Trade patterns,unemployment and growth

This paper analyses the implications of a minimum wage in an open economy two-sector model where the effect of growth on trade and unemployment is explicitly determined. The first-best policy is a wage subsidy to all employment while the second-best policy is a production tax cum subsidy. In the absence of policy intervention it is shown that growth in the short run results in decreasing unemployment for the home country if it is specialized in consumption goods or incompletely specialized provided that the minimum wage is binding. If the economy is specialized in investment goods, then unemployment may increase initially but as growth continues the minimum wage no longer remains binding and full employment is restored. In the long run by examining the dynamic interaction between trade and growth it is possible for the economy to be incompletely specialized with unemployment. If the economy specializes in consumption goods, it is possible for the economy to attain full employment.     

Offshoring,Plant Survival and Employment Growth

This paper empirically investigates the effects of offshoring on plant survival and employment growth using data on the Danish manufacturing plants during the period 1995–2006. To control for the potential endogeneity of the offshoring decision, the paper uses instrumental variables and propensity score‐matching approaches. The data allow me to control for the heterogeneity between the units by using firm‐level offshoring activities in different regions and performing the empirical analysis on plantlevel aggregation, which is shown to be of crucial importance. Using firm as a unit of observation, the effect of offshoring is, if any, very small. However, using plant as a unit of observation, there are strong indications that offshoring plays a much larger role for the extensive and intensive margin of adjustments. The results reveal that plants survival prospect is higher if the main offshoring is located in high‐wage countries; lower if it is located in low‐wage countries; and not affected if it is located in medium‐wage countries. Finally, the results also reveal that depending on where the main offshoring is located, the growth rate of low‐skilled employment is 2 to 8 per cent lower in plants of offshoring firms.     

最低工资对低收入群体的“增收”和“保基本”效果分析——以广州市数据为例

作为政府规制劳动力市场工资收入分配的唯一法定收入标准，最低工资是保障劳动者特别是低收入劳动者取得劳动报酬合法权益的重要手段，也是国家“提低、扩中、控高”收入分配制度改革政策中“提低”的主要措施之一。本文以广州市低收入宏观数据及微观流动人口数据为例，立足于评估最低工资调整对劳动者“增收”和“保基本”的效果，旨在分析最低工资调整是否满足了劳动者最基本的生活需求及对低收入群体增收效应的异质性差异如何。研究结果表明，最低工资标准基本能保障最底层收入家庭基本生活，并且最低工资对低收入群体工资存在正向效应，且对于男性、30岁以下、最低工资标准附近收入等组别的收入效果更为显著，同时存在对收入的溢出效应。     

Increasing returns: Competing for customers in the global market

This paper discusses emerging, increasing returns notions, comparing it to the diminishing returns model of the industrial era, with the consequent implications for the global manager. Increasing returns, it is argued, comes from a different set of management premises: capitalising on the time value of individual customers in new “market spaces”, rather than from making and moving more “things” in traditional product/market categories; leveraging intangibles, abundant and infinite, which increasingly deliver the value to customers; and sharing markets, resources and technologies with others in new “competitive spaces”, rather than adopting proprietary behaviour, in order to get critical market mass and lock in. These premises, if consciously managed and translated into strategy, the paper argues, lead to an accumulating advantage and disproportionate returns for corporations.     

Fair wages, unemployment and technological change in a global economy

This paper analyzes the effects of global and national technological change on employment and relative wages in an integrated two-country world (“Europe” and “America”), where both countries are characterized by equilibrium unemployment due to fair wage constraints. The asymmetry between the countries arises from country-specific preferences towards wage inequality, with Europe's preferences being more egalitarian. Furthermore, we look at integration between this two-country world and a third country (“low-wage south”). We derive an analytical tool, the Virtual Integrated Equilibrium, that allows us to adapt Dixit and Norman's Integrated Equilibrium approach to a situation where both countries have endogenous unemployment levels.     

