External economies as a mechanism of agglomeration in EU manufacturing

Productive externalities are significant determinants of agglomeration, not deeply studied at the industry and international level. We analyse the impact on productivity growth of technological externalities, both inter- and intraindustry, national or international, at the industry level for the EU countries and the period 1995–2002. The results confirm the advisability of considering international externalities when countries are taken as regions, whose omission underestimates national spillovers. Together with national endowments and a central geographical position, the growth of productivity is encouraged by national and international specialization as a general result; moreover, it is fuelled by stronger interindustry spillovers and productive diversification, a result more evident for high technology industries, while lower technology industries are more sensitive to the omission of international externalities. Economic integration seems to be relevant, because supranational regions with less friction for goods and factor movements are more likely to take advantage of external economies as a mechanism of productivity growth and agglomeration.     

The effects of company taxation in EU accession countries on German FDI1

This article investigates how company taxation affects German foreign direct investment (FDI) in European Union (EU) accession countries. In 2004 and 2007, 10 former socialist eastern European countries joined the EU. Although the EU integration is associated with increasingly favourable investment conditions, accession countries also pursue active strategies to attract foreign firms. In particular, taxes on corporate income have been significantly reduced during the last decade. We analyse whether corporate tax policies of eastern European countries affect three aspects of multinational activity: the location decision, the investment decision and the capital structure choice. The results suggest that local taxes are negatively related to both location and investment decisions. The analysis of the capital structure confirms that higher local taxes imply higher debt‐to‐capital ratios.     

FDI、产业集聚与产业技术进步——基于中国制造行业数据的实证检验

文章首先对FDI、东道国产业集聚和技术进步的关系进行了简要的理论分析;在此基础上通过构建产业集聚的HHI指数,在面板数据模型中分析了外商直接投资与我国产业集聚的关系;再利用DEA分析方法和面板数据模型检验了产业集聚对我国相关产业全要素生产率的影响以及FDI在其中的作用。检验结果显示,FDI有力地促进了我国产业的地理集聚,并由此推进了相关行业的技术进步;而且,这一效应在高技术行业中得到了最明显的体现。     

促进FDI与中国涉外税收政策的动态和谐

外商直接投资是促进中国经济发展的一支重要力量,中国经济发展需要FDI,FDI需要中国,从中国经济利益和FDI追求利润的相互和谐过程入手,不仅要考虑中国经济需求与FDI的利益分配政策的和谐,也要考虑经济结构和谐、经济增长和谐。以制定符合中国国情的涉外税收政策。     

Revenue-maximizing tax rates in personal income taxation in the presence of consumption taxes: a note

This article computes revenue-maximizing tax rates in personal income taxes in the presence of consumption taxes. It finds that the traditional Laffer analysis, which neglects the effects of marginal tax rates on consumption, overestimates the magnitude of revenue-maximizing tax rates. The bias caused by this oversight is computed.     

外商直接投资对中国工业集聚形成的实证分析

改革开放以来,中国的外商直接投资在空间分布上有显著的集聚现象,与此相对应的现象是中国工业在东部沿海地区的大量集聚.中国的区域经济由于受到投资集聚现象的影响,地区经济发展的差别及非均衡性也日趋显现,其差距有逐步增大的趋势.为此,我们必须对外商投资的集聚现象有清醒地认识.     

Kay Hayward and Christine Vogel (Producers), America and the World Economy.

This lesson is designed to give students in a wide variety of undergraduate classes the opportunity to identify the problems inherent in analyzing imperfect data. Students are asked to analyze data, which the authors provide, from the Professional Golfers’ Association Tour to ponder the link between golfers’ skills in different facets of the game and their relative performances in certain tournaments. Selection issues are inherent in the data because of Tour policies regarding golfers’ tournament entry decisions. By the end of the lesson, students should better understand the importance of gaining institutional knowledge to improve the results of a study. Students are asked to mitigate the selection bias with the Heckman two-step procedure, a tool used in studies of labor, insurance, and education markets.     

Spatial and supply/demand agglomeration economies: State- and industry-linkages in the U.S. food system

Cost-impacts of spatial and industrial spillovers on economicperformance are evaluated by incorporating activity level measures for nearby states and related industries into a cost function model. We focus on localization and urbanization economies for state level food processing industries, from activity levels of similar industries in neighboring states, agricultural input suppliers, and final product demand. We find significant cost-savings from proximity to other food manufacturing centers, and areas with high purchasing power. Cost savings from locating near an agricultural area are also evident, although it seems costly to be located within a rural agricultural state, implying thin market diseconomies. Marginal production costs instead appear higher in more urban, and lower in more rural, areas. These spillover patterns also have input composition implications; materials demand responses are the most closely tracked by the agglomeration cost effects, and capital and labor impacts vary.     

How Does FDI Respond to the Size of Shadow Economy: An Empirical Analysis under a Gravity Model Setting

Using a panel study under a gravity model setting focusing on data from 1999 to 2007 for Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, we show that the size of the shadow economy in the host economy relative to the investor economy can play a significant role in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows. We further explore nonlinearities in how shadow economy differentials affect incoming FDI. Our results match the theoretical predictions which highlight that opportunities for tax evasion can have an impact on the activities of Multinational Corporations.     

