Economic growth and poverty traps in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of education and TFP shocks

This paper investigates the “education-total factor productivity trade-off” in explaining income per worker differences between sub-Saharan (unlucky) and G7 (lucky) economies. First, we examine the dynamics of average years of schooling (i.e. education), capital per worker, income per worker, and total factor productivity (TFP) across sub-Saharan and G7 countries. We confirm that physical capital and education levels partially explain income per worker differences between lucky and unlucky economies. Second, we undertake a novel examination of the impact of technology shocks on income per worker, with the goal of understanding the role of technology variation in causing cross-country income per worker differences, and as a potential contributor to overall slow growth in the sub-Saharan region. In a vector autoregressive (VAR) framework, we show that the impact of “ad hoc” TFP shocks on income per worker is larger in unlucky economies than in lucky ones. We observe that average TFP volatility in the “unlucky world” is eight times higher than in the “G7 world”. We argue that the order of magnitude of the impact heavily depends on the level of the TFP volatility. Last, we suggest that the documented differences in the amount of physical capital and in the productivity of human capital between these two regions add conceptual support for the existence of poverty traps for sub-Saharan Africa.     

承接外包与对外发包对工业行业价值链影响的差异分析

随着全球生产分工体系的进一步发展,中国参与国际化承接外包和对外发包生产方式的程度和规模呈不断膨胀趋势,这种趋势还伴随着价值链水平的提升而加强,本文着重探讨了承接外包和对外发包对中国工业行业价值链影响的差异性。研究结论表明：承接加工品、零配件和资本品工序外包对价值链的提升具有正向影响,并且这种正向影响较为稳定且逐渐增强;承接消费品工序外包对价值链的提升效应难以确定;材料发包比率的提高会降低行业的价值链水平,平均工序环节外包对价值链的正向影响会随着材料发包的提高而削弱;服务发包比率的提高会增加行业价值链的水平,平均工序环节外包对价值链的正向影响会随着服务发包的提高而增强。     

自然旅游景区需求模型及实证研究

以国内外旅游需求研究为基础,摒弃了以距离及地域作为影响旅游需求主要因子的传统做法,直接以旅游者的旅游总成本为变量,提出从旅游总成本（费用）的角度来构建旅游需求模型,进而推导出景区的旅游需求函数,并利用贵州省黄果树瀑布自然风景区的相关数据对新建旅游需求模型的逻辑性和科学性进行了拟合验证。该模型为自然旅游景区构建合理的价格体系、保证资源的可持续开发及利用提供了有效的、可实施的理论依据。     

促进我国就业增长的行业特征研究——来自2002-2007年投入产出表的证据

本文以三次经济普查中的行业从业人员数据为基础,用2002、2005和2007年的投入产出表分析研究我国42个行业的就业弹性、就业乘数,并分解出各因素对2002-2007年期间就业增长的贡献。结果表明:稳定就业以传统制造业和社会服务业为基础,扩大就业以高新技术制造业和新兴服务业为主;资源垄断性行业劳动成本上升较快,提高劳动收入不利于就业,而传统服务业中的低工资行业提高劳动收入不会减少就业;加快资源性垄断行业和社会性服务业的改革,加强制造业和服务业之间的产业关联,扩大居民消费,特别是扩大农村居民消费,对促进就业增长有积极作用。     

香港人民币债券发行的公告效应及其影响因素研究

本文以2007年7月至2011年8月在香港发行人民币债券的74家公司发行的87支离岸人民币债券为研究对象,运用事件研究方法对这些离岸人民币债券发行的公告效应及其影响因素进行了实证研究。结果表明,在我们研究的事件窗口中,在香港发行人民币债券会对公司股价产生显著为负的公告效应,此效应近似等于我国公司在国内股权融资所产生的公告效应,小于可转债和公司债发行时所产生的效应。横截面的数据回归分析表明,股票的累计异常收益率与公司的规模、信用评级和债券的相对规模成正相关关系,与债券的期限、公司的固定资产比率、负债率和成长性不存在显著的相关关系。     

