The Swedish third way: an assessment of the performance and validity of the Rehn-Meidner model

This paper analyses the functioning of the Rehn–Meidnermodel in Sweden and the validity of the model's underlying theory.Both sceptics and friends of ‘the Swedish model’have exaggerated the effects of active labour market policyand solidarity wage policy on employment, inflation and growth.However, these policies have contributed to the reduction ofhysteresis effects and wage differentials in Sweden. Furthermore,Swedish experiences confirm the Rehn–Meidner view thatpositive demand shocks and expansionary macroeconomic policiesmake it difficult to combine full employment with price stability,economic growth and equity even if central wage negotiationsare coordinated and trade unions willingly accept wage restraint.     

Organisational change, technology, employment and skills: an empirical study of French manufacturing

This paper analyses the correlations between technological change,organisational change and skill change using a survey on organisationalchange in manufacturing firms conducted in 1993. Considerablediversity is allowed for in terms of the measure of technologicaland organisational change, and the analysis shows a positivecorrelation between technological change and reorganisations,whatever their types. The paper then analyses the relationshipsbetween these changes and the employment behaviour of firms.It shows that changes in the required skills and in the occupationalstructure of firms are more closely connected to organisationalthan to technological change. Although organisational changeaffects the work content and skill requirements of blue collarworkers, it is mainly indirect workers that are affected interms of the number employed. Finally, the analysis shows thattechnology tends to stabilise the workforce whereas the movetowards the model of ‘flexible enterprise’ favoursits renewal.     

Off the Record: Reconstructing Women's Labor Force Participation in the European Past

Abstract

Conventional histories of women's labor force participation in Europe conceptualize the trends in terms of a U-shaped pattern. This contribution draws on historical research to challenge such an account. First, it demonstrates that the trough in participation is in part statistically manufactured by uncritical reliance on official sources that systematically undercount women workers. Second, it exploits nonstandard sources to construct alternative estimates of women's participation. Third, it analyzes the reconstructed rates to determine their congruence with neoclassical economics and modern empirical studies. Not all posited relationships time travel. Supply-side factors such as marital status and number and age of children are major determinants of modern women's decision to enter the labor force, yet appear less prominent in historical contexts. Instead, the demand for labor seems decisive. Finally, the U-shaped curve is not entirely a statistical artifact, but appears to evolve at higher levels of participation than usually suggested.     

The Return to Caring Skills: Gender,Class, and Occupational Wages in the US

Feminist economics has contributed to the understanding of the economic importance of care work. Most studies find a wage penalty associated with caring occupations. This study extends the feminist research on care work beyond caring occupations by identifying specific caring skills and activities derived from the 2014 O*NET job-evaluation data. Four caring skills – (1) Assisting and Caring for Others, (2) Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships, (3) Service Orientation, and (4) Social Perceptiveness – were used in ordinary least-squares and quantile wage regressions for 623 occupations in the United States. Findings indicate that the return to caring and assisting skills results in a wage penalty for low-wage workers but a wage premium for workers in high-wage and male occupations. By identifying the impact of gender and class on the economic return to particular caring skills, the study broadens the understanding of care work, especially in relation to US wage inequality.     

Skilled and unskilled wage dynamics in Italy in the 1990s: changes in individual characteristics,institutions, trade and technology

In this paper, we use individual micro data on workers combined with industry and regional data to study the wage dynamics of skilled and unskilled workers in Italy in the 1991–1998 period. In contrast to previous empirical studies, our data make it possible to analyse, within a single framework, the role of many of the factors indicated in the literature as possible determinants of skilled and unskilled wage dynamics: changes in the individual characteristics of workers, changes in labour market institutions, increasing international integration, and skill‐biased technological progress. Our results show that international integration, both in terms of trade in goods and in terms of international labour mobility, plays a role in determining the wage dynamics of skilled (white‐collar) and unskilled (blue‐collar) workers. Moreover, in line with labour economics research, our findings show that the individual characteristics of workers and the institutional variables are more relevant in explaining skilled and unskilled wage dynamics than wage differentials.     

汇率变动、对外贸易与经济增长——以湖南省为例

选取了2005年7月汇改以来至2013年12月的季度数据,通过建立联立方程模型,利用3SLS(三阶段最小二剩法)计量方法就人民币汇率的变动对湖南省对外贸易、经济增长的影响进行实证研究。实证结果表明:人民币实际有效汇率升值1%,经济增长速度降低0.612%;湖南省进出口额的增长速度降低2.79%,人民币实际有效汇率升值对湖南省经济总量的增长有紧缩效应。     

On the importance of institutions and forms of organisation in Piero Sraffa's economics: the case of business cycles,money, and economic policy

Abstract

This paper is based on an investigation of the Sraffa Archives and tries to characterise Piero Sraffa's approach to business cycles and economic policy. It includes two parts. The first part of the paper shows the importance of economic institutions and social conventions in Sraffa's contribution to economics and their relation with social conflicts. The second part of the paper shows how this importance permits to understand better business cycles and economic policy but also indirectly contributes to a re-interpretation of Sraffa's contribution to economics.     

我国中小银行成长分析(1999～2003)机遇、挑战与对策

本文围绕银行成长这一核心,以部分股份制银行为考察对象,对1999～2003年期间我国中小银行成长现状、特征以及面临的机遇和挑战进行了分析,并提出了相应的对策建议.研究认为,中小银行成长具有"两不"、"两外"和"两小"的特点,具有这些特点的中小银行成长在新的银行竞争格局下面临新的挑战与机遇.要应对挑战、维持中小银行成长,就要在竞争策略、内部治理和政策扶持等方面加以改进.     

