Output and employment growth in the Netherlands in the postwar period: A putty-clay approach

Summary An attempt has been made to estimate a putty-clay vintage model for the Netherlands in order to test the assumption, usually made in the Dutch vintage model discussion, of complementarity ex ante. The estimation led to the following conclusions: an elasticity of substitution of about 0.32, a planning period of 13 years and apart from the 1950s the existence of embodied labour-augmenting technical progress only. The model outcomes lead to the conclusion of capital shortage being the ruling phenomenon in the postwar period with only some short periods in the 1950s and the late-1960s of capital abundance. Since the late-1970s employment growth is not only depressed by too slow a growth of capacity demand for labour but also by the increasing underutilization of productive capacity. Part of this research has been made possible by a grant of the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (ZWO) and the National Programme of Labour Market Research (NPAO). The authors are indebted to Professor Th. van de Klundert for valuable comments.     

Analysis of changes in technical efficiency of Russian agricultural organizations during the reform period

The article analyzes the dynamics of the technical efficiency of agricultural organizations since the beginning of the reforms. The presence of a considerable number of non-effectively used and redundant resources, because of both the poor organization of farms and the insufficient development of market institutions in Russia, has been discovered. In general, based on the analysis, it has been concluded that there is a positive impact of market reforms on technical efficiency of agricultural organizations.     

Economic structural changes and rural income: Evidence from Chinese provinces during the reform period

During the reform period, the Chinese rural economy has experienced deep structural changes: cropping adjustment, agro-forestry adjustment and agro-industrial adjustment. At the same time, rural per capita income rose sharply despite some fluctuations. Using a panel data of 29 provinces from 1982 to 2001, effects of these structural changes upon both income level and income instability are assessed. The empirical results show that crop adjustment and agro-industrial adjustment can increase rural income and reduce income instability, while agro-forestry adjustment reduces both income and its instability, as a risk-management strategy.     

Coping with regional inequality in Sweden: structural change,migrations, and policy, 1860–2000

In many countries, regional income inequality has followed an inverted U‐shaped curve, growing during industrialization and market integration and declining thereafter. By contrast, Sweden's regional inequality dropped from 1860 to 1980 and did not exhibit this U‐shaped pattern. Accordingly, today's regional income inequality in Sweden is lower than in other European countries. We note that the prime mover behind the long‐run reduction in regional income differentials was structural change, whereas neoclassical and technological forces played a relatively less important role. However, this process of regional income convergence can be divided into three major periods. During the first period (1860–1940), the unrestricted action of market forces, particularly the expansion of markets and high rates of internal and international migration, led to the compression of regional income differentials. During the next period (1940–80), regional convergence was even more intense. In this period, institutional arrangements favoured the reduction of productivity differentials across industries and successive governments aided the reallocation of the workforce from declining to thriving regions and economic sectors. During the last period (1980–2000), when regional incomes diverged, internal migration and structural change slowed. Furthermore, the development of knowledge‐intensive service industries favoured economic growth in the main metropolitan areas.     

Global climate change and the research on technical paths of Chinese steel and iron industry against the climate change

The article introduces the impact and essence of climate change and analyzes the attitudes and measures of international community to fight global climate change. From the perspectives of Clean Development Mechanism, Voluntary Carbon Market, energy audit and potential carbon asset investment, this paper discusses the feasible paths of Chinese steel ＆ iron industry against global climate change and summarizes the main fields of adapting to the development of CDM project activities.     

Problems of structural,investment, and innovation policy in the crisis period

The article discusses some urgent structural changes in cross-sectoral proportions, related to possible import substituting growth of production and noncommodity exports in the sectors of the Russian economy. The author analyzed sources of investment and innovations, opportunities for spot improvement of investment climate necessary to exit from the current phase of the crisis.     

从"专济饷糈"到"妥办善后"——同治时期江苏省厘金政策述论

以往论著一般都认为太平天国革命之后,厘金由战争税嬗变为经常税,但都忽视了其嬗变的具体过程。本文以厘金政策调整为视角,对清朝江苏省政府如何将厘金由“专济饷糈”的战争税转变为“妥办善后”的经常税这一过程,详加探讨;认为在江苏,厘金政策“善后化”调整实现于同治时期。具体而言,这种调整既是逐步地,也是多层次的。其调整的直接动因则来自于在厘金问题上的利益纠葛与协调。从调整的后果看,该省的这次政策调整足以证明同治时期是江苏省厘金制度演变过程中一个承前启后的关键阶段。     

FDI结构性转变是否促进经济增长

随着经济结构日趋服务化,我国外商直接投资结构发生了深刻变化,外商直接投资逐步从制造业转向服务业。本文基于内生经济增长模型,运用系统GMM两步法,考察了FDI结构性转变对经济增长影响,并利用2004--2010年省级面板数据进行实证分析。研究结果显示：（1）FDI流向服务业有利于整体劳动生产率增长;（2）我国FDI的结构性转变对制造业劳动生产率的提升作用显著,对服务业生产率的促进作用尚未体现;（3）FDI结构变迁存在明显的地域差异,东部地区与西部地区FDI结构性转变对劳动生产率的促进作用显著。本文的研究为提高我国服务业发展绩效,优化产业结构以及经济增长方式的转型升级提供了可行路径,具有重要的理论价值和现实意义。     

Capital-skill complementarity and wage outcomes following technical change in a global model

We estimate the extent of factor bias in technical changes consistentwith observed changes in skill premia. To control for the effectsof expanded trade on wages we use a structural model with multipleregions and comparative static analysis. Two alternative biasedtechnical-change stories emerge: skill enhancement when capitaland skill are substitutes and capital enhancement when capitaland skill are complements. These imply different underlyingtechnical-change processes and macroeconomic behaviour in responseto technical-change shocks. Capital enhancement offers the morecredible process, however, and is consistent with observed risesin the 'equipment content' of the capital stock.     

