Farm settlement with imperfect capital markets: a life-cycle application to Upper Canada, 1826–1851

Farm settlement, where borrowing is constrained, is addressed with a life‐cycle model. Because a pioneer farm must be cleared before becoming productive, the settler first accumulates in order to purchase supplies and maintain consumption during the initial years. Implications of the model are explored using data from Upper Canada, 1826–1851: age at settlement is delayed. Settlers eventually receive higher incomes than those who do not settle; rising life expectancy contributes to settlement; an immediate income is a prerequisite to settlement. Such findings conform to the experience of Upper Canada and other pioneer areas and may also illuminate aspects of migration. JEL classification: N31, J61 Colonisation agricole quand les marchés du capital sont imparfaits:une application du modèle du cycle de vie au Haut‐Canada, 1826–51. L'auteur examine le processus de colonisation agricole quand il y a contraintes sur les emprunts à l'aide d'un modèle de cycle de vie. Parce qu'un pionnier doit d'abord défricher avant que la ferme ne soit productive, le colon doit avoir préalablement accumulé un certain pécule afin de pouvoir acheter le matériel nécessaire et maintenir sa consommation durant les premières années de colonisation. On analyse les implications de ce modèle en utilisant les données pour le Haut Canada de 1826 à1851. Entre autres résultats, on note que l'âge où l'on s'installe est reporté; que ceux qui colonisent éventuellement reçoivent des revenus beaucoup plus élevés que ceux qui ne le font pas; que la croissance de l'espérance de vie tend à encourager la colonisation; et qu'une source immédiate de revenus est un prérequis à la colonisation. Ces résultats et certains autres sont conformes à ce que l'on observe dans le Haut Canada et dans les autres zones de colonisation, et il peuvent jeter un peu de lumière sur certains aspects du processus de migration.     

Heterogeneous human capital, uncertainty, and the structure of plans: A market process approach to marriage and divorce

The family has not been exempt from the multiple and rapidly occurring changes in the world today, particularly in market economies. The number of marriages has declined, age at first marriage has risen, the number of divorces has risen sharply, the fertility rate has declined, and the division of labor within families has changed, not always in ways that might be expected. This paper subjects these developments to a market process analysis, drawing on the voluminous work occurring in family economics. The Austrian theory of capital, with its emphasis on capital heterogeneity, is relevant. We place particular emphasis on the importance of the structure of human capital within marriage and how investments in such human capital have been affected by the uncertainty that these changes have produced. We also examine investments in marriage-specific human capital and in general human capital (particularly as they relate to childcare). This is then related to the incidence of divorce and the causes and spoils from divorce. The advent of no-fault divorce seems to have been seminal in this regard. We end with a brief glance at the future.

Substitution and scale effects with and without homotheticity: An application to the intertemporal consumption decision

This paper derives a simple functional relation between substitution and scale concepts applicable to the theories of consumption and production. Its usefulness is illustrated by pulling together various results about the relation between savings and the interest rate.     

基础教育、职业培训与农民工外出收入-基于生命周期的视角

提高农民工收入是转型期我国经济社会工作的重要内容.文章使用全国农村固定观察点2011-2014年数据,采取PSM-DID等识别方法,在生命周期的视角下研究了基础教育和职业培训对于提升农民工外出收入的异质性影响.随后从就业方式、从事行业和从业地点等维度进行了差异性甄别和机制性解释,并就两者如何影响收入不平等问题进行了讨论.研究发现:(1)由于现阶段农民工被锁定在低技能行业,相较于基础教育,职业培训对农民工外出收入产生了更大的正向影响,这不仅体现在短期的即时效应,也表现为基于生命周期的长期效应.(2)这些影响在不同外出就业类型、从事行业以及从业地点均具有异质性.(3)基础教育和职业培训不仅能够提高农民工的收入,还能降低农村地区的收入不平等,并且职业培训的效用更大.文章对于通过提升人力资本增加农民工收入、缩小收入差距具有一定的政策启示.     

Growth and financial liberalization under capital collateral constraints: The striking case of the stochastic AK model with CARA preferences

We consider a small-open, collateral-constrained AK economy. We show that the combination of CARA preferences and uncertainty on capital inflows generates long-term growth while the deterministic counterpart does not: long-term growth is entirely driven by precautionary savings, and the asymptotic growth rate of the expected capital stock is increasing in both the risk magnitude and the Arrow–Pratt absolute risk aversion parameters.     

Immigration, fertility, and human capital: A model of economic decline of the West

I show how the influences of unskilled immigration, differential fertility between immigrants and the local indigenous population, and incentives for investment in human capital combine to predict the decline of the West. In particular, indigenous low-skilled workers lose from unskilled immigration even if the indigenous low-skilled workers do not finance redistribution, do not compete with immigrants in the labor market, and do not compete with immigrants for publicly financed income transfers. For the economy at large, high-fertility unskilled immigrants and a low-fertility indigenous population result in economic decline through reduced human capital accumulation and reduced growth of per-capita output.     

International technology spillovers,human capital and productivity linkages: evidence from the industrial sector

The paper estimates an empirical model that is consistent with a variety of Research and Development (R&D)-driven models of growth where technology is transmitted via trade to other industries, both domestically and internationally, by being embodied in differentiated intermediate goods. The evidence is based on data from 21 manufacturing industries in six European Union countries for the period 1980–1997. The contribution of the paper lies in showing how by including human capital in the model and employing suitable econometric procedures the magnitude of R&D spillovers reported in the existing literature can be affected, while pointing to a major role of human capital in economic growth process.     

