The ‘amelioration’ of child labor, ‘a modest proposal’

More than 317 million children between the age of 5 and 17 are working in the world. Child labor is a persistent phenomenon, even though its incidence has subsided with economic development. In this paper, we conduct a panel study of 101 countries from 1980 to 2004 where child labor is proxied by the labor force participation of children aged 10–14. We look at the relationships between child labor and investments in human capital, foreign direct investments, countries’ openness to trade, and credit market constraints. We depart from the contributions of cross-country studies by employing a fixed effects instrumental variable (FE-IV) panel data model by employing a fixed effects instrumental variable (FE-IV) panel data model to account for unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity of child labor and individual country-specific effects. We find support for the conclusions of the above-mentioned studies: countries that trade more and have a higher stock of foreign direct investment have less child labor. More generally, we find that trade openness, investments in human capital, and financial development are associated with a reduction of child labor. Child labor persists but tailored policies on trade, investment, and financial reform can lessen child labor along with economic growth, improvements in health, and rising standards of living.     

Doing business in Malaysia

The importance of international trade to the Malaysian economy can hardly be exaggerated. Trade represents a lifeline for the Malaysian economy. Export‐oriented industrialization in the 1990s converted the labor‐surplus economy into a labor‐deficit one and then back to a labor‐surplus one in 2000 and beyond. The incidence of poverty has fallen by half since the early 1980s. Trade has also contributed much to the structural transformation and modernization of the economy. Had Malaysia been a closed economy, Malaysia would have shared the same fate as some other less developed countries that remain economically backward. Its external trade policy has paved the way for greater inflows of foreign direct investment, as foreign direct investors are not so much interested in serving the small domestic market as serving the vast external market. The large inflows of foreign direct investment have conferred positive effects on the domestic economy. This has meant significant improvements in the overall living standards for the Malaysians. Internationalization has provided employment opportunities, thereby raising their living standards through higher and more stable earnings. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

欠发达地区外商直接投资经济增长效应分析——以江西赣州为例

外商直接投资的经济增长效应受多种因素影响,各地情况不同,其效应表现也不一致。文章根据内生经济增长理论,以中西部地区的江西赣州为例进行实证分析。研究表明,相对于劳动力投入和国内资本投入,欠发达地区外商直接投资对经济增长的作用十分有限。这主要是因为,利用外资的总体规模仍然很小;外资产业规模小,层次低,技术含量低;外资产业与本土产业配套发展不足。但由于外商直接投资将在长期内拉动经济增长,因此必须重视外资的引进,并不断提高外资的质量。     

东道国劳工标准会影响中国对外直接投资吗?

本文根据劳动力产权理论并在总结国内外研究的基础上,选取了2003-2009年中国和152个东道国的面板数据,实证考察了东道国劳工标准对中国对外直接投资的影响,采用静态OLS和SYS-GMM方法对全样本、发达国家和发展中国家的样本进行验证。结果表明:中国的对外直接投资总体上更倾向于流入低劳工标准的国家,而发达国家和发展中国家劳工标准对中国对外直接投资的影响存在着截然不同的效应,发达国家的高劳工标准和发展中国家的低劳工标准分别吸引了中国的对外直接投资,此外通过分位数回归和广义最小二乘法及两阶段最小二乘估计法进行的稳健性检验不仅表明本文的结论是可靠的,而且发现中国的对外直接投资有向低劳工标准国家集聚的趋势。最后从规避劳工风险的角度提出了相应的政策建议。     

外资进入自由化对劳动者健康的影响——来自中国健康与营养调查的经验证据

本文以中国2002年外资管制放松作为准自然实验,通过匹配中国健康与营养调查数据、中国工业企业数据和城市统计年鉴,探究中国外资进入自由化对劳动力健康的影响及其内在作用机制。研究发现外资进入自由化会改善劳动者健康水平,对疾病种类、受教育水平和性别差异的异质性分析显示,外资进入自由化对发烧、喉咙痛、咳嗽有显著的改善作用,给高学历劳动者或男性劳动者带来的好处更显著。机制检验证明,外资进入自由化一方面通过增加劳动者工作时长和加剧环境污染对中国劳动者健康状况产生了负向影响,另一方面通过提高劳动者收入使健康状况得到了显著改善,且正向作用大于负向作用。本文研究有助于客观准确地评估外资进入自由化的健康效应,同时对发展中国家引资调整具有重要的政策启示。     

A race to lower standards? Labor standards and location choice of outward FDI from the BRIC countries

Scholars argue that multinational corporations tend to locate their investment in countries with lower labor standards, but empirical results are highly inconsistent. In this paper, we investigate the effect of differential labor standards on the location choice of outward greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) from Brazil, Russia, India and China (i.e. the BRIC countries). We find robust evidence that while there is a tendency toward the attraction of FDI by lower labor standards in developed countries, such a “race” is absent in FDI directed to developing countries. Location choice is highly path dependent upon previous trading relations between the home and the host country, which hampers the MNCs’ ability to arbitrage. Conversely, capital mobility at the industry level is found to intensify the race to lower standards.     

