Flexible manufacturing and economic recovery—wood products in western new york

This paper examines the potential impact on a regional economy of introducing flexible manufacturing techniques into the wood products sector. The first sectin of the paper discusses the notion of flexible manufacturing networks (FMN) and more broadly defined flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) in this sector. The second section reviews the technological potential, and institutional constraints on the development of networks in the region. The third section explanis how input-output analysis may be used to assess the potential impact pf a manufacturing network and describes an extended social accounts framework for the forest products industry in Western New York. Following this, two possibilities, an ’FMS route‘ and an ’FMN route‘ are compared with a continuationof the present situation—and a potential strategy sketched.     

US Fiscal Policy,Manufacturing Stagnation,and the Shift to Financialization in the Era of Globalization: An Econometric Analysis, 1973–2015

ABSTRACT

Financialization can be partially attributed to the decline in the US manufacturing profit rate since the 1970s. However, scholars have not reached a consensus regarding the factors responsible for stagnation in manufacturing. This paper employs an Auto-regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to test the impact of both national defense and government consumption expenditure on manufacturing profitability in the United States from 1973, the onset of stagnation, to 2015. Its goal is two-fold: to determine whether stagnation is associated with a decline in Keynesian policies, and to examine the potential for state fiscal programs to reverse this trend and facilitate a shift of private investment away from the financial sector and into manufacturing. The paper finds that the impact of government consumption expenditure on the manufacturing profit rate is positive and significant in both the short-term and long-term (from 1973–2015 and 1973–1993), while the long-term impact becomes negative from 1983 to 2015, when the financial sector profit rate began its upward trend. This casts doubt on whether Keynesian fiscal policies could be employed to restore a healthy profit rate in the manufacturing sector and lower unemployment.     

Endogenous Trade Policies in a Developing Economy

This paper examines the formation of trade policy for a small open developing economy where lobbying activities may be carried out to influence policy‐making decisions. The paper presents a three‐sector economy in which the manufacturing sector can lobby policymakers for favorable policies. Under some plausible conditions, it is demonstrated that lobbying activities carried out by the owners of the specific factor in the manufacturing sector would secure a protectionist trade policy through either an import tariff or an export subsidy. The government also imposes a consumption tax on agricultural products, which further strengthens the protectionist measure applied to the manufacturing sector. In general equilibrium, there will be a movement of labor to the manufacturing sector, an output expansion in the manufacturing sector, and an output contraction in the agricultural sector, exactly as suggested by factual evidence.     

Wage bargaining,trade and growth

We construct a North-South product-cycle model of trade with fully-endogenous growth and union wage bargaining. Economic growth is driven by Northern entrepreneurs who conduct R&D to innovate higher quality products. Northern production technologies can leak to the South upon successful imitation. The North has two sectors: a tradable industrial goods sector (manufacturing) where wages are determined via a bargaining process and a non-tradable sector (services) where wages are flexible. The South has only a tradable industrial goods sector where wages are flexible.We find that unilateral Northern trade liberalization, in the form of lower Northern tariffs on industrial goods, increases the rate of innovation but decreases both the bargained wage in the industrial sector and the flexible wage in the service sector. The wage effects are relative to the Southern wage rate. We also consider a variant of the model with Northern unemployment, driven by a binding minimum wage in the non-tradable service sector. In this case, Northern tariff cuts decrease the innovation rate and the bargained wage rate. In addition, the Northern unemployment rate increases. The model thus highlights the role of labor market institutions in determining the growth and labor market effects of tariff reductions. We also study the effects of unilateral Southern trade liberalization.     

The productive effect of transport infrastructures: does road transport liberalization matter?

In this paper we analyze the impact of motorway networks on production for a panel of twenty one manufacturing and service sectors of eleven EU countries observed over the period 1980–2003. In particular, we analyze if the degree of regulation of the road transport sector affects the link between productivity and motorway infrastructures. Overall results suggest that output elasticity with respect to motorway is found to be lower for countries characterised by a high degree of entry barriers in the road transport sector. This result is found to be more evident for industries which rely more heavily on transport services.     

资源配置与中国非农部门全要素生产率* ——基于制造业和服务业之间资源错配的分析

近年来,经济学家与政策制定者之间逐渐达成共识：有限的资源未能得到优化配置是阻碍发展中经济体生产率水平提升的重要原因。本文以1993-2011年中国制造业和服务业分行业数据为研究样本,从经验层面上系统分析了制造业和服务业之间的资源错配对中国非农部门TFP的影响。本文研究发现：（1）相对于中国制造业TFP的持续改善,服务业的TFP则长期徘徊在低位,二者之间的资源错配程度在进入21世纪后明显加重,造成非农部门TFP近40%的损失;（2）21世纪以来,制造业和服务业间的资源错配绝大部分来源于装备制造业与生产性服务业之间的错配;（3）装备制造业和生产性服务业之间的资本错配普遍高于劳动力错配。本文的引申含义是,现阶段的产业政策目标主要应定位于促进制造业和服务业二者之间的协调发展。     

The impact of foreign direct investment on UK manufacturing: is there a profit squeeze in domestic firms?

