Technical Efficiency Indicators in a Philippine Manufacturing Sector

This paper uses the stochastic production frontier approach to investigate the relationship between size and technical efficiency in the Philippines textile industry. Results show that technical efficiency increases with size, thus weakening the case for SME targeted policies. Moreover, both exports and government interventions are positively associated with efficiency, although the link between government support and technical efficiency is somewhat weaker.     

Has Investment in Australia's Manufacturing Sector Become More Export Oriented?

A more competitive and export-oriented manufacturing sector is an important objective of the Australian Labor Government's economic strategy. In furthering this objective levels of tariff protection have been lowered and foreign exchange markets deregulated. The strategy has been boosted by the competitive gain afforded by depreciation of the Australian dollar in 1985 and 1986. This article offers estimates of the size of Australian manufacturing investment in export-creating capacity over the period 1980-81 to 1987-88. A breakdown of these estimates by individual industries is also provided.
Our estimates indicate an improving trend since depreciation of the Australian dollar. However, this improvement has been from a low base. Moreover, the levels of investment in export-creating capacity have yet to attain the levels prevailing in the early 1980s, and there are worrying signs that the improving trend stalled toward the end of the period. However, the breakdown of our estimates by industry groupings shows positive changes in the pattern of investment in export-creating capacity. There has been a movement away from resource-based manufactures and a larger share for elaborately transformed manufactures. This is a favourable shift in emphasis since such technologically sophisticated manufactures have been amongst the fastest growing world markets.     

The Impact of Technical Change and Profit on Investment in Australian Manufacturing

This paper combines W.E.G. Salter's analysis of capital-embodied technical change with Kalecki's analysis of financing investment from retained profits to provide a Post Keynesian model of investment with process innovation, which is applied to data from Australian manufacturing industries. The approach to process innovation taken in this study is to identify new capital stock introduced through physical investment, which results in the older vintage stock being decommissioned as technologically obsolete. In the estimated model, the profit factor is used as a measure of the ability to invest, and the rate of labour productivity growth factor reveals the inducement to invest as this rate acts as a proxy for technical change in the Kaleckian investment-ordering model. The two factors combine to explain the accumulation process, both level and variability, and its link to technical change. In conclusion, this paper demonstrates that investment, incorporating technical change, enables industries to become sustainable into the uncertain future with varying states of investment instability.

…technical progress cannot be regarded as automatic and independent of accumulation. (Salter, 1966, p. 72)     

FDI Contribution to Technical Efficiency in the Tunisian Manufacturing Sector: Evidence from Micro-panel Data

This paper investigates the contribution of FDI to firms’ technical efficiency based on a two-stage empirical method. Using panel data for 674 firms belonging to the Tunisian manufacturing sector and observed over the period 1997–2001, a bootstrap procedure is applied to correct for serial correlation affecting DEA technical efficiency scores estimated in a first stage. Results obtained from second-stage regressions show that FDI presence at the firm level has a positive effect on its technical efficiency. However, horizontal FDI spillovers are not evidenced while sectoral export activity represents a potential source of technology spillovers for local firms.     

Democratic Accountability,Regulation and Inward Investment Policy

We examine the effect of domestic political accountability on leaders' strategies for attracting foreign direct investment to less developed countries. We consider two policy areas: the tax burden imposed on firms and the regulatory environment in which they operate. We find that democratic governments are more likely to offer relatively lower tax rates to foreign investors, whereas autocratic governments are more likely to offer relatively lax regulation. This result is driven by the greater elasticity of the political survival function to environmental and labor regulations in more democratic countries. Analyses of firm‐level survey data confirm our main theoretical conclusions.     

外商直接投资对我国制造业自主创新投入的影响

本文利用2003—2007年我国28个制造行业的面板数据,检验了外商直接投资（FDI）参与度、FDI研发强度以及科技人员比重等因素对内资制造业自主创新投入的影响。结果表明上述三个因素对全部内资制造业的自主创新投入的影响并不显著。将制造业划分为高技术行业和一般行业,外资参与度对内资高技术行业研发强度的抑制程度要小于一般行业。外资研发强度对内资高技术行业研发强度的影响显著为负,对一般行业亦产生消极影响,但不显著。外资科技人员比重明显促进了高技术行业的自主创新投入,对低技术行业的研发支出强度产生负面影响,但统计上也不显著。上述结论意味着外资参与对内资自主创新投入的影响较为间接,需要关注直接影响内资自主创新投入的外资研发强度和外资科技人员比重等因素。内资企业要主动提高自主创新投入,形成自主创新能力,缩小和外资的技术差距。     

The Evolution of Technical Efficiency in the Northern Ireland Manufacturing Sector, 1973–1985

This paper uses a stochastic frontier production function approach to measure technical efficiency in firms in Northern Ireland. Firm level census of production panel data were used to examine how efficiency in firms changed over the period 1973–1985. Once estimates of efficiency were made, the causes of inefficiency based on characteristics of firms were examined. The results indicate that efficiency in Northern Ireland has improved significantly over-time. The largest increases in efficiency were in indigenously owned firms. The results suggest that many Northern Ireland owned firms were 'catching-up' in terms of efficiency with foreign owned firms over the period.     

