Small Enterprise Growth and the Rural Investment Climate: Evidence from Tanzania*

Abstract: This paper analyzes characteristics of nonfarm enterprises, their employment growth patterns, and constraints in doing business in rural Tanzania. Using unique survey data, we describe a low‐return sector struggling to compete in a challenging business environment. However, about one‐third of rural enterprises are growing fast. Most enterprises engage in agricultural trade. Due to a rapidly growing agricultural sector in recent years, limiting demand‐side constraints, rural enterprise constraints in Tanzania mainly operate from the supply‐side, suggesting that in particular access to finance, road infrastructure and rural cell phone communication is associated with employment growth. A major finding is that subjective and objective measurements of business constraints are broadly comparable. We discuss a number of factors that would help to unleash the full potential of private sector‐led growth in rural areas. Marginal improvements of the rural investment climate matter for growth.     

Digital finance and investment of micro and small enterprises: Evidence from China

Using China Micro and Small Enterprise Survey data, this paper examines how digital finance affects the investment behavior of MSEs in China. We find that digital finance significantly increases both MSEs' probability of applying for new investment projects and the number of projects applied. Specifically, our baseline model shows that MSEs that use digital finance are 7.5% more likely to apply for new investment projects than those who do not. The average number of new investment projects applied by MSEs that use digital finance is also 37.8% higher. Results are further substantiated by conducting a set of additional tests to rule out the potential confounding factors and a propensity score matching strategy to address for the potential self-selection bias. Heterogeneous impacts of digital finance are also studied in this paper. We find that the impact of digital finance is more prominent for younger enterprises and enterprises located in the central and western regions where there is relatively backward financial development. In the end, the underlying mechanism is further explored and the result shows that digital finance promotes the investment behavior of MSEs by reducing the degree of information asymmetry between the lender and the borrower, which alleviates the financing constraints of MSEs.     

Guanxi Networks in China： Its Importance and Future Trends

I. Introduction Guanxi is a Chinese word which is also recognized in Japan and Korea. In Chinese, Guan means a door, or “to close up” with those who are inside a group, and Xi can be interpreted to mean a joined chain. Thus, together, Guanxi can be translated as relationships and connections. In all the Chinese dominated societies in Asia, people use the word Guanxi to speak of someone who knows lots of people, who is well connected, and gets things done, not necessarily through formal …     

The impact of trade facilitation factors on South Africa's exports to a selection of African countries

Economic growth can be enhanced through increased trade among countries, provided the correct institutional structures are in place. A country's trade is dependent not only on its own trade facilitation reforms but also on those of the trading partners. This paper, using an augmented gravity model, examines trade facilitation factors that impact on South Africa's exports to other selected African countries. The results of the estimation reveal the following. An improvement in the customs environment within the importing country provides the largest gain in terms of increasing trade flows, followed by the regulatory environment and domestic infrastructure. Furthermore, adjacency and common language impact positively on South African exports, while distance between countries impacts negatively on it. Being part of the Southern African Development Community is also enhancing exports from South Africa, compared with being part of the East African Community.     

北京市科技与文化融合产业发展影响因素及对首都经济发展作用研究

构建了两层次影响要素指标体系,从产业基础、科技创新、市场需求、政策支持与基础设施五个维度,采用2006-2017年数据,利用灰色关联分析方法,实证分析了北京市科技与文化融合产业发展的影响因素,发现科技创新、政府支持与市场环境是影响北京市科技与文化产业发展的重要因素。此外,分析了科技和文化融合产业对首都经济增长、产业结构转型升级以及对就业增长吸纳的推动作用。     

Hong Kong's growth synchronization with China and the US: A trend and cycle analysis

This paper investigates the synchronization of Hong Kong's economic growth with mainland China and the US. We identify trends of economic growth based on the permanent income hypothesis. Specifically, we first confirm whether real consumption in Hong Kong and mainland China satisfies the permanent income hypothesis, at least in a weak form. We then identify the permanent and transitory components of income of each economy using a simple state-space model. We use structural vector autoregression models to analyze how permanent and transitory shocks originating from mainland China and the US affect the Hong Kong economy, and how such influences evolve over time. Our main findings suggest that transitory shocks from the US remain a major driving force behind Hong Kong's business cycle fluctuations. On the other hand, permanent shocks from mainland China have a larger impact on Hong Kong's trend growth.     

后危机时代对中国营商环境的再认识——基于世界银行对中国2700家私营企业调研数据的实证分析

文章利用世界银行2012年对中国2700家私营企业的调研数据,从企业层面研究了经济危机后中国的营商环境。调研结果表明,中国企业在当前经济环境中所面临的问题主要表现为金融准入困难、人力资源受教育程度不高、非正规部门竞争以及税负高等。文章估计了上述问题对企业业绩的影响。研究结果表明,除人力资源受教育程度不高与企业业绩关系不显著外,其余困难均与中国企业的经营业绩呈显著负相关关系,文章进而对各行业的营商环境进行了评估,结果与全国层面分析一致。应重新评估中国营商环境,加强中国的金融基础设施建设力度,优化中小企业信贷政策环境,切实减轻企业的税负压力。     

