FDI versus Exports: Multiple Host Countries and Empirical Evidence

There are two main options for companies to serve foreign markets: exports and foreign direct investment (FDI). Based on the Helpman et al. (2004) model for multiple host countries, this paper derives a clear theoretical prediction for the decision between both strategies. A bivariate probit model is estimated using a large data set of European companies to analyse the probability of using one or the other strategy. The empirical evidence indicates that more productive firms less (more) probably use the export (FDI) strategy to serve foreign markets. Moreover, a considerable number of companies use a combination of both the strategies to serve foreign markets, which is in line with a multiple‐country model.     

Only So Many Hours in a Day: Time Constraints,Labour Pools and Demand for Consumer Services

Some sociological sources of increasing demand for consumer services are discussed in this article. Contrary to J. Gershuny's theory of ‘self-service: jobs in these industries are still growing, despite productivity improvements, due to increasing house-hold demand generated by constraints placed on time by both paid and unpaid production and insufficient pools of household labour upon which to draw. Social trends with these effects include increasing female labour force participation and longevity, declining household size, later age at marriage, political struggles over state provision, and factors internal to the state itself.     

Globalisation and Inter‐occupational Inequality: Empirical Evidence from OECD Countries

How does globalisation affect inter‐occupational wage inequality within countries? This paper examines this by focusing on two dimensions of globalisation: openness to trade and openness to capital flows, using a relatively new data set on occupational wages. Estimates from a dynamic model for 15 OECD countries spanning the period 1983–2003 suggest that increased openness increases occupational wage inequality in poorer OECD countries as predicted by the Heckscher–Ohlin–Samuelson model, but for the more advanced OECD countries, we find no significant effect. The absence of the expected result for the latter category can be due to a rapid increase in the supply of skilled labour, to outsourcing of skilled jobs or because changes in the trade flows are too small to have any significant effect in those countries.     

Hours of Work and Advertising: An International Comparison

A cross-sectional analysis over 24 different countries tests the hypothesis that advertising increases aggregate demand. The method adopted regressed hours worked on advertising and on other relevant independent variables. The notion that advertising increases people's acquisitive instincts and hence desire to work at wage rates lower than would otherwise hold received scant support.     

Consumer Segments Based on Attitudes Toward Luxury: Empirical Evidence from Twenty Countries

This article proposes an international segmentation of consumers based on their attitudes toward luxury. We perform a two-stage empirical study with a data set that combines samples from 20 countries. We provide a substantive interpretation of the results to show that three attitude segments dominate in a Western cultural context. We discuss several directions for future research based on the findings.     

中国OFDI与东道国环境质量:影响机制与实证检验

本文从FDI来源国的角度,分析中国OFDI对各东道国环境质量的影响.借助Copeland-Taylor模型,本文建立了中国OFDI通过影响东道国单位产出污染密度,继而影响东道国环境质量的理论机制,并利用2003-2014年中国对外直接投资流量和存量数据,以及168个东道国(地区)经济发展指数数据,对理论模型进行了实证分析.同时,考虑到中国OFDI对不同收入水平的国家存在差异化投资,本文进一步对各东道国(地区)按收入水平分样本进行了实证检验.结果显示,中国OFDI规模的增长总体上促使东道国(地区)污染物排放总量增加,但从人均排放的角度,中国OFDI显著降低了污染物排放量,提高了东道国(地区)能源利用效率,改善了当地环境质量.分样本回归的结果显示,无论在污染排放总量还是在人均污染排放量方面,中国OFDI改善东道国(地区)环境质量的效果在高收入水平的国家中更为明显.     

On the Relationship Between Openness and Growth in China: Evidence from Provincial Time Series Data

The effect of increasing openness on real output growth in China is examined. The framework of analysis is a regression model that uses time‐series data for each province. For east coastal provinces, increasing openness is found to have positive effects on real output growth, and some of the effects are statistically significant. The results appear to be broadly consistent with the new growth theories that openness enhances long‐run growth through its impact on technological improvement. However, inland provinces in China have been isolated from world trade for several decades and their economies devastated. An increased openness in these provinces is found to have, in most cases, negative effects on real output growth.     

