International Rent Sharing and Domestic Labour Markets: A Macroeconomic Analysis

Compared to international trade relations relatively little is known about the role foreign direct investment linkages play in the transmission of disturbances from one country to the next. Inspired by the microevidence on profit sharing within multinational corporations and within industries, we investigate for six countries whether a cross-border rent-sharing phenomenon can be identified at the macroeconomic level. The rent-sharing hypothesis implies that an increase in foreign profitability should boost wages and/or employment in the domestic economy. We find corroborative evidence for Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. US labour market conditions, by contrast, are not affected by changes in profitability in other countries. JEL no. E32, F23, F40, J23, J31     

Growth in manufacturing output in Ireland between the Union and the Famine: Some evidence

Pre-Famine Ireland is perceived to have undergone a process of deindustrialization as a result of trade with Great Britain. This article presents evidence that manufacturing output growth was positive and sufficient to keep pace with or exceed population growth. The textile industry in which the bulk of the manufacturing labour force was employed performed relatively poorly, though this was largely due to an internal shock in the form of technical and organisational change in the linen industry rather than trade with Britain. Concentration on the performance of the textile sector has distracted attention from the good performance in other sectors.     

Role of TFP in China's Growth*

This paper uses the dual approach to growth accounting to examine the role of total factor productivity (TFP) in recent Chinese growth. Most previous growth accounting studies on China have followed the primal approach, which depends heavily on the national income accounts. Unfortunately, despite efforts to rectify them, Chinese national income accounts data continue to have problems that affect primal approach growth accounting results. The dual approach, in contrast, allows independent price information to play a role. Recent research has focused on the following two questions: (i) How significant has TFP's role been in post‐reform Chinese growth? (ii) Has TFP growth rate slowed down in more recent years? This paper finds that: (i) the TFP growth rate for mainland China computed using the dual approach also proves high; and (ii) there has been some slowdown in TFP growth rate in recent years.     

Real Exchange Rate in China：A Long-run Perspective

This paper investigates the RMB exchange rate from a long‐run viewpoint. Whether China's rapid economic growth brought about real exchange rate appreciation between 1975 and 2002 is empirically examined, based on a supply‐side model, the Balassa—Semuelson Hypothesis (BSH). The same test is conducted on Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and India. Our result indicates that the BSH only exists where the industrial structure has been upgraded and the economy has been successfully transformed from an agricultural economy to a manufacturing economy. Interestingly, China, among those where the BSH does not present, appears to be upgrading its industrial and trade structure. We then try to answer the question of why past rapid growth has no significant relationship with the RMB real exchange rate and what factors are underlying the trend of the RMB real exchange rate. We expect an appreciating trend of RMB real exchange rate in the foreseeable future, presuming that China's industrial upgrading process continues and the factors pertaining to the BSH's prediction, such as rise of wage rates in both tradables and nontradables, become more significant. (Edited by Xiaoming Feng)     

Sunspots and Hopf bifurcations in continuous time endogenous growth models

First we treat a three-dimensional continuous time abstract stationary model that includes one predetermined variable and two non-predetermined variables. We construct stationary sunspot equilibria in this model under the following two alternative conditions: (i) a steady state has two stable roots and one unstable root; and (ii) A closed orbit has a two-dimensional manifold on which it is asymptotically stable. Next, we apply these results to the models due to Lucas and Romer that undergo Hopf bifurcations for some parameter values. We construct sunspot equilibria in these models.     

全面落实科学发展观 努力建设创新型行业 促进保险业又快又好地发展

2005年，在党中央国务院的正确领导下，保险业以邓小平理论和“三个代表”重要思想为指导，坚持以科学发展观为统领，以优化发展结构、转换经营机制和转变增长方式为切入点，保险业务平稳健康发展。2005年全年保费收入4927.3亿元，同比增长14％；保险公司总资产15225．9亿元，比年初增加3240．1亿元。当前，国际国内形势的发展变化要求保险业必须又快又好地发展，经济社会发展为保险业发展提供了广阔空间。今后应着力解决好速度、效益、诚信和规范经营问题，切实增强自主创新能力，积极防范化解风险，努力加强行业基础建设，促进保险业稳定持续健康快速发展，更好地为全面建设小康社会和构建社会主义和谐社会服务。     

行政区划窠臼内的中国经济区划

传统行政区划主要考虑的是政治的因素。改革开放以来,这些行政区的经济功能十分突出和明显,由此产生了一些问题。经济全球化的过程中,经济区域发展要求突破行政区划的束缚,走出一条区域联合之路。立足行政区划,并且超越行政区划是经济发展的可行之路。