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on Transition Economics |
| By: | Alex Bryson; John Forth; Minghai Zhou |
| Abstract: | Using linked employer-employee data for all China's public listed firms over the period 2001-10, we find top executive compensation exhibits many of the traits familiar in the Western literature, although sometimes in a more muted way, and with some clear exceptions. We also find a role for managerial power in executive pay setting which may reflect the recency of the stock market and regulations underpinning corporate governance. Nevertheless, there appear to be some elements of executive compensation which transcend national economic, political and cultural differences. The implication is that the Western model is not as idiosyncratic as critics suggest. |
| JEL: | O1 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:56054&r=tra |
| By: | Sergei Guriev (New Economic School); Elena S. Vakulenko (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We study barriers to labour mobility using panel data on gross region-to-region migration flows in Russia in 1996-2010. Using both parametric and semiparametric methods and controlling for region-to-region pairwise fixed effects, we find a non-monotonic relationship between income and migration. In richer regions, higher incomes result in lower migration outflows. However, in the poorest regions, an increase in incomes results in higher emigration. This is consistent with the presence of geographical poverty traps: potential migrants want to leave the poor regions but cannot afford to move. We also show that economic growth and financial development have allowed most Russian regions to grow out of poverty traps bringing down interregional differentials of wages, incomes and unemployment rates |
| Keywords: | labour mobility, poverty traps, liquidity constraints |
| JEL: | J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:88/ec/2015&r=tra |
| By: | Tomas Adam; Miroslav Plasil |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates empirically to what extent financial variables can explain macroeconomic developments in the Czech Republic and how the results are sensitive to some (usually reasonable or routinely made) modeling choices. To this end, the dynamic model averaging/selection framework is applied to a universe of (potentially large) time-varying parameter VAR models, which allows one to assess the explanatory power of financial variables at each point in time. Based on a set of 27 competing models and an extensive ensemble of alternative specifications of those models, we find that financial variables were particularly relevant in explaining developments in the lead-up to and during economic downturns. By contrast, in tranquil times, models containing only traditional macroeconomic variables explained macroeconomic dynamics reasonably well. Within the broad set of financial variables considered, credit to the private sector, bank profitability, and leverage seem to be among the most relevant indicators. |
| Keywords: | Dynamic model averaging, macro-financial linkages, vector autoregression |
| JEL: | C32 C53 E44 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cnb:wpaper:2014/11&r=tra |
| By: | Irina V. Abankina (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Fuad T. Aleskerov (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Veronika Yu. Belousova (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Leonid M. Gokhberg (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Kirill V. Zinkovsky (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Sofya G. Kiselgof (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Vsevolod Petrushchenko (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Sergey V. Shvydun (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In recent decades increased economic pressure and growing expectations of the society have led to a shift to performance-based funding modes of public research, namely universities, introduced by the government. In this respect universities started to use various strategies to adapt and develop their activities under the new framework conditions. National governments currently attempt to design and apply various taxonomies for structuring the university infrastructure in all different shapes in order to facilitate the development of efficient programmes for the advancement of higher education. The paper provides a review of different approaches to university typologies, discusses the choice of indicators and mathematical tools for grouping universities using common criteria and evaluating their performance based on classical and modified DEA approaches. The authors developed a typology which was tested in the Russian context, taking into account indicators of research and educational activities implemented by domestic universities and their efficiency score. The typology is based on clustering universities by availability of resources and research and educational performance and the combination of these results with efficiency score. It does not only group universities by type but includes a decision tree for classifying them as members of a specific group keeping into account their heterogeneity. It may serve as a basis for content analysis of the wide range of universities, and for shaping targeted policies aimed at their particular groups. |
