Are public and private outlays for physical and knowledge capital accumulation equally productive?

Utility firms are subject to peculiar regulatory characteristics that may allow for unique wealth effects resulting from acquisitions. The wealth effects derived from acquisitions of utility firms is measured and the analysis reveals negative wealth effects for acquirers and positive wealth effects for targets. However, the wealth effects are generally less favorable for utility firm acquirers than other acquirer firms because of the regulatory barriers that prevent them from pursuing attractive targets.     

Who invests more in advanced abatement technology? Theory and evidence

We study firm investment in abatement technology under a heterogeneous‐firm framework. We find that more‐productive firms make more (less) investment in abatement technology if investment and productivity are complements (substitutes). Under linear demand, firms’ abatement investments exhibit an inverted U‐shape with respect to productivity level. This finding is in contrast to results in existing studies. We also find that in response to tightened environmental regulations, more‐productive firms raise their respective investments in abatement technology, whereas less‐productive firms do the opposite. More‐productive firms have lower pollution emission intensity. The key theoretical predictions are confirmed by empirical tests using Chinese data.     

Why do people rate? Theory and evidence on online ratings

The rapid growth of online retail in the last decade has led to widespread use of consumer-generated ratings. This paper theoretically and experimentally identifies influences that drive consumers to rate products and examines how those factors can create distortions in product ratings. By manipulating payoffs and effectively “deactivating” either the buyer or seller side of an artificial laboratory market, raters' behavior is decomposed into buyer-centric and seller-centric components. The cost of providing a rating also plays a major role in influencing rating behavior, with high and low quality sellers being rated more often than those of moderate quality.     

Prices for cash and cash for prices? Theory and evidence on convenient pricing

A transaction between a seller and a buyer incurs a payment cost. The payment cost is borne by the seller, depending on the payment instrument the buyer chooses, cash or card. Card payment is more costly than cash payment, so the seller prefers that the buyer pays cash. In this article, we study the strategy of the seller setting a convenient price, which simplifies transactions and pushes the buyer to pay cash. The theoretical analysis, which models both the seller and the buyer in a game setting, derives two propositions: (1) the seller is more likely to set a more convenient price and (2) the buyer is more likely to pay cash a more convenient price. The empirical analysis supports both propositions. Thus, sellers adopt a convenience pricing strategy – prices for cash – and this strategy pushes buyers to pay cash – cash for prices.     

Are nontariff measures and tariffs substitutes? Some panel data evidence

Using new estimates of ad valorem equivalent of nontariff measures (NTMs) over time, this paper examines NTMs and tariffs’ relationship for a sample of 70 economies for 4,949 products at the 6‐digit harmonized system level over the period 2003–2015. A panel data methodology models the lagged adjustment of NTMs to tariffs, consistent with a causal relationship. Trade policy substitution is found when the models are estimated in both levels and changes; with this holding for both OECD and non‐OECD countries, but not for the agriculture sector in OECD countries. Overall, there is a fairly complete substitution between policy instruments in absolute terms.     

Does add-on presence always lead to lower baseline prices? Theory and evidence

Journal of Economics - In many industries, firms give consumers the opportunity to add (at a price) optional goods and services to a baseline product. The aim of our paper is to clarify the effect...     

What determines households inflation expectations? Theory and evidence from a household survey

The purpose of the present paper is to study how households form inflation expectations using a novel survey dataset of Italian households. We extend the existing ‘inattentiveness’ literature by incorporating explicitly inflation targets and distinguishing between aggregate and disaggregate dynamics based on demographic groups. We also consider both the short- and long-run dynamics as households update their inflation expectations. While we find clear distinctions between the various demographic groups behavior, households tend to absorb professionals forecast. The short-run dynamics also indicate they not only overreact when updating their expectations but also adjust asymmetrically to any perceived momentum change of future inflation.     