Cropping systems,structural change and rural-urban migration in Brazil

Rural out-migration is related interactively to differences in the structure of cropping systems. Individual, rational-decision explanations of migration are inseparable from structural, social explanations. In Cruz das Almas, a municipality in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Bahia, the principal cropping systems are based on production of cassava, tobacco and citrus fruit. Migration differences appear in response to different kinds of demographic pressure, to capital movements and to patterns of productive organization.     

Economic policy in Scandinavia during the inter-war period

Abstract

The history of the Western economy, and especially of Western economic policy, during the inter-war period shows some peculiar features. On the one hand it was largely a period of disappointment and frustration in which earlier dreams of economic growth and its positive social effects were not fulfilled, or fulfilled only spasmodically. Resources, especially labour, were far from fully utilised and practical measures of economic policy often followed the traditional pattern, whether justified by traditional arguments or not The prognosis of predestined stagnation and a cheerless economic future was very widely accepted.     

Freemasonry and business networking during the Victorian period

This article looks at the role of Freemasonry in socio-economic networking in Cornwall during the late nineteenth century. It demonstrates that, like many other fraternities, Masonry created efficient conduits for the exchange of business information and reinforced a pro-business culture. Particular attention is given to its role in facilitating the migration of Cornish miners and mine managers and in creating structures for national and international information flows. Masonry is shown to have the unusual potential to bridge wide occupational, social, and cultural divisions, and the sources for further, wider ranging research are indicated.     

Serfdom in esthonia during the period of Swedish rule

Abstract

For quite some time after World War II peasant behavior in less developed countries was ‘unproblematic’. There was a general consensus that peasants were not ‘economic men’, in the sense that they tried to maximize profits as postulated by mainstream economic theory. Instead, their acts were assumed to be governed by ‘tradition’, or ‘conservatism’, which by and large had nothing to do with the type of maximizing or minimizing behavior which acquired prominence in economic theory not least by the central role that was conferred on it in Paul Samuelson's Foundations of Economic Analysis.¹ Their ambitions and horizons were thought to be limited in such a way as to render standard economic theory inapplicable in the study of peasant behavior. The discussion focused on the ‘inert’, or ‘lazy’, (satisficing) peasant.²     

战后日本的积极财政政策及其启示

战后日本积极的财政政策是长期性的、战略性的，我们从中可以汲取的经验有：增加投资要与技术进步相结合，要突出重点；在审慎使用金融工具的同时，加大使用财政工具的力度；另外，结合我国的实际，在积极培育大型企业集团的同时，应该充分重视小企业的发展。     

The finances and financial administration of Sweden during the late sixteenth century

Abstract

The late lfith century is still one of the least known periods in Swedish economic history. This is especially true of the governmental financial conditions which were to give rise to the policy of expansion. In this connection the figures contained in the so-called “state ledgers” of 1573 and 1582 have often been quoted; and these two financial statements, the only ones from the 16th century, have usually been regarded as balance sheets of the whole income and expenditure of the state during the years in question. By reason of the method of accounting employed, however, it has not been possible to determine with certainty what they really include and on what basis the data were assembled.     

1979—1991年间中国区域经济格局变化、原因及其效应

1979－1991年间,中国实施了以内地为重心的均衡型区域经济发展战略向以东部为重心的非均衡型区域经济发展战略的转变,伴随非均衡发展战略的实施以及经济体制改革和对外开放的展开,中国区域经济格局中出现了经济重心向东部沿海倾斜的显著特征,中国区域经济发展差距迅速拉大,由此形成的效应决定,中国区域经济发展战略必须从非均衡型区域经济发展战略向区域经济协调发展战略转变。     

Development and structural change in rural Egypt, 1952 to 1982

This study evaluates the changes which have occurred in rural Egypt since 1952 in terms of a growth-conscious, poverty-oriented definition of development. According to the study, development requires improvements in three criteria over time: poverty, inequality and productivity (land and labor). Using a variety of empirical data, the study demonstrates that each of these criteria has either stabilized or improved in rural Egypt since 1952. The study therefore concludes that ’development’ has indeed taken place in the Egyptian countryside. However, the low rate of qualitative structural change in the basic factors of production (land and labor) raises questions about the prospects for such development in the future.     

Efficiency and productivity growth in Chinese universities during the post-reform period

The social science research performance of Chinese universities is examined using panel data. The universities are found to be very inefficient in general, with not much difference between regions. By far the largest single cause of universities′ overall technical efficiency is pure technical efficiency, along with a considerable amount of scale inefficiency and a modest amount of congestion. No obvious regional differences in the universities′ productivity growth are apparent between 1998 and 2002. Decomposition of the Malmquist productivity index indicates that although there has been technological progress over the years, poor scale efficiency and technical efficiency have resulted in deterioration in the universities′ average productivity. There are signs of increasing congestion during the period studied.