| Keywords: | higher education institutions (HEIs), typology, research and educational activities of HEIs, hierarchical clustering, data envelopment analysis, efficiency, performance |
| JEL: | C14 C38 D83 O32 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:33sti2015&r=tra |
| By: | Turek Rahoveanu, Petruta |
| Abstract: | In Romania, family farms strenghten agriculture stability wise through structural changes in multifunctional development, merchandising of vegetable products, making investments and depositing products. The family farms production structure was formed under factors like: natural environment, market, financial capital, the risk and uncertainty related to selling products, consumption. At the same time it’s considered to be the central element of the agricultural structures and it’s regarded in independence with the elements that contribute in obtaining agricultural products. |
| Keywords: | production structure, agricultural production, work productivity |
| JEL: | Q10 Q12 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61745&r=tra |
| By: | Andrzej Cieslik (University of Warsaw); Lukasz Goczek (University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the evolution of corruption patterns in 27 post-communist countries during the period 1996-2012 using the Control of Corruption Index and the corruption category Markov transition probability matrix. This method allows us to generate the long-run distribution of corruption among the post-communist countries. Our empirical findings suggest that corruption in the post-communist countries is a very persistent phenomenon that does not change much over time. Several theoretical explanations for such a result are provided. |
| Keywords: | corruption, Markov transition probability matrix, post-communist countries |
| JEL: | D73 P21 P37 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2015:no7&r=tra |
| By: | Feng Huang; Li Gan |
| Abstract: | At the end of 1998, China launched a government-run mandatory insurance program, the Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI), to replace the previous medical insurance system. Using the UEBMI reform in China as a natural experiment, this study identify variations in patient cost sharing that were imposed by the UEBMI reform and examine their effects on the demand for health-care services. Using data from the 1991-2006 waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey, we find that the increased cost sharing is associated with decreased outpatient medical care utilization and expenditures but not with decreased inpatient care utilization and expenditures. Patients from low- and middle-income households, or in less-serious medical situations are found to be more sensitive to prices. We observe little impact on patient health, as measured by self-reported poor health status. |
| JEL: | I11 I13 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20873&r=tra |
| By: | Andrej Drygalla |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes changes in the monetary policy in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland following the policy shift from exchange rate targeting to inflation targeting around the turn of the millennium. Applying a Markovswitching dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model, switches in the policy parameters and the volatilities of shocks hitting the economies are estimated and quantified. Results indicate the presence of regimes of weak and strong responses of the central banks to exchange rate movements as well as periods of high and low volatility. Whereas all three economies switched to a less volatile regime over time, findings on changes in the policy parameters reveal a lower reaction to exchange rate movements in the Czech Republic and Poland, but an increased attention to it in Hungary. Simulations for the Czech Republic and Poland also suggest their respective central banks, rather than a sound macroeconomic environment, being accountable for reducing volatility in variables like inflation and output. In Hungary, their favorable developments can be attributed to a larger extent to the reduction in the size of external disturbances. |
| Keywords: | Trade facilitation, Export diversification, International trade agreements, WTO |
| JEL: | F13 F14 F17 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wsr:wpaper:y:2015:i:139&r=tra |
| By: | Joan Costa-Font; Lucia Kossarova |
| Abstract: | Processes of transition to democracy and country break up stand out as ideal experiments to estimate the impact of wide institutional reform on well-being. Changes in population heights are regarded as virtuous pointers of well-being improvements in psycho-social environments, which improve with democracy. We analyzed a unique dataset containing individual heights in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to measure the retrospective well-being effects of the two transitions to liberal democracy and capitalism after the split up of Czechoslovakia. An additional year spent under democracy increases height by 0.286cm for Slovaks and 0.148cm for Czechs. Although transition paths differ across the two countries, the absolute height gap between Slovaks and the Czechs did not change. Slovaks benefited more than the Czechs in the bottom and mid tercile. |
