Bilateral ‘WTO‐Plus’ Free Trade Agreements: The WTO Trade Policy Review of Singapore 2004

The World Trade Organisation's 2004 Trade Policy Review of Singapore (WTO‐TPR Singapore 2004) depicts the small and outward‐oriented economy as one of the most open countries to international trade and investment. The review highlights the benefits of the outward‐oriented strategy that has enabled the Singapore economy to weather recent external shocks such as the Asian financial crisis to the SARS and to the recent unfavourable conditions in the Middle East. In particular, the report commended Singapore's efforts on its liberalisation of the services sector and its economic benefits to consumers and global trade. However, the WTO‐TPR Singapore 2004 highlights several key areas of concerns: (a) the commitment to multilateral agreements with the rising number of bilateral free trade agreements signed by Singapore and (b) the lack of growth of total factor productivity, a key indicator for long‐run efficiency of the economy. The paper addresses the above key concerns raised in the WTO's TPR of Singapore in terms of its commitment to global trade in terms of WTO‐plus bilateral FTAs, which intends to support a multilateral trading system, and its overall industrial strategies to raise its competitiveness.     

结构转变与中国全要素生产率增长

本文基于对我国经济高速增长的源泉以及经济增长是否可持续的争论,通过构建TFP增长的分解方程,强调了结构转变通过资源在不同部门间的再配置对生产率的影响,重新测算了我国改革开放以来的TFP增长率。研究结果表明,我国的TFP增长率较高,资源从低生产率向高生产率部门,尤其是从传统农业向现代工业和服务业部门的再配置对TFP增长有显著作用,其贡献高达28%。因此,对于处于工业化中期的中国来说,经济增长仍具有巨大的潜力和可持续性。     

Can Singapore maintain its competitive edge in manufacturing productivity vis-à-vis China and Malaysia?

This article investigates whether Singapore can maintain its competitive advantage in manufacturing from a labour productivity perspective vis-avis China and Malaysia, which are generally viewed as Singapore's competitors in manufacturing. We also investigate the extent to which China is closing the labour productivity gap with Singapore and Malaysia in technology-intensive segments of manufacturing. Our analysis reveals that China has the potential to develop a high labour-productivity and low-wage manufacturing sector. In terms of manufacturing labour productivity, China is moving towards convergence with Malaysia. Compared with Singapore, China's manufacturing labour productivity is still far behind, especially in key technology-intensive industries like electronics and chemicals, such that it is unlikely for China to catch up with Singapore within a decade.     

The Direct Contribution of FDI to Productivity Growth in Britain, 1997–2008

This paper considers the contribution of foreign‐owned plants and firms to aggregate total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Britain for 1997–2008 using data from the Annual Respondents' Database. The contribution of different sub‐groups is further decomposed to show the role of continuing plants vis‐à‐vis reallocations in output shares. TFP is calculated using system GMM estimation. Taking into account the smaller initial size of the foreign‐owned sector in 1997, foreign‐owned plants contributed relatively more to aggregate productivity growth than UK‐owned plants over the period. This strong performance is mostly the result of reallocations of output shares towards high productivity continuing plants and the opening of high productivity plants.     

资源环境双重规制下中国地区全要素生产率研究——基于1996-2009年的实证分析

基于已有文献在研究全要素生产率时不考虑环境因素,或者仅考虑环境因素而忽视能源投入的现实,文章将资源和环境因素同时纳入生产率研究框架,对1996-2009年中国省级经济单元的全要素生产率(TFP)进行了测算,并将全要素生产率变动分解为技术效率变化和技术进步变化;对技术效率变化进一步分解为纯技术效率变化和规模效率变化,实现了TFP增长的动态分解,并研究了TFP变动的影响因素.研究结果表明,考虑资源环境约束,我国整体TFP较低,还存在较大的改进空间;TFP增长的主要源泉在于技术利用效率的提高,而技术进步和规模效率的作用并不明显.工业产值所占比重、资本/劳动比率上升不利于TFP的提高,外资引入对TFP改进具有拟制作用,降低国有经济比重和政府对市场经济的过度干预、增加环境污染治理投资有助于全要素生产率的提高.在生产效率(或经济增长效率)的核算中,忽略资源环境因素的冲击,有可能导致经济增长效率被高估,由此得出的政策建议会带有一定的误导性.     

我国生产率测算与经济潜在增长率预测研究

生产率是影响一国参与全球竞争的关键要素。本文基于全周期和子周期两种视角,利用C-D生产函数对我国生产率进行测算并预测了未来的经济潜在增长率,研究结果显示:21世纪以来,我国全要素生产率呈现下降趋势,但对经济的贡献率仍处于较高水平,经济呈现科技与资本双轮驱动特征;未来我国将跨越上中等收入阶段,步入高收入国家行列;预测结果显示:2036-2050年间我国经济增长主要靠全要素生产率拉动,经济增长动力的有效转换,将更加接近党的十九大提出的"两阶段"战略目标,更加适应新时代下的高质量发展需求。     

A Note about the Relationship among Transaction Costs,Institutions and Productivity Growth

In order to test the Fuess and van den Berg [I9921 hypothesis on the influence of the increasing transactions sector's costs on the total factor productivity growth rate, the authors perform calculations and estimates of the Solow'S residual for both the total GNP and the non-transactions GNP on Italian data covering the period 1951-89. The results suggest that, as regards the Italian economy, the difference between total and non-transactions productivity growth rate (effect of institutions on material production), rather than having a constant positive sign, as in the findings of Fuess and van den Berg, alternates between negative and positive sign.     