Investigating the Relationship Between Protestant Work Ethic and Confucian Dynamism: An Empirical Test in Mainland China

This study examined the relationship between the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) and Confucian Dynamism in a sample of 1,757 respondents from several provinces in mainland China. Mirels and Garrett’s (J Consult Clin Psychol 36:40–44, 1971) PWE Scale and Robertson’s (Manag Int Rev 40:253–268, 2000) Confucian Dynamism Scale were used to measure the work ethics. The 16 items of the PWE Scale and eight items of the Confucian Dynamism Scale were initially subjected to a principal components analysis. Factor analysis produced four factors of the PWE, which were labeled as follows: hard work, internal motive, admiration of work itself, and negative attitude to leisure; and three factors of the Confucian Dynamism, which were labeled: long-term orientation, short-term orientation, and guanxi orientation. The results of a multiple regression analysis indicated that all the dimensions of PWE were positively related to Confucian Dynamism, but negatively to guanxi orientation. The results also indicated that three PWE dimensions (“hard work,” “internal motive,” and “admiration of work itself”) were positively and significantly related to long-term orientation, but two of them were related negatively and significantly to the short-term orientation of Confucian Dynamism. In addition, the results showed that the dimension—admiration of work itself—of PWE was significantly and negatively associated with the guanxi orientation, but significantly and positively to the short-term orientation.     

Profit-Sharing in OECD Countries: a Review and Some Evidence

This article starts by describing the extent of profit-sharing schemes in OECD countries. It suggests that firms have increasingly introduced profit-sharing schemes not only because of the tax breaks they involve, but also because of accumulating information on the link between profit-sharing and productivity. It concludes with a summary of new research among UK manufacturing companies, which shows a productivity improvement of about 6% in cases where profit-sharing bonuses were of order 5–10% of market wages.     

E-commerce in Least Developing Countries: Summary Evidence and Implications

ABSTRACT

We undertook a review and classification of research on electronic commerce (e-commerce) in developing countries. We analyzed 181 articles published in a broad range of journals covering e-commerce, global information technology, and development issues. The analysis provides a roadmap that not only indicates the current state of e-commerce for development research but also identifies gaps and priorities for future research. This will be of significant value to both academics and practitioners who are working on, or plan to work on, e-commerce in developing countries.     

区域产业分工、生产性服务进口投入与出口技术复杂度:来自“一带一路”国家的经验证据

本文利用2001-2012年间跨国投入产出数据分别测度"一带一路"沿线64个国家整体以及异质性出口部门的出口技术复杂度,通过引入产业分工地位和进口技术溢出等变量考察生产性服务进口中间投入对出口技术复杂度的影响。研究结果表明:生产性服务进口中间投入对制造业和服务业出口技术复杂度分别存在显著的正向和负向影响;产业分工地位能够调节生产性服务进口中间投入对出口技术复杂度的促进作用,并且该调节作用主要存在于制造业出口部门;生产性服务进口中间投入主要对处于产业链分工下游国家的出口技术复杂度存在正向技术溢出效应,并且该效应对服务业和制造业出口部门均存在显著的促进作用。     

商业银行资本、风险与效率的关系:中国经济转型期的经验研究

基于商业银行资本、风险与效率关系的理论阐释,采用市场化指数刻画我国经济转型的制度变迁过程,本文对中国经济转型期(1991-2008年)商业银行的资本、风险与效率关系进行了实证研究.研究表明:(1)我国商业银行资本水平与风险之间存在显著的正相关关系,说明随着资本水平的提高,商业银行会增加对高风险资产的投入;(2)效率较高银行的风险水平也较高,反映出市场竞争的压力和银行对于经营绩效的重视;(3)随着市场化改革的深入,银行业日益激烈的市场竞争加剧了商业银行对收益和风险的追求,有助于提高银行的经营效率.     