Economic complexity,human capital and economic growth: empirical research based on cross-country panel data

Economic complexity reflects a country’s production capabilities and plays an important role in economic growth. This article measures the economic complexity of 210 countries using the method of reflections, and investigates the impact of economic complexity and human capital on economic growth. The measurement results show that there are significant differences regarding the level of complexity among countries. High-income economies have higher complexity than low- and middle-income economies. The empirical findings demonstrate that economic complexity and different levels of human capital have positive effects on long- and short-term growth. A positive interaction effect on economic growth exists between economic complexity and human capital. In addition, secondary education as a proxy for human capital has a relatively greater positive direct effect and a much stronger interactive effect with complexity on economic growth. In addition, the magnitude of the interaction effect between economic complexity and human capital on long- and short-term growth increases as the revealed comparative advantage threshold grows.     

Two tales on human capital and knowledge spillovers: the case of the US and Brazil

This article uses a quasi-Mincerian approach to verify whether the concentration of college-educated individuals employed in the business support services sector and in the own sector contributes to increased productivity in other sectors of the economy. We estimate the returns to education using data from the 2008 US Current Population Survey (March supplement) and from the 2008 Brazilian household survey. This article finds evidence of a positive and significant human capital sectorial spillover effect, which is consistent with Acemoglu’s (1996) conjecture. The sectorial concentration of highly educated workers contributes to increase wages for all workers. This study also finds evidence of increasing returns to education in Brazil and diminishing returns to education in the United States. This finding may be explained by differences in supply of skilled workers in both economies. In addition, the short supply of highly skilled workers in Brazil likely explains the importance of the spillover effect from the business supporting sector.     

生命周期视角:民营企业社会责任履行促进机制探讨

企业在整个生命周期中,在不同的发展阶段其对社会责任的理解及履行能力是不同的。因此,分阶段渐进地履行社会责任,是企业的一种理性和必要选择。本文基于企业生命周期模型,在文献梳理的基础上探讨了民营企业生命周期的阶段性特点及其社会责任边界,以及如何实现两者契合的问题。文章认为,要使民营企业的社会责任行为更具可持续性,必须把社会责任意识在其生命周期的初创期根植进去,内生于企业发展过程中。此外,企业、政府和社会需积极构建长效联动的促进机制,使民营企业实现自身发展和履行社会责任的和谐互动。     

Gas prices,beer taxes and GDL programmes: effects on auto fatalities among young adults in the US

Efforts to reduce teenage driving fatalities can be categorized as: enhancing driving skills, constraining driving behaviour and limiting the exposure of young drivers to the road. This article uses state-year specific Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data on the motor vehicle fatalities of young adults aged 15–24 to estimate the effects of gasoline prices, beer taxes and the enactment of Graduated Drivers License (GDL) programmes over the 1985–2006 period. Results indicate that a 10% increase in gasoline prices reduce fatalities by 3.2–6.2%. The largest percentage reductions occurred among 15- to 17-year-old drivers. 10% higher beer taxes were estimated to reduce motor vehicle fatalities among young drivers by approximately 1.3%. In this case, there was virtually no effect on 15- to 17-year-old drivers. Finally, the introduction of more restrictive GDL programmes, those with a 6-month learner's permit phase and subsequent limits on early nighttime driving or on the number of passengers, reduced fatalities among 15- to 17-year-old drivers by 24%. The effects on 18- to 21-year-old drivers were smaller and the weakest GDL programmes had no effect on fatalities.     

Entrepreneurship,novel combinations,capital regrouping,and the structure-agency relationship: an introduction to the special issue on innovation and Austrian economics

This introduction outlines some key aspects of an Austrian perspective on innovation, which is viewed as an ongoing, dynamic process in which entrepreneurs combine heterogeneous capital resources in new ways order to develop and deploy new technologies, products, and methods of business organisation. It goes on to introduce the contributions to this special issue on Austrian economics and innovation.

     

Optimal hedging with currency forwards,calls, and calls on forwards for the competitive exporting firm facing exchange rate uncertainty

We extend the well-known full hedge theorems of the hedging literature to random profits that are nonlinear in the random exchange rate. This arises when production flexibility is added to the standard model of the risk-averse exporting firm, where all production decisions have to be made before the exchange rate is known. Hence, hedging with currency derivatives that provide a linear payoff in the exchange rate can no longer provide a perfect hedge. Therefore forward selling is replaced by writing a certain call portfolio. Adding delayed revenue to the model induces the firm to sell calls on forwards. Because our generalized full hedge proposition is proved for random profits that might as well decrease in the exchange rate, the result is applicable to certain types of importing firms, too. — Given the absence of speculative motives on the part of the firm, it turns out that long-term investments in capital goods are chosen in risk-neutral manner.     

经济周期协动性的影响因素分析——基于中国与其东亚贸易伙伴的实证研究

影响中国(大陆)与其贸易伙伴之间的经济周期协动性变化的因素主要包括双边贸易强度、产业内贸易、外国直接投资、金融开放度、产业结构相似度、财政政策协调、货币政策协调、汇率政策等。运用混合最小二乘法对1992-2009年中国(大陆)及其贸易伙伴共14个国家和地区的面板数据进行实证分析,结果显示:中国与其他亚洲经济体的协动性主要受到产业内贸易强度和产业结构相似度这两个因素的影响。因此,政府应该有针对性地调整相关政策以更好地应对外部冲击。