| Keywords: | height; democracy; transition; secession; Czechoslovakia; Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition; height dimorphism |
| JEL: | O52 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:60719&r=tra |
| By: | Pang, Ke (BOFIT); Siklos, Pierre L. (BOFIT) |
| Abstract: | Relying on quarterly data since 1998 we estimate, for China and the U.S., small scale econometric models that economize on the number of variables employed and yet are rich enough to provide useful insights about spillover effects between the two countries under different maintained assumptions about the exogeneity of the macroeconomic relationship between them. We conclude that inflation in China responds to credit shocks. Indeed, the monetary transmission mechanism in China resembles that of the US even if the channels through which monetary policy affects their respective economies differ. We also find that the monetary policy stance of the PBOC was helpful in mitigating the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008-9. Finally, spillovers from the US to China are significant and originate from both through the real and financial sectors of the US economy. |
| Keywords: | spillovers; monetary policy in China; dynamic factor models; credit |
| JEL: | C32 E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2015–01–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bofitp:2015_002&r=tra |
| By: | Zhou, De; Yu, Xiaohua; Herzfeld, Thomas |
| Abstract: | PURPOSE – The purpose of this paper is to investigate dynamic food demand in urban China, with use of a complete dynamic demand system - DLES-LA/DAIDS, which pushes forward the techniques of demand analysis. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH – We employ a transitionary demand process and develop a new approach of complete demand system with a two-stage dynamic budgeting: an additively separable dynamic linear expenditure system (DLES) in the first stage and a linear approximate dynamic almost ideal demand system (LA/DAIDS). Employing provincial aggregate data (1995-2010) from the China urban household surveys (UHS), we estimated the demand elasticities for primary food products in urban China. FINDINGS – Our results indicate that most primary food products are necessities and price-inelastic for urban households in China. We also found that the dynamic model tends to yield relatively smaller expenditure elasticities in magnitude than the static models do due to dynamic adjusting costs, such as habit formation, switching costs, and learning process. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS – The research contributes to the demand analysis methodologically, and can be used for better projections in policy simulation models. ORIGINALITY/VALUE – This paper methodologically releases the restrictive assumption of instant adjustment in static models and allows consumers to make a dynamic decision in food consumption. Empirically, we introduce a new complete dynamic demand model and carry out a case study with the use of urban household data in China. |
| Keywords: | two-stage budgeting, food, demand model, DLES-LA/DAIDS, China, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D21, |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gagfdp:168527&r=tra |
| By: | Ananyev, Maxim; Guriev, Sergei |
| Abstract: | This paper draws on a natural experiment to identify the relationship between income and trust. We use a unique panel dataset on Russia where GDP experienced an 8 percent drop in 2009. The effect of the crisis had been very uneven among Russian regions because of their differences in industrial structure inherited from the Soviet times. We find that the regions that specialize in producing capital goods, as well as those depending on oil and gas, had a more substantial income decline during the crisis. The variation in the industrial structure allows creating an instrument for the change in income. After instrumenting average regional income, we find that the effect of income on generalized social trust (the share of respondents saying that most people can be trusted) is statistically and economically significant. Controlling for conventional determinants of trust, we show that 10 percent decrease in income is associated with 5 percentage point decrease in trust. Given that the average level of trust in Russia is 25%, this magnitude is substantial. We also find that post-crisis economic recovery did not restore pre-crisis trust level. Trust recovered only in those regions where the 2009 decline in trust was small. In the regions with the large decline in trust during the crisis, trust in 2014 was still 10 percentage points below its pre-crisis level. |
| Keywords: | crisis; social capital; trust |
| JEL: | Z13 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10354&r=tra |
| By: | International Monetary Fund. European Dept. |
