How does broadband infrastructure promote entrepreneurship in China: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment

Using the Broadband China strategy as a quasi-natural experiment, our study attempts to understand how broadband infrastructure (BI) impacts entrepreneurship in China. Employing a staggered difference-in-difference approach, we argue that BI significantly enhances entrepreneurship, and that this conclusion holds after considering the identification of assumptions and a range of other factors that may interfere with the estimation results. The mechanism exploration reveals that human capital agglomeration and financial development are the main pathways through which BI encourages entrepreneurial activities. Furthermore, the positive effects of BI are bigger in eastern cities, high market-oriented cities, and among cities with excellent traditional infrastructure. Our findings reveal the role of improving BI in facilitating the development of new ventures in China.     

国际贸易与内生经济增长——基于 DGE 理论分析与实证检验

本文基于开放条件下的内生经济增长理论,构建居民、贸易与非贸易企业三部门的动态一般均衡理论分析框架,演绎了出口贸易、消费品与中间产品进口贸易以及加工贸易对经济增长的效应及其内生作用机理,并采用动态面板数据模型GMM估计方法予以实证检验。研究发现,消费品进口贸易对经济增长具有相同单位的边际制约效应;出口贸易通过直接与间接拉动效应以及收入效应促进经济增长,中间产品进口贸易与加工贸易通过直接与间接推动效应以及收入效应促进经济增长;另外,出口贸易与加工贸易促进经济增长还存在“乘数”现象。本文的发现对于我国经济发展“新常态”背景下的贸易政策改革与创新具有启示意义。     

数字贸易赋能制造业质量变革机制与效应——来自跨境电子商务综合试验区的准自然实验

数字贸易已经成为全球发展的趋势。本文使用2009~2020年沪深A股制造业上市公司,以跨境电子商务综试区设立为“准自然实验”,探究数字贸易赋能制造业质量变革的作用机制与效应,结果发现:(1)设立跨境电子商务综试区能够显著提高企业全要素生产率,数字贸易推动制造业企业质量升级;(2)机制分析发现,数字贸易使得企业能获得和使用市场中更多的信息来满足消费者,提升了企业研发创新能力,进而提升企业质量。数字贸易对出口企业质量升级的影响大于非出口企业,数字贸易对两者的影响途径存在差异;(3)异质性分析表明,政治资源诅咒与基础设施限制,使数字贸易对非国有企业和高互联网发展水平制造业企业质量升级的影响更加明显;(4)数字贸易赋能制造业升级具有出口提升效应,数字贸易提升了制造业企业出口产品质量、产品种类与海外市场。本文结论对理解数字贸易在我国制造业质量改革中发挥的作用,以及数字贸易政策实践具有借鉴意义。     

“一带一路”倡议下中国与西亚贸易潜力研究--基于引力模型的实证分析

西亚地处亚欧非交界地带,自古以来就是丝绸之路的重要组成部分,广泛开展与西亚各国的经贸关系对“一带一路”建设具有重要意义。本文以中国与西亚各国的进出口贸易数据为基础,利用扩展的贸易引力模型分析了中国与西亚各国的贸易潜力,测算了双边贸易效率。实证结果表明:双方人均GDP、西亚各国的人口规模和区域贸易协定可以显著促进双边贸易,双边距离和中国的人口规模会阻碍贸易发展。据此建议中国在与西亚贸易往来时,应注重优化贸易结构、加强区域合作、发展港口运输和基础设施建设以及防范贸易风险。     

基于制造业技术创新的战略性贸易政策与我国产业结构优化研究

文章采用理论分析、数理建模、实证分析等方法,对战略性贸易政策在制造业技术创新、产业结构升级与优化中的重要作用进行了研究。研究结果表明：（1）LZFTR（政府资金投入）与CJP（初级品）的相关系数r＝-0.964,LZFTR与ZCP（工业制成品）的相关系数r＝0.982（P＜0.01）。表明战略性贸易政策能够有效降低初级品出口比重,增加工业制品的出口比重,从而促进出口贸易结构不断升级与优化;（2） 战略性贸易政策对高技术制造业产品出口贸易固定效应、随机效应模型系数值均为正,战略性贸易政策政府研究发展补贴每增加100%,高技术产业对外贸易结构就会优化0.0042,说明战略性贸易政策对高技术制造业产品的外贸易结构变化有正向促进作用;（3）战略性贸易政策对各高技术制造行业贸易结构的影响不尽相同,其对医药制造业及各小类行业对外贸易出口产业结构优化均有明显的促进作用,其对仪器仪表出口贸易结构优化有着明显的促进作用,但是对医疗设备与器械制造出口贸易结构优化的促进作用并不显著。在此基础上作者提出了推动我国实现产业结构优化的相关战略性贸易政策建议,以期为提高我国制造业的自主创新能力,优化产业结构提供一定的理论参考。     

