Measuring Productive Efficiency in Input–Output Models by Means of Data Envelopment Analysis

The goal of the present research is to evaluate productive efficiency in an input–output framework by means of data envelopment analysis (DEA). This mathematical programming technique allows researchers to assess potential efficiency improvements in the form of input requirements reduction. By constructing envelopment unitary isoquants corresponding to comparable sectors across different local, regional or national economies, e.g. agriculture and manufacturing, DEA identifies as productive benchmarks those economies that exhibit the lowest technical coefficients, i.e. lowest input amount to produce one unit of output. Once these reference frontiers have been defined, it is possible to assess what would be the potential efficiency improvements available to the inefficient economies if they were to produce according to the best practice technologies of their benchmark peers. From an equivalent perspective, these simulations identify the necessary changes that each productive sector needs to undertake in order to reach the efficiency levels of the most successful economies. Finally, within Leontief’s analytical construction, these calculations allow us to assess what would have been the economy‐wid,e benefits for the inefficient economies—in terms of intermediate consumption reductions and final demand increases—of producing with best practice technologies. The model is empirically illustrated using the input–output tables for a set of OECD countries.     

Price–value deviations: further evidence from input–output data of Japan

This paper subjects to empirical testing the labour theory of value using input–output data from the economy of Japan for the years 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985 and 1990. The results of the analysis show that labour values and prices of production are extremely good approximations to market prices. In fact, the proximity of prices of production to market prices is closer than that of labour values, a result which suggests that prices of production constitute more concrete centres of gravitation for market prices. Furthermore, we find that prices of production change as a result of variations in income distribution more often than not in a monotonic way and that in fewer cases they display curvatures, which may even reverse the order between prices of production and values.     

中国的对外外包与出口——基于制造业行业数据的经验研究

依据1997～2007年三张投入产出表的数据计算了我国28个制造业行业的对外外包水平,并以固定效应模型和随机效应模型估算了外包对制造业出口的影响,此外还计算了对外外包对制造业就业的影响。检验结果表明:我国工业品出口数量增长和产品结构提升部分得益于高质量中间投入品的进口。我国的对外外包具有"节约劳动"的特点,降低了制造业的劳动需求。这主要是因为高质量中间投入品的进口替代国内中间品生产,使最终产品生产链条中的劳动需求下降。     

发达国家科研投入效率初探——基于16个OECD国家纵列数据的统计学分析

以16个OECD国家作为研究对象,以SCI来源期刊论文量作为衡量一国科研产出的指标,通过纵列数据(Panel Data)分析方法建立了科研投入-科研产出关系模型,定量描述了发达国家科研产出与科研经费投入、科研人员数、时间等因素的关系。为了排除母语因素对SCI论文量可能产生的影响,语言变量也被引入到模型中。同时,还比较了不同统计模型估计出的不同结果,验证了统计模型选取的重要性。     

Measuring patterns of specialization using trade in value added: the case of manufacturing in Italy

This article aims to contribute to the long-standing debate on the ‘anomaly’ of Italy’s specialization in manufacturing by providing fresh analysis based on new data. It offers: 1) a comprehensive survey of Italian comparative advantages measured in value-added terms and their evolution over time; 2) an international comparison of these advantages with Italy’s main competitors. Results show that the country’s traditional comparative advantages are substantially confirmed, a genuine capacity of the Italian domestic production factors to maintain added value in production with comparative advantage can be observed and new trends in terms of specialization and competitors are also highlighted, showing the influence of the international fragmentation of production on trade and specialization.     

增值税全面“扩围”的税率设定探讨

增值税税率的设定是我国实现增值税全面“扩围”必须解决的关键问题,它直接关系到结构性减税的政策目标能否真正实现。本文根据结构性减税的政策目标,利用2007年投入产出表数据进行了模拟测算,得出增值税全面“扩围”的标准税率取值应当在9%~13%之间。在此基础上,本文考虑了全面“扩围”带来的税收减收因素和税制的国际竞争因素,提出标准税率应确定为13%或略低于此的水平。同时,税率档次应在现有税制基础上进行简化。     

A Simple Multi-Regional Input–Output Account for Waste Analysis

The present paper provides a simple multiregional input–output model for waste analysis with which to estimate intraregional and interregional effects of industrial wastes embodied in regional final consumptions. The empirical analyses using 1995 nine-regions input–output tables reveals the regional properties of the interregional linkage effects. The Kanto and Kinki regions remarkably control the industrial waste emissions and waste landfills within their own regions by importing waste-intensive intermediate goods and services from the other regions. The Chugoku and Shikoku regions greatly contributed to the production of the waste-intensive goods and services for the other regions, considering the waste emissions and waste landfills relative to the commodity production levels. We also find that the household consumption behaviour in other regions indirectly plays a more important role in waste emissions than the municipal waste disposal behaviour in the region in question at least in 1995.     

