External Debts,Institutions and Growth in SSA

The study investigates the impact of institutional quality on the external debt–growth nexus in SSA. Data from 36 SSA economies over the 1996–2013 periods were used. The results from the IV-System GMM imply that institutional quality has robust effects on the external debt–growth nexus. Thus, the impact of external debt on growth is through host nation’s institutional quality. However, the mediating effect of institutional quality on this nexus is up to a point. When a country is on the wrong side of the debt-laffer curve, external debt becomes irrelevant; and institutional quality can no longer help.     

A benchmark for wage growth through the lens of the Beveridge curve

Using an estimated Beveridge curve, we trace out the vacancy–unemployment ratio in the steady state. This steady-state measure for labour market tightness is embedded in a VAR framework to obtain a benchmark for wage growth reflecting a labour market equilibrium.     

Measuring and Accounting for the Deprivation Gap of Portuguese Immigrants in Luxembourg

This paper examines the relative well‐being of Portuguese immigrants in Luxembourg by looking at indicators of material deprivation. We document material deprivation differences between immigrants and nationals—the “deprivation gap”—and measure the extent to which income differentials (and other sociodemographic differences) explain this gap using a combination of non‐parametric methods and a versatile graphical device. We find a large and significant deprivation gap against Portuguese immigrants, whatever the indicator considered. The extent to which the gap is merely a reflection of differences in income, however, depends on what deprivation items are taken into consideration. Income differences almost fully account for material deprivation differences when the latter is measured using the items included in the official EU social indicator of material deprivation. Inclusion of housing condition indicators mitigates this relationship and we then find compelling evidence that the deprivation gap is not entirely accounted for by income differentials.     

Is Decoupling Possible? Association between Affluence and Household Carbon Emissions in the Philippines

This paper investigates whether or not affluence is associated with carbon emissions at the household level in the Philippines. While there is abundant literature on this issue, limited studies are available for developing countries. We estimate household carbon emissions by combining input–output analysis with household expenditure. The results suggest that household carbon emissions are increasing non‐monotonically with a non‐existent turning point as households accumulate more assets. This is further supported by quintile estimates showing huge disparity in emissions between poor and rich households. Although household carbon emissions in the Philippines are not alarming, evidence suggests that it is likely households will lead a carbon‐intensive lifestyle as they become more affluent.     

A dynamic Nelson-Siegel yield curve model with Markov switching

This paper proposes a model to better capture persistent regime changes in the interest rates of the US term structure. While the previous literature on this matter proposes that regime changes in the term structure are due to persistent changes in the conditional mean and volatility of interest rates we find that changes in a single parameter that determines the factor loadings of the model better captures regime changes. We show that this model gives superior in-sample forecasting performance as compared to a baseline model and a volatility-switching model. In general, we find compelling evidence that the extracted factors from our term structure models are closely related with various economic variables. Furthermore, we investigate and find evidence that the effects of macroeconomic phenomena such as monetary policy, inflation expectations, and real economic activity differ according to the particular regime realized for the term structure. In particular, we identify the periods where monetary policy appears to have a greater effect on the yield curve, and the periods where inflation expectations seem to have a greater effect in yield determination. We also find convincing evidence of a relationship between the regimes estimated by the various switching models with economic activity and monetary policy.     

Global slack and domestic inflation rates: A structural investigation for G-7 countries

Recent papers have argued that one implication of globalization is that domestic inflation rates may have now become more a function of “global”, rather than domestic, economic conditions, as postulated by closed-economy Phillips curves.This paper aims to assess the empirical importance of global output in determining domestic inflation rates by estimating a structural model for a sample of G-7 economies. The model can capture the potential effects of global output fluctuations on both the aggregate supply and the aggregate demand relations in the economy and it is estimated using full-information Bayesian methods.The empirical results reveal a significant effect of global output on aggregate demand in most countries. Through this channel, global economic conditions can indirectly affect inflation. The results, instead, do not seem to provide evidence in favor of altering domestic Phillips curves to include global slack as an additional driving variable for inflation.     

转型时期我国"产出-物价"菲利普斯曲线的动态变化趋势

笔者使用可变参数模型揭示了转型时期我国产出-物价菲利普斯曲线的动态变化趋势。研究结果表明:(1)通货膨胀率对经济增长率的反应系数均为正值,表明转型以来我国经济系统的冲击主要来自于总需求方面;(2)通货膨胀率对经济增长率的反应系数呈现凸型变动模式,并且已经过了波动的顶峰,出现显著下降并逐渐稳定的趋势,这种趋势有助于同时实现经济增长目标和稳定物价目标;(3)反映总体价格水平的价格指数不宜再作为判断宏观经济态势的指示器,但国民经济中一些重要领域的价格波动却仍然值得关注。     

长株潭城市群环境污染与经济增长的关系研究

利用长株潭城市群最近10年的经济与环境数据,建立该区域主要污染物排放与经济增长的计量关系模型。结果表明,长株潭城市群环境污染与经济增长的关系符合环境库兹涅茨曲线,除汞为U形曲线外,二氧化硫、化学需氧量、镉等其他7项指标均呈倒U形,且绝大部分指标已越过环境库兹涅茨曲线的转折点,表明长株潭城市群已进入经济与环境协调发展的有序阶段。环境政策的有力实施是促进长株潭城市群经济与环境协调发展最重要的保障。     

大掺量粉煤灰混凝土在工程中应用研究

通过试验和工程实践结舍,对高寒地区超大参量粉煤灰混凝土性能进行研究。结暴表明,掺一定量的优质粉煤友的混凝土吴有良好的施工性能、力学性能和耐久性能。为指导施工,建立了大掺量粉煤灰混凝土回弹法测强曲线经验公式,这为大掺量粉煤灰混凝土在高寒地区的应用提供了理论参考。     

农业技术扩散的时间过程及空间特征分析——以陕西省苹果种植技术为例

农业科学技术只有被广大农民掌握和应用,才能转化为现实生产力,促进农业生产的发展。以陕西省苹果种植技术为例,借助"S型曲线模型"及"重力学模型"对陕西省苹果种植的时空规律进行了研究,发现陕西省苹果种植在时间序列上,其种植面积呈现在波动中上升的趋势,而在空间上,存在等级扩散与渐进扩散相结合的扩散模式,即随着空间尺度的缩减,技术扩散由明显的规模等级扩散向随距离增加扩散强度减弱的渐进式扩散转化。