Wage spillovers across sectors in Eastern Europe

This paper studies the interactions between wages in the public sector and the private traded and non-traded sector in ten transition countries which are members of the European Union, during the period 2000–2011. The theoretical literature on wage spillovers, as well as the Balassa–Samuelson hypothesis, suggests that the internationally traded sector should be the leader in wage setting, with sheltered and public sector wages adjusting. Using a cointegrated VAR approach we show that a large heterogeneity across countries is present, and non-traded and public sector wages are often leaders in wage determination or at least affect traded sector wages in the short run. This result is relevant from a policy perspective since wage spillovers, leading to costs growing faster than productivity, may affect the international cost competitiveness of the traded sector and thus the catching-up process may be accompanied by accumulation of large international imbalances.     

论森林生态效益补偿的公共财政途径

以生态效益为主导功能的生态公益林,为社会提供了“公共产品”或“公共服务”,需要公共财政的支持与调节。但是,由于公共财政政策本身存在着缺陷,需要我们优化单纯通过公共财政进行森林生态效益补偿的途径,加强对气候变化国际谈判的跟踪,逐步启动国内的碳汇贸易,以适应国际森林碳汇贸易市场的发展趋势。     

Country-Specific Characteristics of Patent Applications in France,Germany and the UK in the Biotechnology Sectors

Given that institutions are highly country-specific, the differences in the national systems of innovation in the different countries of Europe are likely to give rise to country-specific patterns in new technology investment. The objective of this paper is to identify such differences, in the biotechnology sectors, in France, Germany and the UK. The results, based on an analysis of patent applications, indicate that France is focused on the 'dominant' technology of genetic engineering and its public laboratories and collective patent applications play an important role. Germany is leading in the total number of patent applications but is focused on 'intermediate' and 'residual' technologies with a significant number of individual depositors. The UK is leading in the 'dominant' technology. Its public laboratories and firms are strongly involved in depositing patents with a marked strategy of international protection.     

Unspoken ethical issues in the climate affair: Insights from a theoretical analysis of negotiation mandates

Taking climate change as an example, this paper provides new insights on the optimal provision of a long-term public good within and across generations. We write the Bowen–Lindhal–Samuelson (BLS) conditions for the optimal provision of the public good in a world divided into N countries, with two periods, present and future, and we simultaneously determine the optimal response in the first and second periods for a given rate of pure time preference. However, the Negishi weights at second period cannot be determined unambiguously, even under a “no redistribution constraint” within each generation, because they depend on non-observable future incomes; and thus on the answers to two often-overlooked ethical questions: (i) Do rich countries agree on deals which recognize that developing countries may catch up with developed countries in the long run, or do they use their negotiating powers to preserve the current balance of power? And (ii) does each country consider only the welfare of its own future citizens (dynastic solidarity) or does it extend its concern to all future human beings (universal solidarity)? Answers to (i) and (ii)—critical in the debate about how to correct the market failures causing global warming—define four sets of Negishi weights and intertemporal welfare functions, which we interpret as four mandates that countries could give to the Chair of an international negotiation on climate change to find an optimal solution. We find that in all mandates, public good provision expenditures are decreasing functions of income at first period. But each mandate leads to a different allocation of expenditures at second period and to different optimal levels of public good provision at both first and second periods. Finally, we show that only one of these four mandates defines a space for viable compromises.     

Subsidized technology and its utilization: Aids for the disabled

Subsidized research into advance technology is one means employed to attain social and ideological goals recognized as vital to a society. Increasing sensitivity to the social uses of technology has recently led to funding of R&D in aids for the disabled. An analysis of 89 such projects between 1979 and 1983 confirm the impact of subsidized public funding on such research, leading to a narrow focus on applied research in specific disability areas with the objective of creating a viable commercial prototype for a highly visible but extremely small number of severely disabled. Subsidized funding also reinforces specialization through selective support of projects by institutional setting. This specialization further focuses research into areas likely to be rewarded by further funding and through this mechanism scientific output matches needs for those whom R&D is subsidized. The impact of subsidized R&D for the disabled can therefore be said to be effective as an example of societal intervention in directing technological advances.     

One-sided private provision of public goods with implicit Lindahl pricing

We consider a sequential game in which one player produces a public good and the other player can influence this decision by making an unconditional transfer. An efficient allocation requires the Lindahl property: the sum of the two (implicit) individual prices has to be equal to the resource cost of the public good. Under mild conditions this requires a personal price for the providing player that lies below half of the resource cost. These results can, for example, justify high marginal taxes on wages of secondary earners.     

