Local Officials＇ Incentives and China＇s Economic Growth： Tournament Thesis Reexamined and Alternative Explanatory Framework

To explain China's dramatic economic growth, researchers have proposed a “tournament thesis.” According to this thesis, the central government's ability to set growth targets has played a crucial role in growth since political promotion is largely based on local economic growth. We use provincial officials' career mobility data to test this thesis. For both time periods (1979–1995 and 1979–2002), economic performance, measured in annual, average and relative terms, did not affect these officials' career advancement. We then sketch an alternative analytical framework to explain Chinese local officials' strong urge for developmentalism and, finally, draw policy implications from this explanatory framework.     

The role of the stock market in the provision of Islamic development finance: Evidence from Sudan

This paper assesses the impact of stock exchange funding in the Shari'ya compliant Islamic economy of Sudan. Evidence suggests that while Islamic financial instruments have considerable potential in facilitating development finance through their emphasis on partnership this is better achieved by the banking system rather than the Khartoum Stock Exchange. A case study of the Sudan Telecommunications company shows that larger firms able to cross-list elsewhere are likely to choose regional markets in preference to their domestic one thus benefiting from lower costs of equity. However, governance preferences are likely to favour block shareholders following the Islamic finance partnership concept.     

Food Security and Agricultural Changes in the Course of China＇s Urbanization

China's small farmers face increasing challenges because of land and water resource constraints and the effects of climate change. With the strengthened agricultural stimulus policies, poverty reduction and social protection programs, as well as the expanding international food trade, up to now China has achieved food security through small farm agriculture. During intensive economic restructuring, smallholders still coexist with large‐sized farms and industrialized agricultural businesses, but are in a vulnerable position in market transactions. Oriented to 2050, China's agricultural development and food security policies should work to improve domestic market structure, to further release international trade control and to empower smallholders.     

Agglomeration and productivity: Firm-level evidence from China's textile industry

Is the spatial concentration of manufacturing activity able to enhance firm-level productivity? This question is particularly relevant to production in China, which has a huge territory and population, but a skewed distribution in terms of urban–rural development. This paper aims to examine the dynamics of industrial agglomeration and the impact of agglomeration on firm-level productivity in China's textile industry by using a firm-level panel dataset from 2000 to 2005. First, the average value of the Ellison–Glaeser (EG) index (city level) is found to be approximately 0.00019. Moreover, the calculated city EG index of spatial concentration for each year exhibits a decreasing trend of spatial agglomeration for garments and other fiber products, but an increasing trend for the textile industries' agglomeration in China. The above findings are similar to the findings of Lu and Tao (2009). Secondly and importantly, this study finds an inverted U-shape relationship between agglomeration and productivity. It suggests that while industrial agglomeration enhances firms' productivity, agglomeration diseconomies may appear if the degree of agglomeration is too high.     

A multidimensional analysis of poverty in China from 1991 to 2006

Most studies have reported non negligible improvements for China in terms of poverty during the last three decades. However, this result is potentially hampered by two limitations. First, it may be contingent to the specific choices made regarding the poverty line and the poverty indices used for the analysis. As a consequence, it may collapse if one uses alternative poverty lines or poverty measures. Second, it results from a focus on the sole monetary aspects of poverty. As income does not cover all facets of well-being and since the relationship between these two concepts are quite fuzzy, it may be worth using a broader view of well-being, hence opting for a multidimensional approach of poverty analysis. In the present paper, these two issues are addressed using multidimensional stochastic dominance procedures on the joint distribution of income, education and health in seven Chinese provinces.     

MUTUAL FUND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION – APPLICATION OF SYSTEM BCC MODEL

For the first time, this research adopts the system BCC model in data envelopment analysis in order to evaluate mutual fund performance and compares the results between the BCC model and the system BCC model. This study is based on the sample of stock funds and balanced funds in Taiwan, with the empirical results summarised as follows. (i) Under the system BCC model, the average score of balanced funds is greater than the average score of stock funds. (ii) There is a significant difference in efficiency scores between the BCC model and the system BCC model, and it is proper to adopt the system BCC model. (iii) The number of major reference sets that have been referenced under the BCC model is larger than under the system BCC model. (iv) If we neglect the distinctions between stock funds and balanced funds, there will be errors on performance assessment. Ultimately, the results reveal that there is a significant difference between the two models. Provided no consideration is made for the funds belonging to two different systems, errors in performance evaluation are inevitable. This research provides investors with both a more accurate and comprehensive evaluation method.     

Estimates of average marginal tax rates on factor incomes in Japan

In this paper, we estimate average marginal tax rates on factor incomes in Japan from 1963 to 2007. We adapt the method of D.H. Joines [Estimates of effective marginal tax rates on factor incomes. J. Bus. 54 (2), 191-226.] to the Japanese tax and social security system. Average marginal tax rates on labor incomes without social security premiums range from 14% to 21%, whereas the rates on incomes with social security have increased from 21% to 33%. Tax rates on capital incomes have fluctuated between 35% and 58%. We also compare our estimates with average tax rates and the wedges from business cycle accounting.     

R＆D Activities of Manufacturing Multinationals in China： Structure,Motivations and Regional Differences

This paper investigates the R＆D motivations of various multinationals operating in China, drawing on a large-scale, firm-level dataset of official Chinese statistics on science and technology activities. The present study shows that R＆D efforts in China have intensified for bothJbreign-owned and domestic firms, but less so for foreign-owned firms, perhaps because foreign-owned firms tend to operate on a foundation of technological capabilities developed within their home countries. Statistical analysis confirms that the major motivations for foreign R＆D in China are production-driven, not market-driven or technology-driven. Nevertheless, one sees significant variations in foreign R＆D strategies from region to region. Guangdong is characterized by production-driven R＆D. In Beijing, R＆D strategies tend to take a technology-driven approach, drawing on the clusters of scienl（fic institutions. In Shanghai, the R＆D efforts of multinationals tend to focus on support for market-driven R＆D,     

SPATIAL DISCRIMINATION,PRODUCT SUBSTITUTABILITY AND WELFARE

The paper examines a quantity–location duopoly game in a spatial discrimination model in which the delivered goods are assumed to be imperfect substitutes or complements. By extending the range of the unit transportation cost analysed in the existing literature, it is shown that a dispersed equilibrium arises in which the choice of the optimal locations is affected by the degree of product substitutability. The interaction between the latter and the size of the transportation cost is also discussed in order to verify its welfare implications. In particular, it is shown that in this spatial framework imperfect substitutability may increase welfare.