Is there a role for uncertainty in forecasting output growth in OECD countries? Evidence from a time-varying parameter-panel vector autoregressive model

This paper uses a time-varying parameter-panel vector autoregressive (TVP-PVAR) model to analyze the role played by domestic and US news-based measures of uncertainty in forecasting the growth of industrial production of 12 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Based on a monthly out-of-sample period of 2009:06 to 2017:05, given an in-sample of 2003:03 to 2009:05, there are only 46% of cases where domestic uncertainty can improve the forecast of output growth relative to a baseline monetary TVP-PVAR model, which includes inflation, interest rate and nominal exchange rate growth, besides output growth. Moreover, including US uncertainty does not necessarily improve the forecasting performance of output growth from the TVP-PVAR model which includes only the domestic uncertainty along with the baseline variables. So, in general, while uncertainty is important in predicting the future path of output growth in the 12 advanced economies considered, a forecaster can do better in majority of the instances by just considering the information from standard macroeconomic variables.     

The interaction between Leontief and Sraffa: No meeting,no citation,no attention?

Abstract

Samuelson often regretted that Leontief and Sraffa never cited each other (true), and seemed to pay no attention to the other's work (false). In the Foley interview Leontief suggested he never met Sraffa (false). Archival evidence shows that in the 1940s Sraffa studied Leontief's classic The Structure of American Economy; he also owned the rare mimeographed supplement, and did some calculations on Leontief's first input–output table. Leontief and Sraffa met in Cambridge (UK) in 1950 and later. In the 1980s Leontief wrote an ambitious empirical paper on technological change, rejected by the AER, and not widely read. It studied some Sraffian topics without Sraffian terminology. I construct a hypothetical reswitching example using Leontief's statistics.     

中日制造业参与全球价值链分工模式及地位分析*——基于世界投入产出表

本文基于世界投入产出表数据,通过构建后向和前向垂直专业化率及全球价值链地位指数,较全面地分析了中日两国制造业参与全球价值链的程度、模式和地位变化情况。结果表明：（1）中国制造业出口中国内增加值占比低于同期日本,其获益能力相对较低。（2）中日两国制造业后向和前向垂直专业化率均呈上升趋势,其参与全球价值链程度不断加深。（3）中国制造业参与全球价值链主要是以后向模式,而日本制造业主要是以前向模式。（4）中国制造业中国外增加值以最终产品为主,主要从事加工组装生产环节,而日本制造业中国外增加值以中间产品为主,专业化于关键零部件生产环节。（5）中日两国制造业主要是通过间接增加值出口实现全球价值链前向参与,且其国内的生产分工程度均在不断加深。（6）中国制造业位于全球价值链下游位置,且有一定的攀升趋势,而日本制造业位于全球价值链上游位置,但有一定的下滑趋势。     

Domestic demand and global production in the Eurozone: A multi-regional input-output assessment of the global crisis

This paper studies the effects of domestic and foreign demand impulses in euro area economies following the Great Recession of 2008–2009 and the Eurozone crisis of 2011–2012. Using a global Input–Output framework we apply a set of metrics to assess spillover effects of international trade in intermediates triggered by the dynamics of final demand. Our findings suggest that while cross-country trade spillovers have played a crucial role during the Great Recession, they have had a moderate impact when compared with the role of domestic sources of final demand during the Eurozone crisis. Hence, a strategy of coordinated fiscal austerity cannot be sustained by empirical evidence.     

Foreign investments in real estate,economic growth and property prices: evidence from OECD countries

The last two decades have witnessed a growth in foreign direct investments (FDI) in the real estate sector in most of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries. It is argued that FDI in the real estate sector may improve economic growth in recipient economies. On the other hand, property prices have increased considerably in OECD countries in recent years and some argue that FDI in real estate is one of the driving forces of high property prices in these countries. The purpose of this study is to analyze the interrelationship between FDI in the real estate sector, economic growth, and property prices while controlling for interest rate and inflation. We use observations from a set of OECD countries for the period between 1995 and 2008. The dynamic interrelationship is analyzed by applying a panel cointegration technique. Our empirical results show that FDI in real estate do not cause property price appreciations and also do not contribute to economic growth in OECD countries in the short run and the long run.     

Outsourcing and structural change. Application to a set of OECD countries

The examination in this paper aims to bridge outsourcing and structural change analyses in order to obtain more accurate insights into the extent of outsourcing and to extract more reliable policy recommendations for dealing with its effects. We do this by applying a ‘battery’ of outsourcing measurements to a group of OECD countries from 1980 to the mid 1990s. Expected results (e.g. the idiosyncratic outsourcing patterns of the UK) are confirmed on a more systematic and comparable basis, while original results (e.g. the low integration of business services in manufacturing in the former socialist economies) are based on the exploitation of new data.     

New Zealand's economic reforms and changes in production structure

New Zealand’s reforms beginning in 1984 markedly improved the country’s economic prospects. They were one of the most radical and comprehensive programmes of structural change among countries in the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD). This paper examines how New Zealand’s production structure was transformed using input output analysis. The results show that the reforms rapidly affected the economy and industries were subject to large structural change. Trade liberalisation was a central aspect of the reforms and has had dramatic effects on some industries.     

Linkage Measures: a Revisit and a Suggested Alternative

This paper examines major linkage measures in the literature from different perspectives and attempts to clarify some of the controversies over them. The examination and clarification suggest more refined backward and forward linkage measures for linkage indices construction. The measures are then applied to analyse the linkages of Hawaii’s agriculture sectors.