Trade expansion with the less developed countries and employment: A case study of belgium

Zusammenfassung Handelsausweitung mit Entwicklungsl?ndern und Besch?ftigung. Eine Fallstudie für Belgien. — Die Hauptergebnisse dieser Studie k?nnen wie folgt zusammengefa\t werden: Eine ausgeglichene Ausweitung des belgischen Handels mit Entwicklungsl?ndern hat für die Gesamtnachfrage nach Arbeit in der belgischen Volkswirtschaft einen schwachen negativen Effekt. Dieser schwache Gesamteffekt verbirgt indessen bedeutende Verschiebungen in der sektoralen Nachfrage nach Arbeitskr?ften. Das bedeutet, da\ eine ausgeglichene Ausweitung des Handels mit Entwicklungsl?ndern ein hinreichendes Ma\ an sektoraler Faktormobilit?t verlangt, wenn l?ngerfristige Arbeitslosigkeit vermieden werden soll. Au\erdem ist angesichts der bedeutenden Unterschiede zwischen dem Faktorgehalt von Importen aus Entwicklungsl?ndern und von belgischen Exporten in die Entwicklungsl?nder bei einer Handelsausweitung mit Entwicklungsl?ndern eine erhebliche ?nderung der relativen Faktorpreise erforderlich, wenn Vollbesch?ftigung erhalten bleiben soll. Es ist wichtig, auf die Grenzen der vorliegenden Studie hinzuweisen. Erstens dürfte eine Ausweitung des Handels mit Entwicklungsl?ndern Auswirkungen auf die Technologie haben. Diese Wirkungen konnten, da wir fixe technische Koeffizienten benutzten, nicht erfa\t werden. Zweitens wurde angenommen, da\ die Ausweitung des Handels mit Entwicklungsl?ndern in Form eines ausgeglichenen sektoralen Anstiegs der Exporte und Importe (auf der Basis der gegenw?rtigen Anteile des belgischen Handels mit Entwicklungsl?ndern) erfolgen würde. Es ist aber wahrscheinlich, da\ die Ausweitung des Handels auf wenige Sektoren konzentriert sein wird. Das k?nnte die sektoralen Besch?ftigungsprobleme versch?rfen. Drittens wurden die relativen Preiseffekte eines verst?rkten Handels mit Entwicklungsl?ndern vernachl?ssigt. Insbesondere wurden die Wirkungen dieser relativen Preise auf die Konsumstruktur nicht berücksichtigt.

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Résumé L’expansion de commerce extérieur avec les pays moins developpés et l’emploi. Une étude exemplaire de la Belgique. — Les résultats essentielles de cette étude peuvent être résumés de la manière suivante. Une expansion balancée du commerce extérieur belge avec les pays en voie de développement (PVD) à une petite influence négative sur la demande totale sur la main d’oeuvre dans l’économie belge. Cet effet petit aggrégé, cependant, cache des importants mouvements opposés concernant les demandes sectorielles sur la main d’oeuvre. Comme résultat, une expansion balancée du commerce extérieur avec les PVD rend nécessaire un degré suffisant de la mobilité de facteur sectorielle si un ch?mage prolongé devrait être évité. Additionellement, si on considère les différences importantes des contenus de facteur entre les importations des PVD et les exportations belges vers les PVD, une commerce augmenté avec les PVD rend nécessaire des changes significants des prix de facteur relatifs dans la Belgique si le plein emploi devrait être maintenu. Il est important de souligner les limitations de l’étude présente. Premièrement, une expansion de commerce avec les PVD a probablement des effets sur la technologie. Ces effects ne pouvaient pas être considérés à cause des coéfficients techniques fixes. Deuxièmement, nous avons supposé que l’expansion de commerce avec les PVD se passe par une augmentation sectorielle balancée des exportations et des importations en utilisant le rapport présent du commerce des PVD avec la Belgique. Il est cependant probable que l’expansion du commerce extérieur avec les PVD se concentra dans quelques secteurs. Cela pourrait puis aggraver les problèmes d’emploi sectoriel. Troisièmement, nous n’avons pas regardé les effets des prix relatifs du commerce augmenté avec les PVD. Particulièrement, nous n’avons pas considéré les effets de ces prix relatifs sur les structures de consommation.

