THE BROTHER‐IN‐LAW EFFECT*

When a firm is forced to pay abnormally high wages, hiring transfers rents. This effectively endows the employer with the ability to grant favors, and he may wish to do so even at some cost to efficient production. We refer to this as the brother‐in‐law effect. This article analyzes its consequences. When the brother‐in‐law effect is due to unionization, decisions regarding both the number and type of workers employed could be inefficient; overemployment could obtain even relative to the workforce that would be employed without unionization. We also identify cases in which nepotism improves efficiency.     

NONRESIDENT POSTSECONDARY ENROLLMENT GROWTH AND THE OUTCOMES OF IN‐STATE STUDENTS

We study the effects of exposure to nonresident students on the outcomes of undergraduate in‐state students during a period of high nonresident enrollment growth at the University of Missouri‐Columbia. Our models leverage within‐major, cross‐time variation in nonresident exposure for identification. We find no evidence that increased exposure to domestic nonresidents affects in‐state student outcomes and our null results are precisely estimated. We find evidence of modest negative impacts on in‐state students when their exposure to foreign students increases using our preferred specification. However, the identifying variation in exposure to foreign students in our data is limited and this result is not robust in all of our models. (JEL I23, I28, R23)     

TURNPIKE PROPERTIES OF A MONEY‐IN‐THE‐UTILITY‐FUNCTION MODEL*

This study establishes the global stability of a long‐run stationary state in a money‐in‐the‐utility‐function model. The major finding is that the constant money supply rule results in a stable allocation and price system if consumers discount their future utilities sufficiently weakly. Nominal and real interest rates will be in the neighbourhood of the inverse of the consumers’ discount factor β^‐1.     

苏北海岸带水资源价值模糊评价

水资源价值的大小是确定资源水价的基础,受环境、经济等人类文明成果的制约。文章对水资源价值模糊评价模型进行了详细的介绍,以苏北海岸带的主要河流为研究区域进行了量化计算,计算出海岸带的宏观水资源价值,并对区域水资源价值与社会经济的关系进行了分析。结果表明,海岸带的水资源开发利用和环境保护等程度还不高,水资源价值尚有较大提升空间;短时间内海岸带地区不应再提高水价,且水价也应存在相应的地区间的“阶梯式水价”。     

上市公司产业转型的风险管理

产业转型是我国很大一部分上市公司不得不面对的艰难选择,其中蕴涵着极大的风险,转型成功率极低。产业转型的本质是产业创新,通过产业创新实现产业转型是企业转型成功的基本保证。     

WATER QUALITY TRADING IN THE PRESENCE OF ABATEMENT‐COST SHARING

This paper examines how water quality trading interacts with nonpoint‐source abatement‐cost sharing (e.g., as currently practiced by the National Resource Conservation Service through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program [EQIP]) to promote the participation of nonpoint sources in a water quality market, participation that has thus far been noticeably lacking nationwide. As such, an idealized version of water quality trading is envisioned, where water quality trading and nonpoint cost sharing are treated as complementary policy instruments rather than substitutes. Toward this end, the subgame‐perfect equilibrium concept is used to model a “multilateral contracting” relationship between the regulatory authority and nonpoint sources when the regulator has incomplete information about the nonpoint sources' production costs. We characterize ex ante (or second‐best) nonpoint abatement levels when the regulator chooses cost‐share rates in concert with a water quality market. Numerical analysis indicates that current EQIP cost‐share rates would likely be lower and more flexibly determined in the presence of water quality trading. (JEL Q53)     

COMPARATIVE ESTIMATES OF THE VALUE OF HOUSEHOLD WORK IN THE UNITED STATES FOR 1976*

This paper uses five valuation methods to derive aggregate and per person estimates of the value of household work in the United States. Two general questions are posed: (1) what is the relationship between the aggregate estimates and the valuation method used, and (2) how do per person estimates vary by sex and earnings? The main observations of the paper are as follows: First, the aggregate value of household work is sizable regardless of the valuation method used. Second, aggregate estimates are extremely sensitive to the method of valuation. For example, the highest estimate is $475 billion greater than the lowest estimate. Third, contrary to earlier findings, opportunity cost valuation methods generally produce significantly higher estimates than market cost valuation methods. Fourth, per person estimates vary significantly by sex and level of earnings across valuation methods. Generally, market cost estimates.     

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PUBLIC‐PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS AND ANALYSIS OF THEIR SOCIAL VALUE*

ABSTRACT: This article applies political economy theory to public‐private partnerships (PPPs). First, we propose that social welfare is the appropriate normative evaluation criterion to evaluate the social value of PPPs. Second, we specify the goals of PPP participants, including private‐sector partners and governments. Third, we review the observed outcomes of PPPs and analyze them from both a political economy perspective and a social welfare perspective. Fourth, based on a comparison of the actual outcomes of PPPs to normatively desirable social welfare outcomes, we propose some ‘rules for governments’ concerning the design of government PPP institutions and the management of PPPs. We argue that if governments were to adopt these rules there would be fewer PPPs in total, they would be more like traditional government contracts and there would be a greater likelihood of improved social welfare. However, political economy theory also explains why implementation of any reform will be difficult.     

