Externalities and Industrial Development

Using panel data for five capital goods industries, this paper estimates dynamic externalities. In contrast to previous studies, panel data allow separation of externalities from fixed effects and identification of a lag structure. I find strong evidence of Marshall–Arrow–Romer (MAR) (own industry, or localization) externalities. For Jacobs (urbanization) externalities effects are smaller. In terms of lag structure, for MAR externalities the biggest effects are typically from several years ago, but die out after six years. For urbanization phenomena, effects persist to the end of the time horizon of the data–eight or nine years back.     

Integrated health care management through comprehensive information systems

The true impact of a company's benefit strategy can be known only when relevant indicators can be adequately tracked, evaluated and brought together. An unparalleled opportunity exists to creatively apply computer technologies to address decision makers' needs for integrated health care information.     

The agglomeration of headquarters

This paper uses a micro data set on auxiliary establishments from 1977 to 1997 in order to investigate the determinants of headquarter agglomerations and the underlying economic base of many larger metro areas. The significance of headquarters in large urban settings is their ability to facilitate the spatial separation of their white collar activities from remote production plants. The results show that separation benefits headquarters in two main ways: the availability of differentiated local service input suppliers and the scale of other headquarter activity nearby. A wide diversity of local service options allows the headquarters to better match their various needs with specific experts producing service inputs from whom they learn, which improves their productivity. Headquarters also benefit from other headquarter neighbors, although such marginal scale benefits seem to diminish as local scale rises.     

Contrasting the information demands of equity- and debt-holders: Evidence from pension liabilities

In the setting of defined-benefit pension liabilities, we hypothesize that equity and debt investors value these liabilities differently. As expected, we find that investors' valuations of equity more closely align with a going concern perspective that emphasizes the long-term funding needs of pension plans. In contrast, as expected, we find that investors' pricing of short-term and unsecured debt more closely aligns with a settlement perspective that emphasizes pension termination costs. For both equity and debt securities, the settlement (going concern) perspective dominates for short-duration (long-duration) pensions. Overall, our evidence suggests that equity and debt investors perceive complex liabilities in predictably different ways that are consistent with their differing information demands, which in turn vary with the characteristics of the obligation.     

Does Education Matter for Economic Growth?

Empirical growth regressions typically include mean years of schooling as a proxy for human capital. However, empirical research often finds that the sign and significance of schooling depends on the sample of observations or the specification of the model. We use a non‐parametric local‐linear regression estimator and a non‐parametric variable relevance test to conduct a rigorous and systematic search for significance of mean years of schooling by examining five of the most comprehensive schooling databases. Contrary to a few recent articles that have identified significant nonlinearities between education and growth, our results suggest that mean years of schooling is not a statistically relevant variable in growth regressions. However, we do find evidence (within a cross‐sectional framework), that educational achievement, measured by mean test scores, may provide a more reliable measure of human capital than mean years of schooling.     

Is gravity linear?

Despite the solid theoretical foundation on which the gravity model of bilateral trade is based, empirical implementation requires several assumptions which do not follow directly from the underlying theory. First, unobserved trade costs are assumed to be a (log‐)linear function of observables. Second, the effects of trade costs on trade flows are assumed to be constant across country pairs. Maintaining consistency with the underlying theory, but relaxing these assumptions, we estimate gravity models—in levels and logs—using two data sets via nonparametric methods. The results are striking. Despite the added flexibility of the nonparametric models, parametric models based on these assumptions offer equally or more reliable in‐sample predictions and out‐of‐sample forecasts in the majority of cases, particularly in the levels model. Moreover, formal statistical tests fail to reject either parametric functional form. Thus, concerns in the gravity literature over functional form appear unwarranted, and estimation of the gravity model in levels is recommended. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Politics of Tourism in Myanmar

The relationship between politics and tourism is complex and multi-faceted, and a subject which is assuming a higher priority in the research literature. This article examines the politics of tourism in Myanmar where tourism has been shaped by internal and external political forces while also becoming a highly visible and contested political issue. The political background and its effect on Myanmar's tourism are explained and the standpoints of the principal groups involved are discussed, with particular attention given to that of the government and its policies. Reference is also made to demands for a boycott and the ensuing debate about its value. The various parties are seen to interpret and make use of tourism as a political tool in contrasting ways which reflect their own interests and agendas. Finally, some general conclusions are presented about the linkages connecting the central concepts under review and the need to consider tourism within the framework of prevailing national and international political systems in order to fully appreciate its significance.     

Modes,weighted modes,and calibrated modes: evidence of clustering using modality tests

We apply recent results from the statistics literature to test for multimodality of worldwide distributions of several (unweighted and population‐weighted) measures of labor productivity. Specifically, we employ Silverman (Bump) and Dip modality tests, calibrated to correct for their incorrect asymptotic levels. We show that test results are sensitive to the test statistic employed and to population weighting. But regardless of the statistical criterion used, multimodality is present throughout, or emerges during, our sample period (1960–2000). We also examine (a) movements of economies between modal clusters and (b) relationships between certain key development factors and multimodality of the productivity distribution. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.