Some deadweight losses from the minimum wage: the cases of full and partial compliance

This paper highlights the social costs from non-price rationing of the labour force due to the minimum wage. By short-circuiting the ability of low reservation-wage workers to underbid high-reservation wage workers, the minimum wage interferes with the market's basic function of grouping the lowest cost workers with the highest productivity firms. The present paper models the deadweight loss that society bears when high reservation-cost workers displace low reservation-cost workers. When firms can evade part or all of the minimum wage, an extra deadweight loss arises. Firms with high evasive ability but low productivity may displace firms with low evasive ability but high productivity.     

我国中小企业的融资模式研究

我国民营中小企业已成为国民经济和社会发展的重要力量,但其发展常陷入融资困境,我国的融资模式存在很大的局限性。中小企业只有在一个法律法规体系完善、金融体系和信用担保体系健全的金融环境中,才能形成可行的融资模式。中小企业亟需顺应金融环境、市场制度的变化,不断创新,创造符合自身发展的融资模式,进行多元化融资,形成充足的资金流,促成企业的长足发展,才能在竞争激烈的市场中不断做大做强。     

欠发达农区农村居民点内部用地结构演变研究

[目的]从农村居民点内部用地结构演变视角,探索中国快速工业化和城镇化进程中的欠发达农区土地利用转型。[方法]以江西省吉安县凤凰镇铺前村为研究区,采用参与式农村评估、GIS与遥感影像相结合的方法复原了1986年、1996年、2006年和2016年农村居民点内部土地利用状况,揭示了农村居民点内部用地数量结构、空间结构和功能结构演变特征。[结果]30年来铺前村农村居民点用地规模先后经历了快速扩张、加速扩张及缓慢扩张3个阶段,用地类型以住宅用地为主,同时出现了一定的多元化发展趋势;农村居民点内部用地空间结构先后呈现蔓延扩张、跳跃式扩张、填隙式扩张模式发展特征;农村居民点内部用地的功能结构演变特征是农业生产功能逐渐弱化,出现微弱的非农生产功能,生活功能虽然经历稳定弱化和加速弱化过程,但是仍是主导功能,生态功能在中后期因内部用地竞争而明显弱化。[结论]通过系统的研究,揭示了30年来铺前村农村居民点内部土地利用结构演变特征,为优化农村土地利用,促进乡村振兴发展提供参考。     

Event Study Analysis in Cases with Multiple Brand-Generic Reverse-Payment Settlements

Abstract

Event studies of stock price movements have been used to assess the anticompetitive impact of ‘reverse-payment’ settlement of patent disputes in the drug industry. Evidence for an anticompetitive effect is found when financial markets reward a brand manufacturer with larger stock market capitalization – signaling the agreed upon generic entry date was more profitable (i.e. later) than investors’ expectations. In practice, reverse-payment cases can involve multiple generic competitors and settlements. This paper considers how event-study methodology applies in such cases, with a study of the stock price movements of Cephalon, manufacturer of the drug Provigil. Cephalon entered into four patent litigation settlements with potential generic competitors over a two-month period beginning in December 2005. Event study methods can readily be applied to such a case. Cephalon’s total increase in stock value across four narrow windows around each settlement totaled over $1.0 billion, indicating the agreements delayed generic entry beyond the market's expectation.     

Under what institutional conditions does overseas business knowledge contribute to firm performance?

We examine the extent to which the impact of the overseas business knowledge transferred by returnee entrepreneurs on firm performance is conditional on institutional factors. The findings show that informal institutional differences between the home and host countries strengthen the positive impact of overseas business knowledge on the performance of returnee-founded firms. There is a complementarity between informal institutional differences and local government policy support which jointly enhance the positive impact of overseas business knowledge. However, a well-developed local business infrastructure substitutes for the impact of informal institutional differences on the relationship between overseas business knowledge and returnee venture performance.     