| Abstract: | KEY ISSUES The jobs and growth agenda should remain a top policy priority, with efforts focused on relaxing key constraints for domestic firms. Priorities include properly implementing and monitoring recent initiatives to enforce payment discipline in both public and private sector contracts, as well as upgrading the professional status of inspection bodies, clarifying their mandate, and streamlining their work. The public-sector led growth strategy will put pressure on other types of spending if consolidation is to proceed in the current low-tax environment. Investment spending should target gaps in transport and energy infrastructure to maximize the payoff for medium-term growth. At the same time, with public debt rising steadily to over 50 percent of GDP by 2017, fiscal policy should aim at reducing the deficit to below 2.6 percent of GDP by 2016. In the absence of further tax policy changes to boost revenues, a comprehensive spending review that seeks to minimize the growth impact of current expenditure compression should therefore be undertaken. More comprehensive public debt management is needed to support external sustainability. To further reduce risks, particularly currency risk, the strategy should be expanded to cover the debt of SOEs and contingent liabilities. Increased reliance on foreign currency borrowing also has important implications for central bank reserve developments and domestic liquidity that should be taken into account in evaluating government financing options. The monetary easing cycle has reached its end. The combination of relaxed financial conditions and tight prudential regulation has helped revive credit growth while preserving the health of the financial sector. While temporary supply-side developments have recently generated deflationary pressures, the focus of monetary policy henceforth should be on maintaining the attractiveness of holding denar-denominated assets in support of the exchange rate peg. Outstanding credit is scheduled to fall below 200 percent of quota at end-year. The external position and capacity to pay are sufficiently strong to allow for a cessation of post-program monitoring. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfscr:15/18&r=tra |
| By: | Jude Howell |
| Abstract: | State-labour NGOs relations in China have been particularly fraught. In 2012 these took an interesting twist, as some local governments made overtures to labour NGOs to co-operate in providing services to migrant workers. This article argues that this shift is part of a broader strategy of `welfarist incorporation’ to redraw the social contract between state and labour. There are two key elements to this: first, relaxation of the registration regulations for social organisations; second, governmental purchasing of services from social organisations. These overtures have both a state and market logic to maintain social control and stabilise relations of production. |
| JEL: | E6 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:60219&r=tra |
| By: | Zheng, Xinye; Song, Feng; Yu, Yihua; Song, Shunfeng |
| Abstract: | Using a dataset for 31 Chinese provinces from 1998 to 2006, this paper provides a spatial Durbin panel analysis to test for fiscal interactions among China's provinces in their public spending on infrastructure. We find significant positive interactions across Chinese provincial governments. Further analysis attempting to distinguish between the possible sources of such fiscal interactions reveals evidence of expenditure competition instead of yardstick competition. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructure expenditure, Fiscal interactions, Spatial Durbin panel model, Two-stage least squares |
| JEL: | C23 H54 H7 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61615&r=tra |
| By: | Costin, Lenuța |
| Abstract: | The study is intended as a brief foray into the issue of economic restructuring effect of the matrix on rural development and failed to show that it is favorable to human primary role in human resource of entrepreneurial role assumed, being the main driver of competitive advantage of Romania. In Romania the labor force employed in agriculture is steadily decreasing, there is a danger of abandonment areas, unless urgent action is taken and powerful multifunctional development of agriculture, creating an integrated economic activity, entrepreneurial culture. But we must look at this in terms of resources focusing on the long-term impact, which will result in small rural training centers including in the context of developing infrastructure links and economic interdependence. |
| Keywords: | the restructuring, rural development, human factor, entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | Q0 Q19 |
| Date: | 2014–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61624&r=tra |
| By: | Zohid Askarov; Hristos Doucouliagos |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether development aid stimulates growth in transition economies, paying particular attention to the possibility of spatial spillovers arising from aid. We find that aid has a positive impact on growth of the recipient country. However, aid also appears to generate adverse growth spillovers on other nations. In contrast, we find that growth in one transition economy tends to spillover to bordering countries and there are significant positive spatial spillovers from good policies. Spillovers are an important part of the growth experience of transitional economies. |
