An Econometric Estimation of Industrial Water Demand in France

This study investigates the structure of industrial water demand byestimating the derived demand for water on a sample of industrialestablishments located in the south-west of France. Productiontechnologies are represented by short-term variable cost functions andapproximated by a translog form. Industrial water use is modeled ashaving three components: the quantity of water bought to a waterutility, the quantity of autonomous water and the quantity of watertreated prior to use. We include in this framework water effluents,which are considered as a by-product of the production process, emittedby firms. Each of the three water components is treated as a separateinput and all are estimated as a system of simultaneous equations. Themodel is estimated on a sample of 51 industrial plants in the Girondedistrict observed from 1994 to 1996 using Seemingly Unrelated Regression(SUR) and Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS). Results ofestimations show that industrial firms are sensitive to water priceinputs. Network water elasticity is estimated at –0.29. It variesfrom –0.10 to –0.79 according to the type of industryconsidered. Autonomous water price elasticity is not significant.Elasticity for treated water is evaluated at –1.42 at themean-sample and varies from –0.90 to –2.21 according to theindustry considered.     

Reinterpreting the performance of immigrant wages from panel data

Immigrants differ from the native born in terms of unobserved factors, such as motivation, and observed factors, including those related to the interruption of labour market activity and earning capacity, which may bias estimates of immigrant integration. Using panel data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, we show that using potential experience, rather than actual experience, exaggerates estimates of the disruption and recovery caused by immigration. More importantly, we find support for omitted variables bias, arising from unobserved fixed effects. Instrumental variable estimates for both pooled and separate samples of immigrant and native born men demonstrate a wage disadvantage for immigrants upon entry that persists through their lifetime. Standard estimates of a modest wage advantage for the children of immigrants also suffer from omitted variables bias arising from unobservables. Contrary to most of the literature to date, our instrumental variable estimates which allow for unobservable fixed effects suggest that immigrants never catch up to otherwise comparable native born workers, but their children do just as well. We would like to thank Statistics Canada for permitting access to the data and solving associated technical problems, the Prairier Centre for Research on Immigration and Integration for financial assistance, and Peter Schnabl for excellent research assistance. An earlier version of this paper was presented to the 10th International Conference on Panel Data in Berlin, July 5–6, 2002. The authors take sole responsibility for errors, omissions and interpretation of the data.     

Interbank Relationships and the Credit Channel in Germany

A crucial condition for the existence of a credit channel through bank loansis that monetary policy should be able to change bank loan supply. This papercontributes to the discussion on this issue by presenting empirical evidence fromdynamic panel estimations based on a dataset that comprises individual balancesheet information on all German banks. It shows that the average bank reduces itslending more sharply in reaction to a restrictive monetary policy measure the lowerits ratio of short-term interbank deposits to total assets. A dependence on its size canonly be found if explicitly controlled for this dominating effect. Overall, the evidenceis compatible with the existence of a credit channel but the results indicate that it is weakened by the network structures that exist in the German banking system.     

Is Private R & D Spending Sensitive to Its Price? Empirical Evidence on Panel Data for Italy

In this paper empirical evidence is presented on theelasticity of private R & D spending on its price. Acensored panel-data regression model with random effectsis applied to a balanced panel of 726 Italian firms overthe 1992–1997 period. Implied estimates point out thatItalian firms' response to policy measures (including taxcredits), aimed at reducing the user cost of R & D capital,is likely to be substantial (1.50–1.77). Furthermore, wealso find that the elasticity of R & D spending is higherin recession (2.01) than in expansion (0.87).     

Does too much government spending depress the economic development of transition economies? Evidences from dynamic panel threshold analysis

This paper investigates the relationship between government size and economic growth and determines the optimal level of government spending to maximize economic growth. The paper applies a dynamic panel data analysis based upon a threshold model to test the threshold effect of government spending in 26 transition economies over the period spanning 1993–2016. According to the analysis results, government expenditures have a threshold effect on economic growth, and there is a non-linear relationship depicted as an Armey curve in these transition economies. The findings indicate that a government size above the threshold government spending level adversely affects economic growth, while a government size below the threshold level has a positive effect. Furthermore, there is a statistically significant relationship between the two variables above and below that optimal level, even if we divide the sample into developed and developing countries. Our findings suggest that governments in transition economies should consider optimal government size at around the estimated threshold level to support sustainable economic growth.     