This paper examines the extent to which foreign direct investment (FDI) in selected UK manufacturing sectors has an impact on reported profits in domestic firms. Foreign manufacturing firms are characterized by relatively high labour productivity and low wage shares. Entry by foreign firms not only impacts on domestic market shares, but also on domestic cost conditions. As a result, profitability in the indigenous sector may be reduced. There are a number of policy implications of this analysis which are explored.     

Location factors of FDI and the growing services economy1

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has increasingly shifted toward the service sector. This change in the industrial composition of FDI and the non‐tradable nature of services may have altered the importance of location factors for investment decisions. To capture potential changes in FDI determinants, a contrasting sectoral analysis is performed. Based on FDI stock data from eight new EU member states for the period 1998–2004, we implement a dynamic panel approach allowing the speed of adjustment to the equilibrium investment level to vary across sectors. Results support our assumption that investment into the service sector, which is characterized by low installation costs, adjusts much faster to its desired level than manufacturing FDI. Thus, government interventions to attract FDI are likely to boost the service sector immediately while having a slower impact on manufacturing FDI. Furthermore, as services are mostly non‐tradable, FDI into this sector is largely based on market‐seeking motives while FDI in the manufacturing sector is also driven by international price competitiveness measured by real unit labour costs.     

Must improved labor standards hurt accumulation in the targeted sector? Stylized analysis of a developing economy

This paper analyzes a stylized small open economy that consists of two tradable output-producing sectors: a manufacturing sector and a (mainly tourism-related) services sector. Assuming sectoral differences based on stylized facts, we explore the impact of higher labor standards in the manufacturing sector on the long-term prospects of the economy using comparative dynamic exercises to analyze changes in relative prices, foreign capital flows, and the sectoral distribution of investment and output. We find, in particular, that imposing higher standards across the manufacturing sector could, under certain conditions, shift the structure of the domestic economy in favor of that sector. This result is driven by changes in relative profitability in the presence of learning-by-exporting.     

China’s competition and the export price strategies of developed countries

This paper analyzes the impact of Chinese competition on developed countries’ export prices. The empirical application is on Italy, one of the main European manufacturing exporters with exports at high risk of competition from China. Our results show that, following China’s entry into the WTO, the price strategies of Italian firms has been affected. While in general the increasing Chinese export competition resulted in an upgrading of products exported, the impact has been different according to the sector and technological level. The incentives to upgrade have been stronger for low technology sectors, where competition is tougher and varieties of products sold lower. To highlight quality differentials, and isolate the effects on the different segments of the distribution of Italy’s export prices, we run quantile regressions. We find that are mainly those products sold at low prices to face a strong pressure to upgrade.     

Evaluation and design of innovation policies in the agro-food sector: An application of multilevel self-regulating agents

The aim of this paper is to explore the possibilities offered by agent-base modelling techniques in evaluating the impact of alternative sets of innovation policies on the system where these are implemented and on its actors. The policies selected for this exercise are inspired by the Regional Government's policy document — the Programme for Rural Development (2007–2013) of the Puglia Region, Italy. These regard, inter alia, the promotion of organic agriculture and GMO-free cultivar, the introduction of a zero-food-miles strategy and new regulations and controls to prevent food adulterations. The paper presents and discusses the results of the simulations showing a trade-off between alternative growth paths and the overall structure of the sector. A “light-touch approach” affects positively smallholdings, associations of micro-small enterprises and the local retail sector by promoting shorter and more rewarding routes to markets for food products. Pursuing the policies more aggressively, will shift the focus of economic activities towards larger enterprises in the primary sector, manufacturing and business services and towards the large distribution for retail, while smallholdings and associations of micro-small enterprises will be increasingly marginalised.     

Competitiveness of the Euro Zone Manufacturing: A Panel Data Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to assess the main aspects involved in the competitiveness of manufacturing industries in the Euro zone area (EZ-12). To this end, we apply the generalized method of moments to a panel data error correction model. Our sample spans the period from 1970 to 2007, and our findings provide insight into the impact of manufacturing on the international competitiveness of European firms and industries. From the estimated magnitude of the relevant coefficients, we conclude that in the long run, a change in labor and capital compensation is not fully passed on to manufacturing growth, while an increase in the market power of the manufacturing sector will negatively affect its competitiveness.     

非金融企业金融化后的财务绩效分析 ——来自中国制造业企业的实证研究

选取2007—2018年制造业上市公司的样本数据,分析制造业上市公司金融化程度对其自身财务绩效的影响.研究发现:上市公司进行金融化投资后,企业财务绩效表现变差;对制造业上市公司而言,其金融化投资水平越高,企业的财务绩效表现越差;无论是投资过度还是投资不足的实体企业,其金融化投资均与财务绩效显著负相关,而投资效率高的企业可以缓解制造业上市公司金融化带来的对财务绩效的影响.为了避免内生性问题,采用工具变量法、差分GMM和系统GMM模型对制造业上市公司金融化水平与财务绩效之间的关系进行回归检验,发现二者之间的负向关系依旧显著.为了确保本文研究结论的稳健性,改变了金融化测算方法,继续对制造业上市公司的金融化水平与财务绩效进行回归,研究结论依旧成立.     

