Growth,inequality and innovation: A CGE analysis of India

This paper probes into the growth and distributional consequences of four basic policy options emanating from the three sources of economic growth, namely, physical capital, human capital and technological progress, with the help of a computable general equilibrium model of India. The simulation results show that, the efficacy of physical capital accumulation in augmenting growth and abating income inequality is greater than that of human capital accumulation. In the long term, however, the latter overtakes the former in promoting growth, but inequality worsens. When the two policies are commingled, growth improves but it continues to be inequality-augmenting. Finally, with concomitant Hicks-neutral technological progress, not only is growth enhanced further, but it turns out to be significantly inequality-mitigating. The emerging policy lesson is that any integrated policy of boosting investments in physical as well as human capital must be closely bound up with technological progress for growth to be inclusive.     

Positive externalities from active car safety systems: A new justification for car safety regulations

Policymakers around the globe have opted for high levels of regulation of the market for vehicle safety and declared many vehicle safety systems as mandatory for new cars. In this paper we argue that the delivered justifications for these policies are at least questionable. We add a completely new argument to the discussion and show in a simple theoretical model that vehicle safety systems might cause positive externalities. Based on a large dataset of traffic accidents in Germany we show that the these externalities in fact occur. Based on our estimation results we show that for anti-lock-brakes (ABS) and electronic stability programmes (ESP) the average expected externality exceeds the price of these systems. Thus, the obligation to equip any new car with both ABS and ESP is adequate from an allocative point of view although the official justification for the introduction of these regulations are flawed.     

北京市乡镇企业技术创新服务体系建设研究

本文认为 :北京市乡镇企业在技术创新服务上存在着一系列问题 ,必须由政府介入 ,构建乡镇企业技术创新服务体系。总体思路是 :以企业产权制度改革为突破口 ,以服务实体建设为核心 ,以政策创新为基础 ,构建具有首都特色的乡镇企业技术创新服务体系 ,不断提高北京市乡镇企业的技术创新水平和区域竞争力 ;服务实体建设是成立北京市乡镇企业技术创新和技术转移服务中心。最后 ,提出了旨在促进北京市乡镇企业技术创新水平提高的对策建议。     

And yet they Co-move! Public capital and productivity in OECD

In this paper, we add to the debate on the public capital–productivity link by applying very recent developments in the panel time series literature that take into account cross sectional correlation in non-stationary panels. In particular, we evaluate the productive effect of public capital by estimating various production functions on a panel of 21 OECD countries over the period 1975–2002. Our results suggest that public capital has a positive long run impact on output, with elasticities that range between 0.05 and 0.15, depending on model specification. These findings are robust to the existence of spillover effects from public capital investments in other countries and to the inclusion of other productivity determinants, like human capital, the stock of patents and R&D capital. Finally, we do not find any important effect of public capital on GDP in the short run: this suggests that public infrastructure investments might not be a powerful countercyclical policy instrument.     

完善科技创新法律环境探析

科技创新需要良好的法律环境。目前 ,制定科技创新基本法 ,加大科技创新相关法律的创制与修订力度 ,建立健全政府引导和扶持科技创新的法律环境 ,是完善科技创新法律环境的重要举措     

Does inflation targeting lower inflation and spur growth?

Over the last few decades several countries have turned to inflation targeting as a policy choice for instilling stability into their economies. Prior studies have shown that inflation targeting has reduced inflation in those countries without significantly impacting GDP. This study seeks to improve upon these results by identifying the impact of timing on the policy decision as well as its impact as related to specific regions of the world. The focus is on developing countries across six regions. We find significant regional variation in developing countries in our sample in terms of the direction of changes in inflation following a switch to the inflation targeting policy. Moreover, although the impact of inflation targeting on real GDP is minimal overall, there is a statistically significant increase in real GDP among developing countries in certain regions only, namely, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.     