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Resumen Expansión del comercio con palses en desarrollo y el empleo. Un estudio del caso de Bélgica. — Los principales resultados de este estudio pueden resumirse como sigue. Una expansión equilibrada del comercio belga con los países en desarrollo tiene un impacto negativo reducido sobre la demanda por trabajo en la economía belga. Este peque?o efecto agregativo, sin embargo, esconde importantes traslados opuestos en las demandas sectoriales por trabajo. Como resultado, una expansión balanceada del comercio con los países en desarrollo requière de un grado suficiente de movilidad sectorial de factores, si se quiere evitar un desempleo prolongado. Adicionalmente, dadas las importantes diferencias en el contenido de factores entre importaciones de paises en desarrollo y exportaciones belgas hacia ellos, un aumento del comercio con los paises en desarrollo requiere de cambios significativos en los precios relativos en Bélgica, si se quiere mantener el pleno empleo. Es importante subrayar las limitaciones del presente estudio. Primero, una expansión del comercio con los países en desarrollo probablemente tendrá efectos sobre la tecnología. Estos efectos no pudieron captarse, ya que se usaron coeficientes técnicos fijos. Segundo, se asumió que la expansión del comercio con los países en desarrollo iba a tener la forma de un crecimiento sectorial balanceado de exportaciones e importaciones usando la participación presente de los países en desarrollo en el comercio con Bélgica. Es probable, sin embargo, que la expansión del comercio con los paises en desarrollo se concentre sobre unos pocos sectores. Esto puede agravar entonces los problemas sectoriales de empleo. Tercero, los electos de precios relativos como consecuencia de la expansión del comercio con los países en desarrollo fueron desatendidos. En particular, no se tomaron en cuenta los efectos de estos precios relativos sobre los patrones de consumo.

     

Childhood preventive care,adult healthcare and economic growth: The role of healthcare financing

We analyze the impact of healthcare financing on economic growth, focusing on the issue of the joint public–private financing of healthcare (co-payment). We use an overlapping-generations model with endogenous growth based on health human capital accumulation, where families pay for childhood preventive care and the government can either fully finance or co-finance adulthood curative care. From a growth maximizing perspective, distortionary taxes give an advantage to co-financing. Nevertheless, we prove that, if agents are assumed to be heterogeneous in preferences, full financing can become the best option.     

Heterogeneous Impact of Soil Contamination on Farmland Prices in the Belgian Campine Region: Evidence from Unconditional Quantile Regressions

We estimate a hedonic-pricing model using geo-coded farmland-transaction data from the Campine region, situated in the north-east of Belgium. Unlike previous hedonic studies, we use the method of unconditional quantile regression (Firpo et al., in Econometrica 77(3):953–973, 2009). An important advantage of this new method over the traditional conditional quantile regression (Koenker and Bassett, in Econometrica 46(1):33–50, 1978) is that it allows for the estimation of potentially heterogeneous effects of cadmium pollution along the entire (unconditional) distribution of farmland prices. Using a threshold specification of the hedonic-pricing model, we find evidence of a U-shaped valuation pattern, where cadmium pollution of the soil has a negative and significant impact on prices only in the middle range of the distribution, insofar as cadmium concentrations are above the regulatory standard of 2 parts per million for agricultural land. Results obtained from a probit model to classify land plots into different price segments further suggest that the heterogeneous impact of soil pollution on price can be directly related to the variety of amenities that farmland provides.     

Homotopy methods to compute equilibria in game theory

This paper presents a survey of the use of homotopy methods in game theory. Homotopies allow for a robust computation of game-theoretic equilibria and their refinements. Homotopies are also suitable to compute equilibria that are selected by various selection theories. We present the relevant techniques underlying homotopy algorithms. We give detailed expositions of the Lemke–Howson algorithm and the van den Elzen–Talman algorithm to compute Nash equilibria in 2-person games, and the Herings–van den Elzen, Herings–Peeters, and McKelvey–Palfrey algorithms to compute Nash equilibria in general n-person games. We explain how the main ideas can be extended to compute equilibria in extensive form and dynamic games, and how homotopies can be used to compute all Nash equilibria.     

