Expansion abroad and jobs at home: Evidence from Japanese multinational enterprises

This paper examines the so-called ‘exporting job’ hypothesis – that expansion of overseas operations of manufacturing multinational enterprises (MNEs) reduces home employment – using a newly constructed matched parent-affiliate panel dataset of Japanese MNEs over the period 1991–2002. The results do not support the widely held view that overseas operations of MNEs lower home employment. On the contrary, there is some evidence that expansion of overseas operations may have helped to maintain the level of home employment.     

The effects at home of initiating production abroad: evidence from matched French firms

Based on matching techniques in combination with a difference-in-difference estimator, this paper estimates the effects at home of initiating production abroad through the establishment of a foreign production affiliate. The analysis covers manufacturing and service firms active in France during the period 1987–1999. We show that the motivation to start producing abroad is an important determinant of its impact at home. Market-seeking foreign direct investment (FDI) in manufacturing is associated with significant scale effects, resulting in job creation. By contrast, factor-seeking FDI in manufacturing has no significant effect on employment. However, there is some evidence that this type of FDI is associated with technology effects, in the form of greater capital-intensity and efficiency, as well as larger exports. Finally, FDI in service sectors is associated with significant positive employment effects, presumably reflecting the importance of the market-seeking motive in these sectors.     

The assessment: globalization and labour-market adjustment

Over the last two decades there has been a significant deteriorationin the labour-market outcomes of less-skilled labour in mostOECD countries. This has manifested itself either in terms ofa decline in wages relative to the most skilled, or in termsof the relative likelihood of being in work. Much recent researchhas focused on the impact of trade and skill-biased technicalchange as alternative explanations of the phenomenon; some hasalso investigated the role of cross-border investment and migration.This paper reviews recent research on globalization and labour-marketadjustment and sets the scene for the papers that follow.     

经济全球化时代的企业核心竞争力

随着经济全球化进程的加快，我国企业日益步入信息技术极速发展、技术升级日新月异、世界市场自由开放、各国竞争激烈残酷、机遇挑战同时并存的新环境。企业意欲在这样错综复杂的市场竞争中立于不败之地并谋求长期生存与稳步发展，就必须深刻认识到核心竞争力是其长期竞争优势的源泉，是其获得成功的关键要素。     

Surfing the waves of globalization: Asia and financial globalization in the context of the trilemma

Using the “trilemma indexes” developed by Aizenman et al. (2010) that measure the extent of achievement in each of the three policy goals in the trilemma—monetary independence, exchange rate stability, and financial openness—we examine how policy configurations affect macroeconomic performances, with focus on the Asian economies. We find that the three policy choices matter for output volatility and the medium-term level of inflation. Greater monetary independence is associated with lower output volatility while greater exchange rate stability implies greater output volatility, which can be mitigated if a country holds international reserves (IR) at a level higher than a threshold (about 20% of GDP). Greater monetary autonomy is associated with a higher level of inflation while greater exchange rate stability and greater financial openness could lower the inflation rate. We find that trilemma policy configurations affect output volatility through the investment or trade channel depending on the openness of the economies. Our results indicate that policy makers in a more open economy would prefer pursuing greater exchange rate stability while holding a massive amount of IR. Asian emerging market economies are found to be equipped with macroeconomic policy configurations that help the economies to dampen the volatility of the real exchange rate. These economies’ sizeable amount of IR holding appears to enhance the stabilizing effect of the trilemma policy choices, and this may help explain the recent phenomenal buildup of IR in the region.     

Experiments on risk attitude: The case of Chinese students

This paper examines Chinese students' risk attitudes using selling and buying experiments with lotteries. We found that subjects were more risk averse during the buying experiment than during the selling experiment, suggesting an endowment effect. In the selling experiment, subjects were risk loving when there was a low win probability and risk averse with a high win probability, whereas they were risk averse in the buying experiment. Using the prize money won during the experiment as a measure of wealth, we found decreasing absolute risk aversion. Subjects' risk attitudes as revealed in the experiments explain their risky asset holding behavior.     