Towards a more integrated, symmetric and viable EMU

The capacity of the EMU system to successfully tackle an economic crisis has been questioned during the recent financial and economic turmoil. The basic economic structure and competitiveness in the eurozone has developed in an undesirable direction. The number of member countries of the EMU, as well as the basic construction of the EMU system, must again be the focus of the discussion. After a study of the current accounts of 12 EMU countries follows a discussion in terms of the Barro–Gordon model about the costs of the EMU, i.e., to bring together the preferences of the political authorities in different EMU countries and the optimal combination of inflation and employment in the eurozone to determine the sought equilibrium of the model. If economic structural differences are increasing, they must be compensated by increased integration. It is feasible, but only for the economically viable EMU countries.     

Effect of financial development on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa

This paper examines the overall economic growth effect when the growth in finance and real sector is disproportionate relying on panel data for 29 sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1980–2014. Results from the system generalized methods of moments (GMM) reveal that, while financial development supports economic growth, the extent to which finance helps growth depends crucially on the simultaneous growth of real and financial sectors. The elasticity of growth to changes in either size of the real or financial sector is higher under balanced sectoral growth. We also show that rapid and unbridled credit growth comes at a huge cost to economic growth with consequences stemming from financing of risky and unsustainable investments coupled with superfluous consumption fueling inflation. However, the pass-through excess finance–economic growth effect via the investment channel is stronger.     

Does research and development expenditure impact innovation? Evidence from the European Union countries

This study empirically investigates the relationship between innovation and Research & Development expenditure in European Union countries over the period 1995–2014. The findings of the empirical analysis show that there is a co-integration relationship between innovation and R&D. The results also reveal the existence of a positive and significant effect of business, public and higher education R&D on innovation. Business R&D is the sector with the highest positive effect on innovation. The results indicate that EU should strengthen the cooperation between business, public and higher education R&D through the encouragement of partnerships between the private sector, R&D and innovation system.     

Financial efficiency and accounting quality: The impact of institutional micro-factors on FDI

In this paper, we explore whether factors such as financial markets and accounting qualities contribute to foreign direct investment (FDI). We use a unique data source: the survey data from World Economic Forum, to measure the efficiency of the financial markets and the quality of accounting standards. With this unique data, we demonstrate that financial markets and accounting quality are important factors of FDI inflow into a country. In particular, FDI is positively correlated with the strength of financial audits and reporting standards and venture capital availability for all countries. We also show that accounting quality measures are more important for developing and emerging countries than for developed countries. On the other hand, financial market measures, especially the access to venture capital, have a bigger impact in attracting FDI flow into developed countries. These results support the hypothesis that local financial markets and accounting quality affect FDI. The results have strong policy implications for governmental regulatory agencies.     

从技术创新透视外部网络化对企业治理结构的影响

组织协调在企业的技术创新过程中具有越来越重要的意义 ,离开组织协调 ,各种资源将无法得到有效配置。外部网络化则是企业实现外部协调的新的组织方式。从技术创新的角度看 ,外部网络化在实现组织协调中具有相应的经济学意义 ,即网络化企业之间的交易具有与传统交易成本分析不同的特征 ,这种建立在长期合作基础上的交易更加注重长期效益而降低了短期机会主义行为的可能性。这种特征进一步影响到企业治理结构的安排———基于共同利益而建立的长期合作关系逐渐使企业外部人进入到企业内部 ,从而使企业治理结构在一定程度上带有了共同治理的色彩     

TRIPs与国内知识产权制度改革：中国与印度的比较研究

中国和印度参照TRIPs的规则调整了国内法律体系和相关组织机构。两国的国内知识产权制度有着深刻的国际根源。在国内改革过程中,两国都进行了一定的社会动员,为改革提供了舆论基础。中国和印度对TRIPs的遵守不仅扩大了两国的行动空间,也提高了国际知识产权规范的代表性和影响力。发达国家对包括中国和印度在内的发展中国家过于苛刻的要求没有充分考虑发展中国家的国情,也不符合知识产权发展的正常速度和轨迹。     

技术创新过程中著作权的战略与保护策略选择

在技术创新过程中,取得和利用著作权应是技术创新主体,是企业必须追求的重要目标。作为技术创新主体,不仅应对取得、利用、管理和保护著作权的时间、方式和地域等问题做出保护性战略选择,而且还应在机构、人员、制度和手段等方面选择或采取一系列保护策略。     