Declining global market share of Singapore's electronics exports: Is it a concern?

In contrast with the steadily rising shares of other regional exporters, Singapore's export shares in the global electronics market have been faltering in recent years. This has given rise to concerns about its export competitiveness. The drop in Singapore's global ranking can be attributed to shrinking exports of end products and low‐end electronics parts, as manufacturers relocate such assembly production out of Singapore to the regional economies. Fortunately, Singapore remains competitive in the export of high‐end intermediate electronics components, which are characterized by capability, technology, and automation‐intensive processes. While Singapore is progressing in the right direction, the climb up the high‐tech value chain needs to be further accelerated in order to maintain a technology gap with regional exporters. Besides accelerating its own industrial upgrading, Singapore needs to actively pursue measures that would help create a more integrated and competitive production platform for ASEAN, as well as to seek opportunities to service the rapidly enlarging consumer market in China. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Entrepreneurship in the EU: To Wish and not to be

The entrepreneurial capacity in an economy is a key determinant of economic growth and productivity improvements. This paper uses survey data from the 15 EU Member States and the US to investigate two aspects of entrepreneurial capacity: latent and actual entrepreneurship. Latent entrepreneurship is measured by the probability of a declared preference for self-employment over employment. Other than demographic variables such as gender, age and education level, the set of explanatory variables used includes country specific effects, the perception by respondents of administrative complexities and of availability of financial support and a rough measure of risk tolerance. The most striking result is the lack of explanatory power of the perception of lack of available financial support in the latent entrepreneurship equation.     

环境信息披露网络特征及其对农业绿色全要素生产率影响

开放经济下区域互动性提高，考察一个地区环境政策对农业经济效率的影响必须置身于与其他地区的关系网络中。基于2008—2019年重点城市污染源监管信息公开指数(PITI)，采用社会网络分析方法考察了中国环境信息披露网络的整体结构，从网络点出度、点入度和耦合度三方面对各省在网络中的特征进行刻画，并采用空间计量模型检验环境信息披露网络特征对农业绿色全要素生产率的影响。发现中国环境信息披露网络结构演化是一个渐变过程，网络密度逐年上升，具有较强的自稳定性。网络点出度、点入度和耦合度对农业绿色全要素生产率具有显著、稳健的提升作用。文章证实了环境信息披露网络特征对农业发展绩效的潜在影响，对从空间层面更好评估环境政策的经济效应具有重要启示。     

要素抑或效率驱动——来自江苏省市县经济增长的证据

文章采用基于DEA的Malmquist指数法对2008—2016年江苏省54个市县的工业全要素生产率进行测算,并计算全要素生产率(TFP)对工业经济的贡献率,判断是要素抑或效率驱动经济增长。研究发现,江苏省平均效率贡献率仅为-6.3%,效率的驱动作用因地区而言,整体上发展不充分。苏南属于效率驱动型,而苏中、苏北属于要素驱动型。江苏日后应着力于技术开发和应用推广,提高技术进步和技术效率水平,逐渐实现从要素驱动转变为效率驱动的发展模式。     

Trade,Technology and Human Capital: Stylised Facts and Quantitative Evidence

Stylised evidence on trade, total factor productivity (TFP) and skill intensity of the labour force is presented. Features emerging as salient are: growing trade in technology‐intensive products from the industrialised nations to the relatively laggard nations leads to embodied technology diffusion; the technology‐intensive sectors have larger shares of skilled workers; countries experiencing TFP growth usually have higher levels of educational attainment; also, the skilled labour payment share for a sector is positively associated with that sector’s regional trade share. These facts together help explain why endowment of more skilled labour facilitates absorption of technology ferried via trade.     

HRM in Singapore: change and continuity

This essay traces the development of human resource management (HRM) in Singapore from the mid 1990s until the present day, with particular reference to the impact of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In particular, it explores the changes in employment relations since the publication of Yuen (1997). National HRM concerns and strategies to maximize human capital as Singapore transforms itself and the knowledge economy is highlighted. The issue of convergence versus divergence in the management of human resources (HRs) will be touched upon. Current and future HR challenges that are most likely to impact on the country's competitiveness and economic performance are also explored.     

