WHAT DRIVES EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS? THE ROLE OF FDI IN CHINESE MANUFACTURING

Export competitiveness (XC) is a country's ability to compete globally through expanding export capacity and upgrading export sophistication. How does foreign direct investment (FDI) affect XC? This article studies the issue based on evidence from Chinese manufacturing. Using data on 21 manufacturing sectors for 31 regions over 2005–2011, we construct the XC index and its three composite indicators, following the Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Four findings emerge from the estimates: (a) FDI is a key driver of China's export success; (b) China's absorptive capacity reinforces the effects of FDI through domestic learning efforts; (c) FDI seems to contribute more to export capacity than export upgrading, especially in labor‐intensive/low‐tech products; and (d) high‐tech FDI from the western world seems to be more conducive to export upgrading than low‐tech FDI from developing economies. (JEL F21, F23, O14, O53)     

WHAT DETERMINES THE “LEGAL” QUALITY Of BANK REGULATION AND SUPERVISION?

This article has two contributions. First, using the methodology of Neyapti and Dincer, it provides measures of legal quality of bank regulation and supervision (RS) for a new set of developed and less‐developed countries. Second, it investigates the determinants of RS in view of the hypothesis that the existing institutional environment matters for the quality of formal institutions such as banking laws. The empirical evidence in this article demonstrates that past financial crises and prevailing levels of both financial market development and foreign direct investment inflows affect RS beyond and above the effects of other potential factors, such as macroeconomic performance and good governance. Evidence from transition economies also supports these findings. (JEL E44, G2, K29, O1)     

WHAT DETERMINANTS AFFECT THE CAPITAL STRUCTURE OF CONSUMER CO‐OPERATIVES? THE CASE OF iCOOP KOREA

The capital structure of co‐operatives can differ from that of IOB (Investor‐Owned Businesses) since the two organizations differ in their aims, governance structures and decision‐making principles. This paper examines whether the determinants verified in IOB affect the leverage ratio of consumer co‐operatives. Consumer co‐operatives in South Korea have been rapidly growing during the last decade. There are two leading theories in finance that explain capital structure: the trade‐off and pecking order theories. Focusing on consumer co‐operatives in South Korea, the paper aims to analyze empirically what determinants have effect on the capital structure of consumer co‐operatives and which of the two theories is more plausible. This study reveals that profitability and firm size have a significantly negative effect on leverage while tangibility and growth have a significantly positive effect on it. In conclusion, it seems that neither of the theories above perfectly accounts for the capital structure of consumer co‐operatives because of the differences in governance characteristics between consumer co‐operatives and IOB as well as in the costs of bankruptcy, agency, informational asymmetry and securities issuance.     

WHAT DETERMINES RELIGIOUS SCHOOL CHOICE? THEORY AND EVIDENCE FROM RURAL BANGLADESH

This paper looks at the determinants of school selection in rural Bangladesh, focusing on the choice between registered Islamic and non‐religious schools. Using a unique dataset on secondary school‐age children from rural Bangladesh, we find that madrasah enrolment falls as household income increases. At the same time, more religious households, and those that live further away from a non‐religious school are more likely to send their children to madrasahs. However, in contrast to the theory, we find that Islamic school demand does not respond to the average quality of schools in the locality.     

WHAT DO VARS TELL US ABOUT THE IMPACT OF A CREDIT SUPPLY SHOCK?

In the aftermath of the recent financial crisis, a variety of structural vector autoregression (VAR) models have been proposed to identify credit supply shocks. Using a Monte Carlo experiment, we show that the performance of these models can vary substantially, with some identification schemes producing particularly misleading results. When applied to U.S. data, the estimates from the best performing VAR models indicate, on average, that credit supply shocks that raise spreads by 10 basis points reduce GDP growth and inflation by 1% after one year. These shocks were important during the Great Recession, accounting for about half the decline in GDP growth.     

