On the economic and social benefits of direct selling

The labor market has long included individuals seeking nonemployee, alternative work arrangements. Now, alternative work arrangements such as freelancing, independent contracting, and temporary contracts have entered the lexicon through the following terminology: the gig economy, the sharing economy, the YouEconomy, agile workforce, and contingent workers. There are currently an estimated 18.6 million independent contractors engaged in direct selling. This article reports the first attempt to empirically investigate and document both the economic and social impacts of direct selling in the U.S. Our findings suggest that direct selling has a consequential impact on the U.S. economy and that the direct selling experience fosters a variety of skills that benefit professional activities as well as the personal lives of millions of independent workers.     

环境规制与中国外商直接投资变化——基于DEA多重分解的实证研究

中国经济进入“新常态”,产能过剩和环境污染问题日益突出,国际投资环境不容乐观,“供给侧结构性改革”为中国经济“新常态”下的必要举措。本文探索环境规制下我国FDI变化的影响因素,通过FDI的子向量距离函数定义“环境规制生产技术”和“非环境规制生产技术”,以此构造环境规制的成本效应,测度中国30个省份1999-2015年的环境规制成本,并在此基础上对实际FDI的变化进行分解。本文的主要结论有:2001年后,中国各省份的环境规制成本呈现整体上升趋势,东部地区的环境规制效果最为明显;环境规制下,中国各省份的实际FDI增速先加快后减缓,2015年之前,第二产业对FDI的吸引力最强,2014年开始,第三产业对FDI的吸引显著增强,“供给侧结构性改革”初显成效,促进了我国的产业结构优化升级。反事实检验显示导致各个时期FDI变化的影响因素不尽相同,但随着改革开放的力度不断加大,全要素生产率和产业结构对FDI分布的影响显著增强。     

A tale of two countries: Directed technical change,trade and migratory movements

We propose a North-South model that reconciles trade and production strategies, flows of innovators and the path of economic divergence, or convergence, between countries. We explain the mechanisms behind these forces and show how the technological and economic gaps can be reversed if southern countries stop imitating northern goods and, instead, produce complementary goods. Such a strategy of complementarity on production yields the necessary incentives to innovators to engage in research in southern countries, which enhances the catching-up process between countries. It is also shown that migratory movements of unskilled labor between countries are also relevant to understand the dangers and benefits of different trade strategies for economic growth. This paper suggests a positive (negative) correlation between technological innovation in the North (South) and the level of substitutability in production, while under complementarity, technological innovation catches up in the South, therefore fostering the economic catching up process. A positive correlation between inflows of skilled and unskilled labor and substitutability of production between countries is also verified.     

Redesigning after-sales service: Impact on incumbent product distribution channels

With the growth of multi-channel retailing, many firms that have traditionally relied upon third-party service providers to offer after-sales service (AS) have introduced direct AS channel. While there exist a few studies that examine the effects of adding a direct sales channel on the sales revenue of incumbent channels, there are no studies investigating the effects of adding direct AS channel. This study tries to fill this research gap by exploring cross-channel effects of including AS through the firm's direct brand stores on performance (i.e., revenue, assortment width, and extent of upselling) in both direct and indirect channels. A matched difference-in-difference quasi-experimental design was used to compare the sales outcomes of test and control groups using a five-year longitudinal dataset from a large dual-channel consumer durables firm. Results reveal that providing AS through the firm's direct channel has a positive significant effect on the revenue and upselling in the indirect channel, but no significant impact on assortment width in the indirect channel. However, unlike hypothesized, it results in significantly lower revenue, assortment width, and upselling in the direct channel. We interpret these negative effects as arising from customer confusion and perceived retail crowding. Overall, our research highlights that implementation of going direct with AS should be done with utmost care. Our findings would serve as a building block for future studies that are conducted to understand the dynamic cross-channel effects of introducing direct AS, and would be useful for drawing comparisons and contrasts.     

