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on Transition Economics |
By: | Riccardo Rovelli; Anzelika Zaiceva |
Abstract: | Using a unique dataset, we propose a new measure of public evaluation of transitional reforms and study, for the first time, the evolution of support for economic and political reforms in 14 transition economies over 1991-2004. We show that support for economic changes has been increasing over time after an initial dip, while support for political reforms has generally been higher. Support attitudes are lower among the old, less skilled, unemployed, poor, and those living in the CIS countries, especially during the 1990s. We also find evidence that transition-related hardship, opinions on the speed of reforms, political preferences and preferences towards redistribution, ideology and social capital matter. Finally, we show that preferences for state ownership and the quality of political institutions contribute mostly to explaining the lower levels of support in the CIS countries. |
Keywords: | political economy; public support; reforms; transition |
JEL: | O57 A13 P26 P36 |
Date: | 2011–05 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:059&r=tra |
By: | Hartmut Lehmann; Alexander Muravyev; Tiziano Razzolini; Anzelika Zaiceva |
Abstract: | This paper is the first to analyze the costs of job loss in Russia, using unique new data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey over the years 2003-2008, including a special supplement on displacement that was initiated by us. We employ fixed effects regression models and propensity score matching techniques in order to establish the causal effect of displacement for displaced individuals. The paper is innovative insofar as we investigate fringe and in-kind benefits and the propensity to have an informal employment relationship as well as a permanent contract as relevant labor market outcomes upon displacement. We also analyze monthly earnings, hourly wages, employment and hours worked, which are traditionally investigated in the literature. Compared to the control group of non-displaced workers (i.e. stayers and quitters), displaced individuals face a significant income loss following displacement, which is mainly due to the reduction in employment and hours worked. This effect is robust to the definition of displacement. The losses seem to be more pronounced and are especially large for older workers with labor market experience and human capital acquired in Soviet times and for workers with primary and secondary education. Workers displaced from state firms experience particularly large relative losses in the short run, while such losses for workers laid off from private firms are more persistent. Turning to the additional non-conventional labor market outcomes, there is a loss in terms of the number of fringe and in-kind benefits for reemployed individuals but not in terms of their value. There is also some evidence of an increased probability of working in informal jobs if displaced. These results point towards the importance of both firm-specific human capital and of obsolete skills obtained under the centrally planned economy as well as to a wider occurrence of job insecurity among displaced workers |
Keywords: | Costs of job loss; worker displacement; propensity score matching; Russia |
JEL: | J64 J65 P50 |
Date: | 2011–05 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:060&r=tra |
By: | Mihails Kuznecovs; Sarmistha Pal |
Abstract: | This paper examines whether and how introducing corporate governance measures like transparency-and-disclosure (T&D) rules can boost firm performance. It is argued that the success of corporate governance reforms not only depends on resolving the conflict of interest between the controlling and the minority owner, but also on whether the reforms initiate a conflict of interest between the state and the controlling owner. Using unique data from Russia for 1995-2007, we find that the introduction of corporate governance codes in Russia has boosted firm performance of both energy and non-energy sector firms in our sample. However, the introduction of transparency and disclosure rules has been met with limited success in the country as it triggers the conflict of interest between the state and the controlling owner. |
Date: | 2011–04 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edb:cedidp:11-06&r=tra |
By: | Petrik Runst |
Abstract: | In this paper it is argued that locus of control beliefs and preferences concerning state action negatively affect the formation of new firms in former socialist countries. For this purpose Kirzner's theory of costless entrepreneurship is reviewed and criticized. German reunification, in which the formerly Socialist East joined the Federal Republic of Germany, represents an intriguing natural experiment in which the formal institutional structure of one nation was almost fully transplanted into another. Traditional as well as psychological factors are examined. The results suggest that about one third of the east-west gap in new self-employment can be explained by inert informal institutions. |
Keywords: | Psychology of Entrepreneurship, Self-Employment, Transitional Economies, East Germany |
JEL: | D00 J24 O12 P20 |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp373&r=tra |
By: | Lenka Šastná (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic); Martin Gregor (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
