Safeguarding Jobs? Acquisition FDI and Employment Dynamics in U.K. Manufacturing

This paper applies a difference-in-differences methodology based on matched firms to isolate the direct employment effect of recent acquisition FDI in U.K. manufacturing. Our analysis indicates that acquisition FDI has led to a reduction in the inefficiency with which labour had been used, but this was not associated, on average, with any significant downsizing. However, by allowing for heterogeneity in the causal effect of foreign take-overs, we uncover detrimental employment effects amongst larger take-over targets, and beneficial impacts amongst smaller ones. JEL no. F23, J23     

基于多尺度多方向Gabor模板的光学/SAR景象匹配

合成孔径雷达（SAR）成像制导通常采用光学基准图和SAR实时图 进行特征提取和景象匹配。提出了一种光学/SAR异类影像匹配方法,利用多尺度多方向Gabo r模板提取图像的Gabor特征后进行特征匹配,首先对SAR图像进行方向Frost滤波预处理,然 后分别计算光学图像和SAR图像的高斯梯度图像,再利用多尺度多方向二维Gabor滤波器模板 分别对两幅高斯梯度图像进行特征提取,最后对两组特征矩阵进行归一化互相关匹配。该方 法直接利用光学图像和SAR实时图进行景象匹配,实验表明,该异类影像匹配方法较其他传 统方法具有较高的鲁棒性和准确性。     

文化资本、体制转轨与经济增长——兼及文化产业发展路径

本文回顾了关于经济增长的理论假说,发现围绕文化资本来解释体制转轨和经济增长以及讨论它们三者之间关系的文献较少。在此基础上提出制度是经济增长的重要但非决定性因素,适应文化资本的制度转轨才是经济绩效提高的关键,因此,文化资本中的市场观念在改革开放后被重新激发,构成中国经济增长的内在动力。最后基于结论从文化资本理论出发,兼述地域文化产业发展路径。     

THE SHORT-TERM POVERTY IMPACT OF SMALL-SCALE,COLLATERAL-FREE MICROCREDIT IN INDONESIA: A MATCHING ESTIMATOR APPROACH

Indonesian microfinance is primarily operated by for-profit commercial banks, characterized by large-scale loans that require collateral. In 2003, the largest nongovernmental organization in the country introduced much smaller-scale loans without a collateral requirement. This scheme is commercialized but potentially more suited to the credit demands of the poor. Applying propensity score matching with the difference-in-difference method, this paper examines whether the emerging microcredit scheme has been successful in targeting and improving the welfare of the poor in the one year following loan disbursement. The results show that although collateral ownership is not an important determinant of participation, relatively wealthier families gain access to microcredit. The impact of microcredit on various household outcomes is generally statistically insignificant, except for sales of nonfarm enterprises for the nonpoor and schooling expenditures for the poor. This implies that the microcredit scheme under study might not have an immediate impact on poverty alleviation.     

The Food (In)Security Impact of Land Redistribution in South Africa: Microeconometric Evidence from National Data

The South African land-reform program has been widely criticized for its slow pace as well as its apparent lack of contribution to poverty reduction. No econometric evidence of the impact of land transfers has been provided to date and this paper attempts to fill this gap by considering the impact of receiving a land grant on households’ food insecurity. Propensity score matching and univariate probit estimates using two national household surveys indicate that, on average, land grant recipients are more food insecure than comparable non-participants. Recursive bivariate probit estimates suggest that selection bias is not driving this result.     

墙体参数模糊下穿墙雷达运动目标成像

针对墙参数模糊条件下运动目标成像速度慢、墙参数重建精度差等问题,提出了一种改进拟牛顿-粒子群优化(Limited Broyden Fletcher Goldfarb Shanno-Particle Swarm Optimization,LBFGS-PSO)算法,建立了LBFGS-PSO算法模型,解决了传统拟牛顿算法和粒子群算法计算速度慢、误差较大等问题。该算法与块正交匹配追踪（Block Orthogonal Matching Pursuit,BOMP）算法相结合不仅可以精确重建边墙位置,还能够准确地重建多径效应环境中的运动目标和静止目标,算法的计算速度和精度得到了一定程度的提高。仿真结果和数据分析验证了所提方法的性能。     

“一带一路”倡议能否提升对外直接投资企业盈利能力？

基于2011-2015年A股上市公司与商务部《境外投资企业（机构）名录》数据，利用倾向得分匹配方法（PSM）和双重差分法（DID）考察“一带一路”倡议对中国对外直接投资企业盈利能力的影响及作用机制。研究发现：“一带一路”倡议显著提升了中国对沿线国家投资企业的盈利能力。机制检验表明，“一带一路”倡议能够通过推进中国与沿线国家间的经济融合和文化包容来提升对外投资企业的盈利能力，而政治互信在样本期内不显著。进一步研究发现，“一带一路”倡议对企业盈利能力的提升作用主要体现在国有企业、新兴优势产业以及投资目的为非邻近中国的“一带一路”国家上。     

Estimating matching functions when recruiting intensity matters

The article estimates matching functions – the relationships between new hires, job vacancies and unemployment – using monthly time series data for Sweden. The data contain rich information on types of job vacancies which provides information on firms’ recruiting efforts. The analysis shows that the aggregate flow of new hires is well explained by an augmented version of a standard matching function that incorporates data on firms’ recruiting intensity.     

The German labor market during the Great Recession: Shocks and institutions

This paper analyzes Germany's unusual labor market experience during the Great Recession. We estimate a general equilibrium model with a detailed labor market block for post-unification Germany. This allows us to disentangle the role of institutions (short-time work, government spending rules) and shocks (aggregate, labor market, and policy shocks) and to perform counterfactual exercises. We identify positive labor market performance shocks (likely caused by labor market reforms) as the key driver for the “German labor market miracle” during the Great Recession.     

Impacts of sustainability certification on farm income: Evidence from small-scale specialty green tea farmers in Vietnam

Sustainability certification for small-scale farms has gained considerable momentum in developing countries. However, evidence on the economic benefits of certification schemes in the context of domestically consumed foods and beverages is scarce. This paper addresses this gap by evaluating the impacts of sustainability standards on the selling prices, sales, costs and net income of small-scale specialty green tea farming in Vietnam. We analyze original survey data on 401 smallholder green tea farmers and employ propensity score matching to mitigate self-selection bias. Our estimates reveal that certified green tea producers are able to obtain a higher average selling price and sales value. In addition, although certification leads to a dramatic increase in the costs of hired labor, net farm income is still significantly improved.