Returns to women’s education using optimal IV selection

This paper investigates returns to women’s education by applying an optimal IV selection approach, post-Lasso IV estimation, which improves the first-stage predictive relationship between an endogenous regressor and instruments. Using the 2010 American Community Survey, we find that an extra year of education increases married women’s own income by $4,480 and spouse income by $8,822. Our findings indicate that 53% of the increase in women’s consumption by education is attributed to the marriage market, and thus, we conclude that the marriage market is the primary channel through which education improves women’s well-being. The results demonstrate the advantages of the post-Lasso approach: The resulting two-stage least squares estimator maintains efficiency without increasing finite sample bias and is less subject to the inconsistency problem when some instruments are invalid; This differs from the results using the instrument of birth quarters only, which is mostly applied in studies on returns to education.     

Is it still economic to build a new coal-fired power plant in the U.S.? A real option analysis

In the U.S., virtually no new coal-fired power plants have been built in recent years. Both industry experts and academics seem to believe that no rational firm will build a new coal-fired plant. Will such a trend continue in the future? To provide insights into this question, we investigate the optimal decision of an electricity company with an irreversible and deferrable opportunity to build either a new coal-fired or natural gas-fired power plant as its new base-load resource. According to our real option analysis, the optimal decision depends on the location. In the case of the eastern U.S., it is optimal to choose a natural gas plant if a firm is given a choice among a new natural gas plant, a new coal plant and deferring the investment. However, contrary to the common sentiment in the industry and academia, building a new coal plant in the western U.S. is still more economical than building a new natural gas plant in the absence of emission pricing. Furthermore, introducing carbon pricing to western U.S. states, as California did, can substantially increase the probability that a firm will optimally choose a natural gas plant over a coal plant.     

Residential segregation and educational attainment of children from regional migrant families in China

This paper studies the residential segregation effects on educational attainment of children from regional migrant families in China. We find that if migrant families live in segregated communities with fewer local residents, the school dropout rate of the children living with their parents in the host cities is higher and their high school enrollment rate is lower. We employ a unique set of nationwide survey data of regional migrants in China in 2012 and 2013 that comprises more than 150,000 individuals in each year. We first use the ratio of migrants over the total population residing in a community to measure segregation. When the ratio increases by 10%, the school dropout rate of migrant children increases by 4.7% from the mean value. Secondly, we identify segregation from the housing type of the migrant family. When they reside in the dorms provided by their employers or in the workplace, they will also be surrounded by many migrant colleagues. We find that living in such places increases the “not‐going‐to‐high‐school rate” of migrant children by 35% from the mean value. Our subsample analysis indicates that the segregation effects only exist in the samples of male migrant children and rural hukou families.     

Using paradata to collect better survey data: Evidence from a household survey in Tanzania

Data are a key component in the design, implementation, and evaluation of economic and social policies. Monitoring data quality is an essential part of any serious, large‐scale data collection process. The purpose of this article is to show how paradata should be used before, during, and after data collection to monitor and improve data quality. To do this we use timestamps, global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, and other paradata collected from an 800‐household survey conducted in Tanzania in 2016. We demonstrate how key paradata can be used during each phase of a research project to identify and prevent issues in the data and the methods used to collect it. Our results corroborate the importance of collecting and analyzing paradata to monitor fieldwork and ensuring data quality for micro data collection in developing countries. Based on these findings we also make recommendations as to how researchers can make better use of paradata in the future to manage and improve data quality. We argue for an expansion in the understanding and use of varied paradata among researchers, and a greater focus on its use for improving data quality.     

Supply‐ versus Demand‐Side Policies in the Presence of Carbon Leakage and the Green Paradox

We consider a climate coalition that seeks to reduce global emissions in the presence of carbon leakage and resource exhaustibility. We show that a credible announcement of future unilateral supply‐side policies delays foreign emissions, and we derive the optimal combination of consumer taxes and producer taxes when we consider leakages from free riders, both within periods and across periods. The tax shares generally differ over time. A decline in the present value of the social cost of carbon over time supports a time path where the consumers’ tax share of the total carbon tax also declines over time. We illustrate our findings with a numerical model.     