Abstract: | We measure cost efficiency of 202 Czech municipalities of extended scope in period 2003-2008. The study is the first application of overall efficiency measurement of the local governments in the new EU member states, and the second in post-communist countries. We measure government efficiency through established quantitative and qualitative indicators of the provision of education, cultural facilities, infrastructure and other local services. First, we employ non-parametric approach of the data envelopment analysis and adjust the efficiency scores by bootstrapping. Second, we employ the stochastic frontier analysis and control for effects of various demographic, economic, and political variables. We compare scores under our preferred specification, i.e. pseudo-translog time-variant stochastic-frontier analysis with determinants, with alternative scores. The determinants that robustly increase inefficiency are population size, distance to the regional center, share of university-educated citizens, capital expenditures, subsidies per capita, and the share of self-generated revenues. Concerning political variables, increase in party concentration and the voters' involvement increases efficiency, and local council with a lower share of left-wing representatives also tend to be more efficient. We interpret determinants both as indicators of slack, non-discretionary inputs, and unobservable outputs. The analysis is conducted also for the period 1994-1996, where political variables appear to influence inefficiency in a structurally different way. From comparison of the two periods, we obtain that small municipalities improve efficiency significantly more that large municipalities. |
Keywords: | Public spending efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis, Stochastic Frontier Analysis, local governments |
JEL: | D24 H72 |
Date: | 2011–05 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2011_14&r=tra |
By: | Andrea Beltratti (Bocconi University, Department of Finance, Via Roentgen 1, 20136, Milan, Italy.); Bernardo Bortolotti (University of Torino, Corso Unione Sovietica, 218bis, 10134, Turin, Italy.); Marianna Caccavaio (LUISS Guido Carli, Department of Economics and Business, Viale Romania 32, 00197, Rome, Italy.) |
Abstract: | During 2005-2006, the Chinese government implemented a reform aimed at eliminating the so-called non-tradable shares (NTS), shares typically held by the State or by politically connected institutional investors that were issued at the early stage of financial market development. Our analysis, based on the time series of risk factors and on the cross section of abnormal returns, confirms that the NTS reform affected stock prices, particularly benefiting small stocks, stocks characterized by historically poor returns, stocks issued by companies with less transparent accounts and poorer governance, and less liquid stocks Historically neglected stocks also witnessed an increase in the volume of trading and market prices. JEL Classification: G14, G28, G32. |
Keywords: | Ownership structure, Chinese stock market, Financial reform, Corporate governance, Privatization, Neglected stocks. |
Date: | 2011–05 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20111339&r=tra |
By: | Hengyun Ma; Les Oxley (University of Canterbury); Shanmin Guo; Huacang Tang; Yiping Wu; Jikun Huang; Allan Rae; Scott Rozelle |
Abstract: | China has significantly expanded its dairy cow numbers and increased its dairy processing capacity over the last five year in an attempt to meet increased demand for dairy products. China’s net imports of dairy products, however, has expanded at a growth rate in excess of 30% during the same period. To consider why China is still struggling to meet rising dairy product demand in China in the new millennium, this paper employs a new set of farm-level survey data and stochastic input distance functions to empirically estimate Total factor Productivity (TFP) on China’s dairy farms. The results show that the TFP growth has been positive on and this rise in productivity has been mostly driven by technological change. However, the new results show that on average, the same farms have been behind the advancing technical frontier. We also find one of the drivers of the dairy farms’ productivity advances is the relatively robust rate of technological change. The results suggest that efforts to achieve increased adoption of new technologies and better advice on how to use the technologies and manage production and marketing within the dairy farm sector, will likely further increase TFP growth in China. |
Keywords: | Distance Function; Total Factor Productivity; Technical Inefficiency; Dairy Farms |
JEL: | D24 Q10 Q16 |
Date: | 2011–01–01 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbt:econwp:11/21&r=tra |
By: | Abler, David; Yu, Xiaohua; Chen, Danhong |
Abstract: | Contracts are widely used by agricultural processors for purchasing inputs not only in developed countries but also in developing countries such as China. The total number of formal, written contracts between farmers and food processors is increasing rapidly in China, and the formal contracts that exist are becoming more complex. Contractual design in China is evolving from simple price-quantity contracts toward more complicated arrangements known as cooperation contracts or joint-stock cooperation contracts, designed to share risk and mitigate opportunistic behaviors by the contracting parties. Due to small farm sizes, the contracted amount in the typical contract in China is very small compared with Western countries, and each processor usually has a large number of contracted farmers. This paper uses data from a 2003 survey of food processing firms by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture to analyze the determinants of contractual choices between these firms and farmers and the number of farmers that each firm contracts with. An important issue identified in the literature in analyzing the determinants of contractual choices is endogenous matching between parties to a contract and the effects of this endogenous matching on contract choice. We find strong evidence to support endogenous matching. In particular, our results indicate that firms which contract with a larger number of farms are more likely to use cooperation contracts than relational contracts. |
