Determinants of co-movement and of lead and lag behavior of business cycles in the Eurozone

In this paper we study business cycle correlations in the Eurozone and its determinants. Additionally, we also analyze the determinants of the lead and lag behavior of business cycles in the Eurozone. We explore the relevance, in the Eurozone context, using GDP and employment as the business cycle measures, of the determinants of business cycle synchronization identified in the literature, namely bilateral trade intensity, dissimilarity of labor market rigidity, dissimilarity in industrial structures, financial openness, and foreign direct investment relations. We estimate a simultaneous 4-equations model by Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and three-stage least square to investigate empirically the above-mentioned determinants of business cycle correlation. Bilateral trade relations present a positive influence on business cycle correlations, while the dissimilarity of labor market rigidity presents a negative influence. The rest of the above-mentioned variables are non-significant. These results are robust to the use of the Hodrick–Prescott-filter and first differences as the de-trending methods, as well as the use of GDP as the business cycle measure, excluding the financial crisis years (2008 and 2009). Results for employment as the business cycle measure are in contrast with the previous ones, and found industrial dissimilarity to be the relevant variable to determine business cycles synchronization. In what concerns the determinants of the lead and lag behavior, results show that the member states of the Eurozone that usually lead the cycle are the ones that are wealthier, with strict employment legislation, more specialized in construction and finance sectors, and more prone to international capital movements. Differences in the determinants between contemporaneous business cycles and lead and lag behavior of business cycles are especially important for policy-makers in the Eurozone to know about, in particular if asymmetric shocks between countries are set in place.     

Marriage equality and interstate migration

This study examines the impact of state imposed, marriage equality laws on interstate migration prior to the 26 June 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling to legalize same-sex marriage in all states. Results of the estimation of a series of probit models suggest that all head of households are more likely to leave states without marriage equality. This estimated impact is significantly larger for household heads in same-sex relationships. When examining the migration choices separately by both sex and relationship type, this result remains significant for female heads of households in different-sex relationships and male heads of households in same-sex relationships. Simulations, using the results of the probit estimations, the analysis of regional trends, and recent rebellions against the Supreme Court ruling indicate that state level, marriage equality laws may be aggravating the imbalanced distribution of same- and different-sex couple households across the country.     

Climate change, health and migration in urban China

In this paper, I empirically investigate the effect of climate change on health and migration in China. Using urban survey data sets from different Chinese cities, I find that an increase in female morbidity is associated with current high temperature change, especially for the symptom of frailty; past hot weather is related to the exacerbation of health problems in women, and the effect on females is larger than that on males who migrate from rural areas to cities; past temperature change is also correlated with a higher probability of chronic symptoms for females. I also find that migration preference from a rural area to a city is correlated with avoiding exposure to hot weather shocks, which shows a regressive tendency. Finally, the migration preferences of male residents who migrate from one city to another city are not associated with the effects of past low temperature changes on health.     

中国省际居民迁移与地方公共支出——基于引力模型的经验研究

文章运用居民迁移的引力模型对我国省级居民迁移与地方公共支出的相关性进行了实证研究.通过对1990年以来的人口普查和抽样调查面板数据的回归分析发现:地方公共支出差异在2000年之前的居民迁移中作用不显著,而在2000年、2005年的迁移中有显著影响.对于迁入地、迁出地地方公共支出,2000年之前的迁移主要受迁入地的拉力作用,而在2000年之后则主要受迁出地的推力作用.     

非农收入、农业效率与农业投资——对我国农村劳动力转移格局的反思

在农业生产函数中引入劳动力"平均素质"变量,并对农业投资做了重新界定及进一步的分析。在已有研究的基础之上,通过计量方法与理论分析发现,农村劳动力转移伴随着农业从业人员"平均素质"的下降,并直接导致了农业效率的损失;劳动力转移增加了农民收入,但农民收入的提高对农业发展的贡献不大,农民收入与农业投资之间具有准确的二次多项式拟合关系,农业投资未能伴随收入提高而有效增长。     

流通业价值转移分析——基于价值转移理论的新思想

本文运用美国学者阿德里安·丁·斯莱沃斯基的价值转移理论,对我国流通业价值转移趋势、特点进行了分析.有关数据表明,我国批零企业处于价值流出阶段,物流、仓储类企业由价值流入阶段向价值稳定阶段转移,销售环节主营业务利润向资源、服务、品牌、网络环节转移.同时,我国流通价值转移呈现出周期加快,方向多维性,路径跨区域性等特征.论文还对我国流通产业可持续盈利提出了多条对策.     

An empirical analysis on factors influencing ecological migration in minority areas of China

Taking Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region as an example, this research makes an empirical analysis on the factors influencing the migration activities of the research subject： the southern mountainous farmers who don＇t emigrate and the farmers who immigrated in Hongsibao Development Zone. With Probit Model, the research shows that the age, educational degree, farming land per capita, number of school-aged children, vocational training experience and the quantity of gained information are all the factors which influence the farmers＇ emigration choice. However, the influential strength of the factors is different. The research aims to provide the government with more scientific evidences for its policies of promoting ecological migration and to encourage more poverty families to immigrate into the areas suitable for living.     

Who stays,who goes,who returns?

We study the determinants of East–West migration within Germany during the period 1990–2006, using administrative data, the German Microcensus and the German Socio‐Economic Panel. We find that in addition to income prospects and employment status, two well‐known determinants of migration, psychological and social factors play an important role in determining the migration decision. Men and women move from East to West in proportionate numbers, but among individuals who lived in the East in 1989 women are more likely to migrate. The migrant body in the second wave of migration, starting in the late 1990s, is increasingly composed of young, educated people. By focusing on differences between temporary and permanent migrants, we find that older and single individuals are more likely to return East than stay permanently in the West, compared with younger and married individuals. Finally, the life satisfaction of permanent migrants increases significantly after a move, while that of temporary migrants remains essentially flat.     

乡—城人口迁移对农村人口老龄化的影响——基于“年龄—迁移率”的定量分析

在我国工业化和城市化快速推进中,农村青壮年人口向城市大规模迁移,其结果会对农村人口结构产生深刻影响。根据“年龄—迁移率”理论,利用2000年第五次人口普查、2005年的1%人口抽查和《中国人口和就业统计年鉴（2009）》等数据,对未来一个时期我国乡—城人口迁移对农村人口年龄结构及农村人口老龄化的影响程度进行测算,结果表明乡—城人口迁移加深了农村人口老龄化程度,这将对农村传统养老制度产生巨大的冲击,进而将会引起农村养老资源供求失衡。应加快推进农村养老制度变革,提高农村社会养老资源供给能力,以弥补农村传统家庭养老资源的流失和供给不足。