Business Cycle in China since the Lehman Crisis： Interaction among Macroeconomic Policy,Economic Growth and Inflation

The major objectives of China＇s macroeconomic policy are to stabilize economic growth and inflation, which, in turn, are important factors determining key prices, such as the policy interest rate, the renminbi exchange rate and stockprices. In a framework that distinguishes different phases of the business cycle based on whether the current period＇s economic growth rate and inflation rate are above or below their ＂＇normal＂ values, this paper analyzes the interaction among macroeconomic policy, economic growth and inflation in China since the Lehman crisis, and the implications for these key prices. The path of China＇s economy indicates that stimulus measures taken by the government during the recession phase and tightening measures implemented during the overheating phase have helped minimize the fluctuation over the business cycle. Our analysis shows that Chinese authorities tend to rely more on adjusting the exchange rate than the interest rate to stabilize the economy. Comparing with conditions at the time of the post-Lehman recession, the current slowpace of economie growth in China may reflect not only weakening demand, but also a lowerpotential growth rate associated with the arrival of the Lewis turning point.     

中国商业模式研究热点、演化与阶段特征研究——基于文献计量和社会网络分析的方法

商业模式在商业实践和学术研究中被高度关注，但是其概念和内涵等研究至今达成共识，在对已有理论研究分析基础上，阐述商业模式概念定义，从商业模式研究视角变化分析原因，将商业模式研究视角变化概括为企业管理经营视角、价值链视角、价值网络视角、商业生态系统视角。与此同时，“互联网+”技术环境的演进和经济新常态给中国经济发展带来的新形势，深刻影响和重塑了各行业的商业模式，为揭示这一环境下国内商业模式研究发展情况，对文献数据进行文本和数据挖掘并可视化，研究发现商业模式研究关注逐年提高，研究主题阶段性特征显著，研究热点有稳有变，在分析各阶段特征基础上依次概括为经营管理研究、创新管理研究和平台经济研究。     

Farm households' participation in rural non-farm employment in post-war Rwanda: Drivers and policy implications

Despite the post-war government's unprecedented efforts to stimulate growth of the rural non-farm (RNF) sector in Rwanda, evidence suggests that participation in this sector remains low compared with other developing and transition economies. This study investigates the micro and meso-level factors defining farm household's capacity and incentives to participate in RNF employment in the post-war Rwanda. Based on the household's time allocation theory, this study employs household survey data collected in Gisagara District in a double-hurdle regression. The results reveal that female-headedness, labour availability, education, social networks, access to finance and rural towns increase the probability of participating in RNF activities, whereas for participating households, the time allocated to RNF activities tends to decrease with age, land productivity, distance to market and dispersed settlements. The article concludes with key implications for rural development policies such as basic education and umudugudu settlements.     

陕西省营商环境水平测度与区域差异分析

营商环境是一个地区吸引各类经济要素、提高综合竞争力的重要软实力。从营商环境的内涵出发,构建陕西省营商环境评价指标体系,基于组合赋权的TOPSIS法测算营商环境发展指数,并用Dagum基尼系数对区域差异进行分析。研究表明：陕西省营商环境处于不完善水平，优化市场环境是提升营商环境的主要因素；2015—2020年陕西省营商环境发展水平逐年提高,呈“中间高、两端低”的发展格局；营商环境发展水平存在严重的区域差异现象,其中,地区间差距贡献率最大。因此,要充分考虑陕西省营商环境发展的区域差异,因地制宜探索特色化的发展路径,促进地级市协调发展，提升陕西省各地级市的营商环境。     

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE STRUCTURE OF TAXES IN SOUTH AFRICA: 1960–2002*

One tenet of taxation is its distorting effect on economic behaviour. Despite the economic inefficiencies resulting from taxation, it is widely believed that taxes impact minimally on the economy's growth rate. Evidence in developing countries generally supports this view. In this paper, we present evidence that tax distortions in South Africa may be much more severe. Using tax and economic data from 1960 to 2002 and a two‐stage modelling technique to control for unobservable business cycle variables, we examine the relationship between total taxation, the mix of taxation and economic growth. We find that decreased tax burdens are strongly associated with increased economic growth potential; in addition, contrary to most theoretical research, decreased indirect taxation relative to direct taxation is strongly correlated with increased economic growth potential.     

Revisiting growth and poverty reduction in Indonesia: what do subnational data show?

Indonesia has an impressive record of economic growth and poverty reduction over the past two decades. The growth-poverty nexus appears strong at the aggregate level. However, newly constructed panel data on the country's 285 districts reveal huge differences in poverty change, subnational economic growth and local attributes across the country. The results of econometric analysis show that growth is not the only factor to affect the rate of poverty change; other factors also directly influence the welfare of the poor, as well as having an indirect effect through their impact on growth itself. Among the critical ones are infrastructure, human capital, agricultural price incentives and access to technology. While fostering economic growth is crucial, a more complete poverty reduction strategy should take these relevant factors into account. In the context of ecentralisation, subnational analysis can be an instructive approach to examining local governance in relation to growth and poverty reduction.     

