Poverty, Place or Race: Causes of the Retail Gap in Smaller U.S. Cities

In this study we explore the possibility that any or all of three dimensions of the U.S. inner city, central location, relatively low income, and a relatively high percentage of minority residents, correlate with a relative lack of neighborhood retail services, the so-called retail gap. Our empirical analysis is based on zip code level data for 39 U.S. cities with populations from 50 to 225 thousand people. After specifying an empirical model based on hypotheses drawn from the urban economics, urban studies, and urban development literature, we test access to retail services using both geographical density and per capita retail measures. While several results from this study are worthy of discussion, our primary empirical finding is that neighborhoods with high percentages of African-Americans are systematically under-served by retail, all else equal, while Latino, low income, or otherwise centrally located neighborhoods are not. We then test a selection of product categories for retail density, finding some differing results by product category but verifying our more general conclusions for most products. Finally, we find that grocery stores have significantly smaller scale in African-American communities, a finding that provides partial support for the urban “food desert” hypothesis. These findings suggest that the inner city retail gap may be more of a racial than geographic issue, and that increased emphasis on racial composition is warranted in the retail development policies applied to smaller U.S. cities.     

On Persistent Poverty in a Rich Country

We examine differences in income within the United States, and the regions of persistent poverty that have arisen, using a newly assembled county‐level data set linking 19th century Census data with contemporary data. We identify the roles of current differences in aggregate production technologies and factor endowments, together with contributions of historical institutions, culture, geography, and human capital. We allow for possible cross‐county factor mobility via a correlated random effects GMM estimator and find evidence of significant regional differences in production technologies. Our decompositions of the poor/nonpoor income gap suggest that at least three‐fourths of the gap is explained by differences in productive factors. Persistently poor counties are different (and poorer) primarily because they have lower levels of factors of production, not because they use the factors they have less efficiently. Together, historical and contemporary human capital explain over half of the overall income gap between persistently poor and nonpoor counties.     

美国纺织服装区域性生产网络与中美纺织品协议的效应评估

为了应对全球化的挑战,美国与周边的墨西哥和加勒比海地区(CBI)国家合作,形成了一条以纵向一体化为核心的区域性纺织服装生产网络(regional production network,RPN)。由于RPN合作国家是美国纺织产业重要的出口市场,因此后者在该网络中具有既得利益。美国政府进而签订的《中芙纺织品协议》(以下简称"协议")旨在抑制后配额时代中国输美服装类产品对该RPN的冲击。本文就"协议"的实施对相关贸易流量的影响进行了评估。结果显示,"协议"已经对中国输美服装类产品产生贸易破坏效应,而墨西哥和CBI国家对美国的服装出口则从中受益。然而,研究并未显示"协议"的实施有助于美国增加纱线、面料等纺织类产品向RPN合作国家的出口,因而"协议"对美国纺织产业的实际保护效应有必要予以反思。本文的研究结论对于2008年"协议"到期后相关政策的制定和调整具有重要的借鉴意义。     

日美贸易摩擦中的美国“对日修正主义”研究

20世纪80年代中后期产生的日本异质论及美国"对日修正主义"是日美经贸摩擦延伸至体制领域的重要表现。它既是冷战结束前后国际政治格局变化和美国国内政治气候变迁的产物,又具有深刻的学术和舆论背景。美国"对日修正主义"者从资本主义发展模式的差异、日本政治经济体制及其相应政策手段的特殊性、美国对日贸易策略等三个方面阐述了其理论观点,在美国舆论界、学术界和决策层中产生了巨大的影响。     

Debt Financing and the Failure of Innovation Companies: The Application of the CHS Model in U.S. Stock Markets

This study aims to determine whether increasing a firm’s leverage significantly changes its level of bankruptcy risk in the innovative industry by using the CHS model [Campbell, J. Y., J. Hilscher, and J. Szilagyi. 2008. “In Search of Distress Risk.” The Journal of Finance 63 (6): 2899–2939] to test 395 American innovation companies. These companies are categorised into four groups based on their debt ratios and their performance on the NYSE and NASDAQ stock exchanges is analysed in three separate periods. The findings reveal that innovation companies with a higher debt level are no riskier than those with a lower debt level.     

International factor migration and the U.S.

Conclusion The model employed is sufficiently realistic to provide conclusions regarding income distribution due to factor migration. While more disaggregation and other models would be revealing, these results correspond to observed positions on migration issues. Owners of a productive factor can be expected to favor migration policy, either the making or enforcing of laws, favorable to themselves. A factor owner's sentiments can be predicted by identifying patterns of friendship. While each productive factor is its own enemy, empirical results for the U.S. identify two pairs of enemies as well: capital/skilled and semiskilled/unskilled labor. Unskilled labor is a friend of capitalists and skilled labor, both of which can be expected to favor their free immigration.     

美利坚之魂

华盛顿故居位于弗吉尼亚州的波多马可河岸边。临近故居还有几公里时,路两边的树木就看出一种异乎寻常的茂盛。树都很粗,树叶乌黑黑的,树林很密,看不到边际。故居在一个小山包的山顶上,叫弗农山庄。弗农山庄是华盛顿同父异母的哥哥劳伦斯在其父亲所盖的一处房子基础上改建的,起名叫弗农山庄是为纪念哥哥心目中的一位偶像、一位英国海军上将。     

Union status and merger activity in the U.S.

Theories on merger activity and union membership suggest that conglomerate mergers should enhance the probability of managers employing nonunion workers, while nonconglomerate mergers should be associated with a greater probability of union membership. To test this hypothesis, a standard sample-selection derived union status equation is estimated which includes measures of three types of merger activity as explanatory variables. The findings suggest that being in an industry with substantial conglomerate mergers reduces the chance that a worker is a union member. All other types of mergers are positively associated with the probability of union membership. This pattern holds even after controlling for the possibility of merger endogeneity.     

