The effects of stochastic wages and non-labor income on labor supply: update and extensions

The analysis of labor supply under risk has a long history dating back to Hicks (The theory of wages, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2003) and Knight (Risk, uncertainty and profit, Kelly, New York, 1964). In the 1980s more technical papers investigated the impact of stochastic non-labor income and/or wage rate upon labor supply. In this paper, we show that the effect of a mean-preserving increase in risk in wage rate or non-labor income on labor supply is best understood as a special case of an Nth degree risk increase (as defined by Ekern (Econ Lett 6:329–333, 1980)) and the conditions for signing the effect of a higher-order risk increase in wage rate or non-labor income on labor supply are analogous to those for signing the effect of a simple non-stochastic decrease in wage rate or non-labor income. We thus extend, and provide new and more intuitive interpretations for, related earlier results.     

Efficiency and credit rating in Taiwan banking: data envelopment analysis estimation

In this article, we use the data envelopment analysis to measure the efficiency of banks before and after credit rating is taken into consideration and we also employ the Malmquist Productivity Index to measure the total factor productivity changes from 2001 to 2003. The results are as follows: (1) There is a positive relationship between the efficiency scores and credit rating, and thus, the credit rating can be a representative to evaluate the performance and quality of a bank; (2) We use the Wilconxon two-sample test of nonparametric statistic to test the influences of credit rating. The empirical result shows that the credit rating is proven to influence the efficiency of banks; (3) The efficiency scores improve in both investment grade (above tw BBB?) and speculation grade (under tw BBB?), when credit rating is taken into consideration. The empirical results show that the efficiency scores of banks with a high credit rating improved relatively more when compared to banks with a lower credit rating; (4) In this research we also adopt the Malmquist index to observe the productivity and efficiency changes from year to year. We obtain results whereby the improvement of efficiency may be influenced greatly both from pure technical and scale efficiency changes.     

Health and Income Variation – A Panel Data Study on the Developed and Less Developed Economies

In this paper, human capital in the form of ‘health status’ is introduced into a neoclassical economic growth model as one of the main factors differentiating rich and poor countries. Various panel data models are used to examine how health and other growth factors affect average income in different countries. Our main empirical finding indicates that a one-year increase in life expectancy (the health status measure) raises GDP per capita by 0.5–0.9%. Based on this result, a baseline health status can be established to help poor countries achieve a targeted economic growth rate.     

Assessment of the internet impact on road transportation industry operational efficiency

The Internet of Things has been driving the development of China's transportation industry. This paper used a dynamic direct distance function Data Envelopment Analysis model with internet access as the input index to more comprehensively assess the efficiency and the improvements needed in the application of internet technology in the road transportation industries. It was found that (1) the average total efficiency was higher when the internet influences were considered than when they are not considered. (2) The commercial passenger vehicle, freight vehicle, passenger traffic, and freight volume efficiencies in most provinces were positively affected by the internet.     

Effects of structural changes on the risk characteristics of REIT returns

This investigation provides evidence and identifies two important structural changes in the risk characteristics of real estate investment trusts (REITs), namely, the 1993 tax reform and the inclusion of REITs in the mainstream S&P indices in 2001. Using daily data from 1989 to 2008, this study finds that institutional investors tended to increase their investment in REITs following the 1993 tax reforms, and these increases in institutional investment are significantly reducing exposure to interest rate risk, which may result from the benefits of external monitoring. Additionally, the inclusion of REITs in the Standard and Poor's mainstream indices since 2001 has increased the market risk of REITs, led to associated returns behaving more like those of stocks, and improved the market efficiency in processing new information. These observation results demonstrate these two structural changes in the risk characteristics of REIT returns. Finally, the study results confirm that the shape of the distribution of REIT returns varies among sub-samples, indicating that risk management is increasingly important.     

Technology transfer and innovation performance: Evidence from Chinese firms

This paper explores the relationship between technology transfer activities and innovation performance with special reference to Chinese industrial firms. It is based on a recent nationwide survey covering 2334 Chinese industrial firms. The impact of technology transfer on their innovative performance was analyzed for all the responded firms and similar analyses also addressed the issue from perspectives of general industrial firms versus high-tech firms, and large firms versus small and medium firms. Several critical types of technology transfer activities were identified and both positive and negative impacts were discussed along with the Pearson correlation analysis and stepwise regression analysis. The study revealed that the innovation activities in Chinese manufacturing firms could not be boosted substantially merely through the acquisition of key equipment and apparatus from abroad. The findings also suggested that Chinese firms should develop their technological absorptive capacity and transformative capacity, and foster technology transfer and communications among trading partners. Moreover, it would be crucial for Chinese firms to stress the nurturing of indigenous innovation capabilities so as to sustain their performance improvement.     

The impact of digital finance on financial efficiency

This paper quantitatively analyzes the impact of digital finance on financial efficiency. The results show that digital finance has slightly improved the efficiency of the financial sector, but there are significant differences in the impact of provincial efficiency in China. Although financial sector efficiency positively correlates with digital financial efficiency, digital finance gives backward regions disadvantages. The efficiency score and ranking of the financial sector in the eastern region are significantly higher than noneastern region. The progressive effect of digital finance on the efficiency of the financial sector in the eastern region is better than that in the noneastern region.     

Relationship governance mechanisms and collaborative performance: A relational life-cycle perspective

Governance mechanisms protect the investments involved in transactions and thereby facilitate and promote sustainable and cooperative relationships; however, the empirical results of prior research concerning the relationship between governance mechanisms and collaborative performance are inconsistent. Based on transaction cost economy (TCE) and social exchange theory (SET), a relational life-cycle framework that considers the dynamic evolution of collaborative relationships and re-examines the relationship between governance mechanisms and collaborative performance was developed in this study. Evidence from 124 manufacturers in Taiwan indicates that the effects of governance mechanisms on collaborative performance differ according to the current life-cycle phase. In the exploration phase, contractual control exerts a positive impact on cooperative performance. In the buildup and maturity phases, relational control remains positively associated with collaborative performance, whereas the impact of contractual control is insignificant. In the decline phase, both contractual control and relational control have an insignificant impact on collaborative performance. Herein, we discuss the implications of our empirical findings and their relevance to managers.     

An Assessment of Taiwan's Indirect Investment Toward Mainland China

The economic ties between Taiwan and the mainland China had been restored since 1987. A comparison of Taiwan's investment toward the mainland and the ASEANs shows that the investment size is much smaller in the mainland in terms of money flow; nonetheless, much higher in terms of number of firms. Also, the effects of investment-induced trade is much stronger in the mainland. Using the 1986 Input-Output Tables and the data set of officially registered investment volume by industry, this paper simulates the possible linkage effects on output, employment and export shift for both sides.     

The analysis of a price war strategy under market demand growth

We use the finite repeated Prisoners' Dilemma game model herein to discuss how firms choose their optimal strategy under a price war with market demand growth. This model has two players: one is an R-type player and the other is a TFT-type player. Each player has two strategies to choose from: a preemption strategy and a “wait” strategy. Our results indicate that: (i) if the probability that the opponent is an R-type (TFT-type) player is high, then the time when the opponent adopts a preemption strategy will be early (late); (ii) Market demand growth is an incentive for cooperation among firms; (iii) if the market demand growth rate is high, then the R-type player will not have an evolutionary advantage. We use the competition between cell phone manufacturing firms Nokia and Motorola in China as an example. When Nokia is an R-type player and adopts a preemption strategy, Motorola should preferably use a preemption strategy rather than a “wait” strategy. However, as a TFT-type player, this will benefit Motorola under the situation of market demand growth.