Improving the estimation of total factor productivity growth: capital operating time in a latent variable approach

Measuring labor and capital services accurately is essential to obtaining reliable estimates of production functions and total factor productivity (TFP) growth. Using data on the operating time of capital, a series that exists for the French business sector, greatly improves the measurement of effective capital services in production. The ensuing estimation results are consistent with Cobb–Douglas technology under constant returns to scale, with the factor elasticities not statistically different from their income shares. In the same framework, TFP growth is estimated as a latent variable and found to be less volatile than accounting residuals, negatively correlated with employment, and free of cyclicality. It is statistically best estimated as a first-order autoregressive process, with an autoregressive coefficient of 0.95. Total factor productivity growth was estimated to have declined steadily between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s, but the rate of decline has diminished since then.     

我国经济金融运行状况和相关政策解析

本文对我国经济金融运行现状进行了分析,阐述了货币政策适时适度调整,成功进行了宏观调控,促进了经济平稳较快发展。未来一段时期,我国金融业面临难得机遇和严峻挑战,需要注意把握政策的稳定性、针对性和灵活性,维护金融稳定,促进经济结构调整和发展方式转变。     

Relevance of corruption on the effect of public health expenditure and taxation on economic growth

We investigate whether corruption distorts the positive effect of public health expenditure and taxation on growth through panel data analysis of 75 developing countries for the period from 1995 to 2014. The findings indicate that, although both public health expenditure and taxation can increase economic growth, in countries with more corrupt governments this effect is reduced.     

Did immigration contribute to wage stagnation of unskilled workers?

In this paper we first show that the timing and skill distribution of Immigrants to the U.S. between 1970 and 2014 imply they did not contribute to the decline in the wages of native, non-college educated workers – including high school dropouts – at the national level. We then review other evidence at the local level, which implies immigration is not associated with lower non-college wages. Rather, higher immigration seems associated with higher average (and college-level) wages. Local externalities, complementarities, efficient specialization and appropriate technological choice suggest at least part of the positive association is causal.     

管理层权力、内外部监督与企业风险承担*

本文以2005—2014年中国沪深A股上市公司为样本,采用主成分分析法构建管理层权力的衡量指标,实证检验管理层权力对企业风险承担的影响。研究结果表明,管理层权力越大,风险规避的倾向越明显,企业风险承担水平越低;良好的内外部监督机制能弱化管理层权力对企业风险承担的抑制作用;渠道测试表明,管理层权力通过削弱企业的融资水平规避风险,而对企业投资无显著影响。本文拓展了管理层权力的经济后果及企业风险承担影响因素领域的文献,对引导管理者积极承担风险、加强上市公司内外部治理体系建设、维护中小股东权益具有重要的现实意义。     

An investigation of the performance consequences of alignment and adaptability: contingency effects of decision autonomy and shared responsibility

This research investigates the moderating role of organizations’ structural context on the performance outcomes of the firm's alignment and adaptability pursuits. It focuses in particular on the role of decision autonomy and shared responsibility, and posits that these structural features exert opposing influences on the effect of alignment and adaptability on performance. Using a sample of more than 200 Canadian‐based firms, this study finds that at higher levels of decision autonomy, the positive relationship between alignment and performance becomes weaker, and the positive relationship between adaptability and performance becomes stronger. Furthermore, at higher levels of shared responsibility, the positive relationship between adaptability and performance strengthens. Thus, the study offers structure‐based explanations for the challenge that organizations face when they attempt to reap the benefits of alignment and adaptability simultaneously.     

Family networks and school enrolment: Evidence from a randomized social experiment

We present evidence on whether and how a household's behavior is influenced by the presence and characteristics of its extended family. Using data from the PROGRESA program in Mexico, we exploit information on the paternal and maternal surnames of heads and spouses in conjunction with the Spanish naming convention to identify the inter- and intra-generational family links of each household to others in the same village. We then exploit the randomized research design of the PROGRESA evaluation data to identify whether the treatment effects of PROGRESA transfers on secondary school enrolment vary according to the characteristics of extended family. We find PROGRESA only raises secondary enrolment among households that are embedded in a family network. Eligible but isolated households do not respond. The mechanism through which the extended family influences household schooling choices is the redistribution of resources within the family network from eligibles that receive de facto unconditional cash transfers from PROGRESA, towards eligibles on the margin of enrolling children into secondary school.     

Global Imbalances: The Role of Emerging Asia

This paper investigates the role played by emerging Asia in the emergence and evolution of the global trade imbalances. Based on simulations in a general-equilibrium model of the world economy, we find that a productivity slowdown in the nontradable sector of these economies in the second half of the 1990s fits regional macroeconomic developments relatively well, but has limited spillover effect to the United States trade balance. In contrast, an increase in the desired level of emerging Asia net foreign assets starting in 2001 not only fits regional developments relatively well, but also has a significant spillover effect to the United States.     

International portfolio reallocation: Diversification benefits and European monetary union

We investigate the determinants of bilateral international equity and bond portfolio reallocation across a large cross-section of countries spanning over two sample periods: 1997-2001 and 1997-2005. We find that the strongest drivers are the marginal diversification benefits arising from the pure asset component and the initial degree of underweight. This evidence suggests that global portfolio reallocations over the asset boom and bust period were determined by optimal diversification considerations. We also find that due to economic and monetary union (EMU) the weight assigned by euro area investors to investment in euro area countries increased significantly in equity and fixed income portfolios, with a trade diverting effect against the British bond market.