| Keywords: | aid effectiveness, spatial spillovers, transition economies |
| JEL: | O4 O5 F35 |
| Date: | 2015–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dkn:econwp:eco_2015_1&r=tra |
| By: | Vassilis Monastiriotis |
| Abstract: | Regional disparities in Central and Eastern Europe rose substantially since 1990. Still, prima facie evidence of beta-convergence is often found in the CEE data. To reconcile this seeming paradox, we sketch out and test empirically a hybrid model of regional growth that draws on the regional Kuznets curve and incorporates aspects of cumulative causation and neoclassical convergence. In both CEE and the ‘old’ EU15, regional convergence is strongly linked to the level of national development, non-linearly. But while in the EU15 convergence speeds-up at intermediate/high levels of development, in CEE we find divergence at intermediate levels of national development and no significant return to convergence thereafter. Although this may show that overall development levels are not sufficient yet to mobilise regional convergence, it is also possible that non-convergence is attributable to centripetal forces instigated by the process of transition. |
| Keywords: | Regional growth; convergence; regional Kuznets curve; Central and Eastern Europe |
| JEL: | O11 O18 R11 R15 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:56731&r=tra |
| By: | Klimczuk, Andrzej |
| Abstract: | The aim of this article is to describe the general conditions for the development of creative industries in Podlaskie Voivodship from Poland. This region on the background of the country is characterized by the highest level of cultural diversity and multiculturalism policy. However, there are a number of barriers for the creative industries. First article discusses the regional characteristics and then the basic theoretical approaches and conclusions of the author's own research. The following sections discuss the conclusions and recommendations for regional policy and management of cultural sector entities that may be relevant also for other culturally diverse regions. |
| Keywords: | creative industries; management of cultural institutions; diversity; regional policy |
| JEL: | A14 L38 R58 Z10 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61883&r=tra |
| By: | Wei Jin (School of Public Policy, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China); ZhongXiang Zhang (School of Economics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China) |
| Abstract: | Whether China continues its current energy-intensive growth path or adopts a sustainable development prospect has significant implication for energy and climate governance. Building on a Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans growth model incorporating the mechanism of endogenous technological change and its interaction with fossil energy use and economic growth, this paper contributes to an economic exposition of China’s potential transition from an energy-intensive to an innovation-led growth path. We find that in China’s initial growth period the small amount of capital stock creates higher dynamic benefits of capital investment and incentives of capital stock accumulation rather than R&D-related innovation. Accumulation of energy-consuming capital stock along this non-innovation-led growth path thus leads to an intensive use of fossil energy - an energy-intensive growth pattern. To avoid this undesirable outcome, China’s social planner should consider locating a transition point to an innovation-led balanced growth path (BGP). When the growth dynamics reaches that transition point, China’s economy would embark on investment in physical capital and R&D simultaneously, and make a transition into the innovation-led BGP along which consumption, capital investment, and R&D have a balanced share. Also in this innovation-led BGP, consumption, physical capital stock, and knowledge stock all grow, fossil energy uses decline. |
| Keywords: | Technological Innovation, Energy Consumption, Economic Growth Model |
| JEL: | Q55 Q58 Q43 Q48 O13 O31 O33 O44 F18 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.100&r=tra |
| By: | Mijajlovic, Nada; Arsic, Slavica |
| Abstract: | Beekeeping in the Serbian economy is one of the underdeveloped sector. Modern agriculture today can not be imagined without a developed and modern beekeeping as a part of agriculture and the national economy that is subject to economic laws that operate in the market and is inextricably linked to all the developments in the domestic and global economics. The importance of this activity is potentiated in this paper. The paper analyzed the production of honey, the total number of hives and honey production per hive in Central Serbia, Vojvodina and Serbian Danube region. The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of beekeeping as an economic sector that has significant potential for sustainable development within the Serbian Danube region. The presented data related to beekeeping in statistical databases and literature data related to beekeeping. |
| Keywords: | beekeeping, honey production, sustainable development, Danube |
| JEL: | O57 Q01 R19 |
| Date: | 2014–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61764&r=tra |