An empirical investigation on the temporal properties of China's GDP

This paper employs a structural time series model designed with three components of stochastic seasonality, trigonometric expression of cyclicality and local linear trend to investigate the evolutionary process of China's GDP. In particular, the model is able to detect the stop–go feature of China's economic growth, i.e., growth cycle, as well as business cycle. The empirical result suggests that most variation in China's macroeconomic performance came from business cycle. The investigation of the three components along with historical events suggests that the Chinese economy had been largely influenced by political activities up to the early 1990s. In the mid-1990s China entered a period of stable and highly growing economy, thanks to the economic reform and the successful implementation of macroeconomic policies. However, since the mid-2000s China has become more sensitive to the turbulences in international markets. In the foreseeable future, the challenge facing China is a more volatile economy with possible slowdown in the economic growth, although the growth rate would still be high compared to developed economies.     

北京数字贸易营商环境指标体系构建与评价研究

构建数字贸易营商环境指标体系，通过因子分析法和熵值法计算2005—2020年北京数字贸易营商环境最后得分并对每年得分进行排名。结果显示，北京数字贸易营商环境综合得分大体处于增加趋势，“技术市场政府环境因子”得分一直增加，“法律与人力因子”得分先增后减。北京数字贸易营商环境仍存在问题并有待优化，因此应改善法律环境、加快建立数字贸易相关法律、培养和引进技术与高等教育人才。     

依托进博会以进口助力宁波产业升级

以港口经济为核心竞争力的宁波面临产业升级的新局面，依托中国国际进口博览会召开的机遇，宁波市提出继续扩大对外开放，大力发展进口贸易的方针。通过分析宁波市进口规模、进口经营主体、进口商品结构等现状，发现其进口增长潜力充足且存在必要性。依托进博会进一步开放进口将助力宁波产业升级，包括发挥制造业逆向学习与协同效应、促使农业增效提质、带动港口特色显著的服务业。同时政府应该推动进口便利化举措、完善进口精细化管理、营造一流的进口营商环境，为以进口促进宁波产业升级提供政策配套。     

地区营商环境对企业出口贸易的影响

文章利用世界银行于2013年公布的中国制造业企业问卷调查数据,实证检验地区营商环境对企业出口贸易的影响。研究发现,营商环境体系中的关贸监管效率、行政审批效率、基础设施条件、融资便利程度、高素质劳动力等因素显著阻碍了企业出口强度的提升,这几个方面应当成为政府部门改善营商环境的政策着力点。不同类型企业对营商环境的诉求存在显著差异,大型企业的出口贸易对营商环境各项指标的质量都更加敏感,高生产率企业的出口贸易则更易受到低质量税制环境和高素质劳动力短缺的制约。东部发达地区的企业出口贸易受要素市场条件的约束相对更多,而中西部欠发达地区的企业出口贸易受贸易便利条件的约束更为突出。     

Social networks,rice value chain participation and market performance of smallholder farmers in Ghana

This paper examines the impact of rice value chain participation and social networks on smallholder farmers' market performance outcomes (paddy price, quantity of paddy traded, and net returns), using data from a recent survey of 458 smallholder rice farmers in northern Ghana. We employed a treatment effects model to account for potential selection bias associated with observable and unobservable factors. The empirical results reveal that smallholder farmers' participation in a rice value chain is associated with increased paddy price, quantity traded, and net returns. We also find that value chain participation decisions and market performance are positively and significantly influenced by social networks. The empirical results also suggest that sex, farm size, mobile phone ownership, and access to credit significantly increase paddy prices, quantity traded, and net returns of smallholder rice farmers in the value chain.     

The Determinants and Consequences of Information Acquisition via EDGAR

Using a novel data set that tracks all web traffic on the SEC's EDGAR servers from 2008 to 2011, we examine the determinants and capital market consequences of investor information acquisition of SEC filings. The average user employs the database very few times per quarter and most users target specific filing types such as periodic accounting reports; a small subset of users employ EDGAR almost daily and access many filings. EDGAR activity is positively related with corporate events (particularly restatements, earnings announcements, and acquisition announcements), poor stock performance, and the strength of a firm's information environment. EDGAR activity is related to, but distinct from, other proxies of investor interest such as trading volume, business press articles, and Google searches. Finally, information acquisition via EDGAR, both to obtain earnings news and to provide context for it, has a positive influence on market efficiency with respect to earnings news. Overall, our results are important because they provide a unique, user‐based perspective on investor access of mandatory disclosures and its impact on price formation.     

中国石灰产业碳排放影响因素分析及趋势预测

基于LMDI模型,以2001—2012年中国经济人口发展及石灰产业碳排放数据为样本,从5个方面对石灰产业的碳排放影响因素进行分解研究。结果表明,技术发展效应、经济增长效应以及人口规模效应是影响石灰产业碳排放量变化的主要因素,且影响趋势有所不同。基于GM(1,1)模型对中国石灰产业未来碳排放量进行预测,2030年排放量预测将达到4.48亿t。基于影响因素分析及碳排放趋势预测结果,从技术创新、政策制定等方面对中国石灰产业的低碳发展提出建议。