Is there an environmental benefit to being an exporter? Evidence from firm-level data

One concern over globalisation is its impact on the environment. We analyse the consequences of becoming an exporter on a firm??s energy consumption. We show theoretically and empirically with firm-level data that the increase in energy use when exporting is negatively correlated with energy intensity. This is because, although energy use rises with exporting due to greater production and transportation, it can be offset by adopting more energy-efficient technology. This second effect is strongest for high energy intensity firms. As such, analysis of average effects, as in other studies, conceals important connections between the trade and the environment.     

Institutional Matrices Theory,or X- and Y-Theory: A Response to F. Gregory Hayden

This article draws attention to issues about the institutional matrices theory (IMT) as perceived by and raised in the article by F. Gregory Hayden. To clarify the “controversial” points, I structure my response narrative along two lines. First, I present the prehistory of IMT, or X- and Y- theory, including earlier work by scientists related to the concept of institutional matrix. I connect the development of the actual IMT with the period of “perestroika” and the associated market experiments and reforms in Russia and Eastern European countries. One could see that the effects of market reforms in Russia were different in comparison with other countries in economic transition. I show that the institutional approach was accepted as more relevant to understanding the unexpected results in Russian society. I present IMT as a development of the ideas of Karl Polanyi and Douglas North to answer the challenges of explaining the real social and economic processes in Russia, as well as its wider application to a broader range of economic and social situations in different countries. Second, I then present the main IMT theses, giving special attention to the issues as perceived and raised by Hayden. In conclusion, I suggest the possibility of a joint project that combines IMT consideration and the social fabric matrix (SFM) concept of F. Gregory Hayden.     

A class of stochastic unit-root bilinear processes: Mixing properties and unit-root test

A class of stochastic unit-root bilinear processes, allowing for GARCH-type effects with asymmetries, is studied. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the strict and second-order stationarity of the error process are given. The strictly stationary solution is shown to be strongly mixing under mild additional assumptions. It follows that, in this model, the standard (non-stochastic) unit-root tests of Phillips–Perron and Dickey–Fuller are asymptotically valid to detect the presence of a (stochastic) unit-root. The finite sample properties of these tests are studied via Monte-Carlo experiments.     

PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENTS AND FALLING TRADE COSTS: BOON OR BANE?*

This article looks at two features of globalization, namely, productivity improvements and falling trade costs, and explores their effect on welfare in a monopolistic competition model with heterogenous firms and technological asymmetries. Contrary to received wisdom, and for reasons different from adverse terms of trade effects, it is shown that improvements in a partner's productivity must hurt us. Moreover, falling trade costs can raise welfare in the technologically advanced country while reducing it in the backward one, if technological asymmetries are large enough.     

Retraction Note: Prediction of economic growth by extreme learning approach based on science and technology transfer

Quality & Quantity - The Editor-in-Chief has retracted this article (Karaniki? et al. 2016) because validity of the content of this article cannot be verified. This article showed evidence...     

Do preferences for charitable giving help auctioneers?

Preferences for charitable giving in auctions can be modeled by assuming that bidders receive additional utility proportional to the revenue raised by an auctioneer. The theory of bidding in the presence of such preferences results in a very counterintuitive prediction which is that, in many cases, bidders having preferences for charitable giving does not lead to a substantial revenue advantage for an auctioneer. We test this theory and this prediction with a series of experiments. In one experiment we induce charitable preferences exactly as specified in the model to see if bidders respond to them as predicted. We find that they do. We then conduct a second experiment in which the revenue from the auctions is donated to actual charities to verify the robustness of the prediction when charitable preferences are generated by a more natural source and find again that the theoretical prediction holds: even strong charitable preferences do not result in substantial revenue increases to the auctioneer.