| By: | Luksz Goczek (University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: | During the financial crisis a notion that the Polish exchange rate is not determined effectively was very dominant, because of a contagion effect of the global financial crisis on the Polish economy. In addition, many foreign exchange market analysts explained developments in the Polish exchange market trough a hypothesis that the Polish zloty exchange rate follows other exchange rates. This contradicts market efficiency as this would lead to profitable arbitrage possibility based on past information on other currency prices and possibly gives a rationale for government intervention. In contrast, a foreign exchange market that is efficient needs no government involvement and its participants cannot earn abnormal gains from foreign exchange transactions. Therefore, the aim of the article is to examine the efficiency of the Poland's foreign exchange market. In order to test for market efficiency a cointegration analysis is used. The main argument builds on the semi-strong form of the market efficiency hypothesis. On an informational effective market a pair of prices cannot be cointegrated, because this would imply predictability of one asset price based on the past prices of the other asset. The main hypothesis of the article is verified using Unit Root tests and Johansen Cointegration Test on the pair of EURPLN and USDPLN exchange rates. It is shown that the null hypothesis cannot be rejected; therefore, the Polish foreign exchange market is efficient in the semi-strong sense. |
| Keywords: | foreign exchange market efficiency, cointegration analysis |
| JEL: | E43 E52 E58 F41 F42 C32 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pes:wpaper:2015:no4&r=tra |
| By: | Hombert , Johan; Matray , Adrien |
| Abstract: | The authors study whether R&D-intensive firms are more resilient to trade shocks. They correct for the endogeneity of R&D using tax-induced changes to the cost of R&D. On average across US manufacturing firms, rising imports from China lead to slower sales growth and lower profitability. These effects are, however, significantly smaller for firms with a larger stock of R&D -- by about half when moving from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile of the R&D stock distribution. As a result, while the average firm in import-competing industries cuts capital expenditures and employment, R&D-intensive firms downsize considerably less. |
| Keywords: | R&D; Innovation; Product Market Competition; Trade Shocks |
| JEL: | F14 G31 O33 |
| Date: | 2014–12–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:heccah:1075&r=tra |
| By: | Limin DU; Aoife Hanley; Chu WEI |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) of CO2 emissions in China based on a provincial panel for the period of 2001-2010. The provincial marginal abatement cost (MAC) of CO2 emissions is estimated using a parameterized directional output distance function. Four types of model specifications are applied to fit the MAC-carbon intensity pairs. The optimal specification controlling for various covariates is identified econometrically. A scenario simulation of China’s 40-45 percent carbon intensity reduction based on our MACC is illustrated. Our simulation results show that China would incur a 559-623 Yuan/ton (roughly 51-57 percent) increase in marginal abatement cost to achieve a corresponding 40-45 percent reduction in carbon intensity compared to its 2005 level |
| Keywords: | CO2 Emissions; Marginal Abatement Cost Curve; Model Selection; China |
| JEL: | Q52 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1985&r=tra |
| By: | Voicilas, Dan Marius |
| Abstract: | The article analyses the Romanian cereal sector in the last decades. The analysis gives a special attention to the sector development level and its evolution by regions. We analyze areas, productions, yields and the trade with cereals, at national and regional level. We try to identify how competitive the sector is and the main factors of influence, based on some quantitative indicators. Moreover, we identify the negative factors which influenced it. The statistical analysis is based on long data series and concentrates on the years before and after Romania’s accession into EU. We use data provided by the National Institute of Statistics. The results presented show the evolution of the cereal sector after 1989, its decline for about ten years, but also the recovery, especially after the EU accession. The article opens new discussions about the role of the cereal sector in the Romanian economy and the ways of development in the context of a high level of competitiveness among European Union countries and other countries in the world. At the same time, by the present analysis we want to show how the regional performances can contribute to the development of the cereal market in Romania. |
| Keywords: | cereals, regions, competitiveness, Romania |
| JEL: | O52 Q19 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61730&r=tra |
