Commercial policy and international factor mobility in the presence of monopolistic competition

This paper utilizes a well-known specification of returns to specialization (a variation of the Spence-Dixit-Stiglitz model) to explore the implications of local agglomeration effects for commercial policy and restricted factor mobility. The paper initially considers a small open economy where it is shown that a tariff reduces the degree of specialization and hence the size of the external economies to the producers. An inflow of labor increases the degree of specialization while a capital inflow decreases it. The paper then considers a two-country world where both countries are large and deals with the pattern of trade and factor mobility.     

Modeling and forecasting trading volume index: GARCH versus TGARCH approach

Volatility has been described as an indicator of uncertainty which has implications for investment decisions, risk management as well as monetary policy. This paper investigates the pattern of volatility in the daily trading volume index of Hong Kong stock exchange. The empirical evidence provided in this paper suggests that TGARCH specification is superior to GARCH specification. This is particularly important when one is dealing with the case of asymmetric information that captures the leverage effect of the volatile stock market.     

Foreign entry and firm R&D: evidence from Chinese manufacturing industries

By making use of firm‐level panel data from 2005 to 2007, this paper empirically examines the relationship between research and development (R&D) behaviour and the presence of foreign firms in China's four major manufacturing industries. The manufacturing industries considered are (1) car manufacturing, (2) household electrical appliances, (3) electronics and (4) communication equipment manufacturing. We find that the presence of foreign firms has resulted in a significant increase in R&D intensity of all four manufacturing industries in China. While the average R&D intensity in communication equipment manufacturing is the highest, the electronics industry, which has the highest level of foreign presence, has experienced a relatively large increase in R&D intensity. This suggests that China's electronics manufacturing sector is responding to rising competition from foreign firms located in China. Foreign presence in China's car manufacturing sector is relatively small, and this industry has experienced a relatively small increase in R&D intensity because of foreign presence.     

Firm heterogeneity and FDI-related productivity spillovers: A theoretical investigation

A number of existing empirical studies have attempted to estimate the foreign direct investment (FDI)-related productivity spillover effects to domestic firms in host economies using various methodologies and measures of FDI. This literature has produced mixed results. While some studies found positive spillovers, others reported zero or even negative spillovers. In this paper, using a model of firm heterogeneity, we provide a rigorous theoretical justification for the mixed findings. We show that FDI-related productivity spillover effects can be decomposed into a direct and an indirect effect. If the direct effect is positive then relatively less capable domestic firms that were not able to survive in the industry (before the arrival of foreign firms) can enter the industry, which decreases the average (expected) productivity of the industry. If this indirect effect is sufficiently strong then the overall impact of FDI on productivity of domestic firms can be zero or negative. Hence, irrespective of the type of FDI (vertical or horizontal) and control variables included in empirical models, one may find negative or zero spillover effects.     

Impact of ethical leadership on creativity: the role of psychological empowerment

This study examines the relationship between ethical leadership and employee creativity with mediating role of psychological empowerment. Data were collected from 183 supervisor–subordinate dyads in different hotels across Pakistan. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the distinctiveness of variables used in our study. The results also confirmed that ethical leadership promotes creativity at workplace, while psychological empowerment mediates the effect of ethical leadership on creativity. The cognitive evaluation theory was used to support findings. Implications are also discussed.     

Macroeconomic consequences of increased productivity in less developed economies

This paper examines the impact of improvements in productivity on prices, output, the real wage rate and the balance of payments. Within the context of the model used in this paper, an improvement in productivity can take two alternative forms: (1) a cost saving for a given output and (2) an increase in production without a direct decrease in employment. The results presented are based on a simple model of a small open economy that includes some key features of less developed economies. It is shown that, in the presence of monetary and fiscal restraints, an improvement in productivity leads to increases in output, employment and the real wage and the effect on the balance of payments, in the short and the medium runs, is also positive. We find that whether or not improvement in productivity is import saving plays a crucial role in both comparative static and simulation exercises.     

Pollution,energy use,GDP and trade: estimating the long-run relationship for Vietnam

Since the beginning of economic reform in the 1980s and, in particular, with its openness to international trade accelerating since the 1990s, the Vietnamese economy has registered significant growth. At the same time, energy consumption and the level of pollution in Vietnam has also increased. This article aims to focus on the link between openness to trade and pollution in Vietnam. Due to lack of data, very few existing studies have focused on Vietnam. Using annual data from1980 to 2011 and employing the bounds testing approach to cointegration, based on an autoregressive distributed lagged (ARDL) model, we find that there is a statistically significant long-run relationship amongst pollution, openness to trade, energy consumption and real national income in Vietnam. This conclusion continues to hold when the possibility of a structural break in the relationship is allowed for using the Gregory-Hansen approach to cointegration. Analysis of the cointegration relationship suggests that, in response to any exogenous shock to the system, adjustment back to the long-run equilibrium is very fast.     

Bidding behavior in competing auctions: Evidence from eBay

Much of the existing auction literature treats auctions as running independently of one another, with each bidder choosing to participate in only one auction. However, in many online auctions, a number of substitutable goods are auctioned concurrently and bidders can bid on several auctions at the same time. Recent theoretical research shows how bidders can gain from the existence of competing auctions, the current paper providing the first empirical evidence in support of competing auctions theory using online auctions data from eBay. Our results indicate that a significant proportion of bidders do bid across competing auctions and that bidders tend to submit bids on auctions with the lowest standing bid, as the theory predicts. The paper also shows that winning bidders who cross-bid pay lower prices on average than winning bidders who do not.     

Public consumer goods, output-generated variable returns, and labor supply

This paper develops a simple general-equilibrium model of a closed economy. The economy under consideration produces two final goods, one private and one public, which are both produced with labor and an intermediate good under constant returns to scale. The intermediate good is produced by labor alone, and its production is subject to output-generated variable returns to scale. The public good can be interpreted as government spending on environmental quality, police protection, cultural activities, and publicly funded health care. The model is used to examine the impact of an exogenous change in labor supply on the size of the government, relative prices, and welfare. Within the context of the present study, an increase in labor supply can be attributed to either exogenous immigration or population growth. The model is also used to examine the relationship between the size of the country and the pattern of trade.     

Financial development and economic growth in Vietnam

By making use of a panel dataset that covers 61 provinces of Vietnam over the period 1997 to 2006, this paper examines the link between financial development and economic growth. Our analysis, which is based on endogenous growth theory, reveals that financial development has contributed to economic growth in Vietnam. We find that high ratio of credit to Gross Provincial Product (GPP) has accelerated economic growth in Vietnam. We also found a strong positive link between financial development and economic growth when alternative measures of financial development were used. The impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth will be stronger if more resources are invested in financial market development.