Technology assessment: Impact of high-tech engineering research on energy consumption

A technology assessment (TA) program was launched in Switzerland in 1991. One project in the series of pilot projects was meant to assess the impact of so-called LESIT technologies on energy consumption. (LESIT was a priority research program and a German acronym for power electronics, systems and information technology.) In this paper the institutional environment, applied methods and main results of the TA study are summarised. One of the questions that arose was whether it is reasonable to expect a high-tech engineering research program to serve any societal goals other than the more immediate technical and economic goals the research partners in university and industry are accustomed to follow. It was found that without special efforts this expectation was not realistic. Politically desirable goals are best served when enough emphasis, time, and money are given to the process of bringing together research partners from academia and industry who all have a (self-serving) interest in furthering the politically desirable goal and then support their collaboration.     

Do Institutions Cause Growth?

We revisit the debate over whether political institutions cause economic growth, or whether, alternatively, growth and human capital accumulation lead to institutional improvement. We find that most indicators of institutional quality used to establish the proposition that institutions cause growth are constructed to be conceptually unsuitable for that purpose. We also find that some of the instrumental variable techniques used in the literature are flawed. Basic OLS results, as well as a variety of additional evidence, suggest that (a) human capital is a more basic source of growth than are the institutions, (b) poor countries get out of poverty through good policies, often pursued by dictators, and (c) subsequently improve their political institutions.     

Sectoral Energy- and Labour-Productivity Convergence

This paper empirically investigates the development of cross-country differences in energy- and labour productivity. The analysis is performed at a detailed sectoral level for 14 OECD countries, covering the period 1970–1997. A σ-convergence analysis reveals that the development over time of the cross-country variation in productivity performance differs across sectors as well as across different levels of aggregation. Both patterns of convergence as well as divergence are found. Cross-country variation of productivity levels is typically larger for energy than for labour. A β-convergence analysis provides support for the hypothesis that in most sectors lagging countries tend to catch up with technological leaders, in particular in terms of energy productivity. Moreover, the results show that convergence is conditional, meaning that productivity levels converge to country-specific steady states. Energy prices and wages are shown to positively affect energy- and labour-productivity growth, respectively. We also find evidence for the importance of economies of scale, whereas the investment share, openness and specialization play only a modest role in explaining cross-country variation in energy- and labour-productivity growth.      

"剑桥资本争论"与新古典边际分配论质疑

目前位居现代主流经济学地位的新古典边际生产力分配理论,由于完全排除了特定经济制度和资本 主义经济关系的研究框架,以至在与新剑桥学派发起的"剑桥资本争论"中不断以逻辑悖论形式公诸于众;从 而表明,真正的收入分配理论须联系到现实的资本主义经济关系这一竞争经济的研究框架。     

经验收入曲线:生产力还是制度作用?——高校教师收入的经验分析

经验收入曲线向上倾斜的原因是人力资本理论中教育、培训带来的较高生产力还是其他制度因素?由于个人产出品衡量上的困难,文章选择学术劳动力市场作为研究对象,利用M incer(1979)的经验收入方程对中国某一高校教师收入进行经验分析,结果验证了人力资本理论的同时并不排除制度因素的作用,在其他条件不变的情况下,经验对收入大于产出对收入的影响;教师职称对收入有较大的影响。     

A DEA Approach to Understanding the Productivity Growth of Malaysia's Manufacturing Industries

This paper seeks to explain the productivity growth performance of Malaysia's manufacturing sector using a panel data of 28 industries from 1981–1996. Here, the data envelopment analysis technique is used to calculate and decompose the Malmquist index of total factor productivity (TFP) growth into technical change, change in technical efficiency and change in scale efficiency. This allows the identification of the sources of productivity growth which is crucial for policy formulation. It was found that the annual TFP growth of the Malaysian manufacturing sector was low at 0.8% and this was driven by small gains in both technical change and technical efficiency, with industries operating close to optimum scale.     

Productivity and Technical Change in Malaysian Banking: 1989–1998

This study examines the impact of deregulation and technological change on the productivity of Malaysian banks over the period 1989–1998. Malmquist indices constructed with nonparametric DEA techniques are decomposed into their pure efficiency, scale efficiency, and technological change components. Our findings indicate an erosion of banking productivity that masks divergent tendencies among its component elements. These are dominated by adverse effects of technological change, which are associated with a reduction in the labor intensity of banking activity. Consistent with the mixed findings reported in the literature, the present investigation suggests that regulatory reform and liberalization are not sufficient conditions for productivity improvement.JEL classification: D24, G21This paper was written while Dogan was a member of Monash University Malaysia. Financial support from the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University is gratefully acknowledged, as are the constructive comments from two anonymous referees.     

可转债分拆交易研究——台湾经验借鉴与国内创新

本文旨在对可转债分拆交易的理论研究和台湾实践经验进行梳理的基础上,为国内可转债分拆的交易框架和定价设计提供借鉴。本文的结构安排如下:首先,对可转债分拆交易的相关文献进行综述;其次,阐述可转债分拆的交易结构与理论定价;再次,介绍台湾可转债分拆交易的现实定价与法律框架;最后,结合国内的发展现状,提出国内可转债分拆交易的相关制度设计框架,并给出了进一步的政策建议。     

How advanced is the strategy paradigm? The role of particularism and universalism in shaping research outcomes

As the field of strategy reaches its 25th anniversary, we examine how far the field has progressed during that time. Both management and strategy research have been characterized as being in an early stage of development. We draw on Kuhn's ( 1996 ) paradigm development model, which posits a connection between a field's stage of maturity and research processes and outcomes, to assess the maturity of the strategy field. We conduct two studies. The first is a cross‐discipline comparison of productivity norms for university faculty. The second study examines longitudinal research outcomes for a sample of 945 strategy faculty. Our results indicate that strategy has the attributes of both an early stage and mature field: while overall research norms are low relative to other fields, they are driven far more by merit‐based than non‐merit factors. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Future of Financial Reporting: Insights from Research

Research offers insights that, if heeded and built upon, could improve financial reporting, thereby contributing to a more prosperous society. In particular, research suggests improvement could stem from greater use of fair value; a performance statement designed to reveal the information embedded in changes in fair value; better information to help investors assess the value of intangible assets; more specific information about risk and uncertainty; information that is unbiased, rather than conservative; acceptance of a degree of earnings management together with a determination of how much earnings management is acceptable; and a financial reporting package designed to convey information users need, which presumably is broader than today's financial statements.