Inflation,real economic growth and unemployment expectations: an empirical analysis based on the ECB survey of professional forecasters

Expectations are at the centre of modern macroeconomic theory and policymakers. In this article, we examine the predictive ability and the consistency properties of macroeconomic expectations using data of the European Central Bank (ECB) Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF). In particular, we provide evidence on the properties of forecasts for three key macroeconomic variables: the inflation rate, the growth rate of real gross domestic product and the unemployment rate.     

环境规制与我国经济增长关系的区域差异研究——基于东、中、西部地区三次产业部门的数据分析

本文以2001-2010年全国东部、中部和西部地区的面板数据为样本,将区域经济增长细化为三次产业经济的增长,通过建立面板数据模型,分区域研究环境规制对各产业部门的经济增长效应,研究发现环境规制水平对我国三次产业的影响呈现出明显的区域差异性。环境规制水平与东部和中部地区的第二、三产业呈显著的正向相关关系,对西部地区第二产业的发展有显著的正效应,而对东、中部地区的第一产业和西部地区的第一、三产业的增长无显著影响。因此,应当采取相应的政策措施,以促进各区域环境规制与经济增长的协调发展。     

寻租、企业家才能配置和资源诅咒——基于中国省份面板数据的实证研究

文章结合中国现实,通过构建一个具有规模报酬递增性质的企业家才能配置模型,从自然资源导致的寻租空间对企业家才能配置的扭曲这一微观视角考察"资源诅咒"问题,并运用我国省份面板数据进行了实证检验。结果表明,自然资源禀赋的增加会直接提高企业家寻租的预期收益,进而使企业家才能从低回报的生产性部门转向高回报的寻租部门,这种扭曲会降低地区的经济增长率,产生"资源诅咒"现象。为确定寻租导致的企业家才能配置扭曲是否是自然资源禀赋影响我国不同省份经济增长水平的中介变量,文章实证检验了相应的中介效应,检验结果显示中介效应显著。     

Market thickness,sunk costs,productivity, and the outsourcing decision: an empirical analysis of manufacturing firms in France

Abstract This paper presents an empirical analysis of outsourcing behaviour by French manufacturing industries. It focuses on the effects of market thickness, sunk costs, and the productivity of firms on the outsourcing decision. I estimate a dynamic probit model where outsourcing decision is linked to past outsourcing behaviour. The results show that outsourcing is a persistent strategy adopted by large firms and suggest the presence of significant sunk costs associated with outsourcing. The results also show that market thickness reduces search costs and enhances the establishment of outsourcing relationships.     

资源禀赋与绿色创新——从中国省际数据的经验研究看“荷兰病”之破解

文章基于"资源诅咒"假说,利用1999-2006年中国省际面板数据,实证分析了资源禀赋、绿色创新及经济增长的逻辑关系.研究结果表明:(1)我国绿色创新的激励机制主要源于煤炭的污染性、而非能源的稀缺性,各地区的绿色创新主要面向"减排"、而非"节能";(2)我国资源充裕地区的绿色创新动力,主要依赖于投入相对更多的研发资金与人力资本、采取相对更严的环境政策及措施;(3)绿色创新对资源丰裕地区经济增长的贡献率高于传统创新对资源丰裕地区的相应贡献率,绿色创新对资源丰裕地区经济增长的贡献率高于其对资源贫乏地区的相应贡献率.结论认为,绿色创新下的资源禀赋并非"资源诅咒",而是"资源福音",这不仅是"适者生存"的必要手段,更是破解"资源诅咒"的重要途径.     

抚养负担、居民健康与经济增长——影响我国县市经济发展的人口特征因素

文章在扩展经济趋同理论研究框架的基础上,建立了抚养负担影响经济增长的可识别方程,并利用2000-2007年我国县级层面数据进行了实证检验,研究发现:老年和少儿抚养负担的加重对经济增长均有非常显著的负向影响,并且前者的影响更大;居民健康水平对经济增长有非常显著的正向影响;选择更为合理的衡量居民健康水平的指标对正确识别健康与抚养负担对经济增长的真实影响非常重要。文章指出,随着我国人口老龄化趋势的加快,伴随人口生育水平下降的少儿抚养负担的减轻和居民健康水平的改进可能仍不足以抵消老年抚养负担加重对经济增长的负向影响。     

Foreign investment, reparations and the proposal for an international bank: notes on the lectures of J M Keynes in Geneva, July 1929

Keynes's lectures to the Geneva School of International Studiesprovide substance to the intellectual linkages between the Cambridgedon and economists working in international economic agenciesduring the inter-war period. Keynes was keenly sought afteras a policy adviser; as the notes to these lectures indicate,he provided his audience with theoretical insights into thepressing issues of the day - reparations and the transfer problem,the economic foundations of the Dawes and Young Plans, and proposalsfor an international bank.     

新型研发机构在产学研深度融合中的作用探析——以瑞士比尔创新园为例

长期以来,在传统的科研管理体制的影响下,产学研管理体制不健全、合作行为短期化和形式化等问题严重制约了科技成果转化和产业化的推进。新一轮全球科技革命与产业变革正加速推动“科学”向“技术”转化,对科技治理体系形成一系列新挑战。为了跨越从基础研究到技术创新的“死亡谷”,国外创造性地发展了一批各具特色的新型研发机构,这些机构已经成为产学研用协同创新的重要平台和成果转化的关键支撑。本文剖析了构建新时代产学研深度融合的现实路径,在成功借鉴瑞士比尔创新园全链条创新服务模式经验的基础上,提出推动新型研发机构建设的对策建议。