Country-Specific Characteristics of Patent Applications in France, Germany and the UK in the Biotechnology Sectors

Given that institutions are highly country-specific, the differences in the national systems of innovation in the different countries of Europe are likely to give rise to country-specific patterns in new technology investment. The objective of this paper is to identify such differences, in the biotechnology sectors, in France, Germany and the UK. The results, based on an analysis of patent applications, indicate that France is focused on the 'dominant' technology of genetic engineering and its public laboratories and collective patent applications play an important role. Germany is leading in the total number of patent applications but is focused on 'intermediate' and 'residual' technologies with a significant number of individual depositors. The UK is leading in the 'dominant' technology. Its public laboratories and firms are strongly involved in depositing patents with a marked strategy of international protection.     

台湾地区全民健保制度实施绩效论析

全民健保制度是台湾地区第一个涵盖岛内全体民众的社会保险制度。自实施以来,全民健保已经取得较好的绩效,表现在岛内民众就医公平性和可及性大大提高、民众满意度较高、医疗保健总支出成长趋于稳定。全民健保制度不仅使岛内民众得到实惠,而且其成功的经验引起了国际健康保险界的关注。     

The political economy of delayed reform

Abstract

The role of economic policy in Finland's depression of the 1990s is analyzed with a simple model of an open economy, and the conditions for a successful financial reform derived: Let the system adjust after the removal of interest rate ceilings, and the domestic interest rate then be aligned with foreign rates before liberalizing international capital flows. In Finland, the financial system was liberalized simultaneously with international capital movements, with the domestic shadow interest rate initially considerably higher than the international market rates. A capital inflow the size of the monetary base followed, leading to the ‘crazy years’ of 1987–89. With a large current account deficit, the Bank of Finland tightened money sharply, causing a banking crisis practically wiping out the savings bank sector. The GDP declined by 13%. Several lesser policy measures aggravated the crisis.     

Strictly Pareto-improving bilateral reforms of public debts

This paper provides a theoretical basis for the international coordination of public debt policies. Specifically, the paper determines piecemeal policy rules on strictly Pareto-improving bilateral reforms of public debts and provides answers to two interesting questions: In circumstances where reforms of public debts and international transfers are strictly Pareto-improving, could reforms of international transfers without reforms of public debts be relied upon to achieve strict Pareto improvement? Could reforms of public debts without reforms of international transfers be relied upon to achieve strict Pareto improvement?     

Farmers’ Adoption of Irrigation Technologies: Experimental Evidence from a Coordination Game with Positive Network Externalities in India

Electric irrigation contributes to food security in rural India, but deteriorating electrical infrastructures threaten the functioning of farmers’ pump sets. This problem could be solved through investments in energy‐efficient technologies. However, network externalities create a coordination problem for farmers. We develop a framed field experiment to study the effects of group size, leading by example, and payoff structures on the ability to coordinate technology adoption investments. The experiment is based on a game that combines features of a step‐level public goods game and a critical mass game. Our findings show that smaller groups more frequently coordinate on payoff‐superior equilibria and that higher payoffs lead to more investments. Contrary to previous studies, leading by example reduces investments but has no effect on efficiency. Building on this analysis, we discuss possible bottom‐up solutions to the energy crisis in rural India.     

Incentives to lead,follow, or compete: comparative national choices of international copyright

I study the desirability and incentives for countries to lead or follow in international copyright policy making by analyzing a lead-follow model of international copyright and comparing it with a competitive model. The analyses suggest that the lead-follow model is globally preferable except when the information products have short economic life in the leading country. In this exceptional case, the incentives of individual countries are compatible with global welfare as they also prefer the globally preferable competitive model. However, in the cases where the lead-follow model is globally preferable, individual countries do not always have the incentive to lead or follow. For example, a small country may prefer competition over leading or following, as competition may allow it to free-ride on the copyright protection provided by the larger country. This suggests that ‘extraordinary’ incentive is sometimes needed to induce individual countries to adopt the lead-follow model of international copyright when it is globally desirable.     

Global Production Networks and the Private Organization of World Trade

As John R. Commons understood, the role of the firm in providing employment and income distribution is a form of public power (Munkirs and Knoedler 1987). This public power of firms is supported by the laws of the state, which protect private property and enforce market transactions. The Global Production Network (GPN) is a new form of the firm, influenced by information technology to lower “transaction costs” (Coase 1937), as well as international trade regimes, such as the Washington Consensus to improve the ease of world trade and investment. The GPN is globe-scanning, yet private and able to shape the economies and policies of countries. Under the banner of branded products, the lead firm in a supply chain exercises considerable power over subsidiaries, contractors, workers, communities, and countries. By influencing trade relations, GPNs also influence international finance, foreign currency reserves and exchange rates, as well as trade deficits and “race to the bottom” of taxes and environmental protection. Drawing on interdisciplinary research, this topic benefits from an alliance of sociology, business, history, law, and international as well as institutional economics in the AFEE tradition. I draw on the work of leading scholars in the field (Antras 2016; Baldwin 2016; Gereffi 2013; Milberg and Winkler 2013) and analyze the implications for the world trade system, as well as the ongoing political resistance to globalization. These GPNs are no longer “of” their country of origin (Tyson vs. Reich).     

