The Limitations of Karl Marx' Social Economics ∗

Studies of the relationship between political democracy and economic inequality have produced diverse findings. This study attempts to mitigate some conceptual and methodological problems inherent in such studies by using multi-indicator concepts of inclusive democracy and economic inequality. Data from the five major historically and culturally homogeneous South Asian countries covering 1980–2003 suggest some bidirectional, positive relationship between inclusive democracy and economic inequality indicating that democracy and equality may not be fully compatible in this region. The paper offers contextual explanations and some mechanisms that may have led to these findings for the region, somewhat deviating from the conventional arguments.     

The time cost of food at home: general and food stamp participant profiles

Little is known about the cost of time in food preparation at home. Yet, this economic variable is a common thread running through recent concerns about obesity and the Food Stamp (FS) program. This article provides initial estimates of the time cost in food preparation at home for the United States. Two standard methods of estimation are implemented and three demographic profiles are considered: (i) the general population, (ii) the typical FS participant and (iii) the typical FS participant following the United States Department of Agriculture Thrifty Food Plan. For the general population and averaging across methods, the time cost share of total food cost is about 30% if the individual works in the market and at home, but it is about 49% if the individual does not work in the market. For the typical FS participant, especially one following the Thrifty Food plan, the time cost share of total food cost can be as much as 26% higher than the general population. These substantial percentages provide strong incentives to purchase food away from home and help undermine overall diet quality and the efficacy of the FS program, which ignores the time cost in food at home production.     

FISCAL POLICY AND ASSET PRICES

We analyse the impact of fiscal policy on asset prices using a panel vector auto‐regressive (PVAR) approach and quarterly data for ten industrialized countries. We find that positive fiscal shocks lead to a temporary fall in stock prices and a gradual and persistent decrease in housing prices. The empirical findings also point to: (i) a contractionary effect of fiscal policy on output in line with the existence of crowding‐out effects and the deterioration of credit conditions; (ii) a weakening of the effectiveness of fiscal policy in recent times; (iii) a more persistent response of asset prices for countries with a lower degree of openness; (iv) a larger impact of fiscal policy on asset prices for small countries; (v) a close link between the responsiveness of asset prices to fiscal policy and the government’s size; (vi) an increase of the sensitivity of asset prices to fiscal policy shocks following the process of financial deregulation and mortgage liberalization; and (vii) significant fiscal multiplier effects in the context of severe housing busts. Finally, the evidence suggests that changes in equity prices may help governments towards consolidation of public finances.     

Merger Waves and Firm Growth: Contemporary Historical Evidence

This article presents the outcomes of an evaluation of the impact of the series of mergers of the local exchange companies that have taken place between 1988 and 2001 on an important measure of performance of the firms undergoing the mergers. The analysis reveals that after firms have undertaken one merger they experience little or no growth after such mergers, but the impact of second mergers on firm growth have been negative. If an important motive in undertaking mergers has been to enhance firm growth, then the merger waves that have been approved and consummated have led to performance declines. The impacts of the merger wave on the growth of the telecommunications sector firms have been negative.     

Generalized beta distributions for describing and analysing intraday stock market data: testing the U-shape pattern

There is an impressive body of empirical evidence which indicates the existence of an intraday U-shaped curve in stock prices. In an effort to shed additional light on the U-shaped curve a new procedure for U-shape testing is introduced. From careful analysis of intraday data it is observed that minimum or maximum stock prices can occur several times during the day. Here, attention is focused on the first time during the day that the maximum or minimum stock price occurred. Because of the importance of the first time during the day that the maximum or minimum stock price occurred, an attempt is made to model these two characteristics with probability distributions. The objective of this study is to use a generalized beta distribution to examine the intradaily behaviour of stocks, using closing stock prices for each one-minute interval, using data from Athens Stock Exchange (ASE). This generalized beta distribution has not been used before to model U-shaped behaviour. The results are consistent with the intraday U-shaped curves, i.e. the time to first maximum (or minimum) stock prices follows a U-shaped pattern. In addition, some potential applications of the generalized beta distribution are discussed and exemplified by analysing the relationship between herd behaviour and U-shaped.     

中国省际环境污染的动态综合评价及影响因素

基于单一污染物难以表达环境污染状况的不足,本文提出了能够代表整体环境状况的污染排放指数,并首次运用一种基于整体差异的动态客观综合评价方法对中国28个省1995～2006年的环境污染状况进行了测度,分析了中国和分区域污染排放指数的变动趋势,并基于经济结构和能源因素视角,采用面板数据模型检验了中国和分区域污染排放指数的影响因素。分析表明,要实现十一五规划中主要污染物在2010年比2006年减少10%的约束性目标,从三大区域来看,应该重点监控东部地区;从省级区域看,应该重点加大对河北、江苏、辽宁、山东、四川、河南、山西、广东、浙江、湖北、湖南等省份污染排放的治理力度,提高能源利用效率、制定符合市场机制的能源价格体系、加大贸易开放度和降低煤炭消费在能源消费中的比例可以减少污染排放。     

China's macroeconomic stability – an empirical study based on survey data

A complete financial stability analysis should include investigation on macroeconomic stability since macroeconomic development and potential imbalance can increase the financial instability and trigger a financial crisis. Survey data of rating on China's macroeconomic stability is analyzed by estimating an ordered logit model with random effect. Among the candidate macroeconomic indicators, we found that inflation is the key variable that determines China's macroeconomic stability, followed by the change in budget balance and GDP growth gap.     

中国区域碳排放空间计量研究

如何从空间视角实现经济发展与碳减排双赢,是建设“美国中国”的重要推手,也是生态文明建设的必然要求。基于STIRPAT模型,从区域层面构建碳排放驱动因素扩展STIRPAT模型,并运用空间杜宾模型实证考察各驱动因素对碳排放规模和碳排放强度的影响。结果显示：地区间碳排放存在显著的示范和带头作用,驱动因素通过直接和间接途径影响碳排放,除能源价格外,其他影响因素均表现出显著性。因此,实现碳减排需要充分考虑空间相关性、异质性和外溢性,稳步推进城镇化进程,加大技术创新步伐,优化产业结构升级和能源消费结构,适度提高能源价格,在扩大对外开放的同时加大对外商投资的甄别。     

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.