DEFENDING THE INDEFENSIBLE? CULTURE'S ROLE IN THE PRODUCTIVE/UNPRODUCTIVE DICHOTOMY

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to reveal the justifications for different production boundaries historically. It finds that the boundaries were and are predicated on an untenable productive/unproductive dichotomy that was justified on select and shifting cultural norms. Furthermore, the production boundary informed other categories like labor, capital, income, and wealth. Hence, this article exposes the degree to which economic categories were and are unstable, fragile, contested, and culturally embedded constructs. It then explores feminist-inspired production boundaries based on third-person criterion and finds that these boundaries are likewise culturally contingent. However, these new production boundaries merely do what economics has always attempted to do, which is to theorize production under different cultural circumstances. This article reaffirms the mutually constitutive role of culture and economic categories.     

COOPERATION: THE POWER OF A SINGLE WORD? SOME EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE ON WORDING AND GENDER EFFECTS IN A GAME OF CHICKEN

Framing has been widely shown to affect decision making. In this paper, we investigate experimentally whether, and to what extent, cooperative behaviour in a Game of Chicken may be impacted by a very basic change in the labelling of the strategies. Our within‐subject experimental design involves two treatments. The only difference between them is that we introduce either a socially‐oriented wording (I cooperate/I do not cooperate) or colours (red/blue) to designate strategies. The level of cooperation appears to be higher in the socially‐oriented context, but only when uncertainty as regards the type of the partner is manipulated, and especially among females.     

TO REGULATE OR TO DEREGULATE? THE ROLE OF DOWNSTREAM COMPETITION IN UPSTREAM MONOPOLY VERTICALLY LINKED MARKETS

This paper attempts to cast light to the effect of monopoly regulation in Cournot markets compared to its effect in Bertrand markets. To this purpose, we use a simple model of a vertically linked market, where an upstream regulated natural monopoly is trading via two‐part tariff contracts with a downstream duopoly. Combining our results to those of the existing literature on deregulated markets, we argue that when the downstream competition is in prices, efficiency dictates regulating the monopoly with a marginal cost based pricing scheme. However, this type of regulation leads to significant welfare loss, when the downstream market is characterized by Cournot competition.     

LOCAL SERVICES OF GENERAL ECONOMIC INTEREST IN EUROPE. WATER SERVICES: WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES?

ABSTRACT: This study was conducted within the CIRIEC International Scientific Commission ‘Public Services/Public Enterprises’ project on Local services of general economic interest. Compared to other sectors, the process of Europeanization has distinct features in the water field. At EU level, water policy is rather founded on the respect of common ambitious quality standards based on public health and environmental protection norms than the creation of an ‘internal market’. Therefore, the evolution of different models of governance, organization and supply have undergone specific changes. This study focuses on local and national diversity of water services and the broad outlines of current challenges and developments. It concludes that a key challenge is to guarantee the competent public authorities’ freedom of choice of management modes.     

“COERCIVE COOPERATION”? ONTARIO'S PAY EQUITY ACT OF 1988 AND THE GENDER PAY GAP

Evaluating the effect of pay‐equity laws is important and yet difficult as one needs to deduce what would have occurred without the policy intervention. We use a new tool, synthetic‐control method, to examine the effects of Ontario's Pay Equity Act on the gender pay gap. This tool enables us to create a “Synthetic” Ontario, which resembles Ontario more closely than does any other single province. Using Synthetic Ontario to compare what actually happened in Ontario to what would have happened, we find that the act has had little or no effect on the female‐male wage gap in Ontario. (JEL J7, J3)     

WHERE ARE THE WOMEN? GENDER,LABOR, AND DISCOURSE IN THE NOIDA EXPORT PROCESSING ZONE AND DELHI

Abstract

Export processing zones (EPZs) are like islands of globalization. Much of the literature on EPZs and export-oriented industries (EOIs) notes a preponderance of women who are constructed as “cheap,” “nimble fingered,” and “docile” labor. This literature is dominated by socialist feminist thinkers, and this paper argues that there is a need to incorporate the insights of postmodern feminist thinkers. The article focuses on the role that language, discourse, and subjectivity play in the gendering process in handmade jewelry production in the Noida Export Processing Zone (NEPZ) and in the ranch production units related by common ownership in Delhi, India. It thus gives “voices” to women and men, and brings out their agency in structuring the labor market. The study confirms that gender division of labor is a product of discursive and material practices that are reproduced through discourses into which different actors invest, and that feed into the gendered subjective identities of these actors.     