Immigration and the Health of U.S. Natives

Immigration may put a strain on the health care system, adversely impacting the health of the native population. At the same time, recent studies have documented the role of immigration in nudging native workers from risk-intensive, physically demanding jobs toward occupations that require more communication and interactive ability, potentially improving their health. In this article, I examine the relationship between immigration and the health of the native population in the United States. The results of the analysis fail to show that immigration adversely affects the health of U.S. natives. Instead, the findings suggest that the presence of low-skilled immigrants may improve the health of low-skilled U.S.-born individuals.     

Interest rates in the U. S. and eurodollar markets

Zusammenfassung Zinss?tze in den USA und auf den Eurodollarm?rkten. — Diese Arbeit entwickelt eine Theorie der Gleichgewichts-Zinsdifferenzen zwischen heimischen und ausw?rtigen (Euro-) Zinss?tzen auf der Grundlage des zus?tzlich wahrgenommenen Risikos von Anlagen und Darlehen im Ausland und der h?heren Kosten der Regulierung, die mit dem Angebot dieser Anlagen und Darlehen im Inland verbunden sind. Kurzfristige Ver?nderungen der Zinsdifferenzen zwischen ausw?rtigen und heimischen M?rkten ergeben sich nach Ansicht der Autoren aus Unvollkommenheiten auf den heimischen M?rkten, wie z. B. einschr?nkenden Vorschriften und oligopolistischen Marktbedingungen. Empirische Tests für US- und Eurodollar-Zinss?tze für die Jahre 1974—1978 best?tigen die Hypothese, da\ die Eurodollar-S?tze schneller auf Ver?nderungen der Kreditbedingungen reagieren als die US-Bankraten.

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Résumé Les taux d’intérêt dans les marchés des E.U. et d’Eurodollar. — Cet article introduit une théorie de la différence d’équilibre entre les taux d’intérêt locaux et ?offshore? (Euro) sur la base du risque per?u supplémentairement des dép?ts et des prêts, et les frais plus hauts de régulation associés avec les dépℸs et les prêts offerts localement. Les auteurs arguent que les changements à court terme dans les différences des taux d’intérêt entre les marchés ?qoffshore? et locaux résultent des imperfections de marché local comme par exemple les restrictions régulatrices et les conditions de marché oligopolistique. Les tests empiriques avec les taux d’intérêt des E.U. et d’Eurodollar pour la période 1974–1978 supportent la hypothèse que les taux d’Eurodollar repondent plus rapidement aux changements dans les conditions de crédit que les taux des banques des E.U.

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Resumen Tasas de interés en los mercados de EEUU y del Eurodólar. — Este artículo proporciona una teoría del diferencial de equilibrio entre tasas de interés domésticas y ?offshore? (Euro) sobre la base de la percepci⤵ de riesgos adicionales para dep?sitos y préstamos ?offshore? y los costos de regulaci⤵ mayores asociados con la oferta doméstica de depósitos y préstamos. Cambios de corto plazo en las diferenciales de las tasas de interés entre mercados internos y ?offshore?, resultan, según los autores, de imperfecciones del mercado doméstico tales como restricciones regulatorias y condiciones oligopolísticas del mercado. Pruebas empíricas de las tasas de interés de los EEUU y del Eurodólar entre 1974 y 1978 sustentan la hipótesis, que las tasas del Eurodólar responden más rápidamente a cambios en las condiciones de crédito que las tasas bancarias de los EEUU.

     

享受美国售后服务

在国内,人们买了商品后退货要费很多口舌,甚至吵闹一番也没有结果。在美国,商家的服务方式和服务速度都让我们感到震惊。看看美国的售后服务,也许能给中国的商家们一些启示和反思。     

Entrepreneurship and business culture in Japan and the U.S.

It seems to me likely that entrepreneurship will take a different path in Japan than it has in the U.S. Given the prominence of large organizations in key areas of Japan's economy and the emphasis its society places on lifetime employment relationships, many of the “startups” of the sort that transformed the American business are more likely to happen within existing firms rather than as new enterprises. Such development, called “intrapreneurship” in the U.S. requires new institutional structures and rewards. Such changes will not come easily, because they run against the grain of Japanese society and business culture, yet I believe that success will come to those who can execute such strategies.     

酒精助然美国经济

酒精产业降低了美国对进口原油的依存度,减少了贸易逆差美国酒精产业最早始于19世纪30年代,上世纪80年代得以跳跃式发展,是过去三十年来美国加工制造业最成功的典范之一。2005年是美国酒精产业发展的分水岭,美国总统布什当年8月签署了新的能源政策法案(EPACT05),从法律高度激励     

中美贸易逆差与美国贸易保护的转变

一、中美贸易逆差问题的背景根据中国的统计,中美贸易从1993年美方出现逆差,当年逆差额为62亿美元,到2003年上升到586亿美元,10年间增长了近8.5倍;根据美国的统计,从1983年起,美方对中方有逆差3亿美元,到2003年上升到1240亿美元,20年增长了412倍。按美方统计,1988年中国进入美国前10位逆差国行列,1989年就从第9位上升到第6位,1990年攀升到第3位,1991年成为仅次于日本的第2大逆差对象国。2000年以后,中国对美贸易顺差超过日本,成为美国最大的贸易逆差国。此后贸易逆差继续攀升,到2003年,中国占美国全部贸易逆差的23%。中美贸易逆差备受关注的…