Statistical precision of productivity change: A bootstrap application to Taiwan’s telecommunications industry

This study investigates the impacts of telecommunications policy on productivity change of the Chunghwa Telecom Company (CHT) from pre- to post-privatization. A three-stage method is employed to measure the productivity scores of CHT during the period 1966–2008. The Malmquist productivity index (MPI) is used in the first stage to assess the productivity of CHT. In the second stage, the statistical confidence intervals of productivity scores of CHT were obtained using the bootstrapping algorithm. Finally, the Chow test and multiple regression models were also utilized to investigate the impact of telecommunications policy on productivity change of CHT. Results of empirical examination indicate that on average TFP scores obtained by the bootstrapping technique are smaller than those obtained by the MPI technique. In addition, there is no difference in productivity change of CHT between pre- and post-privatization according to the MPI and bootstrapping MPI. The results show that the effect of privatization on productivity change is insignificant. Instead, the operational efficiency of CHT is affected by the government involvement in decision-making under its private/public joint ownership, which causes CHT to be a firm with little managerial profit orientation.     

西部地区县域经济“要素失衡与缺失陷阱”的破解路径

"要素失衡与缺失陷阱"是我国西部地区县域经济现状的真实写照。自然资源外流、产业结构失衡、资金外流、人才缺失、技术缺失、信息滞后、政府制度供给匮乏都是"要素失衡与缺失陷阱"的典型表现。因此,修缮和填补这些"陷阱"已成为发展西部地区县域经济的当务之急。而找到正确的方法,才能让"陷阱"填平,不再出现坍塌的危险。大力推进西部地区县域体制机制改革;大力推进"三化"联动发展;构建完备的县域经济发展软硬件体系;树开放胸怀,提高决策者、执行者、普通大众的意识水平,则是西部地区县域经济"要素失衡与缺失陷阱"破解路径。     

A globally flexible,quadratic almost ideal demand system: an application to demand for meats and fish in Taiwan

A new demand system, called a globally flexible, quadratic almost ideal demand system (GF–QUAIDS), integrates both the quadratic Engel curve and the Fourier series. This novel GF–QUAIDS model is applied to study the demand for meats and fish in Taiwan. Empirical results show that the GF–QUAIDS fits the data well and that, by using the likelihood ratio test, its nested models are rejected, including the locally flexible functional form and the linear Engel curve. Nevertheless, other empirical model-selection measures indicate that the GF–QUAIDS can be as good as its famous nested models such as the AIDS, QUAIDS and GF–AIDS.     

Patterns and strategies of Foreign Direct Investment: the case of Japanese firms

This paper is to study globalization motives and strategies of Japanese manufacturing industries by analyzing the causes and patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI) of Japanese manufacturing firms. We use regression analysis to determine internally driving-out factors and externally-inducing factors. Japanese FDI strategy has gone through three different stages; from natural resource-seeking investment in the 1950s and 1960s to market-expansion investment in the 1970s and 1980s and to a combination of cost-reducing (low-cost labor-seeking) investment and market-penetrating investment in the 1990s. Our findings show that Japanese FDI in Asia and other developing countries tends to be in labor-intensive sectors where Japanese firms are losing their comparative advantages at home. The main motive for FDI into these regions is low-cost resource seeking. On the other hand, Japanese FDI in the US and Europe tends to be knowledge-intensive sectors where Japanese firms attempt to internalize transaction and information costs by globalizing its production. The main motive for FDI into these regions is market-seeking.     

Trade,labour market rigidity,and aggregate productivity in OECD countries

As the economy becomes more open to trade, aggregate productivity can increase by driving out the least productive firms (the selection effect). Since the selection effect reallocates resources toward the more productive firms, this process can be hindered by rigidity in domestic labour market institutions. Based on the selection effect by Melitz (2003), this article empirically examines how rigidity in labour market institutions affects the consequence of trade on aggregate productivity. Findings from panel dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) estimators suggest that a high degree of labour market rigidity in an open economy reduces Total Factor Productivity (TFP). In particular, in the case of extremely high labour market rigidity but low foreign R&D capital stocks, openness to trade can cause a country to experience decreasing TFP.     

Relationships of Organizational Justice and Organizational Identification: The Mediating Effects of Perceived Organizational Support in Hong Kong

Women's role in management is an important issue. This is based not just on moral, but also on economic grounds. In many countries female participation rates in labour markets have increased, but a similar expansion into managerial posts has commonly lagged behind this, often an indication of the resilience of the so-called ‘glass ceiling’. We use South Korea as an example to explore this. We review the literature in the area and provide theoretical explanations and a lens through which to view developments which indicate that social and cultural, rather than economic, reasons often underpin the situation. We go on to outline some possible ways to confront female managerial discrimination and to increase women's roles in management.     

基于霍太林法则的房地产价格波动分析

许多西方文献研究认为房价从长期看由经济基本面决定,并通过均衡价格理论进行了论证。但本文利用1998～2010年中国房地产季度统计数据分析,发现我国房价与经济基本面缺乏稳定的协整关系;我国房地产价格趋势偏离了局部均衡分析的均衡价格,且房价供求决定方程发生了结构性改变。中国特殊的房地产市场,尤其是受土地政策和心理预期因素影响,很大程度上逼近于一种投机品市场。本文以资源经济学中著名的霍太林法则为基础建立模型,计量分析发现,从阶段特征看心理预期对房价有显著的正向影响;土地供给和房屋租价比、银行利率对房价有显著的负向影响,并提出相应的政策建议。     

Relationship banking and escalating commitments to bad loans

The relationship banking literature suggests that business relationships play an important role in the loan decisions of small banks. We test one aspect of this hypothesis using a cross-sectional panel dataset of small banks located in Texas from 1994 to 2002. Our results suggest that small banks located in smaller counties escalate their commitment to bad loans when compared with those located in larger counties, even after controlling for psychological and social factors that influence escalation tendencies. These results highlight the need for small banks to trade-off the positive benefits of adopting a relationship banking strategy against its unintended negative consequence. We provide some suggestions on how small banks may lessen their escalation tendencies despite adopting a relationship banking strategy. The results of this study also suggest that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that develop strong relational bonds with small banks may benefit from continued access to credit facilities, especially during periods when they experience financial distress.     

现阶段财政政策与货币政策协调配合的几个问题

本文分析了宏观间接调控所主要依仗的财政、货币两大政策的异同及协调配合的必要性,提出财政政策侧重于调结构和货币政策侧重于调总量的分工,并具体讨论了在国债、财政存款、外汇储备等"结合部"领域的合理协调,最后强调了优化我国两大政策协调配合所应注重的制度建设问题。     

四行储蓄会研究

四行储蓄会是北四行联营事业的附属储蓄机构,也是中国近代最大的储蓄银行。该储蓄会实行会员制的经营方式,所有客户均为会员,利息之外另以会员名义向客户支付红利,吸收了大量个人存款。在资金运用方面,该会主要办理存单质押放款和公债券投资业务。因经营灵活,四行储蓄会社会声望迅速提高,至20世纪30年代,甚至有超过北四行之势,社会上有"四行一会"之称,其独具特色的经营方式与成功经验值得研究。