Keywords: | China, contractual design, endogenous matching, farms, food processing, Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, Q13, L14, |
Date: | 2011–07 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103805&r=tra |
By: | Apostolov, Mico |
Abstract: | This paper is a case study of the Republic of Macedonia (Southeast Europe), which focuses on examining governance and enterprise restructuring. Governance and enterprise restructuring is already defined indicator in EBRD’s studies and transition reports, measuring the effective corporate governance and corporate control exercised through domestic financial institutions and markets, fostering market-driven restructuring. As of the beginning of the transition process, governance and enterprise restructuring remains in the center, as essential pillar, that moves forward the society towards developed market economy. The data used in this article are analyzed with an econometric regression model, which as employed in this study examines the interrelationships between governance and enterprise restructuring and set of policies that influence the governance patterns. |
Keywords: | governance; corporate governance; management strategy; transition; Southeast Europe; Macedonia |
JEL: | G38 G32 P31 G30 L33 O12 |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:30812&r=tra |
By: | Wang, Ye; Wang, Chenggang; Pan, Suwen |
Abstract: | Although evidence abounds that the development of rural non-farm activities have increased rural household income and contributed to rural development, the underlying structure and mechanism of the linkage between agricultural productivity and non-farm activities is poorly understood. Using a unique panel dataset of Chinese villages, this article examines the mechanism by which non-farm activities influence agricultural productivity. I find that Chinese villagesâ non-farm revenue has a significant positive effect on agricultural land productivity. Although non-farm activities do withdraw labor out of agriculture and therefore dampen land productivity, that negative effect is negligible in comparison with the land productivity improvement brought by nonfarm revenue-financed infrastructure capital investment. |
Keywords: | Rural non-farm activities, labor migration, agricultural productivity, infrastructure capital., Agricultural and Food Policy, Productivity Analysis, O13, Q18, |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103605&r=tra |
By: | Ward, Patrick S.; Shively, Gerald E. |
Abstract: | Households in developing countries take various actions to smooth income or consumption as a means of managing or responding to risk. One of the principal means of smoothing income is through the diversification of income sources, including non-farm employment and rural-urban migration. An important consumption smoothing strategy involves the accumulation and depletion of assets. We examine migration and land rental market participation as responses to risk in rural China. Using a longitudinal data set comprised of households in nine provinces in China from 1991 through 2006, we are able to test for the effect of various manifestations of underlying idiosyncratic and covariate income risk on household responses. We find that covariate risks increase land rental market participation, but decrease participation in migration. Idiosyncratic income risks do not affect household rental market participation, perhaps suggesting that intra-village risk sharing is sufficient for households to smooth consumption after experiencing idiosyncratic shocks. Because the death of a household reduces a household's redundant labor, these idiosyncratic labor shocks significantly lower the likelihood that a household will participate in migration. |
Keywords: | China, risk, consumption smoothing, income smoothing, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, Risk and Uncertainty, O15, R23, Q15, |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103379&r=tra |
By: | Glewwe, Paul; Huang, Qiuqiong; Park, Albert |
Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to examine whether noncognitive skills explain differences in employment status and hourly wages even after controlling for age, experience, schooling and cognitive skills. Of particular interest is to examine the relative magnitudes of the impacts of the cognitive and noncognitive skills on these labor market outcomes. Data used in this paper come from the Gansu Survey of Children and Families (GSCF), which followed a random sample of 2,000 children in rural areas of Gansu Province who were 9-12 years old in the year 2000. Three waves of surveys were completed in 2000, 2004, and 2007-2009. The GSCF is the first large-scale data collection on child and adolescent cognitive and noncognitive skills in rural China. |
Keywords: | cognitive skills, noncognitive skills, years of schooling, wage, Gansu, China, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103407&r=tra |
By: | McGuire, William |
Abstract: | I study the determinants of ISO 14001 certification in a sample of manufacturing firms in China as well as the effect of ISO 14001 certification on firm environmental performance. Results indicate that ISO 14001 plays an important role in signaling the firm's environmental technology to environmentally conscious customers. ISO 14001 also appears to improve firm environmental performance, even after controlling for endogeneity between performance and certification. |
Keywords: | China, ISO 14001, Environmental Management Systems, Signaling, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103659&r=tra |
By: | Yuan, Yan; Hu, Youxin; Gao, Ping |
