The demand for imports and exports in the U.S.: A survey

One of the more important issues in applied international economics is the extent to which trade flows adjust to changes in income, relative prices, and exchange rates. In this paper, the literature on the empirical estimation of the demand for imports and exports for the U.S. is surveyed. More precisely, this paper updates earlier surveys by Stern, Francis, and Schumacher (1976) and Goldstein and Khan (1985).     

Technical change in the U.S. primary metals industry

A dual cost function embodying biased technical change is estimated for the postwar primary metals industry. The identifying restriction of constant rates of factor augmentation is used to derive significant estimates of rates of biased technical change which are consistent with the induced innovation hypothesis. Also, the bias in elasticity estimates which results from ignoring biased technical change is shown to be serious.     

Pricing-to-market in U.S. imports and exports: A time series and cross-sessional study

This paper provides a comparative study of how U.S. imports and exports prices react to exchange rate changes. It finds, through time series analyses, that while both U.S. and foreign exporters price to market, foreign exporters in general absorb a large portion of exchange rate changes by themselves while U.S. exporters pass through most of the exchange rate change to foreign currency prices. Pricing behavior of U.S. imports and, to a lesser extent, of U.S. exports varies across industries and such variation relates to industry characteristics such as market shares, product d differentiation, and capital-to-labor ratio.     

Technological change and the U.S. real interest rate

Economic theory predicts that the rate of technological growth exerts a positive influence on the real rate of interest. To test this hypothesis, I examine the relationship between the inflation-adjusted yield of the 90-day Treasury-Bill and two measures of innovation: the rate of growth of the stock of patents per worker and R&D spending relative to GDP. As theory predicts, from 1963 to 2008 the rate of interest responds positively to an increase in either measure. The point-estimates imply an elasticity of intertemporal substitution between one and two. The findings suggest that a change in the stance of monetary policy and a wave of innovation both contributed to the rise of real interest rates in the 1980s.     

Sources of volatility persistence: A case study of the U.K. pound/U.S. dollar exchange rate returns

This paper utilizes a new approach to examine the inherent nonlinear dynamics of the exchange rate returns volatility. Specifically, we utilize a regime switching threshold (i) generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (RS-TGARCH) and (ii) a fractional generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (RS-TFIGARCH) model. The RS-TGARCH model is found to be adequate in analyzing the first two moments of the U.K. pound/U.S. dollar monthly exchange rate returns series. The RS-TFIGARCH is found to be adequate for the daily returns series. The volatility persistence and leverage effects associated with exchange rate returns series are jointly tested by means of a Wald Chi-square test.     

Core-periphery contrasts in China''s development during the early eighties

This paper examines macrovariations in China's development during the early eighties. The conceptual framework used was the core-periphery model. Sixteen variables were collected for all of the 29 provincial level units of mainland China. After collapsing the data into two important dimensions by means of principal components analysis, maps of component scores were drawn to show the existence of core and periphery in China's development. To cross-check these results, several cluster analysis procedures were tried to arrive at the best grouping of provinces. A conceptual model was proposed to help understand China's development. Discussions were also made relating the results to the current open-door policy of China to speculate on the future development in China.     

Sources of Sectoral Growth in an Economy Wide Context: The Case of U.S. Agriculture

Growth in U.S. agriculture is linked to the non-farm economy through domestic terms of trade and factor market adjustments. With almost stable input growth, the relatively large contributions from growth in Total Factor Productivity (TFP) are passed on to intermediate and final consumers in the form of declining real prices for primary farm products. The resulting net growth in the real value of farm output (GDP) is relatively low (0.25% per annum). The decomposition of TFP suggests that public agricultural stock of knowledge and infrastructure are robustly associated with TFP growth, while spill-overs from private agricultural and economy wide research and development (R and D) are positive but, relatively small.     

U.S. Strategic Trade Policy and the Competitiveness of the U.S. Construction Industry in Developing Country Markets

SUMMARY

U.S. government trade policy increasingly reflects “strategic trade” beliefs that, because competition in markets is imperfect, governments can act strategically to affect trade flows and enhance national welfare. The U.S. National Export Strategy targets the infrastructure sector in twelve developing countries as a strategic opportunity for U.S. construction firms. This paper examines whether U.S. government export promotion initiatives effectively implement strategic trade policy by providing appropriate support to these firms in that target market. It concludes that, within limits, they do.     