Should bank branching be regulated? Theory and empirical evidence from four European countries

Along with the liberalisation of bank branching, which was pushed ahead in most OECD member countries during the past several decades, the fear of overbranched markets has arisen. In a model of spatial competition, the welfare effects of bank branching regulation are investigated and empirical results are presented from a pooled cross-section time series analysis from four European countries. It is shown that for all observations in the sample, fewer branches would have been socially undesirable. Moreover, the frequently posed hypothesis that a positive relationship exists between the number of branches and the price for financial intermediation is rejected.     

Are business cycles asymmetric? Some European evidence

Economic thought has often regarded business cycles as asymmetric. This study examines the existence of asymmetries over the business cycle in seven European countries: France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. To analyse this issue, industrial production in these countries from 1957 to 1998 is examined, and quarterly contractions and expansions in this variable are compared. The results obtained with both parametric and non-parametric methods allow the existence of asymmetries in these countries to be questioned.     

Does taxation have real effects on agricultural output? Theory and empirical evidence from China

China has a long history of taxing agriculture, with special levies on output. Whether farm households are taxed on a lump-sum basis or as a proportion of output is an important issue. This paper develops a theoretical model to understand better the effects of the lump-sum and proportional taxation on agricultural output. It then empirically investigates the predictions using tax and output data on Chinese agriculture. The theoretical model predicts that lump-sum taxation affects only consumption, while proportional taxation simultaneously affects consumption, capital inputs and final output. Although the main tax policy targeted output, our results suggest that taxation had only a modest impact on output since it was effectively applied as lump sum taxation brought about by localized levies and taxes.     

Do vertical spillovers differ by investors’ productivity? Theory and evidence from Vietnam

Developing countries are eager to host foreign direct investment to receive positive technology spillovers to their local firms. However, what types of foreign firms are desirable for the host country to achieve spillovers best? We address this question using firm‐level panel data from Vietnam to investigate whether foreign Asian investors in downstream sectors with different productivity affect the productivity of local Vietnamese firms in upstream sectors differently. Using endogenous structural breaks, we divide Asian investors into low‐, middle‐, and high‐productivity groups. The results suggest that the presence of the middle group has the strongest positive spillover effect. The differential spillover effects can be explained by a simple model with vertical linkages and productivity‐enhancing investment by local suppliers. The theoretical mechanism is also empirically confirmed.     

Trade liberalization and Firms’ export performance in China: Theory and evidence

The focus of the literature surrounding trade liberalization has recently shifted from trade liberalization in imported final goods to studying the effects of trade liberalization in imported intermediate inputs. This emphasis fits very well the trade liberalization experience of China following its accession to the WTO in 2001. In this paper, we build a multi-sector heterogenous-firm model with trade in both intermediate goods and final goods, and we ask: How do final-goods producers respond to trade liberalization in imported inputs? Do they respond differently across sectors? How do firms respond differently to trade liberalization in imported-outputs instead? We separate the total effect of trade liberalization into those caused by inter-sectoral resource allocation (IRA) and by within-sector selection of firms according to productivity (which we call Melitz selection effect). It is the IRA effect that gives rise to differential impacts of trade liberalization in different sectors. These impacts include changes in the probability of entry into the export market, the fraction of firms that export and the share of export revenue. To test our hypotheses, we carry out both quantitative analysis and empirical analysis by using Chinese firm-level data. The results are consistent with our theoretical predictions.     

Are PPP tests erratically behaved? Some panel evidence

This paper examines whether, in addition to standard unit root and cointegration tests, panel approaches also produce test statistics behaving erratically when applied to tests for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). We show that if appropriate tests (which are robust to cross‐sectional dependence) are used, any evidence of erratic behaviour disappears, and empirical support is found for PPP.     