The Importance of Tax Adjustments When Evaluating Wage Expectations*

Using elicited expectations of future gross salaries, we evaluate characteristics causing German students to make larger or smaller estimation errors. While students seem to underestimate actual salaries by 18 percent, we show that these errors are highly attributable to misconceptions of the progressive income tax. Developing a suitable adjustment procedure, we correct students’ estimates and find that errors decline by 12 percentage points. Conducting regression analyses, we reveal strong connections with students’ age, gender, work experience, secondary school track, and knowledge about student loans. These results change notably if not controlling for students’ misconceptions of the tax system.     

How do green knowledge management and green technology innovation impact corporate environmental performance? Understanding the role of green knowledge acquisition

Increasing regulatory obligations to adapt and execute environmentally friendly operations make it critical for businesses to pursue strategies that can strengthen their competitive edge in the market. Academics and practitioners alike have recently gravitated toward exploring how knowledge acquisition activities might improve business outcomes. To address this growing research interest, this study investigates the critical roles of green knowledge acquisition in enhancing green knowledge management and green technology innovation activities in improving corporate environmental performance, positioning resource commitment as a moderator. The research model has been assessed using structural equation modeling with survey data from 283 Indian manufacturers, demonstrating that green knowledge acquisition significantly impacts green knowledge management and green technology innovation. The statistical findings also show that green technology innovation acts catalyzes the translation of green knowledge management into improved corporate environmental performance. The results demonstrate that resource commitment moderates green knowledge acquisition's interaction with green knowledge management and green technology innovation, providing practical insights enabling managers to focus on planning, allocating, and budgeting resources for effective green practices that can contribute to improving corporate environmental performance.     

国有股权能促进民营企业“脱虚向实”吗？

基于“反向混改”的资源效应与治理效应,以2008—2019年我国沪深A股民营上市公司为样本,分析并实证检验了国有股权对民营企业“脱虚向实”的影响及其机制,形成以下结论：国有股权能促进民营企业“脱虚向实”;机制检验表明,治理效应即降低第二类代理成本与提高分析师关注度是国有股权促进民营企业“脱虚向实”的路径,而非资源效应,表明国有股权主要通过弱化参股企业逐利动机实现“脱虚向实”;异质性分析表明,在内部控制质量低及市场化程度高的样本中,国有股权的积极作用更显著。研究结论对引导民营企业利用国有资本发展实体经济具有借鉴意义。     

退耕还林（草）对延安市粮食生产及粮食安全的影响

该文以退耕还林试点市延安为研究对象,运用最小人均耕地面积和耕地压力指数模型法,对延安市1997～2009年间耕地变化动态与粮食生产情况进行了分析研究。研究结果表明:1998～2003年延安市耕地压力指数、最小耕地面积呈上升态势,2003年后则趋于下降;近些年耕地压力指数略高于1,区内耕地压力、粮食供需矛盾有所缓解,但粮食安全问题依然存在。     

世界主要木本粮食生产和贸易格局变动分析

利用FAOSTAT数据库的相关数据,对近50年世界主要木本粮食生产和贸易变动状况进行分析。研究结果表明:虽然世界主要木本粮食的收获总面积和年总产量均有所增长,但是年产量增长缓慢,且单位面积产量出现下降;中国和中东国家对世界主要木本粮食生产扩张贡献大,日本和意大利等发达国家的木本粮食生产规模缩小;世界主要木本粮食的出口量小,出口增长缓慢,中国的板栗和柿子产量虽很高,但国际竞争力却不强;世界木本粮食的主要进口国变动不大,仍然以日本、法国和美国等发达国家为主。