Against the current: Sraffa's unpublished manuscripts and the history of economic thought *

The paper throws some new light on Sraffa's contribution, using material from his yet unpublished papers. Attention focuses on Sraffa's rediscovery of the distinct character of the classical theory of value and distribution and his refutation of the Marshallian interpretation that it is only a special case of demand and supply theory, his reformulation of the classical theory, and his criticism of the alternative neoclassical theory.     

Political aspects of the capital controversies and capitalist crises

The Cambridge controversies about the theory of capital were ultimately underpinned by a clash between two different visions of capitalism, the neoclassical view, according to which distribution depends on the supply and demand curves of capital and labor, and the post Keynesian view, according to which distribution depends on political and institutional factors instead. I shall argue that the distinction between “meritocratic capitalism” and “patrimonial capitalism,” which underpins the discussions surrounding Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century, is also connected to those two different visions of capitalism, which were behind the Cambridge controversies. These two visions of capitalism have important implications for our understanding of political power over workers, and also to our understanding of political power over land and its natural resources. The role of land and natural resources was not discussed in the Cambridge controversies, but is addressed in Piero Sraffa’s Production of Commodities, and is implied in Piketty’s inclusion of land in his definition of capital, which brings in a geographical dimension to our understanding of capitalism and capitalist crises, as I shall argue.     

The cost of capital,asset prices,and the effects of monetary policy

The primary objective of this paper is to study the interaction between monetary policy, asset prices, and the cost of capital. In particular, we explore this issue in a setting where individuals face idiosyncratic risk. Incomplete information also provides a transactions role for money so that monetary policy can be studied. In contrast to standard monetary growth models which focus on the transmission of monetary policy to the demand for capital goods, we incorporate a separate capital goods sector so that the supply response to monetary policy is taken into account. Consequently, in contrast to the standard monetary growth model, monetary policy plays an important role in investment activity through the relative price of capital goods. Moreover, different sources of productivity can affect the degree of risk sharing. Although the optimal money growth rate falls in response to an increase in productivity in either sector of the economy, monetary policy should react more aggressively to the level of productivity in the capital sector.     

Mini-symposium on economics and visual representation

The article deals with the development and reception of the so-called theory of internal goods, which is to be considered as one of the most fascinating contributions of Russian intellectual history to economic thought. The theory of internal goods investigates the connections between cultural and economic development. It clearly reflects the question of how Russia could overcome her economic and cultural backwardness compared to Western Europe. Although the representatives of the concept have failed to keep their promise to deliver an economic theory of civilization, they raised questions that to the present day have lost none of their actuality.     

比较优势战略理论新证

竞争优势理论的追随者往往将比较优势与竞争优势两个范畴对立起来,或者干脆使用竞争优势理论来否定比较优势理论.林毅夫先生在指出对这两种理论相互关系的上述理解是错误的、主张竞争优势的建立离不开比较优势发挥的基础上,提出了经济发展的比较优势战略理论,引起了广泛的讨论.本文尝试通过新兴古典的超边际分析,论证了促进国际贸易的良性发展离不开比较优势的充分发挥,同时也为林毅夫先生的观点提供了佐证.     

Human capital,innovation and productivity in Colombian enterprises: a structural approach using instrumental variables

ABSTRACT

In this paper we explore the R&D–innovation–productivity linkage for the Colombian manufacturing industry, paying special attention to the role of human capital. Using data from two firm-level surveys, the Survey of Development and Technological Innovation (EDIT) and the Annual Manufacturing Survey (EAM), we extend the model of Crépon, Duguet, and Mairesse [1998. ‘Research, Innovation and Productivity: An Econometric Analysis at the Firm Level.’ Economics of Innovation and New Technology 7 (2): 115–158] (hereafter CDM) by including human capital at the investment decision stage. We implement an instrumental variable methodology to correct the potential endogeneity that may arise with the inclusion of human capital. Our results suggest that human capital has a causal effect on research and development (R&D) investment decisions, the innovation behavior of the firm, and increases the labor productivity of the firm. The conclusions highlight the relevance of human capital in the surrounding literature which stands in contrast to prior work that has not included this variable.     

