The Social Significance of Consumption and the Elasticity of Output to Demand in the Long Run: A Reply to Gualerzi

Gualerzi's comment on Trezzini’s 2015 article (‘Growth without Normal Capacity Utilization and the Meaning of the Long-Run Saving Ratio.’) underestimates the role played by the long-run elasticity of output with respect to changes in aggregate demand in my analysis and in the demand-led processes of growth.     

Studying Growth in the Modern Classical Approach: Theoretical and Empirical Implications for the Analysis of Potential Output

Abstract

The main characteristics of the modern classical approach to growth are studied with particular reference to the notion of ‘potential output’. In contrast to mainstream approaches, which consider potential output to be exogenous and supply-determined, it is here regarded as endogenous and path-dependent. A tentative analysis is carried out of the implications of such a conception in empirical research, with special reference to the effects of the crisis on potential growth. Mainstream estimation methods (especially those used by international institutions) are shown to be deeply influenced by theory, but also to provide dubious and puzzling results. Very different empirical results and policy implications may be obtained from the standpoint of the alternative theoretical framework provided by the modern classical approach. On this basis, the paper proposes that the long-term policy target should be set in terms of the rate of unemployment rather than potential output or potential growth.     

Capital Accumulation and Innovation as Complementary Factors in Long-Run Growth

We study capital accumulation and innovation as determinants of long-run growth by adding capital to our earlier model of creative destruction. No special functional forms are imposed on the aggregate production function. The equations describing perfect foresight equilibrium are identical to those of the augmented Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans model, except that the rate of technological change is a function of the stock of capital per effective worker. Contrary to previous models, a subsidy to capital accumulation will raise the long-run growth rate. The key assumption is that capital is used in R and D. Some evidence is presented on the capital intensity of R and D.     

Export Growth,Capacity Utilization,and Productivity Growth: Evidence from the Canadian Manufacturing Plants

Aggregate labor and multifactor productivity growth slowed substantially post‐2000 in the Canadian manufacturing sector. To examine the source of the decline, this paper proposes a decomposition method that delves deeper into the two micro‐components of aggregate productivity growth: a within‐plant component and a between‐plant component. The decomposition builds on earlier work by Jorgenson and his collaborators that decomposes aggregate productivity growth into its industry components, but applies it to the plant level and introduces non‐neoclassical features of the plant‐level economic environment. It finds that the preponderance of the aggregate labor and multifactor productivity growth slowdown is due to the pro‐cyclical nature of productivity growth arising from capacity utilization. Almost all of the aggregate productivity growth slowdown is driven by exporters, as exporters experienced large declines in labor productivity growth in the post‐2000 period as a result of large declines in their capacity utilization.     

Habit Formation, Catching Up with the Joneses, and Economic Growth

Our objective is to investigate how alternative assumptions about preferences affect the process of economic growth. To do this, we analyze a neoclassical growth model under three alternative preference specifications: (i) time separable, (ii) catching up with the Joneses, and (iii) habit formation. Departing from the time separable specification leads to important differences in the dynamic structure, the adjustment path followed by key economic variables, the correlation patterns implied by the time series generated by the model, and the speed of convergence to the new steady state. In the catching up with the Joneses economy the differences arise from a consumption externality, while in the habit formation economy the difference arises from the fact that agents not only smooth consumption but also its rate of change.     

消费需求影响经济增长的实证研究

消费需求对经济增长和经济稳定具有重要作用。改革开放以来,在拉动经济增长的三驾马车中,消费需求是拉动中国经济增长的第一位的、主导的因素,同时,消费需求还是阻止经济剧烈波动的稳定力量。     

我国城乡居民消费结构与产业升级、经济增长

基于多变量VAR模型,对1980—2009年间我国城乡居民消费结构与产业升级、经济增长三者之间的关系进行了实证研究。研究结果显示,我国的经济增长有助于改善城乡居民的消费结构,而由于第三产业内部结构不合理,第二产业的重工业化进程,产业升级并没有实现预想中的促进消费结构升级优化的目标。基于这些研究,提出加快服务业发展、提升居民消费能力的政策建议。     

