Creative Destruction and Optimal Patent Life in a Variety‐Expanding Growth Model

This article presents more channels through which the optimal patent life is determined in a R&D‐based endogenous growth model with an expanding variety of consumer goods. It features an endogenous hazard rate at which patented firms' monopoly profits are “creatively destructed” by arrivals of newer varieties, among other things. A patent's effective life is, therefore, endogenized and less than its legal life. This model is calibrated to a global economy with a set of baseline parameter values. The optimal patent length is computed with the algorithm of Golden Search Section, ranging from 17 to 19 years. With the creative‐destruction hazard, the world needs a longer patent term to maximize social welfare but with the prevalence of research congestion, the world needs a shorter patent term. However, if the world's aggregate welfare appreciates varieties of goods in a way strong enough, the optimal patent term can surprisingly extend beyond 1000 years!     

Patent Protection and Strategic Delays in Technology Development: Implications for Economic Growth

We present an endogenous growth model in which both the investment to develop a new technology—that upgrades the quality of machines—and entry of imitators are determined endogenously. According to the model, how soon the new‐technology machine is launched after the patent is granted is influenced by two factors: returns to scale in technology development and “strategic delays.” Strategic delays in technology development are most likely to occur when earlier dates of success enable imitators to enter an industry, that is, when imitation is swift and relatively cheap and/or patent protection is relatively lengthy. We then explore the link between the optimal patent length and economic growth and find that the equilibrium investment in technology development and thus the expected rate of technological progress exhibit an inverted U‐shape relationship with respect to the legal patent length.     

Effects of Patent Policy on Income and Consumption Inequality in a R&D Growth Model

To analyze the effects of patent policy on growth and inequality, this article develops a quality‐ladder model with wealth heterogeneity and elastic labor supply. The model predicts that strengthening patent protection increases (a) economic growth by stimulating spending on research and development and (b) income inequality by raising the return on assets. Elastic labor supply creates an additional effect on income inequality. As for consumption inequality, the effect is ambiguous and depends on the elasticity of intertemporal substitution. Calibrating the model to the U.S. data shows that strengthening patent protection increases income inequality by more than consumption inequality, and this pattern is consistent with the data.     

External Shocks and High Volatility in Consumption in Low‐Income Countries

According to the well‐known concept of consumption smoothing, the volatility of consumption is low even when income is volatile; this is confirmed by data from G7 countries. Surprisingly, however, consumption volatility in many low‐income countries is nontrivially higher than income volatility. Here I examine what causes high consumption volatility in low‐income countries. In general, volatile consumption makes consumers worse off. Therefore, understanding the causes of high consumption volatility can contribute to improving welfare in low‐income countries by suggesting measures to assist in the stabilization of consumption. Unlike much previous research, I focus on international factors when explaining high consumption volatility. The results suggest that external shocks, which are far more volatile in low‐income countries than in industrialized countries, strongly swing consumption. By capturing these mechanisms, the model I use successfully accounts for consumption volatility's differences between the sample low‐income country and sample industrialized country.     

Economic Growth and Electricity Consumption in GCC and MENA Countries

This study estimates the causal relationship between oil rents, electricity consumption and economic growth at aggregate levels with annual data from between 1972 and 2011 for the Arab states of the Gulf and some Middle East and North African countries. An autoregressive distributed lag bounds test shows that oil rents, economic growth and electricity consumption are cointegrated for these countries in a stable manner over this whole period. Granger causality tests indicate that directions of causalities differ for the countries according to their natural resource levels. Thus, these countries can be classified according to their oil rent levels for implementing energy policies such as energy conservation.     

An Integrated Corporate Governance Framework and Financial Performance in South African‐Listed Corporations

This paper investigates the relationship between an integrated corporate governance (CG) index and financial performance using a sample of 169 South African (SA)‐listed corporations between 2002 and 2007. We find a statistically significant and positive association between a broad set of good CG practices and financial performance. In a series of sensitivity analyses, we find that our results are robust to endogeneity, different financial performance proxies, alternative CG weighting scheme and firm‐level fixed effects. We further distinctively examine the link between complying with SA context‐specific stakeholder CG provisions and financial performance. In line with political cost and resource dependence theories, our results reveal a statistically significant and positive nexus between compliance with stakeholder CG provisions and financial performance.     