中国制造业环境规制对技术创新影响的阶段性差异与行业异质性研究

首先,将技术创新划分为技术研发和技术转化两阶段,应用CES生产函数分阶段推导环境规制与技术创新的数理关系。其次,根据污染排放强度将中国制造业28个细分行业划分为重度污染型、中度污染型及轻度污染型3种类型,以2003-2012年行业面板数据为样本,构建分阶段分行业的计量回归模型进行环境规制对技术创新的实证检验。数理推导证明：环境规制与企业技术研发和技术转化在数理上均存在正相关关系。实证检验发现：①环境规制对中国制造业技术研发专利成果和技术转化新产品生产具有显著促进作用,波特假说在制造业整体上得到验证;②环境规制对中度污染行业、轻度污染行业的技术创新具有显著促进作用,但对重度污染行业的影响并不显著,波特假说存在明显的行业异质性。最后,针对环境规制对技术创新影响的阶段性和行业异质性提出了相关政策建议。     

Factor Demand in Pakistan's Manufacturing Sector

This paper estimate factor demand function by choosing appropriate technology. Departing from the conventioanl parting from the conventional practice of using and capital as factor inputs we extend the list of factors of production by including energy. Since we have more than two factor inputs the two-level (nested) CES production function is the natural choice for the appropriate technology. Using this technology we derive the factor demand for functions and estimate these for Pakistan's manufactruing sector covering a period from 1959-60 to 1982-83. The output elasticity of labour, capital and energy are found to be 0.47, 0.66 respectively. These informations, in particular, the employment elasticity are extremely important for manpower planning. These findings confirm the capital intensive structure of Pakistan's manufacturing units. [200]     

Tobacco consumption and policy in the United Kingdom

In recent years, several structural changes and sequences of shocks have occurred in the market for tobacco in the UK, including an explosive growth in smuggling. This study examines whether it is still possible to estimate a reliable, plausible tobacco demand equation from time series data for the UK whilst allowing for all of the various shocks and structural changes. A second objective of this study is to use the estimated demand function to evaluate tobacco policy in the UK, including the scope for using tax increases to achieve reduced consumption and increased revenues. It is found that smuggling has diminished the revenue yield of higher rates of duty, but total consumption of tobacco has been reduced. In addition to the introduction of further measures to control smuggling, policy may need to place more emphasis in the future on health campaigns and smoking restrictions.     

On Inflation Targeting in the United Kingdom

This paper discusses some of the operational issues relevant to inflation-targeting in the United Kingdom, in particular: whether inflation targeting is 'new'; whether it is potentially destabilising; and whether it requires too much knowledge on the part of the authorities. It goes on to discuss the role of inflation forecasts in general, and inflation probability distributions in particular, in the context of inflation-targeting in the UK. It also discusses the role of transparency in such a regime, and provides some evidence on its effect.     

ICT-specific technological progress in the United Kingdom

This paper analyses the impact of rapid technological change in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector on economic growth in the United Kingdom. We find that technological progress specific to the ICT sector accounts for around 20–30% of long-run labor productivity growth. We demonstrate that a permanent increase in the growth rate of ICT-specific technological progress will increase the investment expenditure share of GDP but lower the aggregate depreciation rate, while an increase in the return to investment in ICT will increase both the expenditure share and the depreciation rate.     

Nominal Wage Rigidity in the United Kingdom

This paper studies the degree of downward rigidity in nominal wages in the United Kingdom using micro-data. Around 9 % of employees who remain in the same job from one year to the next have zero pay growth. But on investigating the causes of rigidity we find that up to nine-tenths can be attributed to 'symmetric' causes (such as contracts and menu costs) or to error. Thus only 1 % of workers have pay that may be downwardly rigid. This suggests asymmetric, downward rigidity is not large enough to have serious macroeconomic consequences. The labour market provides almost no evidence to support a positive inflation target.     

Incentive regulation in the United Kingdom and the United States: Some lessons

Summary and Conclusions This paper has reviewed the approach to incentive regulation in the United Kingdom and the United States. The United Kingdom approach has typically relied on pure PCR, incorporating much sharper incentives for efficiency and lower transactions costs, but it makes the company more of a hostage to the regulator. The United States approach, which is grounded or even mired in the legal system, gives up efficiency incentives in an attempt to avoid making the companies the hostages of regulatory reneging.²⁷ The papers in this Issue illustrate the broad scope of incentive regulation, from the purer forms of PCR to a number of variations and mixtures of PCR with other forms of regulation. The interesting theoretic results and the importance of achieving practical solutions in incentive regulation underscore the importance of the problems and approaches raised in this Issue.     

Pension reforms and saving gains in the United Kingdom

The empirical validity of the effect of pension reforms on domestic savings in the UK has been investigated using an Auto‐regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model capable of testing for the existence of a long‐run relationship regardless of whether the underlying time series are individually I(1) or I(0). The total savings response to change in pension savings is positive and significant, but an increase in occupational pension saving appears offset by a decrease in other forms of saving. This paper concludes that there is no firm evidence that aggregate savings increase considerably because of privately funded pension schemes.     

钢铁行业投资研究

本文分为两部分 ,第一部分对钢铁行业的产业结构进行了简要分析 ,阐述了均衡状态下的厂商盈利水平。第二部分讨论了我国钢铁行业的近期总体发展趋势 ,并根据消费行业的需求特征对主要钢材品种的发展趋势和投资价值进行了分析 ,并简要阐述了近期资源供应和国际钢材市场对钢铁行业的影响。     

Socio-ecological regime transitions in Austria and the United Kingdom

We employ the concepts of socio-ecological regime and regime transition to better understand the biophysical causes and consequences of industrialization. For two case studies, the United Kingdom and Austria we describe two steps in a major transition from an agrarian to an industrial socio-ecological regime and the resulting consequences for energy use, land use and labour organization. In a first step, the coal based industrial regime co-existed with an agricultural sector remaining within the bounds of the old regime. In a second step, the oil/electricity based industrial regime, agriculture was integrated into the new pattern and the socio-ecological transition had been completed. Industrialization offers an answer to the input and growth related sustainability problems of the agrarian regime but creates new sustainability problems of a larger scale. While today's industrial societies are stabilizing their resource use albeit at an unsustainable level large parts of the global society are in midst of the old industrial transition. This poses severe problems for global sustainability.