整合技术概念及对新古典就业理论的反思

笔者提出整合技术概念，即所有的工人整合在一起操作生产系统；如果任何一名工人缺失，则生产系统不能运行。如果一种技术严格具有整合技术的性质，那么在到达能使生产系统运行之前，工人的边际产品为零。如果增加一名工人生产系统就可运行，则这名工人的边际产品等于总产品。如果再增加一名工人的边际产品为零，则边际产品曲线退化为一条垂直线。新古典边际劳动生产率理论认为，厂商雇闸工人的工资等于劳动的边际产品，但这一理论显然不适合整合技术。因此，要研究在更一般条件下厂商雇用决策的机制。采用整合技术的概念可以对很多经济学的理论问题进行重新思考。     

Corporate governance,human capital,and productivity: evidence from Chinese non-listed firms

This article analyses the effects of corporate governance (CG) and human capital on productivity by using the 1999–2006 data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC). The findings of this study are twofold. First, CG and human capital generate significant positive effects on the productivity of both state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs. Second, CG has significantly different moderate and mediate effects on the relationship between human capital and productivity. Our results are robust to different specifications and alternative measures. This study provides clear policy implications by suggesting that the firms in emerging markets, especially SOEs, must improve their CG and their allocation of human capital for them to enhance their productivity.     

Evidence that capital formation is overestimated in low- and middle-income countries in ICP 2011

Using the International Comparison Program (ICP) 2011’s cross-country data on input prices and project cost shares, I show that the ICP 2011 construction prices are substantially underestimated in the 143 low- and middle-income countries where these prices were estimated from input prices. As a consequence, the ICP 2011’s estimate of PPP-adjusted construction is overestimated on average by about 100% and gross fixed capital formation is overestimated by 25–30% in these countries. These nonrandom data errors are of sufficient magnitude to cause serious estimation bias in cross-country growth analyses.     

Natural Resources and Missing Inputs in International Productivity Comparisons*

Standard theory for cross-country productivity comparisons assumes all countries use the same factor inputs in production. This assumption is violated when including natural resources, such as oil, gas and gold, because countries do not extract the full set of resources. In this paper we propose a solution by viewing it as a “missing goods” problem and assigning missing inputs a reservation price equal to the world resource price. We show that this has a substantial impact on relative productivity levels for countries heavily reliant on natural resources for generating their income. Under our new productivity measure, resource-rich countries are no longer uncommonly productive.     

A Note on Reswitching and Intertemporal Prices

Abstract

Bliss (Capital Theory and Distribution of Income, Amsterdam/New York: North-Holland/Elsevier) claims that reswitching is nothing but an ‘optical illusion’ due to the exclusion of non-stationary price sequences from the analysis. This note develops this point. The standard case for choice of techniques and reswitching is reformulated in terms of Arrow-Debreu intertemporal prices and the conditions making these prices stationary are highlighted separately. It is then shown that the analysis of the choice of techniques in terms of ‘switch points’ requires stationary conditions.     

资金时间价值理论在企业财务管理中的应用研究

资金具有价值累积的时间效应,是现代企业财务管理活动中应重点研究的对象。在此背景下介绍了资金时间价值理论的内涵,并从筹资和资金周转的角度研究了货币时间价值理论的应用情况,对于解决财务管理问题和企业发展问题具有重要的指导作用。     

Firm size and capital structure: evidence using dynamic panel data

This article suggests that the validity of the Trade-Off Theory (TOT) and Pecking-Order Theory (POT) to explain financing decisions varies among small, medium-sized and large firms. Using dynamic panel data tests on a sample of 3439 Spanish firms over the period 1995–2003, results are partially consistent with both explanations but suggest a greater validity of pecking-order predictions for small firms. In small firms, the negative influence of profitability and the positive influence of investment opportunities and of intangible assets on firm debt predicted by the POT are heightened. However, no differences are observed between small and large firms in their speed of adjustment to the target leverage as suggested by the TOT.     

International migration,economic policy and human capital accumulation: a simulation study

"This paper examines the economic policy implications of international migration and human capital accumulation within a dynamic general equilibrium model. Each country produces by means of physical and human capital of two types (skilled and unskilled labour). Along optimal growth paths in a world of diverging population growth rates immigration can only be beneficial when the free rider effect (i.e., not paying for training costs) exceeds the capital dilution effect of an increase in population growth. Under quite general conditions the optimal immigration rate is zero."     