The Impact of Research and Development on Economic Growth and Productivity in the U.S. States

Research and development (R&D) has a large effect on both state output and total factor productivity in the long run. Our estimates for the private sector of the U.S. states from 1963 to 2007 show that the R&D elasticity averages 0.056–0.143. The implied returns to state Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from R&D spending are 82–211%. There are also positive R&D spillovers, with 70–80% of the total returns accruing to other states. We also find that states with more human capital have higher own‐ and other‐R&D elasticities, and those in lowest tier of economic development have the least own‐state R&D elasticity but the highest other‐R&D elasticity. In addition, we find that the positive effect of R&D spillovers across states is larger when we consider R&D spillovers across states based on economic similarity of R&D across sectors.     

A new class of production functions and an argument against purely labor‐augmenting technical change

This paper derives the macro‐level production function from idea‐based microfoundations. Labor‐augmenting and capital‐augmenting developments are assumed to be Pareto‐distributed and mutually dependent. Using the Clayton copula family to capture this dependence, a new “Clayton–Pareto” class of production functions is derived that nests both the Cobb–Douglas and the constant elasticity of substitution. In the most general case, technical change is not purely labor‐augmenting over the long run, but it augments both capital and labor. Under certain parametrizations, the derived elasticity of substitution between capital and labor exceeds unity and, therefore, gives rise to long‐run endogenous growth.     

Spatial Concentration of Innovation Activities in China and the Role of Mega‐economic Zones

This paper analyzes the development of spatial concentration of various innovation activities in China from 2000 to 2015 by using a generalized Theil index based on a balanced provincial dataset. It tracks concentration development back to the developing heterogeneity within and between regions in general and the mega‐economic zones in particular. Results show that innovation activities tend to be distributed unequally across provinces in China, with more pronounced unequal distribution of innovation outcomes than innovation inputs. Over the research period, the innovation activities considered became more and more equally distributed across provinces. The between‐region inequality of innovation activities has, however, not yet significantly improved, despite the implementation of Chinese regional policies to encourage more equal regional development. Instead, more equal distribution of innovation activities within mega‐economic zones is observed.     

新疆人均收入和收入不平等的增长与收敛——基于空间面板模型

新古典经济增长模型预测,随着时间的推移,人均收入的差距将会缩小,收入不平等将会逐渐趋同。本文利用1995年—2012年新疆15个地州的空间面板数据,采用跨部门模型和空间面板数据模型,并考虑空间交互效应来检验上述预测对新疆的正确性。研究结果显示,在对教育程度、失业、产业构成、人均收入的空间滞后增长以及区域固定效应进行调控之后,人均收入存在条件收敛,而收入不平等则存在无条件收敛。     

An Examination of Subnational Growth in Nigeria: 1999‐2012

I use satellite imagery on night‐time lights to measure growth across states and local government areas in Nigeria since the return of democracy in 1999. The data suggest that states in southern Nigeria have grown faster on average than states in the north. Using the Ordinary Least Squares, I estimate a relationship between change in night lights and real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Africa and use the coefficients to estimate GDP growth for states and local government areas in Nigeria over the period. Finally, I evaluate the effects of violence on growth in Plateau, Yobe and Borno states. I find that the crisis in Plateau state has resulted in slower growth compared with other states in the region. I also show that Yobe and Borno states had performed worse than other states in the north even before the outbreak of violence related to the Boko Haram sect.     

Government Bias in Education,Schooling Attainment,and Long‐Run Growth

A surprising cross‐country stylized fact is that higher public spending on education tends to lower the long‐run growth rate of per capita GDP and the returns to schooling. This is contrary to the conventional wisdom that education is a major driver of growth. In this article, we revisit this issue and try to understand these puzzling facts in terms of an endogenous growth model. Our cross‐country calibration of the growth model predicts that countries with a greater government involvement in education experience lower schooling efforts and lower growth.     

