Competition and efficiency in the MENA banking region: a non-structural DEA approach

The goal of this article is to empirically assess the relationship between competition and efficiency in the banking sector of Middle East and North African (MENA) countries spanning the period 1997–2011. To measure the level of competition, the article estimates the non-structural indicator known as the H-statistic, while the level of bank efficiency is estimated through the nonparametric methodology of the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the Bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis (BDEA), respectively. The empirical results are robust under six econometric methodologies, providing sufficient evidence for the presence of a one-way (negative) Granger causality, running from efficiency to competition. The empirical findings lead to the rejection of the ‘Efficient Structure Hypothesis’, implying that increases in competition do not precede increases in cost efficiency.     

Are microfinance markets monopolistic?

Do microfinance institutions (MFIs) operate in a monopoly, monopolistic competition environment or are their revenues derived under perfect competition markets? We employ the Panzar–Rosse revenue test on a global panel data to assess the competitive environment in which MFIs of five selected countries operate: Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Peru and Philippines, over the period 2005–2009. We estimate the static and the dynamic revenue tests, with analyses of the interest rate and the return on assets. We control for microfinance-specific variables such as capital-assets-ratio, loans-assets and the size of the MFI. The analyses also account for the endogeneity problem by employing the fixed-effects two-stage least squares and the fixed-effects system generalized method of moments. Our results suggest that MFIs in Peru and India operate in a monopolistic environment. We also find weak evidence that the microfinance industry in Ecuador, Indonesia and Philippines may operate under perfect competition.     

DOES MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION EXIST IN THE MENA REGION? EVIDENCE FROM THE BANKING SECTOR

The goal of this paper is to empirically assess the level of banking competition in selected Middle East and Northern African (MENA) countries. The analysis employs the estimation of a non‐structural indicator (H‐statistic) introduced by Panzar and Rosse and draws upon a panel dataset of eight MENA countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates) over the period 1997–2012. The empirical findings are robust towards three different panel data econometric techniques (Ordinary Least Squares, Pooled Generalized Least Squares with Fixed Effects, and Generalized Method of Moments) and consistent with other similar studies, providing sufficient evidence in favour of a banking monopolistic competition regime. Furthermore, the estimation of three other alternative measures of competition (Lerner index, adjusted Lerner index, and conduct parameter) provides similar results, revealing that the banking sector in the MENA region is characterized by a low level of Significant Market Power (SMP). Overall, the analysis shows that, despite similarities in the process of financial regulatory reforms undertaken in the eight MENA countries, the observed competition levels of banks vary substantially, with Algeria and Morocco consistently outperforming the rest of the region.     

Product variety and price strategy in the ski manufacturing industry

The present paper aims at examining the role of variety in the ski manufacturing industry and its relevance in firms’ price setting strategies. In particular, it intends to investigate and to empirically test three hypotheses concerning the relations between: product quality and prices; variety in technical characteristics and prices; variety in service characteristics and prices. Our empirical investigation finds that prices are positively affected by product quality and positively affected by variety in service characteristics. This means that a high degree of product variety allows firms to charge a premium price on consumers, who are able to find the product that best meets their needs and are therefore willing to pay a higher price. By contrast, variety in technical characteristics negatively impacts prices. In a context where a dominant design has emerged and new varieties are not radically different from each other, the gains in economies of scale and scope outweigh the costs of the increased flexibility in the equipment required to produce variety.

Commercial policy and international factor mobility in the presence of monopolistic competition

This paper utilizes a well-known specification of returns to specialization (a variation of the Spence-Dixit-Stiglitz model) to explore the implications of local agglomeration effects for commercial policy and restricted factor mobility. The paper initially considers a small open economy where it is shown that a tariff reduces the degree of specialization and hence the size of the external economies to the producers. An inflow of labor increases the degree of specialization while a capital inflow decreases it. The paper then considers a two-country world where both countries are large and deals with the pattern of trade and factor mobility.     

Influence of open innovation strategies on employment dynamics: evidence for Spanish manufacturing firms

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we explore the influence of different modes of openness of innovative firms on employment growth. Using a panel database of Spanish manufacturing firms during the period 1998–2015, we analyze the influence open innovation (OI) strategies on employment distinguishing by type of external partner. The main objective of the research is to know whether opening innovation strategy contributes to employment taken into account another firm capabilities and sectorial technological opportunities. For this purpose, a two-step procedure is specified. Firstly, a random-effect computes the effects of OI on the innovation probability. In the second step, the variation of innovativeness due to openness on GMM-system estimation controlling by potential endogeneity and unobserved firm heterogeneity is used. The results support that the influence of open strategy on employment growth is positive. Moreover, the employment depends on the breadth of OI measured by the number of out-inbound relationships. Finally, the employment consequences are different for each mode of open strategy.     

