Broadband׳s contribution to economic growth in rural areas: Moving towards a causal relationship

This paper uses recent data on both broadband availability and adoption to empirically gauge the contribution of broadband to the economic growth of rural areas of the United States over the past decade. Availability data from the National Broadband Map aggregated to county level is used in conjunction with county-level adoption data from Federal Communication Commission. Economic variables of interest include median household income, number of firms with paid employees, total employed, percentage in poverty, and the percentage of employees classified as either creative class or non-farm proprietors. A propensity score matching technique (between a “treated” group associated with various broadband thresholds and a control group) is used to make preliminary causal statements regarding broadband and economic health. Growth rates between 2001 and 2010 for different economic measures are tested for statistical differences between the treated and non-treated groups, restricting the analysis to non-metropolitan counties. Results suggest that high levels of broadband adoption in rural areas positively (and potentially causally) impacted income growth between 2001 and 2010, and negatively influenced unemployment growth. Similarly, low levels of broadband adoption in rural areas lead to declines in the number of firms and total employment numbers in the county. Broadband availability measures (as opposed to adoption) demonstrate only limited impacts, suggesting that future broadband policies should be more demand-oriented.     

Same as it ever was? Europe's national borders and the market for corporate control

National borders continue to be strong barriers for mergers and acquisitions in Europe. Using regional data, we construct a gravity model and find that the restraining impact of national borders decreased by more than 17 percent between 1991 and 2007. However, no significant change has occurred since the mid-1990s (i.e., four years before the introduction of the euro). In comparison, we run a corresponding analysis in the United States using the 10 federal regions as country equivalents. The resulting ‘quasi-border’ effect in the United States is weaker than that in the European Union. Yet its decline by 43 percent is much stronger in the same period. We conclude that European integration policy has had little effect on fostering M&A cross-border transactions.     

上市公司市盈率的微观影响因素分析

市盈率指标具有重要作用,影响我国上市公司市盈率的微观因素除了股利支付率、公司成长性和公司风险的一般因素外,还需要考虑流通股比重、盈利能力等。本文基于这样的考虑,利用面板数据对沪深2001～2004年A股上市公司数据进行了实证研究,分析表明各财务指标对市盈率的影响关系基本同假设一致,但有些关系不显著。意外地,净利润增长率与市盈率负相关,需要结合我国具体情况来认识市盈率,作出合理的解释。     

中国农业碳排放再测算: 基本现状、动态演进及空间溢出效应

探究创新要素流动对农业绿色发展的影响机制,合理引导创新要素流动,对推动农业现代化发展具有重要的现实意义。本文基于要素流动视角,在采用SBM-GML指数测算农业绿色发展水平的基础上,运用空间杜宾模型考察了R&D人员和R&D资本两种类型创新要素流动对农业绿色发展的影响及其空间溢出效应。结果表明：（1）中国农业绿色发展整体呈波动上升的态势,地区农业绿色发展水平的提升能够通过正向空间溢出效应带动邻近省份农业绿色转型。（2）创新要素流动存在显著的空间关联特征,R&D人员流动和R&D资本流动均能显著提升地区农业绿色发展水平。（3）R&D人员流动能通过正向空间溢出效应推动邻近省份农业绿色转型,R&D资本流动则会通过负向空间溢出效应阻碍邻近地区农业绿色发展。基于上述研究结论,本文提出相应的对策建议：构建农业绿色技术创新合作网络平台,按要素精准施策,积极完善金融体系和资本市场建设,引导创新要素合理流动。     

农村一二三产业融合发展: 理论探讨、现状分析与对策建议

数字化赋能农产品流通是农村三产融合发展的重要动力。文章首先从理论层面阐释了农产品流通数字化对农村三产融合的作用机制,然后,选取2012—2021年我国31个省（区、市）的面板数据,实证分析了农产品流通数字化对农村三产融合的影响。研究结果表明：（1）农产品流通数字化显著地促进了农村三产融合,并且存在显著的地区差异,即东部地区大于中西部地区;（2）除农村三产融合本身具有正向空间溢出效应和惯性效应外,农产品流通数字化对农村三产融合也存在空间溢出效应;（3）农村人力资本水平越高,农产品流通数字化对农村三产融合的作用越显著。基于此,文章提出了相应的政策建议。

     