Cross-Sectoral Patterns of Efficiency and Technical Change in Manufacturing

This article uses data from 11 countries for 19 years to investigate the forces driving output change in 6 manufacturing sectors. A flexible model is adopted that allows for the decomposition of output changes into three types of change: technical, efficiency, and input. This framework allows, among other things, for the investigation of (1) the relative roles of the three components of output growth in each sector, (2) the manner in which efficiency change moves over the business cycle, and (3) potential technical spillovers from one sector to another.     

Trade liberalisation,market competition and wage inequality in China's manufacturing sector

Economic reforms of the late 1980s have contributed to rapid economic growth in China. While the overall standard of living has improved, economic growth has also resulted in an increase in income inequality. Rising income inequality can increase social tensions that can impede further economic growth. By making use of firm level panel data, this paper focuses on the impact of increased market competition and trade liberalisation on skilled–unskilled wage inequality in China's manufacturing sector. A theoretical model is used to argue that trade liberalisation and market competition can affect skilled–unskilled wage inequality. Based on this result, an econometric model is specified. The empirical analysis presented in this paper shows that increased trade liberalisation has contributed to an increase in skilled–unskilled wage inequality in China's manufacturing sector. However, increase in market competition has the opposite effect.     

Product Market Imperfection and the Two‐sector Harris–Todaro Economy

This paper examines the ramifications of market imperfection for a dual economy in the context of the two‐sector Harris–Todaro model with the agricultural (manufacturing) sector under perfect competition (monopoly). Based on a utility function of constant elasticity of substitution variety, it demonstrates (i) existence of a unique equilibrium at which the consumer price ratio and the producer price ratio are synchronized; (ii) several fundamental properties of the model (crucial to extended research on this subject area); (iii) contrary to an earlier result obtained under an oligopolistic manufacturing sector, trade liberalization for a small economy may be immiserizing.     

Modern sector development: The role of exports and institutions in developing countries

A prospering modern sector is crucial for the successful long‐term development in developing countries as it provides income and job growth for large shares of society. While this idea is widely accepted, there is, perhaps surprisingly, far less analysis about the exact determinants of this economic modernization process. In this article we empirically investigate whether international trade and institutions, both much discussed in the debates on general growth and development, are particularly important for the diffusion of production in the modern sector within developing societies. In a large cross section time‐series sample, we provide robust estimation results that point to an important role of institutions and to a nonlinear impact of manufacturing exports. Our results, which are derived using a range of estimators and are ultimately less susceptible to endogeneity concerns, also provide interesting insights into the role of natural resources and official development aid.     

Policy reform and labour demand in branches of Sri Lankan manufacturing industry

Many policy reforms in developing countries aim to remove factor market distortions. Whether such reforms reduce unemployment depends partly on the substitution possibilities between labour and other factors of production. This paper examines labour demand in seven branches of Sri Lankan manufacturing industry, using data on 4-digit industrial categories over the 1990 to 1997 period. The Box–Cox transformation is used to allow for flexible, and data-dependent, elasticities. The elasticity of capital–labour substitution varies widely across the branches of industry and is usually variable rather than constant. The average, long-run own-wage elasticity of labour demand for the manufacturing sector is estimated as ?0.80, so factor price policy should have an important effect on labour demand in this setting.     

中国食品工业出口贸易结构及竞争力分析

食品工业是国民经济中最重要的制造业部门之一,发达国家基本上都有先进的食品工业,这些国家在国际食品贸易市场起着支配作用,同时食品工业又是一个品种繁杂的部门,一国可以在一个或若干个食品部门具有国际比较优势,因此,测算一国食品工业的国际竞争力水平是有价值的。本文采用联合国统计署国际贸易数据库截面数据,利用赫芬达尔-赫尔希曼指数,分析了我国食品工业出口结构特征以及贸易结构变化趋势,在此基础上,通过出口竞争力指数考察了食品工业出口竞争力。最后,提出要通过重视食品工业的品牌建设和食品安全与品质,来促进食品和饮料制造业的发展,从而提高食品工业的出口竞争力。     

非正规部门竞争与企业创新行为关系研究

非正规部门快速发展在缓解中国就业压力、满足低端需求和促进经济增长的同时,对中国制造业企业经营带来了很大影响。基于2012年世界银行营商环境调查数据,分析非正规部门灰色竞争对中国制造业企业创新活动的影响。研究发现：非正规部门灰色竞争显著增加企业研发投入倾向和研发投入强度;灰色竞争与企业产品创新活动有显著正相关关系,但未发现与企业流程创新活动有显著关系;制造业中高新技术企业创新活动受非正规部门灰色竞争的影响相对较弱。用工具变量控制内生性后,以上结论依然成立。为了应对非正规部门的灰色竞争,制造业企业应不断强化研发投入,通过模仿创新和微创新的方式加速产品更新升级,以区分于非正规部门的产品。