Socio-spatial patterns of the national broadband network revealed: Lessons from greater Sydney,Melbourne, and Brisbane

The National Broadband Network (NBN) is the largest public infrastructure project in the history of Australia. The goal of the NBN is to provide Australians with broadband internet access by using a mix of technologies, ranging from fibre and hybrid fibre-coaxial to fixed wireless and satellite platforms. Although the NBN is a public project, one of the more vexing aspects of its evolution is its lack of data transparency. There is virtually no information on platform use or footprint distribution throughout the country. Not only does this drastically limit evidence-based telecommunications policy analysis, it also limits the ability to evaluate equity in the spatial distribution of broadband connectivity and infrastructure quality. The purpose of this paper is to uncover the geographic presence of the various NBN technologies using data mining techniques and census-based socio-spatial data (SEIFA). The results portray the complexity of the NBN footprint across three metropolitan regions of Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane – with a focus on how the mixed-technology platform adopted divides major Australian cities.     

Estimating willingness-to-pay for broadband attributes among low-income consumers: Results from two FCC lifeline pilot projects

Recent studies have confirmed that broadband adoption (as opposed to simply having access to broadband infrastructure) is positively linked with economic growth. In light of this, federal policy efforts have switched from focusing mainly on the provision of infrastructure to more explicit adoption-oriented efforts. One of those efforts was the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Low-income Broadband Lifeline Pilot Projects, which ran from 2013 to 2014. The program worked with 14 private telecommunications firms to subsidize household broadband adoption for low-income households by providing discounted monthly and equipment costs. Low-income households are an important component of the broadband adoption puzzle: between 2003 and 2013, the adoption gap between low-income and high-income households actually increased by 5% points. This paper focuses on two specific FCC Broadband Lifeline Pilot projects that allowed consumers to make choices among different options, such as data allowance, speed, and wireless vs. wired connections. Conditional logit models are used to develop estimates of consumer’s willingness-to-pay for specific broadband attributes. The results indicate that low-income consumers have a preference for smartphone connections (versus aircards) – and that this effect is even more pronounced for those households earning less than $20,000; that low-income consumers have a preference for wired connections (versus wireless); and that there is evidence that low-income consumers are willing to pay for an extra GB of data each month – but not for the speed of their connection.     

Implementing policy on next-generation broadband networks and implications for equity of access to high speed broadband: A case study of Australia's NBN

Next generation telecommunications infrastructure is expanding and supporting rapid growth of broadband technologies and a digital economy. In this context, digital information and communications technologies (ICTs) are of increasing importance as a means for people to gain access to health or social services, employment opportunities, information and social networks. In this article we draw on our recent case study research to examine the policy (and politics) shaping implementation of Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) and its likely effects on equity of access to high speed broadband (HSB) services. We monitored NBN policy and implementation from 2015 to 2018 through policy documents, reports, and media. To assess likely effects of NBN policy on implementation and subsequently on equity of access to HSB we: a) applied a framework defining four elements of equity of access; and b) analysed stakeholder views drawn from media articles and 22 interviews with experts on NBN policy including politicians, government staff, and industry representatives. We found that equity considerations competed with political and commercial imperatives during the rollout of the NBN. This resulted in positive and negative consequences for equity of access to HSB, with a change in policy and implementation in 2013 bringing greater risks to equity of access. The case study provides a framework for considering equity in the implementation of next generation telecommunications infrastructure and highlights the importance of considering equity in the evaluation of telecommunications infrastructure.     

Closing the rural broadband gap: Promoting adoption of the Internet in rural America

Even as geographic disparities in high speed Internet access narrow, an urban–rural broadband gap persists, pointing to the importance of individual differences in motivations to adopt broadband as the key to closing the gap. Diffusion of innovation is reconceptualized through contemporary perspectives of the digital divide and social cognitive theory and tested on a survey sample drawn from four rural communities. Path analysis was used to examine the factors that cause broadband Internet service adoption in rural communities. Prior experience with the Internet, the expected outcomes of broadband usage, direct personal experience with broadband, and self-efficacy had direct effects on broadband intentions. Age and income, but not education or ethnicity, also had direct impacts. Efforts that promote the personal benefits of broadband and advanced ICT literacy skills among Internet users are recommended.     