工匠精神的历史传承与当代培育

在“中国制造2025”和经济高质量发展的时代背景之下,弘扬和培育工匠精神对中国经济转型发展具有重大意义。鉴于此,文章运用文献计量与归纳相结合的方法,探究工匠精神研究现状,梳理工匠精神内涵、维度、影响因素、作用后果及培育策略。研究发现：工匠精神具有丰富的时代内涵,其内涵和维度划分尚未形成一致观点;工匠精神受个体和组织因素的影响,同时也是个体成长和组织发展的重要推动力;培育工匠精神需要政府、社会、企业和学校共同发力。

     

Cross-border spillover effects of unconventional monetary policies on Swiss asset prices

Unconventional monetary policies (UMPs) announced by the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan exert important spillover effects on asset prices in Switzerland. Using a broad UMP event set and a long-term bond-futures based measure of market anticipation, we show that surprisingly expansionary UMPs lower Swiss government and corporate bond yields, induce the Swiss franc to appreciate, and dampen Swiss equity prices. Four extensions provide further insights. First, the estimated effects are strongest for announcements by the ECB. Second, the impact on government bonds is largest for bonds with residual maturities of 7–10 years. Third, the impact of foreign UMP shocks on exchange rates and Swiss bond yields is less pronounced after the introduction of the minimum rate of 1.20 Swiss franc per Euro by the Swiss National Bank on September 6, 2011, indicating that domestic monetary policy action partially affects the impact of external monetary shocks on domestic financial markets. Fourth, the sign of spillover effects differs for positive and negative UMP surprises, but their strength does not.     

Gentrifier? Who,Me? Interrogating the Gentrifier in the Mirror

Schlichtman and Patch suggest that there is an elephant sitting in the academic corner: while urbanists often use ‘gentrification’ as a pejorative term in formal and informal academic conversation, many urbanists are gentrifiers themselves. Even though urbanists have this firsthand experience with the process, this familiarity makes little impact on scholarly debate. There is, Schlichtman and Patch argue, an artificial distance in accounts of gentrification because researchers have not adequately examined their own relationship to the process. Utilizing a simple diagnostic tool that includes ten common aspects of gentrification, they compose two autoethnographic memoirs to begin this dialogue.     

Do constraints created by economic growth targets benefit sustainable development? Evidence from China

An economic growth target is a declaration by policy authorities of commitment to that target and the corresponding allocation of resources. The constraints created by economic growth target are an important economic management method in China, which has helped China's economy to achieve remarkable achievements. However, it has also brought about serious environmental problems, threatening China's sustainable development. Using the data about economic growth targets in the work reports of 30 Chinese provincial governments from 2006 to 2017, this paper constructs several spatial measurement methods, such as the spatial Durbin model, to examine the constraints created by economic growth target's impacts on air pollution. The main conclusions are as follows. First, a significant “U-shaped” relationship exists between the constraints created by economic growth targets and air pollution. Second, the spatial Durbin model analysis revealed that PM_2.5 across China's provinces display significant positive spatial spillover effects and spatial agglomeration characteristics. Third, the direct, indirect, and total effects of constraints created by economic growth targets on air pollution are all statistically significant and depict a “U shape.” Finally, the constraints created by economic growth targets have an apparent threshold effect on air pollution, and the inhibiting effects increase with human capital and industrial restructuring. However, with the increase in foreign direct investments, constraints created by economic growth targets may increase air pollution. The conclusions of this paper are of great significance for improving the management of local government economic growth targets and sustainable development.     

Agricultural productivity growth in Latin America and the Caribbean: an analysis of climatic effects,catch‐up and convergence*

This paper investigates whether climatic adjusted total factor productivity (CATFP) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is converging, converging to different steady states or exhibit absolute convergence, that is the process does not require (government) interventions to reach its equilibrium path. We use data from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit and from the Food and Agriculture Organization for 28 LAC countries over a 54‐year period (1961–2014) to estimate random parameters stochastic production frontier models to calculate CATFP and then use cross‐sectional regressions and an error correction model to analyse CATFP convergence across countries in the region. The results show that technological progress is the main driver of CATFP growth in the region and there is no absolute convergence, that is CATFP gaps across countries will not decrease over time and least performing countries will not grow faster than better performing ones without targeted policies. However, CATFP across LAC exhibits conditional convergence towards different steady states. Technological progress plays a critical role in raising the steady state level of CATFP with an overall average of 2.22 per cent per annum.