美国是如何管理城市的

为了学习和借鉴美国大城市管理的经验 ,由市委研究室、市市政管委、市国土资源和房屋管理局等课题参与单位组成的北京市城市管理考察团 ,从2 0 0 1年 9月 4日至 9月 1 4日 ,先后对美国首都华盛顿、纽约、旧金山、洛杉矶等主要城市进行访问考察 ,与华盛顿市政府、美国住房和城市发展部、斯坦福研究中心、乔治梅森大学公共政策院、世界银行东亚及太平洋地区城市发展部、洛杉矶市政府城市规划局等单位的政府官员和专家学者 ,就城市管理理论研究和实践探索领域的有关内容开展交流 ,取得了预期效果。　　一、美国城市管理的一些成功做法　　通过…     

美国城市郊区化与都市区发展

一、美国城市化扩散与都市区的形成　　 1 美国城市郊区化过程美国从 19世纪末到 2 0世纪初开始城市郊区化过程 ,这一阶段多为富人对较高生活质量的追求而在通勤铁路线上出现“卧城”或称“乡村别墅区”。在2 0世纪 2 0～ 30年代 ,纽约、芝加哥等大城市郊区城镇人口开始超过市中心人口 ,但总体来说这一时期的城市人口超出郊区人口。二战后由于汽车与高速公路的发展推动了“大众郊区化” ,联邦政府和地方政府投入巨资兴建高速公路 ,至 2 0世纪 6 0年代高速公路网已深入乡间 ,中间阶级和高收入的蓝领工人纷纷涌入郊区。从 194 0年到 1970年 ,…     

On Perennial Re-examination of the U.S. Constitution

Abstract . The United States Constitution is still shrouded in myths, clothed in broad terms and garbed with ambiguities. These require constant reinterpretation. If a continuing constitutional convention is thus endemic to the American political system, then is it, as Jefferson said, “a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary”? Justice Jackson wrote that “we are infallible only because we are final,” but it is a maxim of American politics that the Court follows the election returns. In the last analysis, there is a higher court in a republican democracy, the Court of Public Opinion (of which scholars and publicists are the officers) which achieves revision by periodic reinterpretation and re-examination.     

Cross-listing in the U.S. and domestic investor protection

Using the change in ordinary dividend payout as a proxy for improved governance, we show that cross-listing in the U.S. is associated with enhanced protection for the minority ordinary shareholders of exchange-listed non-U.S. firms. These firms substitute dividends for enhanced governance. We find no such effect for Rule 144a Portal firms. Interestingly, we document evidence inconsistent with the legal bonding hypothesis for Level 1 OTC firms. We believe that their ability to pay lower dividends post-listing is primarily due to their ability to credibly commit to fair treatment of their minority investors, given their record for equitable treatment of their ordinary shareholders. They achieve this reputation by consistently paying out a sizable proportion of their earnings as dividends. In addition, we find that the firm-level governance of Level 1 OTC firms, as measured by the number of closely held shares improves in the post-listing period. We find no such effect for SEC Rule 144a traded firms. Our results have also important implications for the agency models of dividends.     

U.S. University Research Parks

University research parks are important as a mechanism for the transfer of academic research findings, as a source of knowledge spillovers, and as a catalyst for national and regional economic growth. We develop a model to describe the growth, or productivity, of research parks, and we test this model using the newly constructed National Science Foundation database on university research parks. We find that parks closer to the university, operated by a private organization, and with a specific technology focus—information technology in particular—grow faster than the average of 8.4% per year.     

Value Added and Corporate Control in the U.S.

This paper examines the ability of value added to assess the differences between target firms and their industries and to explain target firms' abnormal returns during the takeover period. In a sample of 234 completed takeovers over the period 1977 to 1989, takeover targets have lower value added to total assets ratios than other firms in their industries in the year preceding the year in which the takeover is completed. Target firm abnormal returns observed during the takeover period are positively related to the difference between target Firm and average industry value added to total assets. This suggests that while acquired firms are on average underperformers, acquiring firms value the access to, and possibly the ability to redistribute, the resources of target firms.