| By: | Liina Malk |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an empirical analysis of the individual and macroeconomic determinants of reservation wages with a particular focus on the influence of unemployment duration. Data from the Estonian Labour Force Survey 2011–2013 and instrumental variable regression analysis are used for estimating the determinants of reservation wages. The findings indicate that personal characteristics, the household’s income level and the regional unemployment rate are important factors that affect reservation wage setting. In addition, it appears that unemployment duration has a significant negative influence on the reservation wage, which is mainly driven by men and older individuals |
| Keywords: | unemployment, reservation wage, unemployment duration, instrumental variable regression |
| JEL: | J31 J64 |
| Date: | 2015–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eea:boewps:wp2014-8&r=tra |
| By: | Vinokurov, Evgeny |
| Abstract: | Today even raising the question of an economic integration agreement between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union seems a non-starter. Recent economic sanctions have severely hurt economic cooperation between the two political entities. Yet the foundations of any new institution are frequently set out in times of crisis. |
| Keywords: | European Union, Eurasian Economic Union, economic sanctions, Russia, economic integration |
| JEL: | F13 F15 F5 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61802&r=tra |
| By: | Angelescu, Anda Irina; Niculae, Ioan Alecu; Badea, Adriana |
| Abstract: | Taking into account the fact that organic farming is not a miracle, but a tangible reality of our days, a trend with more and more followers within the producers and consumers, this paper is included within those trying to demonstrate once more that for Romania also, the organic farming is a viable alternative to the traditional farming that leads in time to the degradation of soil and water resources, to air pollution, degradation of population heath etc. By using as working method the direct observation without intervention and consulting specialized reference sources, we have tried to select the most important definitions for the Romanian organic farming. We have also specified the objectives and principles of the organic farming and we have made a selection of the most important legal regulations on which the environment-friendly production is based, both at Community level and at national level. The analysis of the organic farming in Romania also showed that a process of institutional strengthening and development is currently undergoing for the organic farming, as in all the other countries, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, by its actions, puts the organic farming in the centre of the development of the Romanian agriculture. As such, the evolution of this sector from one year to another was dynamic, with a steady pace growth of the eco-cultivated areas and of the number of animals resulted from organic livestock breeding. The analysis performed entitles us to consider that the organic farming is an inadequately capitalized opportunity for Romania that could place the country as a front-runner on the European market. |
| Keywords: | organic farming, conventional farming, resources, regulations, conversion |
| JEL: | P48 Q18 Q20 Q57 |
| Date: | 2014–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:61750&r=tra |
| By: | Wei Jin (School of Public Policy, Zhejiang University); ZhongXiang Zhang (School of Economics, Fudan University) |
| Abstract: | There is a growing body of literature mentioning the slow pace of energy technological progress as compared to other technologies like information technology (IT), but the reasons why energy sector is perplexed by slow innovation remain unexplained. Based on a variety-expanding endogenous technological change model, this paper provides a rigorous economic exposition of the mechanism that underlies the slow progress of energy technological innovation. We show that in decentralized market equilibrium the growth rate of energy technology variety is lower than that of IT variety. This stems from both market fundamentals where the homogeneity of end-use energy goods is less likely to harness the pecuniary externality embedded in the householdÕs love-for-variety preference, and technology fundamentals where the capital-intensiveness of energy technology inhibits the non-pecuniary technological externality due to knowledge spillovers. We further show that a social planner solution can promote energy technological progress, yet still cannot achieve an outcome in which energy technology variety grows faster than IT variety. By targeting subsidies on energy technology R&D and the use of intermediate primary energy inputs by secondary energy producers, the decentralized market equilibrium can achieve an outcome in which energy technology grows faster than IT. |
| Keywords: | energy technological innovation; product homogeneity; knowledge spillovers; love-for-variety effect |
| JEL: | Q55 Q58 Q41 Q43 Q48 O31 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:ccepwp:1501&r=tra |
| By: | Alex Bryson; John Forth; Minghai Zhou |