Technical change and total factor productivity growth for Swedish manufacturing and service industries

This article presents alternative specifications of the production functions of a large panel of Swedish firms for the period 1992 to 2000. The period can be characterized as a transition when long-run productivity growth in the Swedish economy improved from being among the weakest to one of the strongest within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In order to present a detailed exploration of this dramatic change, the time trend and general index models are applied to estimate Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth, rate of technical change and returns to scale. The models are extended to allow for firm specific as well as time-varying technical change. The parametric TFP measures are also compared with the nonparametric Solow residual, and several hypotheses are tested to explain the growth patterns in the Swedish economy. It is found that the improved growth rate, initially starting in large exporting manufacturing firms, after a deep economic crisis at the beginning of the 1990s, spilled over to the rest of the economy, both manufacturing and services.     

The short- and long-run impacts of financial crises on youth unemployment in OECD countries

The impact of financial crises on the youth unemployment rate (YUR), compared to the total unemployment rate (UR), is estimated for a panel of OECD countries over the period 1981–2009, using bias-corrected dynamic panel data estimators of short- and long-run coefficients. Both YUR and UR are found highly persistent. Also, short- and long-run effects of financial crises on YUR are significantly large, respectively, some 1.9 and 1.5–1.7 times higher than the short- and long-run effects on UR. Similar results are found for the unemployment impacts of GDP growth lagged 1 year and institutional variables. These results are robust to various dynamic specifications.     

Health expenditure and socio-economic determinants of life expectancy in the OECD Asia/Pacific area countries

Recent economic research is focused on the study of the relationship between socio-economic factors and health outcomes. In this study, the relationship in the OECD Asia/Pacific area countries regarding life expectancy is explored. Data from the World Bank and OECD Health Statistics (2015) have been used to build a panel data during the period 1995–2013. On the one hand, it was found that per capita income, unemployment and exchange rates improve health outcomes. On the other hand, poor performance, in terms of government expenditures for the countries-sample, comes across. Empirical results highlight the importance of cost-effectiveness analysis.     

The possibilities of entering new markets for Romanian companies from wood manufacturing industries

Romania has the potential of resources, labor and real capacity to adapt to the gait of a global economic competition. But it required a long term policy and environment which could support this potential value. If not, we will risk turning into a consumer economy, consumption will not be funded on internal production and become supplier of labor services for peripheral. In the context of economic crisis, Romanian furniture retains its significant competitive advantages, including the price in export markets. The most important markets for exporters of furniture from Romania are Ukraine and Russia, markets with great potential, but affected by problems such as devaluing local currencies, and recently, imposing new duties.     

Explaining Differences in Economic Growth among OECD Countries

This paper re-examines the determinants of growth of GDP per capita using panel data for OECD countries for the period 1970–1999 with data averaged over five-year periods from new perspectives. First, we introduce indicators of innovation input and technological specialization simultaneously into the empirical growth equation. Second, we employ the system-GMM (Generalized-Method-of-Moments) panel estimator that controls for (a) the possible specification bias when variables are highly persistent over time and (b) the possible simultaneity bias. We find a large and statistically significant impact of business enterprise R&D (BERD) intensity on GDP per capita with an elasticity of 0.22. The share of high-technology exports is also significantly positively related to GDP per capita, but the magnitude suggests that BERD is more important than technological specialization in explaining the level of GDP per capita. Furthermore, we find that the budget deficit and government consumption (both measured as percentages of GDP) and the volatility of growth are significantly negatively related to GDP per capita.The authors would like to thank Gunther Tichy for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article. We also thank the participants of the Austrian economic association conference (NOEG) and the Empirical Industrial Organization workshop at the WU WIEN for helpful comments. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the OeNB Jubiläumsfonds Project and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Economy and Labor (BMWA).JEL codes: E62, H20, H50, O23, O40     

The persistence of innovation: a panel data investigation on manufacturing firms

This paper represents a contribution to empirical debate on the persistence of innovation in the firm, by exploiting an innovative panel database that, for the first time, links three waves of the Italian Community Innovation Survey with an administrative data source providing economic and financial information for firms in the Italian manufacturing sector, 1996–2003. By using both a dynamic logistic model and a Granger causality approach, we show that in order to innovate successfully it is much more important to have an adequate flow of profits during an appropriate time span rather than high profits only during one period before innovation. Our causality tests prove the existence of a dynamic interaction between innovation and profitability: successful innovation can, in the short run, generate the profitability conditions that can then enhance the financial resources needed to reinvest in new technological opportunities, thus causing the firm to persist in its innovative behaviour. We have also shown that another important source of persistence is represented by past innovative experience. A firm with consolidated innovative behaviour would have a higher probability of future successful innovation with respect to a firm that occasionally (or accidentally) innovates. Persistence in innovation enables a firm to take advantage of substantial technological and organizational learning effects, which improve with time.     