EVALUATING THE COSTS,QUALITY, AND VALUE FOR MONEY OF INFRASTRUCTURE PUBLIC‐PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Public?private partnerships (PPPs) are often promoted as a means to lower the costs and increase the quality and value for money (VfM) of public construction and infrastructure projects. While the increasing capital stock of PPPs warrants evaluation of their performance there has until now been limited systematic assessment of PPP versus conventional public procurement. This article contributes to the literature by presenting the findings of a systematic review of empirical peer‐reviewed studies comparing the costs, quality, and/or VfM of infrastructure PPP projects with conventional public procurement. The international literature suggests that PPPs are on average more costly and provide approximately similar VfM as conventional procurement. The number of empirical evaluations is limited, however, and evidence on the quality of infrastructure facilities is particularly scarce. While infrastructure PPPs continue to proliferate, systematic assessment of their performance is warranted to assist policy‐makers in choosing the procurement method that offers best value for taxpayers, users and society.     

R&D AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN A CASH‐IN‐ADVANCE ECONOMY

R&D investment has well‐known liquidity problems, with potentially important consequences. In this study, we analyze the effects of monetary policy on economic growth and social welfare in a Schumpeterian growth model with cash‐in‐advance (CIA) constraints on R&D investment, consumption, and manufacturing. Our main results can be summarized as follows. Under the CIA constraints on R&D and consumption (the CIA constraint on manufacturing), an increase in the nominal interest rate decreases (increases) R&D and economic growth. We also analyze the optimality of Friedman rule and find that Friedman rule can be suboptimal due to a unique feature of the Schumpeterian model.     

我国南水北调便捷方案的初步设想

通过对我国南水北调目前几个方案的对比分析,提出解决我国华北缺水问题的南水北调新的便捷方案（“H”方案）及其合理的路线,即从黄河沿偏关河调水至永定河上游,再从长江补水至三门峡水库,使黄河成为“H”状的永不断流的清水河。并从水文特征、工程特征、生态与风险、社会与经济效益等方面对便捷方案进行综合评价。     

论长江干流地区经济协调发展

长江干流上中下游地区经济差距正在逐步扩大、欠发达地区、发展中地区与发达地区并存。区位和政策、经济基础、资金和市场、教育科技水平是形成这种差距的主要因素。今后需分工合作、优势互补、上下联动、共同发展。具体说来,即贯彻和落实国家关于区域经济协调发展的政策和加快中西部地区发展的战略;抓住浦东开发和三峡工程上马两个契机,推动干流地区经济合作与发展;加快产业结构的调整;重视上游地区城乡协调发展;在上游地区积极培育区域经济的生长点和发展轴;在微观上实行反梯度推进战略;发挥区域协作组织的作用,实施"一帮一"工程;加上上游防护林带建设和上中游的水土保护工作．严格控制有毒物质的排放．加强环境整治工作和灾害防御能力建设。     

管理层激励、资本结构与上市公司价值创造

本文基于带有交叉乘积项的线性分位数回归模型,一方面,通过回归系数显著性检验、同质性检验与对称性检验,揭示各因素对公司价值创造影响方式的异质性;另一方面,通过条件密度预测方法,细致地刻画各因素的变动对价值创造整个条件密度的影响。实证结果表明：实施激励措施可以显著提高上市公司价值创造,但不同的激励方式对公司价值创造能力的影响并无显著差异;无论是薪酬激励还是股权激励,都会导致公司价值创造出现两极分化的现象,这为制订合理的政策措施来提升公司价值创造提供了决策依据。     

TEST OF THE CONVERGENCE HYPOTHESIS ALLOWING FOR CROSS‐SECTIONAL DEPENDENCE

A large empirical literature has investigated whether per capita output converges around a common trend across national and regional economies. The methods used in this literature assume no cross‐sectional dependence even though it is likely to be present and might be important in practice. Chang has devised a promising method of testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels with cross‐sectional dependence. We apply her method to test whether convergence takes place across three samples of economies: 15 advanced industrial countries; a broader group of 57 countries; and the 48 contiguous US states. We find evidence of convergence for the 15 advanced industrial economies but no evidence of convergence across either the broad group of countries or the US states.     

MONEY,SOCIAL STATUS AND ENDOGENOUS GROWTH IN A GENERALIZED CASH‐IN‐ADVANCE MODEL

This paper analytically examines the equilibrium growth effect of money/inflation in a standard one‐sector AK model of endogenous growth with the most generalized cash‐in‐advance constraint and relative wealth‐induced preferences for social status. We show that on the economy's unique balanced growth equilibrium path, the sign of the correlation between money and output growth depends crucially on: (i) the intertemporal elasticity of substitution in consumption; and (ii) the liquidity‐constrained ratio of consumption to investment expenditure. Moreover, our model economy always exhibits a positive output–growth effect in response to changes of the strength for social status. We also undertake numerical experiments to assess the quantitative importance of our theoretical results under an empirically plausible set of parameters.