MODELS OF COMPETITION BETWEEN FIRMS: ENDOGENOUS MARKET STRUCTURE IN THE KALECKIAN MODEL

The purpose of this paper is to incorporate free entry into the Kaleckian model. To this end, we consider a model with monopolistic competition, mark‐up pricing and a free‐entry condition. Using this model, the Kaleckian model is unstable under a wage‐led growth regime, and it is stable under a profit‐led growth regime, when the interest rate is supposed to be constant. Stability under a wage‐led growth can be achieved if the interest rate is allowed to respond positively to capacity utilization. We also find that a goods market policy, but not an income distribution policy, is then effective from an economic growth perspective.     

State Minimum Wage Differences: Economic Factors or Political Inclinations?

This paper examines the importance of factors that influence a state's decision to adopt an above-federal minimum wage level. Our results indicate that state political leanings are the primary factor explaining differences in state minimum wage laws since 1991. Further, state cost of living differences do not appear to influence a state's decision to increase its minimum wage above the federal level. This result is interesting since proponents of raising the minimum wage cite the rising cost of living as a principal justification for an increase. Our findings should be of special interest to economists responsible for analyzing and forecasting labor cost trends within and among states where their employers operate or plan to relocate.     

Technical Change and a Falling Wage Share if Profits are Maintained

In the framework of a multi-sectoral and fixed-coefficients Leontief model with capital stock matrix B, the paper addresses the issue of the impact of technical change on income distribution. Comparing two steady-state positions, it is shown that with cost-reducing, capital-using and (uniformly) labour-saving technical change the equilibrium rate of profit will fall, if it is the aggregate wage share which remains fixed, not the absolute level of the real wage. Conversely, the wage share falls if the profit rate does not change. The reactions are ambiguous if, instead of the coefficients of the matrix B, the coefficients of the input–output matrix A increase.     

Accelerated internationalization by emerging markets’ multinationals: The case of the white goods sector

The emergence of a “second wave” of developing country multinational enterprises (MNEs) in a variety of industries is one of the characterizing features of globalization. This paper documents how emerging markets’ MNEs (EM-MNEs) may follow quite different patterns to reach, or at least approach, global competitiveness. In particular, it investigates how three EM-MNEs pursued global growth through accelerated internationalization combined with strategic and organizational innovation. Haier (China), Mabe (Mexico) and Arçelik (Turkey) emerged as multinationals in the large home appliances (so-called “white goods”) industry. The recipe for the success of these firms seems to lie in their ability to treat global competition as an opportunity to build capabilities, move into more profitable industry segments, and adopt strategies that turn latecomer status into a source of competitive advantage. At the same time, their experiences show that there are many strategies and trajectories for going global, consistent with a pluralistic conceptualization of globalization.     

我国劳动力市场买方垄断条件下最低工资就业效应分析

文章探讨了劳动力市场买方垄断条件下最低工资对就业的影响。研究表明:无歧视买方垄断下,实行最低工资能促进就业;完全歧视买方垄断下,实行最低工资对就业没有影响。此外,关于上海市最低工资与农民工就业的实证分析结果表明,提高最低工资对农民工就业有正作用。由此导出了一个重要的政策含义,即提高最低工资标准,促进农民工就业。     