The Impact of Timing on Bidding Behavior in Procurement Auctions of Contracts with Private Costs

We provide a comparison of bidding behavior between multi-round and single-round auctions considering bid lettings for asphalt construction contracts that are known to have primarily private costs. Using a reduced-form difference-in-difference approach as well as the nonparametric estimation technique that was proposed by Racine and Li (J Econom 119(1):99–130, 2004) we find that bidding is more aggressive in a sequential multi-round setting than in a simultaneous single-round format. We explore potential causes for the bidding difference across formats that are related to synergies and the level of bidder participation.     

Enough is Enough: Cognitive Antecedents of Workaholism and Its Aftermath

Workaholism is commonly conceptualized as a compulsive inner drive to work excessively hard. This study investigates to what extent rigid personal beliefs—i.e., performance‐based self‐esteem (self‐esteem that is contingent upon good performance) and an enough continuation rule (continuing with work until one feels one has done enough)—contribute to exhaustion through workaholism. To examine these potential antecedents and consequences of workaholism, data of a two‐wave longitudinal survey study with a six‐month time interval was used (n = 191). Results of structural equation modeling provided support for our hypotheses. Taken together, our findings show that rigid personal beliefs at T1 predicted primarily working compulsively at T2, and working compulsively at T1 influenced exhaustion at T2. Moreover, reciprocal relationships were found between applying the enough continuation rule and working compulsively, and between working compulsively and exhaustion. These results suggest partial mediation from cognitive antecedents (personal beliefs) through workaholism to exhaustion. In practical terms, the results indicate that cognitive antecedents may provide a good starting point for interventions for preventing exhaustion and workaholism. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Use and abuse of regulated prices in electricity markets: “How to regulate regulated prices?”

We consider the regulation of the tariffs charged by a public utility in the electricity sector. Consumers differ in terms of their privately known demands. When regulating a firm's tariffs, the government is concerned by the redistribution across consumer classes. A conflict between redistribution and screening induces pricing distortions when the firm is a monopoly. Introducing competition with an unregulated fringe improves efficiency but jeopardizes redistribution. In response to this problem, the government may now want to manipulate information about the incumbent's cost to restrict entry and better promote its own redistributive objective. To prevent such obstacle to entry, the government's discretion in fixing the incumbent's regulated tariffs should be restricted by imposing floors or caps on those tariffs and/or by controlling the market share left to the competitive fringe. We highlight the determinants of such limits on discretion and unveil to what extent they depend on the government's redistributive concerns.     

Persistence, Asymmetries and Interrelation in Factor Demand

A neoclassical factor demand model for structures, equipment and labour is analyzed in this paper. It incorporates a variety of dynamic specifications, such as a multi-period time-to-build for structures, internal adjustment costs for each production factor, and external investment adjustment costs. First-order conditions of the model are estimated by the generalized method of moments using manufacturing industry data from the US, Canada, West Germany, the UK (all 1960.I–1988.IV), France (1970.I–1992.II) and the Netherlands (1971.I–1990.IV). The results endorse time-to-build for structures, persistence of technology shocks and interrelations in adjustment cost dynamics.     

Methodological Issues in the Design of Online Surveys for Measuring Unethical Work Behavior: Recommendations on the Basis of a Split-Ballot Experiment

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in unethical work behavior. Several types of survey instruments to collect information about unethical work behavior are available. Nevertheless, to date little attention has been paid to design issues of those surveys. There are, however, several important problems that may influence reliability and validity of questionnaire data on the topic, such as social desirability bias. This paper addresses two important issues in the design of online surveys on unethical work behavior: the response scale for questions regarding the frequency of certain types of unethical work behavior and the location of the background questions in an online survey. We present the results of an analysis of a double split-ballot experiment in a large sample (n = 3,386) on governmental integrity. We found that, when comparing response scales that have labels for all categories with response scales that only have anchors at the end, the latter provided answers with higher validity. The study did not provide support for the conventional practice of asking background questions at the end.     

Measuring Monetary Conditions in Europe: Use and Limitations of the MCI

The Monetary Conditions Index is a composite index of interest and exchange rates frequently used by (central) banks, the IMF, and the OECD. This paper considers the benefits and weaknesses of the MCI in the light of large macroeconometric models. It follows that the impact of the exchange rate on GDP relative to the impact of the short-term interest rate is substantially lower under a monetary union. For most countries, including a long-term interest rate in the MCI only affects the level of the MCI and not its turning points.