R&D investment and its spillover effects, and investigates how the returns to R&D depend on firm incentives. For the firms in the sample, the results show that on average firm output increases around 0.4 yuan for each additional 1 yuan spent on R&D in the previous year, and there is high R&D return regardless of whether the endogeneity of R&D intensity is dealt with or not. Interestingly, the marginal return to R&D is significantly higher in firms whose CEOs were not appointed by the government, and lower when CEO pay is directly related to annual performance. The return to R&D is higher in relatively poor regions and for firms with worse access to finance. There are also non-trivial R&D spillover effects.     

Optimal research and development and the cost of business cycles

While research and development (R&D) investment has been procyclical in the post-war period, recent literature suggests that the optimal path for R&D is countercyclical, and that the economy would be better off by subsidizing R&D in recessions. The objective of this paper is to analyze the welfare effects of distortions in the intertemporal allocation of R&D resources and to compare diverse policy interventions so as to improve social welfare. To this end, we introduce a calibrated dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with Schumpeterian endogenous growth that is capable of explaining the observed procyclicality of R&D. Our results show that the cost of business cycles is lower in the decentralized economy with procyclical R&D than in the efficient allocation with countercyclical R&D. This is because the suboptimal propagation of shocks in the decentralized equilibrium offsets some of the existing steady-state distortions. In this second-best context, countercyclical R&D subsidies have no positive effect on welfare. In contrast, fiscal policies aimed at restoring the optimal steady-state produce large welfare gains.