经济全球化问题的思考--东亚国家发展历程的启示

抽象地谈论经济全球化的机遇与挑战,没有任何实际意义。我们或许可以从现实案例——东亚国家发展历程剖析之中,得到一个极有价值的参照系。 东亚经济发展速度之快,令人惊叹不已。英国在1780年之后,人均收入翻一番用了60年;美国在1840年后,人均收入翻一番用了50年;日本在1880年后,人均收入翻一番用了33年。亚洲新兴国家和地     

Labor market deregulation and globalization: empirical evidence from OECD countries

This paper empirically investigates the influence of globalization on various aspects of labor market deregulation. I employ the data set by Bassanini and Duval (2006) on labor market institutions in OECD countries and the KOF index of globalization. The data set covers 20 OECD countries in the 1982–2003 period. The results suggest that globalization did neither influence the unemployment replacement rate, the unemployment benefit length, public expenditures on ALMP, the tax wedge, union density nor overall employment protection. In contrast, protection of regular employment contracts was diminished when globalization was proceeding rapidly. In fact, domestic aspects, such as unemployment and government ideology are more important determinants of labor market institutions and deregulation processes in OECD countries than globalization. For this reason, working conditions of unskilled workers are not likely to deteriorate and the jobs of unskilled workers are not likely to disappear in the course of globalization. All this is, of course, not to insinuate that globalization has any benign influence on labor market institutions.     

Embracing globalization to promote industrialization: Insights from the development of Singapore's petrochemicals industry

Debates about industrial policy reveal disagreements on three salient issues. The first is whether government can overcome its own failures, namely knowledge constraints and rent-seeking, to correct market failures. The second is whether government should go beyond horizontal policies to adopt more activist interventions such as “winner-picking.” The third is whether intervention should follow or defy the country's comparative advantage. Singapore's experience in developing a globally competitive petrochemicals industry, within only a few decades and through vigorous interventions, provides meaningful insights into these debates and offers valuable lessons for developing countries. The lessons drawn from this paper suggest three fundamental principles for designing a promotion strategy and a strategic action framework for implementation.     

从经济全球化角度来看企业战略联盟

经济全球化趋势日渐明朗,在经济全球化大趋势下我国企业如何利用机遇发挥自身优势,通过企业战略联盟实现跨越发展,是当前学术界与企业共同关注的问题。本文阐述了经济全球化、战略联盟的涵义,分析了经济全球化为我国企业带来的重大机遇与挑战,并探讨了经济全球化对我国企业进行战略联盟的影响,最后提出我国企业在经济全球化环境下进行战略联盟实现快速发展的相关建议。     

The limits of globalization in the early modern world

This article reviews the ways in which historians and economists have applied the term ‘globalization’ to the early modern era. It distinguishes a soft and a hard definition, and goes on to test the claims made about the driving forces shaping the growth and character of long‐distance trade between Europe and Asia in the age of the European trading companies. On the basis of new estimates of the volume and value of European trade with Asia, the article concludes by identifying the factors limiting the growth of trade in this period.     

全球化背景下东道国利用外资的风险研究

本文在分析利用外资的理论基础上，指出东道国在利用外资过程中可能出现的几种风险，并提出了相应的防范措施。     

Assessing the role of economic globalization on energy efficiency: Evidence from a global perspective

There has been concern that economic globalization will increase energy consumption and reduce energy efficiency. A slew of studies investigating this assertion have used trade, foreign investment, or both as indicators of economic globalization, with mixed findings. A number of concerns challenge the empirical literature including measurement issues, infrequent temporal variations in the data, business cycle effects and heterogeneity bias, which affect the causal ability of economic globalization. This study used global data of 141 countries to assess the effects of economic globalization on energy efficiency. Our identification strategies involved using more refined measures of economic globalization and energy efficiency, addressing infrequent temporal variations as well as business cycle effects and concerns of heterogeneity bias. Largely, economic globalization positively drives energy efficiency, but this effect suffers from upward bias without controls. We note that infrequent temporal variations in the data and business cycle effects and heterogeneity bias drive the result. Concerning the latter, the result has shown that economic globalization improves energy efficiency only in upper-middle and lower-middle income countries and not in high and lower-income countries. Our results raise serious caution about the causal abilities of existing studies. And we discuss the policy implications.