On the Anthropological Study of Economies: A Comment

This paper deals with the moral justification behind policy positions. Squeezed between the inevitability of having a welfare ideology and the mantra of value-neutrality (depoliticization), neoclassical policy economists tend to disguise their normative positions on policy matters as common sense. This attitude is particularly pronounced in what I will call "the rhetoric of worthiness," whereby the neoclassical approach justifies its advocacy that certain people should not be helped. This normative position is disguised by a vocabulary (e.g., moral hazard) claimed to be politically neutral. The present paper criticizes this neoclassical mode of policy evaluation in favor of a more socially conscious and innovative policy approach.     

浙江省能源消费与经济增长的动态关系

利用1985—2009年浙江省能源消费总量和国内生产总值的时间序列数据,采用单位根检验、协整检验、格兰杰因果关系检验,并利用脉冲响应函数、方差分解分析方法,对浙江省能源消费与经济增长之间的因果关系、动态关系以及定量关系进行了研究。研究结果表明:浙江省能源消费与经济增长之间存在从经济增长到能源消费的单向因果关系;经济增长的较小波动会对能源消费产生持续的影响。     

经济增长与能源消费：来自山东省的经验证据

本文运用协整分析和误差修正模型技术．探讨山东省经济增长与能源消费之间的关系。实证研究结果表明，山东省经济增长与能源消费存在长期均衡关系．并存在从经济增长到能源消费的单向因果关系；经济增长与能源消费之间的关系是非线性的，因而不能从能源消费的线性变化推测出经济增长率的变化；山东省经济受电力消费的影响较大，为了在2010年单位地区生产总值能源消耗降低20％的政策目标．山东电力消耗较高的产业必须加以调整。     

Economic Reforms in Socialist Economics: A Comment on Petr

Abstract:

The pre-WWII approaches to trade unions were mainly based on the theoretical and methodological viewpoints of early institutional economics. Trade unions were conceived of as politico-economic organizations whose members were motivated by relative comparisons, and also were concerned with issues of equity and justice. In the post-war period, there was a major theoretical and methodological shift toward the idea of unions as optimizing economic units with well-defined objective functions, which are optimized subject to purely economic constraints. This conceptual transformation took place mainly through the Dunlop -Ross debate, in which John Dunlop conceived of unions as analogous to business firms, as opposed to Arthur Ross’s institutional and political approach. However, after decades of analytical developments, the current state of trade union theory has not produced very impressive theoretical results. We trace the historical development of the economic analysis of trade unions from a methodological perspective. We also examine the methodological reasons for the dominance of Dunlop’s approach, and the current state of – and the contemporary criticism toward – the established theory. Furthermore, we discuss the contemporary efforts to build a more comprehensive approach to trade union theory and trade union objectives, also incorporating Ross’s institutional and political insights.     

金融发展、能源消费与经济增长关系研究——基于动态面板数据的分析

通过面板数据系统广义矩估计方法,从金融发展、能源消费与经济增长的角度对我国1985~2011年省份进行的实证分析发现,整体而言,金融发展、能源消费与经济增长之间存在显著正相关关系;按照东、中、西部三个地区分类估计得出,区域金融发展、能源消费对经济增长的作用效果存在显著的区域差异性:金融发展对经济增长的作用效果存在自东向西逐次递减的现象,而能源消费对东部地区经济增长的作用效果最大,西部居中,中部最小。     

经济增长中三大需求作用的实证分析——以天津为例

文章利用天津1980～2007年的年度统计数据,对推进天津经济增长的消费、投资和出口的作用进行了实证研究。从长期来看,天津消费、投资、出口与经济增长之间存在长期的均衡关系;从短期来看,消费对同期的天津经济增长具有促进作用,投资和出口带动了后一期的经济增长。消费在促进经济增长中发挥了主要的作用,其次是投资和出口贸易。最后,根据实证结论,提出了利用消费、投资、出口协调发展,促进天津经济持续稳定增长的政策建议。     