Abstract: | Informal credit markets are very active in many developing countries including China. Informal financial associations have become a major channel of borrowing. Using data from the 2006 Rural Household Survey, this paper investigates farmersâ borrowings from both formal and informal sources with higher/lower interest, by looking into both demand and supply of loan. Consistent with the theory and previous studies, age follows an inverted U-shaped pattern in its relationship with the probability of borrowing from informal loan with higher interest. Our study shows that the impact of age disappears for the formal loan participation. In addition, high income and saving imply lower credit constraints. Moreover, household and county characteristics and financial conditions have a large and varying influence on farmersâ borrowing behavior. |
Keywords: | informal credit, financial constraints, China, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, Q12, C5, G21, |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103887&r=tra |
By: | Qin, Yu; Zhang, Xiaobo |
Abstract: | We used a panel survey at the household level primarily conducted in 18 natural villages over three waves in Guizhou province, China, to study how road access shape farmersâ cropping and input use. Our results show that access to roads significantly improves the level of specialization in household agricultural production as measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. In villages with better road access, farmers plant a few number of crops and invest more intermediate input. Through specialization and increasing use of intermediate input, road connections improve farmersâ agricultural income as well. However, better access to rural roads does not seem to bring about significant change in the non-agricultural sector. |
Keywords: | road, agricultural specialization, intermediate input, agricultural income, China, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, O18, O43, |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103882&r=tra |
By: | Konstantin A. Kholodilin; Eric Girardin |
Abstract: | In this paper, we examine beta-convergence of real per-capita income of Chinese counties. We account for both the spatial dependences between counties and the possibility of different convergence regimes. The first feature is captured by the spatial error term, whereas the second one is modeled using the spatial logit smooth transition approach. Two groups of counties can be identified: 1) counties, which have relatively poor neighbors and tend to grow faster and converge, and 2) counties, which have relatively rich neighbors and tend to grow slower and hence fail to converge. The counties belonging to the first group are concentrated mainly in western interior provinces, such as Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, western part of Xinjiang Uygur. The counties of the second group are located mainly in coastal regions. Whereas in the benchmark model the estimated convergence rate is 0.8% for unconditional regression and 1.7% for condtional regression, the alternative models produce the convergence rate of 1.3-1.5% for unconditional regressions and 2.3-2.6% for conditional regressions, which is quite close to the estimates reported typically in the literature. |
Keywords: | Chinese counties, income convergence, LSTR, spatial effects |
JEL: | C21 O47 R11 |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1124&r=tra |
By: | Kumo, Kazuhiro; Horie, Norio; Ryazantsev, Sergei V. |
Date: | 2011–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hituec:b39&r=tra |
By: | Khantachavana, Sivalai V.; Turvey, Calum G.; Kong, Rong |
Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to provide a specific test of Boucher, Carter et al. (2008) framework on risk rationing. The data were collected through a survey of 730 farm households in Shaanxi province conducted in November 2010. We compare factor associated with risk rationed, quantity rationed and price rationed farmers. Seemingly unrelated regressions are performed using risk rationing, quantity rationing and price rationing measure as the dependent variable and measures of demography, wealth, income, year of farming and risk aversion as independent variables. We apply seemingly unrelated regression, cluster analysis and cross tabulation in the study. According to a seemingly unrelated regression, we find existing risk rationing is due to risk-based behavior by borrowers. A cross tabulation results support the proposition by Boucher, Carter et al showing the financial wealthy is risk rationed and relatively land-poor is risk rationed. This paper is believed to be among the first empirical validation of the risk rationing theory. |
Keywords: | Risk rationing, credit market, china, Marketing, Risk and Uncertainty, |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:104021&r=tra |
By: | He, Dehua; Chidmi, Benaissa; Zhou, Deyi |
Abstract: | This study analyzed the impact of food safety information on food demand in urban China. The LA/AIDS model was estimated by using national province level food consumption data and quantities of articles about food safety event on public media from 2000 to 2008. The results of the study show that urban Chinese consumer food demand was influenced by food safety information from daily newspapers and GM labeling policy. This paper also indicates food price elasticities, expenditure elasticities by categories and the effect of food safety information. |
Keywords: | food safety, food demand, Linear Approximated Almost Ideal Demand System( LA/AIDS), Genetically modified( GM), food consumption, price elasticity, expenditure elasticity, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D12, Q11, |
Date: | 2011–07–26 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103618&r=tra |
By: | Holubowicz, Lukasz; Florkowski, Wojciech J.; Muczynski, Maciej |
Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103917&r=tra |
By: | Khantachavana, Sivalai V.; Just, David R.; Pushkarskaya, Helen; Kong, Rong |