| Abstract: | Despite their theoretical value in tackling principal–agent problems at low cost to firms there is almost no empirical literature on the prevalence and correlates of performance bonds posted by corporate executives. We show that they are an important feature in today's CEO labour market in China: around one-tenth of corporations deploy performance bonds and they are equivalent to around 14% of CEO cash compensation. Consistent with principal–agent theory bonds are negatively associated with firm sales volatility. The complementarity between bonds and other incentive mechanisms such as bonuses and stock holding is consistent with optimal reward structures for multi-tasking agents. Those CEOs posting bonds are higher in the Communist Party ranks, were promoted via tournaments, and run larger firms, findings consistent with using bonds as an incentive to attract and retain the most able workers. Although state-owned enterprises are just as likely as privately owned ones to use bonds in CEO contracts, some of the theoretical predictions which assume profit-maximising firms do not hold where the state has an ownership stake. |
| Keywords: | performance bonds; security deposits; executive compensation; state-ownership; agency theory |
| JEL: | G34 J31 J33 M12 M52 O16 P31 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:56360&r=tra |
| By: | Kamil Galuscak; Gabor Katay |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the extent to which cross-country differences in aggregate participation rates can be explained by divergence in tax-benefit systems. We take the example of two countries, the Czech Republic and Hungary, which – despite a lot of similarities – differ markedly in labour force participation rates. We first replicate for Czech household-level data the labour supply estimation for Hungary presented in Benczur et al. (2014) and use the two perfectly comparable estimates to simulate how the aggregate participation rate would change in one country if the other country's tax and social welfare system were adopted. Our estimation results yield similar labour supply elasticities for both countries, suggesting that individual preferences are essentially identical. The simulation results show that about one-half of the total difference in the participation rates of the 15–74 years old population can be explained by differences in the tax-benefit systems. The highest response is obtained for married women or women of childbearing age. This is related to the more generous maternity benefit system in place in Hungary as compared to the Czech Republic. |
| Keywords: | Cross-country comparison, labour supply, microsimulation, participation rate, tax-benefit systems |
| JEL: | C63 H24 I38 J22 P50 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cnb:wpaper:2014/10&r=tra |
| By: | Gregory WEGMANN and Ivan RUVIDITCH (IAE DIJON - Université de Bourgogne (CREGO)) |
| Abstract: | We base our work on interviews of Chinese managers living in and around Shanghai. We use the neo-institutional theoretical stream, which considers that a country’s economy is influenced by cultural and institutional phenomena. In a first part, we describe the theoretical background to the research and our method. Then, in a second part, we present the significant cultural and institutional features of China that enable us to justify several hypotheses about our topic. In a third part, we analyze eight in-depth interviews, trying to answer our research question. Our basic research question focuses on what “Performance” means for Chinese managers. Behind the word, we analyze the cultural and institutional backgrounds of their business activities, examining their behaviors and business relations. We end by drawing several conclusions, some of them quite non-intuitive |
| Keywords: | Chinese managers; institutions; culture; performance |
| JEL: | M16 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dij:wpfarg:1150104&r=tra |
| By: | Piotr Lewandowski (Instytut Badañ Strukturalnych); Agnieszka Kamiñska (Instytut Badañ Strukturalnych) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we analyze the evolution and the determinants of in-work poverty in Poland, according to three poverty lines: relative, absolute, and the 1998-adjusted poverty line. We find that behind moderately high in-work poverty incidence in Poland there is very high in-work poverty in agriculture and modest in-work poverty in all other sectors. Workers are much less likely to be poor than jobless individuals, especially the unemployed. In fact, the share of adults out of employment is a much stronger predictor of households’ risk of poverty than the level of wages at which they work. Moreover, the share of jobless adults or of agricultural workers has become an increasing determinant of in-work poverty over time. The risk of in-work poverty is also inversely related to the educational attainment and the stability of employment of an individual, which is especially important considering that the incidence of temporary contracts in Poland is the highest across both EU and OECD countries. Existing fiscal and benefit policies have not been sufficient to address in-work poverty and some of its underlying causes in the labor market: we propose four policy recommendations aimed at tackling in-work and total poverty, and at increasing labor market participation and employment. |
| Keywords: | in-work poverty, Poland |
| JEL: | J0 I3 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ibt:report:inworkpoverty&r=tra |