Legal Institutions, Sectoral Heterogeneity, and Economic Development

Poor countries have lower PPP-adjusted investment rates and face higher relative prices of investment goods. It has been suggested that this happens either because these countries have a relatively lower TFP in industries producing capital goods or because they are subject to greater investment distortions. This paper provides a micro-foundation for the cross-country dispersion in investment distortions. We first document that firms producing capital goods face a higher level of idiosyncratic risk than their counterparts producing consumption goods. In a model of capital accumulation where the protection of investors' rights is incomplete, this difference in risk induces a wedge between the returns on investment in the two sectors. The wedge is bigger, the poorer the investor protection. In turn, this implies that countries endowed with weaker institutions face higher relative prices of investment goods, invest a lower fraction of their income, and end up being poorer. We find that our mechanism may be quantitatively important.     

Gender Inequality,Endogenous Cultural Norms,and Economic Development

In this paper, I explore the joint dynamics between gender inequality and cultural norms along the process of development. Cultural norms regarding gender roles are shaped by the relative female labor supply, and thus depend on the gender gap in education. In turn, these norms influence the relative education provided to boys and girls. I show that this two‐way causality between the inegalitarian nature of norms and the educational gender gap might explain the emergence of high gender inequality and low development traps. The model also makes it possible to replicate a U‐shaped relationship between the relative status of women and the economic development.     

学习、制度与经济绩效

本文分析了认知、信念体系与制度之间的互动关系，并探寻了它们影响经济绩效的方式。我们认为要更深刻地理解制度的产生、其运行的特征及其对经济政治结果的影响，应该从分析认知过程开始。我们分析了个人和集体学习的性质，认为问题并不在于行为体是完全理性还是有限理性的，而在于人们是如何进行推理和做出选择的，无论这种选择和推理是个体做出的还是集体做出的。接下来我们将学习过程同制度分析联系起来，提出了一种我们可以称之为“认知制度主义”的观点。同时我们认为要充分理解路径依赖现象，应该从对认知层面的分析开始，以制度层面的分析为主干，以经济层面的分析为终结。     

Institutions,Lobbying, and Economic Performance

We investigate whether the impact of institutions depends not just on their current state but also on how they came to be. In particular, we hypothesize that while economic freedom that emerges spontaneously may be growth promoting, economic freedom that emerges as a result of costly lobbying efforts may be less fruitful. In an extreme case, costly lobbying efforts may even negate the growth‐enhancing effect of economic freedom. To the extent that lobbying efforts constitute an opportunity cost of resources diverted away from investment and production, our hypothesis also implies that greater the opportunity cost of lobbying, the more efficient is the institutional environment. Panel data analysis reveals the expected positive relation between economic freedom and growth, and consistent with our hypothesis, the findings indicate that the impact of economic freedom on growth does indeed diminish as lobbying efforts increase. In addition, we find that lobbying is more harmful to growth at greater levels of economic freedom.     

制度供给与经济发展——兼论"浙江现象"中的政府因素

在我国这样的从计划经济向市场经济转型的国家,政府对经济发展有着不可替代的作用.这种作用不再是政府直接去干预经济,而是政府为市场经济的发展提供有效的制度供给.本文从政府因素的角度对"浙江现象"进行了解读.文章指出,浙江各级政府在转型过程中有效的制度供给,是推动浙江经济快速健康发展的重要因素.     

Institutions Rule: The Primacy of Institutions Over Geography and Integration in Economic Development

We estimate the respective contributions of institutions, geography, and trade in determining income levels around the world, using recently developed instrumental variables for institutions and trade. Our results indicate that the quality of institutions trumps everything else. Once institutions are controlled for, conventional measures of geography have at best weak direct effects on incomes, although they have a strong indirect effect by influencing the quality of institutions. Similarly, once institutions are controlled for, trade is almost always insignificant, and often enters the income equation with the wrong (i.e., negative) sign. We relate our results to recent literature, and where differences exist, trace their origins to choices on samples, specification, and instrumentation.     