市场化与经济增长:一个短期的因果关系检验

利用我国1999-2002年省际区域的面板数据,运用面板数据Granger因果关系检验技术,对我国市场化水平与经济增长的关联度进行了实证分析.得出市场化是经济增长的Granger原因,但是经济增长不是市场化的Granger原因的结论.     

Regional Unemployment in Transitional China: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to explain the pattern of regional unemployment in transitional China. A model is developed to explore how urban unemployment in the provinces is influenced by peasants' wages, formal sector wages, and the size of the formal sector. Evidence from panel data suggests that a significant indicator of high unemployment rates is greater Urban–Rural Income Inequality within the province. The hypothesis is that the urban–rural income gap produces migration, and more rural migrants substitute for urban workers, causing further urban unemployment.Since the economic reforms began in 1978, the non-state owned enterprises have been carrying an increasing weight in the economy, and they have contributed significantly to the rapid economic growth of China. Empirical evidence shows that economic reforms have reduced unemployment. The provinces that are still heavily dependent on the state sector are therefore more likely to experience higher unemployment.     

Efficiency measurement with multiple outputs and multiple inputs

This paper discusses modeling technical and allocative inefficiencies in both cost minimizing and profit maximizing frameworks with special emphasis on multiple inputs and multiple outputs. Both primal and dual models are considered for this purpose. In the primal approach we use a separable output and input function (the constant elasticity of transformation output function and Cobb-Douglas input function). The dual models assume translog cost or profit functions. Technical inefficiency is assumed to be random in the cross-sectional models, and fixed firm-specific parameter in the panel data models. Allocative inefficiencies are always treated as input-specific parameters. We derive exact relations linking technical inefficiency and allocative inefficiencies to cost and profit when the underlying technology is represented by a flexible functional form such as the translog. It is shown that appending a one-sided homoscedastic error term to model technical inefficiency, or neglecting technical inefficiency altogether in a translog profit tunciton results in model misspecification and inconsistent parameter estimates.     

Do investors in Green Bond market pay a premium? Global evidence

We examine the pricing difference of Green Bonds (GB) and conventional bonds (CBs) in capital markets worldwide. Credit spread is used to observe whether investors would like to pay a premium for GBs over CBs. This study uses panel data regression with hybrid model to analyse daily observations over the period 2016 to 2017. We employ Option-Adjusted spread (OAS) to measure the credit spreads of bonds while controlling for bond specific, macroeconomic and global factors that influence the spread. With the hybrid model used in the panel data analysis, we were able to capture the fixed-effects of variables in a random effect model. We find that GBs are traded at a premium of 63 basis points (BPS), compared with a comparable corporate bond issue. We find that the green label provides issuers an incentive to raise funds through issuing GBs while providing investors an opportunity to diversify their investments returns. Our findings provide several implications to the major stakeholders driving the GB market to scale up the market to finance the required level of global green investment needs. We stress an urgent need to support the growth of the GB market to achieve sustainable development through mitigating climate change challenges.

Abbreviation GB: Green Bond; CB: Conventional Bond; YS: Yield Spread; BPS: Basis Points; OAS: Option-Adjusted Spread; PCSE: Panels Corrected Standard Errors; CPI: Consumer Price Index; GBPs: Green Bond Principles; CBS: Climate Bond Standard     

面向CRM的数据挖掘应用

近几年来，信息在企业发展中的关键地位得到了越来越多的关注，赢家往往是那些能成功收集、分析、理解信息并根据信息决策的企业，而新型电子商务的关键是它与消费者之间的关系。本文研究了数据挖掘技术在客户关系管理（CRM）中的运用，讨论了企业如何理清和客户之间的关系。