中国能耗增长的阶段性特征:基于LMDI模型的实证研究

本文运用与SDA法相结合的LMDI分解模型,根据能耗增长特点分四个阶段探讨了包含能源强度、中间投入结构变动的技术效应和包含消费、投资、出口变动的最终需求效应对中国能源消耗增长的时段驱动模式。结果表明:(1)1997-2010年间,各阶段"三驾马车"引领的最终需求效应不单是规模庞大,也应相对稳定,能耗增长的异常波动主要取决于技术效应;(2)能源强度效应一直起着节能降耗的积极作用,而中间投入结构自2002年后向高耗能依存特征转变,成为能耗增长的推动因素;(3)2006年开始实施的能源强度政策有效改变了能耗增长轨迹,而国际金融危机的突然爆发扭曲了政府政策执行的初衷、方式和效率。     

基于专利-德尔菲法的技术预见模型构建

基于定量与定性相结合的视角,利用德尔菲法与专利分析技术开展互补分析,构建专利-德尔菲法的技术预见模型,并对该模型的输入信息、3个分析阶段、输出结果加以界定。该模型与传统的技术预见分析模型相比,具有量化数据与理性判断相结合的互补优势,通过多维度指标设计和闭环反馈过程,既减少专家预见过程中的认知偏差,也可增加分析的科学性,确保技术预见过程的系统化和科学化。     

Habits and Durability in Consumption,and the Effects of Tariff Protection

Some recent empirical findings are used to motivate employing a model in which consumption exhibits durability, and habits develop over the flow of services provided by them, in order to study the effects of tariff protection on the current account. Durability leads to adjacent substitutability in consumption, while habits are assumed to lead to adjacent complementarity. If durability effects are dominant in the short run, and habit effects in the long run, then tariffs will lead to a current account surplus, which will be followed by a deficit. In the opposite case, a deficit will be followed by a surplus.     

High‐speed Rail and Urban Economic Growth in China after the Global Financial Crisis

High‐speed rail (HSR) has been an important driver of China's economic expansion over the last decade. Using data of 285 prefecture‐level cities over 2010–2014, this paper proposes an endogenous economic growth model to explain how and why HSR may have propelled China's economic growth by reducing the time‐space between cities. The research results show that HSR has a potent effect on urban economic growth and regional convergence. Ceteris paribus, HSR appears to have accelerated economic growth by more than 0.6 percent and the pace of regional economic convergence by approximately 2 percent per annum over the data period. Our research findings have important policy implications for the sustainability of China's economic development, backed by HSR.     

河南工业化城镇化发展与农民收入增长的实证分析

工业化、城镇化发展水平是影响农民收入增长的主要因素,从工业化、城镇化与农民收入增长正相关的假定入手,利用1978—2009年河南省工业化水平、城镇化率、非农产业就业比重和农民人均纯收入增长率等相关指标数据,在对工业化和城镇化进程中的农民收入增长进行描述性分析的基础上,运用协整分析、向量误差修正(VECM)模型、Granger因果检验及方差分解等动态分析方法,对河南工业化、城镇化发展与农民收入增长之间的动态相关性进行了严谨的实证分析。研究结论可作为推进河南工业化、城镇化发展和提高农民收入的政策性建议。     

The Effects of Remittances on Output per Worker in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Production Function Approach

This paper uses a production function to examine the channels through which remittances affect output per worker in 31 Sub‐Saharan African countries from 1980 to 2010. Lagged remittances increase physical capital per worker, average years of schooling and total factor productivity, but the effectiveness of remittances varies with the income level of the recipient nation. Although remittances have increased both physical capital and total factor productivity among the upper middle income nations, among the lower middle income, they have increased only the physical capital. Meanwhile a reduction in institutional risk has encouraged investment and efficiency, but its relationship to the effectiveness of remittances has been inconclusive.     

The Role of Public Infrastructure in China's Regional Inequality and Growth: A Simultaneous Equations Approach

Using a simultaneous equations approach, this paper empirically investigates the impact of two types of public infrastructure, transportation infrastructure and knowledge infrastructure, on industrial geography, regional income disparities, and growth across 286 cities in China. It is found that an improvement in transportation infrastructure that reduces trade costs on goods increases growth and decreases income gap at the expense of increasing industrial agglomeration between cities. Therefore, this paper confirms the existence of a trade‐off between spatial equity (more even spatial distribution of economic activities) and spatial efficiency (higher growth rate). However, for knowledge infrastructure that reduces trade costs on ideas, it is found that it increases growth but also decreases income gap and industrial agglomeration simultaneously. Moreover, the impact of knowledge infrastructure is found to be larger in the case of high labor mobility.