Are China’s regional agricultural productivities converging: How and why?

This article tests the hypotheses of convergence to a single level of total factor productivity (TFP), and a steady state of TFP growth rate in China’s agricultural sector. Based on multilateral TFP estimates we found that China’s agricultural sector has rebounded in recent years from a slower TFP growth in the 2005–2007 period. While convergence test results confirm a “catch-up” effect that provinces with lower TFP levels tend to grow faster than others, estimated rates of β convergence are conditional on how we capture the heterogeneity effect across regions. The rates of β convergence range from 0.016 to 0.039 under different model specifications. Estimates show that higher growth rates of educational attainment, R&D, and intermediate goods density (per unit of labor) can enhance TFP growth. Unfortunately, there is no evidence of an overall σ convergence, indicating that TFP levels are not converging except in the South region. It implies that to catch up with leading provinces, it would require extra efforts for those lagging behind by increasing their region-specific research investment, promoting rural educational attainment, and enhancing embodied technical change.     

Is DNA fingerprinting the gold standard for estimation of adoption and impacts of improved lentil varieties?

In the early 1980s, disease susceptibility in short-season lentil landraces began to limit productivity in areas where relay cropping took place in Bangladesh. Since then, several improved high-yielding lentil varieties, which are resistant to rust and blight and suitable in the relay cropping system, have been released jointly by national and international research centers. This study used three methods, namely a panel of experts, a survey of 1000 households where the respondents named the variety they used, and DNA fingerprinting of seed samples collected from all lentil plots cultivated by survey households to estimate adoption. Double hurdle and instrumental variables regression methods were applied to the household survey and DNA fingerprinting data to identify determinants of adoption and measure their impacts. Of particular interest was whether estimates of adoption, determinants of adoption and impacts varied by method of variety identification. Results showed that the expert panel overestimated the adoption of more recent varieties while about 89% of the farmer-reported varieties were accurate, as verified by DNA fingerprinting. DNA fingerprinting appears to have little advantage for estimating the level of adoption in this case, where few varieties of lentils are found, local variety names do not exist, and most seed is obtained through a formal system. However, even under these conditions, determinants of adoption vary by identification method, and use of farmer-reported information on the variety can lead to erroneous conclusions about determinants of adoption. Because recent breeding efforts have focused on taste and cooking considerations, yield impacts were not significantly different from zero.     

Club convergence and drivers of digitalization across Indian states

Disparity in the level of digitalization is a crucial driver of economic inequality in an economy. Although a pocket of its population is still bereft of the benefits of digitalization, India currently has the second highest number of internet subscribers in the world despite the nation's late adoption of digital technology. An accurate assessment of the current state of digitalization in the country is required for devising effective initiatives towards building a Digital India and bridging the nation's internal digital divide. Considering 17 major Indian states and 21 variables for 10 years, we constructed a composite index of digitalization with the help of Principal Component Method (PCM). This paper identifies factors responsible for the digitalization divide across states. In the second part of the analysis, the study confirms, with the help of club convergence test, the absence of overall convergence towards digitalization and the existence of the non-convergent group. This paper also shows that the non-convergent group of states are at the bottom of the ranking table which indicates the need for greater attention to initiatives to bridge the digital divide.     

Effects of broadband availability on total factor productivity in service sector firms: Evidence from Ireland

While broadband is widely believed to augment productivity, there is little firm-level evidence of a generalised causal effect. In this paper we examine whether the introduction of digital subscriber line (DSL) broadband services increased firms' productivity in nine sub-sectors within the services and distribution sector in Ireland from 2006 to 2012. Firm-level panel data on firms' characteristics are linked to spatial information on the rollout of DSL. While we do not find significant productivity effects in the services sectors taken together, we do find positive and significant effects on firm's total factor productivity in Information & Communication and Administrative & Support Services.     

Do telecom carrier takeovers create value? Longitudinal analysis of U.S. telecom carrier takeovers from 1996 to 2005

Takeovers by telecommunications carriers have surged during between 1996 and 2005, stimulated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In this study, we hypothesize and test the short-term and long-term performance of telecommunications carrier mergers and acquisitions (M&As) between 1996 and 2005 according to three main categories (strategic types, bidder characteristics, and payment methods). For short-term performance, this study investigates abnormal market returns of bidding firms after M&A announcements and our study shows that telecommunications carrier M&A announcements do result in a significant increase in shareholder wealth in the short run. However, from a long-term perspective, which has been investigated in terms of the survival rate and the operating performance after M&As, the telcos experience a statistically significant decrease of up to 10%. The results also show that though strategic type, bidder characteristics, and payment method play an important role in the value creation of M&As in the short term, only the bidder size matters in the success of M&As over a long period of time.     

国内外科技旅游的发展及研究综述

随着全球旅游业的迅猛发展、科学技术的不断进步、“科技”与“旅游”的逐步结合,科技旅游蓬勃兴起,已成为现代旅游业的重要组成部分,并在旅游实践中发挥着越来越重要的作用。文章针对国内外科技旅游发展情况及研究状况进行了综述,并结合国内外科技旅游发展及其研究的对比分析,对我国科技旅游的开发研究进行了展望。     

广东省各行业的收敛性及其对经济增长的贡献

文章从部门这个新角度分析了广东省经济增长和差异问题。分析表明,工业和其他三产对劳动生产率增长的贡献高达64％。运用新古典收敛模型检验各部门之间是收敛还是发散,结果表明,部门之间存在很大的异质性。交通运输业是显著发散的,其他三产也显示出了微弱的发散,农业、批零贸易餐饮业则是显著收敛的,建筑业收敛但不显著。对劳动生产率差距的分解表明,广东省劳动生产率的增长,95％左右来源于增长效应,其余5％来源于份额效应。     

跨期知识整合与新产品开发绩效关系实证研究——基于珠三角和长三角地区企业的数据

根据已有研究成果,文章首先分析了跨期知识整合的内涵和机制,并根据理论分析建立了结构方程模型,设计了"跨期知识整合对新产品开发绩效影响的调研问卷",在珠三角和长三角地区选择了上海、广州、杭州、深圳等地的多家企业进行调研,并回收了245份问卷,根据分析结果发现跨期知识整合对新产品开发绩效之间有正向影响。     

基于LQ系数的广州会展产业集群

文章运用区位商(Location Quotient,LQ)分析法和问卷调查法,对广州会展产业集群现状进行了测量,分析了广州会展产业集群的LQ系数,得出结论:广州会展产业集群已形成,有较高的集聚程度及一定的优势和特色,但也存在一些问题。同时提出了广州会展产业集群化发展的策略,藉此加快广州会展产业集群化发展的步伐。     

加快中小企业发展是实施扩大内需发展战略的保证

面对金融危机的冲击,为保证我国经济持续稳定增长,中央提出了实施扩大内需发展战略。我国是农民占人口多数的国家。农民收入水平不高是造成我国内需不振的主要原因。要落实扩大内需发展战略就必须采取措施增加农民收入,而增加农民收入就必须大力发展中小企业。