美国的贸易保护:“国家利益”决定抑或“利益集团”导向——基于美国制造业的实证分析

在美国贸易保护政策的形成过程中,国家利益(或政府目标)以及国内利益集团都是重要的影响变量。对美国制造业贸易保护的实证分析表明,国家的核心利益或基本目标始终是决定贸易保护程度的主要变量,而美国国内利益集团对美国贸易政策的影响则是"边际性的";利益集团在很大程度上左右或影响美国对外贸易政策的观点,并没有得到来自制造业经验证据的支持。     

产业内贸易决定因素——基于我国装备制造业的静态面板数据

本文利用F-F指数计算了我国制造业产业内贸易水平,结果显示产业内贸易处于较高水平并且呈上升趋势。对指数进行分解可以看出:垂直型产业内贸易虽然下降但仍处于主导地位;水平型产业内贸易在上升,说明我国装备制造业目前还处于加工贸易的低端,但在不断提升国际分工地位。对产业内贸易决定因素的实证研究显示,要素禀赋及其变化是引起产业内贸易变动的主要因素,而外商直接投资、规模经济和产品差异三个因素的影响很微弱,这表明我国装备制造业扩张的基础是比较优势且主要集中于产业链低端。     

Land use changes to cash crop plantations: crop types,multilevel determinants and policy implications

Cash crop plantation has recently become an expanding global phenomenon. Characterizing the dynamics of cash crop plantations and the corresponding determinants should provide critical references for land use policy. Using aerial photos and geographic information system, this paper investigated the trends of four types of cash crops (tea, fruit, mulberry and nursery) and their relations to other land use changes within Hangzhou region in subtropical China. Results showed that the total cash crop cultivated surface increased by 541.3 ha from 2004 to 2014. Most of the new tea and fruit plantations were established in places previously used as forest and woodland. Mulberry and nursery mainly expanded by replacing paddy, woodland and forest. By combining household survey, geospatial techniques and multilevel regression, multilevel determinants of cash cropping probability and cash crop expansion were quantified. At the parcel level, tea and fruit plantations inclined to occur on hilly land with gentle slope. Mulberry and nursery plantations were likely to be observed in flat areas with low elevation. Parcels covered by high quality soils and with convenient communications experienced greater cash cropping probability. At the household level, households constituted of female and old-aged labor or with low agricultural labor intensity demonstrated high probability of tea and mulberry plantations. Conversely, households constituted of middle-aged labor or with high agricultural labor intensity tended to grow more fruit and nursery. Besides, wealthier households were prone to establish fruit and nursery plantations but were reluctant to involve in tea and mulberry cropping. At the village level, population density was a significant determinant of cash cropping probability, but was an insignificant determinant of cash crop expansion. Greater occurrence of cash cropping was observed in villages with higher proportion of migrant labor and leasing land. Distance to county road and distance to provincial road were identified as negative determinants. Policy was evidenced to be of significant influence on cash cropping probability and cash crop expansion. We argue that a balance should be achieved between cash cropping promotion and natural resources protection in formulating the local land use policy.     

A simple theory and evidence on the determinants of firm R&D

This paper derives a simple, but informative, model of firm R&D to figure out key factors that determine firm R&D effort. The model suggests a demand-pull, technology-push theory of R&D by showing that a firm's profit-maximizing R&D expenditure is determined jointly by both demand-side factors and technology-side factors. The former includes demand size (firm sales) and consumer preference over quality and price and the latter includes R&D cost structure or the production-cost effect of product R&D and firm-specific technological competence. In addition, the model shows that other things being equal, the stock of exogenous technological knowledge, including the firm's previously accumulated technological knowledge, relevant to current R&D which is negatively related with current R&D effort. An empirical analysis of firm R&D intensities and technological capabilities of more than 1600 firms in nine industries across six countries provides supportive evidence for the theory. Further, the theory implies that R&D intensity or the R&D-to-sales ratio is independent of firm size unless firm size affects technological competence and that given consumer preference and R&D cost structure facing all firms in the same industry, the distribution of firm-specific technological competence among firms determines the distribution of firm R&D intensities within the industry.     

Cross-Cultural Diversity,Leadership and Workplace Relations in Australia

Australia, as a multicultural society, faces many challenges, not the least of which is that of coping with increasing cultural diversity in the workplace, and - as the global trend continues, even accelerates, in the new millennium - managing cross-cultural issues will become more and more of a priority. The specific cultural diversity issue considered in this contribution is the relationship between perceived leadership behaviour and subordinate job satisfaction in two different cultural groups, Vietnamese and Australian. The validity of the leadership and job satisfaction theories in cultures other than the ones in which they originated is challenged, and it is argued that the change in business environments such as globalization, international mergers and acquisitions, and diverse cultural workforces has made the universal assumptions of these theories questionable.     