市场开放度、劳动生产率与我国地区工资差异

以新经济地理学的空间工资结构理论为基础,实证分析了我国西部大开发以来市场开放度、劳动生产率与地区工资差异之间的关系,结果表明,从全国角度来看,市场开放度和人力资本的增加对工资增长的贡献效应很显著,劳动生产率和外商直接投资的增加虽然对工资增长的贡献效应为正,但其效果并不明显;分东、中、西地区来看,市场开放度增加对工资增长的贡献,东部高于中部,更高于西部;人力资本的贡献效应则恰好与之相反;劳动生产率和外商直接投资的增加对工资增长的贡献效应在不同地区的差别并不明显。     

A race to the bottom? Employment protection and foreign direct investment

A common critique of globalization is that it leads to a race to the bottom. Specifically, it is assumed that multinationals invest in countries with lower regulatory standards and that countries competitively undercut each other's standards in order to attract foreign capital. This paper tests this hypothesis and finds robust empirical support for both predictions. First, a reduction in employment protection rules leads to an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI). Furthermore, changes in employment protection legislation have a larger impact on the relatively mobile types of FDI. Second, there is evidence that countries are competitively undercutting each other's labor market standards.     

双向直接投资协同发展对中国资源错配的影响

利用2003-2018年中国省级面板数据，研究了双向直接投资协同发展对中国资源错配的影响。结果表明：双向直接投资协同发展会显著降低中国整体资本错配和劳动力错配，但该影响存在地区差异性。同时，双向直接投资协同发展对中国资源错配的影响存在阶段性特征：当人均收入水平低于19821元（2007年以前）时，双向直接投资协同发展未对中国资源错配产生显著影响；当人均收入水平大于19821元小于49542元（2008-2014年）时，双向直接投资协同发展可以缓解资本错配，但对劳动力错配的改善效果不明显；当人均收入水平大于49542元（2015年以后）时，双向直接投资协同发展有利于改善资源错配。进一步的作用机制分析表明，双向直接投资协同发展通过提高金融深化水平和劳动力成本，进而缓解资本错配和劳动力错配。     

国民经济视野中的农业规模经营

本文认为,国民经济中的农业产业特质为实现农业规模经营提供了依据。发展农业规模经营,必须坚持产业关联理念,农业劳动力转移应该由总量效能评价向结构效能评价转变,招商引资应该在外来资本和当地资本、引进资本和稳定资本、引进资本的产业选择、当前和长远几个方面完成向理性招商引资的转变。农村生产力成长必然形成新的产业布局和空间布局,这一前瞻性思考有助于在专业化协作基础上推进农村生产力的成长和经济社会的一体化进程。     

国际贸易与技术进步关系初探

本文主要从国际贸易与技术进步的关系的角度探讨技术进步的决定因素,在柯布—道格拉斯生产函数的基础上,用劳动生产率的增长代表技术进步的变化,同时将外贸依存度和外资依存度作为衡量技术进步的内生变量,采用1985-2004年的年度数据进行计量分析。本文的模型结论如下:(1)资本对经济增长的贡献要远大于劳动力的贡献;(2)国内投资对技术进步的促进作用要大于外商直接投资。因此,要想更快地发展我国经济,一方面要加大资本的投入,另一方面要加强自主创新,尤其是国内技术的自主创新,加强引进技术的消化吸收和利用。     

Institutional conditions,economic policy uncertainty and foreign institutional investment in China

This paper investigates the influence of host and home country institutional conditions on foreign institutional investment. Utilizing longitudinal and multilevel data on foreign institutional investment in Chinese listed firms between 2004 and 2017, we document that foreign institutional investment decreases with increasing economic policy uncertainty in the host nation. We also find that foreign institutional investors respond more strongly to local economic policy uncertainty when their home nations are closer to China, are culturally and administratively similar to China, operate a smaller domestic stock market, and have weaker minority shareholder protection. The impact of economic policy uncertainty on foreign institutional investment is also stronger when the host nation institution is more developed and open.. Moreover, we reveal the mediating role of stock market volatility on this relationship. Overall, we document that foreign institutional investment is not only shaped by institutional conditions in the host country but also influenced by home country characteristics that define geographical and institutional distance between home and host nations.     