Population grid-based assessment of the impact of broadband expansion on population development in rural areas

This paper estimates the effect of the expansion of broadband infrastructure, which enables high-speed Internet, on population development in panel of Finnish areas in the period 2010–2018. The study differs from previous studies in that it uses accurate statistics on the availability of broadband in 1 km * 1 km population grids. Therefore, the impact of broadband availability on rural development is evaluated more accurately than previously. The results of the Difference-in-difference (DiD) regression analysis show that the availability of broadband reduces depopulation of remote and sparsely populated rural areas. In this respect, the telecommunication policy in Finland has been successful, and the findings encourage the expansion of broadband infrastructure in rural areas.     

Multilevel governance and broadband infrastructure development: Evidence from Canada

This paper investigates the contributions of digital infrastructure policies of provincial governments in Canada to the development of broadband networks. Using measurements of broadband network speeds between 2007 and 2011, the paper analyzes potential causes for observed differences in network performance growth across the provinces, including geography, Internet use intensity, platform competition, and provincial broadband policies. The analysis suggests provincial policies that employed public sector procurement power to open access to essential facilities and channeled public investments in Internet backbone infrastructure were associated with the emergence of relatively high quality broadband networks. However, a weak essential facilities regime and regulatory barriers to entry at the national level limit the scope for decentralized policy solutions.     

异质性视角下中国省域碳排放效率及其影响因素研究

发展低碳经济已成为国际社会的共识,不断提高碳排放效率,能够有效地激发减排潜力。本文在省域异质性视角下,运用固定效应随机前沿分析的参数方法测算和分析中国省域碳排放效率及其影响因素。考虑碳减排技术的省域异质性后,碳排放效率在时间和空间上的差异减小。实证结果表明：经济发展水平对碳排放效率有利但影响不显著;优化产业结构、调整能源结构有利于提高碳排放效率;贸易开放显著提升碳排放效率,外商直接投资对碳排放效率影响并不显著;实施能源目标约束政策有利于促进碳排放效率,政府干预能力越强,能源目标约束的减排效果越好。未来中国提高碳排放效率的的工作重点应着重优化产业结构和调整能源结构,同时通过制度安排促使地方政府积极设计和实施碳减排政策。     

The Internet of Things as an accelerator of advancement of broadband networks: A case of Thailand

The advanced development of broadband access is an inevitable step toward supportive daily lives and sustainable economic growth. However, the decisive outcome of the development relies heavily on the demand side. Consumer choice among advanced Internet broadband technologies will determine the achievement of the development. This study aims to illustrate that consumer decisions on choices of advanced Internet access are influenced by the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) applications. A bivariate probit model is applied to examine the effects of IoT, consumer's individual characteristics, and their current use of networks on their decision pertaining to the choice of advanced Internet access. Using Thailand as a case study, the result indicates that the emergence of IoT applications accelerates the adoption of both advanced mobile broadband (5G) and advanced fixed broadband (FTTH). This finding may help policy makers to optimize the future direction of the Internet infrastructure development in Thailand, and also countries in a similar stage.     

State broadband policy: Impacts on availability

We use a county-level panel dataset from 2012 to 2018 to assess the impacts of various state policies on total and rural broadband availability in the United States. The primary dependent variable is the percentage of residents with access to 25 Megabits per second (MBPS) download and 3 MBPS upload speeds via a fixed connection, with alternative specifications considering other aspects of availability such as technology type and competition. We control for the main determinants of Internet availability such as income, education, age, and population density. Our policy variables come from the newly released State Broadband Policy Explorer from the Pew Charitable Trusts and individual contacts from the nationwide State Broadband Leaders Network. Our primary policies of interest are those related to: (1) availability of state-level funding, (2) existence of a state-level broadband office/task force with full-time employees, and (3) restrictions on municipal/cooperative broadband provision. We find a positive and significant impact of state-level funding programs on general (and fiber) broadband availability, and a negative impact of municipal/cooperative restrictions. The findings are similar when the analysis is restricted to the rural portions of counties.     

