Human–capital investment and the wage gap

Summary. According to empirical studies, the wage differential by skills evolved non–monotonically in the past decades although the relative supply of skilled labor steadily increased. The present paper provides a theoretical explanation for this finding. In our setting, technological change intertemporally alters the human–capital investment incentives of heterogeneous individuals. As a consequence of changing incentives, the time path of the relative wage is U–shaped while there is a rise in the share of skilled workers. Received: November 28, 2000; revised version: January 30, 2001     

The Middle Class Consensus and Economic Development

A middle class consensus is defined as a high share of income for the middle class and a low degree of ethnic divisons. The paper links a middle class consensus to resource endowments, along the lines of the provocative thesis of Engerman and Sokoloff (1997 and 2000). This paper exploits this association using tropical resource endowments as instruments for inequality. A higher share of income for the middle class and lower ethnic divisions are associated with higher income and higher growth, as well as with more education, better health, better infrastructure, better economic policies, less political instability, less civil war and ethnic minorities at risk, more social modernization and more democracy.     

Is capital a collusion device?

Summary. We examine how irreversible capital reduces the possibility of a duopoly to sustain implicit collusion by grim strategies, when the product is homogenous and firms compete in quantities. Compared with the case of reversible capital, there are two countervailing effects: Deviation from an existing collusion is less attractive, because capital once installed causes costs forever. But the punishment will also be less severe due to the high capacity the deviating firm can build before punishment starts. The last effect dominates, meaning that the commitment value of capital is negative for all firms. If capital is irreversible, collusion breaks down for realistic magnitudes of interest rates. Received: April 30, 1999; revised version: November 30, 2001     

Economic liberalization and welfare in a model with an informal sector

The paper reexamines the conventional results relating to inflow of foreign capital, removal of protectionism and structural reform programmes, in a small open economy in terms of a two-sector general equilibrium model with an informal sector. The paper shows that in the presence of labour market distortion and a protectionist policy, inflow of foreign capital may be desirable irrespective of the pattern of trade of the economy due to its favourable impact on welfare. But the welfare implications of tariff reductions and/or structural adjustment programmes, such as deregulating the formal sector labour market, depend crucially on the economy's trade pattern. The paper provides an answer to the question as to whether in a developing economy labour market reform and tariff reform should go hand-in-hand or whether one should precede the other for welfare improvement.
JEL classification: F10, F13, F21, O17.     

Endogenous human capital accumulation, comparative advantage and direct vs. indirect redistribution

Recently, several papers have reexamined the so-called production efficiency theorem and the Atkinson and Stiglitz theorem on commodity taxes in the optimal taxation literature. Naito [J. Public Econ. 71 (1999) 65] showed that indirect redistribution through production distortion or consumption distortion can Pareto-improve welfare and that the two theorems do not necessarily hold when different factors are imperfect substitutes and factor prices are endogenous. On the other hand, Saez J. Public Econ. (2002) forthcoming argued that in the long run, where human capital accumulation is endogenous, the two theorems are still valid. This paper develops reasonable alternative models where individuals accumulate human capital based on their comparative advantage. The present paper shows that the production efficiency theorem is not necessarily valid and that indirect redistribution from the able to the less able such as tariffs and production subsidies can increase efficiency even when skill accumulation is endogenous.     

金融发展、资本账户开放与金融不稳定——来自中国的证据

文章建立一个由金融发展程度、资本账户开放与金融不稳定指标组成的向量自回归(VAR)模型,利用中国1982~2005年的年度数据对这些变量的长期协整关系和短期的调整动力学进行相关的时间序列分析。模型的估计结果显示,对于中国来说,金融发展程度、资本账户开放和金融不稳定之间存在着长期的协整关系,但三者之间的影响程度和方向各不相同。所有结果均显示,无论从短期和长期看,金融发展程度对一国的金融稳定具有显著影响,对资本账户开放的进程也具有重要的影响。     

Optimization of Harvesting Return from Age-Structured Population

Synopsis Maximization of the net profit from harvesting in a one-species age-structured population is analyzed. One of the control functions is the age of harvested individuals. The constructed mathematical model is similar to vintage capital models used in economics for optimal capital replacement. The optimization technique developed by authors for the capital replacement is disseminated to the formulated problem. A qualitative analysis of the problem is provided and the interpretation of results is given. Such economic topics as a zero-investment period, optimal balanced growth, and turnpike properties are discussed.     

振兴东北老工业基地资本运营效益研究

现阶段,东北老工业基地存在着高消耗、低性能、低附加值、产品生产能力过剩等问题,因而,在市场经济的大潮中,造成了竞争力减弱、经济效益下滑的局面.发达国家的实践告诉我们,传统产业高科技化能改变这种局面,但高科技需要大量投入资本,故而需要研究传统产业高科技化资本运营的模式,从而降低高风险,实现高效益.     

对称双支柱模式:当代金融体系发展的新趋向

经验分析表明：金融体系正在从不对称的双支柱模式或者单支柱模式向对称双支柱模式演变。对银行和资本市场功能的分析也支持了这一结论。在这一转变过程中，金融体系还表现出了“非银行化”特征。但是“非银行化”并不是金融体系发展的最终方向，而只是对称双支柱模式转变中的一个附属物。     

开放资本市场与国家金融安全

要成为一个经济强国，其资本市场一定要开放。资本市场一开放，将对该国的金融安全产生威胁。资本市场开放使国家减弱了对汇率、利率的调节能力。我国的国民经济高速发展，国际收支状况良好，人民币汇率稳定，证券市场有了一定的发展，因此具有一定的抗冲击能力。但目前，我国在资本市场抗冲击能力上仍存在不少问题。要提高资本市场抗冲击能力，就要选择有限制的直接开放模式。