Testing for negativity in a demand system: A Bayesian approach

The paper introduces Bayesian inference into a demand model. This allows us to test for the negativity condition of the substitution matrix which is difficult to handle directly in the traditional approach. To illustrate the Bayesian inference procedures, we estimate the Rotterdam model and test the demand properties using Japanese data. The empirical results show the importance of specifically considering negativity in demand analysis. First version received: September 1997/final version received: February 1998     

农户对新型农产品供应链认可度及影响因素分析——基于江苏省159户粮食种植户的调查数据

通过对江苏省159户粮食种植户的入户调查,利用多分类Logistic模型对粮农的新型农产品供应链认可度及其影响因素进行了实证分析。研究结果表明,六成以上的农户对新型农产品供应链基本持认可态度;农户经营特征是影响农户新型农产品供应链认可度的重要因素,其中,“非农就业人口占比”和“耕地面积”与新型农产品供应链认可度呈正相关关系,“粮食商品化率”与新型农产品供应链认可度呈负相关关系。     

中国省际城镇职工工资收入分布演进的时空特征

运用Kernel密度估计方法和空间马尔科夫链分析方法,并将空间因素纳入分析框架中,对1978—2009年期间中国省际城镇职工工资收入分布演进的时空特征进行了分析。研究结果表明:从时间动态性看,中国省际城镇职工工资收入的差距正逐步固化和深化,多俱乐部收敛特征明显、贫困陷阱问题日益突出;从空间动态性看,近邻效应对省际城镇职工工资收入分布演进存在一定影响,多数省份的工资收入水平向邻区的平均工资收入水平演进。     

我国农村产业融合发展研究

[目的]农村产业融合发展是打造新农业农村经济增长极的重要载体,是构建蓝绿交织、清新明亮、产业共融的田园综合体的有效途径,对于促进农民增收、农业增效、农村增绿具有重要意义。[方法]文章根据统计数据,通过定性分析的方法,对我国农村产业融合发展意义、现状、机遇及制约因素进行了深入研究。[结果]当前我国农村产业融合发展初见成效,发展模式日益多样化、经营主体逐步多元化、利益联结机制不断健全。新形势下,我国农村产业融合发展的制度环境更加优越、物质基础更加雄厚、市场空间更加广阔、内生动力更加强劲。但是,我国农村产业融合还处于起步阶段,农村产业融合层次浅、新型农业经营主体带动能力弱、利益联结机制松散、要素瓶颈制约尚未打破、基础设施建设滞后等问题比较突出。[结论]提出应从加强顶层设计、完善产业融合模式、强化新型农业经营主体的带动能力、健全利益联结机制、激发多种要素、加强基础设施建设等方面搭建农村产业融合发展平台,促进农村产业融合发展驶入"时代高铁"。     

Do rice prices follow a random walk? Evidence from Markov switching unit root tests for Asian markets

This study revisits the issue of mean reversion in the import rice prices of six Asian countries over the period between 1995 and 2015. Augmented Dickey Fuller tests with a conventional linear regression model support the presence of a unit root in the levels of the price data. However, when regressions allow for Markov switching in coefficients and variances to capture periodic shifts in levels and volatilities, there is strong evidence against the unit‐root null hypothesis in favor of stationarity over much of the observation period.     

Country of origin labeling for complex supply chains: the case for labeling the location of different supply chain links

We investigate the value of a country of origin label (COOL) that separately identifies the geographic location of different stages in a food product's supply chain. We estimate the willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) of U.S. consumers for a packaged cereal product where the key grain ingredient may be grown in one country and processed in a second country (multicountry supply chain) and compare it to equivalent products that have both stages located in a single country. We find consumer WTP for products with single‐country and multicountry supply chains are statistically different, meaning that simplifying a multicountry label by listing only the country where the ingredients are grown or only the country where the ingredients are processed can result in different consumer values. We also find that for countries with a poor quality reputation, consumers respond more negatively when that country has the “last touch” than when that country's involvement is limited to upstream supply chain links.     

Performance analysis of the Gulf hotel industry: A Malmquist index with bias correction

This study uses the Malmquist index with bias correction to analyze the performance of hotel chains from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman. We show that Saudi Arabia hotel chains have the highest productivity growth, followed by the UAE and Omani hotel chains. A further decomposition of productivity indicates that a small number of hotel chains experienced an increase in revenues for lower occupancy rate, while most other hotel chains experienced an increase in occupancy rate for lower revenues. Related market discussions of the results are provided.     

Product Patent Reform and its Impact on Korea's Pharmaceutical Industry

Our analysis focuses on the effect of U.S. government pressure on Korea to adopt product patents for chemical and pharmaceutical products. American pressure began in November 1985 and ended with the Korean Legislature's passage of a new patent law in December 1986. We conduct an event study of the effect of the new patent law on the value of Korean pharmaceutical firms listed on the Korea Stock Exchange. Regression analysis shows that the new law induced excess returns of-74 percent over the 14-month analysis period. The results suggest that adoption of stronger patent laws reduced Korea's wealth. [G14, O34]     

STRUCTURAL VECTOR AUTOREGRESSIONS: CHECKING IDENTIFYING LONG‐RUN RESTRICTIONS VIA HETEROSKEDASTICITY

Long‐run restrictions have been used extensively for identifying structural shocks in vector autoregressive (VAR) analysis. Such restrictions are typically just‐identifying but can be checked by utilizing changes in volatility. This paper reviews and contrasts the volatility models that have been used for this purpose. Three main approaches have been used, exogenously generated changes in the unconditional residual covariance matrix, changing volatility modelled by a Markov switching mechanism and multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity models. Using changes in volatility for checking long‐run identifying restrictions in structural VAR analysis is illustrated by reconsidering models for identifying fundamental components of stock prices.     

Assessing time-varying stock market integration in Economic and Monetary Union for normal and crisis periods

In this paper, we examine the stock market integration process amongst 17 Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) countries from January 2002 to June 2013 over a normal period as well as for the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and Eurozone Debt Crisis (EDC) periods. We classify the economies in three groups (A, B and C) based on their GDP to examine whether the economic size influences financial integration. Seven indicators are used for the purpose, namely, beta convergence, sigma convergence, variance ratio, asymmetric DCC, dynamic cointegration, market synchronisation measure and common components approach. The results suggest that large-sized EMU economies (termed as Group A) exhibit strong stock market integration. Moderate integration is observed for middle-sized EMU economies with old membership (termed as Group B). Small-sized economies (termed as Group C) economies seemed to be least integrated within the EMU stock market system. The findings further suggest presence of contagion effects as one moves from normal to crisis periods, which are specifically stronger for more integrated economies of Group A. We recommend institutional, regulatory and other policy reforms for Group B and especially Group C to achieve higher level of integration.