省际OFDI、出口贸易对全要素生产率的影响——基于空间杜宾模型的实证分析

中国地域辽阔,地区差异较大,研究省际OFDI、出口贸易对全要素生产率的影响需重视空间因素的作用。本文基于2005～2014年我国28个省份的面板数据,采用空间杜宾模型,实证分析OFDI和出口贸易这两个方面对全要素生产率的影响。结果表明,省际OFDI、出口贸易和全要素生产率均表现出空间集聚特征;OFDI与全要素生产率的增长呈负相关;出口对全要素生产率有显著的正向效应,并且通过空间溢出效应显著促进邻接省份全要素生产率的提升。因此,我国需重视技术寻求型OFDI的建设,充分考虑OFDI对国内经济增长的空间溢出影响,以期达到对外投资和出口贸易双实现技术溢出效应的效果。     

贸易便利化对我国汽车行业出口的影响及贸易潜力研究——基于跨国面板数据模型的实证分析

在国际贸易繁荣的景象下时有贸易保护主义的存在,推动贸易便利化成为大势所趋。本文利用与我国汽车行业贸易最密切的47个国家为样本实证研究得出,贸易便利化4个一级指标对我国汽车行业出口的影响从大到小依次为电子商务、口岸效率、海关环境、规制环境。然后利用跨国面板数据进行实证研究表明贸易便利化对我国汽车行业出口贸易有显著影响,并且通过提高贸易便利化来推动贸易只在“出口不足”的国家有效。     

韩国经济发展中的对外贸易

韩国从20世纪60年代试图开始实质性的经济开发，到2004年为止与230多个国家和地区进行贸易。2004年。其GDP是6801亿美元，为世界第10位，人均收入14162美元。交易额4783亿美元，为世界第12位。2004年外币储备额是1991亿美元．居世界第4位。韩国以韩国式经济开发，即实行市场亲和式政府干预的经济政策，通过出口为主导的经济开发实现了经济的快速增长。正高速增长的中国亦以中国式社会主义．以中国式改革开放追求出口和贸易的共同增长。中国和韩国都持续着经济的高速发展．被公认为是以出口和贸易为主的经济开发模式的典范。韩国进口能源、原材料和资本品，出口工业制成品。中国的贸易由外资企业为主进口半成品和资本品，出口工业制成品。而中国贸易在经济发展中所发挥的影响与韩国相比还小。为了持续增长，韩国需要以技术和经营革新提高国际竞争力．尤其要改善以资本品进口为主的贸易结构。     

The spatial distribution of broadband providers in the United States: 1999–2004

Variations in the supply and demand of telecommunications infrastructure in the United States are well documented. However, amidst waning concerns of a broadband digital divide, the geographic aspects of broadband availability continue to be intriguing. While some areas benefit from a robust selection of broadband providers, choices for consumers in other regions are often limited. The purpose of this paper is to explore the spatially unbalanced levels of broadband provision in the USA by providing an abbreviated longitudinal analysis of broadband regions and their development from 1999 to 2004. Broadband core and periphery regions are identified through the use of spatial statistical techniques and a geographic information system. A broadband competition index for ranking metropolitan and micropolitan areas is also introduced.     

Quantifying the Effects of Price Discrimination Under Imperfect Competition*

This article analyzes the effects of broadband carriers switching from price discrimination to uniform pricing. Broadband carriers often use third-degree price discrimination. In Colombia, broadband carriers rely on government-issued socio-economic information to segment markets. I use demand and marginal cost estimates to quantify the effects of switching from price discrimination to uniform pricing in an environment of high income disparity. The results provide direct evidence of large consumer surplus transfers from poorer to wealthier households. Poorer households respond by subscribing to slower Internet plans, which may undermine prior efforts to increase download speeds in this demographic.     

我国机电产品出口三元边际及其影响因素——基于“一带一路”国家的实证研究

“一带一路”建设为我国机电产品出口增长带来新机遇,为了探究我国机电产品出口增长的主要推动力,本文基于Un Comtrade数据,对我国机电产品的出口进行分解。实证分析结果表明,我国对“一带一路”沿线国家机电产品出口增长的主要推动力是数量边际,贡献率为82.45%;而价格边际与扩展边际的贡献率分别为7.00%与10.55%。我国与“一带一路”沿线国家的系列因素对机电产品出口三元边际存在显著的差异性影响,主要包括进口国的经济规模、人均收入、与我国的地理距离、高层互访、基础设施状况、我国的直接投资存量、亚投行的金融支持、地理邻近以及是否与我国签署自由贸易协定。