Trade,Remittances, Institutions,and Economic Growth

This paper empirically investigates the role of trade, remittances, and institutions in economic development in a large sample of developing countries using recently developed instruments for all these variables. Both cross-country (over 30 years) and dynamic panel data (over 5-year periods) regressions of growth rates on instrumented trade, remittances, and institutions provide evidence of a significant impact of trade, institutions, and remittances on growth. While institutions foster growth, remittances hamper it. The effect of trade on growth is positive in cross-sectional regressions but ambiguous in dynamic panel data regressions. These results are indicative of a more important role for trade in explaining growth in the very long run compared with over shorter horizons.     

Oil Discovery,Political Institutions and Economic Diversification

Diversification is touted as a desirable policy objective for oil‐rich nations because it reduces exposure to volatility. However, the empirical relationship between petroleum and diversification is not well understood. Here, we test the effect of giant oil discoveries on diversification using a panel dataset of 136 countries observed over the period from 1962 to 2012. We notice non‐oil sector export concentration 8 years after a discovery. However, we do not observe any effect on the structure of employment in non‐resource and manufacturing sectors. Democratic political institutions moderate the export and employment concentration effects of petroleum discovery.     

贯彻男女平等基本国策 推进经济社会和谐发展

男女平等,是指男女之间人的尊严和价值的平等及男女权利、机会和责任的平等,即女性应享有与男性平等的人格和尊严,与男性在经济、政治、社会、文化、家庭等各方面享有权利和机会的平等。实现男女平等,是衡量社会文明进步的重要标尺。在1995年第四次世界妇女大会上,我国政府把男女平等作为促进我国社会发展的一项基本国策。2005年,我国重新修订的《妇女权益保障法》,     

中国区域海洋经济发展水平综合评价

本文设计了一套适用于我国的区域海洋经济发展水平综合评价体系,并采用德尔菲法和均值法对评价体系进行了实证测算。通过对实证结果的分析,本文发现:我国区域海洋经济的发展与区域经济的整体发展之间联系紧密;环渤海地区的海洋经济发展水平在整体上暂时领先于东部和南部沿海地区;各区域在海洋经济发展中各具优势与劣势;各区域在海洋经济产出情况和海洋经济生产基础能力上的差距是造成其海洋经济发展水平差距的最主要因素。     

中国城市化水平、服务业发展与经济增长关系实证研究

本文基于理论分析的基础上提出我国城市化水平、服务业发展对经济增长影响机制,并运用Johansen协整检验、Granger因果检验、脉冲响应函数等计量方法,采用我国1952-2007年期间时间序列数据,实证检验了三者之间的相互关系.实证结果表明:服务业发展和经济增长之间相互促进,经济增长带动城市化水平提高,但城市化水平对经济增长作用不明显,并进一步分析了在长期过程中经济增长对城市化水平、服务业发展的冲击响应.最后针对我国现状,提出相应的政策建议.     

制度、创新与欠优势地区的经济复兴

创新和经济地理这两个迄今不同学科之间日益增强的融合趋势具有潜在的理论影响。通过“知识区域”这一角度，本文考察了两门学科的融合对理论研究和政策制定的意义。并利用进化政治经济学的研究成果，揭示了交互式创新模式在区域发展中的重要作用。在此，作者通过对新的欧洲区域发展政策的考察，并结合威尔士地区创新实施规划的案例研究，分析了这种交互式创新模式的政策意义。最后，文章对这一发展战略的实施效果进行了批评性的评估。     

人口老龄化与经济发展水平:国际比较及其启示

人口老龄化已成为全球性的人口发展趋势。与世界其他老年人口比例相当的国家相比,中国的经济发展水平并不差;与世界其他经济发展水平相当的国家相比,中国的人口老龄化程度也并不是最严重。面对潜在的危机和挑战,需要未雨绸缪,也不能过于悲观。政府对于当下生育率和老龄问题的态度与作为,是决定一个国家或地区未来老龄危机的关键因素。