Unconditional quantile regressions,wage growth and inequality in the Philippines, 2001–2006: the contribution of covariates

I implement a two-stage procedure to estimate the components of real wage change in the Philippines along the wage distribution from 2001 to 2006, as well as the contribution of individual covariates to each component. The methodology is based on Re-centred Influence Functions (RIF), as suggested by Firpo et al. (2009). The advantage of this methodology is that it not only decomposes the unconditional wage change at any quantile of the wage distribution, but also allows the characterization of the contribution of any single covariate on each component. I find that real earnings of males in the Philippines declined and the decline along the earnings distribution is generally higher at higher deciles for all males and higher at lower deciles in Manila. Decomposition results are driven by the wage structure component, while the composition effect is small and generally positive with education as the main contributor. Within the wage structure effect, the main determinants are associated with changes in the rewards of experience and occupation, along with residual change (change in intercepts).     

我国政府财政支出挤出效应研究

通过分析1990-2009年中国省级面板数据,本文研究政府财政支出是否具有挤出效应。研究发现:财政支出对私人投资具有明显的挤入效应,动态面板GMM模型的分析显示投资自身具有强烈的自相关性;投资具有通货膨胀效应,而且和消费具有互相抵消的效果;挤入效应在东部和西部存在,而在中部则不存在,1994年的分税制改革导致了挤入效应上升;分位数回归的结果显示挤入效应具有明显的非对称性,在较小和较高水平的私人固定资产投资水平上挤入效应比较大。     

百分位数回归及应用研究

在进行定量分析时,最小二乘法已经成为一种可信赖的工具。但是运用最小二乘法的条件比较高,在实际问题中,完全满足条件的情况并不多见,那么在应用时就难以得到无偏的、有效的参数估计量。针对上述问题,以OILPLUS公司取暖用燃油消耗的分布为主要研究对象,在进行参数估计时,应用百分位数回归方法,既可以看到采用百分位数回归方法与采用最小二乘法得到的模型显著不同,又可以得到比最小二乘法更为丰富的信息。     

Why the earnings of the middle class declined: evidence from Japan

Using rich governmental micro data, we explore the reasons for the decline in earnings of the middle class in Japan. Many developed countries have seen the decrease in middle-class earnings, and Japan, long known for its solid middle class, is no exception. Our analyses revealed that the main reasons for the decline differ between males and females. The decrease in the earnings of middle-class male workers is due to the decrease in general human capital captured by returns to potential experience years. In contrast, the decrease in the earnings of middle-class female workers is mainly due to the increase in the supply of part-time workers. Furthermore, the firm-specific human capital captured by the return to tenure has increased only among high-wage male workers. This implies that Japanese firms invest in a selected few able workers, regardless of age, because they have been changing human resource strategy in response to economic globalization and changes in technology and the management environment.     

Influencing factors of disability among the elderly in China, 2003–2016: application of Bayesian quantile regression

Abstract

Background: More and more disabled elderly need long-term care as China becomes an aging society. In 2016, there were 220 million people over the age of 60, and nearly 10 million completely disabled elderly people who cannot complete Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). Therefore, the topic of influencing factors for disability among the elderly in China has attracted close attention from researchers, most of which use the traditional empirical methods, such as Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and logistic.

Objective: The purpose of this paper was to introduce the Bayesian Quantile Regression (BQR) method to the topic of the disabled elderly, which was achieved by using BQR to study the influencing factors of disability among the elderly in China during 2003–2016.

Methods: This paper was the first attempt to use the BQR for the influencing factors of disability among the elderly in China. Furthermore, a comparison was made between the regression results of BQR, OLS, Quantile Regression (QR), and Bayesian Linear Regression (BLR).

Results: It was found that there was a relatively stable relationship between chronic diseases and disability, although there was a little difference in different quantiles. In addition, the BQR can obtain results similar to the traditional method. For instance, the coefficient of chronic diseases (to total disability) obtained by OLS, QR, and BLR were basically consistent (around 0.778), which was similar to BQR. The BQR not only provided estimates for all the quantiles, but also provided upper and lower values of a certain confidence interval.

Conclusions: By applying the BQR to the influencing factors of disability among the elderly in China, we reached the conclusion that BQR methods are adaptable for this research topic because of their characteristics and advantages over the traditional methods, such as less strict constraints, the estimates for all quantiles, and the combination of historical information with prior information. Moreover, the BQR method appropriately obtained the lower and upper values in a confidence interval, which can provide prediction space for the future.     

FOREIGN AID,TERRORISM AND GROWTH: CONDITIONAL EVIDENCE FROM QUANTILE REGRESSION

In this study, we investigate the role of development assistance in reducing a hypothetically negative impact of terrorism on economic growth, using a panel of 78 developing nations with data for the period 1984–2008. The empirical evidence is based on interactive quantile regressions. Domestic, transnational, unclear and total terrorism dynamics are employed while development assistance measurements comprised bilateral and multilateral aid variables. With regard to the investigated hypothesis, we consistently confirm that: (i) In quantiles where terrorism is found to increase (decrease) economic growth, its interaction with foreign aid decreases (increases) economic growth. (ii) Comparing thresholds of the modifying aid variables for which the hypothesis is either rejected or accepted reveals that higher levels of multilateral (bilateral) aid are needed to reverse the negative effect of total (unclear) terrorism on growth, than the quantity needed to reverse the positive impact of transnational (domestic and total) terrorism(s) on growth. (iii) There is scant evidence of positive net effects. Overall the findings broadly indicate that foreign aid is a necessary but not a sufficient policy tool for completely dampening the effects of terrorism on economic growth.     

农业保险保费补贴政策的减贫效应及其区域异质性

利用FGT贫困指数作为被解释变量,结合我国30个省份的2010-2018年农业保险保费财政补贴数据,构建面板分位数回归模型检验我国对农业保险保费财政补贴的减贫效应的异质性,并分东、中和西部进行了稳健性检验.研究表明,在经济发展水平低的地区,农业保险保费财政补贴具有显著的减贫效应,但经济发展水平不同的地区存在减贫效应的区域异质性:随着贫困程度加深(分位点增高),农业保险保费补贴的扶贫效应先增加后降低.农业保险保费财政补贴每提高1％,FGT贫困指数下降的范围为0.045％～0.15％.     

Evolution of Urban–rural Living Standards Inequality in Thailand: 1990–2006

The present study examines the developments in urban–rural living standard inequality in Thailand from 1990 to 2006 using a methodology that allows for the identification of individual contributors to changes in inequality. We also propose a method to analyze the changes over time in urban–rural living standards. We find that the urban–rural gap in living standards in Thailand has narrowed substantially since the early 1990s, both at the mean and especially for households in the upper part of the expenditure distribution; however, the narrowing of the gap at the bottom of the expenditure distribution has been negligible. The study also identifies the main individual contributors to changes over time in living standards between urban and rural areas in Thailand.     

A simple two-component model for the distribution of intraday returns

We model the conditional distribution of high-frequency financial returns by means of a two-component quantile regression model. Using three years of 30 minute returns, we show that the conditional distribution depends on past returns and on the time of the day. Two practical applications illustrate the usefulness of the model. First, we provide quantile-based measures of conditional volatility, asymmetry and kurtosis that do not depend on the existence of moments. We find seasonal patterns and time dependencies beyond volatility. Second, we estimate and forecast intraday Value at Risk. The two-component model is able to provide good-risk assessments and to outperform GARCH-based Value at Risk evaluations.