Growth effects of FDI in 80 developing economies: the role of policy reforms and institutional constraints

Theoretical and empirical literatures have identified several channels through which foreign direct investment (FDI) influences economic growth. This paper examines the impact of FDI on economic output growth per worker using aggregate production function augmented with FDI inflows, economic policy reforms and institutional constraints. The paper covers 80 developing countries over the period 1980–2006. We use panel data and employ fixed, random effects and GMM methods for estimation. Our results highlight the importance of FDI, policy reforms and institutional development for growth in developing economies. Finally, we demonstrate that irrespective of reforms and institutions, an increase in FDI affects output growth positively.     

内生环境规制、FDI 与中国城市环境质量

关于开放条件下 FDI 环境效应的研究,关系到中国绿色发展的可持续性。文章基于 Copeland-Taylor 模型,将环境规制内生化于模型之中,分解并考察了 FDI 对本地环境质量的异质性影响。理论分析表明：(1)FDI 对本地环境质量的影响可以分解为规模效应、结构效应、技术效应和收入效应;(2)FDI 对环境质量改善的技术效应和收入效应为正,而规模效应和结构效应为负,且理论上存在 FDI 改善环境质量的门槛值。进一步地,文章选取二氧化硫浓度而非以往文献常用的污染物排放量表征城市环境质量,在地级市层面进行实证检验。实证结果表明：(1)现阶段 FDI 通过规模效应、结构效应、技术效应和收入效应总体上改善了中国的环境质量;(2)FDI 对环境的改善效果存在门槛值,即当 FDI 比重超过0.12时, FDI 的增加将导致环境质量的恶化。文章为当前我国如何有效地发挥 FDI 的改善环境作用以及制定更为灵活的引资政策和差异化的环境政策提供了启示。     

Recycling of carbon/energy taxes and the labor market

This paper provides a quantitative assessmet of a cost shift from labor to energy by means of a carbon/energy tax. The analysis utilizes a general equilibrium model for the European Community, placing the emphasis on the modeling of labor supply. The paper highlights the importance of the feedback from an induced increase in labor demand to wage formation. It shows that the goals of CO₂ reduction and improved employment are complementary, provided the reduction in labor costs financed by the carbon/energy tax is not offset by increased wage claims. Under this condition, reduced CO₂ is consistent with an increase in GDP.     

我国东、中、西部FDI战略动机差异分析

我国东、中、西部FDI在绝对数量、相对规模、增长率等方面存在差异。基于FDI两种战略动机类型,运用FDI区位选择理论建立模型,利用历史数据进行实证比较分析,得出结论并提出更有效吸引FDI的建议。     

外商直接投资与技术升级的相关性研究

基于两地区的技术内生经济增长模型,建立了FDI投资对区域技术水平影响的经济动态模型,从中得到的结论是FDI对国内技术的提升有一定的局限性,主要表现在:通过引进FDI能够提升国内的技术水平和人均产出水平,但是受到FDI技术转让、投资技术先进性程度等因素的制约;从FDI促进国内技术水平提升的动态运动过程看,相对技术水平升级速度较慢。由此得到了相应的政策启示,鼓励FDI采用先进技术投资,提高跨国公司投资的技术水平,东道国应加大教育支出水平和研发力度,加强知识产权保护力度。     

对外贸易、FDI与我国收入差距关系的实证研究

改革开放以来,我国的基尼系数偏高和收入差距扩大受到了诸多因素的影响,笔者从对外贸易和FDI的角度探讨其相互间的关联性问题。通过构造VEC模型的实证检验表明:国际贸易竞争力的增强扩大了我国的财富分配差距,外国直接投资的大规模流入则有助于改善收入差距。FDI对我国出口具有促进作用,对进口则有替代作用,基尼系数偏高隐含的低工资成本也是对外贸易保持快速增长的重要原因。     

FDI、人均收入与环境效应

本文利用时间序列数据对FDI的环境效应进行了整体分析,利用省际面板数据对FDI、人均收入和环境污染进行了区域分析。结果表明:FDI对环境产生了负的规模效应、负的结构效应和正的技术效应,但FDI对区域间的环境污染程度则有不同表现——东部地区污染程度加重,中部和西部则相反。而且随着人均收入的提高,我国整体上环境污染程度趋于好转。对此本文提出了要提高引资质量和引资标准,调整FDI投向,加强环境管制,转变政府引资思路的政策建议。     

Heterogeneous firms,corporate taxes and export behavior: A firm-level investigation for Italy

This paper analyses the effect of home corporate taxes on a firm’s decision to expand the scale of its activity through exports using a rich dataset on Italian firms. Starting out from the observation that firms’ export activity vary greatly among them and tend to be systematically related to firm’s characteristics, we relate differences in firms’ export choices to firm level incidence of corporate taxes. Our results suggest that (i) corporate taxes matter at both the extensive and the intensive margin and (ii) higher corporate taxes may increase the probability of new firms’ entry in the foreign market while they decrease the export intensity of incumbent exporters.     

新形势下中国企业对外投资的区位选择综合决策模型

对外直接投资的区位选择是跨国公司管理决策的关键点,在很大程度上决定着投资的成败,现有理论在解决了众多为何要对外投资的问题,但在向何处投资的问题上却没有理论和模型可以全面解释。本文建立了新的对外直接投资的区位选择决策二级系统模型,将影响因素按影响效果和属性分类,利用模糊优选方法解决了非量化因素的量化可比性问题。并将本国与外国因素融入同一模型,同时解决了是否要进行对外投资和向何处投资两个问题。