Growth pattern of academic entrepreneurial firms

Academic entrepreneurship, the creation of new business ventures by university professors, technicians, or students, is increasingly being promoted by university-based innovation centers and university business offices. It is seen as an efficient university-industry technology transfer mechanism, and, in some cases may contribute to university revenue. Whereas most entrepreneurs leave the university at time of start-up, others keep their academic postings as full-time or part-time professors. “Part time” entrepreneurship may be interesting from a university point of view, because (i) it keeps in the laboratory a creative individual, (ii) it may provide through part-time academic positions for a more efficient use of university resources, and (iii) it encourages more contacts between faculty, students, and the business world. However, manufacturing firms led by part-time entrepreneurs do not seem to be as aggressive and growth-oriented as “independent” firms. The university professor interested in the successful transposition of an idea, an invention, to the commercial sector, may therefore have to do it through licensing, or resign from the university to devote all his time and energy to the development, manufacturing, and commercialization process. And the university interested in investing in a new “academic firm” created to exploit commercially an invention made in its own laboratories should beware of keeping the academic entrepreneur on staff, or, if he stays on staff, of involving him with the management of the new company.These are the main conclusions of a study of the evolution from 1980–1981 to 1984–1985 of 38 young firms originally created by entrepreneurs while at various universities in several Canadian provinces. The results, supported by the observation of a small control group of 8 Canadian hightechnology companies, bring out a dichotomy: for firms offering technical services, the continued this project were made by Colleen Bigelow and Branko Peterman. Their help was greatly appreciated. academic posting of the firm's creator does not appear to overly affect its operations and growth; however, manufacturing firms completely independent from the university tend to g row faster. Other results support the negative correlation that seems to exist between the growth rate of sales and closeness to academic life, as measured, for example, by the use of university laboratories and equipment. Whether they are still closely connected to a university or not, the entrepreneurs in our sample do note many potential positive benefits from continuing contacts with the academic world. It is possible that the negative correlation between growth and university links observed in the sample results more from the individual characteristics of the entrepreneurs than from a negative influence by the university. As venture capitalists have long noticed, one of the main determinants of growth and success is the entrepreneur himself. The entrepreneurs staying close to the university and using university services may be less aggressive and less risk-oriented than the others.     

The Turnover of Firms and Industry Growth

In a dynamic setting, every firm can be regarded as a “business experiment” with the objective to search and explore new business opportunities. It is suggested that the growth of an industry is enhanced by new-firm entry, since a positive correlation between the number of successes, i.e. fast-growing firms, and the number of business experiments is to be expected. Exit is necessary to sort out the firms that the market rejects. Hence, it is rather the entry and exit of firms that jointly should have a positive effect on growth, rather than the number of entries in isolation. This paper tests the hypothesis that a high turnover rate of firms has no, or a negative, effect on industry growth. The analysis is based on an extensive data set covering all Swedish IT firms that existed between 1994 and 1998. The turnover rate of firms is found to have a significantly positive effect on industry growth.     

最低工资对我国就业性别差异的影响研究——基于中国省际面板数据和行业面板数据的分析

文章基于中国1996-2012年省际面板数据和城镇单位行业面板数据,在控制了教育、劳动供给、经济开放、经济发展、就业环境和时间等因素后,考查了相对最低工资和绝对最低工资的提升对城镇单位就业性别差异的影响。结果表明,最低工资对就业性别差异的影响存在自我修正机制,当期影响与滞后影响方向相反;相对最低工资的综合影响以正向为主,但影响较微弱,绝对最低工资的影响主要体现在滞后效应中,综合影响以负向为主;在高工资行业和女性就业集中度较低的行业中,相对最低工资的当期影响存在一致的负向性、滞后影响以正向为主,绝对最低工资的当期影响以负向为主、滞后影响以正向为主;在女性就业集中度较高的行业中绝对工资的滞后影响以负向为主。     

Does self-employment reduce unemployment?

This paper investigates the dynamic relationship between self-employment and unemployment rates. On the one hand, high unemployment rates may lead to start-up activity of self-employed individuals (the “refugee” effect). On the other hand, higher rates of self-employment may indicate increased entrepreneurial activity reducing unemployment in subsequent periods (the “entrepreneurial” effect). This paper introduces a new two-equation vector autoregression model capable of reconciling these ambiguities and estimates it for data from 23 OECD countries between 1974 and 2002. The empirical results confirm the existence of two distinct relationships between unemployment and self-employment: the “refugee” and “entrepreneurial” effects. We also find that the “entrepreneurial” effects are considerably stronger than the “refugee” effects.     

