Paths of economic development: A global evidence for the mediating role of human capital

ABSTRACT

This paper revisits the roles of institutions and human capital in the development process by using structural equation modeling with a latent construct. Two models are constructed by using the data of 143 countries with 14 publicly available indicators; non-mediated (Model A) and mediated one (Model B). A path between institutional quality and economic development is identified in Model A and found as significant. When human capital is added into the Model B as a mediator, the direct relationship between institutional quality and economic development which is confirmed in Model A becomes insignificant. This evidence contributes to the debate by explaining the roles of institutions and human capital in the development process, based on the existing level of institutional quality that determines conditions on decisions for starting or sustaining the development process. In other words, (a) improving institutions in addition to human capital is needed for the countries with low level of institutional quality to start development process and; (b) on the other hand, since the human capital develops immunity on the quality of the institutions, human capital plays a more basic role to sustain the development process for the countries with a high level of institutional quality.     

结构洞探寻、网络生产与网络福利剩余——企业网络化成长的跨案例经验解析

基于企业从原子企业、链条企业到网络企业战略转型过程中的"网络资源观"、"网络学习观"和"网络关系观",以中石化集团等6家企业在结构洞、网络生产和网络福利等方面的管理经验开展多案例分析。研究表明,顾客价值的满足并非必然带来企业价值的实现,企业正谋求构造"网络理性",依赖"关系约束",实现"网络福利剩余";"探寻结构洞"、"优化网络化生产行为"和"索取网络福利剩余"是企业网络化发展的重要动机。     

农村养老保险综合替代率及其结构分析

中国农村养老保险进一步完善的难点之一是确定合理的养老金给付水平。衡量养老金给付水平最核心的指标是养老金替代率。采用"社会平均替代率"概念,提出养老金目标替代率设为农民劳均收入的50%能够实现"保基本"的目标。现行农村社会养老金替代率约为8%,远低于目标替代率水平,农村养老保险体系中的土地保障、子女养老、社会救助发挥了重要作用,农民养老综合替代率达到32%~37%。未来随着社会养老金给付提高,综合替代率将在2030~2035年达到目标替代率水平,在2050年达到66%~68%。农村养老保险体系从以家庭养老为主向社会养老为主转变。     

Identifying Central Individuals on the Internet: A Case Study with Food-Related Weblogs

The potential of social media is huge. Millions of individuals interact on these platforms, creating networks through which electronic word-of-mouth flows. By observing and analyzing these social networks, researchers can identify the spread of innovations throughout the network and obtain valuable and useful feedback for developing new ideas. This article presents an analysis of a food-related network on the Internet, identifies the most prominent actors, and discusses some of the managerial implications.     

Interdependence of Major Exchange Rates in Ghana: A Wavelet Coherence Analysis

ABSTRACT

We have employed the three-dimensional continuous Morlet wavelet transform methodology to explore the co-movement amongst the returns of four major currencies in Ghana (dollar, euro, pound, and yen) for the period May 1999 to February 2018. The analysis reveals that the dynamics of the interdependence of the currencies is time-varying and heterogeneous. Our empirical findings demonstrate that the currencies are closely linked or interconnected. The lead–lag relationships between the returns of the exchange rates established that volatilities in the euro and yen significantly affect movements in the other currencies in daily and weekly exchange rate returns. The presence of lead–lag effects and stronger co-movements at short-run fluctuations may induce arbitrage and diversification opportunities to investors, albeit with limited space. The differences in the co-movements of returns and the evidence of contagion among the foreign exchange markets provide reliable incentive to the monetary authorities for unflinching strides to halt the speeding exchange rates.     

Testing the Martingale Difference Hypothesis (MDH) with Structural Breaks: Evidence from Foreign Exchanges of Nigeria and South Africa

ABSTRACT

This study tests for MDH in two prominent foreign exchange (FX) markets in Africa, Nigeria and South Africa using three benchmark currencies (euro, dollar and pound sterling). Data utilized cover time series closing rate data set of five-day weekly frequency spanning December 14, 2001 to September 26, 2014. The study considers both the linear and nonlinear measures for MDH with better size and power properties. We also capture structural break endogenously from the data stream using Perron (2006) unit root test with structural break. Three striking findings are discernible from our analyses. First, on average, the South African FX market appears to be more efficient than the Nigerian FX market. Thus, the latter may be more susceptible to speculations than the former. Second, ignoring significant structural breaks may render statistical inferences invalid. Third, the choice of methodology does matter when testing for MDH of foreign exchanges in Africa.     

Justice in the Organizational Context： How Does Rating Disagreement Matter？

Since managers and employees play unequal roles in organizations, they have different perceptions regarding managerial practices. Understanding such differences and investigating the underlying causes help improve business administration and motivate organizational members. Employing data obtained from a sample of large SOEs （state owned enterprises）, this study evaluates disagreement between managers and employees in terms of their perception of organizational justice. Plausible causes of the disagreement and managerial implications are offered.     

上海旅游业创新能力影响因素评价模型研究

采用结构方程模型建立评价指标体系,对上海旅游业创新能力的影响因素进行评价,模型中的路径系数即为上海旅游业创新能力影响因素的重要程度,影响旅游业创新能力的关键因素包括企业核心文化、行业惯例、行业内体制、产业内运作流程等因素。     

Capacities,innovation and feedbacks in production networks in Argentina

This paper is based on an application of the complex systems approach to economics with the objective of exploring the micro- and meso-mechanisms of development. Under this approach, innovation can be seen as an emergent property that depends on micro interaction and on specificities of macro structure. This study emphasizes that the micro interactions can be described by the feedback mechanisms between the absorption and connectivity capacities of firms, and the macro structure by processes of creative destruction, knowledge appropriation and structural change. The paper presents empirical evidence on the feedback loops between absorption and connectivity capacities in production networks in Argentina and their impact on innovation results. This paper concludes that the restrictions on absorption capacity and mainly on connectivity capacity in several production networks in Argentina condition the development of positive feedbacks between the two capacities, and hence the scope of the innovation path.     

International Trade Barriers Complaints and Structural Employment： A Conceptual and Quantitative Macro-perspective

Free trade is beneficial for all nations. Pareto optimality can be reached by trade without barriers, leading to maximizing total welfare of nations involved. Yet there are clear cases of complaining at the World Trade Organization （WTO） in which home bias is plausibly the reason for complaining, rather than objective criteria of the rules of trade agreements. Next to home bias in individual cases induced home bias leading to complaining at WTO might also be a trend. Using correlation and stepwise regression analysis a dataset on 28 complaining countries is analysed. The number of complaints at the WTO is the dependent variable in exploratory modeling. Independent variables are various variables on economic structure. Structural unemployment （SUN）, agricultural import share, current account balance, international property rights （IPR）, and foreign direct investment （FDI） turned out to be significantly related to the number of complaints. This is a strong indicator that complaining at the WTO is at least partly induced by other than objective factors. One of these factors other than objective factors could be considered as an induced home bias which leads to disruptive trade. The established relationship with one of these factors indicates the existence of induced home bias as an actual trend based on the outcomes of the analysis presented.