Productivity growth decomposition with FE-IV approach: Rethinking Thai commercial banks after the financial crisis

To cope with the Asian Financial Crisis, Thai commercial banks have gone through a reconstructing period. This study aims to decompose the Total Factor Productivity growth (TFP) for Thai commercial banking industry with an output distance function. With an unbalanced panel dataset, we used the Fixed Effect (FE) model with Instrumental Variables (IV) to estimate the TFP growth empirically. We found the technical inefficiency change and scale effects were the two major contributors to the recent growth, while the input price effect of the premises and equipment was the major preventer of the growth. Moreover, the Thai commercial banking industry produced in decreasing return to scale, and the input–output allocation was not at the profit maximization optimum under the exogenous prices.     

Do housing prices promote total factor productivity? Evidence from spatial panel data models in explaining the mediating role of population density

The issue of what to promote in total factor productivity (TFP) in urban areas has been widely discussed in academia and housing prices and population density are confirmed to be two of the most essential driving factors. However, research into the interaction of housing prices and population density with TFP has been neglected, with no previous studies taking spatial factors into consideration, which may bias the results. From this perspective, using spatial panel data models and employing instrumental variables to solve the endogenous problem, this study examines the impact of housing prices on TFP through the mediating effect of population density for 283 Chinese cities during the period 2000–2013, and confirms that the mediating effect accounts for 18.70 % of the total effect. The results show the positive and significant association of housing prices with TFP and the inverted U-shape of population density. The underlying logic is that housing prices change population density by attracting people with high purchasing power and discouraging those unable to afford housing, whereas increased density helps to promote productivity since the settled inhabitants always have highly developed work skills and are well educated. The influencing mechanism of housing prices on TFP through population density is analyzed, namely the spillover effect. We find that the spillover effect exists in the eastern and central regions, as well as first, second, and third tier cities, while for western regions and fifth tier cities, population mobility and increased in housing prices slows their economic development. There is no evidence of any spillover effect in fourth tier cities. A discussion and suggested policy implications are also provided.     

个人账户可继承性与计发月数内在关系的定量分析

计发月数是我国基本养老保险体系中个人账户的关键参数,本文通过构建包含继承份额的个人账户精算模型,修正了计发月数的计算公式,得到个人账户收支平衡的判别定理。研究表明,忽略可继承性会严重低估计发月数,并产生大量资金缺口;计发月数与期望寿命无直接关系;提高退休年龄不一定能增强支付能力;提高投资收益率,或降低计发月数并合理控制收支差额,是当前协调个人账户养老保障和财务支付能力的重要办法。     

三重螺旋视域下中国区域创新水平差异性研究

在知识经济兴起与科技浪潮高涨的背景下,创新水平日益成为决定区域获取竞争优势的关键因素。基于三重螺旋理论,构建区域创新水平评价指标体系,对2009-2013年中国内地30个省区市（除西藏外）的面板数据进行因子分析和聚类分析。在此基础上,给出了影响区域创新水平的5大因素,并据此识别划分出中国区域创新发展的4个阶段。     

The economic benefits of market timing the style allocation of characteristic-based portfolios

Many exchange traded funds track simple characteristic-based equity portfolios such as the market capitalization, the fundamental value or the inverse volatility portfolio. This paper provides theoretical and empirical evidence for the economic benefits in exploiting the timing-gains that result from the time-varying relative performance of these characteristic-based portfolios. Under a factor model for expected returns, we show that this dynamic portfolio allocation can be efficient across the low-dimensional set of characteristic-based portfolios. We assess the out-of-sample performance on the S&P 100 universe over the period 1990–2013 and show gains in stability and significant positive risk-adjusted returns for the dynamic style portfolio. We conduct several robustness tests and extensions confirming the benefits of dynamic style allocation across characteristic-based portfolios.     

市场分割与制造业企业全要素生产率

市场分割拖累了宏观经济发展,而微观层面的系统分析仍然缺乏。本文利用1998-2007年的中国工业企业数据库,系统地考察了市场分割对企业生产效率造成的影响,发现市场分割显著地降低了工业企业的全要素生产率。样本期间,市场分割程度降低了45%,贡献了约16%的企业全要素生产率的增长。我们还研究了这种负向影响产生的渠道,发现市场分割主要通过抑制规模经济效应、降低研发投入、过度保护国企和增加寻租行为等渠道对企业全要素生产率产生负面影响。     

创新要素流动对城市群协同创新的影响——基于长三角城市群与长江中游城市群的实证

利用2006-2017年长三角城市群和长江中游城市群共41个地级市面板数据,首先,运用拓展DEA法对两大城市群协同创新水平进行测度,然后,采用空间计量模型实证考察创新要素流动对城市群协同创新的影响,进一步以互联网发展水平为门限变量,构建门限模型,探析互联网发展对创新要素在城市群流动的协同创新效应是否存在门限效应。研究发现：创新要素流动对城市群协同创新影响的总效应显著为正,空间正向溢出效应显著,且存在群际差异;在两大城市群内,创新要素流动对城市群协同创新影响呈现非线性,创新人员流动对城市群协同创新影响呈“倒U型”特征,创新资本流动对城市群协同创新影响呈“U型”关系,相应拐点在不同城市群呈现异质性。     

基于互联网大数据的CPI舆情指数构建与应用

研究目标：基于互联网大数据构建CPI舆情指数辅助预测CPI。研究方法：提出了一种构建CPI低频与高频舆情指数的统计方法,并通过选用2006年6月至2015年12月的数据验证了该方法的有效性。研究发现：相关关键词的搜索热度指标具有领先CPI的预测作用,依此建立的CPI舆情指数有助于改进CPI预测精度。研究创新：揭示了基于相关关键词的搜索热度指标与CPI的非线性关系,提出了一种基于门限回归的CPI低频舆情指数构建方法;使用动态因子模型估计出了CPI高频舆情指数。研究价值：预测CPI时可辅助利用基于大数据构建的CPI低频与高频舆情指数信息。     

PRODUCTIVITY IN PUBLIC SERVICES

Abstract.  This paper discusses issues arising in the measurement of productivity in public services. Compared to measuring productivity in the private sector difficulties arise because the output of public services is often unpriced and because some public services are consumed collectively. A key problem is measuring the full range of outputs and quality improvements delivered by public sector organizations that are valued by society. Without comprehensive measures of output, productivity statistics may be misleading. I outline methods used in the measurement of both private and public sector productivity and discuss the measurement of public sector productivity in practice. Finally I discuss studies that examine factors underlying productivity differences and productivity growth in public and private sector organizations. Public sector reforms and the use of pilot schemes in public sector organizations present opportunities for research to identify causal effects on productivity.