Mindestlohn in Deutschland,Großbritannien und in den USA

In Germany, there is an ongoing debate on whether the new statutory minimum wage has had negative employment effects. First evaluation results point at a fairly modest job loss. However, long-run effects are difficult to estimate. While the German minimum wage might be adjusted by an economically sound growth rate, minimum wages in Great Britain and some US states have been increased beyond the level that existing evidence would suggest is necessary.     

The Concept of “Free Agency” in Monotheistic Religions: Implications for Global Business

The current debate on “free agency” seems to highlight the romantic aspects of free agent and considers it a genuine response to changing economic conditions (e.g., high-unemployment rate, importance of knowledge in the labor market, the eclipse of organizational loyalty, and self pride). Little attention, if any, has been given to the religious root of the free agency concept and its persistent existence across history. In this paper, the current discourse on free agency and the conditions that have led to its emergence are briefly discussed. The paper focuses on the theological perspectives of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam on the concept. Implications for management and business organizations are provided.     

Mind the Gender Wage Gap – the Impact of Trade and Competition on Sectoral Wage Differences

This paper examines differences between women’s and men’s wages in 18 selected OECD countries in the period 1970 to 2005. The study is based on 12 manufacturing sector‐ and skill‐specific sets of panel data on the gender wage gap. We apply a system generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator to the extended version of the conditional gender wage gap convergence equation, controlling for sector concentration and industry‐specific measures of openness using a difference‐in‐difference approach: trade‐affected concentrated sectors versus trade‐affected competitive sectors. The results indicate that: (i) an increase in sector concentration is associated with wage gap growth; (ii) both import and export penetration are associated with a reduction of the high‐skill gender wage gap growth in concentrated industries; (iii) there is evidence of a widening impact of trade on the medium and low‐skill occupational gender wage gap growth in less competitive industries; (iv) institutional regulations of the labour market have an impact on the development of the gender wage gap: for highly‐skilled labour an increase in labour market regulation raises the growth of the gender wage gap, while for medium‐ and low‐skilled workers, it lowers it.     

Gesetzliche Mindestlöhne: mit der Einführung kommen die Tücken der Umsetzung

Looking around the world, one realizes that national minimum wages are not uncommon. Yet it is still very difficult to estimate what effects a minimum wage might have in Germany. This is not just a question of how high the minimum wage should be — its impacts would also depend on many details of practical implementation. The present article addresses these issues.     

贸易增长与工资差距(1990～2009)——基于劳动禀赋结构和技术效应结构的经验研究

文章从劳动禀赋结构和技术效应结构视角建立模型,研究中国近20年贸易增长与工资差距的关系。回归、Granger检验和Chow突变点分析发现:工资差距主要受与人均GNI更高国家之间贸易占贸易总额比率的影响,两者呈负相关关系;与低技能劳动密集型产品的产值占GDP比重关系密切;同时也和加工贸易、高新技术产品贸易的增长有显著的负的线性相关关系;事实表面上有悖于实际却佐证了要素价格均等化理论和S-S定理,而被广为引用的中间产品贸易模型和贸易的科技进步效应理论在某个角度上却缺乏经验支持;全球化与"赶超"式发展必然导致工资差距进一步扩大。     

DUAL LABOR MARKETS AND THE IMPACT OF MINIMUM WAGES ON ATYPICAL EMPLOYMENT

We present a growth model that contains minimum wages as one important element of a flexicurity economy where we allow for heterogeneous labor and for real wage rigidities. We show that the wage‐setting process, in its reference to the reservation wage of the first labor market, is crucial as regards stability of the economy and persistent or explosive oscillations may occur, in particular when the influence of the reservation wage on wage formation in the first labor market becomes too strong. Further, minimum wages can alleviate the negative consequences of economic downturns and help stabilize the economy.