Comparative output and labor productivity in manufacturing between China, Japan, Korea and the United States for ca. 1935 - A production-side PPP approach

Following the standard industry-of-origin methodology to measure production-side purchasing power parities (PPPs), this study for the first time provides a set of unit value ratios (UVRs) of manufacturing products between China, Japan, Korea and the US, based on which it derives PPP estimates for individual manufacturing industries for these East Asian countries with the US as the benchmark for ca. 1935. The estimated PPP for total manufacturing suggests that the relative level of the producer price in China, Japan and Korea was about half to two thirds of the prevailing market exchange rates, respectively. The estimated PPPs are used to calculate comparative output and labor productivity for individual industries of these countries for ca. 1935. It shows that the size of factory manufacturing in Japan was 12 percent of the US level and in China only about one percent of the US level. In terms of comparative labor productivity, measured as PPP$ per hour worked, Japanese and Korean manufacturing was 24 and 23 percent of the US level, whereas Chinese manufacturing was only 7 percent of the US level.     

青岛市公共服务型政府模式与策略

改革开放以来，以经济建设为中心的“经济建设型政府”模式已经不适应我国经济和社会发展的需要，从“经济建设型政府”模式到“公共服务型政府”模式的政府转型势在必行。构建服务型政府是我国政府转型的中心任务，服务型政府的建设必须充分利用现代技术和管理理念才能达到建设高效政府的目的。文章在分析青岛市公共服务型政府建设现状的基础上，针对青岛市在进行公共服务型政府建设过程中存在的问题，利用信息技术和计算机网络技术，提出了基于可视化管理技术的青岛公共服务型政府的建设模式和策略。     

东日本大地震对国际资本市场的潜在影响

此次东日本大地震,对日本东北地区的基础设施,以及实体经济的供应链产生了较大冲击,使日本的制造业受到了一定的影响。但由于日本的金融体制相当健全,应对危机的反应十分迅速,赈灾资金迅速到位,同时,在消除灾后日元升值压力方面,日本金融体系的反应也是适当的,从而使日本国内及海外资金的流向保持了相对安定。从短期看此次灾害对国际资本市场的影响不大,然而从中长期来看,如果日本不能借此契机对自身的结构性问题进行调整,将有可能面临财政破产的危机,届时则有可能对国际资本市场产生严重的影响。     

REAL GDP IN PRE-WAR EAST ASIA: A 1934–36 BENCHMARK PURCHASING POWER PARITY COMPARISON WITH THE U.S.

This article provides estimates of purchasing power parity (PPP) converters for expenditure side GDP of Japan/China, Japan/U.S. and China/U.S. in 1934–36 through a detailed matching of prices for more than 50 types of goods and services in private consumption and about 20 items or sectors for investment and government expenditure. Linking with the earlier studies on the price levels of Taiwan and Korea relative to Japan, we derive the mid-1930s benchmark PPP adjusted per capita income of Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea at 32, 11, 23, and 12 percent of the U.S. level respectively. These estimates correct the consistent downward bias in East Asian income levels based on market exchange rate conversions. Compared with Angus Maddison's estimates based on the 1990 benchmark back-projection, our current-price based result are 18 and 44 percent lower for Japan and Korea, and 4 and 10 percent higher for Taiwan and China respectively in the mid-1930s. We develop a preliminary theoretical and empirical framework to examine the possible source of the biases in the back-projection method. The article ends with a discussion on historical implications of our findings on the initial conditions and long-term growth dynamics in East Asia.     

International comparison in historical perspective: Reconstructing the 1934-1936 Benchmark purchasing power parity for Japan, Korea, and Taiwan

This article provides the first expenditure-based estimate of purchasing power parity (PPP) converters for 1934-1936 Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. We match all together 70-80 types of goods and services for private consumption, government expenditure and investment using three levels of weights derived from various expenditure surveys. We find that the 1934-1936 average prices of Korea for private consumption, investment, and government expenditure were about 0.86, 0.89, and 0.98 times that of Japan, respectively; and for Taiwan 0.84, 0.87, and 0.95, respectively. This gives the 1934-1936 Korea and Taiwan overall GDE average price levels of 0.87 and 0.86 that of Japan, respectively. Our new benchmark estimate is an improvement over existing converters based either on exchange rates or the 1990 backward projection method, which is embedded with index number biases. It provides a vital link for a long-term overview of structural change, ethnic income distribution, and the historical convergence for these three economies.