Technical Change in Banking: Evidence From Transition Countries

This paper investigates the effect of technical change on the costs of banking firms operating in 11 Central and Eastern European countries using Fourier‐flexible cost function specification for the period 1995–2002. A common cost frontier with country‐specific variables is employed in order to take into account macro‐economic and regulatory conditions that vary over country and time. Our findings suggest that the rate of reduction in costs resulting from technical change increased during the sample period. Banks operating in Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland benefited more from technical change than their counterparts. In terms of cost reduction, large banks benefited more from technical progress. This indicates that large banks are more able to change their optimal input mix in response to changes in technology.     

村干部职务行为重心变迁实证研究

在对村干部职务行为分类研究的基础上,通过农村调查,实证分析了村干部在免税前后的职务行为变迁,认为村干部职务行为重心在免税后发生了重大转变,村干部作为村民代理人的角色成为村干部工作的重心,三种职务行为变得协调。因此在后税费时代,村干部开始了真正意义上的为村民服务的过程。     

政治联系与中国企业的实际出口退税——基于微观企业的实证研究

本文测算了我国微观出口企业的实际出口退税额,通过引入四种形式的政治联系度变量,控制企业特征变量和地区控制变量,研究了企业政治联系与企业实际出口退税率的关系。基本模型估计结果表明:政治联系在地方政府分配退税资源时发挥重要作用,政治联系越强,平均出口退税率越高。国有资本比重影响不显著,就业、产出、赋税对于企业出口退税率显著正向影响。进一步通过分样本回归检验发现,制度环境、经济发展阶段,政治联系对企业出口退税率的高低均会产生差异性影响。本文的研究结果意味着,实际层面的出口退税政策并不是一个"中性"的政策,基于政治联系的出口退税政策同样会扭曲整个社会稀缺资源的有效配置,降低社会整体福利水平。     

金融发展与融资约束——来自中小企业板的证据

本文使用2005—2007年中小企业板数据,在考虑实际控制人性质和政治关系的背景下,研究金融发展是否可以缓解中小企业融资约束。研究发现:无政治关系的民营中小企业面临较强融资约束,金融发展可以显著缓解其融资约束,这种缓解作用来自信贷资金分配的市场化和金融市场引入外资;具有政治关系的民营中小企业不存在显著的融资约束,但金融业引入外资会显著增加其现金的现金流敏感度,可能导致这类中小企业融资状况或企业绩效弱化;国有中小企业现金的现金流敏感度最高,但其现金持有量与绩效负相关,金融发展对其不产生显著影响。     

Corruption and International Trade: An Empirical Investigation of African Countries

This paper attempts to estimate the effect of corruption on the flows of exports and imports of African countries. Using the gravity model approach and annual data for the period 1998–2007, we obtain negative and statistically significant correlations between the values of exports and imports and the levels of corruption in Africa and trading partners. Thus the results support the view that corruption adversely affects international trade. Our estimates suggest that if a country with Africa’s average corruption perception index of 2.8 were to improve its corruption level to Botswana’s 5.9, its exports would improve by about 15 per cent and imports by about 27 per cent.     

Time Affluence as a Path toward Personal Happiness and Ethical Business Practice: Empirical Evidence from Four Studies

Many business practices focus on maximizing material affluence, or wealth, despite the fact that a growing empirical literature casts doubt on whether money can buy happiness. We therefore propose that businesses consider the possibility of “time affluence” as an alternative model for improving employee well-being and ethical business practice. Across four studies, results consistently showed that, even after controlling for material affluence, the experience of time affluence was positively related to subjective well-being. Studies 3 and 4 further demonstrated that the experience of mindfulness and the satisfaction of psychological needs partially mediated the positive associations between time affluence and well-being. Future research directions and implications for ethical business practices are discussed.