Empires of the sky: determinants of global airlines' accounting-policy choices

This study quantifies the current level of diversity observed in airline accounting and examines possible determinants that explain accounting-policy choices by the global airline industry. Airlines' accounting-measurement policy for unrealized foreign-exchange differences and their disclosure of frequent-flyer information remains diverse. Inferential statistics shows that larger airlines tend to take unrealized foreign-exchange differences directly to equity and tend to disclose frequent-flyer accounting policy, while airlines with lower leverage tend to disclose frequent-flyer accounting.     

The Industry Determinants of Exchange Rate Pass‐Through to Chinese Domestic Prices, 1980–2002

Previous research has found industry‐ and time‐varying effects of the exchange rate on domestic producer prices in China for the years 1980–2002. In this study, I examine the determinants of these variations. The variation of pass‐through elasticity across industries is explained by a set of variables that characterize market competitiveness, while the change of the pass‐through elasticity over time is interpreted by infrastructure development and the increasing proportion of non‐state‐owned enterprises in the economy, along with the structural break in years 1993–94. This study sheds light on the current debate on the effect of the urged appreciation of the Chinese Yuan.     

Advancing the evidence base for public policies impacting on dietary behaviour,physical activity and sedentary behaviour in Europe: The Policy Evaluation Network promoting a multidisciplinary approach

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of global mortality. As the social and economic costs of NCDs have escalated, action is needed to tackle important causes of many NCD’s: low physical activity levels and unhealthy dietary behaviours. As these behaviours are driven by upstream factors, successful policy interventions are required that encourage healthy dietary behaviours, improve physical activity levels and reduce sedentary behaviours of entire populations. However, to date, no systematic research on the implementation and evaluation of policy interventions related to these health behaviours has been conducted across Europe. Consequently, no information on the merit, gaps, worth or utility of cross-European policy interventions is available, and no guidance or recommendations on how to enhance this knowledge across European countries exists. As part of the Joint Programming Initiative “A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life” (JPI HDHL), 28 research institutes from seven European countries and New Zealand have combined their expertise to form the Policy Evaluation Network (PEN). PEN’s aim is to advance tools to identify, evaluate, implement and benchmark policies designed to directly or indirectly target dietary behaviours, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour in Europe, as well as to understand how these policies increase or decrease health inequalities. Using well-defined evaluation principles and methods, PEN will examine the content, implementation and impact of policies addressing dietary behaviour, physical activity levels and sedentary behaviour across Europe. It will realise the first steps in a bespoke health policy monitoring and surveillance system for Europe, and refine our knowledge of appropriate research designs and methods for the quantification of policy impact. It will contribute to our understanding of how to achieve successful transnational policy implementation and monitoring of these policies in different cultural, demographic or socioeconomic settings. PEN will consider equity and diversity aspects to ensure that policy actions are inclusive and culturally sensitive. Finally, based on three policy cases, PEN will illustrate how best to evaluate the implementation and impact of such policies in order to yield healthy diets and activity patterns that result in healthier lives for all European citizens.     

CEO Risk Preference and Investing in R&D

This study aims at: (1) developing an index to measure CEO risk tolerance using publicly available data, and (2) examining the association between this index and investment in risky projects. Using relative pay‐at‐risk as a proxy for risk preference (tolerance) is a new proposition and is supported by having significant association with CEOs' socio‐demographic variables—the variables often studied in connection with risk aversion. Furthermore, this risk preference indicator has a positive association with risk‐taking behaviour as proxied by R&D expenditures. The in‐sample estimation and out‐of‐sample predictions support (a) using relative pay‐at‐risk as a valid proxy for risk tolerance, and (b) finding statistically significant positive association between this measure and R&D expenditures. The association has different degrees of strength for nine out of 11 industries.     

What determines stock liquidity in Australia?

Using an index of corporate governance quality (CGQ), we provide the first robust evidence of the determinants of stock liquidity in Australia. We assume that CGQ affects stock liquidity because effective governance decreases information asymmetries between insiders (e.g. managers) and outsiders (e.g. investors), as well as among outsiders, by improving information transparency of a firm. Consistent with agency theory, this study, using 435 large capitalization firms over the period from 2001 to 2008, finds a significant positive relationship between CGQ and stock liquidity, suggesting that better governed firms have a higher level of stock liquidity. These findings are robust to alternative proxies of CGQ, stock liquidity and endogeneity bias.