The macroeconomics of commercial policy and the trade balance: A policy perspective

Given the continuing growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States, there is a growing interest in examining its impact on the rate of economic growth. The immense literature on economic growth in the United States is composed of studies that concentrate on measuring the domestic variables that affect U.S. economic growth. However, the impact of foreign direct investment on the economic growth of the United States has not received the attention that is deserves. The purpose of this study is: (1) to examine the determinants of economic growth in the United States over time, and (2) to see if there is any time-series support for the FDI-led growth hypothesis in the United States. To achieve these goals the study uses a model that is based on the postulates of de Mello. Employing a 40-year period of annual data, the model is estimated by using the Beach Mackinnon technique which corrects for autocorrelation. The estimation results suggest the following conclusions: 1. The major determinants of economic growth in the United States are total factor productivity growth, domestic investment growth, and foreign direct investment growth. 2. Causal relationships between foreign direct investment growth and economic growth is uni-directional, running from foreign direct investment to economic growth. 3. Causal relationships between foreign direct investment growth and total factor productivity growth is uni-directional, running from foreign direct investment to total factor productivity. These findings suggest that foreign direct investment growth has a significant impact on the United States economic growth. Additionally, foreign direct investment has a significant impact on total factor productivity in the United States, further contributing to the United States’ economic growth. This calls on the U.S. policy makers to devise policies that are conducive to increasing the amount of foreign direct investment in this country.     

Linking strategic HRM,performance management and organizational effectiveness: perceptions of managers in Singapore

Strategic human resource management (SHRM) theory is predicated on the assumption that effective human resource management (HRM) processes have the capacity to contribute significantly to organizational effectiveness, expressed in terms of productivity, flexibility, effectiveness, efficiency, return on investment, competitiveness, and ultimately, profitability. Earlier research studies have explored the overall value-adding potential of HRM processes as a whole. Few have focused on the links between strategic HRM, performance management systems and organizational effectiveness, and even fewer have examined these relationships in Southeast Asia. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by examining the perceptions of a split sample of senior managers in Singapore. It reveals an interesting gap between their rhetoric and the realities of their performance management systems, and suggests future research directions.     

Market Reforms,Technological Capabilities and the Performance of Small Enterprises in China

This paper shows that the domestic and foreign trade liberalization of the Chinese economy since the late 1970s has led to much dynamism among small and medium firms. Such firms have grown at a rapid pace and have increased their share of value added in the Chinese economy. At the same time, they have recorded gains in total factor productivity. However, after two decades of decontrol, the potential for further growth among small and medium industries is limited unless further liberalization is undertaken and government policies pertaining to the allocation of credit, levy of taxes, and grants of research and other subsidies are applied in a more even-handed fashion.     

Cost share‐induced technological change and Kaldor’s stylized facts

This paper presents a theory of induced technological change in which firms pursue a random, local, and bounded search for productivity‐enhancing innovations. Firms implement profitable innovations at fixed prices, which then spread through the economy. After diffusion, all firms adjust prices and wages. The model is consistent with a variety of price‐setting behaviors, which determine equilibrium positions characterized by constant cost shares and productivity growth rates. A fixed mark‐up can yield Marx‐biased technological change. Target‐return pricing yields Harrod‐neutral technological change with a fixed wage share as a stable equilibrium, consistent with Kaldor's stylized facts, while allowing for deviations from equilibrium, as observed in the longer historical record.     

Productivity differences in an interdependent world

This paper studies cross-country differences in productivity from an open economy perspective by using a Helpman-Krugman-Heckscher-Ohlin model that embraces the single-cone model and a one-sector economy with factor deepening as particular cases. To estimate the model, I combine tools from development accounting and the factor content of trade literature. When simultaneously fitting data on income, factor prices and the factor content of trade, I find that the one-sector model is by far better supported by the data than the single-cone model. Rich countries have far higher productivities of human capital than poor ones, while differences in physical capital productivity are not related to income per worker. Finally, I estimate an aggregate elasticity of substitution between human and physical capital that is significantly below one.     

Total Factor Productivity in the Turkish Insurance Industry

This paper employs the Malmquist total factor productivity (TFP) index to examine the total factor productivity change in the life and non‐life branches of the Turkish insurance sector for the period 2000–2005. The Malmquist productivity index is decomposed into two components: the efficiency change component and the technical change component. The results indicate a decrease of 19.4 % in total factor productivity in the life insurance sector and an increase of 6.1% in the non‐life insurance sector during the sample period. Significant TFP growth in the non‐life insurance sector has occurred during 2003–2005. This growth is seen to be mainly due to the change in production technology. The firms are then split into two groups, domestic and foreign firms, according to their ownership composition. The results indicate a decline in total factor productivity for both groups in the life insurance sector whereas in the non‐life insurance sector, an increase in the total factor productivity of domestic firms is observed.     

Small and Medium Enterprises in Korea: Achievements,Constraints and Policy Issues

This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the small and medium enterprise sector in Korea during the past quarter century. It shows how the industrial structure of Korea has changed dramatically over this period reflecting much greater shares in employment and value added by SMEs. It reviews the evidence on SME dynamism showing that SMEs have contributed to the enormous transformations that have taken place in the Korean economy since 1975, especially with regard to exports, foreign investment and productivity performance. It discusses the role of subcontracting as well as that of government and non-governmental institutions in supporting SME development. Finally, it examines the link between variations in the economic importance of SMEs, as measured by their shares in employment, and aspects of growth and inequality to assess whether SMEs function as business cycle shock absorbers and inequality-reducing mechanisms.