IS IT WHERE YOU GO OR WHAT YOU STUDY? THE RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF COLLEGE SELECTIVITY AND COLLEGE MAJOR ON EARNINGS

All college students must decide where to attend college and what major to study. We estimate how earnings by college major differ at different college selectivity types. We find major‐specific earnings vary markedly by college selectivity, with the strongest differences among business majors and the weakest differences among science majors. We also find that when comparing earnings of graduates from top colleges to middle or bottom ranked colleges, the distribution of students across majors can be as important as earnings differences by major in accounting for college selectivity earnings gaps. (JEL I2, J3)     

IS THE DEMISE OF M2 GREATLY EXAGGERATED?

The early 1990s in the United States were years of sluggish economic growth alongside a sharply lowered federal funds rate, leading analysts to conclude that monetary policy must have been rendered ineffective by external influences. One previously popular monetary policy indicator not used to analyze the period was real M2, as it was widely considered to have been distorted since the early 1980s. This paper argues that it was a serious mistake to ignore M2 in the early 1990s since it never forecast (relatively or absolutely) better and helps explains this otherwise puzzling period very well. (JEL E32, E51, E52)     

THE AMERICANIAZTION OF TOYOTA

The world's most profitable car company is adding some red, white, and blue to its corporate culture.     

THE SECRETS OF EXECUTION

Whyisitsohardtoreachagoal?Let’sfaceit:Weusuallyknowwhatdoto,it'sjustthatweloseourfocussomewherebetweenthoughtandaction.Littlesurprise,then,thatmanycompanieshaveexactlythesameproblem.Andthatsuccessfulcompa-niesturnouttobebetteratturningtheoryintopractice.…     

WHAT CREATES ABNORMAL PROFITS?

In this paper, we re‐examine the debate regarding the determinants of persistent abnormal profits. Abnormal profits are estimated using data on tangible and intangible capital for 2689 Australian firms over a 17‐year period. The determinants of abnormal profits are then estimated using variables collated from accounting and survey data on innovation and management practices. We find that market share, use of lead‐time strategies, and industry concentration all affect abnormal profits.     

HOW TO VALUE THE POORER PROSPECTS OF YOUTH IN THE EARLY 1990s?

Young workers in the 1990s can expect greater economic insecurity, as well as lower average earnings, compared to older workers, or compared to the youth of previous decades. The cost of greater insecurity depends upon an individual's probability of unemployment, marginal utility of income gains/losses and the extent to which individuals can smooth consumption over time by borrowing and drawing down assets. Since unemployment insurance cutbacks and higher unemployment have increased the risk exposure of youth, changes in the expected value of their income may understate utility losses as measured by the change in certainty equivalent income.
This paper uses a behavioural microsimulation model to compare the impacts of 1971 and 1994 unemployment insurance legislation and unemployment rates in Canada. It calculates both the expected value of income changes and, using a Stone-Geary utility function, the change in inequality of well-being (as measured by certainty equivalent income) for youth and for prime age workers. Both calculations reveal that youth were disproportionately affected by Canada's changing labour market environment. Very few youth have enough assets to finance consumption during spells of unemployment.     

DOES APPRECIATION OF THE RENMINBI DECREASE IMPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES FROM CHINA?

In 2005, China abated its fixed exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and began to appreciate the Renminbi (RMB). In this paper, I explore the effect of the appreciation of the RMB on imports to the United States from China by augmenting the gravity model with the exchange rate. Using an industrial panel data set during the period 2002–2008 and controlling for the endogeneity of the bilateral exchange rate, this extensive empirical analysis suggests that the appreciation of the RMB against the U.S. dollar significantly reduced imports to the United States from China. This finding is robust to a variety of econometric methods and to coverage in different periods. (JEL F1, F2)