The impact of the net percentage growth rate in the number of small firms on differential state-level employment growth rates in the US: an exploratory empirical note

This brief exploratory empirical note seeks to identify key determinants of geographic differentials in the percentage growth rate of state-level employment in the US, with the primary focus being on the percentage net growth rate in the number of small firms (i.e., those with fewer than 20 employees) in each state, where this variable serves as a de facto reflection of ‘entrepreneurship’. In the interest of identifying other key factors that influence state-level employment growth rates, the effective income tax rate in each state, quality of life elements and labour market considerations are also included in the analysis. The study period runs from the year 2000 to the year 2007, ending just prior to the ‘Great Recession’. The estimation results imply that the state-level employment growth rate in the US was an increasing function of the percentage net growth rate in the number of small firms in each state. Thus, it appears that the small firms growth rate may in fact be a significant source.     

Local banking and local economic growth in Italy: some panel evidence

This article provides new evidence on the contribution of local banking to local economic growth (i.e. at county level – the Italian ‘province’) in Italy. A comprehensive data set is used, which includes control variables for social capital and human capital as well as indicators of the quality of local infrastructures and the production structure of the local economy. A linear within-estimator technique with fixed effects is applied to a modified version of the so-called Barro regression in order to address the well-known econometric issues of reverse causality and estimation bias resulting from unobserved district-specific influences.     

An economic evaluation of market development programmes for US dairy products

‘This study measured the effectiveness of US dairy export promotion programmes on increasing foreign demand and enhancing producers’ revenues. An import demand equation based on panel data was used to test whether export promotion has a positive and significant impact on US dairy exports. The effects of various promotion scenarios on the dairy market were then simulated, and benefit–cost ratios (BCRs) for these programmes were estimated. There were three key findings. First, the combined effort of public and private dairy export promotion expenditures had a positive and statistically significant impact on demand for US dairy products in the world market. The findings indicated that export promotion stimulated total dairy exports by 4.14 billion pounds, on average, per year, which represented 55.8% of total exports. Second, US dairy export promotion has been highly profitable for the nation’s dairy farmers. The calculated BCRs, based on assumed elasticity of supply, ranged from a low of 8.54 for the most elastic assumption to a high of 30.12. Third, from an optimality standpoint, dairy farmers are underinvesting in export promotion. The marginal BCRs ranged from a low of 3.79 to a high of 15.22, which means that, at the margin, increasing export promotion expenditures would be profitable for dairy farmers.     

Managerial mindset as the mechanism of the country-of-origin effect: evidence from Chinese multinational enterprises’ approach to employer associations

The country-of-origin effect (COE) on employment practices in multinational enterprises (MNEs) has become an important area of international human resource management research. However, research on the mechanisms of the COE, a fundamental and critical aspect of the country-of-origin phenomenon, is scant. This study seeks to empirically explore the mechanisms through which country-of-origin influences Chinese MNEs’ approach to host-country employer associations. Analysis of qualitative data from 13 Chinese MNEs revealed that country of origin affected the approach of Chinese MNEs to host-country employer associations in the form of transfer of managerial norms. It also revealed that it was the mindset of those home-country nationals who were key decision-makers at subsidiaries that enabled the COE in Chinese MNEs. This paper highlights the importance for future studies of international strategic human resources management to pay attention to micro-foundations of cross-border practice transfer and to incorporate analyses of managerial cognition in the investigation of MNEs’ management practices.     

Financial liberalization and remittances: Recent panel evidence

We investigate the impact of financial liberalization on remittances to 84 countries over the period 1986–2005. Explicitly accounting for the multidimensionality of financial reform, we find that the various dimensions impact remittances differently: Increased economic freedom in the financial sector, as captured by absence of direct government control over the allocation of credit, has a positive and immediate impact. However, the improved robustness of financial markets, as captured by the development of security markets, improvement in the quality of banking supervision, and removal of stringent restrictions on interest rates and international capital, has a negative and lagged effect. The net combined effect reveals that financial liberalization may have a modest negative impact on remittances in the long run.     

论“能本管理”在新经济时代人才管理中的应用

新经济时代人才资源管理尤为重要,以人的知识、智力、技能和实践创新能力为核心内容的"能本管理"是一种较好的管理理念。"能本管理"其核心就是以人的知识、智力、技能和实践创新能力为内容,其实质就是要建立一种"各尽其能"的运作机制。通过采取有效的方法,最大限度地发挥人的能力,从而实现能力价值的最大化,并实现企业发展的目标以及组织创新。     

现代经济增长与教育发展的数学模型解析

人力资本是现代社会生产的决定因素.人力资本提高可使社会生产效益指数增长.各个学龄阶段的生均教育投入,都应随着科技知识的指数增长而增长.我国走科技先行、可持续发展的道路,2020年的高等教育毛入学率应达到50％,实现高等教育的普及化,公共教育经费占GDP的比重要在2012年达到4％的基础上继续提高,并在2020年达到4.6％至4.7％,以带动全社会的教育投入占GDP比重提高到7％.     

Governance and Economic Development in Africa Since 1970s in Comparison with East Asian Countries

The central argument of the article is that bad governance has been both the source and the consequence of the economic underperformance of African countries. Economic development is the end to be achieved in a sustainable way and this cannot be guaranteed without strong institutions under the conditioning of good governance and if possible democracy. Thus, at the heart of achieving economic development as indicated by East Asian countries and some countries that are able to register economic development in Africa recently, such as Ethiopia and Rwanda among others, they are building the appropriate institutions and policies, which are key to the process of economic growth by affecting the incentives to accumulate, innovate, and accommodate change. The article compares and contrasts governance and economic development between Africa and East Asian countries. It also reflects the lessons learned from East Asian countries to bring rapid economic growth and development in Africa.     

Neighborhood Effects and Regional Poverty Traps in Rural China

The present paper investigates how neighborhood effects are connected to chronic poverty. We examine a large sample of groups of households and find that neighborhood effects are significant in a majority of groups, especially in the poorest groups. People living in poor communities tend to suffer from poverty over time. It is of theoretical and empirical importance to explore how neighborhood effects are interrelated with chronic poverty and the channels through which this occurs. Unlike other econometric analyses, we establish a multilevel econometric model to show that： （i） it is difficult for an individual living in a neighborhood with a high proportion of agricultural labor, low education levels, and poor transport and telecommunication infrastructure to escape from poverty traps; （ii） neighborhood effects dominate in poor communities; and （iii） although poverty is affected by group-level factors, individual factors still play a dominant role in regards to escaping poverty when income surpasses a threshold level Therefore, policy priority should be given to providing social protection and public services, especially in poor rural areas.