消费波动对经济增长影响的实证研究

在金融信用危机爆发、国外需求不振的情况下,内需已经成为经济平稳增长的首要因素。笔者研究了改革开放以来我国消费与经济增长之间的关系,并且分城镇和农村研究了消费构成的经济增长效应。实证研究发现,我国消费增加1%,当期经济增长提高0.7个百分点;前一期消费与本期经济增长之间存在负相关关系,消费增长率和经济增长率之间存在正向关系;城镇居民消费是经济增长的格兰杰原因,但农村居民消费并不满足这一结论。     

投资规模、投资效率与经济增长的动态关系研究

投资规模扩大和投资效率提高是推动经济增长的重要动力。通过向量自回归模型实证检验中国投资增长、投资效率与经济增长的动态关系,发现投资增长和投资效率提高均能促进中国经济增长,但中国经济发展长期高度依赖投资规模的扩张,投资效率没有得到相应提高,经济增长的可持续性正面临挑战。为实现可持续发展,中国经济需要转变发展方式,实现投资规模驱动型增长方式向投资效率提高驱动型增长方式的转变。     

中国经济增长与能源消耗的现状分析与对策

能源是国民经济发展的先决条件，中国经济发展具有较强的“能源依赖”、“能源高耗”等特征，能源紧张已成为制约中国经济增长的“瓶颈”。在此背景下，对中国经济增长与能源消耗的现状进行分析，总结经济增长与能源消耗的规律及其阶段特征，并提出中国经济增长与能源消耗协调发展的对策建议。     

中国可再生能源消费、经济增长与碳排放的动态关系

通过协整检验、脉冲响应分析和方差分解,对1980—2009年中国的可再生能源消费、碳排放量与经济增长之间的动态关系、冲击效应和贡献度进行了分析。研究结果显示:可再生能源消费、经济增长与碳排放之间存在长期、稳定的协整关系;经济增长受其他变量的冲击均表现为正效应;可再生能源消费的冲击对碳排放的影响微弱,而经济增长的冲击影响较强而持续,且前期波动剧烈但后期平稳;受碳排放的影响,可再生能源消费的累积冲击效应为负,而且正负冲击效应交替出现。     

山东省能源消耗结构与经济增长的动态分析

能源是经济增长的动力源泉,是经济社会运行的根本保障。建立在能源基础上的现代社会,能源消耗结构是否合理决定了其经济发展能否可持续。研究山东省能源消耗结构的变动状况,以及能源消费与经济增长的关系,可以促进山东省经济的持续增长。     

将消费看成是人力资本积累的一个来源及其意义--一个动态经济增长模型和基于中国数据的实证检验

本文发展了一个动态经济增长模型,发现消费与收入之间的短期关系非常不同于长期关系.相对于其他消费理论分析框架而言,该模型具有明显包容性,并与Granger-Engle非经典时间序列方法成功实现了"对接".凯恩斯边际消费倾向递减律、永久性收入假说、生命周期假说、随机游走假说,以及曼昆的λ假说等消费理论或假说,也都可以在这一框架下得到解释,或者说上述理论流派或假说都属于特例.实证分析结论不但支持该理论框架,而且比较恰当地刻画出了我国转型经济中的重大政策和制度变迁的影响.将消费看成是人力资本积累的一个来源,是解释消费与收入之间的短期非稳定关系和长期均衡关系的重要途径.在这个框架下也很容易认识到,从长期视野来看,公平与效率本质上存在一致性.对于寻求解决诸如扩大内需、社会主义新农村建设、集约增长方式选择等诸多中国当前面临的现实问题,以及有关发展政策、公共政策和宏观政策等而言,本文不失为一个具有启发意义的参考基准.     

消费和投资:区域经济增长因素分析——基于河南省数据分析

以河南省数据为分析对象,分析了消费和投资对区域经济增长影响程度。分析发现,消费和投资是区域经济发展的主要驱动因素。在三大产业中,投资是第二产业主要驱动因素,而消费是第一产业、第三产业主要驱动因素。由于第二产业在区域经济发展中占有重要地位,消费和投资对拉动第二产业增长都比拉动第一产业、第三产业增长得快。此外,进一步分析了消费和投资对各次产业中各行业影响程度,并得出了相应的结论。