Working-time reduction and employment: experiences in Europe and economic policy recommendations

The paper seeks to evaluate the evidence on the employment effectsof the collective working-time reductions in Europe over thepast 20 years. While theoretical analyses produce contradictoryassessments, most empirical studies show positive employmenteffects but take insufficient account of these conditions underwhich the reductions in working time were implemented. Theseconditions for the success of collective working-time reductionsinclude an active training policy designed to minimise skillshortages in the labour market, the modernisation of work organisation,wage increases in conjunction with productivity gains and amore equal income distribution.     

Regional job-turnover and industrial policy. a note on a potential time pattern of regional industrial policies and their job effects - the case of the german city-state of bremen

Many regions have experienced long-run economic fluctuations generated by the life cycles of their dominant industrial clusters. During the downswings in the 1970s and 1980s, proactive structural policies were typically launched in German regions to combat job losses in their core clusters and to create new jobs in new industries. With respect to the German State of Bremen, this paper provides empirical evidence of: (1) a long-run regional downswing; (2) the potential job effects of proactive regional industrial policy programmes in terms of increasing regional employment, by safeguarding jobs in the regional core industries and creating new jobs in new growth industries; and (3) a time pattern in the job effects, which are related to the different generations of programmes.     

Blocked-Error-R 2: A Conceptually Improved Definition of the Proportion of Explained Variance in Models Containing Loops or Correlated Residuals

Bentler and Raykov (2000, Journal of Applied Psychology 85: 125–131), and Jöreskog (1999a, http://www.ssicentral.com/lisrel/column3.htm, 1999b http://www.ssicentral. com/lisrel/column5.htm) proposed procedures for calculating R ² for dependent variables involved in loops or possessing correlated errors. This article demonstrates that Bentler and Raykov’s procedure can not be routinely interpreted as a “proportion” of explained variance, while Jöreskog’s reduced-form calculation is unnecessarily restrictive. The new blocked-error-R ² (beR ²) uses a minimal hypothetical causal intervention to resolve the variance-partitioning ambiguities created by loops and correlated errors. Hayduk (1996) discussed how stabilising feedback models – models capable of counteracting external perturbations – can result in an acceptable error variance which exceeds the variance of the dependent variable to which that error is attached. For variables included within loops, whether stabilising or not, beR ² provides the same value as Hayduk’s (1996) loop-adjusted-R ². For variables not involved in loops and not displaying correlated residuals, beR ² reports the same value as the traditional regression R ². Thus, beR ² provides a conceptualisation of the proportion of explained variance that spans both recursive and nonrecursive structural equation models. A procedure for calculating beR ² in any SEM program is provided.     

Home country effects of foreign direct investment: From a small economy to a large economy

Previous studies on home country effects mainly focused on FDI from large developed economies to other countries. But today's super recipient is a relatively larger economy than its investors and many of these investors are not classified as “developed economies.” A simple Ak type model implies that a small and more developed country investing in a large and less developed country will experience decreases in both employment and income disparity (compared to the recipient country) as the less-developed recipient country gains the higher technology of production through FDI inflows. The empirical results for the Four Tigers (source countries) and China (recipient country) are consistent with our theoretical model of FDI outflows. We also find that FDI outflows to China decrease the ratio of exports to GDP only for small source countries, even though a higher investment in China raises the share of these countries' exports-to-China to China's total imports.     

Political Measures for Strategic Environmental Policy with External Effects

This paper investigates an environmental policy designed to reduce the emission of pollutants under uncertainty, with the agent problem as an optimal stopping problem. We first analyze the two cases in which there are one agent and two competing agents by following Ohyama and Tsujimura (2005). When we consider a model of strategic agents, we need to analyze the external economic effect that is peculiar to an agent’s environmental policy implementation. Then, to improve and resolve these external effects, we examine three alternative political measures, comprising an environmental subsidy, an environmental tax and an emission trading system. The results of the analysis indicate that the environmental subsidy and environmental tax promote environmental policy. However, they do not create an incentive to be the leader. On the other hand, an emissions trading system not only promotes environmental policy but also creates an incentive for leadership.This paper was previously circulated under the title “Political Measures for Strategic Environmental Policy with Induced Effects”. The authors would like to thank Masaaki Kijima for helpful comments. The authors would also like to thank Alistair Munro and two anonymous referees providing detailed comments and suggestions. This research was partially supported by Daiwa Securities Group Inc. The second-named author was partially supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (2), 16310118.     