International Real Estate Investment and Urban Development: An Analysis of Korean Activities in Hanoi,Vietnam

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been recognised as a major influence upon urban development within emerging economies. As the focus of production shifted toward higher skills and advanced technologies, expatriate high-skilled employees of the Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) began to play a significant role in FDI projects and recipient cities begin to experience urban development associated with residential development and community services for the settlement of these expatriate staff. This research reports on the experience of Korean investment in real estate following earlier projects in manufacturing activity in the Hanoi Capital Region. Korean investors are currently the largest FDI source in Vietnam and Hanoi has been favoured by them. The purpose of this research is to examine that the urban impact of manufacturing FDI on a recipient city is magnified by its connections with Real estate FDI (RFDI) in a way that it spurs (1) intensified real estate development, (2) the creation of new urban cores, and (3) new commuting patterns. The clustering of Korea-specific residential development and service functions is a contribution to change in Hanoi. The Korean-built housing complexes have transplanted Korean-style housing design into gated communities and the residents continue their Korean life-styles with easy access to language-specific community facilities. This research sheds light on the coalescent nature of RFDI with overall FDI via flows of MNEs and expatriate staff that can generate direct and indirect spatial impacts at project, city and regional scales.     

白洋港铁水联运车船直取模式研究

白洋港作为长江三峡的核心内陆港,是工业输出港、翻坝转运港和西部出海港,主要服务于白洋工业园区,担当西北地区物流陆水联运的作用。为实现白洋港铁水联运的无缝衔接,在阐述白洋港铁水联运模式及作业流程的基础上,针对白洋港既有铁水联运模式存在的问题,提出白洋港铁水联运车船直取模式,从车船直取模式设施布局及作业流程进行分析,达到压缩无效作业时间、提高白洋港铁水联运效率、释放技术站作业能力等效果,实现白洋港铁水联运效率的提升。     

Is money where the fun ends? Material interests and individuals’ preference for direct democracy

Are people’s attitudes towards referendums as a decision-making procedure predominantly driven by their material self-interest, or do individuals also value direct democracy as such, regardless of the material payoffs associated with anticipated policy outcomes? To answer this question, we use a survey data set that offers information on respondents’ support for referendums as a procedure to decide on tax policy, their income levels, socio-economic characteristics, and, most importantly, their expectation about the majority’s support for higher taxes. We find that the support of low-income individuals for referendums increases substantially if they expect a clear population majority in favor of more redistribution. Conversely, individuals with a high income who expect a majority in favor of higher taxes do not reject referendums more strongly than individuals with an average income who share these expectations.     

中国银行业的外国直接投资:意义及挑战

上世纪90年代,全世界新兴市场国家的银行业出现了外国直接投资迅速增加的现象,这些外国直接投资相应给这些国家的银行体系带来了深远的影响。作为世界银行业全球化发展的组成部分,从2003年开始,中国银行业证明了一个史无前例的新现象—大量的FDI涌入中国银行业,购买股份抢占中国银行业市场。本文试图描述银行FDI在中国的现状,并探索背后的主要原因,包括监管规则的改变、经济的稳健增长、银行业的发展和持续的非金融FDI。银行在公司治理、风险管理、内部控制和人力资源管理等方面出现初步但富有帮助的变化。整个银行体系也发生了变化,包括行业形象得到改善、信用文化得到培养、透明度得到加强、创新得到发展、效率得到提高。然而,对于整个银行体系和经济的有意义的影响目前还没有出现。尽管通过吸引国外有经验的合格战略投资者引进了国际先进的管理惯例,对于中国的银行来说,仍然需要很长时间来全面改革自己的信贷文化和不清晰透明的行为。而且,随着中国的全面开放,前面将会有很多艰巨的挑战,因此,作为一个新兴经济体,一定要有远大视野,全面理解银行业中FDI的长期重要角色,创造外国战略合作伙伴发挥其积极作用的必要条件,督促其提供服务的步骤,以及中国银行系统在全球银行价值链中的正确地位。     

国际对冲基金监管制度比较研究与启示

对冲基金近年发展迅猛,各国根据本国国情初步建立了监管制度。本文认为应从改进治理结构、强化自律监管,加强市场约束、提高透明度等方面,沿运营流程和主要运营当事人两条线索完善对冲基金现有监管法律制度。在金融市场全面开放背景下,我国应在放开私募管制基础上根据市场和金融产品发展进程推进对冲基金逐步合法化。     

税收优惠政策对吸引外国直接投资的作用初探

一直以来,税收理论界对于税收优惠政策的实际经济效应和其吸引外国直接投资(FDI)的有效性始终都存有争议.本文分析了税收优惠政策的有效性以及各种税收优惠手段的实施效果,为我国适当运用税收优惠政策吸引FDI提出了相关建议.