UNILOC : A uni-location model

Apart from a few notable exceptions, most literature on the three prototype location problems, p-CENTER, p-MEDIAN, and SIMPLE PLANT LOCATION, has treated these problems individually. We formulate a uni-location problem called UNILOC, uniting these three fractions of a pattern, and propose an algorithmic complex UNICOM for its investigation.     

Innovations and manufacturing export performance in the OECD countries

This paper addresses two puzzles in international trade, namelywhy traditional estimates of income elasticities of exportsare implausibly high and why export growth varies much moremarkedly across countries than can be explained by changes inprice competitiveness and variations in income growth in exportmarkets. Using data for 18 OECD countries it is shown that marketintegration and the level of technology and competitivenesscan, to some extent, explain these two puzzles.     

Political and economic determinants of OECD budget deficits and government expenditures: A reinvestigation

Recent theoretical and empirical research has examined the variation in political and institutional arrangements which may affect national policy formation, in order to explain cross-country differences in fiscal policies. In this note we investigate cross-country differences in debt accumulation and the level of government spending in the OECD countries over the period 1982–1992. Our findings are negative and suggest a reappraisal of previous research. In particular, neither the growth of government debt nor the level of government spending is related to the corrected Roubini–Sachs power dispersion index.     

Are not-for-profits different? Theory and evidence on the pricing of health services in Uganda

Public provision of health and education in developing countries is often insufficient and inefficient. There is thus a call for a greater involvement of private providers to supply affordable and high-quality services to the population. In particular, it is often suggested that not-for-profit institutions should play a larger role, given their social mission. But do not-for-profits really behave differently from for-profit institutions? The literature does not provide a clear answer to this question. The present contribution offers evidence based on a simple theoretical model and price data from health care providers in Uganda with different governance structures. Using differences in market structure as source of variation, we find that not-for-profits indeed behave differently from for-profit institutions, with a pricing behavior that is consistent with an emphasis on health impact and not just profit maximization. Our results thus provide an argument for a policy trying to attract not-for-profit health clinics to fill the gap of an inefficient public health provision.     

Has the capital accumulation in the Asian miracle economies been fuelled by growth?

The Asian growth miracle is often attributed to factor accumulation under the implicit assumption that savings, broadly defined, have been high and increasing due to exogenous forces. Using data for India, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan over the period 1870–2011 this article examines the causal relationship between growth and saving. The response of growth to savings is first estimated using instruments to generate exogenous variation in savings rates. The residual variation in growth that is not driven by savings is then used as an instrument to estimate the effect of growth on savings. The estimates show that the spectacular saving rates in the Asian miracle economies have been fuelled by growth, and not the other way around.     

Human capital and wages in exporting firms

This paper studies the link between the education level of workers, export performance and wages. We argue that firms may escape intense competition in international markets by using high skilled workers to differentiate their products. This story is consistent with our empirical results. Using a very rich matched worker-firm longitudinal dataset, we find that there is a weak negative direct effect of exporting on wages, but an interaction term between export intensity and skill intensity has a positive impact on wages. That is, we find an export wage premium, but only in firms where the skill intensity is sufficiently high.     

R&D,TECHNOLOGY SPILLOVERS AND STOCK PRICES†

Abstract. Theories of endogenous growth suggest that technological progress is driven by firms’ own R&D effort and knowledge spillovers. Using panel data for US firms over the period from 1990 to 1999 this paper tests the influence on stock prices of technological spillovers through firms’ purchase of intermediate products from other firms. The empirical results show that stock prices are significantly positively affected by knowledge spillovers through the input of intermediate products.