The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Transition Economies: A Meta‐analysis

In this paper, we conduct a meta‐analysis of studies that empirically examine the relationship between economic transformation and foreign direct investment (FDI) performance in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union over the past quarter century. More specifically, we synthesise the empirical evidence reported in previous studies that deal with the determinants of FDI in transition economies, focusing on the impacts of transition factors. We also perform meta‐regression analysis to specify determinant factors of the heterogeneity among the relevant studies and the presence of publication‐selection bias. We find that the existing literature reports a statistically significant non‐zero effect as a whole, and a genuine effect is confirmed for some FDI determinants beyond the publication‐selection bias.     

Do households smooth expenditure over anticipated income changes? Evidence from bonus payments to public employees in Japan

This paper provides new evidence of consumers’ reaction to an anticipated sizable change in income. Until FY2002, Japanese public employees received predictable large bonus payments three times a fiscal year (in June, December, and March), but the March bonus was abolished in FY2003. We compare the seasonal patterns of public employees’ expenditure before and after the reform of the bonus payment schedule. Contrary to the prediction of the life cycle/permanent income hypothesis (LC/PIH), we find evidence that monthly patterns of household expenditure were significantly affected by the anticipated large change in income pattern. However, at closer inspection, this excess sensitivity of expenditure is observed only for expenditure subcategories of some durability, i.e., durables and semi-durables. Thus, while the LC/PIH does not appear to hold for expenditure (which we observe here), it may still hold for consumption.     

Valuation of a Repriceable Executive Stock Option

We introduce a path-dependent executive stock option. The exercise price might be reduced when both the firm’s stock price and a stock market index fall greatly. The repriceable executive stock option has a simple payoff that may be used for realistic executive rewards. We show the valuation formula, and compute the probability of the repriceable executive stock option expiring in-the-money. Both price and probability are important pieces of quantitative information when choosing an executive compensation package.     

Can a Regional Trade Agreement Benefit a Nonmember Country without Compensating It?

RTAs are generally formed without any tariff concessions or transfers to nonmember countries. Can such an RTA benefit nonmembers' welfare? In a two‐good three‐country competitive equilibrium model in the absence of an entrepôt, an RTA without concessions to a nonmember will hurt nonmembers' welfare when goods are normal. If one of the member countries is an entrepôt, however, it definitely improves nonmembers' welfare. In a three‐good three‐country model, an RTA without concessions damages the nonmember's welfare, provided that all the goods are normal and substitutes, and that initial tariff levels are small.     

日本物流政策的演变——以《综合物流政策实施大纲》为中心

在经济一体化进程不断加快,日本经济发展滞后,生产基地向海外转移,物流业竞争力下降的情况下,日本的物流业面临着很大的挑战.本文围绕1997年、2001年、2005年和2009年的日本<综合物流政策实施大纲>,对日本十几年来的物流政策进行了梳理,分别阐述了各阶段大纲的背景、目标和措施,反映了日本物流政策的国际化趋势,并注重应用先进的信息技术,整合社会资本,关注环境保护,构建循环经济等方面的特征.     

Important attributes of lodgings to gain repeat business: A comparison between individual travels and group travels

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attributes of the satisfaction that are related to the lodging-guests’ tendency to revisit the lodgings and to compare these attributes among the different travel styles, such as individual travel, travel with friends or as a couple, and travel with family. We examine 6351 guest evaluations from a highly popular travel reservations website. Multinomial logistic regression analyses are performed and they show that the important attributes for lodgings to gain repeat business vary among their guest's travel styles.     

Permanent income,hedonic prices,and demand for housing: New evidence

Housing demand is examined by looking quite specifically at the income and price variables based on individual household data. Permanent and transitory incomes are computed through instrumental variables related to human and nonhuman wealth. A price is constructed by spatially varying hedonic techniques. Separation of measured income into permanent and transitory components substantially improves the predictive power of the housing demand estimation and leads to demand elasticities of +1 and ?1 with respect to permanent income and price. The permanent income elasticity is roughly twice the measured income elasticity.     

Exchange-Rate volatility,balance-of-payments instability and stabilizing-destabilizing capital flows

Zusammenfassung Wechselkursschwankungen, Instabilit?t der Zahlungsbilanz und stabilisierende/destabilisierende Kapitalstr?me. — In diesem Aufsatz wird ein Modell mit rationalen Erwartungen konstruiert, das erkl?ren soll, welche Auswirkungen ein übergang von festen zu flexiblen Wechselkursen auf den Grad an Stabilit?t der Handels- und Kapitalstr?me hat. Danach werden die Effekte untersucht, welche von der Liberalisierung (oder Stimulierung) von Kapitalbewegungen auf die Wechselkursschwankungen und die Instabilit?t der Zahlungsbilanz im Rahmen der beiden Wechselkurssysteme ausgehen. Als Ma\ für “Instabilit?t” oder “Schwankungen”wird nur die kurzfristige Varianz einer Periode in Betracht gezogen. Wenn es auch wichtig ist, die Instabilit?t für n-Perioden zu untersuchen, so erweist sich doch ein solcher langfristiger Vergleich im allgemeinen als nicht eindeutig.

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Résumé La volatilité du taux de change, l’instabilité de la balance des paiements et les flux de capitaux stabilisants-déstabilisants. — Le but principal de cet article est de construire un modèle des expectatives rationnelles pour expliquer les effets d’un changement du régime des changes fixes au régime des changes flexibles sur le degré des instabilités des flux commerciaux et de capitaux. Puis l’auteur analyse les effets d’une libéralisation et stimulation des mouvements de capitaux sur la volatilité du taux de change et la balance des paiements sous les deux régimes différents. Pour mesurer l’instabilité ou la volatilité on a seulement considéré la variance d’unepériode (ou la variance à court terme). Bien qu’il soit aussi important d’analyser l’instabilité sur n périodes, cette comparaison généralement se montre être assez ambigue.

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Resumen Volatilidad del tipo de cambio, inestabilidad de la balanza de pagos y flujos de capital estabilizadores-desestabilizadores. — El principal objetivo de este artlculo es probar un modelo de expectativas racionales capaz de explicar el impacto del cambio de un régimen de tipo de cambio fijo a flexible sobre el grado de inestabilidad de las cuentas comercial y de capital. En seguida se analizan los efectos de liberalizar (o estimular) los flujos de capital sobre la volatilidad del tipo de cambio y la inestabilidad de la balanza de pagos bajo disposiciones de tipo de cambio alternativas. Como medida de ?inestabilidad? o ?volatilidad? se considera solo la varianza de un período (o de corto plazo). Mientras es importante investigar la inestabilidad del período n, esta comparación de largo plazo generalmente resulta ser bastante ambigua.