Local institutions,external finance and investment decisions of small businesses in Vietnam

This study investigates the impacts of local institutions, external finance, and their joint effects on firm investment in Vietnam. Investment decisions are classified into two categories: fixed asset investment and non-fixed asset investment. Analysing a set of 1.3 million firm-year observations of businesses in Vietnam (2006–2016), we find evidence that local institutions (both formal and informal) positively influence fixed asset investment but negatively affect non-fixed asset investment. Also, we find that informal loans are positively associated with both types of firm investment while bank loans are negatively associated with both types of firm investment. More importantly, we find that the quality of local institutions is able to moderate firms’ external financing behaviour, leading to increased investment values.     

灵活就业人员医疗保险参与及受益归属——基于逆向选择和正向分配效应的双重检验

当前,灵活就业人员医疗保险发展不充分与不平衡的问题格外突出,这不仅会制约医保制度公平性与可持续能力的提高,同时会阻碍经济社会的全面、协调和可持续发展。本文运用中国劳动力动态调查数据(CLDS),研究灵活就业人员参加医保的决定因素以及受益归属,从而为新时期医保制度顶层设计提供决策依据。结果表明:一方面,无论是在参保决策还是险种决策阶段,灵活就业人员的健康风险显著正向影响参保状态,说明逆向选择效应显著存在;另一方面,低收入的参保人利用了更多优质的医疗服务,获得了更多的医保基金补偿,并显著改善了健康状况,因此医保发挥了积极的正向分配作用。但是过高的保障水平,在改善医疗可及性的同时会激发道德风险,从而加剧逆向选择问题并阻碍正向分配效应,对更加公平可持续医保制度的建立造成负面影响。     

Informal employment relationships and the labor market: Is there segmentation in Ukraine?

One of the most important factors that determine individuals’ quality of life and wellbeing is their position in the labor market and the type of jobs that they hold. When workers are rationed out of the formal segment of the labor market against their will, i.e., the labor market is segmented, their quality of life is limited, and their wellbeing is reduced. When they can freely choose between a formal or informal employment relationship, i.e., the labor market is integrated, their wellbeing can reach high levels even in the presence of informal employment. We, therefore, test whether the Ukrainian labor market is segmented along the formal-informal divide, slicing the data by gender and age. The analysis that we perform consist in the analysis of short-term and medium-term transitions between five employment states, unemployment and inactivity. We also analyze wage gaps of mean hourly earnings and across the entire hourly earnings distribution, controlling for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity. According to our results segmentation is present for dependent employees: for a large part of informal employees informal employment is used as a waiting stage to enter formal salaried employment and is not voluntarily chosen. As far as self-employment is concerned the evidence is mixed regarding segmentation in the Ukrainian labor market. This heterogeneity in outcomes implies that not all informal work is associated with a low quality of life and reduced wellbeing in post-transition economies.     

3D cadastres for densely occupied informal situations: Necessity and possibility

Much of 3D cadastre research and development targets high valued urban land, including condominiums, apartment buildings, and office complexes. The value of the land and the economic activity generated from transactions in this urban space potentially support the cost and time spent on establishing and maintaining a 3D cadastre. Methods for data acquisition and for construction and maintenance of the 3D cadastre are also simpler in the regular and formally planned and surveyed structures of the high value urban environment. Low-income, urban areas of informal tenure and informal development, however, also need and can benefit from a land administration system supported by a 3D cadastre but are neglected in the 3D cadastre research. Mechanisms are required for quick and cost effective construction of a 3D cadastre in this type of area to support land management and regularisation procedures, and to provide security of tenure. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is one technology that may be examined to differentiate structures in densely occupied environments where limited information and limited resources must be able to be used for managing the land and also protecting informal rights.This paper initially posits the need for 3D cadastres in low-income but densely structured urban settlements. It then tests the ability of an existing LiDAR dataset together with orthoimagery, derived to be low cost so therefore having limited specifications, for capturing sufficient definition of 3D occupation in the low-income, densely structured case study area of Laventille in Trinidad and Tobago.The difficulties of manually or automatically discriminating between close and overlapping structures and boundaries are highlighted and it is found that there is still a need for adjudication and verification of boundaries on the ground, even when physical features can be discerned from the software.