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The marginal-products-of-labour (MPL) wage gap is studied in the early-reform Chinese economy, using the Olley-Pakes estimation technique to estimate the production function, based on micro data including different categories of labour. From this measurement of MPL-wage gaps and econometric analyses, several conclusions are drawn. First, the MPL-wage gap was anomalously large for managers in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) compared with other categories of labour. Second, the large MPL-wage gap of managers raised the average MPL-wage gap across various categories of labour, resulting in higher than the average wage MPL throughout the entire workforce, which is regarded as homogeneous. Third, the large MPL-wage gap, or, in other words, the under-employment of managers, occurred not only because the state still centrally employed and allocated labour to SOEs, but because the economy faced a labour-supply constraint of managers in early-reform China. This observation supports a modified version of the state labour-monopsony hypothesis.     

The effects of occupational stress on burnout and life satisfaction: a study in accountants

The aim of this study is to determine the impact of occupational stress on burnout and life satisfaction in accountants. The study deals with burnout from three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, lack of personal accomplishment and depersonalization. Certain hypotheses were developed according to a model. These hypotheses mainly measure the negative impact of occupational stress on life satisfaction and its positive impact on burnout. In order to test these hypotheses, a study was conducted in 217 accountants in the city of Kayseri in Turkey. On the research revealed that occupational stress has a negative impact on life satisfaction, while it has a positive impact on the three dimensions of burnout listed above. Based on these results, the study argues that occupational stress is an important factor in determining the life satisfaction and burnout levels of accountants. Finally in this study, some limitations and recommendations are presented for the researchers of future studies.     

Integration and divergence of patent systems across national and international institutions

Based on a framework grounded in the institution-based view, this paper addresses the extent of global patent system integration and development. Our findings suggest that nations’ patent systems have yet ‘met’ the ‘international standards’, despite national and international endeavor toward this goal. The impact of international institutions on national institutions is reflected in the process rather than the outcome. Among the three components of patent systems across 88 nations, conformity is the strongest for ‘patent mechanism’, operations is the most diverse for ‘patent administration’ and ‘patent enforcement’ does not form a cross-nation divide due to most nations being moderate enforcers.     

The real exchange rate and economic development

Recent empirical studies have found a robust correlation between competitive exchange rates and economic growth in developing economies. This paper presents (i) a formal model to help explain these findings and (ii) econometric evidence on the relation between investment and the real exchange rate. The model emphasizes the existence of (hidden) unemployment as a source of endogenous growth, even under constant returns to scale. Growth promoting policies, however, affect the external balance, and two instruments are needed in order to achieve targets for both the growth rate and the trade balance. The real exchange rate can serve as one of those instruments. The implications of the model for the relation between real exchange rates and the rate of capital accumulation find support in our econometric analysis.     

Acquisition Entry Strategy of Nordic Multinational Enterprises in China: An Analysis of Key Determinants

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the key determinants of acquisition entry strategy (i.e., the choice between full versus partial acquisition) of Nordic multinational enterprises (MNEs) in China. Although general establishment and entry mode strategies have been a highly researched area in international business studies, acquisitions as a specific entry strategy and its different aspects have been scarcely researched. Therefore, the current study aims to fill the gap in literature by analyzing determinants of acquisition entry strategy based on three important theoretical bases: transaction cost economics, resource-based view, and institutional theory. Our study is one of the first to analyze acquisition entry strategy of MNEs from all four Nordic economies (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) in China during 1987 through 2012, and this unique empirical context adds further value to the study findings. The empirical results show that high target country experience, high cultural distance, high level of product diversification, and subsidiary location in institutionally developed and open cities of China were positively associated with choice of full acquisitions by Nordic MNEs. On the other hand, high industry research and development intensity and timing of acquisition led to the choice of partial acquisitions by the investing Nordic MNEs.     

Farmers' Subjective Valuation of Subsistence Crops: The Case of Traditional Maize in Mexico

Shadow prices guide farmers' resource allocations, but for subsistence farmers who grow traditional crops they may bear little relationship with market prices. We theoretically derive shadow prices for a subsistence crop with nonmarket value, then estimate shadow prices of maize using data from a nationally representative survey of rural households in Mexico. Shadow prices are significantly higher than market prices for traditional but not improved maize varieties. They are particularly high in the indigenous areas of southern and southeastern Mexico, indicating large  de facto  incentives to maintain traditional varieties there.     

Fiscal response to the COVID-19 crisis in advanced and emerging market economies†

The fiscal policy response to the COVID-19 crisis was swift and strong, in tandem with monetary policy. Advanced economies (AEs) deployed a much larger fiscal response than emerging market economies (EMEs) throughout the pandemic. This study focuses on the drivers of this divergent fiscal response in the first months of the pandemic. Apart from the fact that EMEs entered the crisis later than AEs, narrower fiscal policy space in EMEs, further reduced by the tightening of their financing conditions in the early stages of the pandemic, constrained their fiscal response. The size and composition of the fiscal response also depended on some structural factors, such as the level of income, the strength of the social safety nets and automatic stabilisers.     

Optimal Rationing Policies and Production Quantities for Products with Several Demand Classes

This paper considers a situation in which several distinct classes of customers exist for a single product or service in a fixed, finite planning period. If such a product is also perishable and if backlogging is not permitted, it may sometimes be worthwhile to reject “low-revenue customers” upon arrival, depending on the number of units on hand and time left until the end of the period. The objectives of this study are to derive optimal rationing policies at any state of the planning period and to formulate a procedure for calculating the optimal production quantity at the beginning of the period for various cost (production) functions, given that an optimal rationing policy is to be followed. The approach used is backward-recursion dynamic programming. Résumé Ce mémoire examine une situation dans laquelle plusieurs classes distinctes de clients existent pour un seul produit ou service au cours d'une période de planification déterminée. Si cette denrée est également périssable et que le stockage n'est pas permis, il est parfois avantageux de rejeter les “clients à bas revenus,” tout dépendant du nombre d'unités en main et du temps qui reste avant la fin de la période. Les objectifs de l'éude visent à créer des politiques de rationnement optimal au cours de la période de planification et de formuler une méthode de calcul des quantités optimales de production en début de période relativement à plusieurs fonctions relatives au coǔt (production), compte tenu de l'application d'une politique de rationnement optimal. Il s'agit ici de programmation dynamique à récursivité rétrograde.     

Impact of interest rates on Islamic and conventional banks: the case of Turkey

Identifying the impact of the interest rates upon Islamic banks is a key to understand the contribution of such institutions to the financial stability, designing monetary policies and devising a proper risk management applicable to these institutions. This article analyses and investigates the impact of interest rate shock upon the deposits and loans held by the conventional and Islamic banks with particular reference to the period between December 2005 and July 2009 based on Vector Error Correction (VEC) methodology. It is theoretically expected that the Islamic banks, relying on interest-free banking, shall not be affected by the interest rates; however, in concurrence with the previous studies, the article finds that the Islamic banks in Turkey are visibly influenced by interest rates.