中国种植业碳全要素生产率增长核算、动态演进与空间溢出

[目的]种植业碳全要素生产率增长是促进种植业可持续发展和实现“双碳”目标的重要抓手。[方法]文章将种植业碳排放与碳汇分别作为非期望与期望产出,运用非径向非角度的SBM-GML指数模型对2000—2020年中国30个省（市、区,不含港澳台和西藏）的种植业碳全要素生产率增长进行核算与分解,接着利用核密度估计方法考察其动态演进趋势,最后运用空间杜宾模型分析其影响因素及空间效应。[结果]（1）考察期内中国种植业碳全要素生产率年均增长1.76%,前沿技术进步年均增长1.97%,技术效率年均下降0.21%;(2)中国种植业碳全要素生产率增长的核密度曲线由“尖窄型”逐渐变为“宽扁型”,省际差距逐步扩大;（3）农业经济发展水平、农业结构调整与农村居民人均纯收入对种植业碳全要素生产率增长有显著的正向影响,财政支持水平和城镇化水平显著抑制了种植业碳全要素生产率增长,农业经济发展水平和农业结构调整具有显著的正向空间溢出效应。[结论]重点关注落后地区和省份的种植业低碳生产与发展,积极倡导地区间与省份间合作,通过提升农村居民收入水平、科学合理调整农业财政支持资金投入方向与比重,有效推动种植业低碳转型,促进我国种植业可持续发展。     

基于SAM的价格敏感性行业甄别及其传递路径分析

本文运用社会核算矩阵价格乘数理论构建价格敏感性指标,将其应用于甄别对价格波动更敏感且价格影响辐射更广的行业或生产要素,并探讨了价格冲击的具体传递路径。根据价格前向与后向联系的相对大小,本文将各行业或要素分为价格敏感型、价格波动诱因型、价格不敏感型和易受价格波动影响型四类。实证表明,不同行业或要素的价格敏感性存在显著差异;非熟练劳动力对行业的价格传递主要是通过直接路径发生作用,而熟练劳动力、资本、土地的价格传递则存在直接或间接路径等多种渠道。本文研究结论可为有针对性地依据价格敏感性与传递路径来制定通胀宏观调控政策提供参考。     

封闭式证券投资基金的定价探讨与应用

封闭式证券投资基金由于在存续期内不能赎回,因此造成市场价格的确定和开放式基金有很大不同,其市场交易价格往往是围绕基金净值溢价或折价交易的。本文通过分析封闭式基金的定价特点,推导出内在价值确定的基本理论方法,并选择基金景宏作为定价对象对其现阶段的内在价值进行测算。     

基于并联FIR滤波器组的Hammerstein预失真器

采用预失真技术对功率放大器的记忆非线性失真进行补偿的关键是预失真器建模的准确性,尤其是模型对功率放大器逆记忆特性的描述能力。针对目前预失真器模型对功率放大器逆记忆效应描述不充分的问题,提出了将查找表(LUT)级联一个具有并联结构的有限长单位冲激响应(FIR)滤波器组作为实现形式的Hammerstein预失真器,以提高传统Hammerstein预失真器的补偿性能,并采用一种两步算法对其参数进行辨识。仿真实验表明,提出的Hammerstein预失真器能更好地补偿带强记忆效应的功率放大器的非线性失真。     

区域要素规模效率及其影响因素的效应机理研究

利用随机前沿超越对数生产函数对我国区域要素规模效率的时变趋势、地域差异进行研究,并通过非效率函数对其宏观影响因素的效应进行了分析。总体看来,考虑影响因素后的效率估计值更为准确：1986—2005年的时变效率在外部环境因素变革的冲击下虽出现了波动情况,但总体上均呈现上升趋势;东部与中西部的效率变化趋势一致,但进入1990年代后东部的平均效率增长速度明显要快于中西部,且效率的东西部推移逐步扩大;另一方面,东西部区域内部的差异均呈现收敛趋势,且东部比中西部区域要显著的多。城市化、工业化、专业化、创新活动、人口素质等因素在不同地域不同发展时期对于效率均体现出不同的影响效应,因而,针对不同地区、发展阶段特征和区域特质其区域政策和发展模式的选择也要有所侧重。