俄罗斯投资环境分析

俄罗斯投资环境所具有的优势就是其丰富的自然资源、低廉劳动力和燃料、原料以及相当便利交通条件和比较完善的基础设施。对于以往存在的一些问题,俄罗斯政府已经开始采取相应的措施对其进行治理,其政治环境、法律体系的已经得到了有效的改善,人民生活水平也得到了进一步提高,总体上看,投资环境已经得到了有效的改善,已经被广大外国投资商看成是一片新的投资沃土,相信越来越多的外国投资商回到俄罗斯进行不断投资。     

Foreign direct investment and growth under economic integration

This paper studies foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth in a two-country endogenous growth model. Starting with a core-periphery steady state in the world, the model shows that economic integration gives rise to FDI, leads to an expansion of R&D activity in the industrial core, and increases the world growth rate. In that process, the peripheral country enjoys a rise in the level of living standards. The model suggests that the often-observed positive correlation between inward FDI and economic growth does not necessarily imply any causal relationship—both of them respond endogenously to economic integration.     

Overview of FDI in China

I. The basic means of China＇s absorption of foreign investments
The foreign investments are basically divided into direct investment and other means of investment. The direct investment, which is widely adopted, includes Sino-foreign joint ventures, joint exploitation and exclusively foreign-owned enterprises, foreign-funded share-holding companies and joint development. The other means of investment includes compensation trade and processing and assembling.     

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.     

融资约束与我国企业对外直接投资——基于浙江省微观企业数据的实证研究

企业对外直接投资是我国当前重要的外向经济发展战略,因此探明其影响因素对于深化对外开放具有重要意义。文章在此背景下从微观企业角度研究融资约束如何影响企业对外直接投资,构建理论框架阐明融资约束的提升会制约劳动密集型企业的对外直接投资决策,但是会逆向促进资本密集型企业的对外直接投资决策;在此基础上,通过匹配《中国工业企业数据库》和《中国境外投资企业（机构）名录》中的浙江省企业数据在微观上验证了理论推论。进一步地,分样本数据回归表明国有企业、外资企业和重工业企业对外直接投资不受融资约束制约,而非国有企业、非外资企业和轻工业企业对外直接投资受融资约束影响明显。此外,文章通过零膨胀回归和排序数据回归发现较低（高）的融资约束增加了劳动（资本）密集型企业的对外直接投资项目数并加快其投资决策时间,与对外直接投资倾向的影响机制一致。     

Beyond the Image of Foreign Direct Investment in China: Where ethics meets public relations

While there had still been an increasing flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into China during the 2002 downturn in FDI globally, such investments have historically been only sporadically successful. Much writing has detailed and discussed problems associated with China FDI but several costs remain dangerously overlooked. One such cost is that of micro-monitoring plants for work conditions and employee treatment in violation of local Chinese laws and possible home country ethics. Further, a more personal cost is presented – the personal cost associated with maintaining an investment in a facility that violates standards of ethical employee treatment. Background information related to these issues is presented, along with a general overview of FDI in China.     

福建省FDI、对外贸易与经济增长关系的实证研究

福建省利用外资和对外贸易位居全国前列,对推动经济增长起到了重要作用。本文根据1981-2006年福建省统计数据,运用协整检验和误差修正模型,对福建省FDI流入、对外贸易与经济增长关系进行实证研究。结果表明,从长期看,福建省FDI、对外贸易与经济增长之间存在长期均衡关系,FDI、出口和进口明显促进了经济增长。从短期看,FDI、对外贸易与经济增长的长期均衡水平产生了偏离,但偏离误差修正的速度较快。最后,就福建外商直接投资、对外贸易和经济增长协调发展提出了若干政策建议。     

外商直接投资对安徽产业结构的影响及对策分析

利用安徽1998-2007年的统计数据,实证分析FDI对安徽产业结构变动的影响作用,并根据检验结果提出应积极引导外商投资于农业及一些薄弱的第三产业部门,注意引导外商投资在制造业领域的流向,使安徽引进外资健康合理发展,进而促进安徽产业结构的进一步优化升级。