Sugar daddy u: human capital investment and the university-based supply of ‘romantic arrangements’

To deal with the financial hardships associated with rising college tuition, many female college students in the U.S. are turning to risqué forms of financing human capital investments, such as agreeing to potentially lucrative ‘romantic arrangements’ with older males, referred to as ‘sugar daddies,’ through the largest Internet-based club in the industry. Yet despite this recent trend, there is a relative paucity of published academic research on the economics of such behaviour. Using data from the more than 220 nationally ranked (by U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges) colleges and universities in the U.S., presents results from both Poisson and scaled Poisson estimation suggesting that large, high-cost universities that are located in larger cities or where unemployment rates are higher lead the nation in the number of female students choosing such romantic arrangements in order to fund higher education. Moreover, those institutions that are chosen by more physically attractive female students, and those that enrol a higher percentage of female students, are also generating greater numbers of female student entrants into the sugar daddy industry. Each of these findings has implications for the human capital literature and the growing body of academic literature on the economics of beauty.     

The Isolated State in Relation to Agriculture and Political Economy,Part III: Principles for the Determination of Rent,the Most Advantageous Rotation Period and the Value of Stands of Varying Age in Pinewoods

Abstract

Sraffa's book artfully combines an exposition of key problems of capital theory, using economic logic, with mathematical arguments, and he created a school of disciples extending his ideas by means of both methods. His analysis of single product systems has turned out essentially to be flawless, but the problems of joint production cannot simply be solved on the basis of analogies with single production. A truncation approach and a dynamic approach are discussed in order to summarise his main results, to illustrate his method and to take stock of the recent developments of the theory.     

资本经济一般:马克思主义经济学发展的新课题

马克思主义经济学不仅研究特定的经济性质关系,而且研究经济一般和经济运行关系。社会主义经济关系认识中对经济一般理论的探索,是马克思主义经济学发展中的薄弱环节和巨大空间。我国经济改革中的资本经济转轨,使资本运动扩展到社会主义经济过程,形成体现现代大生产运行的资本经济一般关系;挖掘并升华资本经济一般理论,无疑是马克思主义经济学发展的新机遇和新天地。     

The distributional effects of selection and capital accumulation on firm productivity under imperfect capital markets

In this evolutionary model, random shocks create differences in the rate of return on capital, while individual saving and investment behavior can reduce these differences over time. Firms with either low total factor productivity (TFP) or a low average return on capital are selected for exit, and new firms enter to take their place. As would be expected, a higher turnover rate improves TFP and reduces its variation. While we show that a higher turnover rate would result in a more positively skewed TFP distribution if exit selection is based directly upon TFP, we find that when we select firms for exit based on their average product of capital, the marginal impact of a higher turnover rate is to more negatively skew the TFP distribution. Overall, our simulations highlight the importance of considering the role selection may play in shaping the distribution of productivity when econometricians seek estimates of firm inefficiency.

Dynamics of Export Market Entry and Exit*

We apply discrete time duration models to explain the duration until new plants start to export and the duration until exit from the export markets, using data on Finnish manufacturing plants. Plants that are large, young, highly productive, and with high‐capital intensity are likely to enter the export market earlier and to survive in the export market longer. Foreign ownership increases chances of export entry, especially for small and low human capital plants, and decreases the risk of export failure for large, high‐productivity plants. The upper and lower tails of the productivity distribution are represented by plants that start exporting and those that are exiting, respectively.     

Cooperatives and happiness. Cross-country evidence on the role of relational capital

Why is the share of happy people higher in some countries than in their equally developed neighbours? We conjecture that the apparent contradiction might depend on a country’s endowment of relational capital, which we proxy empirically with the extent of cooperativeness. In particular, within the black box of social capital, we consider relational capital as the outcome of the civil economy paradigm and use cooperativeness as the macro and objective proxy of long term face-to-face interaction. Compiling an index of the importance of the cooperative sector, we test whether more cooperativeness associates with more happiness controlling for countries’ HDI and other control variables. Checking for endogeneity, using various country samples, and through different regression methods we find support for our hypothesis. This suggests that, indeed, an institutionalized cooperative culture can promote happiness.