Federalism,Fertility, and Growth

This paper analyses the effect of federalism on fertility and growth. In a model with human capital accumulation and endogenous fertility, two regimes of education finance are compared: central and local. I find that local education finance yields higher growth at the price of increased inequality. The effect of federalism on total and differential fertility rates depends on the elasticity of substitution between children and consumption. The paper also empirically examines the relationship between fertility rates and fiscal decentralisation on a panel of OECD countries and finds a weak negative effect of decentralisation on total and differential (poor minus rich) fertility.     

A Natural Resource Scarcity Typology: Theoretical Foundations and Strategic Implications for Supply Chain Management

World population growth and increased consumption stemming from economic leveling are leading to scarcity of a number of natural resources on a global scale. Scarcity of critical natural resources such as oil, water, food, and precious metals has the potential to greatly impact commercial activity as the twenty‐first century progresses. The challenge of continuing to provide needed goods and services in the face of these constraints falls to supply chain managers, who are ultimately responsible for delivering utility to customers. Unfortunately, there has been almost no research focused on supply chain strategies aimed at mitigating natural resource scarcity’s (NRS) potential effects. The current research positions NRS as a supply chain risk and proposes an NRS typology based on key resource attributes. Supply chain mitigation strategies to counter each resource status are offered, with an overall objective of improving supply chain performance. The study recommends future research aimed at further developing theory and methods for countering NRS based on resource, systems and behavioral theories. In addition, this study has critical implications for practitioners faced with the growing threat of NRS in their supply chains.     

Environmentally oriented innovative strategies and firm performance in services. Micro‐evidence from Italy

This paper aims at analysing the impact of environmentally oriented innovative strategies on firms’ economic performance in terms of employment, turnover and labour productivity growth. We exploit a unique dataset of 773 Italian service firms with 20 or more employees, based on 1993–1995 Community Innovation Survey (CIS) II data on innovation strategies and 1995–1998 System of the Enterprise Account (SEA). Using a Gibrat‐like empirical model, our findings show a negative link between environmental motivations and growth in employment and turnover in the short term, which then associates to a not significant or even negative effect on labour productivity growth, a result which is explainable by various factors: non‐mature markets; early movers that need more time to grasp the benefits of innovative actions; weaknesses of some service branches. The effect on employment is in part compatible with the existing evidence and may be based on efficiency improvements (dematerialisation processes), which also impact on efficiency by reducing workforce numbers. The effect on turnover of environmental innovation strategy is negative, implying either a short‐medium effect, possibly balanced in the long run by net benefits in terms of higher added value, or a real negative impact, which may be contingent on the period of observation, when environmental strategies where not at the heart of strategic management policies. Neither Porter‐like effects nor virtuous circles among environmentally strategies and performance seem to be present, at least in the short run and for services firms, calling for the necessity of further analyses on medium‐ long‐term effects and performances of specific service branches. Though effects on performances could turn out positive in the long run when mature green markets and investments provide their benefits, our evidence highlights that services could still find hard times in tackling the well‐known low productivity ‘disease’ even in the environmental realm.     

低碳经济下经济增长问题研究

文章分析了已有低碳经济概念并扩大了其内涵,并以此为基础着重介绍了低碳经济下对经济增长的评价,提出并分析了以低消耗和技术进步为条件的经济增长的评价标准,最后指出如何实现低碳经济下的经济增长。     

基础设施对包容性增长的影响探讨

包容性增长日益成为关注的议题,经济政策的重点不仅要维持增长速度还要将增长收益惠及所有的人及地区.本文运用文献法、归纳法等方法介绍了基础设施的特征,阐述了基础设施通过对经济增长与减贫的影响而对包容性增长起着关键作用.我国经济要实现包容性增长,就要加强对基础设施的投资.     

History of the Suez Canal Company, 1858–2008. Between controversy and utility

Between 1790 and 1860, US state governments chartered 22,419 businesses, with minimum authorised capital totalling $4.58 billion, by special statute. The US, in both total and per capita terms, had considerably more corporations and authorised corporate capital than the UK, France or Prussia did over that same span. Differences in incorporation and capitalisation rates between nations were largely a function of differences in laws and politics but differences among American states resulted more from differences in the timing and character of economic development.     

A Penrosean theory of acquisitive growth

Penrose's book The Theory of the Growth of the Firm presents a growth theory that overwhelmingly relates to organic growth, with little explicit focus on acquisitive growth. This article addresses the gap in her growth theory by drawing on the historical case of Enodis, and insights from the resource-based view of the firm, to develop a Penrosean theory of acquisitive growth. It concludes that acquisitive growth not only enables a firm to grow more quickly, but that under specific conditions, through its increase in the diversity of resources at the disposal of managers, it may act as a spur to future organic growth.     

减速是必然的，增长也是必然的——中期内中国房地产发展前景

本文通过对房地产5大指标的分析，得出15年来中国房地产增长规模惊人、发展速度惊人的结论；通过对5个方面的分析，得出中国房地产中期发展环境基本稳定、有所收紧的结论；最后，通过对3大指标历史数据的模拟，得出中国房地产中期发展前景——减速是必然的，增长也是必然的。     

国防支出与经济增长的关系研究——基于中国、日本、韩国的实证分析

文章使用Enders-Siklos不对称门槛共整合模型,检定中国、日本及韩国的经济增长与国防支出之间不对称的长期均衡关系,并以门槛误差修正模型(T-ECM)探讨三国的经济增长与国防支出之间领先-落后的因果关系,以及长期均衡关系调整的不对称性。经研究发现:第一,采用Enders-Siklos不对称门槛共整合检定,发现中国、韩国的经济增长与国防支出之间存在不对称的共整合关系,日本的经济增长与国防支出之间具有对称的共整合关系;第二,由Granger因果关系检定,发现韩国、中国的经济增长与其国防支出之间存在有不对称的长期性领先-落后关系,日本的经济增长与国防支出不存在长期性因果关系;第三,由Granger因果关系检定,发现中国的经济增长与国防支出之间存在短期的双向因果互动关系,而日本、韩国则是经济增长单向领先其国防支出。     

建筑工程节能链管理对节能建筑形成过程影响研究

建设项目节能链管理是一种以节能绩效最大化为目标的新型项目管理方法。本文通过介绍该管理思想的由来,探讨了建筑节能与项目管理共生过程,研究节能链管理的动机,指出节能链管理对项目管理强度与集成度影响。最后提出构建建设工程节能链以及实施节能链管理下一步需要协调的问题。