Does global value chains participation really promote skill-biased technological change? Theory and evidence from China

The positive effect of global value chains (GVCs) integration on skill-biased technological change (SBTC) in developed countries has been proved extensively, yet little is known about that effect in developing countries, almost all of which are integrated into the low end of GVCs dominated by developed countries (universally located in the middle or at the high end of GVCs). Thus, research on the case of China, the world's largest developing country, can provide a novel insight into the general effect. In this study, we first develop a dynamic general equilibrium model with GVCs low-end integration and SBTC, through which we find that the mechanism whereby GVCs low-end integration works against SBTC in developing countries lies in too much skilled labour being absorbed by low-skill industries due to low-skill-biased technology diffusion, which causes insufficient skilled labour for high-skill industries. After that, the model is estimated using China's provincial panel data over the period from 1997 to 2015, and the empirical results show the negative impact of GVCs low-end integration on SBTC. The findings indicate that the GVCs position should not be overlooked in analysing the impact of GVCs integration on SBTC and that an improvement of the GVCs position is crucial for SBTC in developing countries.     

Are Indian rice exporters able to price discriminate? Empirical evidence for basmati and non-basmati rice

The role of exchange rate fluctuations on the pricing behaviour of Indian rice exporters in their major destination markets is examined using the pricing-to-market (PTM) model. The analysis was undertaken in a context where India has emerged as a leading exporter of rice in the world market. The study distinguishes between basmati and non-basmati rice in the analysis as the destination markets differ across these two varieties. One of the key contributions of this study is that it undertakes an analysis under 3 exchange rate models, they are: nominal, real and commodity-specific exchange rates. The results from our analysis indicated the presence of non-competitive pricing behaviour of India’s rice exporters in majority of destination markets due to both the market-specific characteristics as well as exchange rate-induced effects. The amplification of exchange rate effects was more prominent in commodity-specific exchange rate model whereas local currency stabilization was more prominent under nominal and real exchange rate models. Furthermore, the analysis showed that the commodity-specific exchange rate better predicts the PTM behaviour of rice exporters.     

Has the ‘franc fort’ exchange rate policy affected the inflationary dynamics? Theory and new evidence

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the ‘franc fort’ policy implemented in France from 1983 on the inflationary dynamics by means of a square root Kalman filter approach. An interesting aspect of the analysis is the evidence that the ‘franc fort’ exchange rate policy had a significant impact on the inflationary dynamics in France through its credibility effects. These results confirm the imported credibility hypothesis according to which the French authorities accelerated the disinflation process by importing the German monetary policy credibility through the ‘hard peg’ of the franc–DM exchange rate. These findings show that inflation dynamics in France began to converge significantly to that in Germany after the implementation of the ‘franc fort’ policy, making more credible the plan for the final transition to the euro. Moreover, this analysis may also reveal much about the nature of potential success of the current initiative of the new member countries now in the process of joining the EU and looking eventually to adopt the euro.     

Are human rights and economic well-being substitutes? The evidence from migration patterns across the Indian states

The objective of this paper is to study the relationship between the demand for human rights and the demand for economic prosperity from the “exit” perspective, looking at migration patterns. We investigate intra-national migration in India, which is a federation of various states that feature significant economic and political differences. The paper finds that the quality of human rights protection and the economic well-being in the target state are substitutes with respect to determining patterns of migration. These results depend on framing effects; human rights complaints appear to be interpreted differently by migrants, depending on the trust in the government in the target state.     

Are there bubbles in exchange rates? Some new evidence from G10 and emerging market economies

The existence, or otherwise, of bubbles has become a topical issue in economics and finance, particularly following the Global Financial Crisis. Using the generalized sup ADF (GSADF), unit root tests of Phillips et al. (2015a, PSY) we investigate evidence for exchange rate bubbles in some G10, Asian and BRICS countries from Mar.1991-Dec.2014. We conclude that the US$-Mexican Peso crisis of 1994–95 was a bubble. Of particular interest to financial market trading, is that newly emerging countries, with relatively shallow financial markets, may be more likely to exhibit bubbly behavior in foreign exchange markets than more mature G10 countries.