The impact of production offshoring on the skill composition of manufacturing firms: evidence from Italy

In this work we explore how the international outsourcing of production impacts the skill composition of employment within Italian manufacturing firms. In particular, our aim is to assess whether the choice to offshore production activities to cheap‐labour countries implies a bias in the employment of skilled workers relative to unskilled ones.

Using a balanced panel of firms covering the period 1995–2003, we set up a counterfactual analysis in which, by using a difference‐in‐differences propensity score matching estimator, we compare the dynamics of skill demand for treated and control firms while addressing the possible problem of selection bias.

Our results identify a ‘potential’ skill bias effect of production offshoring. In particular, we find that treated firms tend to show an upward shift in the skill ratio with respect to the counterfactual sample, but coefficients are not significantly different from zero. When we look at the elements of the skill ratio separately, we find that the skill bias is driven by a fall in the employment of production workers (blue collars), rather than by the increase in the employment of non‐production workers (white collars), thus providing further evidence on the unskilled labour‐saving nature of international outsourcing.     

企业退出出口市场行为与企业的经营表现——基于倾向评分匹配的经验分析

文章运用倾向评分匹配方法分析了企业退出出口市场行为对其经营表现的影响。研究结果表明,经营表现越差的出口企业退出出口市场的概率越大;企业退出出口市场行为对企业经营表现的影响主要体现在影响就业增长和产出增长方面,而对劳动生产率的影响总体不显著。具体表现为,企业退出出口市场会对其就业增长和产出增长产生持续的显著负向作用,这说明我国国内需求尚不足以使企业退出出口市场后继续保持退出前的就业增长率和产出增长率。因此,在提倡出口转内销的同时需注重提高出口企业在国际市场竞争中的存活率。     

“倒挂型”土地利用总体规划的耕地保护效果评价

研究目的:揭示"倒挂型"土地利用总体规划与耕地保护效果之间的关系,以期为国土空间规划的编制提供参考。研究方法:倾向值匹配法。研究结果:(1)耕地"倒挂型"规划对耕地面积净变化的影响具有统计显著性,2006—2008年,耕保指标"倒挂型"规划使耕地面积净变化量平均减少2.270万hm2;(2)2010—2016年,耕保指标"倒挂型"规划使耕地面积净变化量平均减少0.496万hm2;(3)建设用地"倒挂型"规划对耕地面积净变化量并无显著影响。研究结论:在省级政府耕地保护责任目标考核的制度环境下,耕地"倒挂型"规划对地方政府形成一定压力,促使各级政府采取措施加以应对,从而使得"倒挂型"规划在一定程度上降低了耕地净减少量。     

Collective livestock research for sustainable disease management in Mali and Burkina Faso

An international multi-disciplinary team of scientists, led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), tackled the problem of bovine trypanosomosis and the development of drug resistance in West Africa, inter alia, by the promotion of rational drug use (RDU) principles. These principles had been brought to farmers by practical training and by the provision of information leaflets. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of RDU training at smallholder level with respect to advances in farmers' knowledge and farm productivity before research outputs could be scaled up. Therefore, 508 cattle farmers attended a disease-specific knowledge test and provided information about farm production. Results show that farmers who participated in the training are more likely to identify signs and causes of the disease and to correctly administer drugs. Allocating scores to each question in the knowledge tests and scrutinizing the differences between trained and untrained farmers by matching procedures shows that participating farmers reach higher scores in all knowledge categories. Moreover, the acquisition of additional knowledge and the application of improved control strategies significantly increase farm performance. Additionally, an allocative effect was identified since trypanocide expenditures were saved by less expensive inputs.     

食品安全规制能提高生产者福利吗？——基于不同规制强度的检验

食品安全规制涉及政府、生产者和消费者三方利益主体的博弈。已有文献主要关注政府规制对减少生产者违规概率、提升食品安全水平和消费者福利所产生的作用。本文从生产者福利视角考察企业参与食品安全规制是否存在“收益率溢价”效应,以此对中国食品安全规制的间接效果进行实证检验。首先采用倾向得分匹配模型考察食品安全规制对企业资产收益率的平均影响效应,然后采用广义倾向得分匹配模型和门槛模型进一步考察不同规制强度与企业资产收益率的非线性关系。研究表明,当前食品安全规制对参与规制企业产生了“收益率溢价”的间接效果,但随着规制强度的扩展,企业资产收益率呈现先上升后下降的“倒U型”变化,具有显著的双重门槛特征,当企业持有4项质量认证证书时为“最优规制强度”。最后结合当前中国实际,解释了上述结论产生的原因及政策含义。     

新环保法实施增大了企业的技术创新投入吗？——基于PSM-DID方法的研究

以2012—2017年A股上市公司为样本,借助双重差分倾向得分匹配法（PSM-DID）研究了新环保法实施这一外生性事件对企业技术创新投入的影响。结果显示,新环保法实施后受影响企业的技术创新投入有所增加,但结果并不显著。进一步探究其原因,发现除新环保法影响可能存在的时滞性特征以外,企业并没有在新环保法实施环境下对企业的资本结构、治理结构和激励方案等影响企业技术创新的重大方面做出及时调整,导致环保法的强制性作用无法快速、有效地影响企业的技术创新。     

Forecasting turning points in tourism growth

Tourism demand exhibits growth cycles, and it is important to forecast turning points in these growth cycles to minimise risks to destination management. This study estimates logistic models of Hong Kong tourism demand, which are then used to generate both short- and long-term forecasts of tourism growth. The performance of the models is evaluated using the quadratic probability score and hit rates. The results show that the ways in which this information is used are crucial to the models’ predictive power. Further, we investigate whether combining probability forecasts can improve predictive accuracy, and find that combination approaches, especially nonlinear combination approaches, are sensitive to the quality of forecasts in the pool. In addition, model screening can improve forecasting performance.     

Local poverty reduction in Chile and Mexico: The role of food manufacturing growth

This paper analyzes the relationship between local poverty and food manufacturing growth in Chile and Mexico using propensity score matching, differences in differences and spatial econometrics methods. We focus on food manufacturing as a sector with a number of characteristics that make it potentially pro-poor, and whose incentives for spatial distribution may either strengthen or dampen its poverty reduction potential. The overall results indicate growth in food manufacturing employment contributes to local poverty reduction.     

基于现金流量的企业财务预警系统构建

构建科学完善的财务预警系统,完善以偿债能力为核心的长期财务预警指标体系,从定性、定量、定性与定量相结合构建企业长期财务预警方法,将财务分析方法沃尔比重评分法应用到财务预警领域,使其成为一种定性与定量相结合的财务预警方法。