Pollutant emissions,energy use and real output in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries

Industrialisation is pivotal to growth sustainability and this requires intense energy use that may invariably trigger pollutant emissions thereby necessitating some evidence-based policy concerns. This study therefore examines the dynamic connection among pollutant emission, energy use and real output per capita in SSA. Owing to cross-sectional dependence, the Prais-Winsten model with panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) alongside the panel spatial correlation consistent (PSCC) approach is applied and key findings are established. First, the EKC hypothesis holds and this is striking for both oil-rich and oil-poor SSA countries. Second, energy use induces pollutant emissions in oil-rich SSA countries but not in oil-poor SSA countries. Third, pollutant emissions and energy use are real output per capita-enhancing in SSA generally and in oil-poor countries. Thus, policy measures to safeguard efficient optimisation of energy use in ensuring a balance as well as developing SSA’s rich renewable energy sources is imperative for long-run growth.     

Expectations and the inertia of inflation: The case of Indonesia

It has long been recognised that the balance between backward-looking and forward-looking expectations has critical policy implications. This is because backward-looking expectations impart a substantial degree of inertia to the inflation rate whereas forward-looking expectations lead to rapid adjustment in response to shocks. In this paper we examine the policy implications for the Indonesian economy of the form taken by the price adjustment equation. We allow for both backward-looking and forward-looking effects of inflation expectations, proxying forward expectations with the realised rate and using a GMM estimator to allow for the resulting endogeneity. Using monthly data from 1980:1 to 2008:12, our estimates show that CPI inflation in Indonesia is significantly determined by backward-looking inflation expectations, forward-looking inflation expectations, the output gap, exchange rate depreciation, and money growth. However, the backward expectation attracts a significantly higher weight than the forward rate leading to the conclusion that inflation in Indonesia has considerable inertia. The implication of this is that a gradualist monetary policy is likely to be more effective as a means of smoothing fluctuations in inflation and real output.     

一语、二语迁移对三语写作的影响

从一语作文水平、二语作文水平、一语译三语能力、二语译三语能力四个方面考察一语、二语迁移对三语写作的影响,利用单因素方差分析比较发现,一语作文水平、一、二语译三语水平对三语作文水平的影响存在阀限,超过一定的阀限则影响不明显,而二语写作对三语写作的影响是持久性的。需要保持一定的一语写作水平和翻译能力,发展二语写作能力,力求三语写作能力的提高。     

Public expenditures on education, human capital and growth in Canada: An OLG model analysis

Much of the current debate in ageing countries focuses on whether governments should increase investments in human capital. We address this issue by simulating the effects of additional education spending using an overlapping-generations model applied to Canada. In the context of population ageing, the results indicate that how the policy is funded has powerful impacts on the targeted outcomes. Higher education incentives may increase the rate of human capital accumulation and mitigate the negative effects of slowing labour force growth. However, the impact depends on the distortions implied by alternative tax instruments and the efficiency of public expenditures on education.     

政府创新与民主:一个分析框架

随着我国社会主义市场经济的深入发展和全球化趋势的日益明显,我国各级地方政府开始主动地在政府观念、体制、过程等方面进行创造性的变革。这种变革的价值取向是民主、效率与公正。民主创新是政府发展的首要选择,发展民主是政府创新的根本方向。     

The role of standards in the policy debate on the EU-US trade agreement

In the context of the public policy debate, we explore firm-level characteristics that influence firms’ preferences related to alternatives to harmonize standards within the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The options are the implementation of common standards, developed internationally or bilaterally, and mutual recognition. The empirical analysis is based on data from the German Standardization Panel. We identify three dimensions that determine firms’ preferences regarding the various harmonization solutions: (1) company-specific factors, such as size, industry and motives to apply standards, (2) the competitive environment, i.e. the position vis-à-vis other market participants, and (3) the technological environment, i.e. the dynamics of the market the company operates in.