Determinants of initial technology adoption and intensification: evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean

In this paper, we examine determinants of initial adoption and subsequent intensification of commercial use of the internet. In contrast to previous examinations that have looked at initial adoption and intensification in the highest income countries, we study companies in Latin America and the Caribbean and so contribute to empirical understanding of the two types of adoption. Many variables such as company size and industry intensification previously identified as influential in high-income regions continue to be important determinants. Novel determinants are also found, including informal sector competition and regional influence. There are sharp differences in determinants between the two adoption types.     

Debt,seigniorage, and the Growth Laffer Curve in developing countries

The endogenous growth literature established the existence of an inverted-U curve between taxes and economic growth, namely a Growth Laffer Curve, but empirical evidence on this relationship in developing countries is rather limited. Given that seigniorage and public debt are also important means of financing public spending in these countries, we take into account in this paper their respective impacts on growth, as they might deform the existing relationship between taxes and growth. To this end, we develop a growth model with public investment as the engine of perpetual growth, and look for the effect of debt, tax and money financing on economic growth. We study in particular the way fiscal and monetary policies deform the Growth Laffer Curve in developing countries. An empirical section based on a panel of 100 developing countries over the period 1980–2010 provides both OLS-Fixed Effects and GMM-system estimations that support our theoretical conclusions, namely the existence of Growth Laffer Curves indexed by the levels of debt and of seigniorage.     

The Internationalization of Spanish- and Portuguese-Speaking Banks

This article investigates which variables affect the location choice of banks from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries in their process of internationalization. The article compares the differences in these variables for public and private banks. The sample consists of 141 banks operating in 58 countries. Results show that internationalization is undertaken by the largest banks, which preferably choose countries with similar language, close to the home country, and with the most opportunity for growth. Additionally, the effects of certain explanatory variables on the probability of expanding to a given country are different for public and private banks.     

Do contagion effects exist in capital flow volatility?

The cross-border transmission of a financial shock has been a subject of rich literature. While a large number of studies have focused on the phenomenon of strong co-movements of asset prices and capital flows in the event of financial stress, very few discussed the contagion or spillover effects in terms of capital flow volatility. This paper is one of the first attempts to assess, empirically, whether or not there is a global and regional spillover effect in the volatility of capital flows to emerging and developing countries. Based on the sample of 49 emerging and developing countries for the period 1980–2009, the empirical results suggest strong and significant contagion effects in the volatility of capital flows to individual economies. The magnitudes of contagion vary depending on the type of capital flows, whether it is foreign direct investment (FDI) or portfolio and other investment (mostly bank lending). The findings also suggest the volatility dynamics of gross flows is different from that of net flows. The volatility of net inflows is more exposed to intra-regional contagion compared to that of gross inflows.     

西方国家解决住房问题的历史经验及对我国的启示

文章认为,在历史发展的不同阶段,西方国家曾经采取过一系列有针对性的住房政策,在解决住房问题方面收到了良好的效果,总结其成功经验,可以在政策指向、制度建设和市场监管等方面得到有益的启示,并从发挥市场和政府双重作用、完善住房供应制度、建立个人信用系统、完善相关法律和强化监督等方面,促进我国住宅市场的健康发展。     

ASYMPTOTIC BEHAVIOR OF DISTRIBUTION DENSITIES IN MODELS WITH STOCHASTIC VOLATILITY. I

We study the asymptotic behavior of distribution densities arising in stock price models with stochastic volatility. The main objects of our interest in the present paper are the density of time averages of a geometric Brownian motion and the density of the stock price process in the Hull–White model. We find explicit formulas for leading terms in asymptotic expansions of these densities and give error estimates. As an application of our results, sharp asymptotic formulas for the price of an Asian option are obtained.     

新疆与中亚五国经济贸易发展研究

中国新疆与中亚五国的对外经济贸易对于加强国际经济合作,促进边疆地区的经济和社会发展,以及推动新疆跨越式发展均有重要意义。本文对2002-2011年中国新疆与中亚五国对外贸易情况进行了实证分析,揭示新疆与中亚五国经济贸易发展中需要关注的问题:贸易发展不平衡,质量和效益不高;俄白哈关税同盟带来挑战;边境贸易占主导,加工贸易较薄弱;贸易结算方式亟待改进。对于这些问题,本文提出了相关建议,以推动新疆外贸发展。     

大国消费品牌强国生产品牌

国际城市需要品牌,品牌造就国际城市,品牌需要国际城市的依托,而国际城市要凭借品牌的点缀.我们应该有条件进口一部分国际品牌,满足新生富裕阶层的需要,但只有输出品牌和服务,才标志着跨进强国的行列.在品牌经营上要实施差异化经营,这是对购物中心定位、大型百货店发展提出的要求,要扩大品牌在经营中的比例,同时,中国经营品牌化是一种趋势,要求品牌引进有重点,以完善小康型社会对商品需求为主体,采取多种形式使广大消费者认识品牌的价值,重视品牌的宣传和推介,提高和增强广大消费者的品牌意识.品牌体现的是商品价值,需要通过服务和营销才能把商品卖出去,需要相适应的精致服务和配套服务.要创建服务品牌,提高服务品牌的质量,提供与品牌商品相适应的服务方式和服务形式.     

Institutional Quality and Public Debt Accumulation: An Empirical Analysis

The question of public debt management for both developed and developing economies has generated an enormous amount of political as well as academic interest. This study examines how governance affects public debt accumulation in the MENA countries during the 1996–2015 period. The six Worldwide Governance indicators (voice and accountability, political stability and the absence of violence/terrorism, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption) were used to measure the quality of governance in these countries. The results show that only three governance indicators support well the hypothesis that poor governance leads to higher accumulation of MENA public debt. Moreover, the estimates suggest a significant indirect impact of bad governance operating via decreased GDP growth. These findings have important implications for policy makers of these countries, which are currently facing major fiscal and external imbalances due to the high cost of war and terrorist attacks, low oil prices and a decline in trade. Sound public debt management represents an urgent task especially that public debt management problems often find their origins in the lack of attention paid by policymakers to the costs of bad governance and weak macroeconomic management.