Revisiting Purchasing Power Parity in OECD

This study revisits Purchasing Power Parity theory (PPP) in the 34 OECD countries during January 1994–August 2013. We use a new panel stationary test with both sharp breaks and smooth shifts, a novel approach to panel unit-root testing, proposed by Bahmani–Oskooee et al. (2014). The results indicate that the PPP holds in half of the 34 OECD countries. These results indicate the importance of proper modelling of both sharp breaks and smooth shifts in real effective exchange rate series of OECD countries.     

Trade liberalization and technical efficiency in the Indonesian chemicals industry

This article examines the impact of trade reform on technical efficiency on the Indonesian chemicals industry using firm-level panel data. The effects of trade reform on technical efficiency are analysed using a stochastic frontier approach. Two variables represent trade reform in this model: effective rate of protection (ERP) and import ratio (IMP). The findings of the present study suggest that both trade reform variables have significant effects on technical efficiency. The coefficient of ERP has a positive sign and is statistically significant, which means that an increase in ERP increases the inefficiency (or decreases the technical efficiency) of firms in the chemicals industry. The coefficient of IMP is negative and statistically significant, which represents the negative impact of IMP on technical inefficiency (or positive on technical efficiency). Thus, trade reform, a reduction in ERP or an increase in IMP, has an unambiguously positive effect on technical efficiency in the Indonesian chemicals industry.     

基于动态面板数据模型分析FDI的环境效应

外商直接投资在对中国经济增长起到积极推动作用的同时,我们也不可忽视其可能会对我国环境造成的影响。文章通过构建环境污染综合指数,并且以东中西部为三个横截面建立动态面板数据模型来分析外商直接投资对各个地区环境的影响。结果显示,外商直接投资和东部中部地区的环境污染指数之间有正相关关系,和西部地区的环境污染指数之间是一个负相关关系。     

中国装备制造业的出口依存度及对外市场的需求弹性研究——基于行业面板数据的分析

文章利用装备制造业7个子行业2001-2009年出口交货值和产业销售值数据,对产业的对外市场需求弹性进行了动态实证研究,并在此基础上利用7个子行业的对外市场需求弹性系数作为权重,对装备制造业的对外依存度进行了新的计算。研究结果表明,装备制造业7个子行业在短期内对外市场需求缺乏弹性,而部分行业在长期内对外市场需求富有弹性;根据对外依存度的传统定义,在产业迅速发展时期,由于没有考虑到市场需求弹性因素,对产业的对外依存度存在高估。     

“母市场效应”:来自中国制造业对外贸易面板数据的证据

文章通过模型的建构证明了母市场效应的存在性。文章采用Bergstrand(1989)的引力模型,考察了中国制造业中出口额较大、出口国较多的HS码共28章产品。通过对各章产品面板数据的回归分析发现,除了陶瓷品外,其余27章产品均存在显著的母市场效应。其中钢铁、无机化学和车辆等产品呈现较强的母市场效应,而纺织品、精密仪器等产品则呈现较弱的母市场效应。28章产品中除了陶瓷外其余均为劳动密集型产品,而且绝大部分产品对伙伴国来说为奢侈品。距离、是否接壤和是否有共同语言等变量对中国制造业产品的出口影响并不太显著,对各章产品影响方向也不一致。自由贸易协定对中国制造业产品出口具有显著的促进作用。     

The future of public pensions in the OECD

Demographic changes are often presumed to put the future ofpublic pensions in jeopardy. However, public pension financesshould be sensitive to employment, wage and inequality growth.A few macroeconomic simulations show that, given modest assumptionsabout long-term employment and wage growth, the selected OECDcountries could continue to pay for public pensions. In particular,policies that can help to improve employment growth could beuseful everywhere. Obstacles to public pensions are more likelyto arise from political developments than from economic trends.     

The specificity of manufacturing in Marx's economic thought

Abstract

This article examines Marx's approach to manufacturing and the extent to which manufacturing could be considered to have a special place in Marx's economic thought, especially in relation to accumulation and growth. The important ‘progressive’ features of manufacturing that can be found in Marx's writings and which are discussed here include: division of labour; socialisation of labour; mechanisation; increasing returns to scale; learning-by-doing; technological advancement; and overall, superior potential for cumulative productivity increases. These insights anticipate some of the thinking around the specificity of manufacturing found in twentieth-century structuralist development economics and some heterodox schools of thought such as Kaldorian approaches. This article suggests an interpretation of Marx as having a two-dimensional conceptualisation of activity specificity, with not only sectoral but also ‘technological–organisational’ dimensions, where these two dimensions are not fully independent of each other.