Public transportation demand in a border metropolitan economy

Empirical research for public transport demand has uncovered numerous interesting commonalities across metropolitan economies. This study examines the demand for municipal bus services over time in El Paso, Texas, USA. El Paso is one of the largest metropolitan economies in the USA located directly adjacent to an international boundary with another country. This study not only models the demand for municipal bus services as a function of traditional variables such as price, income and weather, but also includes regressors designed to measure the potential impacts of cross-border economic conditions on El Paso ridership. Results from a Linear Transfer Function (LTF) modelling approach indicate that rider volumes are affected by domestic as well as international economic conditions in this border metropolitan area.     

When Does One Bad Apple Spoil the Barrel? An Evolutionary Analysis of Collective Action

This paper studies collective-action games in which the production of a public good requires teamwork. A leading example is a threshold game in which provision requires the voluntary participation of m out of n players. Quantal-response strategy revisions allow play to move between equilibria in which a team successfully provides, and an equilibrium in which the collective action fails. A full characterization of long-run play reveals the determinants of success; these include the correlation between players' costs of provision and their valuations for the good. The addition of an extra "bad apple" player can "spoil the barrel" by destabilizing successful teams and so offers a rationale for limiting the pool of possible contributors.     

银行与非银行金融机构的合作研究

面对加入WTO尤其是国际金融混业经营的趋势，混业经营问题是摆在业界、理论界和政府面前的一个重大课题，而混业合作是走向混业经营的一种非常有效的渐进路径，文章发银行业为例给出促进银行与证券、保险以及财务公司、担保公司、租赁公司对策建设。     

Financial Mechanism and Enforceability of International Environmental Agreements

We examine how international coordination among countries generates a trend towards establishing an international institution for the provision of global public goods. In the present model, the forces creating international agreement are a politician??s motive for re-election and a financial mechanism for compliance. If a politician expects another politician in a neighboring country to signal his good performance to his citizen by participating in the agreement, and is aware that his ex post deviation will be deterred by the financial mechanism, he too decides to participate in the agreement, which then corrects externality problems.     

STRATEGIC TRADE POLICY WITH INTERNATIONALLY OWNED FIRMS*

The consequences of international firm ownership for strategic trade policy are examined both in a general and in a simple linear model of an international duopoly with two governments using production subsidies as policy instruments. At first sight, the case for strategic trade policy seems to be weakened, because international ownership reduces a government's incentive for rent-shifting. Closer inspection shows, however, that there are ownership structures leading to optimal policies which induce the duopolists to behave more collusively. This tends to resolve the conflict between national and international rationality in a policy game with retaliation and makes strategic trade policy look more attractive.     

Income measurement and comparisons

The purpose of this paper is to provide a way for better measuring a country's global income when official statistics fail to account for the existence of a thriving underground, or black economy. Another purpose of this research is to discuss adequate ways to perform international comparisons of income, and income per head, and to correct for depreciation. Besides the general interest of this problem, there are two more specific reasons behind this work. First, the allocation of development funds by international agencies (for example, the structural funds in the European monetary system) are conditioned on this measure. Second, the measurement of unemployment may be totally distorted by failing to account for the hidden economy. This paper has benefitted from comments by the participants at the Forty-Seventh International Atlantic Economic Conference, Vienna, Austria, March 16–23, 1999, and especially Michael Pickhardt. Financial support is acknowledged from the Dirección General de Ciencia y Tecnología, under project SEC 98-1112, and the Junta Castilla y León, under project SA 29/99. Comments by the participants at the 1997 Applied Econometrics Association conference on public deficits are also acknowledged. The authors are solely responsible for any remaining errors.     

“城园关联”视角下城市历史公园遗产 价值的多尺度解析与双系统识别——以 重庆市鹅岭公园为例

针对国际风景园林师联合会2017年提出的“城市 历史公园”遗产概念，辨析总结了其与城市在空间、时间、价 值维度的多重关联性；据此建构了“城园关联”视角下，以城 园、地段、园区、园景为空间尺度和以历史见证、公共文化为 价值线索的城市历史公园景观特征“多尺度”解析与遗产价值 “双系统”识别方法。在此基础上，以重庆市鹅岭公园为例， 对其自重庆开埠设市以来各典型时期的景观特征与遗产价值进 行系统解析，以期为历史公园研究与保护提供参考。