Trust or bust: Growth effects of knowledge,human and social capital revisited

Social capital consists of trust, collective values, and shared norms. It helps society to work efficiently and, hence, promotes knowledge accumulation and growth. This paper identifies the contribution of social capital to differences in total factor productivity among European subnational regions, but, unlike other studies, it focuses on the effects of interregional differences in social capital. To do so, the paper employs a spatial Durbin model of a social-capital extended Cobb-Douglas production function. Our results suggest that transfers of knowledge might be secondary to the presence of collectivism and human capital in knowledge-generating regions. Although knowledge can cross boundaries, an absence of skills and trust limits local growth capacity. Our estimations also suggest the presence of gravity effects emanating from social and human capital in which some regions lose against others nearby that have more abundant social and human capital.     

金融中介发展、企业家精神与区域经济增长——基于省级面板数据的实证研究

本文利用1999--2010年我国30个省市的面板数据,对金融中介、企业家精神和区域经济增长之间的关系进行了实证研究。实证结果显示：金融中介发展尤其是效率的提高,对经济增长有直接的推动作用,但其增长效应存在地区差异;企业家精神能够促进经济增长,但企业家创新精神的经济增长效应远低于创业精神的经济增长效应;金融中介发展主要通过支持企业家创业活动促进经济增长。     

如何提高美国的长期经济增长率

目前美国经济面临两个方面的挑战：一是经济复苏之路曲折艰难;二是实际经济增长率低于潜在经济增长率。短期来看,要推动美国经济快速复苏并提高就业水平,一方面应当永久性地降低税率、大幅降低政府债务水平;另一方面,应当推出基础设施建设支出规划。长期内,应通过增加劳动力供给、提升劳动力素质、提高资本积累速度和质量来提升长期经济增长率。     

内蒙古人口结构、收入增长与城镇居民储蓄率的实证研究

从历年反映人口结构的相关数据中,发现内蒙古的人口结构在逐渐变化,劳动人口对未成年人口的抚养比率逐渐降低,对老年人口的抚养比率却逐渐提高。内蒙古人口年龄结构类型逐步进入老年型,而人口老龄化势必会对居民储蓄率产生一定的影响。本文选取了1985-2012年的相关变量数据,通过建立向量自回归模型及协整检验、脉冲响应函数和方差分析等一系列针对非平稳时间序列建模的分析方法,在一定的经济理论基础之上,分析了人口结构、收入增长对内蒙古居民储蓄率的影响。本文在人口结构、收入增长与居民储蓄率的实证分析中,首先验证了凯恩斯的绝对收入理论,不考虑人口结构的改变,得出影响储蓄率的主要因素并不是收入,也说明凯恩斯的绝对收入理论并不能很好的解释内蒙古当期的储蓄现象。然后又以莫迪利安尼的生命周期假说为理论基础建模,得出的结论与生命周期假说一致。人口老龄化会导致储蓄率的下降,而且人口结构的变化对储蓄率的影响远大于收入。长期来看,由储蓄率、收入增长率、负担少儿系数和负担老年系数这四个变量构成的经济系统是稳定的。     

地区产业结构、能源消费与经济增长关系研究

为了探讨地区经济增长与产业结构、能源消费的关系,本文以广东顺德2005—2012年数据为例,利用灰色关联模型对三者进行动态关联分析。结果表明,能源消费总量的快速增长是导致顺德经济增长的主要原因,其次是第二产业占国民经济比值。因此,要加快地区经济的发展,必须率先从改善能源利用效率和调整产业升级开始,大力发展绿色经济,形成合理的能源消费结构,加大可再生能源的开发力度。     

Commodity Prices and the Business Cycle in Latin America: Living and Dying by Commodities?

We analyze the dynamic interactions between commodity prices and output growth of the seven biggest Latin American exporters: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. Using a novel definition of Markov-switching impulse response functions, we find that the response of each country's output growth to commodity price shocks is time dependent, size dependent, and sign dependent. The major evidence of asymmetries in output growth responses occurs when commodity price shocks lead to regime shifts. Thus, we conclude that the design of optimal countercyclical stabilization policies should consider that the reactions of economic activity vary considerably across business cycle regimes.     

Comparison of Mean-Risk Efficient Portfolios in Asia-Pacific Capital Markets

In order to analyze the performance of mean-risk efficient portfolios, several methods of portfolio comparison have been developed. In this paper we analyze the second-order stochastic dominance efficiency of portfolios on the mean-risk efficient frontier assuming that the risk is represented by standard deviations and concordance matrices set up on the basis of Pearson's linear correlation, Spearman's rho, or Kendall's tau. Empirical analysis of the market returns of selected Asia-Pacific stock markets is carried out considering both the U.S. dollar and euro as reference currencies, and different periods: before and during the subprime crisis. Measures and portfolios on the mean-risk efficiency frontier that should be of interest to at least one risk-averse investor are empirically documented.     

Covid-19, Economic Growth and South African Fiscal Policy

Following years of fast-rising debt levels, we show that the Covid-19 crisis worsened an already deteriorating fiscal position in South Africa. To restore fiscal sustainability in the aftermath of the crisis some commentators argue that higher government expenditure will grow GDP sufficiently to stabilise the debt/GDP ratio. We reject this, showing that although a real increase in expenditure stimulates economic growth (a short-run, once-off effect), the public expenditure/GDP ratio exceeds the level at which an increase in the ratio positively impacts growth. We then explore the past efforts of government to maintain or restore fiscal sustainability by estimating a fiscal reaction function using a Markov-switching model. Following the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the budget, we subsequently establish the deficit, expenditure and revenue adjustments that the government will have to make to restore fiscal sustainability. Finally, we consider the merits of introducing a debt ceiling.     

脱实向虚、企业家劳动异质与供给侧结构性改革

融合劳动价值论和新熊彼特增长理论,考虑需求结构升级、企业家劳动异质、经济增长导向三大假设,构建多部门新熊彼特增长模型,并运用31个省份1993—2018年的面板数据进行实证分析,发现“脱实向虚”对经济增长的影响机理是:“脱实向虚”引致企业家创新性劳动减少,生产率参数受阻,经济增长率下降。这使得新古典框架下“从资本向全要素生产率升级的创新性劳动偏向型道路”可能转向“从资本向投机演变的投机性交易劳动偏向型道路”,出现供给侧结构性失衡。只有优先解决“脱实向虚”带来的供给侧结构性失衡,才能回归供给侧的正常资源配置结构,因此,中国供给侧结构性改革的路径不能简单仿效西方进行管制放松或自由化,而应先运用政府之手,构建现代化经济体系,将投机性交易劳动关进“笼子”;进而运用市场之手,优化资源配置,释放创新性劳动的活力。