Abstract: | In the US, The Tobacco Transition Payment Program, also called the "tobacco buy-out," helps tobacco quota holders and producers transition to the free market. In China, the transaction of Land Use Rights providing farmersâ ability to buy or sell Land Use Rights has been seriously considered by the Chinese government. The uncertainty in household income and changes in economic environment during the US Tobacco Transition Payment Program and the Chinese Land Use Rights Regime lead many individuals into entrepreneurial activities. Entrepreneurship often means making changes in livelihood activities that involve substantial risks to income. While the rewards may be substantial, transactions costs may make decisions irreversible. This paper draws a comparison between entrepreneurship and technology adoption. Adopting a new production technology also involves substantial risks. The economics of technology adoption is a well developed literature with many accepted and testable models. Most prominent are the theories of learning by using and learning by doing. We review the technology adoption literature, drawing out lessons for entrepreneurship research. We then apply an âentrepreneurship as technology adoptionâ model to a unique dataset collected in Kentucky, US and in Shaanxi province, China. Using a sample of 702 Kentucky farmers at the time of the buyout and 730 Chinese farmers, we test several of the implications of this model and compare significant results between Kentucky and Shaanxi farmers. This study finds that both farmers in Kentucky and Shaanxi with a strong social network are more likely to become entrepreneurs. Kentucky farmers with low income are more likely to start new businesses. The finding supports the âpushâ hypothesis as farmers with low income are pushed into starting a new business. The human capital factor is strongly associated with Shaanxi farmerâs entrepreneurial decision. |
Keywords: | Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103928&r=tra |
By: | Shi, Guanming; Pray, Carl |
Abstract: | Technology and innovation play an increasingly important role in the economic development of both developed and developing countries. We investigate how policy and market factors influence firmsâ (or other potential innovatorsâ) decisions on innovation or imitation by developing a conceptual model and then empirically testing it using pesticide innovation data from a rapidly developing country, China. We find that the government encouraged local innovation by opening regions to more international trade, more investment in public research and education, strengthening intellectual property right (IPR) enforcement, and limiting the role of foreign inventors. However, the role of the extension of patent life in the early 1990s has little impact. Theory and some of our measures of market size suggest that this factor also is important, but the empirical evidence is mixed. The results suggest that the government policies for openness, public research and education and IPR enforcement can encourage innovation. Limiting foreign invention could encourage more local patenting but might limit Chinese farmersâ access to new technology. |
Keywords: | Innovation, Pesticide, China, Patent, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, O31, O34, O38, |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103744&r=tra |
By: | Kazuhiro Kumo |
Abstract: | For the four years since 2006, Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic, has led the world in the receipt of foreign remittance as a proportion of GDP. Needless to say, key reasons for this are the low income levels in Tajikistan and the country's special relationship with Russia, which is enjoying rapid economic growth. Yet while interest in the relationship between migration and foreign remittance has existed for a long time, not many studies have looked at this region. This paper used household survey forms from two points in time to profile households in Tajikistan and international labour migration by Tajiks, and examined the relationship between household income levels in Tajikistan, the poorest of the former Soviet republics, and foreign remittance being received from international labour migrants and the likelihood of migrants being supplied. It found no correlation between household income levels and amounts of money received from abroad, which suggests that altruistic models of the relationship between migration and remittance do not apply. Moreover, it also found that households with high incomes are more likely to supply migrants, indicating that international labour migration from Tajikistan may not be conductive to reducing poverty in that country. |
JEL: | O15 P46 R23 |
Date: | 2011–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hst:ghsdps:gd10-182&r=tra |
By: | Sauer, Johannes; Gorton, Matthew; White, John |
Abstract: | Drawing on survey data, this paper identifies the determinants of variations in farm gate milk prices for three CIS countries (Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine). We apply a multi-level modeling approach, specifically a bootstrapped mixed-effects linear regression model. The analysis suggests three main strategies to improve the price received by farmers for their output: consolidation, competition for output and stable supply chain relationships. In Armenia and Ukraine selling through a marketing cooperative has a significant, positive, albeit modest, effect on farm gate milk prices. In all three countries studied, the size of dairy operations, trust and contracting also affect positively the prices received by farmers. |
Keywords: | price heterogeneity, milk, cooperatives, Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine, Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing, O13, P32, Q13, |
Date: | 2011 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103722&r=tra |