Constructing Asset Pricing Models With Specific Factor Loadings

We demonstrate how one can build pricing formulae in which factors other than beta may be viewed as determinants of asset returns. This is important conceptually as it demonstrates how the additional factors can compensate for a market portfolio proxy that is mis‐specified, and also shows how such a pricing model can be specified ex ante. The procedure is implemented by first selecting an ‘orthogonal’ portfolio which falls on the mean‐variance efficient frontier computed from the empirical average returns, variances and covariances on the equity securities of a large sample of firms. One then determines the inefficient index portfolio which leads to a vector of betas that when multiplied by the average return on the orthogonal portfolio, and which when subtracted from the vector of average returns for the firms comprising the sample, yields an error vector that is equal to the vector of numerical values for the variables that are to form the basis of the asset pricing formula. There will then be a perfect linear relationship between the vector of average returns for the firms comprising the sample, the vector of betas based on the inefficient index portfolio and such other factors that are deemed to be important in the asset pricing process. We illustrate computational procedures using a numerical example based on the quality of information contained in published corporate financial statements.     

Insufficient discriminant validity: A comment on Bove, Pervan, Beatty, and Shiu (2009)

Bove, Pervan, Beatty, and Shiu [Bove, LL, Pervan, SJ, Beatty, SE, Shiu, E. Service worker role in encouraging customer organizational citizenship behaviors. J Bus Res 2009;62(7):698-705.] develop and test a latent variable model of the role of service workers in encouraging customers' organizational citizenship behaviors. However, Bove et al. [Bove, LL, Pervan, SJ, Beatty, SE, Shiu, E. Service worker role in encouraging customer organizational citizenship behaviors. J Bus Res 2009;62(7):698-705.] claim support for hypothesized relationships between constructs that, due to insufficient discriminant validity regarding certain constructs, may be inaccurate. This research comment discusses what discriminant validity represents, procedures for establishing discriminant validity, and presents an example of inaccurate discriminant validity assessment based upon the work of Bove et al. [Bove, LL, Pervan, SJ, Beatty, SE, Shiu, E. Service worker role in encouraging customer organizational citizenship behaviors. J Bus Res 2009;62(7):698-705.]. Solutions to discriminant validity problems and a five-step procedure for assessing discriminant validity then conclude the paper. This comment hopes to motivate a review of discriminant validity issues and offers assistance to future researchers conducting latent variable analysis.     

Effects of technical innovation on market value of the U.S. semiconductor industry

This article discusses the effects of technical innovation on the market value (MV) of the American semiconductor industry from the perspective of investors in the securities market. The study quantifies the technical innovations of the semiconductor industry and uses the proportional change of Average Process Technology (APT) as a proxy variable to measure the industrial capability of technical innovations and to act as one of the explanatory variables of a regression model for discussing the connection between technical innovation and MV. The results indicate that: 1) the degree of technical innovation and the proportional change in productivity of the semiconductor industry are the major factors that affect proportional change in the MV of the U.S. semiconductor industry; 2) regardless of the size of a company's MV or the companies' classification in terms of products and services (the Equipment & Material Sector, the Board Line Sector, the IC & Chip Sector and the Fabless & Specialist Sector), the degree of technical innovation shows a significant positive effect on MV.     

我国电信业价格上下限管制中“限值”的研究

经过前十多年电信重组和改革,我国的电信市场已形成了移动市场和固话市场的三寡头垄断,中国移动在全国移动业务市场占有绝对的市场份额,中国电信与中国联通在当地固话市场分别占有绝对的固话市场份额,在目前我国电信市场这种竞争不充分的情况下,政府部门如何加强监管,尤其是电信产品的价格监管,是摆在监管部门面前的重要课题,本文提出应对我国电信业实行价格上下限管制,并采用数学方法推导出了上下限值,解决了我国电信价格管制中"限值"难以测算的问题.     

Standards and innovation: US public/private partnerships to support technology-based economic growth

This paper examines how strategic alliances to create and use standards affect economic growth and development. The explanation of the link from standards to economic growth and development is through the effects of standards on the incentives to perform industrial research and development (R&D). We examine product standards, metrology traceable to national and international standards, and regulatory standards to address negative externalities. The paper develops a theoretical explanation for the link from standards to growth, survey/interview-guides to gather information from industrial R&D experts about the explanation, and case-study evidence about the explanation. We discuss the standard-setting process and explain that it entails strategic alliances among firms and with government involvement. Case studies of R&D projects in firms and in a national laboratory support the belief that standards implemented via strategic alliances leverage economic growth and development.